The madness begins

 I popped to Home Bargains yesterday for a few toiletries and cleaning supplies and it was absolutely rammed, not one trolly left.  Luckily I didn't need that much and managed with a basket, I was glad to get out of there and back home, I don't know if it's an age thing but I find all this last minute panic buying and excess food shopping so ridiculous.  I feel overwhelmed just seeing the amount of food in some peoples trollies

I'm still not feeling the Christmas spirit, (did you guess, lol).  

I'm just waiting for a couple of presents to arrive by post and then I can start the wrapping next week, the spare room looks like Santa's grotto and the house feels like its groaning under the weight of all the extra things, does anyone else get that overwhelming feeling that the house is too full this time of year?  or is that just me?

My tree finally got decorations but I haven't unpacked any of my stitched ornaments this year, now I'm thinking It's not worth bothering this late in the month, everything will be taken down on New Years Eve anyway so I will just be making more work for myself.   

 Sorry, I don't know why I'm being such a misery guts about Christmas this year 🙄

Dee noticed my Christmas cactus last time, I actually have two plants.  This is the largest and is about ten years old, not as many flowers as last year but it's still a good show.

This is a baby of the one above, I think I knocked a stem off the big plant one time, they sprout roots so easily if popped into some water.  I think there is a flower on almost every stem this time, so pretty.

We are still enjoying our advent jigsaw, we are all up to date now and half way there already! We are going to take it in turns and do a day each now until Christmas Eve, It's been something different, a bit of calm and quiet in a busy time.  I'll post a photo of it once it's completed.

-X-

Jigging along

Arty stayed over on Friday and stayed until tea time on Saturday, Jenny James and Oliver went to a football match, they do go quite regularly and Arty is not really into football so stays here when they do.

The weather was damp and horrible so we only went into town for a mooch round, he found a meccano set in a charity shop for £2, it was brand new and unopened, bargain, he came home happy with his find and Mark helped him put it together before he went home.  

I'd been looking at Christmas jigsaw puzzles but didn't know if we'd complete it, all those pieces can make me feel a bit overwhelmed, but then I spied an advent calendar jigsaw in the same charity shop for £3, couldn't pass that up could I?

Inside the box was 24 little boxes 😊

I don't think It had ever been completed, or if it had they were very gentle with it.

My brain can cope with the small amount of pieces in these boxes (about 41 -ish) and you feel as though you have accomplished something.

We are playing catch-up but have done three days worth so far and Mark is working locally now until Christmas so I'm sure we will catch up in a couple more days. 

Oh and the football, Villa won so everyone had a good day 😉

-X-

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well sort of.  

The tree is up but not decorated, all the Christmas decoration boxes have been stacked in the conservatory since Saturday waiting for me to find my enthusiasm to start, but I can't shake the 'can't be bothered' attitude.  But I know already that most things will stay in the boxes this year, as I get older as well as getting grumpier (ha ha), I'm also finding I want less 'stuff' around me. 

Anyway, I haven't been around for a few weeks and I've probably put most of you off reading the rest by moaning 🤣 

Yesterday was my middle daughter, Joanne's birthday, she turned 38.   The girls have money for birthday's, they are all grown and can go and treat themselves or put the money towards something.  She has Wednesday's off work so we went into town, lunch and cake was on me and she also picked out a couple things she wanted for Christmas, we also got some bits for the kids stockings.

I also made her a cushion, which wasn't for her birthday really but as It's Christmas/Winter, it was the right time to give it to her.  She bought a cushion front years ago and never got round to making it, when she moved and was having a clear out she gave it to me saying that she would probably never get round to It.  That was two years ago and I've just got round to it 🤭

I had to buy the piping but that's all, the backing fabric was also in with what she gave me, I think it was once a shirt of hers, and the inner pillow I already had.

I made a simple envelope back and I think the fabric is perfect for it.

I've never put piping on a pillow before, it's not perfect but the perfectionist in me thought It was pretty good for a first attempt.  She liked it, and I'm glad a couple bits of fabric are gone out of my stash, so win win.

I leave you with a picture of my un-decorated tree, It looks ok as it is to be fair, but I'll get round to making it all pretty in the next few days, when I can locate my enthusiasm.

-X- 

 I have no idea how November came around so quickly, the days, months and years are going by faster than ever, must be an age thing because time never seemed to go this quickly when I was younger, It's scary when you stop and think about it.  I try to be busy every day and fit in things I love doing too.  

I haven't crossed stitched much at all this year but I did enjoy stitching this little pillow ornament.  It's an older Lizzie Kate design, I stitched it on 28 count blue evenweave with the recommended threads and used chenille for the trim.  I think it came out cute, It won't be staying with me so I hope the recipient likes it.

The crochet granny square blanket Is nearing completion, I finished putting all the squares together last week and it has now been passed on the other woman, (Chelsea), to work the boarder.  You may remember from my last post that we were both making this for someone who's blanket had been destroyed by a neighbours dog.  Hopefully the recipient will have his blanket very soon, I hope he likes it.

Yesterday we made the most of the dry weather to do the leaf collection and tidy the garden.  We filled our green bin, (the council green waste bin), toped up the open compost bin and filled our compost dalek bin AND made a leaf pile in a corner of the garden for any critters that might be around.  It took about three hours with the two of us working on it, you could clear from one section and five minutes later it was covered again, that's how fast they are falling at the moment.  Needless to say the garden today looks like we did nothing yesterday!

This morning's view after yesterday's leaf clearing

It's a thankless task but I'm not as fussy about leaf collecting and a tidy looking garden as I used to be, I've finally realised that It really doesn't matter In the great scheme of things.  I still like them collected up a few times a week, we would be knee deep if we didn't and the grass would be ruined, but It doesn't bother me as much as it used to.  

I took a few photos while we were out there, still some colour to be seen and the Autumn colours look lovely in the sunshine. 

Even the things that are dying back look pretty when the sun shines.

I'm glad we spent time outside yesterday, today has been wet and not very bright at all.

-X-

Not my colours but a joint effort

 A few months ago someone called Lee put an ask on our allotment craft group page, they wanted a granny square blanket made for someone they know who attends a special needs centre where he manages the IT.   

This guys blanket had blown off the washing line into the neighbours garden and their dog had trashed it.  He was gutted because I think he had had it years and was really attached to it.

I suggested we all make a few squares so that we could get it made quicker, despite there being a good few people who could crochet only one other person was onboard with the idea, so we made the squares between us two.  

Lee, (who put in the request), bought the yarn after talking to the gentleman who the blanket is for, and he chose orange and black.

I made the black squares because I've never worked anything in black yarn before, It wasn't too bad but you do need good light so I'm glad they are all finished now the days are darker.

I'm going to crochet them all together and the other woman is going to work the border.  We've used The Women's Institute yarn from Hobbycraft, it was on 3 for 2 at the time so was affordable and it washes well too.

We agreed on rounds and the size of the square, I crochet quite tight so ended up going up a couple of hook sizes to get the size she was getting but now they are all together I thing we did pretty well with the sizing but I'm going to block them before I put them together just so they lie a bit neater.

Lee wanted to pay us for making the blanket and one of the other members of the group suggested timing the making of the square and charging minimum wage.  Neither of us was comfortable with that idea, Lee was buying the yarn out of his own pocket and doing something nice for someone he didn't know that well, so how could we put a price on it?  

In the end we said he could buy us a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine if he wanted to, but no pressure.

The blanket certainly would have been made quicker if others had joined in, but it's surprising how many ignored the request once they knew we weren't charging.

I guess the allotment community spirit was absent that day 😒

-X-

Some finishes and a start, all from stash

 This first pair of socks I cast on for Christmas in July but didn't actually cast them off until sometime in August.  I used a Christmas yarn from Crafthouse Magic that had been in my stash for a couple years at least, it's called fairy lights, so pretty with the different coloured flecks.  For the contrast cuffs heels and toes I used a West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply, again from stash.

The flecks do remind me of the lovely multicoloured vintage fairy lights.

Another pair of socks was completed in September, this time in an Autumn colourway from Biff Sugar Yarns called Maple, (or Maple Leaf?  I've misplaced the ball band but I'm pretty sure it mentioned Maple). Again I used a West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply from stash for the cuffs and toes. 

You might have spotted my third finish in the photos above.  It's a baby blanket.

Knitted because I wanted something easy to pick up and work on that I didn't have to think about.  I haven't washed or blocked it yet but it's already a decent sized crib blanket. 

The pattern is the Western Hills Blanket by Julia Stanfeild, and is a free pattern on Ravelry.  I used a Batik Swirl in the colour forest which was again from my stash and I used up the whole 200g ball.  Great pattern and very easy to memorise.  

I've been pretty good this year about not adding to my yarn stash, it feels good to be using what I already have.

On Sunday It was the Quarry Bank stitchers day retreat.  I haven't been stitching recently so thought a new start might kick start my mojo, but I wanted something small that I could get a relatively quick finish on.

This is what I got done at the retreat, and I have to say I really enjoyed making those little x's again.

Everything, chart, threads and fabric was from stash.

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself that for the last few months I've been making things I love and using what I have. 😇

-X-

Ladybird Ladybird fly away home

I'd seen mentioned on Google news that the UK was experiencing swarms of ladybirds.  It's that time of year when they look for somewhere warmer to hang out for the Winter and it's not the first time we have had them settling down in the window casing.  Strangely It only ever seems to be the windows at the back of the house, typically the back bedroom and bathroom.  

I discovered these in the bedroom window when I opened it to clean it yesterday so I thought I'd better check the bathroom and sure enough they were hanging out there too, but probably twice as many as you can see above, ugh.

They don't venture inside en mass, you might see the odd one trying it's luck but unless you open the window right out you wouldn't see them like this, and I know they are a very beneficial garden insect but I really would prefer them not to hunker down in my window frame thank you very much.  So they have been evicted.  I've seen the odd one or two today so no doubt they will try again so i'll keep checking.

Did you know that a cluster of ladybirds is called a Loveliness, or a bloom?

 I hope the ones I evicted will find somewhere else to bloom- in do their loveliness 😉

-X-