Pages

Thursday 29 February 2024

End of February

 Thank you for all the lovely kind messages on my last post, they meant a lot to me.   I got a call yesterday from the pet cemetery to say that Molly's ashes could be collected, so today I bought her home.  More tears on the drive home but her little casket is now in the cabinet along with Millie's.         I had thought I might bury them both together, when the weather permits, not sure yet, they were never outdoor cats, they liked to take a roam around our garden but neither one went off and didn't have a particular spot where they lay out there, they were always quite happy to be comfortable in home.       I'll speak to Mark at the weekend and get his thoughts.

This is the first time in my life that there has not been a cat or dog in the house.  It feels so very strange, and even though neither cats were vocal the house just feels so still and quiet, and now my lap is empty when I sit down, I miss them both so much, they will both always have a special place in my heart.  

There hasn't been a lot of crafting done this month, I haven't been in the right frame of mind; but I did finish my Stick6in24 stitching.


It's so small it hardly counts, but it's all I had the brain space for.

I'm afraid I can't remember the details except that it was a kit, it is a French design and came complete with the little wooden house shape to attach it too.

Manuela Pulled the No.1 for our next two month SAL, I have a design ready but not the threads or fabric, that's something I could do at the weekend.

I've been occupying myself this week with Spring cleaning, I've taken on a room each day and given everything a thorough cleaning, cushion covers and throws have been washed too and as of today all my windows have been cleaned inside and out, now we just need some Spring sunshine instead of this incessant rain!  The grass at the top of the garden is like a sponge and there are still puddles around the borders so not much chance of even tidying up in that area at the moment, at least some parts look like Spring has sprung.


February half term we took the kids to see Gaia at Tewskesbury Cathedral.


I'd also booked tickets for both myself and Mark to visit on the Saturday night


I had more time to look and listen to the sound track on the Saturday.  I found it really humbling, you realise just how big this planet of ours is and how very little is actually land, amazing.

I think I'll leave it there for now and hopefully pop back in again when I have something to share.

Take care
-X-

Friday 23 February 2024

Broken hearted


Yesterday, February 22nd, we had to say goodbye to our beautiful Molly.

We knew from just before Christmas that we only had a short time left with her, but these last couple of weeks we have seen how quickly she was loosing her strength.  It's been heartbreaking to see her decline.
We were blessed to have her for 18 years and she will be in our hearts forever, she was such a beautiful gentle soul who loved to be snuggled.  

She passed peacefully in my arms, hopefully knowing right to the end how very much she was loved.

It's not been a year since we lost our lovely Millie, 12 months this June and I still miss her lovely face and quiet nature.  We were lucky to have so many years with them both, although now it seems no time at all.  
Molly missed her little buddy too, there seemed to be a sadness to her after Millie was gone, she didn't seem the same.  Who knows, maybe now they will meet up again and snuggle together like they used to, I'd like to think so anyway.


Sleep tight my beautiful gentle girl 

-XX-

Monday 5 February 2024

What I made in January

Well that little blogging break was longer than I expected, no particular reason other than I just didn't really feel like it.  Now, because of my absence I have quite a few makes to share.

First up is Suzannah, my third Carriage House Samplings girl.   She was finished early last year but I only got round to taking her to be framed in November and by then the framers were so busy that I only got her back in January.


This is a terrible photo and doesn't do her justice.  The top of her dress looks to be in different coloured grey, It's not! In real life the colours are just fine.

Luckily they had the same frame used for my other two girls in the series, here's a close up.


I just have one more girl to stitch, Mary Margaret, and then I have all four.  I have all the supplies to start, just need the motivation.

January's stitching was all about the month of February.  I loved my little Winter bowl so much, (which was inspired by the lovely Carol), that I decided that I'd like a February/Valentine one, so this is what I stitched.


Above - Love You Too - by Hands On Design a 2023 freebie

Below - Love Is Kind - by Hands On Designs a 2019 freebie



Above - Hugs and Kisses - by With Thy Needle and Thread 
(part of the Love Notes collection)

Below Is a little Valentine freebie I found on Pinterest


And here they are all together along with a couple of fabric hearts I made to fill up the space.
The other two pieces are LHN February calendar girl and February flip-it by LK, both of which were stitched a few years ago.


January was also good for knitting.

The Birch Trees scarf by Julia Marsh is a free pattern on Ravelry.  I started it on December 29th and finished it on January 12th.  I absolutely loved every second of this knit and would definitely knit another one.  The yarn was from stash, it's undyed Falkland merino which I bought almost five years ago when I went to Yarndale.   It's unbelievably soft and squishy and will be lovely and warm.



My second knit is also neckwear, this is the Litmus Cowl, everyone and his dog has made this cowl and as usual I'm late to the party.  I cast this on when I went away with Joanne and the kids at the end of August, Joanne was doing the driving so It made perfect car knitting, I did get a good bit done on the drive there and back and managed to pick it up and do a few rounds now and again during the week. It was put to one side when I got home though and I didn't pick it up again until December. 
 
The yarn is again from stash which was bought at Yarningham two or three years ago with this cowl in mind.  The minis are called Spring Rainbow from The Crafty Bird the grey is Carrara Marble from Yellow Van Yarns.  I repeated the 10 minis twice, thirteen rounds for each of the colours and twelve rounds for the grey.  I've already worn this one quite a lot and it's another pattern I would happily knit again, perhaps in darker shades next time.


My very last finish for January was a pair of socks.

The Yarn is Opal, from their Beauty collection and Is really very soft and lovely to knit with.


So those are all my finishes for January, a good crafty month to start the year :-)

I hope you are all doing well and have had a good start to 2024, things are bumping along ok here, much the same as they always do.  I'll be back again before the end of the month to share my Stick6 finish and in the meantime I will try to catch up with blog reading, I'm way behind with that.

Enjoy the rest of February
-X-

Monday 1 January 2024

My year in projects

Happy New Year! 
 Lets hope its a good one for all.

I wanted to write a post over the Christmas period but I came down with Covid the day after my birthday then spent the next two day in bed.  It wiped me out for a couple of days, thankfully I feel better now.  The symptoms were not like I had before, I was congested with a tickly cough for a couple of days but I didn't lose my sense of taste or smell, I was however really exhausted, then by last night all my symptoms seemed to disappear, just as quick as they came.   I will test again in a couple of days to make sure I'm negative before I go anywhere near people, I know there are relaxed rules now but I still don't think it's fair to pass it on knowingly, you never know what health issues other people are dealing with do you?
My middle daughter Joanne also tested positive with the same symptoms as me although, she still has quite a cough but, surprisingly neither Mark or any of the rest of the family that were here over Christmas has had it.

Anyway, on to the makes......These are my last finishes for this year end, one pair of Christmas socks and the last stitched piece for the Stick6in2023

 I ran out of time to complete my socks to wear on Christmas Eve but I did finish them on Boxing Day, so still classed as a Christmas finish.  They are knitted in the Vintage Tinsel colourway by West Yorkshire Spinners.  This was their Christmas colourway from 2021, back then It didn't really appeal to me, then I saw someone knitting it up this year and thought It was beautiful, funny how we change our minds isn't it?

I used Amethyst, also by WYS, for the heels and toes and I love them!  You can't really see from the photo how sparkly they are, but take my word they do sparkle :-)


My Stick6in2023 piece for the months of November and December was finished just in the nick of time.  I must confess that I didn't much enjoy stitching this one, hence the amount of time It took me to finish.  Those snowflakes were a pain in the butt and I struggled to see, even with my magnifier, the 32 count fabric.  Still, It's done now and I love the way it came out.  
What you can't really tell from the photo is that the fabric I stitched on was blue and the finishing fabric is navy blue velour.

When I think of Winter by Puntini Puntini


I've really enjoyed taking part in this SAL hosted my Martina and Manuela, amazingly I managed to complete all six parts!   I'm already looking forward to joining in throughout 2024, thanks ladies for hosting.
*****************
Now that I've shared my end of year finishes it's time for a round up of everything I made during the rest of 2023.

There were ten pairs of socks 
Three sewing finishes, 
(I made two of the bags, one for Bonnie and one for her friend)
Two baby blankets
Twelve stitched finishes
Two jumpers
One cardigan
Four forgotten projects finished off, two were baby cardigans, one was crochet blanket and of course Albert the rabbit :-)
And last but not least, because they will be the most used, Thirteen dishcloths!



Phew! 

I stitched more in 2023 than I have for a few years and I really enjoyed all my projects, well except for the last one, lol.  I'll share some plans I have for 2024 another time as this post has gone on long enough, and If you are still here at this point, thank you for reading👍   

I'll say goodnight and leave you with a photo of my Winter bowl, the idea for which I shamelessly stole from the lovely Carol over at Stitching Dreams, I hope you don't mind my friend 😉
 

-X-

Thursday 28 December 2023

Well that was something different :-)

 Yesterday was my birthday and one of the gifts from my girls was a Bake Off experience.

Now I have only every watched one series of  Bake Off, I don't like cooking shows in general so when they told me we were going to be partaking in a Bake Off I was a bit dubious, as it turned out it was good fun 😁

The tent was set out as in the show and all the ingredients for the cake we were making was set out together with instructions.  We were on a time limit, just as the contestants of the show are, which I have to say is a bit nerve wracking, even though ours was for fun, you can imagine how the real contestants are put under pressure.


Our instructions were to make a three tier cake with meringue buttercream icing, a white chocolate Iglu, plus figures to sit in the Iglu.  I had never made meringue buttercream or any form made from chocolate, but the instructions were very clear and easy to follow. 

I teamed up with Joanne and Stevie and Jenny paired up, this Is the cake Joanne and myself made.


And a closer look at our figures, which Joanne made, I think she did a great job with them!

Our sponge was almond flavour with salted caramel flavour frosting tinged with blue colouring, coconut for snow and silver balls


Here is Jenny and Stevie's creation.



Their sponge was flavoured with almond and the buttercream with black cherry and decorated with coconut for snow and flaked almonds.

Time for the judging by the head baker,


We all had to carry our cakes to the front, just like the show, they are not allowed to taste so the cakes were judged on appearance and decoration.  So now would you like to know who won?

Well the winner was actually really good but then she revealed that two of the bakers were actually sort of semi pro, one of them worked at the place and another worked at a bakery, there were four in their team too.   I didn't get a photo of it but It's the cake on the back row, second in from the left.  Love how they did two tone buttercream.

BUT....Mine and Joanne's cake was awarded 2nd place
Stevie and Jenny were awarded 3rd place.

I'm very happy with that result 😁

I had lots of other lovely presents, including this one from my good friend Jo


Jo also gifted me these gorgeous goodies for Christmas.


Thank you so much Jo, I love everything 😍  
I've been wanting some stitch stoppers for a while and can't wait to put these into use.

Today I'm doing very little, I've stitched a bit, caught up with Call The Midwife and had some home made soup for lunch, the first proper meal I've eaten since Christmas Day, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been fueled by chocolate, mince pies and left overs in the last few days, ha ha.  I promised myself that I would go for some long walks to compensate, but the weather has been atrocious, the wind if fierce and the rain none stop and as much as I would like to get out I'm averse to getting wet and wind- swept, lol.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and enjoying these days in-between doing whatever it is you want to do.

-X-

Sunday 24 December 2023

All is Calm

After all the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks today has been surprisingly calm and relaxed.  I was up fairly early and made the stollen for the girls, It's become a bit of a tradition now that I make them gingerbread granola and stollen at Christmas.  I made the granola a couple of days ago and that Is already in their hampers with their other gifts.  

I also made some rustic looking sausage rolls, one batch with cranberry and one with caramelised onions, my taste tester tells me they are lovely despite their rustic appearance, lol


My Christmas cake is all ready too, I used Delia's Christmas cake recipe but instead of buying and soaking all the fruit I used a premade fruit/brandy mix from Lidl.  I did the same last year and it turned out lovely, fingers crossed this is too.


We had a couple of birthdays this week, my youngest grandson, Jacob, turned 4 on Thursday and my eldest daughter, Jenny turned 41 on Friday.  For Jacobs birthday Joanne had booked tickets for Winter Glow at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern.  We were all looking forward to seeing the lights and getting into the Christmas spirit, but it wasn't to be.  For a few days the weather has been very windy and because of that they had closed the light trail and the fairground.  Supposedly they had sent out emails but some didn't receive any notification that it had been closed.  We were told that we could exchange out tickets and go ice skating or perhaps come back over Christmas as the Winter Glow was on until January 6th.  It had taken us just over an hour to get there so we decided to give ice-skating a go. The kids enjoyed it, Bonnie was a bit nervous at first but she was ok after we'd been round a couple of times, just a shame we couldn't see the lights.


Jean, who blogs at shrimptonandperfect recently had a giveaway on her blog and I won!
I was so surprised when I read my name as the winner on her blog, It came at the right time to cheer me up too.
And look what came, a lovely card, book and christmas tree broach.


Isn't it pretty?  I'll be wearing this on Christmas day, thank you so much Jean :-)  I shall enjoy the book in the new year.


Well that's about it for now, I haven't done much blog reading over the last couple of weeks, Ill try and catch up on all your goings on in the next few days, 
There will be five, (mabe six) here for dinner tomorrow, Stevie, Darren, Joanne, me and Mark.  Stevie called to say that one of Darren's brothers is on his own tomorrow and could he come too, there's plenty to go round so that's ok.  Bonnie and Jacob are going to their dads to eat and then will come here late afternoon,  Jenny, James and the boys are eating at home and coming here in the afternoon too.  I'm really looking forward to the day now.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas

-X-

Monday 18 December 2023

flat out and in need of a break

Things have been so busy here with none Christmasy stuff that I haven't had time to enjoy anything Christmas related, and now we are steaming away towards the main event!   Ugh, it just feels like a slog this year, that's the way it goes sometimes though.

Finally we managed to get the bedroom decorating all done, the carpet was fitted last Tuesday and I have been working my way through sorting and putting stuff back the rest of the week, the furniture had to wait until Saturday when Mark was home to put things back together.  Still have the curtains to put back up, that won't happen until Friday as they are still at the drycleaners, but at least everything now looks fresh and clean. 

My middle daughter, Joanne moved house on December 1st so that was all hands on deck to help with the move and since then I've been going to hers most nights to help sort and put things in order.   It's been a long and emotional two years for her, (and for us too at times), but now, finally, she can start a new life, just her, Bonnie and Jacob.

There hasn't been a lot of time for crafting over the last couple of weeks but I did make time to sit down yesterday afternoon and finish another one of my forgotten projects.

This is Albert, (looking a little grumpy)


I'd purchased the kit for Albert when I went to Wool@J13 in 2019, I knitted both the back and front body parts fairly quickly after that, then everything got put away so there was still a fair bit of knitting to do to get him done.  I'm glad to have another project crossed off my list, although I may knit him another scarf, I think this one is a bit short

I've knitted two of these kits by Sardines For Tea now, I made the smaller Arthur rabbit for my grandson Arthur in 2020 which you can see here. 

I've crossed all the jobs off my list for today so I'm going to give myself the rest of the day off, once I've clicked publish on this post I'm making myself a coffee and plonking myself on the sofa, putting a film on and stitching, and I'm NOT going to feel guilty about it, lol

See you soon

-X-