New and Old

Hmmm mmmm... my darling hubby has bought me a gorgeous new Cath Kidston mug. It's bigger than my usual bone china ones, lovely to snuggle up with - I do like my tea! Isn't it lovely!

We found a wonderful shop full of antiques and vintage goodies, and I bought this lovely little box to put my pills in. It's covered in fine engraving, including inside the lid.

It means my pills don't get put on 'the side' to roll about, and I can conjure up lots of romantic notions about who it belonged to before me :)

Wee Bruce has settled in, can't resist showing some more photos of him... smelling the flowers

and just being friends...

with Imo too

Take care
xxx

New Addition

So excited, we have a new baby living with us! Introducing Bruce

He came to live with us a few days ago, an extremely cute little chihuahua, a wee brother for Honey, Mollie (Adam's dog, but with us for now) and Gary. Honey and Mollie love their new playmate, Gary just keeps giving him dirty looks - not impressed by the cute, adorable puppy eyes at all!

playing with Mollie

I'm totally besotted... Ok, here's another pic or 2!

Made some of my favourite soup this week too. I'm not a big soup person, but this is gorgeous - butternut squash, red pepper, onion, passata, stock and garlic - couldn't be any easier, and no fat either!

We had cheese and onion toasties with ours, but some nice crusty bread would be nice too.

Take care
xxx

Sunday

I love Sundays, we have quiet, family Sundays, Adam usually comes over to have dinner with us and the afternoons are spent pottering, watching a film, playing games, just being together.  The film this afternoon is Star Wars, Adam and Imogen are curled up on the sofa with Daddy... and some sweeties, I'm curled up with my Granny Stripe blanket.

It's growing... the blanket. I took a couple of photos this morning while there was some natural light. I'm really enjoying it, love the colours, but do feel a bit overwhelmed by how much more I have to go!

I folded it for the photos, it's to throw over our king size bed, so quite wide, my next one will be smaller!

Bought my copy of Mollie Makes yesterday, the little mice on the front are so cute!

There was a babushka doll keyring to make with it, I'm planning to cut one out for Imogen out of some material scraps, so we can make one each during the week, it's half term :)

Take care

xxx

Ribbon and Jars

I love ribbon, I love lots of things especially when they're crafty, and I do love a bit of gingham.

We had our kitchen changed a couple of years ago and it turned into a bit of a nightmare at the time. It's 'OK' now, the floor is crying out to be replaced, but it just doesn't make me feel how I'd like my kitchen to feel. In my quest to make it more 'me' I bought some mason jars for things that were previously in plastic containers and hidden in cupboards. I used some pretty red gingham ribbon and die cut some tags so I could label them, and now they're displayed on a shelf... looking pretty and freeing some more cupboard space.

Most spare time at the moment is taken with crocheting my yummy blanket, I'm so pleased with how it's looking. I'll take some more photos tomorrow to show you how it's coming along :)

Ooh, and last night hubby added a link to my Pinterest boards, beware though... it can be a time stealer!!!

Take care
xxx

Happy Hooking

I can't believe I left it so late to discover how wonderful crochet is and how happy it makes me :)

I started my chain, 300 chains in a gorgeous, rich plum colour. I laboriously did my chain, then the next pesky double crochet row, ready to do my favourite trebles. I changed from the plum to a pale lilac and started to notice that it was curling. I thought I'd done my chain relatively loosely, but it was definitely getting looser...

You can't really tell from the above photos, they just show how much I had to undo!!!!!! Hubby was saying it'll be fine, but it's my first Granny Stripe blanket, and I really want it to look lovely, so I undid it all... and started again...

This time I used a bigger hook. I used a 4 the first time, last night I used a 6 and a slightly smaller chain, 240 instead of 300 - still loads! After my chain and double crochet row, I switched back to my lovely bamboo 4 hook and... I was away, having lots of fun...

I took 2 photos, but paid the price of not using natural light, it shows how I'm getting along though. Lots more lovely colours to do, and I love how quickly it seems to be growing. I'd like it to go on our bed, so a long, long way to go... but I already know what's next... a mini one for my little niece and her dolls pram, I'm thinking with little pom poms sewn on :)

Take care

xxx

Birthday Books

As I said on my birthday, I had lots of lovely presents. I'm a bit of an Amazon fan, and while I love my Kindle to pieces (that was a Christmas present), I prefer to have my crafty books as 'proper' books I can stroke and flick through, this is where Amazon's wish list comes in handy for hubby :) I like that they let you have a few peeks online, and it's good to be able to see other peeps feedback - which can sometimes vary greatly!

Hubby had a good look on my wish lists, and I was thoroughly spoilt. I've been busy felting jumpers recently, so was thrilled with these

I found a lovely, very old, woolly blanket in a charity shop recently. I'm planning to use some of it to back some cushions now it's been felted. So far I have only flicked through these books, they need some proper grazing over when I have time, both look very scrumptious and inspiring though!

I bought some beautiful natural calico last week, and I'm very excited about doing some embroidery. I have a box full of embroidery threads from my many cross stitch projects over the years, and now I have a book full of patterns!

My last book is the second craft book from Kirstie Allsopp. I watched her television crafting shows, and while I don't think that all her crafting projects are available to everyone on a budget, there where also some beautiful crafts such as embroidery, felting, and baking that are! She has included some lovely recipes, and there are other items as well as those featured in her programmes. And I just love Kirstie anyway :)

Take care
xxx

Happy Colours

I haven't painted my nails for a while, and the last few times I've used a gorgeous, vibrant red. Today I opted for a varnish called 'Troll' (from George in Asda), hmmm, that's what I thought, but it's a lovely rich, deep colour with a matte finish and looks fab with some bright gold (looking yellow) flicks. I don't think the lighting is very good, but you can get the gist.

my thumb!

trusty bottle of George nail varnish

I'm all ready to start on my next crochet project, I'll be able to flick my new nails around as I do lots of hooking.  I wanted to start a Granny Stripe blanket as my next long term project, and felt really inspired by a thread on UKS all about them - it also means I'll have a place to go if I need help :)

The snow is falling thick and fast and has been doing all afternoon and evening, luckily we'd already been to the shop to stock up on some happy, pretty wool colours. These are what I plan to use for my Granny Stripe.

They look prettier in real life :)

Now I just need to get started on that pesky chain so I can enjoy the 'stripiness' tomorrow, curled up indoors away from that very cold snow!

Take care
xxx

Happy Birthday me!

I've had such a wonderful day, a family day with hubby, my gorgeous boy and beautiful daughter, and the doggies of course!
Imogen and Andy did lots of baking last night, she was in her element cooking with Daddy, allowed to choose what she wanted to make from her chocolate cook book - she chose chocolate brownie with marshmellows.

before baking

after baking

Andy made his yummy fruit scones again, and Imo iced her chocolate filled buns with the new icing set

There's quite a few cakes in the house now, including my birthday cake. I blew my candles out, made my wish, but then it was put in a tin for another day, perhaps a nice slice with a cup of tea tomorrow.

bit blurry!

Can you spot the little face peeking out from next to me?

I had lots of lovely presents, but I'll have to save that for another day.

Take care
xxx

Snow and bits of wool!

The snow arrived at last, and when it came, it really came (though not in last year's amounts). For us it was a good covering, Honey and Imogen were so excited, Honey was snuffling about, burying her nose... must have been so cold!

In the afternoon, Daddy took Imogen to the park - we really are so lucky to have such a gorgeous park so close to us. We've had the sledge for a few months now, and Imo was starting to worry she wouldn't get to use it. Even Daddy had a turn, and they both came home fresh faced and nithered!

While those two were busy freezing themselves, I stayed at home in the warm (I get a bit scared to go out when the weather's like this in case I slip, or my chair gets stuck), and started sewing in the ends from my crochet throw. I have to admit to putting it off as it seemed a bit of a daunting task - so many ends! I made a good start, and have consoled myself about the waste from all the small ends that get snipped off after securing by collecting them in a large mason jar.

I plan to collect odd snippets of wool, thread, ribbon and fabric throughout the year rather than throw them away, then with some water soluble paper and the sewing machine I plan to create my own unique fabric! I'm being inspired from this lady and the tutorial here, I came across the post when I was feeding my pinterest addiction.

It's my birthday tomorrow, and it's so good to have everyone together (son staying the night), and Imogen has done so much baking with Daddy that I'm not sure where it will all go - pics to follow.

Take care
xxx

Scones and Blankies

My fingers are aching, but I've finished my Granny Square blanket, just the right size to cover ones knees on a cold winter's evening (like now).  It's only the second item I've crocheted, and I love it, why didn't I pick up that hook years ago... it was always something on my 'to do' list. You can see the pile of squares in another post, just waiting to be crocheted together. Now my poor bed cardigan I started knitting before Christmas is being totally neglected! Anyway, back to the crochet... here it is... I made a little edge for it, not sure if it's very clear in the photo :)

After all that hard work, it was only right that I should celebrate with a nice cup of tea in one of my gorgeous china cups that we recently found in a charity shop whilst looking for woolly jumpers...

and enjoy one of the yummy scones that Andy had baked - he makes wonderful scones! Still a bit warm in the centre, with lots of jam... feeling very spoilt!

Take care
xxx