For the Boys

Thank you for the lovely comments regarding my dad. After the dreadful mix ups by the hospital last week, the lovely Macmillan nurse has taken it all in hand and has it under control so my mum doesn't have to worry about ringing around trying to sort appointments out or chase things up.

Time has gone by in a flash, as it often does. It's only 5 1/2 weeks until our grandson is due to arrive in the world, although I think that has passed much quicker for us than it has for Adam and his girlfriend, isn't that usually the way though! They spent last weekend decorating the nursery, I haven't seen it yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing some photos when it's finished.

My latest make for the expected arrival, is a cardigan. I really enjoyed making it as it was a pattern I used when I was expecting my own son. I hadn't realised I still had the pattern, but found it when having a bit of a declutter!

It's a nice simple pattern and didn't take long to make in some soft, double knit yarn I already had.

I think it's quite sweet and I also have the memories of Adam wearing the ones I knitted for him many years ago.

Here's a picture of Adam in one of the cardigans I knitted with the same pattern. I remember making them in lemon and a mint colour as I didn't know if I was having a son or a daughter. I can hardly believe this little baby is 29 and about to have his own baby!

I forgot to show the card I made for my husband, Andy the other week. I haven't made a card for a while so thought it would be more personal if I did. I've had these marker pens for quite a few years and some are past their best now, so thought I should get some more use from them before they give up on me.

A rubber stamp of a little boy going to play cricket, just as Andy did when he was young.

I enjoyed making it. My craft room has had a transformation and is a pleasure to be in, but I think I'll save that for another post.

Take care
xxx

A Bed of Roses and a U.F.O.?

Thank your all the lovely positive comments about my dad it's very appreciated. My parents are having a terrible time that is unfortunately being exacerbated by my dad's hospital notes being mislaid and the wrong appointments being given as well as other administrative errors. As a patient with grade 3 cancer and an urgent heart condition, this is very upsetting.

How is everyone managing in this not very British heat? Despite hearing on the news today that it's been the hottest June day since 1976, we in East Yorkshire haven't had the sunniest of days. Cloud cover arrived yesterday with a drop in temperature, still a bit humid, but not really sunny and now it's raining... I hope that wasn't summer!!

This is becoming my go to place when I need to identify a plant, thus the title referring to an unidentified flowering object (my U.F.O.). I picked up these little beauties in Lidl, they weren't labelled and I have no idea what they are.

 My other strange plant could be anything, they seem to have appeared in the last few days in a few different places, but don't look like weeds?

I would be so grateful if someone could identify them so I have an idea what to do with them.


I'm so thrilled with my climbing roses, 'Compassion', it's so fragrant and there are so many blooms on it. My other rose is a rambler, 'Albertine', no flowers this year, but it's grown much more than the climber has.

The Californian Poppies are starting to flower, beautiful cups of orange sunshine.

There are pretty, little flowers on some of the pond plants too and the fish are definitely thriving, nearly doubled in size since we bought them. I love how they come up to say hello and eat their food when I feed them each day.

The sweetcorn is growing well, there are a few 'corn on the cobs' wrapped tightly under their leaves, so hopefully we'll be eating fresh sweetcorn by the end of the summer.

Our first potatoes, there's about 4lb here.

I hope we get to spend some time out there tomorrow. We're picking our DILs daughter up from school and I'm hoping we can play in the garden and maybe eat out there too, we'll have to see what tomorrow brings.


Take care
xxx

What's Going On?

The answer to that is lots! My dad has had his first operation to deal with the cancer and is slowly (and painfully) recuperating at home. Hopefully it has all been removed and we're going onwards and upwards, though the day before he went for the operation, his Macmillan nurse rang to wish him well and also let them (my parents) know that the scans he'd had had all shown clear except for a small mass on his adrenal gland, which may or may not be nothing, but will have to be investigated. So that is something else to be done before dad has his heart operation to fix his leaky heart valve. One step at a time, one day at a time.

Meanwhile, up in Yorkshire not as much is going on as there should be. I have a few projects on the go, but the only thing I've managed to get finished this week is my book! I finished it earlier while waiting for the plumber to come and fix our shower (the second time within a fortnight), it really isn't the weather for the shower to decide to stop working - very hot and sticky here.

I was near the end and wanted to find out how it would wrap up as it had such good reviews, but it didn't 'grab' me like I'd hoped it would.

What Alice Knew by T. A. Cotterell was written from Alice's viewpoint. A successful artist, happily married to her successful husband with two children with a happy life, until..... her husband goes missing and odd things start happening. The author spent a great deal of time talking about art and the artists view of life, which I'm afraid was a little lost on me. I saw the ending twist coming, so no big surprise for me there either. I'm sure many people will love the language and descriptions, but it wasn't a favourite read for me and I'm not sure I'd read another book from this author.

So while I was busy finishing off my book, I wasn't busy finishing off my crafty projects. This is what I have underway at the moment.

Only 8 weeks until my sweet grandson comes into the world and here are parts of a quilt I'm making for him. The middle of the front is ready and I have some lovely, brushed cotton for the sides and back.

This project is some oilcloth material cut to make bunting for the garden, it just needs sewing onto some tape and it'll be ready to hang outside. I also cut some small pieces to hang around the fairy garden.

On my crochet hook, or just off it as it's now just waiting to be sewn together, is another grandbaby project. Here are lots of little stars waiting in a pile to be sewn in place.

This is where my stars will be shining, on this blanket that will soon be ready for my baby's baby!

Hopefully my next post will have finished projects show you!

I hope everyones's enjoying the weather whatever you have and you're having more success finishing off your projects than I am right now.

Take care
xxx

Bit of Upholstery

It hasn't stopped raining all day and yesterday was on and off most of the day as well. I've been keeping myself busy catching up with some chores I've neglected while I've been warming myself in the sun reading my books.

I bought this footstool in a charity shop a while ago and always intended to recover it. It gets used every day and is nice and comfy for my legs.

I started by turning it over and unscrewing the legs, nice, easy start.

There were staples all the way around, some took a bit more of a pull than others to remove. Can you see the 10 holes in the bottom? 4 of them are from where I unscrewed the legs, the other 6 are from the button on the front being pulled through and stapled in place.

Ugh, look at the mess, I can't believe we've been using this! I removed the buttons and threw them away.

Andy popped round the corner to get me some foam to replace the existing cushion. It was rather expensive so I decided to order some online instead. I only had to wait 2 days for it to arrive so it was worth it.

Some fabric to match the rest of the room and neutral enough for into be used in other rooms.

I wasn't expecting it to be this bad, the existing foam had disintegrated quite badly leaving a horrible mess, I didn't realise until I removed the outer fabric.

The foam I'd ordered only came in already cut sizes so was a little bit large. I placed the bottom over it and marked a line with a pencil then cut it with a knife.

Cut the fabric a bit bigger than I needed then wrapped it over and used my upholstery stapler to fix it securely in place.

I already had some uncovered buttons with shanks, so used small pieces of the same grey fabric to cover them.

I covered 6, but decided to use 4. When they were in place I used a left over piece of fabric, cut it to size, folded a tiny hem and stapled it over the bottom to hide any rough edges and stapes.... with little marks so I knew where to put the legs back in.

All finished and looking quite smart in the sitting room. The new cushion has made it a much firmer surface and it looks like new... and it's clean.

Hope everyone is keeping dry, what's everyone else been up to?

Take care
xxx