Bunny Mummy

Snowdrop Sunday

2012-02-27T18:54:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies ,
what a treat , another sunny Sunday...two in a row in February . We had been planning to visit a manor house which opens it's gardens at this time of year and I had been keeping my fingers crossed for a nice bright day. I wasn't disappointed.

Yippee........look at this fabulous spring border," I LOVE spring gardens" .....as I was heard to exclaim when I saw this yesterday. Spring truly is my favourite time of year and, looking at this prettiness in the sunshine, it seemed that it was already here ...

The daffodils are just beginning to flower at the back of this bed...first I've seen outdoors this year :0)

I also loved these bright lilac crocuses with their wonderful orange stamens..........

More dainty snowdrops......so gorgeous in their pretty little clumps........

This brightly coloured blossom tree caught my eye.....I would love one like this , what a sight to lift the spirits.........

There are some wonderful mature trees in the gardens.........

Further on ,the walled garden is now just a grazing field , with only some weird looking tree stumps remaining.
Hinting at what would once have been a wonderful kitchen garden .........

Here are the current residents .....and another first sighting for me this year .....lambs :0)

Their mum quickly hurried them away back to the rest of the flock.....what an idyllic spot.......

Leaving the sheep in peace we headed to the wood.......

More wonderful mature trees and snowdrops carpeting the floor. Sunlight floods in through the bare branches.........

And the snowdrops here look totally natural ....their green stems growing up through last years fallen leaves.....

This log pile caught my eye...what amazing colour and texture......

Further on there were double snowdrops.....now I'm torn....

I love the simplicity of the traditional variety ,but this is stunning too..........

More pretty spring flowers .....tiny and perfect...

What a romantic and timeless place. I loved the open fields and wood as much as the planted beds..........

I'm really glad we made the effort to visit this wonderful place and didn't listen to the boys protests.I suppose walking around a garden is not top of growing boys things to do , but in the end they said it had been "quite good" :0)

Thank you so much for all your kind comments on my baby blankets , they really mean a lot. I'm glad to say my sister in law was pleased with then too.
Have a great week.
Jacquie x

The Twin Ta-dah

2012-02-24T21:03:00.001Z

Hello lovelies,
After a few days break while I waited for a yarn delivery I finished my latest two baby blankets yesterday.
As I mentioned before these are for my sister in law to give to a friend of hers who is having twins very shortly .
They are the first items of crochet I've ever sold. It does add a bit more pressure to do a good job but I'm also really pleased to be starting my charity fund raising in this way.

I bought a pretty box to keep my items for sale clean and safe.........

Ooooooh crochet goodness peeking out :0)

Would you like to see what they look like ??

Yes

Good

Ta-dah........

Two soft and snugly baby blankets. Made from Stylecraft Special double knitting.......

They each have twelve different colours .

This one is made up of
Plum, fondant,grape,peach,shrimp,aster,meadow,lipstick,lemon,aspen,cloud and violet.........

And this one is made up of
Raspberry, spring green ,denim ,lavender ,saffron ,pomegranate, sherbet ,bluebell, pale rose ,violet and turquoise.....

I like they way they coordinate but are not the same. The twins Mum will know who's blanket is which ,but they compliment each other in such a great way...........

I was going to add a few rounds of the colours used in the blocks as a border , but they ended up a nice baby blanket size without one ( 28" square ) so I decided to go with one round of granny clusters in white followed by my favourite picot edging.........

I really hope my sister in law is pleased with them . I will let her decide on the price....I'm pretty awful at knowing what to charge for something like this ........

I have to laugh when I think how different they are to the blanket that I was inspired by. I still want to make one like that but I do love how these turned out.

Today was not great for taking photos . When the sun finally decided to come out late in the afternoon I dashed outside for a last minute sun shiny, blue sky washing line shot.......♥♥♥♥♥.........

Tomorrow I'll give them to my sister in law and the box will be almost empty ....but I've already started on something else to build up my stock a little .......I'll be sharing that very soon :0)
Have a great weekend.
Jacquie x

A Little Outing

2012-02-20T06:50:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
temperatures plummeted again on Saturday night.......Brrrrr freezing. The bonus was a wonderfully sunny morning on Sunday with icy blue skys. Time to visit the country park and see what it's looking like this February. We wrapped up and loaded the boys bikes in the car. As soon as we heaved them out again they were off.......

It's not far to a pretty lake which was looking lovely with the blue of the sky reflecting in the water. The reed beds that border the lake were also looking stunning , their dry stems a pale sandy colour ......

There is loads of bird-life on the lake and many people were feeding the ducks, swans, moor hens and coots.........

The ducks repeatedly dived down after sunken food, going completely out of sight for a few seconds ,before bobbing back up like a cork.

They began their descent by putting their heads under the water so their backsides stick straight up in that comical way that always reminds me of a poem I learnt as a child.....The Ducks Ditty by Kenneth Graham...

I love the reeds all topped with "feathers"......

They look even prettier illuminated from behind........

Away from the lake the boys zoom around on their bikes ,enjoying the space.......

Whilst Mr BM and I stroll along enjoying the sunshine . I'm happy to spot catkins......

And notice this silver tree with a strange twisted trunk.........

Ooooh look this pussy willow is just beginning to emerge.....

It all looks wonderful against the brilliant blue sky. I'm not sure what species of tree this is but the bare orange branches are stunning........

I love this tangled kite....it's pretty tail looking like bunting...........

Admittedly there are not too many signs of spring , but on such a bright day even some dry seed heads look pretty......

It was a lovely day to get out and enjoy the winter sun in beautiful natural surroundings.......

Just a simple little family outing, but a perfect ending to the half term holidays.

Jacquie x

Half Term at Home

2012-02-18T14:58:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
we have enjoyed a pretty quite half term week ,my boys and me. One outing to the cinema on Monday . Friends round to play. No car from Wednesday as it was sounding pretty sick and had to go to be repaired...thankfully it's fine now but I quite enjoyed a few days with no car. With no work to get to this week it was nice to stay close to home and use bikes , scooters and legs for a change. Thankfully the weather has warmed up a lot . I even took the bunnies out of their cosy hutch and put then in the run for some exercise. It's the first time they have felt the grass beneath their feet since November......

They did have a little hop about and stood up on their back legs but I think they were glad to go back in their hutch when the time came.

I love not having to watch the clock on a week like this . I love the opportunity the bake before breakfast if the fancy takes me..........

Cup cakes for the boys one day ( O.K. I may have had a couple ).....

Another morning it was Mum style "healthy baking " ... focus on the apples and walnuts and not the golden syrup :0)

Muffins using THIS recipe . I'm always tempted by recipes which include these spices...

can't get enough of them .

I just wish I could get as enthusiastic about cooking.... sometimes I feel guilty about the lack of truly home cooked food in this house.I must try and remedy that this year.

It goes without saying I love the chance to do a little crochet.........

to sit with my hook when the boys have gone to play with friends and I've tidied up a little. The sun made a brief appearance and was shining on my freshly dusted mantle so I jumped up to take a picture........

This miniature rose plant has been flowering for ages, I love the little pink roses......

There is also a bit of crochet I made ages ago and had forgotten about till he turned up in a drawer the other day.........

He's pretty tiny but oh so cute.
I was surprised and delighted to find the free pattern again to share with you lovelies...........find it HERE.
When I turned around to get back to my crochet WIP I had to smile at this cozy scene.......

It's back to our respective routines next week but I think we have all enjoyed a little down time ... time to do as we please . My boys are really good company and easy to live with at the moment so I'm savouring this time and hoping the teenage years,when they arrive,don't bring too much worry and conflict .

My twin blankets are getting close to completion but I've run out of white yarn so I will have to do something else till it arrives .

It really shouldn't be difficult to think of something, I always have too many ideas floating around in my head.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Jacquie x

Adding a Chain Round to Granny squares...a tutorial

2012-02-16T12:13:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies ,
Have you ever made a motif that calls for a "chain round"? The first time I encountered this technique was when I tried Lucy's much loved Hexagon pattern back in 2009.

HERE is a lovely image of one of these hexagons at the chain round stage.I will admit I found it rather tricky at first....all those slip stitches........ not the easiest when you are starting out in (or in my case getting reacquainted with) crochet.

As I've become better at crochet I don't find it so difficult and I can spot when a chain round has been used
In this stunning SQUARE....a chain round has been used to define the circle to excellent effect.It's visible as the little white stitches in THIS gorgeous blanket where it has been used every alternate round to create an interesting variation on the traditional granny. In my own Kaleidoscope BLANKET It's used to attach the final , joining round .

It's benefit is that it keeps a shape clearly defined by utilising slip stitches and chains rather than multiple stitches into the existing round.........what am I waffling on about ??

Lets look at a photo, this is a granny square made in the conventional manner......

In the example below the final colour change round is attached to a chain round......

Can you see any difference ?? Maybe not but I hope so . Can you see the way the orange square still looks very square , where as the pink square has wavy edges ? yes ...good ....that is the correct answer :0)

When I decided to add a white border to my (mostly)solid coloured grannies I wanted them them to retain their square shape.
I haven't used a chain round on a square shape before and was struggling about what to do on the corners. After a quick search of my flickr favourites I found THIS image. With I bit of experimenting I figured out what I think is the correct method....it may not be what others do but it's working for me so I thought I would share my method here.

Here we go with my Tutorial...... written as usual in U.S. crochet terms.....I think I'm pretty bi-lingual in crochet speak now but still think primarily in U.S. so I guess I should stick with that ( all my previous tutorials are U.S. terminology )
Start with a granny square....

NOTE :- I make my granny squares with no chains between clusters and 2 chains in the corners ....see my granny square tutorial in my side bar.
If you use a different method you may need to adjust the chain and subsequent round .

Attach the colour of your choice using the method of your choice in a space along any side of your square. Chain 3.......

slip stitch into the next space.......

Repeat along the side and when you reach a corner slip stitch into the chain space.....

Chain 4 .......

and slip stitch into the same space.......

Repeat this pattern around. Here you can see I'm into the third side and you can clearly see the little "ears" made by the chains at each corner .......

Continue around , making an "ear" at each corner ( it's not clear in this photo but they are there )........

When you reach the starting chain insert you hook under the chain and slip stitch

This is the chain round completed. Do not fasten off .....

Chain 3 then make 2 double crochet (d.c.) under the loop created by the chain round........

In the next loop make 3 d.c. and repeat under every loop till you get to a corner..........

into the corner chain (ear) make 3 d.c., 2 chain, 3 d.c......

Repeat all the way around for your first square. On subsequent squares stop at the 3rd corner

Chain 1 then join to the adjoining block with a slip stitch .....

3 d.c. the slip stitch into the corresponding space. This is the join as you go method and there is a clear tutorial on how to do this HERE if you need more help......

Repeat along the side and complete the round as normal on the final side by slip stitching into the top of the initial 3 chain ......

When attaching squares to two existing blocks only complete two sides then join as you go to the two adjoining blocks. In the corner slip stitch into the corner of the first block you have attached to ......

Then into the corner of the one you are about to attach to (do not use any) chains .......

Here is a peek of how my blocks are looking .......I'm not sure why I'm calling them blocks..... I suppose they remind me of babies blocks , but they also make me think of a paint box with all it's squares of colour.....

I've haven't been at work this week , so between housework,baking and family outings I've managed to make good progress on these two baby blankets....my first crochet commission :0)
This is the first .It still needs a border but I'm now joining the blocks on the second blanket so I can delay making a decision on that.

Hope your week is going well.
Jacquie x

All Change

2012-02-14T09:34:00.001Z

Hello Lovelies,
well my latest project has changed so many times already and it's not finished yet . Do you find that happens to you ? I suppose many of us have set out to make a blanket that has turned into a cushion when we have got bored or become unsure of how much we love our WIP :0)
Originally I was going to make solid coloured squares for my baby blanket ....but for some reason I can't recal I made them with white centres .
On Sunday I laid out my 63 squares and played about with the random colours to try and get them evenly spaced...random is trickier than it looks........

Satisfied I noted down the order...... watched THIS great ,clear you tube video on how to do single crochet ( U.S.) joining ,and began..........

Things were going O.K. though I was feeling a bit unsure how much I liked how this method looked in white....

By now it was time to go out anyway. We visited my brother and sister in laws house where the boys have cousins of their own age ( I think they are soooo lucky to have extended family nearby, and so am I )
My lovely sister in law was inquiring about what I was making at the moment. I told her that I was hoping to actually sell some of my crochet this year and that I was making things specifically for that reason.

I've thought about trying etsy or folksy and would appreciate any advice on using these sites.
It turns out I won't be listing my latest project anyway as my SIL said she would be happy to buy 2 baby blankets for a friend who is having twins.........and this friend is 34 weeks pregnant at the monent , and the babies are both girls. Phew 34 weeks ...they could come along any time soon.

Time to put my thinking cap on. How could I make two blankets quickly ??
The answer I came up with was to add a few more pink squares to the ones I already had, abandon the single crochet joining and make a wider white border .
So now I have a box of squares .........

And a Basket of differently coloured squares.........

Which I'm adding a white border to like this........

It's going well I think ,so stand by for a twin ta- dah pretty soon :0)

My reason for trying to sell my work is as part of the fund raising I'm doing for a cancer charity I'll be running for this year. I don't tend to mention my running here very often but I'm still loving it ...I may not be fast but I get there in the end :0)

Jacquie x

P.S. took the boys to see the new Muppet Movie yesterday (it's half term hols here) it was brilliant fun.

Life Indoors

2012-02-12T09:09:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
this week I seem to have only left the house for work and the school run. It's been a very indoorsy sort of week.
This has mainly been due to the freezing weather we are having , but also because I'm feeling rather snotty and generally bleugh with a cold that doesn't want to go away.
It may not have been a good week for fresh air, but it's been great for crochet progress. When I'm not feeling 100% I feel justified in relaxing with my hook :0)
Just yesterday the postman delivered some more yarn.....

Two balls of Stylecraft special DK . On the left it's Bluebell and on the right Aspen. I love these colours . Buying yarn online is always tricky. THIS is what the photo of Aspen looks like ........ !?!
I would never had gone for that but luckily I saw what it really looks like in Heather's baby blanket. Bluebell was a gamble ...one that paid off ...love this colour too.

I've now made all the squares for my baby granny blanket , including some from these new colours . And as you can see I've added samples to my colour charts to remind me which colours to re-order when the time comes.....

As I gathered up my yarn yesterday afternoon I was rather taken by the way the colours looked in the sun..........

A bit of sunshine and some sunny colours certainly help lift the spirits on a freezing day. Hot comfort food is also benificial.......

Rice pudding and raspberry jam...yum.

I'll leave you lovelies with some colourful artwork....another of my clever Mums creations ....

I love the colours and figures in this scene.Did you notice the cute little dog....sweet :0)
Hope your Sunday is a good one .
Jacquie x
P.S. thank you for the comments and awards you have given me lately....you are all so kind.

Square Crochet

2012-02-08T18:50:00.002Z

Hello Lovelies,
literally within minutes of finishing my Kaleidoscope blanket I was off to my Stylecraft stash with my hook. I am officially a crochet addict :0)

Towards the end of a project I always start planning the next in my head. I was yearning for some granny square simpleness.

The lovely Heather at Little Tin Bird had treated me to a sneak peek of her latest secret project a couple of weeks ago and I loved it ,a LOT ! Heather has finished her baby blanket now...... take a look at it here. Isn't it wonderful . I love the small blocks of colour .Heathers choice of colours is just gorgeous and even better , since it's also made from Stylecraft ,I had a similar selection already.

So that was my main inspiration for my latest project. I've been making these squares for just over a week now .They are so quick and relaxing to make . I recon I'm about half way to the number needed for my latest baby blanket.......

I love the look of the squares piled up on my ripple baby blanket ,made back in November last year.
As you can see I've made my squares with a white centre . I'm not sure how much I'm liking it but the plan is to join the squares with white using single crochet(U.K. double ) joining on the front . So hopefully that will make it look better.

I've been wanting to try this way of joining for a while now . Do take a look at Debbie's gorgeous blanket , with squares joined in this way . I love the extra texture it gives.

Trouble is that just today I found this on Pinterest....so now I'm tempted to do a white round of Double (U.K. treble )crochet on each square . Ooooh , dilemmas :0)

Speaking of Pinterest, I've been good and resisted joining so far . I've heard how addictive it can be and I already spend a lot of time online some days. It doesn't stop me looking at other lovelies collections though. Heather has a lovely collection of pins .
But I HAVE to link to Rachel's ....wow , it's huuuge and everything is such great eye candy :0)

Hope you enjoy the links .
Jacquie x

Snow Pretty

2012-02-06T16:54:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
we were lucky enough to get a good amount of snow here on Saturday night.The boys were more than a little excited by this .By 9.15 am on Sunday we were here.......

Before most sensible people had thought about setting out in the cold......

My boys really love sledging and I love watching their excited faces , cheeks rosy from the cold.

There's a wonderful view of the wintry landscape from up here too......

After a couple of hours it's back home to defrost.......hot chocolates for the boys ...

The house is particularly light with all the snow on the ground and my first bunch of Daffodils this year are just opening up .They look so bright and cheerful.......

Just gorgeous.......

As soon as we defrost the boys get a call to go and play with friends . I'm happy to walk them , the roads look special with their wintry frosting..........

It's midday and the sun is melting the snow on the branches quickly now.....

I decide to have a little walk before it's all gone.........

Along the snowy path I spot some livestock...

I'm glad these guys are behind two fences.But don't they look gorgeous in the snow...............

More creatures with four legs........

It's so quiet , the only sounds are my footsteps in the snow..........

Nearly home and these guys made me smile...they have mince pies for eyes(somebody likes their cockney rhyming slang ).........

Later in the day ,after a hot meal ,we even went out again. Back to the same slope, where the run is much faster now .The sun is setting but the children (and parents) are having too much fun to notice the cold........

Actually I notice the cold, my fingers and toes are numb and I want to leave. But it was a fabulous day .....

Jacquie x

Twenty Minutes of Solitude

2012-02-03T19:32:00.001Z

Hello Lovelies,
school mornings are always rush,rush,rush .Probably due to my disorganisation:0)
Yesterday I came down with a cold ...first in ages ...and I was feeling fed up at all the sorting and nagging I was having to do to get us out of the house on time.

Straight after school started I rushed back to tidy the kitchen then out to the dentists,of course I did not leave enough time for the journey so I was feeling stressed as they are very prompt at my dentists. Thankfully I got there on time .

Next "appointment" was picking my Mum in law up to do our respective weekly food shopping.I still felt tense from the rushing and dental encounter, as I pulled the car over to one side to let another car pass, my eyes were distracted by a little spot I've passed many times but hardly noticed...if you know what I mean.
I pulled over somewhere safe, grabbed my camera and went for a little wander.

This small field is in a suburban area, with houses and roads on all four sides....it's not a park as such...just a green space for public use. I suppose that is what a park is .......... what I mean is there as no notices or play equipment, or flower beds or paths. Just a field with a few trees. There is one huge tree in the centre...

Wow, it's gorgeous,don't you think ? I'm loving winter trees at the moment. The lower branches reach almost to the edge of this picture, though it's hard to see against the background

The night before we had a very light dusting of snow and the temperature dropped to minus 7 degrees Celsius .So when the sun came up everywhere looked so pretty. I walked about in the field, so glad that no one else was about . It was wonderful to relax and listen to the birdsong........

be enchanted by the frosty leaves.........

and ice crystals on the grass ...

I love the way the sun is shining through the grass blade and ice on the picture above.
I'm still using my little canon camera , it's a couple of years old, and nothing fancy but I LOVE the pictures it takes. It's a compact so I can always have it with me and it copes really well with macro shots.I always go mad and take loads of pictures in this sort of situation, happy in the knowledge I can delete all but a few favourites.

I wander over to take a closer look at the tree...I think it's a Sycamore, judging by the leaves on the ground.....nothing unusual , but what a tree.........

Brilliant for climbing I would expect, if you are into that sort of thing. ....

I just like looking up at the brilliant blue sky through the bare winter branches.........

The sun is getting higher now, but it's still bitterly cold.I love the way it's rays have turned the top of the background in this picture back to green , while the rest is still icy and frozen..........

There are still lots of frosty things I want to photograph , but I'm getting frozen my self by now. So I head back to the car.....restored by twenty minutes solitude ....ready to brave the supermarket aisles. I feel balanced again and able to see what a wonderful life I have , good busy, with the opportunity to do things just for myself, like walking around a field, going for a run or picking up my hook.
Life is good and I'm so happy I discovered the wonderful bloggy community to share it with . Thank you all for your amazing comments about my Kaleidoscope blanket.They are appreciated more than I can say.
Hope you all have a happy weekend , with time to relax.
Jacquie x
P.S. back soon with news of my new project :0)

Kaleidoscope blanket Ta-dah !!!

2012-02-01T18:20:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies ,
Well, I did it !! I completed my Kaleidoscope blanket on Monday evening . Yesterday I was at work all day so today was the first opportunity I've had to photograph it . I was so happy that the sun shone, despite the perishingly cold temperatures.
So would you like to see how it turned out ?? I do hope so. This morning I donned new stripy socks especially for the occasion...here I am stood on my little crochet covered stool ...........

Mainly because it's the best way to get an overhead shot like this ........

Whoooo Hooooo. I LOVE it :0)

This blanket has been a long time in the making, mainly due to me getting distracted by other ,speedier projects.

I made 120 hexagons in total ,but ended up using 112 of them. As you can see alternate rows are different widths, mine ended up 12 and 13 hexagons wide and nine hexagons deep.........

Having the spares was great for being able to choose combinations I liked right up to the end ......

So the finished blanket measures 163cm x 102cm ( 65" x 40" ) .Big enough to reach from my toes to my shoulders...ideal :0)

It was made from mostly Cygnet acrylic yarn . I bought it from a couple of local charity shops which sell this brand as new stock...not donated, for around £1.50 for a 100g ball. There's also stylecraft shrimp in there and an apple green from Wilkinsons .

I love the solidness of this pattern and it makes quite a weighty blanket....930 grams ( or 2Lb 1 oz )

Which works out at costing £14 ish for the whole blanket. I wouldn't like to try and work out the number of hours it's taken....I'ts quite a time consuming motif, but I guess as you only need 112 for a decent sized blanket it's not that slow.

What I can work out is that I would not have managed to get it finished as quickly in the end without all your wonderfully encouraging comments. It really was the reason I buckled down and got it done.

So ♥♥♥ THANK YOU !!!! ♥♥♥

As you can see I've gone a bit over the top with pictures but I was having such fun and I know you lovelies like looking at pretty crochet :0)

The border is 2 rows of half double crochet ( U.K. half treble ) .I treated the wavy edges like a ripple and decreased in the bottom of the V's and increased at the top. Despite this after one round this is what was happening ....

So I did the next round with the wrong side facing me and the turned it back over again for the final single crochet ( U.K. double ) and picot round.

I did not have a plan for where this blanket would end up , but right now I'm loving the look of it at the end of our bed .........

So that's where it will be staying for the time being.
It's certainly blanket weather here at the moment.Hope you are keeping warm if you are in the U.K.
Jacquie x

Sunny Crochet

2012-01-29T08:33:00.002Z

Hello Lovelies,
the sun has returned to these parts over the last two days ....really lifts the mood , making everything outdoors look so much prettier despite the cold and making the house bright and cheerful. Yesterday I sat in a sunny spot adding the last few hexagons to my blanket..........

Then sewing in the final ends..........

When all the ends were dealt with I picked up the almost finished blanket and lifted it into the air in order to spread it on the bed and this is what I saw........

All the colours illuminated from behind by the winter sun looked just stunning.

This is the same hexagon that's at the start of my half way there post.....looks so different viewed like this.......

I was immediately struck by the way these motifs, that reminded me of a kaleidoscope then I first made them , really do look kaleidoscopic viewed like this........

I LOVE the suns rays shining through on this shot.........

I got a bit carried away ,snapping lots of images quickly in case the sun disappeared behind a cloud ..........

As a child I would have loved to build a play tent using this blanket , to be surrounded by all these many coloured flowers in hexagons would be amazing,don't you think ?............

Just yesterday evening I started on the border....It's just going to be a simple one............

...................so stand by for a Kaleidoscope Blanket ta-dah very soon :0)
Jacquie x

Countryside Colour

2012-01-27T09:06:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
I'm missing the Nature Notes posts that I so enjoyed writing in 2011.
On Wednesday I was out and about looking for some some outdoor images to share with you all. Unfortunately the day was dark and dismal.
When I got home and looked at what I had managed to capture it looked so colourless I decided to abandon that idea. So instead I've taken photos of some of the images in my calendar..........

It's the first time I've bought this calendar,which is made up of images sent in by viewers of this programme.
I partly bought it because £ 4 of the cost goes towards the BBC's Children in need appeal, a very worthy cause.
As you know, I'm also drawn to images of our wonderful countryside and it's wildlife.
At the moment I'm so enjoying looking at this cute little fella....isn't this an amazing image, it's called " winter weasel".
The ice crystals and blue in the background makes it pretty darn perfect ,in my opinion.

I will be very sorry to turn over in a few days and say good bye to him..........

Each month you get two images , these are the images for February.........

The main one is pretty colourful, though I think I prefer the small image.........

This is April...not too sure about this either.......

But I'm loving May......

Wonderful colours in the pebbles and the shiny seaweed

Ooooh , look at my Birthday month, Ahhh lovely June with all it's pretty plants and wonderful colour.Not to mention looooong days :0)............

As the picture below shows, there is a space for notes ...........

The bride and groom make me smile. I've taken a close up of the cute mouse on this months page too........

This is a dramatic shot.......

and this image is pretty impressive , amazing the way the fox is staring straight into the lens......

I can totally see why this image was the overall winner of the competition...

It just looks so idyllic , don't you think ?? All those wonderful fresh greens and the colourful narrow boat.Not to mention the gorgeous heavy horse.

A lovely bonus at the end is this image for January 2013........

The quality of the paper and printing is very good and I can see myself buying this calendar again.

Hope you are finding colourful things this winter , or enjoying summer if you are in the southern hemisphere.
Jacquie x

A Stripey Crochet Distraction

2012-01-22T19:02:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
thank you all for the hexagon love ....you are all so kind. I've been joining more this weekend but last night I was inspired to put them aside for a couple of hours and make a little something both pretty and practical .
Yet again I was caught up by the talent and enthusiasm of the wonderful Lucy at Attic 24 . Have you seen Lucy's latest fun make ? Covers for Tuna Tins that make pretty plant saucers... brilliant.
I love them and having picked up a pack of pretty potted primroses with my shopping on Friday I really needed some more plant pot containers,
Lucy also added an edit to suggest pineapple tins would work......I was straight off to the cupboard to see if I had any.......yes :0) I was keen to hide the whole plastic pot so this was a brilliant suggestion.......

Much pondering on possibilities followed. What colours to use, what embellishments would look nice ??
I loved Lucy's versions but being the creative type too I didn't simply want to copy her. I love the moments when ideas pop into you minds eye,many are later rejected but it's fun daydreaming about ideas. Granny squares?? Ripples?? Buttons ?? Felt?? so many possibilities :0)
In the end I decided just to go with colourful stripes but vary the depth of the stitches to add interest.Late last night I started hooking......

Ohhh I love these colours. To me they are a bit Cath Kidston, maybe a bit Pip studio, but certainly happy and spring like.As you can see I didn't add any further embellishments as I loved the stripes so much.

This is them covering that pineapple tin ........

Yipee!!! so quick and such a high pleasure factor.I used mostly Patons Smoothie yarn which is Acrylic but smooth like cotton with a lovely sheen.It's very reasonably priced and comes in lots of pretty colours.

The stitches are a mixture of single crochet , half double crochet and double crochet ( U.K. Double, Half treble and treble) I also chose a 3.5mm hook so the result would be close stitches that didn't let the tin underneath show through.

I love the way they look next to my colourful utensil jar on the kitchen window sill .......

The plant pot JUST fits in ...ideally I would like to find a slightly bigger tin ...I'll have my eyes peeled at the supermarket next week ...then I'll have an excuse to make another.

I love the recycling element to this make . I also had an excuse to do some baking with the pineapple ...a little search of the www lead me to this recipe for Carrot and Pineapple Muffins.........

They were super easy to make . The recipe called for crushed pineapple so I had to get out my potato masher and give the chunks a squish ...seemed to work O.K. and they taste lovely.I'm claiming this is more healthy baking as they contain fruit AND vegetable :0)
This is what my kitchen windowsill looks like this evening..........Thanks for the inspiration Lucy. I'm loving my P.P.P. (Pineapple/Primrose Project ) .

Hope you have a creative week.
Jacquie x

Half Way There

2012-01-18T18:46:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
it's been rather dull here today.Not the best light for taking good photos but I've taken some of my blanket progress anyway . I'm loving the joining of all those hexagons soooo much. The colour combinations make me smile and I still love this pattern.

This one is a favourite .....

And this one is very pretty .....

I'm loving this one too........

Oh and this one .........

But I think they look best en masse.......

Wooo Hoooo !! and that's not even half of them ! I've joined sixty in total.
This is going to be one colourful blanket. At times I've thought maybe a little too bright . But on a dull January day this amount of cheerful colour is wonderful to work with and admire :0)

Hope your week is going well .
Jacquie x

Morning :: Afternoon :: Evening

2012-01-16T19:29:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
It's so cold here at the moment ...minus 5 early this morning meant there was lots of ice to scrape from the car before I could begin the journey to work. But what a journey....a gorgeous icy wonderland and a beautiful sunrise that turned the sky pink ..........

In the afternoon I stopped at my local yarn shop on the way home . Yipee, some lovely merino in the £1 bin...just two balls but I guess that's the great thing about working with LOTS of colour...you can benefit from reduced odd balls that many people would not be able to use...........

It's James C Brett pure merino . It's beautifully soft and I was so happy to find more Luxury yarn at a bargain price to add to my stash (" stashmerino" as Heather calls it ...love that :0) )

Look it's the exact same colour as my current Hyacinths...fancy that .........

In the evening I was determined to squeeze in a little baking, having perused my cookery books late yesterday and settled on something that would use up these....

Ummmm, dates.... bananas..... honey . I love all these so I was attracted to a recipe for a cake that combined these goodies........

The recipe is from a book I picked up years ago , I think it was at a school fair . The "Blue Peter book of gorgeous grub" from 1980.......very nostalgic for lots of U.K. peeps . I used to love this show............

I was not disappointed by the flavour of this cake...it's delicious....and I'm calling it "healthy " due to the fruit, honey and wholemeal flower :0)

Have a great week .
Jacquie x

Big Thank-you's

2012-01-14T07:37:00.000Z

Hello lovelies,
I'm feeling very lucky this week. I was so happy to win this cute little fella from Claire's giveaway a while back . He has winged his way from the other side of the world and landed on my doorstep.........

Isn't he gorgeous , he's a needle case and I'm sure he will come in very handy. Thank you again Claire...he is even cuter close up and just my colour :0).
When I opened my parcel I was surprised and delighted to see Claire had sent extra,unexpected handmade goodies.........

I love this little brooch so much . One day I would love to try free motion machine embroidery, but I doubt I would ever be this good at it .......

Do check out Claire's lovely blog "Sweet Birdy Love" It's an inspiring place :0)

The next thing that I've been thankful for this week is the sunshine ,and the early appearance of my crocuses.....

We've had a lot of sunshine over the last few days ,making the countryside look so pretty....

At home the low winter rays have been filling our home with light and I've moved my bulbs onto the mantle ,where my Amaryllis has started to flower.........

The flower heads are huge and really gorgeous ......

I've also revamped my mini bunting with some pretty CK papers ....I was very happy with my Noel version but right now I'm loving the spring like prettiness of this version sooo much :0)..........

At the other end of my Mantle the tiny " tete a tete" have been simply perfect........

I was totally surprised and delighted by all your wonderful comments and encouragement on my Kaleidoscope challenge. It really spurred me on to knuckle down and keep to my plan to finish this blanket by the end of this month. Can you see the piles of hexagons next to my chair.........

Here's a close up of then looking pretty .........

Yes, I've completed all 100 hexagons and yesterday afternoon , started joining them together ...hurray !!!............

So a BIG THANK YOU to all of you for your enthusiasm :0)
Have a great weekend
Jacquie x

January Crochet Intentions

2012-01-08T15:43:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
we enjoyed a lovely sunny day here on Friday . It was sooooooo welcome after all the rain and gales we had earlier in the week.
Walking into my bedroom in the afternoon I was very happy to see the low sun shining in my ever growing piles of hexagons.You know , the ones for my Kaleidoscope hexagon blanket .Started way back in April last year :0)

I imediately got my camera and captured them to share with you lovelies..........

I love the way the late afternoon ( 3pm !! ) sun made the colours glow ........

And I'm announcing here my intention to FINISH THIS BLANKET THIS MONTH in the hope that it will spur me on .
I think this is one of the slowest blankets I've ever made . The motifs are relatively fiddely to do so I've been making them in a production line style . 100 hexagons , to add to the few I've already joined. This was taken last May and it's still pretty much unaltered..........

But now I'm completing the hexagons, 60 so far, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel......

As you can tell I'm being good and sewing in the ends as I go . So wish me luck as there is still quite a bit to do. I've still got 40 hexagons to compleat. Then there's adding the final, joining, round then sewing in those ends and thinking about a border.

Don't forget there are two tutorials for this pattern in my side bar.

Thank you for all the lovely things you said about last years crochet.Your encouragement is wonderful , especially for big projects like this :0)
Hope your week goes well.
Jacquie x

December Nature Notes

2012-01-06T15:24:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
here I go with my final "Nature Notes" post. To be honest I've not been feeling the love for this post . I think my own pictures are not so good as other months ,but I guess December is not always very photogenic. How different it was last year.

One thing that does not disappoint are the Illustrations from my "Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady" book .Here are Edith's paintings for December..........

I love these beautifully observed bird pictures...........

And the friendly looking fox.....

A short verse that is so evocative of this this December's ( and January's ) weather.........

Ahhh, holly and ivy...a bit of festive cheer.......

And a happy Christmas verse..........

The facts and mottoes for this month.........

I particularly liked ............

Sounds good to me :0)

Here are my own photos from last month. 2011 seems to have been a particularly good one for berries...

This Hawthorn hedge , now devoid of leaves ,looks stunning with it's mass of red berries.........

December saw our first significant frosts this Autumn,Winter ..........

Some festive Ivy........

And a friendly local peeping through the bare branches..................

When there is not much growing on the ground it's good to look up and notice a stunning skyscape....

I also loved the sun on this favourite country church , with the stormy sky behind.........

The trees my be bare , but fear not, Mother Nature is already preparing for
Spring :0)........

And even though I've completed the twelve months of my Nature notes posts I'm sure I will be looking for more countryside scenes to share with you lovelies in 2012.
Have a great weekend.
Jacquie x

2011 Crochet Collection

2012-01-02T15:33:00.002Z

Hello Lovelies,

The weather has been dismal again here today. So instead of trying to write my December Nature notes post I've been cheering myself up looking through my photos from 2011 , picking out three crochet images from each month to share with you again :0)

2011 was my first full year of blogging and looking back at my photos I'm surprised at the amount of things I've made

JANUARY.........

SIBOL squares and Flowers from a new book

Granny "spike"cushion

Hanging Hearts

FEBRUARY.........

Squares for my Granny square blanket

Crochet trim for a jersey dress ( I've worn this lots over the festive period:0) )

Felt Needle books with crochet embellishments for a giveaway

MARCH.........

Kaleidoscope Hexagon....I was not happy with this colourway but loved the pattern

Recycling cotton yarn from a thrifted garment

Cushion made using the recycled yarn

APRIL.......

Second cushion from same yarn

Amigurumi Bunnies

Patriotic flower bunting for the royal wedding

MAY........

Bunny for my niece....more of a sewing project but she has a crochet jacket :0)

Finding a colourway I like for the Kaleidoscope hexagons

Little crochet toadstool house

JUNE.........

playing around with my granny squares writing the initials of my blog :0)

Then adding the plum border to my granny squares

Finishing my granny square blanket and photographing it next to the vintage blanket that inspired it ( Love mine but the original is just amazing )

JULY....

Starting a giant granny inspired by Sucrettes CAL

Hooking the border of this blanket in the car on the way to Norfolk for our Holidays

Photographing finished blanket outside our caravan and giving it to my Mum

AUGUST........

Starting my Blooming flower cushion

Adding round 2 to my production line of 100 Kaleidoscope hexagons

Starting another giant granny in "vintage" colours

SEPTEMBER........

Finishing my blooming flower cushion

Adding more rounds to second giant granny

Making crochet bowls for another giveaway

OCTOBER........

Finishing second giant granny

Joining Lucy and Heathers ripple along with a baby blanket

Making a little family of owls :0)

NOVEMBER........

Finishing my baby ripple

Making a cosy cowl

and a little zipped pouch as a leaving gift

DECEMBER.......

Mug cosy teacher gifts

Christmas Pud with Lucy's holly

and finally...... a Little Mouse tree decoration for my sister in law and family

Phew!
that's.........
4 cushions, 4 Blankets and 14 smaller projects ......there are one or two that I haven't included in this list as well !!
That's a lot of crochet for me and looking at it all together makes me very happy . The thing that ties it all together is that it's all been inspired by the internet......and mostly your lovely blogs and Flickr photo streams.I just love being able to see what you clever people are creating.

Being able to share my own creations here really is the icing on the cake . So thank you again for visiting and your kind, generous comments :0)
Here's to lots more crochet in 2012 . My main crochet resolution is to finish my Kaleidoscope blanket and I'm trying very hard not to get sidelined into any more projects till it's finished.
Hope the start of 2012 is going well for you.
Jacquie x
P.S. December Nature notes will follow soon .

On my Windowsill

2011-12-31T08:27:00.003Z

Hello Lovelies,
Yesterday was grey and cold with almost constant rain. It scuppered plans I had to photograph a few things I wanted to share with you lovelies. I also need to take pictures of the pages of my Nature Notes book for my December post ....I've already uploaded the outdoor pictures of my own...Brrrrr...makes me cold looking at them.

So in the evening I decided to share something much more cozy, my kitchen windowsill :0) My little side kitchen only has a view of the wheely bins and next doors wall so the darkness is actually quite beneficial.

Can you see the bulbs...they are the things I really wanted to show you . My Amaryllis is finally getting close to flowering ........

It's later than last year but I am pleased and rather surprised it survived at all . It's been outdoors all summer and almost forgotten about completely ,but happily I noticed signs of life at the end of October and brought it indoors. Here 's how it looked at the beginning of November.........

Hopefully it will look like this again soon :0)

Some more eagerly awaited bulbs are these little Narsissi (tete a tete ). I picked them up for £1 in the supermarket yesterday and popped them straight into my rather lovely, buttermilk yellow,thrifted "woods wear" jug .
I do enjoy the anticipation of indoor bulbs so much . I think I would rather buy them and wait than buy flowers that are already at their best . It's just lovely walking into the room in the morning or after work and seeing them in bloom for the first time. Plus I can plant them out after they fade to look lovely in the garden next year...........

That was my intention , last winter , with these Hyacinths .I showed you these in my previous post but they are looking even better now. Somehow they also got forgotten but happily they are also flowering for a second year in the same pot. The flower heads are a bit smaller but they still smell fabulous..............

And the pale lilac flowers are so pretty....spring is still a long way away but there's a little taste of the delights to come on my kitchen windowsill :0).........

Hope you enjoy the last day of 2011. Thank you all for visiting this year...you are the best. Wishing you all a Happy ,Creative, 2012.
Jacquie x

This Christmas

2011-12-27T07:11:00.000Z

Hello lovelies ,
What's your favourite part of Christmas? I think mine is Christmas eve, when all the decorations are looking lovely and the children's anticipation is infectious. This year I noticed the wonderful seasonal colours in the treats laid out on our coffee table... Quality Street are traditional in the BM household...they taste yummy and I just love the colours of the wrappers.
I was very happy to pick up these clementines locally...I adore the fabulous shiny fruit in their cute little wooden box .
Another tradition is nuts in shells...mostly because they remind me of my childhood Christmases .......

Over on the sofa the Christmas cushion cover I made a couple of years ago was making me smile...it could be the robins slightly odd looking Santa hat ....never the less , I still love it .....it was inspired by a Christmas card brought home by one of my boys and simply appliqued onto a plain cover I already had.......

Sadly I didn't have much time to sit down as baking was required for our Christmas eve visitors. Along with mince pies and fairy cakes I decided to make a cake .
Not your traditional Christmas cake (which I love, but the boys are not keen on) but yummy chocolate cake . I added some red,white and green sprinkles and my mums old cake decorations to make it look more festive......

I was thinking about cuckoos wonderful baking when I finished this ...that girl is an amazing cake decorator ( scroll down this post to see her beautiful cake )....mine looks so basic in comparison, but then I realised I could borrow something Id seen on her wonderful cake .......a fun banner...yes!! no cake decorating skill required:0)
I literally threw this together in less that ten minutes. I love it when inspiration strikes and you end up with something similar to what popped into your minds eye with very little effort.......just a couple of kebab sticks, some yarn ,ready made pompoms,and some coloured paper. I was going to write the letters on the little triangles but came across a stars alphabet I printed ages ago ( from here ) and they looked perfect .......

The pompoms were threaded onto the yarn with a large needle and the boys reminded me to add two dots above the E ......

LOVE IT :0)

Something I'm also loving is my Pay-it-forward gift sent to me by ANDAMENTO. Isn't the wrapping lovely.............

I was very good and waited till Christmas day to open it, only to find lots of individually wrapped items...

Inside were these lovely things........

No less than three tree decorations , a pretty glass magnet, mulled wine sachet , chocolate coins , and a little red box containing this tiny Nativity scene........

I love it all , thank you :0)
I now have a year to make three parcels of my own to pass onto any lovely bloggers who are willing to do the same.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I do love it ,but I will admit to being ever so slightly relieved when it's over . Still, the decorations will be staying till new year and I've found another spot for my impromptu cake banner...it's now an impromptu hyacinth banner ......

Jacquie x

A Christmas Mouse and Some Luxury Yarn

2011-12-22T07:15:00.005Z

Hello Lovelies,
Hope you are feeling prepared for Christmas....I am...ish !! still some wrapping to do , one or two prezzies to buy , a food shop and lots of housework to do.....sigh.
Still , I know we are very lucky to have extended family close by to visit , and who visit us ,over the Christmas period.

As well as foodie goodies I like to take a small lasting gift when visiting , I generally crochet an ornament for their tree. I posted about last years here. The year before that ( pre blog ) I made this cute reindeer.Both such great patterns I was struggling to come up with something as cute this year.
Thankfully spotting Dawns sweet little mouse , with a link to the free pattern , gave me this years ornament, Here he is, temporarily living on my little conservatory tree.........

Like last year, the dark weather has forced me to take him into the garden to get a clear photo.......

I think his face turned out O.K. ....always the trickiest bit........

He has a cute tail and in his little paw he is carrying a thank you message ......

I love having a stash of yarn in just about every colour so that I can easily complete a little project like this without having to venture out to the shops.Indeed I have LOADS of yarn around the house. There's all kinds of Acrylic yarn...some nicer than others . I am so grateful for the quality acrylic yarn that makes my hobby so affordable.
I also have quite a bit of cotton which I love ,but I don't have any "luxury" yarn. By luxury I mean cashmere or merino wool .

I have always been put off by the price but I loved Heather's idea of building a stash slowly. Buying the odd ball or two as a treat or asking for some as a gift at Christmas or Birthday times. Yes , this could be a way for me to build a stash ...to be used for an ,as yet undecided, special project.
Ooooh what a looooverly thought :0) 2012 could be the year of my first "Luxury " project !!

I'm excited to tell you lovelies that yesterday I made a start on that stash building ...yipee.
Outside my LYS I spotted some luxury yarns reduced to £2 a ball . A luxury bargain.....what a great way to start. It will made further purchases at full price a little easier to smile about :0)...........

The yarn I got was mostly Sirdar Sublime . It's a gorgeously soft blend of merino, silk and cashmere. I also ended up with one ball of Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK which is merino, micro fibre and cashmere.
Being new to using these blends I'm hoping it will be O.K. to combine then in one project but I'd love some advice from you lovelies on this subject .

Thank you all for your comments on my latest makes ...they really make my day:0) and in case I don't get time to post again before Christmas day....here's wishing you all a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS
Jacquie x

Little Red Beads

2011-12-18T02:51:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
a couple of weeks ago I picked up these little red wooden beads....aren't they gorgeous. There were loads of larger beads to choose from in the craft shop but I knew which lovely project I needed these for.......berries to go with some Attic 24 Holly leaves I wanted to make using Lucy's tutorial.......

I was not sure what I was going to do with crochet holly at that point, but inspiration usually strikes at some stage.
Once I got the beads home and looked at them again I realised they were actually a tad on the large side .......

Ummmmmmmmm 11mm ...ooops. Never mind . I thought if I made the holly leaves using double knitting yarn they would hopefully turn out big enough to look ok with my giant berries......thankfully I think they just about do.............

And , also thankfully, inspiration did strike about what to do with that fab holly.......

put it on top of a crochet Christmas pudding decoration to hang on the tree :0) Weeeeeeee, pretty cute and festive don't you think ?

The only problem was those big holly leaves , caused by the big "berries" , needed a similarly large pudding to sit on ......so I didn't follow a pattern , just guestimated the size and made up the pattern as I went along. I'm really pleased with how it came out , especially the way the brandy sauce is running down the sides . The only problem being it turned out even bigger than I planned......

What a whopper , here it is next to a standard sized bauble ......

Huuuuge !! It does look a bit ridiculously large but that just makes me chuckle and wonder how many other Christmas trees have an almost life size pudding hanging from their branches ........

And I still love those beads with Lucy's fab Holly, thanks so much for the wonderful tutorial Lucy......

Enjoy your Sunday lovelies
Jacquie x

Festive Colours

2011-12-11T09:27:00.002Z

Hello Lovelies,
on Friday I had an enforced day at home as one of my boys was off school poorly, so I decided to get the decorations out of the loft and get on with decorating the house. Master BM was able to help and we spend a pleasant morning building and trimming the tree.I love opening the boxes of decorations . This one really made me smile ....with it's mix of sentimental decorations . There are knitted characters, thrifted vintage baubles and even holiday souvenirs. But the most precious ones to me are those made by the boys when they were very young ........

Other sentimental characters I'm pleased to get reacquainted with include this pair.......

My Nanna made these sweet Eskimos which always sit at the bottom of our tree......Nanna was a complete yarn addict and I've written about her before HERE.
We have so many decorations I have to be strict with myself and only add one more each year ( of the bought variety anyway ....hand made is fine :0)) . This year I treated myself to this colourful little sign. I love it's stripes and spots and touch of glitter..........

Something else with a touch of glitter that I'm loving is this cute piece of artwork done by my youngest. This is proudly displayed in my front room........

Another talented member of my family , apart from my Nanna and sons ,is my own lovely Mum. I have shared some of her beautiful paintings with you lovelies before. I really need to do a post dedicated to them as I'm lucky enough to have loads. Here is her latest gift to me ..........

Ooooh I love it , my favourite hog weed covered in pretty snow and the cutest Robin ....it's gorgeous ...THANK YOU mum :0)

I've just realised you can peek another of Mum's paintings ( a portrait of our late cats " Henry and George") in this next shot of my wonderful candle bridge ...we have had this a few years and I love this too........

Last night when it was dark I played around trying to get a good shot of our tree, not easy . This one is O.K. I think....

Next I took a photo in macro to achieve this effect . It's not the best I've seen in blogland but I was pretty pleased with the result. It reminds me of when you screw up your eyes to see if the lights are evenly spaced...or is it just me who does this..........

I also tried the "firework " setting on my simple camera . The best results came from purposely moving the camera a little ........interesting effect.......

The boys thought this looked like fun and wanted to try.........this is what their scarily enthusiastic camera moving made..........

I actually REALLY like these :0)

Finally , I'm sorry this has turned into a rather long post, I've just got to show you my archway decoration. It goes over the doorway between our lounge and dining room. I bought this artificial greenery many years ago . It's been decorated in lots of different ways but the last couple of years it's just been red and white with white lights . I love this look. I've made quite a few of the decorations on here , like the crochet snowflakes and gingham hearts. There's also quite a few felt bit and bobs I made in red and white . .....

Hope you are keeping warm if you are in the U.K.
I'm glad to be staying indoors with the pretty lights and decorations
Jacquie x

November Nature Notes

2011-12-09T23:17:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies ,
here I am at my penultimate Nature notes post. If you are not familiar with these there's an explanation when I started these posts back in January HERE .

On dull day November can feel rather drab and boring. But I hope you will agree Edith's illustrations have a certain charm about them that is rather special and so does November. I do love the changing seasons and this year I have become rather fond of Autumn ....not something I have really felt before.I'm sure writing these posts has helped open my eyes to the beautiful things this time of year has to offer.

Here are Edith's illustrations for the month of November..........

Seed heads of hog weed ....love this painting ......

Some interesting facts from the book .......

Here are my own images from last month.....I love the hog weed and the dock seed in the fore ground of this picture...........

These images were taken at the beginning of the month and you can see some trees were still green , there was also a very green crop growing in the field..........

I've included the picture as I love the gate, worn smooth by all the walkers passing through onto the foot path across the fields..........

Not many flowers to be seen this month but plenty of Fungi ..........

Rose hips ........

And Berries .....

Ducks on the lake.........

I wonder why I've never noticed these conifers change colour before? I was rather puzzled as I presumed all conifers were evergreen . Seems that they are not( took me a long time to realise this ...did anybody else think the same ? ) and I think these are Larch...........

Short days and low light levels can be rather depressing but I'm consoling myself that it's less that two weeks to the shortest day now ...........

Here are some pictures from the end of November..........

Some trees are bare but others were still looking gorgeous.........

Love the colour of this Beech hedge and the gentle , watery sun casting the faintest of shadows ........

Hope you enjoyed this belated Nature Notes post.

Have a great weekend .
Jacquie x

Crochet Mug Cosy

2011-12-05T23:08:00.001Z

Hello Lovelies,
have you seen the lovely crocheted mug cozies popping up all over blog land ? Penelope's gorgeous version ,towards the bottom of this post really caught my eye and I loved her idea of giving them as teacher gifts.
All the cozies I'd seen wrapped around the sides of your mug and fastened with a button, like Penelope's. Then last week I saw this inspired idea....a crochet coaster and mug cosy in one......brilliant !!

There is a link to the pattern but I just started mine using the first couple of rounds of this rather lovely simple coaster pattern ....when it was as wide as the base of my mug I stopped increasing made stripes in U.S. half double crochet ............

Here's a peek at the bottom....

I've now made two of these to cover inexpensive mugs I picked up at the supermarket, using Patons Smoothie yarn, here's the second....

Having the integral coaster means the button fastening has to be at the top, but I've made sure it's at the side away from your thumb so it's not annoying. I LOVE how these turned out, all those colourful stripes make me smile......

I've also copied Penelope's idea to fill them with chocolates and I'm hoping the excellent teachers they were made for will like them ( I suppose they would make a pretty desk tidy if they did not want to drink out of a mug with added yarn ! ) ........

One last photo , a close up of this sweet button, I may have to go back and buy a couple more of these ....aren't they pretty ...........

On a different subject ,the weather has turned COLD around here at last . We haven't had the snow that some of the U.K. has seen but here is a yarny version I spotted when I went to buy those buttons....

I love this seasonal crafty window , especially the cute crochet snowman.........

Lastly here is a picture of the sunrise I noticed when I arrived at work at 8am this morning....

Simply stunning.

Hope your week goes well , they are whizzing past at a rate of knots around here ! My November nature notes post will appear sometime this week !!

Jacquie x

Colour at Home

2011-11-30T23:52:00.002Z

Hello Lovelies,
with the short days we are experiencing at the moment I'm drawn towards cheerful colours to combat the gloom . My jolly gingham bunting has made a reappearance in the kitchen .It's not specifically Christmassy but has a festive feel to me......

Did you notice my crochet birdy hanging in the window. He has lived in this spot since I made him back in October 2009...inspired by this clever creation,back in the days BB ( before blogging ) . I still love him, with his ric-rac legs and wooden beady feet..........

The yarn I used was mostly patons Smoothie and I've been working some colourful stripes with the same yarn this week. This project is for a gift and it is almost finished so I will do a little Ta-dah later this week :0)......

Something else bright and colourful that's making me smile are my new Wellies......

These are actually the first pair I have owned as an adult !! I always remember having freezing feet in wellies as a child so I've resisted buying any for many ( many, many ) a year but there are occasions when wellies are ideal footwear .And I've also bought some matching wellie socks to combat the cold. Whilst I was outside today photographing my feet I did notice how pretty our little silver birch tree is looking........

Many trees are now without leaves but this one is still looking gorgeous,especially against a blue sky with the sun shining through the leaves........

Around the garden , if you look closely there are still a few flowers , like these sweet little fuchsias....

And the lack of serious frost means even my geraniums are still flowering........

Such a contrast to this time last year .

Wandering around I was rather taken with the look of this moss covered stone viewed in macro, what a lovely fresh green........

Back indoors , wellies off , I remembered some rather colourful recent purchases I wanted to share with you lovelies ............Sarah Smith cloths.........

My dishwasher has died recently so anything to make the washing up more bearable has got to be a good thing :0)

And some rather lovely new oven gloves, I'm so pleased with these ....

More red , this time with polka dots.......lovely.

I'm cheering the long evenings is with lots of candles.........

This year we have an Advent candle for the first time ever. Here it is lit on Sunday.....seemed appropriate as several lovely blogs reminded me that last Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent .Tomorrow we can start burning down the numbers, hope we remember to keep an eye on the progress.........

My colourful oil burner was a lucky charity shop find.........

I'm currently using it with fabulous Sparkling Cinnamon wax tarts from Yankee Candle......I adore this festive scent !!

Hope you are finding little things to cheer you .
Jacquie x

P.S. in case anybody was wondering , my wellies,cloths and oven gloves were bargains from the appropriately named " Home Bargains"

A little more colour

2011-11-25T16:36:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies, Thank you all so much for your kind comments on my last post. Some crochet in white and grey is all well and good but this week I've been feeling the need for a little more colour.

On Monday I decided to make a Christmassy brooch and after a bit of pondering I settled on a poinsettia . I touch of red to contrast with my grey coat and grey cowl...........

I'm loving red at the moment but unfortunately it's the colour my camera seems unable to cope with so I struggled to get a decent picture of this pretty flower......

I made two sizes of petals in red and three leaves in green then sewed them to a felt back . I added some pretty beads to the centre to finish it off . I've been out to a Christmas market today so I wore it to that. I think I will now save it for other Christmas events .........

It's was beautifully sunny here this morning, making the higgeldy piggeldy old buildings where the market was held look so pretty.........

I loved the sun on this rooftop.........

And indoors there were lots of handmade goodies to see, though I did not dare take photos. On the way home we stopped at a garden centre and I sneaked a photo of my this cutie......... my current obsession ,owls....this is a tape measure, you pull out its right wing ....eeek.....so cute :0).....

I've also taken some pictures of my Kaleidoscope blanket progress.....does any one remember this project ??
I started it, full of enthusiasm ,way back in April. Lots of other blankets and smaller projects have been completed whist it was left untouched. I did do some work on it here, after deciding that the only way I stood a chance of finishing it was to make lots of hexagons, production line style, a round at a time.
I now have 100 motifs at the round three stage.....

just one more round ...and 800 ends ( yikes ) then I can start joining ....still a long way to go I fear but sharing images here will hopefully spur me on :0)......

Here's a reminder of how the part I completed initially looks.......

Certainly colourful :0)

Have a great weekend .
Jacquie x

This Week..........

2011-11-18T14:08:00.000Z

I've been turning this ball of chunky yarn........

Into soft snugly rows .........

I picked up this odd ball from the £1 bin outside my LYS in the summer. It didn't have a label so I don't know what the fibre is but as soon as I touched it I knew it would be lovely and cozy worn around the neck so it's now a cowl .Really quick and simple to make, just rows of U.S. double crochet. I made it quite long so you can loop it twice around your neck for added warmth and I'm really pleased with how it turned out :0)..........

I've also been doing some baking with the boys. Last year I made my own mincemeat for the first time, and it was so easy I decided to make some this year. I used this recipe again.
I think I love the smells that fill your house when you make this as much as the finished product. Orange,Nutmeg, Apple, Cinnamon, Lemon , mixed spice .....together they are so Christmassy and gorgeous .
I'm sure it won't last long as the whole family love mince pies and homemade ones, still warm from the oven, are divine..........

Fresh indoor flowers have also made a very welcome comeback this week. At this time of year when the garden is looking dull and the days can be dark I feel the need for some indoor floral goodness and some candles to cheer me up.......

I LOVE these simple white chrysanths with yellow and green centres............

The days are getting so short on our side of the world..........this picture was taken at three thirty ....is wasn't quite as dark as this photo taken into the sun suggests but you can see how low the hazy sun is. By four thirty it is dark.

So to cheer up the long evenings I've been making this......

To use with this.........

I also added these..........

Inspired by this post I decided I needed some crochet and candle cozyness of my own. This is what I ended up with..........

Yay, another quick make that made me smile this week ...........

You can find a tutorial for a similar cover HERE.

Have a great weekend

Jacquie x

A quick crochet gift

2011-11-12T13:03:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
At work we have enjoyed having a sweet young lady's company over the last few weeks. A visiting colleague from the other side of the world who will be missed by myself and quite a few others due to her lovely , friendly , generous nature.
On Wednesday evening it suddenly dawned on me that the next day would the last time we would meet and I wanted to give her a little gift . No time to go shopping meant it would have to be something handmade. Something quick to make ...but what ?
I hit upon a crochet bowl ( like the one in my side bar ) and dug out my assorted cotton yarns. I was looking for the right colours when I spotted a little forgotten W.I.P. in the bottom of the bag, some pretty stripes....

I think this was started from a library book a couple of years ago.....possibly to make a child's handbag. With time short I decided to turn it into a little pouch. Luckily I still had the same yarns so I just added a few more rows. It was about half this deep when I found it........

I didn't even sew in the ends...just trimmed them a bit so they were not quite so bulky........

The next morning I hand sewed a lining from some thrifted fabric. These days sewing dark fabric requires daylight and some help with vision :0).........

I then added a zip...not so hard to do with small hand stitches .....

Pin and then sew the first side between the lining and the pouch ,then unzip the zipper and pin and sew the second side .............

As you can see this zip was a little small and not really matching in colour but I think it looks OKish and It was all I had. It was a 6 inch zip , to give you an idea of size......

The whole project took a couple of hours .If these photos look a bit hurried , they were ........

I popped a little tin heart on some gingham ribbon that I had bought as a Christmas decoration inside , wrapped it up and gave it . Phew , just in time !
I hope she likes it ...I think it could have lots of uses, like make up or gadgets........

Soon it will be another well traveled bit of Bunny Mummy crochet so it's nice to have a record here :0)
Have a great rest of the weekend .
Jacquie x

October Nature Notes

2011-11-07T20:55:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies,
Finally I'm managing a little computer time to write my monthly nature notes post. It's rather late, but better late than never as they say .

I'll start in the usual way by sharing the illustrations from the book " Nature Notes of an Edwardian lady".......

There are many lovely paintings this month , but I think this one is my favourite .....

Here are the saints days and folklaw rhymes from the book.......

If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know this book was written in 1905 and I love Edith Holden's beautiful paintings that capture the English seasons so wonderfully. I'm no artist but, luckily for me, I live in an age where you just have to point your camera and click to be able to capture the beauty you see around you .

So here are my images for October .......

The above photo was taken in mid October and you can see these beech leaves begining to turn. Many trees were still green at this stage..........

This photo still looks almost summery doesn't it.

The Hawthorne hedgerows were still green but laden with berries.......

Living in a flatish area it's never easy to get a good , far reaching ,view but I was pleased with the way this image caputred the October countryside scene.....

This year October has been generally warm and dry in these parts. No real frosts to speak of but by the last week of the month we did see some more classically Autumnal misty mornings. This day was particulaly pretty as the sun could be seen through the mist.........

And as it faded, just a faint haze and a dew on the grass made the fields look quite magical ,when glimpsed through a gap in the hedge.........

I love the brown grasses and varied colour in the trees in this shot taken right at the end of the month........

The hedgerows were also a mass of oranges and yellows...........

I've posted a picture of this view before ...back in my June nature notes post. Its different now without the poppies but still pretty with the distant church...........

I was inspired to get a closer look at that church..........

Wow, I love it's setting ...dwarfed by that beautiful mature tree. Can you see that interesting old building to the left and the fence ,which has definitely seen better days....

I think the cows must be happy in this timeless spot..........

I've loved getting out and about this October ...hope you enjoyed it too :0)
Jacquie x

Baby Ripple Ta-dah

2011-11-02T22:56:00.000Z

Hello Lovelies ,
I felt so lucky when I peeped through the bedroom curtains this morning ...sunshine and blue skys....perfect weather for my day off. I've been desperate to take some photo's of the beautiful Autumn colour we are enjoying at the moment . And of course I was also eager to take some pictures of my latest finished object. I've been so enjoying being part of the Ripple-along arranged by lovely....Attic24 and Little Tin Bird. So here is my latest finished object..............

Ooooooooooh look at all those colourful neat ripples. I love how this project turned out. These pictures really made me smile :0)I think it's funny how you see a project through new eyes when you look at photos of it...or is that just me ?

I'm now thinking I should have gone for a bigger project as this was so enjoyable and I was a little sad it was finished so quickly..............

As I mentioned before I have not had a good relationship with the ripple in the past. Indeed there were a few moments during this project I got rather frustrated . Having to pull back a couple of rows at one stage. All the way through I seemed to miss count regularly but at least I worked out how to spot my errors sooner so there were only small amounts to pull back.

It's a baby blanket and the finished size is 28" by 32" ( 71 cm by 81 cm) A good size to use in a pushchair or for nap time. ......

I only used one pink....raspberry ....so I think it would work well for a boy or a girl.........

I love the way ripples don't have a back or a front. Both side are slightly different but I like both the effect of a slight ridge in the centre of the ripple .....

As much as the other side with a slight ridge at the edge of each ripple........

I copied Heathers method of starting her edge with two stitches in the end of each row.............

I also straightened up the two ends by making longer stitches in the bottom of the waves and short ones on the tops of the waves.
ie double crochets ( U.K. trebles ) , then half doubles (U.K. half trebles) then single crochets ( U.K. doubles ) ..........

I then did a further round of U.S. half doubles and finished off with a pretty picot edging in red.
Here are the colours I used...all Stylecraft special DK.......

Top row L-R lemon,saffron,lipstick,meadow,fondant,aster
Bottom row L-R raspberry,turquoise,spring green,grape,apricot,lavender,cloud blue and shrimp.

I loved working with these bright happy colours but I'm not sure what to do with this blanket now it is finished ...save it till somebody I know has a baby ....or maybe I could sell it ?! Now that would be a first :0)

I'll leave you with some leaves ( no pun intended ) I snapped today...the trees around here are just fabulous at the moment.......

Ahhhhhhh, isn't mother nature wonderful . Today was the most perfect Autumn day and I'm so glad I was able to get outside and enjoy it . Being able to share these photos with you lovelies makes me appreciate it all the more.
Hope you are finding things to cheer you this week.
Jacquie x

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T22:27:00.001Z

Hello Lovelies,
Hope you are having a fun Halloween if you celebrate it. We are so lucky around here. There is a great atmosphere with lots of pumpkins in windows and on doorsteps signaling that trick or treaters are most welcome. The boys have a ball and it really feels like a wonderful community event...............

These are our pumpkins carved by Mr BM. He seems to have taken over this role and though the boys helped with the designs the precision cutting is all his :0)

News on the crochet front is..........
I'm onto the border of my baby ripple blanket .....ta-dah coming very soon....yippee !

Have a great week
Jacquie x

p.s.my October Nature Notes post will also be coming later this week .

Autumnal sights and projects

2011-10-27T16:45:00.001+01:00

Hello Lovelies, this week I have been lucky enough to get the half term off to spend relaxing with my boys. The weather has mostly been great .....sunny with blue skys and we have been making the most of our time off. There has been bike riding with lots of photo stops for me . .......

I'm loving the light and gentle heat of the sun this week........

There has also been extra crochet time to enjoy........

These pictures were taken on Monday and I'm even further on with this fun project now.........

Yesterday I had a minor panic when I realised I had run out of Saffron yarn. It's the lovely warm Yellow you can see in the picture above. I quickly reordered some more online but was sad to stop rippling.I needed something quick and simple for my hook to do .

Surfing Flickr I was extremely happy to stumble upon these cuties :0) Aren't they great , If you don't know Dawns work I can thoroughly recommend her blog.....Fiddlesticks. where she has also posted about her Owlies.

I had to make my own . Would you like to see how they turned out ??

I do hope so .........

This is my first attempt.I love the chunky look Dawn's have so I held 2 strands of double knitting yarn together and used a 5mm hook for mine. In fact for the "daddy" owl I held 3 strands together and used a 6mm hook . ....

If you fancy making your own Dawn has promised to share her pattern soon....mine were just improvised as I went but I think they turned out pretty cute too .......

I love the tufty "ears" on Mummy owl .........

And on the wet grey day that today has turned out to be I enjoyed playing around creating a seasonal background for them with our pumpkins waiting to be carved and a few faded blooms from the drippy garden............

As I have now been blogging for over a year I can see that this week last year also had an owl and pumpkin theme :0)

Hope you are enjoying saying goodbye/hello to the suns heat........depending which part of the world you live . I love the changing seasons and know that though I don't look forward to the cold , wet , short days it will make the spring such a joy when it arrives again.
Jacquie x

Stripes and Waves

2011-10-23T09:22:00.001+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
I've got a new work in progress (WIP) to share with you today:0)

but first a little quiz......

Anybody guess what this rather wonky rectangle is ? It's a finished object I made for my youngest. He's been asking me to make this for a while. He chose the colours and it measures 25cm (10 inches) by 12cm ( 5 inches). Answer at the bottom of this post :0)

But don't rush to the end yet, here is my latest WIP........

....

....

.....

Oooooh colourful ripples !! Yep I've joined the ripple-along organised by Lucy and Heather. I tried to resist for a while as to be honest I can't say I enjoyed my only previous ripple experience.I love the look of this cushion cover I made back in 2009 .....

But I remember getting very frustrated by it at the time.....I went wrong lots of times and I also chose to work in the back loops only on the colour change rows which added extra fiddle factor. I can't remember exactly which pattern this is but this time I'm using Lucy's Neat Ripple pattern and it's much easier.....or maybe my crochet has improved.
That's not to say it doesn't require some concentration and counting. It's not a super easy granny square type of pattern. I've already gone wrong once and had to pull back a couple of rows . That's when I was glad it's not a big project.....

Yes it's a baby blanket , inspired by this beauty. I'm not sure what I will do with it when it's finished but for now I'm just enjoying the making ....the ripple and I are friends at last :0)

I love looking along the waves of colour and there is certainly something to be said for working with all these intense hues .
It feels great to be part of the fun and I know so many others feel the same. Check out the amazing creations over at the ripple-along Flickr group.Right , I'm off to add another colour. Oh and I nearly forgot the quiz answer. ....

It's a car seat belt cozy thingy....not sure what they are called but it's to stop the seat belt cutting into your neck.
Enjoy your Sunday
Jacquie x

How to crochet a Granny Square

2011-10-21T17:02:00.001+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
today I'm posting a tutorial on how I make my granny squares. I'm sure there are many ,many other tutorials and you tube videos on this subject but as a few of you have asked how I personally make mine I thought I would share my method .

Granny squares are a great beginner crochet project as you only need to be able to chain , slip stitch and U.S. double ( U.K. treble ) crochet.
I expect there is much information on how to do these basic stitches online as well as in every crochet book. Getting a friend or relative to show you the basics takes some beating though :0)

The pattern is oh so simple. There are a few variations that may not immediately be obvious and a common problem encountered by some is where the rows begin to twist as the square grows. Like this, most frustrating !
I don't know exactly what causes this to happen but luckily my method unknowingly seems to avoid this problem .
So here is how I make granny squares...

U.S. terms as usual :0)
To begin chain 4 ........

insert hook into furthest chain from hook and slip stitch to form a loop....

Chain 3 ( counts as first double crochet )....

work 2 further double crochet( D.C.) into loop........

this is your first double crochet cluster :0)

chain 2 then make 3 D.C into loop chain 2 .repeat 2 times more and slip stitch into third chain of initial 3 chain . this is you first round complete. Can you see how the 2 chains are making the corners of your square ..........

If you want to change colours at this point then fasten off . If you want to make the next row in the same colour I copied my sister in laws method of slip stitching along to the next 2 chain space like this . Slip stitch into the top of the second D.C. ...

and then slip stitch into the 2 chain space. Easy when you know how but I never figured this out by myself !

Then start round 2 by chaining 3....

and working 2 D.C. into same 2 chain space. In the SAME 2 chain space chain 2 and work 3 D.C. Forms corner of round 2 .........

Work 3 D.C. chain 2, 3 D.C. into next 2 chain space of round 1 ....

Repeat this pattern in the 2 remaining spaces then join to initial 3 chain with a slip stitch......

As I'm changing colours at this point I've pulled up a loop and finished off.........

This is how I join a new colour. First I make a slip knot like at the beginning of a chain...

Pull this tight........

And insert hook into a space along the SIDE of my little square. In this example I've inserted my hook from front to back , back to front is probably better, but it's not crucial with this pattern ......

Yarn over ....

pull though space and yarn on hook .....

You have attached a new colour and are ready to start round 3 :0)

Chain 3 ......

Work 2 dc in same side space......

Work corner cluster in the same way as before ( i.e. 3D.C. chain 2 , 3 D.C. )into the 2 chain corner space of round 2 .........

Along the sides work 3 D.C. clusters with NO chain spaces.

Repeat around and finish off or slip stitch along to next space if you are not changing colour........

Round 4 . In this picture you can see I'm attaching a new colour into the space just to the left of a corner . Also it's not on the same side of the square that I attached the previous colour.......

Starting rounds on the side of the work ( as opposed to the corners ) and varying the sides used could be the reason I don't suffer the twisting problem.

complete round 4 in the same way as round 3 but you will have 2 D.C. side clusters along each side in this round.....

I'm using random colours and love rummaging in my yarn bag to select the next colours...

This could work...

Or maybe the other way round......

If you end up with a colour that looks a bit scary remember that the following round can tone it down a bit :0)

So the pattern is just repeating every round with the addition of extra side clusters , yes ? .....

In the above picture you can see I've joined the turquoise yarn 2 cluster spaces from the corner, it's not crucial exactly which space you choose.

You can see I also turn my work so random sides are used for joining a new colour. Here is the back , you can see the ends are spread about....

If you have only done one round of a certain colour the start and finish ends are quite close together so I tie these with a double knot before sewing them in...taking care not to pull the first knot too tight and distort the stitches......

I hope all this helps some of you who have encountered the twisting problem . I really hope it encourages some of you ,who havn't already done so ,to give a granny square a try .

I''l finish with 3 of my 2011 projects that have used this super easy, super effective crochet pattern...

"Vintage" Giant Granny

small square granny blanket

bright giant granny blanket

I think you can see how much fun I've been having with this pattern this year :0)

With granny squares the permutations of colour and size of square is endless. There are also many different ways to join squares and of course many,many different things you can make . From blankets to bags. Cushions to coasters and so many others I haven't even thought of yet . I think I will always love this pattern and can't really see me ever becoming bored with it's versatile simplicity .
I hope this tutorial is clear to you all . Any problems please let me know .

ENJOY.

Jacquie x

Yarny Distractions

2011-10-15T10:11:00.001+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
Firstly let me say a BIG thank you for all you vintage granny love...you are so kind :0)
I must say I'm totally in love with that blanket...every time I catch a glimpse of it on the back of the chair I have to smile.

As I'm sure you are well aware crocheting and blogging , not to mention reading lots of lovely blogs can become a rather time consuming pastime.Other day to day jobs ...like the housework ...can tend to slide!
Inspired by Lucy I've been making an effort to tackle some of the clutter and dust that has magically appeared in our home.
Instead of an hour a day (not practical as I'm at work for 3 days a week) I've been spending the whole day , Friday, tackling a specific room. I've worked wonders in the boys bedrooms the last couple of Fridays. Tons of stuff has been donated or binned . My hoover has been working overtime and the boys have been impressed with the results.
This week I had written "dining room" on my calendar. This is a high clutter area as it doubles as a craft space for both the boys and myself.

Things did not go to plan .Sorting through my wips I became rather distracted. I discovered long forgotten experiments and began day dreaming :0)
One thing I did finish was my rag rug...well I just finished off the last ball of t.shirt yarn I had and tucked in the ends. Ta-dah....

This was going to be a lot bigger but it had started to curl up a bit a so I've decided it's a good size to go in front of my sink.One less ufo :0)
Another distraction came when the postman delivered some yarn I had ordered earlier this week .....

Ummm yummy style craft special DK.
I ordered ...top row L-R fondant, turquoise,lipstick. Bottom row L-R pomegranate,plum,meadow and lavender.
I haven't ordered pomegranate or fondant before and I was pleased with my choice. Ordering yarn on line can be a bit of a mine field don't you think ? The colours on your monitor can be very misleading . Style craft does have some rather garish colours as I found out when I ordered bright green earlier this year...

yikes !!

I have quite a collection of stylecraft colours nowadays .It's very soft and lovely to work with so it has quickly become a favourite of mine .
I'm pretty bad at keeping the bands from the balls of yarn so remembering which colours are which to re order is tricky.

I liked Sarah's method of stapling a sample of yarn to the band (see bottom of this post ) but then I thought of attaching all the colors to one piece of card...like I used to do with the embroidery threads in my cross stitch days. This is what I ended up with....

I love it :0) Now I should be able to tell you lovelies which colours I've used with confidence and re ordering on line should be a doddle , that's the plan anyway ........

As you can see I was having a nice time playing with yarn and taking photos rather than tidying up !! ...

Right, must go and do some more jobs now . I just want to tell you lovelies I've decided to a tutorial on how I do granny squares as quite a few of you commented that your squares become twisted as you progress. I've taken the photos ... now I just need to find time to add the words !!

Have a great weekend
Jacquie x

"vintage" giant granny ta-dah

2011-10-10T22:50:00.002+01:00

Hello Lovelies ,
today's a ta-dah day...my favourite:0)
I've just finished my second giant granny of 2011 and I'm pretty thrilled with the result. It's quite different to my first one . The colour choices I made were more subdued this time. I was hoping for a "vintage" look and I think I've achieved it....

I suppose it's my interpretation of vintage anyway :0)
There is no bright yellow or orange or pink in this blanket. Instead I've chosen grey and camel and brown to contrast with the safer blues,pinks and greens. The brightest colour is a rich red which I think lifts the look.......

Most of the colours are stylecraft special double knitting .
For those of you who are interested the stylecraft colours I used are.........

pale rose and meadow (small balls on top)
cloud blue,camel,apricot,aster,soft peach (middle row L-R)
cream,raspberry,?lavender,grape,lemon and teal (bottom row L-R)
The other stylecraft colour I used was lipstick ( rich red )

As I wanted to include some rusty orange /brown and grey I used these from my stash. Sorry unknown origin but stylecraft do have similar colours .........

That's 18 colours in total

I wonder if anyone noticed my blanket now has a different border to this post . I wasn't happy with the pink picot edging so I pulled it back and went with my trusty double V edging in cream ( tutorial in my side bar)

Here it is on my bed. It's not a bed blanket but I've got one of those :0)
This blanket is 56 rounds plus a border and weighs 800 grams. Which means it took 8 100 gram balls of yarn in total . At £1.50 a ball that's a bargain £12 for all this granny gorgeousness.
I started this blanket on the first of September so you can see it's quite a quick blanket to produce. I'm sure I could have completed it quicker if I hadn't been so busy. As I've said before granny squares are great projects to do when you don't feel like concentrating too much . They are so relaxing. Another bonus is the relatively small number of ends to sew in. Two for each row means 114 for the whole blanket...only takes an hour or so :0)

It measures 48 inches square and is ideal to use as a lap blanket. I love the soft drapeness of this pattern and the stylecraft yarn.
Though the colours are worked in a random order you might have noticed I've sometimes grouped darker or lighter colours and other times I've alternated light and darker shades. This was intentional as I prefer this effect. I've also used the cream yarn quite a few times to add contrast and tie the "design" together. .....

I'm loving having this blanket draped over the back of a chair...just waiting to be snuggled under this winter :0)

I'm still having trouble commenting . I've noticed some of you lovelies are having the same problem....lets hope they sort it out soon.
Hope your week has got off to a good start.
Jacquie x

Cozy Thoughts

2011-10-09T11:23:00.000+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
this weekend it really feels like Autumn has arrived and I'm embracing the new season .I'm looking forward to all the good things about this time of year like bracing walks outdoors, cozying up indoors and getting to wear my new boots :0)
Yesterday was wet and cool. Prefect soup weather. I'm afraid I didn't make this one, but it tasted great anyway ..... Baxters red lentil and vegetable ....yummy.........

Whilst I was out with the boys yesterday morning my Country Living magazine had plopped through the letterbox and I enjoyed having a quick read as I ate my soup for lunch.........

Don't you love this cover, look there's even yarn on the tartan chair . All that's missing from this cover is a cozy fire :0).....

Inside I was delighted to find more yarny images . I love this shot ......there's my cozy fire , not to mention more yarn . This is such a lovely image , don't you think? I had a little day dream that I had a log burner and invited my crafty friends round for a cozy making, chatting session ........

Back in the real world my crafty friends are scattered across the globe and we "meet up" via our little blogs. I do feel very blessed to have found you lovelies with your kind encouraging comments.I love to hear what you have been up to and I'm regularly inspired by your gorgeous makes .

The weather yesterday also seemed perfect for baking . I didn't have much time so some simple biscuits were chosen. Something I could let the boys help with without too much stress. .........

We made Anzac Biscuits and they were scrummy. Here is the recipe I use for these oaty beauties .

125g plain flour
100g porridge oats
100g light brown sugar
50g dessicated coconut
100g butter or margarine
1tbsp golden syrup or honey
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp boiling water

pre heat oven to gas3 / 170C
Sift flour into a mixing bowl .Add the oats,sugar and coconut. Mix thoroughly.
Melt the butter and golden syrup or honey. I do this in the microwave.
dissolve the bicarb in the boiling water then add to melted butter mix. It will foam up , this is normal.
Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
Make balls of the mixture and spread out on the baking tray. I use baking parchment but you could just them put onto the greased tray.
Flatten the balls with the back of a fork.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes depending on your oven...best to check regularly after about 13 minutes to avoid burnt biscuits .
Leave to cool on tray for 10 minutes then cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight tin. The recipe I used says they will keep for up the 3 months...no chance of them lasting that long in our house :0)

Hope you are having a cozy weekend if it's grey outside where you are .
Jacquie x

Sewing in the ends

2011-10-05T16:49:00.001+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
I'm back with a crochet post today...Hurray. My third blanket of 2011 is almost finished :0)
I've been soldiering on in the recent heatwave ,completing the last few rounds of my "vintage" giant granny.
Yesterday was a work day. I didn't get home till 6.30pm and the cooler weather meant it felt so cozy to take my blanket into the bedroom to complete the border. At the end of a stressy day it was wonderful to enjoy a quiet cuppa watching the final of The Great British Bake Off ,snuggled up in bed with my hooky . It's the perfect relaxation for me .

Today the weather has turned so blustery and garden is covered in leaves......

A little thrifting, mingled in with the regular shopping this morning netted this lovely.....

It was reduced to £1.50 and I bought it for the pretty 100% cotton fabric which will be ideal for small sewing projects. It also has 7 cute glass buttons which are a bonus.........

Back home this afternoon I enjoyed sitting chatting with my Mum as the wind whistled in the chimney. I'm sewing in the ends now !! ..........

As you can see it's back to socks weather here and it was lovely to cozy up under my blanket.......

Back soon with a ta- dah :0)

Thank you all for your continued wonderful comments. I'm still having troubles leaving comments on some blogs .
Also, I'm also still waiting to here back from you, Anne and Claire ,my giveaway winners . I hope you got my e.mail. If not leave a comment here and I'll try again :0)
Hope your week is going well.
Jacquie x

September Nature Notes

2011-10-04T07:02:00.000+01:00

Hello lovelies,
here we are at my ninth nature notes post. It's hard to believe we are three quaters of the way through 2011 already!!

As usual I will start by sharing the monthly illustrations from this wonderful book .......

Ediths illustrations are just beautiful .Do click on these images to enlarge..........

I love the golden glow the low sun has cast on these photos of the books pages.There really is something special about the light at this time of year.

I couldn't find any September quotes in the book this month...so here is one I found elsewhere.....

"September, dries up ditches or breaks down bridges "

We have had a dry September this year. This poem is from the book and I thought a few of you lovelies might be interested in this as I think we all know the first line :0)

My own images from this month are mostly landscapes....

I was determined to get a picture of the hay bales this month . These huge round creations are SUCH a contrast to the Ediths illustuation of haymaking in her "September" painting. Modern farming methods have long since replaced the sights she came across 106 years ago.

By the second week of September most of the crops had been gathered in and farmers were out ploughing in readiness for the next crop, turning the landscape brown............

Rather smelly manure was also spread liberally on these fields !!

The roadside verges were pretty devoid of flowers . Sun bleached tall grass was the most dominant feature.........

Along with thistles..........

By the end of the month the heat of summer had returned and the trees had begun their wonderful Autumn display..........

Some fields used for grazing were very "blond" and looked amazing with the intensly blue skys we were blessed with........

Crab apples lay on the ground.......

And bees seemed very attracted to the ,as yet unopened, flower heads on the ivy.........

As I sit here in my sandals and sundress at the begining of October I wonder what this month will have in store for us after the record breaking begining to Autumn we have just enjoyed ??

Jacquie x

Indian Summer Colours ...and the WINNERS !

2011-10-01T12:08:00.005+01:00

Hello Lovelies ,
Lets start with the winners of my crochet bowl giveaway :0)
One hundred and twelve of you put your names in down for this....WOW
To choose the three winners I got my boys to each pick a number between 1 and 112. They chose numbers 8,97and 105.
Which means Anne, Claire and Petunia pill, I'll be in touch very soon to find out where to send your prizes :0)

I seem to be struggling to squeeze in blogging time at the moment and I'm not really sure why. Five posts in September, that's not much at all for me. Hopefully things will start to quieten down a bit round here soon and I'll get more time to spend in my little corner of cyberspace.

The weather in these parts has indeed turned out to be exceptional this week. In fact yesterday reached 29 degrees Celsius...possibly a little too hot...don't really like to complain about warm weather but I had to hide from the sun yesterday.

Earlier in the week the weather was perfect. On Wednesday I managed to get out and enjoy the beautifully warm day. Perfect picture taking weather :0)
As soon as the boys were at school I went for a little walk and was delighted with all the wonderful colours to be found.......

Chinese Lanterns , what a perfect Autumn colour.
Virginia creeper turning red..........

A glimpse of Shumach at it's best in this cute cottage's front garden....

Falling leaves and looooong shadows :0).......

These wonderful berries I'm not familiar with but I love their colour...

Beech leaves....

and Oak Leaves ...

Later in the day ,whilst out shopping, I loved the colour of the strawberries in the sun....not so Autumnish but so photogenic and yummy :0)...

Plums are more seasonal.......

And at the end of the day , when the sun was really low in the sky, the golden light made the bricks of this old building look such an AmaZing hot orangy brown....

It was wonderful to have chance to explore on such a lovely day and it's always wonderful to be able to share these images with you lovelies.

I am aware I haven't got round to doing my September nature notes post yet...that will follow very soon....hopefully .

Have a great weekend !
Jacquie x

Indian Summer Days

2011-09-26T23:11:00.000+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
well, if the forecast is correct we are set to enjoy a warm sunny week with temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius from Wednesday. Pretty wonderful for the end of September.....Today has been lovely and sunny in these parts and I'm enjoying the blue sky and bright sunshine. It helps compensate for the ever shortening days.

In the garden this pretty plant (whose name escapes me at the moment) is having a second burst......

My sedum is looking at it's best ....

And the Violas I've planted for some winter colour are looking so happy.....

Just last week I really noticed the trees beginning to turn, just as the Autumn equinox arrived.........

Out neighbours elder is laden with berries........

And the hedgerows and awash with them too...

Yes. I'm going to try and get out and soak in the wonderful Autumn colours as much as possible this week .

I'll be saving my crochet for the darkening evenings. My latest Giant granny is almost finished. This row ( row 52) caused my to sweat a bit....all the way round I was worried the red yarn would run out and I haven't got any more. But luckily it just lasted with a small amount to spare :0) ..........

Lucky me !
At this stage each round takes almost an hour to do. I'm planning to stop at round 56 so not too long to another Ta-dah .
Hope the weather is kind where you are .
Don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE if you haven't yet .
Have a great week.
Jacquie x

Crochet Bowl Tutorial

2011-09-19T16:26:00.001+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
here is my photo tutorial for crocheting a bowl like the ones above.
First lets talk yarn. For this project you will preferably need some cotton yarn or similar. Stretchy or woolly yarn will not have the strength to allow the bowl to maintain its shape. This is my random selection of cottons and cotton blend yarns. I think there is some bamboo in there also. I've gathered these from reduced bins .
For that reason I don't have much of each colour .But for this project that doesn't matter at all..........

The next thing to consider is hook size. Even though I'm working with two strands of yarn held together I have still only used a 4.00 mm crochet hook (there is a good hook size conversion chart here if you need it )
This means the finished bowl will be quite tightly worked and therefore more rigid than if you chose a bigger hook. This is important to avoid a floppy bowl .
If you are struggling with a small hook going up a size will probably be ok. It all depends on the thickness of your yarn,

This bowl is made in a continuous spiral so even though I'm writing about rounds there is no start and finish point to each round and it is important to have a stitch marker ( I use a safety pin ) to remember where each round begins and ends.

This tutorial is for 6 inch bowl....the biggest size I've made (on the left in ths picture above )
At the end of this tutorial are instructions for making the smaller sizes .

So lets make a start shall we. As usual I'm writing this in U.S. crochet terms.(sc = single crochet)

Holding two strands together make a slip knot in the normal way....

Next chain 2........

Insert hook in the first chain........

Round 1 Make 6 single crochet into the same chain. In this picture I've made 1 sc....

Here I've made all 6 and you can see how the chain stitch has opened up .......

To close the hole simply pull the tail ends of yarn till your work looks like this.......

Round 2 Next make 2 sc in each of the 6 stitches of round 1.If you are not sure where to start it helps to count back from your hook :0)......

When you have completed that round you should have 12 stitches .....

Round 3 Make the first stitch of round 3 then mark this with a stitch marker......

Make another sc into the same stitch the 1sc into the next stitch. Continue around till you reach the stitch marker repeating the 2sc,1sc pattern . You should now have a total of 18 stitches........

At this point I have changed the colour of one of my strands of yarn by cutting the yarn about 10" from the work and knotting on another colour. Remember to leave long enough tails to weave in at the end....

When you reach the knot encourage it to be on the wrong side of your work. If it ends up on the right side pull the tails to move it to the wrong side.

Round 4 This is a repeat of round 3 ...2sc in the first stitch, 1 sc in the next stitch, and repeat around (27 stitches)
Every round it important to remove the stitch marker and then reinsert it into the first stitch of the next round .
Round5 This round is 2sc in the first stitch then 1sc in each of the next 2 stitches. Repeat this pattern around ( 36 stitches)
Round 6 2sc in the first stitch followed by 1sc in each of the next 3 stitches. Repeat around.(45 stitches)
In this picture I am just getting going on round 6 and you can see I've attached a new yarn colour....cutting the colour I've been using since the start and attaching a new colour......

This is the end of round 6......

Round 7 This is predictably...2sc in first stitch,1 sc in each of the next 4 stitches ,repeat around.
Round 8 You have reached the last increase round ...Yay...it's 2sc in first stitch then 1sc in each of the next 5 stitches, repeat around.

Here is where it's going to get a whole lot easier :0)
Throw away you stitch marker (not literally ) and just sc in each stitch . This will eventually begin to make the sides . It will take a couple of rounds before this starts to happen . In this picture you can see I just have a floppy circle........

Remember to change colours using the method above when ever you like

Here I have done about 3 rounds of sc and my bowl is just beginning to turn up at the edges ( the wrong way ! ) .........

Here I've worked a bit further and the sides are beginning to grow. I've encouraged it to turn the right way out .....

Then it's just a case of repeating the sc 's around and changing colours to your taste. You can make the sides as high as you prefer. .....

Once you are happy with the height simply fasten off the ends and weave in .
Here is the inside once I've sewn in all the pesky ends...A boring job but it doesn't take too long........

And you end up with a colourful beauty like this ......

Of course you could stick with the same two colours all the way through , this would look pretty too .

This bowl measures 6 inches or 15cm across.
To make a smaller bowl simply stop increasing sooner.
The smallest of my 3 bowls measures 4 inches and I stopped increasing after round 6.
The middle sized bowl (on the right in the first picture ) has higher sides but measures 5 1/2 inches across. For this size I stopped increasing after round 7 .

I hope all this is easy to understand....any problems , please let me know :0)
Enjoy :0)
Jacquie x

P.S. till the end of Sept '11 you can win one of these lovelies, just leave me a comment on the previous post.

New crochet and a GIVEAWAY :0)

2011-09-16T23:58:00.004+01:00

Hello lovelies,
I'm excited to have some new crochet to share with you today. But first I'm sharing some pictures of the fabulous flowers that I was lucky enough to be given after my run. These from my lovely sister in law....

And also beautiful roses from Mr BM...

I love flowers but something that makes me equally happy are all your wonderful comments.
All your support for my crafty and other endeavours means so much that I wanted to do more than just show you pictures of flowers, so I decided to make something I could give you the chance of winning. But what to make ??
Eventually I settled on a crochet bowl I had started a few months back.

I'm not sure why I never got round to sharing this with you at the time. Probably because I got distracted by another project before I got round to sewing the ends in :0)
Today I've finished it and also made a couple more bowls.
Slightly brighter colours and different sizes.

Luckily I had written down the pattern when I made that first bowl and today I've taken pictures for a photo tutorial which I'll be posting soon.

So here are my three crochet bowls, just waiting to go to new homes.........

They are made using cotton yarn and I held two strands together as I worked. This has created an interesting pattern of colours and also given the bowl strength to maintain its shape.......

The inside is almost as pretty as the outside........

And I'm sure you lovelies could come up with loads of uses for a handy bowl.......

So don't be shy. Even if you don't normally comment , now is a great time to start :0)
Just leave me a comment on this post and make sure I can contact you if you are a winner. There will be three prizes of a bowl each...I'll pop somethings inside too, but that part will have to be a surprise....

These bowls have been inspired by the gorgeousness over at sosorosey. Do have a look at Jennie's wonderful creations...not to mention fabulous vintage fabric.

Having admired her work I decided to have a go at making a bowl in single crochet ( u.s. ) ...trial and quite a bit of error ,eventually led me to a design I'm very happy with.

If you would like the chance to own a Bunny Mummy original do leave me a comment.
I'll draw the winners at the end of the month........... If you are not lucky enough to win but can crochet remember ,you will be able to make your own version very soon :0)
Have a great weekend and good luck !
Please feel free to enter where ever you live...I'm happy to post internationally .

Jacquie x

Autumn arrives and a Ta-dah

2011-09-08T00:17:00.003+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
we have certainly seen a change in the weather this week. It's been wet and very windy at times . Popping out into my garden on Tuesday morning I noticed a few battered looking Chrysanthemums and just had to rescue them . I popped then on my Kitchen windowsill and immediately felt cheered up....

Isn't this a gorgeous orange ....so seasonal . I know my grandad used to grow chrysanth's on his allotment and when we visited there would often be a vase of them in the bay window. I didn't particularly like them as a child but now I can see why my Nanna loved them......

Did you spot my squash ?...I expect so , it's hard to miss :0)
This was not grown by myself (though we are attempting pumpkins for the first time this year) I picked it up in the supermarket . Last years lasted for months so I'm hoping this one will add a bust of colour to the dull days too ....I love it's plump shape and purely by coincidence, it's colour goes so well with my flowers.......

Along with the new uniform sorting and altering I've been busy with this week, I've managed to finish my blooming flower cushion . Would you like to see ????

Ooooh , I'm so pleased with how this turned out :0) Thank you so much Lucy for the brilliant tutorial which made it so easy......

I was fortunate to have a thrifted cushion perfect for this project, does any body remember this cushion I bought back in May? It has a curled feather pad inside and I rather liked the Laura Ashley "Sweet Pea" fabric. ...

It was sacrificed for this project though. I had the idea to use the back of this cushion cover as the back of my cushion ,utilizing the fitted zip.

So after unpicking the two sides I cut some fabric from an old shirt into a circle the same size and sewed my crochet to this. As well as attaching it around the edge I attached a couple more rows further in ,before sewing this to the cushion cover back. I'm hoping this will add strength and prevent the yarn from getting stretched as has happened to me before .Cushions get a pretty rough ride in our house !!

Here is how the back looks .....

I've saved the rest of the lovely fabric for patchwork

I'm happy with how the more muted colours have worked in this project...

And I must thank you all for your lovely comments . It's always a bit daunting changing to a different palette.

I was pretty unsure if I even liked the start of my "vintage" giant granny. So imagine how happy and reassured I felt after reading all your wonderful comments. In fact I was rather scared to add more rounds in case they didn't come up to scratch . Silly I know .

I have braved more rows ...here is how it's looking today...sorry about the rubbish picture....dull weather didn't help......

I think I like it and I'm looking forward to seeing the two projects together in my chair :0)

After I took this picture I threw my newly finished cushion on top of the blanket WIP which was on the floor ,to check they looked OK together ....When I took a picture I was delighted with how it came out ......

WOW........I love this image..........the flowery crochet cushion framed by granny gorgeousness. LOVE LOVE LOVE !!!

It's a week for firsts in our house ....secondary school seems to be going O.K. and all being well I'm doing something that I've never done before at the weekend .I am feeling a bit anxious right now ....will fill you in soon :0)
Jacquie x
P.S. Sorry I forgot to mention the yarn I'm using . A few of you have asked what it is.
It's mostly Stylecraft....I'll list the colours in my next yarny post. There's also some Cygnet and Bonus from my stash. It's all acrylic.

Progress

2011-09-01T23:20:00.000+01:00

Hello lovelies,
Just popping in after a long day at work to share some promised progress shots. My blooming flower cushion grew a lot on Tuesday.
By lunch time it looked like this.........

And by late afternoon I had added more rows ...........

As you can see I'm going for more subdued colours than my latest makes , using colours similar to those I chose for my much loved square throw.

I've also started another Giant granny using the same colours......

I know I have my Kaleidoscope blanket in progress but I was seduced by the pleasure I got from making this giant granny that I gave to my Mum . So quick and easy to do when you are too tired to count stitches or follow a pattern.
I'm hoping these projects have a vintage feel and that they will add a cozy touch to my lounge this Autumn. I love to snuggle under a crochet blanket when the weather turns chilly :0)

Hope you are managing to squeeze some craft into your week.
Jacquie x

Blooming Marvelous

2011-08-30T08:43:00.001+01:00

Hello Lovelies,
It's a very floral post today. Firstly I'm so happy with this fabric that I just had to share it with you......

Such lovely pink flowers on a delicate blue background

It's blooming marvelous bargain bedding from Morrisons .....

It's called vintage floral and I'm pretty sure it cost £14 for the set!

Sooooo pretty . The reverse is just lovely "candy stripes" so I'll be able to have a change when I tire of the flowers ,though that is hard to imagine right now :0)

Next I have some blooming gorgeous Dahlias.

Sadly these are not mine , but as they are looking stunning in a neighbours front garden right now I took some close ups to share with you......

Isn't that stunning.

These have got to be my favourites. Smaller than the others but such a pretty pink and the globe shaped heads are such a satisfying shape.......

They remind me of those paper decorations that come flat and you open them out into a circle or a bell shape
.
Lastly today we have Blooming beautiful crochet.

I've been wanting to have a go at Lucy's Blooming flower cushion since I first saw it. Such a clever pattern .I've had to wait till I had time to sit in front of the computer with my hook so it has had to wait a while. But I'm pleased to say this weekend I finally managed to start my cushion........

Lucy's tutorial is just great ,so clear as always . The pattern is a little tricky to begin with. Especially the working in the front and back loops . That's where a photo tutorial is a huuuuge help :0)

Now, I just love this pattern . I'm really enjoying creating these pretty petals ........

In fact, looking at these pictures I need to go and add another round right now !
Back soon with progress shots :0)
Jacquie x