Making me smile this weekend.....

.....a beautiful balmy evening on Saturday...warm enough to sit outside a riverside pub in my thrifted dress and thrifted sandals til 9.30 pm,watching the little people playing,and not feel chilly.....



....The garden still looking lovely in the damp on Sunday.....









.....Eating the first of this years lettuce from our vegetable plot.Small but very tasty.......



.....Making super quick progress on my Granny Stripe Blanket. I'm loving these colours ,which comes as a bit of a surprise......





I'm really enjoying this blanket.I think you may get a little tired of photos of it's progress !
Some other lovely examples are already appearing on the Attic 24 Inspired Group over on Flickr.Take a look over there if you want to see other colourways,plus loads of other fabulous Lucy inspired crochet projects.

Hope there are lots of things to make you smile this week.See you soon.

Jacquie x

Saturday Goodies

The above photo is of the last few flowers from my reduced price bouquet, still looking lovely in the sunshine this morning.I can't bear to throw away any that are still alive .Does anyone else do this ?!

Master BM number 2 has been feeling poorly this morning so we have missed our usual swimming lesson trip.Can't say I'm sorry in this heat,my garden thermometer says 32.9 degrees Celsius !! phew.

So lazy morning has been very welcome.Another reason I'm glad we stayed in is that the postie arrived with my lovely giveaway parcel from Julia.Never mind we were still in PJ's at 10.30 !!

Here are the contents ,I'm so pleased to win this gorgeous gift......



There are two of Julia's art cards....I wish I had this amount of talent.....


My youngest has already requested these for his bedroom wall.

And an ,oh so pretty ,Cath Kidston address book.This is the first piece of cath I own,and it's lovely...each section has a different Cath pattern.....
Like this ....


and this....



and this....



I'm also loving the card Julia sent me ...I'm struck by how similar the colours in this card are to those in my Granny Stripe Blanket.Which continues to grow quickly...



The stripes look a bit like waves from this angle...


Thanyou so much Julia ,I love it all.

Hope your Saturday is going well. Remember the cool drinks !
Jacquie x

Half term and some more crochet

Hello,
If you are in the U.K.and have school age children I hope your half term hols are going well. The weather in these parts has been getting better and better all week.
A good amount of our time has been spent meeting up with friends at the park.
Where there were cute cygnets on the lake .....



And a yummy doughnut "Birthday Cake" for a friend ....



Naughty but very nice.
As I'm typing this the paddling pool is filling but I just wanted to squeeze in a quick post to share another crochet project.

I know I've only just started my hexagon blanket,and I shouldn't really be starting another big project but a lack of the correct blue yarn ,and serious temptation by Lucy with her Granny Stripe Blanket goodness has proven too much !

I was struggling with motivation on the Zig Zag blanket I started some time ago for Master BM .A combination of big boy colours and fiddly crochet in the back loops ment it was noooooooooo fun at all.
Which is a shame cos I did like the pattern....




When I saw Lucys' latest project I thought it could be the answer to my problems.
I would love to copy her colours but Master BM is ten and his favourite colours are green and blue.So I started like this........



This photo was taken yesterday,after only starting the night before.I LOVE this pattern .It's so quick and simple once you get going.
I chained 180,marking every 30th stitch with a safety pin to make the counting easier.
I'm using my Mums old 4.5mm hook to make it a bit looser ( and grow even faster!)



My blanket is single bed size .48 inches wide.
Each row of treble ( U.K. term) clusters takes 17 minutes.That's just over half an hour for each colour.Super fast!!
And her's my progress so far...



The speed this is growing and the knowledge there will be lots of these lovely blankets growing worldwide will add to my enjoyment of this project .
So thank you Lucy ,count me in for your H.A.L. (hook a-long )
And thankyou to you lovely people, for making my day with all your kind comments .
Jacquie x

My latest Project

Hello lovelies,
Hope you all had a good bank Holiday weekend. I turned over my calendar this morning and was very pleased to see this lovely lupin picture.....


I've been planting these in my own garden this year,but I expect I will have to be patient and wait a couple of years for them to get really established before they look this gorgeous.

Something that is already looking pretty is my Cath Kidston inspired Hexagon blanket.It's still early days ,but I have a good feeling about this project.Would you like to see ?

O.K.



Here's my new yarn bag,a bargain buy from Q.S.
U.J. love is everywhere LOL....


Here's whats inside,lots of pastels along with bright red and mid blue.....



And ,finally,here's my little W.I.P. looking lovely in the garden...



I'm really liking it at the moment.I love the way making the last row the same colour for every hexagon makes the circles really stand out.Just one small problem ,I've nearly run out of the mid blue ....


I'm not even sure what make it is so this could be a problem !!
Better drag the little people off to my L.Y.S.and see if the helpful lady there can save the day.
Byeee,
Jacquie x

Making me smile today...

Hello,
Just thought I would drop by and share some of the things that made me smile today.
Firstly ,I spotted these simple but perfect flowers in a front garden this morning.I love the way they are "looking" at the sun.....



When I returned home and started tidying round I found this picture ,done by youngest whilst I was at work yesterday..........


A picture of him climbing Everest.Great to see he's still got the climbing bug.

So loving these flowers I picked up for a few pence yesterday.They were reduced at Sainsburys as they were at the and of their shelf life......


Oooh I do love a bargain,especially one as pretty as this.

Also looking lovely are my Poppies ,enjoying a bit of shade from the heat of the afternoon sun............



And last but by no means least ,something else that definitely made me smile, I won my first giveaway !!
Yes Julia Crosslands 100th post giveaway. I feel so lucky.
Hope you all find something to smile about this weekend
Jacquie x

More Outings and some embroidery

Hello,
Well good ol' Blighty has returned to familiar dull chilly weather.Never mind the heat was great while it lasted and hopefully it will return soon.
I've got some more pic's of Beacon Hill Country park taken on Sunday I would like to share with you.
There's a very diverse landscape in a relatively small area and the little people are already talking about going back in the Half Term Holidays ,next week.
As well as the woodland..........

The great views....

And rocks to climb on (this wasn't as dangerous as it looks ,honestly !)....


There are also open spaces to picnic and a wild flower meadow.......


And also this.......


A Labyrinth . It has been created by making a path through some huge rhododendrons...


It was lovely and cool in the dappled shade and round every turn were gorgeous flowers.........

There were plenty more still in bud so I think a return visit in a week or so is in order.


I haven't forgotten the crafty part of this post it's just taken a while to get here. I've finished my embroidery hoop picture and I must say I'm really pleased with it. What do you think?......



The only thing I had to buy was the hoop.Which cost a bargain £1.90.
The background material came from some cotton thrifted curtains.And the felt was just scraps I had left over from previous projects.
Working within the hoop made the whole thing so easy,as the material was held firmly.I think it makes a great frame too.Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best .
There's even an embroidery hoop Flickr group if you want more inspiration.
Today I've been and bought a second hoop as I think a pair of these pictures will look even nicer .
Jacquie x

Makes and " Mountains"

Hello,
If you are in the U.K. I hope you are enjoying the stunning weather we are having at the moment.

This got plenty of use over the weekend....



And a barbecue was enjoyed by all.
I also managed a small amount of craft on Saturday.I found a lovely shady spot in the garden and did a little work on my latest project....


This is inspired by the gorgeous embroidery hoop picture giveaway at Amanda Makes.
I've entered to win her beautiful caravan picture,but I don't seem to have much luck with these competitions.I've not one a thing to date.
So I thought I would have a go at making one myself.It's my first attempt and my embroidery skills are pretty poor so I knew I would have to keep it simple.
I'm using this tutorial .And I've adapted mine to look a bit more English.
I love Melissa's work .Check out her blog here and flickr here.

On Sunday we enjoyed taking the little people to Beacon Hill.
Mr BM and I discovered this great place back in March.I shared it with you here.Which was only my fourth post!!

Well luckily the little people loved it too.The woodland part was beautiful in it's spring coat......





Then there is a short but steep climb to the top.With it's great far reaching views...



The nicest part for me was my youngest's enjoyment of the climb .He's only 7 and I was half expecting him to get tired and start complaining . But no. He strode off with his Daddy .When we were quite high he turned around and his reaction to the view was "Wow, Is this the highest place in the world? " So sweet.



There's a marker at the top which tells you it's actually only 802 feet above sea level, but as there aren't many big hills in these parts it feels like the top of the world........



On the way back down he remained so enthusiastic about "climbing". It was pronounced to be his new hobby.
For which, he informed me ,he would need walking boots,a special stick and a badge, with a mountain ,sewn on a special T. Shirt.

I think he my be out of luck with the first 2 requests .But a badge with a mountain .That I can do....




I thew this together when he was in bed last night.I think if it keeps him keen on Climbing( a.k.a. Walking up a hill )then that's great. I've put a pin to the back instead of sewing it to a T.shirt .

Today, my climbing bunny turned into a poorly bunny .So a day spent looking after him has given me some unexpected craft time.I've nearly finished my picture.I will hopefully share it with you lovely lot later this week.I'm really pleased with how it looks so far.
Jacquie x