Monday 29 April 2013

Are you sitting comfortably?

Finished another crochet item...

super quick cushion using scraps from my throw (plus white) and granny squares again.

Oooo how I love Grannys!
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Sunday 28 April 2013

Photo a Day

A much better week weatherwise......more springlike pics this week!

21st April; This was the day I took you on a walk and these are some of the lambs! Quite big now but still after a quick drink when they can grab one!

22nd April; Well it MUST be spring now. As I walked across the grass I noticed that all of a sudden there was a rash of daisies! They seem to pop up quickly and just get growing when along come the mowers and chop them all down.

23rd April; The magnolia that was in bud a few days ago opened out fully today as it was gloriously sunny and warm. Such stunning flowers...

24th April; however, today the temperature dropped again and sadly this mist didn't really burn off.

25th April; Another misty morning but I recklessly chose summery shoes and for once I was rewarded with another gloriously warm, sunny day

26th April; Another one of my mammoth driving evenings where I drop Jasper at the Scout site to do site management for the weekend and then I drive 16 miles across country to collect Katy from her orchestra rehearsal. Tonight however I stopped on the Ashdown Forest just as the sun was setting.

27th April; Look! I planted my veg seeds! Not a lot to look at now but in a few weeks this will be radishes, beetroot, turnips, rocket and lettuce.
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Saturday 27 April 2013

Come for a walk with me...

I live in a town, a small town but a town none the less. And in that town I live on a housing estate, a big one and yet in moments I am right in the country. Last weekend I took the dogs out and for once I actually appreciated where I live.

So I came out of my back gate and up the alleyway...

..at the top of the alley are the garages so I go down this slip road and

cross the main road that runs through the estate,

down this pathway between the rows of houses. I am heading for those trees in the distance....

...so I now have turned left and I come to this gateway into the woods.

This path takes me under the trees that are just beginning to bud and soon this will be a thick carpet of bluebells on either side of the path.

At the end of the woods it opens out into a huge field where I pause to look back towards the woodland.

I walk down the field which is full of lambs at the moment. Luckily my dogs just ignore them.

At the bottom of the field I cross this bridge over the river,

I saunter through the wood again and then re-cross the river. Now it is a trickle and full of kingcups,

before finally reaching the path that takes me back up to the estate once more.

Back up through the houses,

over the road and past the garages

and back down the alley to home.
Last Sunday it was a beautiful day so I really took the time to appreciate just how lucky I am to live where I do. It might not be grand, it might not be huge and it might not be the poshest end of town but it's home and I love it!
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Sunday 21 April 2013

Life continues...

Come and share my week with me once more!

14th April; Loved the raindrops on the petals of these primroses.

15th April; Jasper found this old pogo stick in the shed! He has been the only one who could ever manage it!

16th April; I decided that as I now like my glasses I would wear them to work!

17th April; I walk past this magnolia every day as I go into school and gradually those furry buds are opening.

18th April; today was a blustery day. Oh my the wind was really roaring in the poplar trees that are at the bottom of the school field and it whipped the children into a frenzy too.

19th April; Today I took my Minibus driving permit.....and I passed!

20th April; I did a little bit of digging in my veg box today to try and get it ready for planting. It was chock-a-block with worms and leatherjackets so I let the hens out for a forage. They went bonkers, gobbling up the worms like mad.Some people say you shouldn't let hens eat too many worms (as they can give them worms apparently) but how can I deny them such pleasure when they are just doing what hens do naturally!
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Wednesday 17 April 2013

Garden Flower Throw

So another holiday has drawn to a close and I am now back at work for 6 weeks until half term so all bulk crafting slows down! But I did manage to finish a few projects over the hols as I have shown you.
Now for the last thing I finished, my garden flower quilt, shamelessly lifted from Attic24 and adapted slightly for my taste.

I adopted a more systematic approach to this throw, using up my scraps from the rainbow throw but actually allowing myself to buy some too. I chose thirteen colours. There were fourteen but the last was too light and didn't go,so I left it out. First I made lots of middles (the small circles) then I randomly did another round (larger circles) before making them into either a turquoise or a lime green square.

These were joined into a fourpatch by crocheting them together as I went, again a technique I learnt from Attic 24. I edged each fourpatch with dark purple and then with lighter purple. I'm sure my Mum (and Burnice) would call it "mauve" but that colour doesn't exist in my palette, much like beige, so I shall call it light purple!
Next I joined these fourpatches together with dark purple again to form the throw which is 6x6 squares.

For the first time ever I thought I would try a border so I chose four colours from the centre and added four rounds in magenta, light blue, pinky purple and royal blue.

Finally the piece de resistance....a scalloped border no less, again from Attic 24 and VERY slow to crochet but fabby once done!

So there it is...rubbish pic as it's been used and rumpled and it's too bright in my lounge to take a good shot.

I love the border and it was well worth the hours.

The colours are so me too,

and it is going to live here, on the back of my sofa.

Need to cover those brown cushions now and get new curtains!
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Tuesday 16 April 2013

Can you guess what it is yet?

Remember this?

From instructions I found on the 'net I made a pattern.

I had to work some gathering threads.

Lots of pins needed to attach that to the main part.

Stitching it and then a jolly good press.

A little bit of zigzag topstitching.

Bit more hidden topstitching around the top.

TAH DAH!!!
Did you guess what it was?

Not great with a brown jumper but I think it will look really lovely in the summer with a white T-shirt, or maybe a bright green.

Been a VERY long time since I made myself anything to wear but I really enjoyed this. I might be tempted to make a summer dress.....
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