A final goodbye

 It's been about five weeks or so since I last wrote a blog post proper, I won't bore you with all the whys, just to say that I had a good few weeks when I felt quite down.  You would think that I'd have gotten used to staying at home by now, I've always been quite happy in my own company, but, there are still times when I miss the routine of going to work and mixing with people and having a purpose to my day.  I'm not going to dwell on my woes though, I will just say that I am making an effort to get out of the house more, and I feel better for it.

I've still been doing my knitting, and even stitching again and I'll share everything over the next few posts rather than bombard you with everything at once.  

I might as well start with one of my older finished pieces which was recently fully finished.

You may remember that I stitched Happy Christmas by Prairie Schooler during December 2021, I shared my finish in my January 1st post this year. 

I took it to my local needlework shop to be framed at the beginning of July, they are very busy at the moment and I only got a text to say it was ready to be picked up last week, and so here it is.

I chose a frame that will stand without support and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out.

The frame is showing a little brown here but it is black to match the aida and has a subtle grain which is more defined on this close up photo.

I'm going to enjoy having this one on display come Christmas.

A final goodbye

Of course today is the State funeral of our Queen, Elizabeth II. 

So many thousands of people made the journey to London to be part of this historic event and it's been wonderful to see everyone paying their respects in a quiet and dignified way.  

For those that couldn't make that journey the coverage on TV these last ten days has been outstanding, so that even sitting at home we have been part of it.

I've been sitting here this morning paying my respects in my own way and watching the proceedings on the TV, both the procession and the service in Westminster were very moving, she was truly a remarkable woman and will be greatly missed, not only here in Britain but across the world too.  

With the passing of  Queen Elizabeth II the New Elizabethan era ended, It's now time for King Charles to step into his mother's shoes, carry on her good work, and take us into the Carolean era.  I'm sure he will do a grand job, he has been in training for so many years and seems to have the same values as the late Queen, so I think we are in safe hands.

Sad day

So sad hearing the announcement that our Queen died this afternoon.

21st April 1926 - 8th September 2022

On Tuesday she appointed our new Prime Minister, Liz Truss.  Queen Elizabeth II really did honor her duty to her country right to the end

God Bless

-X-

Making hexies while the sun shines

 Back at the beginning of July I started a birthday project thinking I had given myself plenty of time to get everything completed for today, August 12th.   

In hindsight, (isn't hindsight a great thing), I should have started it earlier but, I sure many of you can relate to last minute gift making, as crafters we tend to do that to ourselves don't we?

The first task was to paint this little Ikea dolls cot and make a mattress for it, I got both of those jobs completed before the end of July and I was feeling very pleased with myself for being ahead of the game.

The mattress is reversible and I was pretty happy with how it came out

I fell down the Pinterest rabbit hole of dolls cot bedding and that's when I made more work for myself, I decided that a little patchwork quilt would look lovely.

By the time I'd sorted and cut out fabric, ordered the hexie papers and attached the fabric to the papers It left me with just over a week to hand sew everything together.  

I've never attempted anything like this before and haven't hand sewn anything in years, but I really enjoyed the process of sewing all the little pieces together.  

Now, If you're a quilter reading this, please don't look too closely, technically I've probably gone about it all wrong and it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination,  but I think the end result is passable,

The binding was, well, a bind, again, first time binding anything, I managed, again, it's not perfect but then neither is my eyesight, lol.

Below is probably more true of the colours

You can't have a quilt without a pillow and a sheet, so I made those too, I also made a pillowcase for the pillow so it can be taken off to wash.

I think the end result is pretty cute, and best of all the recipient loves it.

I bet you've guessed who this is for haven't you? 

Yes, it's for my beautiful granddaughter Bonnie, she turned 5 today.

Here she is dressed for her birthday party, look at the gorgeous smile  💖

She had a rainbow themed party with all her school friends last Sunday, Joanne had booked an entertainer who was just brilliant and they all had a wonderful time.  Joanne also did a great job making the rainbow birthday cake.

As you can imagine not much in the way of other crafting has been going on I been pretty much sewing every single day, sometimes all day, for the last two weeks to get all that bedding done but tomorrow I shall pick my knitting up again, I have just one cuff to knit on my jumper! 

 

The heat wave is set to continue over the next two day and then rain and hopefully cooler temperatures for next week, thank goodness.   Like a lot of others peoples gardens ours is not fairing too well, everything is dry and faded and the grass is turning brown, it's not a good look, I much prefer the Spring and Autumn when everything looks fresh, lush and green.  The only thing this weather is good for is getting the washing dried super quick, although I do have an ironing mountain growing in the laundry room,  you could not pay me enough money to tackle that at the moment!

-X-

Lovely Llandudno and Beautiful Bodnant

No makes to share this week, I've been trying to get the sleeves of my jumper done and also the last in the trio of socks cast on in June, both seem slow going at the moment but, the end is in sight.  

Heritage Hall, (I'm sorry I don't know your name), commented on my last post and asked about the pattern for the corner to corner baby blanket, It's a free pattern by Lion Brand and can be found Here, I have always been asked about where to find the pattern and should have mentioned it last week. 

So, this weeks happenings.  We went on a little weekend break, from Friday to Sunday this weekend to one of my favourite places, Llandudno, in North Wales.  Bodnant Gardens has been on my list of places to visit for a while and as it's only about 6 miles from Llandudno we thought we would combine the two visits.

After all the fine hot weather of last week the forecast wasn't that good for the weekend but we were lucky, at least until we were going home on Sunday.  

We didn't arrive until around 3pm on Friday so just had a mooch around the town and later a walk along both beaches, Llandudno has two beaches, North shore is where you will find the pier and all those lovely Victorian buildings, the West shore is much quieter.  We walked down towards the West shore as the sun was going down and were treated to a wonderful sunset.

The weather was a bit unsettled on Saturday morning but the forecast said it was going to be better in the afternoon, so we explored the town some more before taking the tram up the Great Orme in the afternoon.  

We decided we would walk back down and stop to visit the mines, which are at the half way point.  These Bronze Age mines were discovered in 1987 after work was started following planning permission to build a car park.  There are around 4 miles of tunnels under this area, a small section is open to the public and the work is still on-going to discover more about the area.  It was an interesting place to visit, although Mark's not keen on confined spaces and was glad to see daylight at the end of the tunnel!

We carried on walking down, back towards Llandudno, which wasn't as bad as I thought It would be, although we did take one of the easier routes, but I can now claim to have walked the Orme :-) 

The weather was beautiful when we got up on Sunday morning, really warm and sunny and I was pleased we had decided to wait until today for our visit to Bodnant Gardens.   After breakfast we packed our bag and set straight off.  Bodnant is around 6 miles from Llandudno but we did take the scenic route along Marine Drive, around The Great Orme, so it was more miles but well worth it for the views .  I've shared photos of this route before, Here , we didn't stop to take any on Sunday.  We did stop at the church of ST Tudno to enjoy the view for a while though.

There is a beautiful Manor House in Bodnant Gardens, unfortunately it isn't open to the public, the grounds are stunning though with different walks and gardens to explore, I loved looking at all the different plants and shrubs and in the garden centre on the way out I did buy a couple of plants for our garden.

Unfortunately the good weather didn't last long enough for us to enjoy all that was on offer, the rain started and at first it looked as though it might blow over but then it quickly got heavier and we had to head into the coffee shop.  Such a shame because there were another two walks we could have done if it had stayed nice.  We will definitely be back in the area again though and will plan a future visit.

Have a good week all

-X-

Monday makes

This past week I've finished two things off my July list.  The first is this cute little bunny

I came across the free pattern months ago on the Tilda website and intended to make it to put in Bonnie's Easter bag.  I got it all cut out and half sewn together and then put it away because it was fiddly and I wasn't in the right frame of mind and I also doubted myself being able to do it.

I'm glad I made the effort, it was fiddly but I took my time and now I love her!

I gave her a little bow and sewed ric rac around the hem of her dress.

She will be added to Bonnie's birthday bag, although I am very tempted to keep her :-)

I also finished the baby blanket I was making for my friends son and his partner.  They are welcoming a baby girl in October.  I asked her if I could make something and she said she thought they would love that, I know not everyone likes knitted baby clothes so I wanted to make sure.

I opted for a simple corner to corner garter stitch blanket.  I made one of these for each of my grandchildren and the girls loved them, they were a perfect size for a new born, not too big or heavy.  

It's knitted in The Women's Institute DK Yarn from Hobbycraft , I used two 100g balls, It knits up lovely and is really soft, a little bit thicker than the usual DK, but that's ok.  I got this when It was on the 3 for 2 offer, I also had a £2.50 voucher to use so the blanket didn't cost anything.  I will knit a cardigan with the other ball and gift it to them nearer the time.

We are in the middle of a heatwave here in the UK, according to the news The Midlands has been issued it's first ever red warning for extreme heat.  Over the next couple of days they have predicted the temperatures to be around 38°, it's 27° indoors at the moment so I can imagine it would be high 30's outside, It might not seem very high temperatures to some but houses in the UK are built to keep the heat IN and we don't have A/C in our homes, you might find it in places of work but there is just no call for it in our homes.  I've got all the curtains and blinds closed, windows and doors open and the fan going, circulating the warm air, lol.  The poor cats don't know where to lie, even Molly, who is a sun worshiper, is spending more time in the shade.  

It looks as though It's set to break by Wednesday though, I can grin and bear it for a few days.

I'll leave you with just a couple of photos from my garden, the hydrangeas are flowering now, although wilting a bit in today's heat, the pink one has less flowers open at the moment.  The wildflowers are flowering at last and are so tall, I'm really pleased I sowed these.

 Take care

-X-

More socks

I finished another pair of socks last week.  These are one of the three pairs I cast on in June, they were already knitted to the heel so didn't take too long to complete, I have one more pair of that June trio to finish and then I'd like to start on the Christmas socks for family.

The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in the colourway Robin, the contrast cuffs heels and toes are also WYS, in the colourway Turmeric.

For this pair I cast on 72 stitches and decreased to 68 stitches once I'd knit the rib, they seem to fit fine but I definitely need the extra stitches on the ribbing.

Yesterday I was working in the garden until mid afternoon so everything is looking tidy and I was able to sit and enjoy some time outside and admire my hard work.

I think this fleabane is my favourite plant in the garden at the moment, I bought it as a small plant from a National Trust place last year, I've not seen it for sale anywhere else but I'd love to get some more If I come across it.

I hope you have a lovely week, the weather is supposed to be lovely all week so enjoy.

-X-