A couple of March makes

Happy Easter 🐰

I hope you are all enjoying this Easter Sunday.  The children have been to collect their Easter eggs, no egg hunt this year as the garden is still too wet and soggy.  Me and Mark have enjoyed a lovely roast pork dinner followed by a quiet afternoon, me knitting and hubby watching tv.

As it's the end of another month, (they go too quickly!), I thought I'd pop in and share a couple of  the things that I've made during the month of March.  I want to keep this post short today so I will pop back soon and share the rest.

If you are on IG you will probably have seen my first make, it was all over instagram for a while, and I did resist for a few weeks before I jumped on the travelling sewing case bandwagon.  

 It seemed a shame to pull apart a perfectly good jewelry box and I wasn't really sure mine would turn out as good as some I'd seen but It turned out alright, not as fancy as some but It serves my purpose just fine.  I did wonder if it would be useful to me but I found it works great, everything is in one place, no hunting for scissors or another needle, I have everything at hand, and I'm enjoying using it, which is the main thing.

Another make this month was only done yesterday, and will probably be a work in progress for a while.  It's been in my head since last Autumn that I wanted a wildlife pond.  I cleared a space back in September /October last year when everything was dying off, I mentioned it to Mark and I don't think he was convinced at the time.  

I was going to buy a pre-formed pond from Amazon, then I saw something pop up on IG where a large container had been used to make a small pond, and I remembered that I'd seen the perfect thing in The Range the week before.

The weather was beautiful yesterday so Mark dug out the hole and set the container in the ground, he did dig in a lot of sharp sand because the ground is still so boggy and we have a heavy clay, hopefully it won't move too much.

And here it is at the moment

I used some wood from a bush we chopped down last year to soften one side but I have to buy some rocks and cobbles to finish the edges, I'm so happy with it.  When we first moved here we used to see lots of frogs in the garden, not so much now but hopefully they will return once word gets around.

 I will get some plants to put in and Mark, who is convinced now, (I don't know why he doubted because he knows I'm always right 😀😀) thinks we should get a pump to aerate the water, he even admitted that the frog I bought last week and which he laughed at looks at home there 😏

I posted these photos on a gardening group on FB and someone commented that the pond was too small for fish and they would get eaten by cats or birds???  So, before anyone gets worried, I can assure you there are NO fish in the pond, the orange/red you can see are reflections from my camilia which is in flower, I can sort of see why she would think they were fish though, ha ha.

I made a coffee and walnut cake this morning and there is a slice calling me from the kitchen so I will leave it there for now and pop back again soon and share my other makes from March.

Enjoy the rest of the Easter holidays

-X-

Sowing ALL the things

These last couple of months have been so wet and my garden is still quite muddy in places.  The grass at the top end of the garden is still too wet and soggy to walk on, it will need to be re-seeded as soon as it begins to dry out enough to walk on.  Up to yesterday we still has little pools of water in a few places, we need a week of good weather to start the drying out process.  

The top left photo is the grass, more mud than grass!

I have been able to tidy up some of the less boggy areas

And from down on the patio it all looks fine :-)

I decided to try my hand at growing some things this year, I sowed cosmos, sweetpeas, cornflowers, lupins, larkspur and a couple of other flowers, all have germinated and are growing nicely.  I also wanted to try some veg, so we have two variety of tomatoes, cucumber, courgette, aubergine, peas and potatoes.  Not sure if I will sow the carrot seeds I bought, I'll have to see if there is room.

I bought a planter for the strawberries and bought another few plants to fill it.  The ones on the left are the new ones, a different variety and growing slightly better than the ones I already had.

It will be interesting to look back on this post in the following months to see how my growing adventures are progressing

Today the sun is shinning at last, usually I take each season as it comes, I don't wish one to pass any faster than another but this year with having so much rain I'm glad of a dry sunny day.

This was the view from my kitchen window this afternoon, I just love the window-box full of daffs, such a cheery sight when I open the blind each morning, they are almost coming to an end and I'm wondering what to plant in there for the Summer months now.

Hope you are all doing well, I'll try and pop back at the end of the month for a round up of all my crafty endeavours 

-X-

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-

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-

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-

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-

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-