Isn't Summer Wonderful

I am so happy that Summer has finally arrived and I have finally been able to enjoy my garden I sat out all afternoon yesterday with my crochet enjoying the heat.  I spent the time working on a project for a lovely girl at work who is expecting and is due to go on maternity leave on the 21st June, I have managed to yet again give myself a challenge to the end as it is still not finished ... eek so I am currently spending all my spare time trying to get this done.

I have given myself a target that I am not going to start any new projects until I have finished at least one project as I am a serial starter this is going to be a challenge for me.  I have promised my sister that once I have finished this baby blanket that I will finish her blanket which is now coming along quite nicely although we have just decided that the original size I was making it to just wasn't quite long enough for her so whilst I thought that I was nearly finished this project I have a couple of extra rows to add.  It is actually a little larger than this now I just haven't took a picture recently (and trying to hide it from my two furbabies is becoming a challenge, for some reason they love it and keep pulling it out of the bag I have it stashed in, I have come in from work on a couple of occasions to find the bag tipped over and balls of wool everywhere they don't bother with my other stuff just this one very strange)

I also thought seeing that I'm in such a good mood I would share a long on going project I have been working on this for about a year now and this one is all for MEEE as I keep giving away everything that I make.  I decided since it was all mine to treat myself to Patons 100% Cotton DK with one ball of Wendy Supreme (a lemon colour which is now discontinued and was expensive to get one ball I am blaming my mum as she gave me a odd bit of the colour with an odd bit of the blue you see below also discontinued and they inspired the project) I bought a whole array of colours, with no clear idea other than colour colour colour I just to start putting colours together until a pattern formed.

First there were two...

and then there was more....

I started bringing them all together with white which I think brings out the colours beautifully

The blanket will be 160 squares all together when finished I have a set of 20 different colour squares and then the same colours reversed (as shown in the picture of the first two) making up 40 square in one full set and I have repeated them 4 times making up 160 squares.  I will say that one thing I have learnt is that if I started another one I would sew in the ends as I go, I think have spent approx. 4 weeks so far just sewing in ends and they are not finished yet really hard work but I think it will be all worth it in the end as it is a true keepsake blanket, it is very heavy and is only half finished at the minute I would be very curious to weigh it when I'm finished.  This is my second set of 80 squares with one set already completed and joined with the white.

I thought I would leave you with an update remember the messing spare bedroom with skirting hanging off and holes in the wall

Before

and Ta Da after

And my Jane Austen finally made it onto the wall in my newly decorated room it looks perfect

I have to still have to decide on covers for my cushions.  Also the curtains didn't come with any tie backs I have been struggling to come up with an idea and cannot seem to find anything I like for them so if anyone can help with ideas I would welcome them as I am super stuck

Here's to blogging and new projects

I haven't been blogging for a while now and I decided it was time to get back into blogging more regularly.  Things have been busy for me since last year I have now started my long over due divorce which I am finding very emotional I didn't part on good terms with my ex and I find it very difficult to have contact with him, there have been a few anxiety attacks which I thought I was past but having contact with him has brought all the upset and emotions back to the surface.  Also I am tired all of the time and I cannot decide if I am deficient in something, emotionally drained or the dark and cold are making me feel more tired or maybe it is just a mix of everything, I think maybe a health check at the doctors might be in order.  I started a Yoga class last night which I really enjoyed and made me feel full of energy so maybe I'm just lacking in exercise mmm....  It was a lovely class there was only three of us in the class which made it a little more personal I am looking forward to going again next week.

I haven't been stitching at all I seem to have lost my stitching mojo to my crochet mojo, I am holding Hazel completely responsible for teaching me.  Everyone has been getting blankets I think I am driving everyone insane.  If in doubt make them a blanket.

I started and have now just finished with the exception of sewing in the ends on the black, this blanket for my lovely friend and work colleague Maxine, she is always oooing and aaaing at my projects when we have our girly wine nights, I decided as a birthday treat to make her a blanket based on colours in a vase she has in her home, it was as I said a birthday gift unfortunately it has become a little belated now as her birthday was the 9th Jan but I have shown her the blanket and I'm happy to say loves it.

Now the problem with learning to crochet is that you start projects for yourself and then they go out of the window when family requests start coming in.  It is my sisters birthday on the 9th March and guess what she wants for her birthday ??? a blanket to go in her newly decorated purple bedroom, so after pondering over purple wool and roaming the internet for ideas I came up with this

I found the pattern on a great blog The Adventures of the Gingerbread Lady it is a Crazy Patchwork Klimt Blanket although mine is a little less on the crazy side as I only had 5 colours to work with for my sisters project.

As I have mentioned in some of my previous blogs I have an ongoing saga with unfinished projects in my lovely home, I split with my husband before a lot of things could be finished.  So onto my latest homey project, I have found after inspecting rooms around the house that jobs I thought were finished are not what they appear, example I moved out a wardrobe in my spare bedroom and the skirting board fell off it would appear that rather than fixing the skirting to the wall my husband would just use furniture to hold them up DEEP BREATH so the lastest project is now my spare bedroom, so I thought I would delight you all with pictures of my very messing dumping ground

I am hoping in the next couple of weeks this will become a beautiful haven for my lovely guests to stay I am using Cath Kidston's beautiful flower designs as an inspiration

Well thats all from me for now sorry for the lack of excitment I promise to try harder on my next post, hopefully my blogging mojo will be back in force

I'm back !!!

Hey everyone sorry I haven't been posting in a while I just some how couldn't find the energy, too much work.  I have posted up some charts that I am selling under the For Sale tab at the top I was having a late spring clean.

I haven't been stitching much at all I started and finished a chart for a girl at work for her new home which she was very pleased with I cannot seem to find a picture although I am sure that I have taken one, I have one more to do for her which I will get done before Christmas.  I have a agreed to start a SAL in October to stitch Good Tidings by Sampler Girl to match my other piece At home with Jane Austen with Hazel and Tina which I am hoping will motivate me to get stitching again, fingers crossed.  I always have lots of plans I just don't seem to have enough time to put it all into motion.

Found a picture I knew I had one it is a Lizzie Kate design as you can probably tell



Hazel taught me to crochet earlier in the year whilst I was visiting I have been wanting to learn for a while now but just couldn't seem to find the patience, but something seemed to just click while I was there and I have been addicted ever since probably why I haven't been motivated with my stitching so I have a few projects on the go everyone is getting blankets for Christmas ha ha ha

For my mum

For my Dad and his Wife

  Not sure who this one is for I started it as a test maybe I'll sell it if it turns out ok

Oh before I forget I finally got my At Home with Jane Austen framed (the beautiful blanket in the back ground was made by Hazel)

 Thanks for looking hope everyone is well and enjoying life.

Hows about an update

Well I have had an active month this month.  I thought my washing machine had broke I was all stressed out about having to go and buy a new one I had a look online picked one out switched my old one off at the wall, however when I switched it back on again it started working Wooo Hooo so no new washing machine, I'm guessing my old one is on it's way out but if I can get a few more months out of it I'll take it.

I don't know if I have told anyone but Hazel about the stress and misery of my french doors on the back of my house, well here's the tale (Sorry it's long winded please bear with me) about 4 years ago just before I split up with my ex we had new double glazed windows and french doors fitted, however the company who fitted them went into the red and stopped trading before I could get the snagging work done.  One of the major snags was that my back doors wouldn't lock when they where both closed together, very strange as they would lock separately, so after brute force and ignorance we got them closed never opening them again for the fear of not getting them locked again.  So over the past couple of years I have tried to claim back through the insurance for the windows with no success just being passed around to different companies.  So on Saturday past I lost my temper it was a lovely sunny day I had my back garden done last year and I wanted to be out of my french doors I enjoy my garden so after throwing a full scale tantrum I opened them ... eek big mistake and panic as I couldn't them get them locked again, so as you can imagine stress and hair pulling soon followed, until I had a brain storm (they don't happen often honest it was a big deal) I thought maybe there are people out there that fix double glazing (no I'm not blonde) so I pulled out the yellow pages and started flicking and low and behold there was, so after a short phone call, a quote on Monday evening and then another visit on Tuesday evening my doors are fixed.  So after 4 years of not being able to open my doors I can finally get them open to enjoy my garden, I think the guy who fixed the doors thought I was mad I was jumping about going YAAAY, it has totally confused the cats they don't know which door to meow at lol.  I would just like to say I am so grateful that there are people out there like the guy who fixed my doors (and a leaky bow window) he didn't over charge me and was a genuinely nice person, I think sometimes we can forget that there still good people out there I have become so critical of people over the past few years because of things that have happened to me and it really helps to restore my faith in people.

Right now onto the important stuff.  Firstly I would like to apologise to Lisa, I haven't forgot about the ribbons and bits I promised you life and work has completely taken over, I promise I will have them posted in the next couple of weeks I have even found an envelope big enough I have no excuse I will pull my finger out.

Now stitching the WIPocalpse went out of the window I just didn't have time to get any stitching in so unfortunately I missed the post date.  So I have been working at my own pace on things, I have really gotten into working on my HAED's at the minute.  I have managed to finish page 1 and page 8 of my Queen of Hearts by Rachel Anderson and 1 full page of Tears of Yesterday by Zindy Nielsen

Queen of Hearts

Tears of Yesterday (I haven't took another pic since finishing page 1 as I went straight onto page 2)

WIPocalypse - 9th January and other bits and pieces

Here is my first full moon progress posting for the WIPocalypse

I managed to finally finish my At Home with Jane Austen by Sampler Girl this was a SAL I started with a group of online stitchy friends of course they all finished theirs a very long time ago, but I guess better late than never, my first happy dance of 2012

I also started In the Meadow (Jane Austen) by Sampler Girl, this is lovely to work on it is stitched with DMC threads on 28ct Sand - Quaker Cloth

My Mary Wigham was looking at me from the bottom of my stitching basket so I decided I would also add this to the SAL

Before Picture

After Picture

Well that is all I got up to for the minute I don't think it was a bad start for me, hoping to have more progress next month though

Other Bits and Pieces

Here are some other things I have been up to this month.  I managed to finally make up my Wish design by Shepherds Bush I finished this a good couple of years ago but I have been running scared from my sewing machine, my mum came across last week and helped me to set it up and show me the basics, nothing to it really although I do hold my breath when I push the pedal down.  Not too bad I don't think though for my first sewing machine finish and I some how managed to match the fabric on either side of the stitching don't ask me how it was a total fluke.  I have two other charts in this series Love and Snow I am hoping to make them up in the same way so I have a cute little set of cushions.

I also started this little design it is the letter T from the Monogram Hornbook chart by Kelmscott Designs I fell in love with this chart after seeing it on Sally's Blog not much done on this one yet but it shouldn't take long to finish off.

I am also working on a knitted blanket I am knitting up different squares to stitch together I have 27 squares so far and I need 256 so not many to go, I will show some pictures at a later date as it is still a working progress at the moment.

Also Hazel visited this week it was lovely to catch up with her we spent a couple of days stitching, chatting and watching Pride and Prejudice, we also visited the seaside and exchanged Christmas gifts

Hot Chocolate at the Seaside

Thank you to everyone who commented on my post for the quilting I have found a local company called The Fat Quarters who do workshops, they replied with a lovely email saying they have beginners workshops

Learning How to Quilt

I have decided that I would like to learn how to quilt in 2012.  I have no idea where to start and was wondering if anyone out there could pass on any details/knowledge i.e. links to books that may be of use or just any words of wisdom that would help me get on my way

Thank you in advance for any help.

WIPocalypse

Another new start to add to my list for 2012

In the Meadow (Jane Austen) by Sampler Girl