Excitement!

Last night, whilst catching up on my favourite blogs I discovered that I had W-O-N a giveaway which I had entered a little while age - I actually won!

So, a set of fab Cable and Cotton lights will be coming my way.

Thank you to the lovely Gillian who writes Tales from a Happy Home - a blog which I really enjoy dipping into.

So much to catch up on...

Well it has been an age since my last post and that is due to just the sheer amount of time that has to go on all the other things in life like work, children, socialising with friends not on your doorstep, trying to make stuff for Christmas presents or the home and leaving the Blog life till the very last.

Since the last time I posted I have managed to have a WOO-HOO moment in finally finishing my Granny Stripe blanket!!!  Hurrah!  It has been gracing my bed as an extra snuggle layer since it's completion and getting daily praise from its creator on how lovely it is!! 
Ready...WOO-HOO...

 The slight frill to the edging was a complete fluke really but I quite liked it.  Considering it was my first time on creating an edging, anyway!

 Check out all those rows of lovely, colourful stripey-ness!

 Had to do an inner roll-up shot...

...and an outside roll-up shot - all the "pros" seem to do this! LOL!

Did I mention little peoples' birthday celebrations as one of the significant reasons for delays in appearing on Blog-land?  Well youngest one had his birthday party as a shared "do" with 2 other friends and we made a Hungry Caterpillar themed cake...

 40 iced cupcakes later with added frosting and glittery green sparkles and we were ready to assemble..

 My friend and mum to one of the other boys made the head of the caterpillar...

...we were quite proud of our efforts!


I have also been busy making some Christmas decorations, one of them being for the lovely Hazel who was my Christmas swap partner from Hooking with LaLa's idea for a swap (see side button). The idea and pattern comes from a great book "Scandinavian Stitches" by Kajsa Wikman. I LOVE this book! I've probably had it for more than 6 months  and have had a "To Make" list for ages. Finally achieved 2 projects from the book. One of them being these quirky little angels...

 Above is the front view of the angel made for Hazel...

 ...and back view!  And this was the state of the room in which these creations were made!!

Luckily, this is a spare guest room/craft room, so I am able to leave the mess and just close the door although I do have to make sure the littlest tinker in the house doesn't go in and fiddle with all the sharp pins and scissors!

I think Hazel likes it and I hope she (the angel not Hazel!) is hanging happily from her Christmas tree.

I have since made 3 more of these and did change the hair once I'd found some linen thread.  One has gone to my sister to grace her tree in sunny Cape Town and the other 2 are hanging around my house.  I may just do a blog give away in the new year and include one of them!?

And finally, to end my long post, I received my fantastic Christmas Swap goodie parcel from Hazel early December and was completely bowled over by the enclosed loveliness...

 Above is the box just opened (with great excitement and trepidation actually)...

 The array of lovely goodies including a homemade decorations and we had both agreed on a home baked item...

 Close-ups of some of the goodies...

 ...and more...how I've wanted one of those lovely Ness corsages!!!

 Absolutely scrummy tiffin which I nibbled at during play time tea breaks and whilst marking stories!!!  Kept my going I can tell you, Hazel but I'm sure I'm a few pounds heavier as a result!!

And a lovely handmade heart hanging on my dinky tree in the hallway greeting all our guests!  Thank you, thank you Hazel!  And I'm sorry it has taken me so long to share your thoughtful goodness and kindness with the people of Blogshere!

Merry Christmas to you all out there.  Lots of happy wishes and festive fun to all!

Catch Up!

Well...what an overdue catch up for me in blogging!  Have been very busy with work and home stuff like laundry chores, tidying, children routines, etc and MARKING...what a chore!  Nowhere near enough time dedicated to the more pleasurable pursuit of The Granny Stripe purely through lack of time and a "too tired" feeling taking over the compulsion to try and get it finished.  I did manage some rows at the tail end of the week and so the last round of colours is now finally underway.

The weather in my part of the world has been glorious and so uncharacteristic for this time of year.  It has been quite disorientating as we'd normally be coping with gloomier skies and chillier weather.  BUT I am not complaining.  Our summer was pretty mediocre really so this is all a bonus.  Yet these balmy conditions can make you seem lethargic - well me certainly!  What has been a bonus is that my lonely sunflower brought home from the (growing and nurturing) efforts of some of my class way back in the early summer did manage to flower.  I had really thought it would not achieve a flower but it has and it is proudly standing to attention facing south towards the sun!  So that has been a cheerful sight to see it unfurl its yellow, sunny petals.

My sunday roast mentioned in my last post was a success and the crackling on the pork joint a triumph and totally scrummy. 

Pork ready for the oven-sadly forgot to take a photo of the triumphant cooked version with oodles of crackling!

Melting the choc and butter

The chocolate brownie dessert also went down well, especially with the real vanilla ice cream accompaniment.  I did feel very proud of myself making this dessert from scratch.



Chocolate brownie just out the oven!

Ammonite inspired lighting down the promenade

Anyway, to make the most of the hot weather, we decided to do a family outing to Lyme Regis on Saturday.  It took us approx an hour and half in the car and we enjoyed a lovely drive through the countryside there (coming home the M5 on the way back).  As we approached the descent into the town itself I was struck by how lovely it looked with its very nice looking array of shops and tea shops, bunting zig-zagging across the main street and full of people enjoying a day out in the sun.  In fact, lots of people obviously had the same idea as us because as is usual for such days, parking was a nightmare.  However, we were lucky to get a spot to tie us over for an hour before the search and hunt for a new space was on.  The boys and I were able to chill on the pebbled beach while Dad had this chore to do! Hee hee!!!  We had an enormous amount of yummy chippies to eat whilst soaking in the sun, a splash and explore in the shallow waters, looking for unusal holey pebbles, then a stroll down the promenade.  I managed a sneaky peek into a couple of shops!  It was quite refreshing for us all to have a family jaunt out!  Orignally, we'd set out to try and find the Jurassic Coast where one can see fossils and traces of real, live dinosaurs from long, long ago!  But, we weren't entirely sure of the location so settled for just some relaxing time in Lyme Regis itself.

View from the sanded beach area looking possibly to the Jurassic Coast place

Had to show this fantastic cake made for my god-daughter's birthday last Sunday.  How awesome is that-not made by me sadly but a very talented baker who I work with.

Well, that's my catch up in brief.  Hope to be back later with more progress in The Stripe. 

Have a good week!

Pottering.

Well another weekend has come around already.  Saturday so far has been one of pottering, perusing blogs and sorting some drawers.  (The smaller people in my house being quite happy amusing themselves - hurrah!)  That is when you realise actually I do have rather a lot of clothes...how many long sleeved stripey t-shirts and short sleeved ones?!  So why is it that we all get days where we feel and say "I have nothing to wear!".  I'm thinking to purge my guilt of recent spend-athons that I should ebay or charity shop some stuff.  But that means having to make some hard-hitting choices of what might never really be worn/used in the foreseeable future.  I have to say that I'm usually of the school of thought that if it hasn't been worn or used in the last 12 to 18 months then it should go.  My short-sleeved t-shirts (well a lot of them) fall into that category.  Yet that may be because our summers haven't really been that marvellous for the last few years.  The handbag basket trunk...quite a few there haven't had an airing for some time but I do find it hard to apart with my handbags-they're one of my guilty pleasures!  Like shoes for some women!  Think this will need to be mulled over before I take or not take the plunge of being ruthless. 

The quilt in reds has all been completely stitched together (thanks to my mum who was staying for a few days) and a kins size red flat sheet has been bought to be the backing layer (much cheaper than buying fabric by the metre).  So now I have to purchase the wadding and quilting thread.  This I'm going to do by hand....could be a long, long time as a WIP.  It does look lovely and comforting and looks very nice on my bed and in the bedroom.

Later on from above....

....I came down from a lovely lie-in this morning to find my lounge like this...LOL...

....did some baking...cupcakes which I've not made in ages.  The photo was taken after about 6 were quickly devoured!  Planning to make chocolate brownies later to be a dessert for sunday lunch tomorrow with friends.  Baking does make you feel good, doesn't it?

And some shots of THE Granny Stripe as a nearly finished work in progress-yippee!  I have enjoyed making it and have certainly speeded up my crochet doing those stripes.  Having just taken the photo of it laid out on my bed, I think that one more complete section of all the colours will be the size needed.  Then it will be what colours to edge in and what kind of scalloped border I'd like on it.  Need to make that my focus now in the evenings if I'm not too whacked from the school day and marking work!

Now, can you see the next WIP that I started once I'd finished my Japanese flower motif wrap...I like to have something small that I can crochet if I'm a tad weary of the stripe-athon of the Granny Stripe blamket.  It is going to be another blanket!!  I can see that my house may become a haven for snuggly, colourful crochet works of art! LOL!

Happy weekend to you all!

xxx

Woo-hoo!

Yikes...I am terrible at this blogging myself but far too good at reading those of others. 

Well the summer holidays have passed again and it is back to school for me.  Feeling fairly organised for this starting academic year but the pressure will be on.  I need to be disciplined at getting the marking done in school time (or as much as is possible) and be super organised with the teaching resources I need for lessons!  Diary and new diary/notebook by my side with lists to draw up and then gleefully tick off!  Oh such aspirations.

Finished my Japanese flower motif wrap this summer...I'm rather pleased with it although haven't yet worn it out for any type of occasion.  Am just over half way through the Granny Stripe blanket and it is looking G-O-O-D!  However, I couldn't resist starting another crochet project...the flowers in the snow blanket albeit in the cream for me...white although lovely...maybe a little stark for my colour scheme.  Pictures to follow.

I also (with oodles of sewing help from my talented Mum) have made great leaps forward with my quilt of reds.  The squares sewn in 4s adorn my little spare room/crafting space ready to be sewn together to make the quilt topping...I am L-I-K-I-N-G it very much.

The quilt in reds laid out for sewing together

Slow!

Well this blogging isn't that frequent from me at the moment.  I spend far too long perusing the many blogs I have in my favourites. 
Not much progress to report on the crocheting but a few photos...

...this is Crochet Corner or Hook Haven...haven't decided which one I like best.  Could I come up with any more alliterative name ideas?  This spot is more of a decorative feature as it isn't the most comfortable chair to nestle into and really get on with serious hooking time.  That tends to take place in a corner of the L-shape sofa.  However, it is rather comforting to look at with the baskets of WIP...

...this is the collection of yarn which is now making up the Granny Stripe-all of Lucy's collection in her colour choices but I suspect very different in the combination of colours in the rows.  It started of well and over half term week I achieved most of this....

...I'm mighty proud of it so far.
But then I stumbled across The Flower CAL and my attentions and focus on the Stripe have been somewhat diverted to this...

...the flower motif which has hit the crochet blogsphere by storm it would seem.  This is my very first attempt following a diagram pattern no less- and me an amateur!   It was pretty easy going doing it all in one colour but 3 colours is what I intend to make them in...

...and these two beauties are the very beginnings of possibly a shawl/wrap rather than a blanket.  Blues will again be my main wardrobe colour theme for the summer this year so it will do nicely thank you in a combination of some of these blues and greys!



Phew!

What a crazy, manic day back to school today!  Glad to be home but sadly too tired to even pick up the hook and yarn.