Nannas' Blanket

Hello lovelies,
it's been an odd sort of week here. All the preparations I had planned have gone out of the window due to Mr Lurgy .

I've had no day this week when all three boys have been at school, so my plans to finalise Christmas purchases and wrap them have gone undone. I'm not feeling panicky yet but I was keen to avoid last minute shopping, and I need to get every thing together to check for evenness ,if you know what I mean. Hate to have one pile smaller than the others on the big morning.

Despite the disturbed nights and childcare headaches it's been an OK week. Enforced time at home is no hardship to me. So this week I've been working on a new project , something I've been meaning to do for a LONG time.....

My Nanna ( Maternal Grandmother ) was a prolific Knitter. My whole family were always well supplied with jumpers, scarfs, hats, mittens ,toys and blankets.

I think this picture will have been taken about 1972,judging by the age of my brother.
On the back of the sofa is one of Nannas' blankets. I remember hiding under this for the scary bits of Dr Who :0)
The colours are not my favourites, but the design is interesting , don't you agree.
It's all made up of triangles. ...



Some years later , probably the 1980's my Nanna used this pattern again .When she passed away a few years ago ( at the age of 97) my Mum rescued many of her makes and this amazing blanket came to me ......



Isn't it stunning ! These colours are much more me .Unfortunately it's condition was pretty bad.....



My Nanna was the frugal type and most of her knitting was made of mixed fibres . She often pulled down old garments to recycle the yarn .

I've pondered many times what to do with this blanket as some of the holes are pretty bad and I can't knit.

Fortunately it's made up of square blocks , sewn together.so i decided to take it apart and remove the worst ones.....



I then patched up the and small defects and sewed it together again....

This is what I'm left with.....



If you look closely you can see where Nanna has used up the tiniest bits of yarn by changing part way through a triangle !........



Despite this I absolutely love it . It's just a shame Nanna's not here for me to tell her, this is Nanna and I ,taken in the sixties ..........



Oooh just noticed the polka dot cup and saucer at the side of her chair :0)


Now I need your advice . It needs a border, but what ???

This is the original border , crochet , but not great. ...



I'm just not sure what to do instead, it's such a colourful ,bold , geometric blanket . What would suit it ???

Please think about what it needs and let me know , I'm a bit stumped .

Jacquie x

Looking Festive

Hello lovelies,
Hope you're keeping well.Mr Lurgy is still at ours but he's not caught me ( yet)

Wanted to share some pictures of our Christmas decorations with you today . As this is the first Christmas I have been blogging I can show you our trimmings without fear of repeating myself :0)
At the weekend we put up our tree.....



As you can see it's not real , but an old faithful artificial one that we have had for about 7 years now. It's a real family tree . By that I mean there is no colour scheme, or design styling , just lots of stuff...Handmade by the boys...


Handmade by me...




And handmade by other clever crafty types and purchased over the years at the school fair..........


It's looks pretty good with it's twinkly lights , but it's not my personal favourite.

That has got to be my red and white archway.......


This is the bit I get to style and I love it ....



Crochet and felt goodness made over the last couple of years.......



Along with one or two sparkly bits ....



Yes this is my favourite festive bit of our home , it even looks great from the other side .......



And this year when you walk under it you get a waft of the boys pomander , perfect...



Hope you are feeling festive too.

Jacquie x

Felt inspration and templates in the sidebar HERE
Crochet snowflake tutorial HERE

Homemade Presents and a Parcel

Hello lovelies, hope your week started well.

I've had an unexpected day a home due to an unwelcome visit from Mr Lurgy . Master BM was taken ill last night with a sky high temperature and a nasty cough.
This has meant me taking the day off work to nurse him better. Hate this scenario,the guilt of leaving work short handed ,but it can't be helped .

I haven't wasted my time , whilst Master BM curled up under a blanket with plenty of fluids and his favourite Disney DVD I managed to finish some more Christmas Prezzies....



There's a couple more Little Granny Bags like the one I made for myself.

A Monochrome version for the friend who commented how much she liked mine,
and one with a touch of turquoise and teal for my lovely friend at work who is always so supportive and inspired me to start running.....



Then there is a neck warmer to go in a package of goodies for a work colleague who is currently enduring treatment for breast cancer...



This yarn is so soft and warm and I think this will be ideal to wear around the house as well as outdoors . You don't notice you have got it on ( as I found out when I was searching for it then found it around my neck !) it is so comforting.
It's just chain 65 or so then U.K. treble ( U.S. Double ) in every chain, turn at the end of each row . I made mine 6 rows deep and added some scallops at each end.

My other finishes today are these great Ear warmers. Pattern here , thanks for the link Jacey :0) I love them and they were so quick and easy to do ....



Making all these things for others it's nice to know there's something handmade for me under the tree...



My secret Santa swap parcel !! It's a gorgeous little box with a beautiful handmade Lavender heart on the outside . I'm so looking forward to opening it on Christmas day :0)

Another bonus of having a day at home is having the energy and enthusiasm to let my youngest do some pretty messy but yummy baking after school....



And helping his older brother make a pomander....



Make holes in a orange with a cocktail stick and push cloves into the holes , great fun.




I haven't done one of these since I was his age and whilst it may not look the prettiest decoration, it smells ( in the style of Craig on Strictly) "Fab-U-lous Darling !"

Guess I ought to get on with writing my Christmas cards now, when is the last posting date ???!!
Have a great week
Jacquie x

A Splash of Crochet Colour

Hello Lovelies ,
Pull up a seat , I've got some great crochet to share with you today :0)

First can you indulge me in a few outdoor pics, Thanks.

The temperature was a balmy -2 today , Ha .

Actually, I'm loving this weather .... if you hadn't noticed ! It's just so great to look at and the bright days really lift my spirits. So much better than the "dark days before Christmas" we usually have to endure at this time of year.

The hoar frost from yesterday was hanging on in places.....




The sheep looked sweet in the snow covered fields...



I felt a little bad when these guys obviously thought I had brought them food ( they did have some hay already).....



Moving along I was looking for some bright colours ....



Ummm Holly is nice and festive .Is there anything else I can share with my lovely bloggy friends .... Uhh I know , my hat !...




I made sure no one was around whilst I took this pic . In fact it was surprisingly difficult to do and I took loads before I ended up with this :0)

I made this hat last year , It's from this pattern and I love it .

That's the first crochet of today's post, Next up we have......



It's a cute Star Decoration from Lucy's great tutorial . I really enjoyed working with cotton ,as Lucy recommended, for a change. I had most of the colours already but bought the red especially for this project .........



Pretty isn't it , thank you so much for the tutorial Lucy .Being creative types we also love making up our own projects, using such inspiring blogs as Lucy's to feed our imagination


Well I adored the long single crochet stitch in Lucy's design (that's the turquoise spikes in my version) so I tried to made a bigger circle using this stitch, something cotton, as it's such a great yarn..but it went all wobbly , ummm.

So I resorted to a pattern. This one ,to make .....a doily.....






What do you think ? I must say I think this pattern is great, and it turned out so happy and starry .Changing colours every round, to make it a bit different .


I'm not always keen on doily's but I love the way this one cheers up my rather dark coffee table.......



And these few simple chrysanthemums ,still flowering after the rest of the bunch has long since wilted, look even better with some colourful cotton crochet goodness :0)...




It could actually do with blocking but that will have to wait till another day.
Hope my makes have inspired you, and of course, I'd LOVE to here your comments :0)

Jacquie x

Eight

Hello Lovelies , hope you are keeping warm if you are in the frozen U.K.


Last week my youngest turned Eight ,Eight ! how did that happen ?!
I don't suppose I'm alone as a mum , in finding myself thinking of when my children were born on the Anniversary of that day..........



I think about details of the day and they seem so recent, and yet so long ago.

His was a quick , uncomplicated birth . I was on a high for days. He was an easy baby which was just as well , since I had Two year old twins already.

Yes three under Three was super busy, extremely stressy at times .
I think the age they are now is so perfect. Sometimes I want to stop the clock . Keep my little boys who love a cuddle and think I'm great ( most of the time) for ever , but of course that's not going to happen.

So Birthdays are celebrated,with parties , and I take loads of photos and video ,to remember these special times in years to come.......




Happy Birthday Little man .....Please don't grow up too fast .

Mummy x

Frozen Friday

Yesterday was sooooooooo cold ,bitingly cold , but the sun shone making the world around here look so beautiful.
As Louise put it.... "achingly pretty ".... can't think of a better way to describe it........




You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.





Today every things melting and these icicles have already gone....



So glad I managed to capture some more images it whilst it lasted.

I know this is my third snowy post . I promise no white stuff in the next one :0)
Have a great weekend.
Jacquie x