Saturday 30 June 2012

Another week passes by!

Hi everyone!

Wow, a week goes by very quickly!  It has been full of activity with the little ones and their various end of term events.  Little Budgie's school was celebrating it's 100th birthday this week and Dame Vera Lynn came to unveil a mosaic they have all been working on.  They all sang The White Cliffs of Dover to her which she seemed to enjoy and it was a lovely afternoon. 

We have some beautiful lilies in the garden that are providing a happy burst of colour.


They have such vibrant colours and I never get bored of seeing them when I open the curtains in the morning.


On the crafting front, I have completed all my squares for my own special blanket.  I now have to sew in the threads, block the squares and crochet them together.  I am looking forward to completing it and using it!  I have also been busy making more squares for my neice's blanket that I showed you in my last post.  I am getting the hang of it now and the squares are being produced quicker!

My garden friends continue to bring lots of pleasure.  Our little blue tit babies are growing but still have that cute baby appearance which I love.


We've also had a new visitor this week who I have never seen before here.  He is a regular now though and comes frequently throughout the day.


Mr Nuthatch!  Isn't he a beautiful little thing?  I have also wondered if this is a baby as he has quite a fluffy appearance.


I love how he always eats upside down!  It is lovely to watch him.  The peanuts have suddenly gone down very quickly since he has been visiting so I think he must eat lots!

Thank you for all your lovely comments and I am sorry that I haven't been very good at commenting on yours this week.  I am going to have a little catch up read now! 


Friday 22 June 2012

Happy things!

Hello lovely people!

This has been a good week.  Nothing extrordinary has happened but I have been happy, contented and peaceful.  It's lovely to have times like that isn't it!  I have been sorting out cupboards and drawers and keeping on top of the house work.  I love to have a clean and organised home and it definitely improves my mood!

Little Charlie cockatiel is still a delight and brings a lot of joy to the house.  I love to have a little companion sitting on my shoulder as I potter around the house.  He is very friendly and everyone who has met him so far has fallen in love with him.

If you hadn't guessed already, I love birds and we have a little family living in our garden that are regular visitors to our bird feeder.


These babies have gone from fluffy balls being fed by their mummy to more to independent characters now feeding themselves.  Mummy is never too far away though.  I think it is sweet how they all come the feeder at the same time.

I have started a new project which is always exciting.  This is going to be a baby blanket for my new baby niece.  I have been so anxious to make something really special that I have delayed starting it as I ummmed and aaahed over what design to do!


I decided on the colour scheme.  My favourite combination of green, pink and cream!


I eventually decided on the Country Blosssom Throw that I found on Ravelry.  It actually took me quite a long to complete this!  I'm not sure if the pattern isn't quite right or if I was just reading it wrong, but it wasn't quite working out!  Anyway, I got there in the end and this is the first square complete!


I like the popcorn effect of the flower and hopefully it will look a little neater as I make more.  I think it will make a pretty blanket.  I haven't decided what colour I will use to join up the squares but I will leave that till the end I think!  I know a lot of people like to join as they go but I always leave it until I've finished all the squares.  I'm not sure why, but I like doing it that way!

Hope you have all had a good week and hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever your plans are!

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Pretty things!

Hello!

I have just sent off my first custom order to Australia from my Etsy shop.  I was asked to make these balls with little bells inside.  It was lovely to make something especially for someone and I hope the baby will be pleased with her new toys!


Our garden is not looking too wonderful at the moment and the grass is in desperate need of cutting (but my dear hubby has promised to do it today!).  The weeds are rampant despite my efforts and the slugs and snails are out in force!  Anyway, we do have some flowers in bloom and I took some pictures to share with you.


I love the sea of colour these Hot Lips Salvia flowers produce and they flower from May right the way through to September.  The name is great and describes them quite well!  They are stunning little flowers.


We have the fiery bright colours of the red hot pokers.


The vibrant cottages pinks that I absolutely love.  This was the first flower to come out and now there are hundreds in bloom.  We have several of these in different shades of pinks.


The purple Aliums (most of which my husband managed to cut down with the lawn mower because he didn't see they were there!  I think he must have been doing it with his eyes closed!)


And these delicate white flowers which I had been told was a Hebe but since looking up pictures on the internet, I'm sure they're not!  I would be very happy if someone can tell me what they are!


There's a little snapshot of the pretty things in my garden and thankfully I don't have to show you the bits that aren't quite so pretty!  Gardening is on the agenda for this afternoon though, whilst the sun is shining, so hopefully it will be looking much better by this evening!  Hope you all have a lovely day, whatever you are doing.

Sunday 17 June 2012

My new friend

Hello!

I hope you have all had a lovely Father's Day.  We have spent ours with my parents in Bournemouth and we have had a lovely weekend.  It has been an eventful week with my son's birthday, my mum's birthday and Father's Day.  So many cards and presents to be given!

Let me introduce you to my new beautiful friend.



Meet Charlie!  He is my new baby!  He is a seven week old cockatiel and is absolutely gorgeous.  I love him so much.  He was a gift from a very special friend and he has brought so much joy into our lives in the week  that he has been with us.  He is a very friendly bird and loves to be cuddled and have his head scratched.  He goes to sleep on my shoulder whilst I'm doing the housework!  He is very loved by my boys and hopefully will be a member of our family for a very long time.  (They can live for about 20-25 years). 

I had a budgie called Percy for 10 years and he sadly died at the end of last year. (He was my little companion through university, meeting my husband, marrying and having children! )  I had not been able to face getting another bird again until now and Charlie is a wonderful addition to the family.  It's amazing how much joy a little creature can bring.  I love his cheerful song filling the house!  I am sure you will hearing and seeing more of him in the future! 

Friday 15 June 2012

Tales of gales and sunshine!

Hellooo everyone! 

I feel like I have been away for ages!  It is over a week since I have entered blogland and I feel very out of touch!  I will do some catching up with all of your lovely blogs very soon.  We survived our camping trip in all the gales, but our poor tent didn't!  It was a silly week to go camping, wasn't it!  As I told you on the last post, it was a church event so 600 people were there and the majority were in tents.  When the gales picked up last Friday most of the tents were flattened and we had to pack up and come home.  We then commuted there and back each day.  It was so lovely to be in my own bed again!  I can cope with camping, but only in nice weather!


I see I have been awarded the sunshine blog award by Victoria from Tangled Sweetpea!  Thank you so much!  So I gather that I have to tell you five things about myself and then nominate five other blogs for the award to be passed to.

1.  I am a community nurse but I am currently taking a year out to be a mummy before my youngest goes to school. I enjoy my job, but I love being at home!

2. I have a cockatiel called Charlie who I love very much.  He is very friendly and likes cuddles.  He goes to sleep on my shoulder when I'm doing the housework!

3.  I am quite (very I suppose!) short!  4ft 10 (and a half!) This used to bother me a lot when I was growing up but now I don't mind at all!  People always think I'm younger than I am which is now a good thing!

4.  I love playing the piano.

5. (it is hard thinking of five things to say about myself!)  My current favourite TV show is Springwatch!  I love seeing all those beautiful creatures and following their ups and downs.

Ok, so now to pass on to five lovely blogs.

Deco Cat
PatchworkChickens
Serendipitypatch
The Quiet Home
My Rose Valley 

Take a look at all these wonderful blogs if you haven't already.

I haven't done any knitting or crochet in two weeks and I am in withdrawal I think!  I can't go this long without it!  Life has been so full that the opportunity hasn't been there.  I have made a small start to a project though so I will show you that soon. 

Monday 4 June 2012

Would you like to come for a wander?

Hello!

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend with all the festivities happening.  The weather hasn't been great at all but it doesn't seem to have dampened spirits. 

I thought you might like to come for a wander that I take frequently as it is literally next to my house.  When I was wandering this week I took my camera along so that I could share it with it you.  Lets start from the beginning.


This is the decking area of our garden.  I love sitting out here and listening to the birds all around (that's when Little Budgie and Mini Budgie aren't tearing around like mad things!).


This is the poor weather beaten fence that is the boundary to the back of our garden.  It is in desperate need of a paint.  I have visions of a pretty little white picket fence one day!  So you can see that our garden opens up to this area of wild meadow and trees.  It is beautiful for picniking on!  Let's carry on.


Plenty of bright yellow buttercups everywhere.


I came across this little fellow climbing up to the top of a tall grass stem.  Aren't they beautiful little creatures?


Further out into the field and it is covered in this lovely grass with the fluffy purple heads.  I love the way it wisps back and forth in the breeze. 

When I get to the top of the little bank outside our garden, this is what I see.


A big field full of growing crops.  Isn't it beautiful! There is a little trail that goes all the way around the edge of this field and so it makes a wonderful walk without having to get in the car and drive anywhere.  Here is what is growing in the field.


I am not very knowledgable about these things but I guess it is wheat of some kind.  Today I noticed a stalk of wheat growing in one of the pots on the decking, so it must have seeded itself there! 

We are incredibly thankful to be living next to such beauty and we never get bored of it.  The seasons are so obvious here and the scene is always changing. 

Then after a little peace and quiet (and renewed strength in those times when I need it!) I wander back down the little slope to the garden and of course I stop to talk to my feathered friends!


Hope you enjoyed your walk! Thank you for joining me!  We are going away on a church camp for the next few days so I won't be around but hope you all have a lovely week and I'm sure I will have lots to tell you when I'm back.

Saturday 2 June 2012

Cushion complete!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  The sun has deserted us a little hasn't it, but at least it isn't raining and not too cold.  Still nice enough for a little walk and garden fun!

Do you remember I showed you a little glimpse of a project I was working on during the Eurovision?  Well, I have been busy on it today and it is now complete!


It is a cushion for a lovely friend who had a birthday last week.  She has been away for a week so it has given me a little extra time which I needed!  For some reason, even though the pattern was very simple, I kept making silly mistakes at the beginning and had to unravel it constantly!  It didn't seem to grow at all for five days!  Anyway, once I got into the flow of it, it was a fun make and grew quickly.


I found some suitable purple matching buttons in my stash and these finished it off nicely.


I had the inspiration for this design in this great book that is full of ideas and shows you a variety of techniques and many different stitches. 


I used this example of a sample and adapted it to make the cushion cover that is for a 40 x 40cm cushion pad.  Each row consisted of 67 stitches and started with 1 double crochet (dc) in each of the first 3 stitches and then a bobble stitch (made from four treble crochet stitches) in the next dc, 1 dc in each of the next two dc, bobble stitch into the next dc, 1 dc in each of the next 2 dc and so on until the end of the row when I did 3 dc in each of the last 3 dc. 






I've just realised that it is quite difficult to describe how to crochet something!  I have never done it before!  I can of course given clearer instructions with pictures if any of you would like.  I love the bobbly texture and the sturdy fabric that it makes.  Perfect for a cushion cover I think!