Raindrops on Roses - April

I'm joining in with Jo of Through The Key Hole and her post of favourite things for this last day of April.

Perhaps it's a 'getting older' thing but the months do seem to be flying by at an alarming rate. so it's good to reflect on some of the things we have enjoyed over the past month.

The weather has been quite mixed this month, but we have had some lovely sunny days and I've really appreciated the colours in our garden.  One of the things I do like about our house is that the kitchen window looks out over the garden and it does look good early in the morning or late afternoon when the sun is low.

 I'm very happy that one of my miniature roses has a bud :-)

This is one of two I bought last year for 99p.

I've struggled with finding books that really grab me this year, but this one which I picked up in a charity shop recently was very good.

I do love James Blunt, well his music anyway.  I've usually got one of his albums playing in the car and Stevie bought me his new one for Mothers Day.  It's a bit different to his earlier work and it took me a few plays to really get into it but now I love it.  Good job as we are going to see him in November. 

I took the plunge and re-joined SW, and am loving it at the moment.

I managed to find a class that met at 3.45 which fits in better with me, last week was my second weigh-in and I got my 1/2 stone award, Yayyyy!  I was really really happy with that as you can imagine.

I bought a 6 week count down and am aiming to loose a stone in those 6 weeks.  I set my overall target to loose 1 1/2 stone, then I'll see how I feel.  Really I just want to be able to fit comfortably in the clothes that are already in my wardrobe.

So far so good, I am managing to curb my picking habits, (my biggest downfall)

So there you go, some of my favourite things from April, how about you?  What have you enjoyed this past month?

Until next time

-X-

Wonderwool Wales, a yarnny adventure

I've never been to a yarn festival before, I had planned on going to Yarndale this year with Joanne, (daughter #2) but as she will have a new baby less than a month old by then we will have to give it a miss this time.  We decided instead to go to Wonderwool Wales, which is held at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells in the beautiful Welsh countryside.  The drive was a bit further than I had anticipated, about 2 hours, but the day was bright and the scenery wonderful so all in all the time driving was pleasant enough.

I've heard people say how crowded Yarndale is and to be honest it does put me off a little, after all you go to browse what's on offer and if that's difficult it can be very frustrating.  I'm happy to say that Wonderwool was great in that respect, there were lots and lots of people but there was still plenty of room to walk around and look at the different stands without being jostled around.  When we found a stand that had a crowd we just passed it by and went back later and that worked for us.

  There was plenty of food on offer and enough seating too, although as it was such a lovely day quite a few people decided to picnic on the grass.

I'm afraid I got a little carried away with my purchases!  although to be honest I could have bought more, I only took a certain about of money with me and stuck to that budget, no debit card spending!

 The scarf kit caught my eye as soon as we walked in, so I went back for that later in the afternoon, (my motto is always do a reccie first to see what's on offer.  The grey fleck yarn is from Moonlight yarns, (they have an etsy shop although I haven't looked for it yet) and is a sock weight 100% Superwash Merino and is so soft!  I'm thinking a shawl for this one.  The ones in to top photo I just loved the colours.  and the Tek-Tek I bought for a bag project that I have been wanting to do for ages.  As you can see I also bought a selection of hooks, clover are my preferred hook, i've tried others and can't get on with them, and some needles because I haven't got this size.

Of course I want to start EVERYTHING NOW! but I do have a couple of things on the go that I need to finish first, I'm being firm with myself, lol.

Being about all things wooly and yarny there had to be some sheep.

Cute little lambs, look at that face!

Some sheep with dreadlocks, lol

And this one, who was so lovely and friendly, look how she is enjoying that fuss!

She also had a lovely face and a beautiful curly fleece and the cutest babies.

All in all it was a great day out, I'm glad we made the effort to go.

Hope you all had a great weekend too.

Until next time

-X-

Happy Easter!

 

 Easter bunnies have arrived at my house, the ceramic variety.

I found the little pink bird and the bunny in a shop in Shrewsbury, the pretty lights were a Home Bargains find, (amazing what you can find in Home Bargains, and the crochet eggs I made last week after finding a great tutorial on You Tube, (I've put the link to the tutorial in the side bar, if anyone is interested).  

Another two new bunny additions for the mantle

I love this one with her little green bow and her blushing cheeks

And a larger companion for the pink eared bunny I found last year

 I finished this blanket for the new baby.  I actually finished it a few weeks ago but only just got round to blocking the ends and taking a photo

I'm trying to keep things gender neutral, although Joanne had her second scan last week and both she and Gavin know what they are expecting but they have been instructed NOT to tell either me or Mark, we would rather wait, I think it's exciting guessing whether we will have a second grandson or a little girl this time.  I have my ideas of what it will be, I have from the moment they told us, but we will see :-) 

I hope you are all having a lovely Easter, the weather here has gone a bit cooler than we had it last week but at least it's dry.  

We are just about to head over to my eldest daughters for Easter lunch, a treat letting someone else take care of the cooking :-)

Until next time

-X-

Weekend break part 2 - Llangollen and the Horseshoe Pass

When I was young we visited Wales for holidays quite often and last weekend I was happy to discover that I was only a short drive from somewhere we had driven through and probably stopped off at en route to our holiday destination many times when I was small, Llangollen.
Now I must confess that I cannot remember anything about this small town from my childhood except for it's name, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

Not only do they have a steam railway it's also famous for it's canal and canal boat holidays.

And some seaside treats

I was lucky enough to see some brave souls on the water

Phew, there're through!

There is no way you would get me doing anything like that! But I did enjoy taking these photos of them.

Next I wanted to drive over somewhere that I do remember very well, the Horseshoe Pass.

When I was little I was always amazed by this road and the drops over the side!

We would always stop at the top, have a picnic and be excited to see the sheep roaming freely.
The day I went there were no sheep but there was still a cafe at the same place and it's still a popular place for biker meet-ups.

I found somewhere called the Horseshoe Falls just a couple of minutes walk from Llangollen,
such a lovely peaceful place.

And I found myself a house, lol.

This house has the view of the previous photos, I wouldn't mind sitting out on that deck and enjoying that view, how about you?

I retraced my drive back down the Horseshoe Pass and stopped for a coffee and a toasted tea cake
at this Abbey ruin.

I definitely don't remember this place from my childhood so I don't suppose we ever stopped here to look around.

So that was it, my weekend away over, I headed home after my coffee break and I must say that I felt restored and ready for the week ahead.

I'd really like to go here again this year and perhaps have a better look around the town, It's only a 90 minute drive but it's a whole different view.

Next time I will have some crafty goodness to show you.

Until then, have a great week
-X-