Showery Saturday

Hello Lovelies ,
We have been enjoying one of those slow Saturdays I love so much. Waking at eight without the alarm...enough of a lay in to feel like a bit of a treat but not so long as to feel like you have missed anything...if you know what I mean !
Sewing my blanket together in my PJ's before breakfast........

Then making pancakes for breakfast ,helped by my eldest, a yummy treat we don't do very often..........

The morning was pretty showery , we even had hail at one point. But by lunchtime the sun had come out and I took my blanket into the garden. Luckily the boys are used to my requests for "odd" photos these days ...I wanted to show you the thrifted /hand made vibe I had going on today......

I'm wearing a thrifted monsoon cardigan( love this green) and a thrifted floral top. My new bracelet was purchased from a friend who makes amazing jewellery using beads she makes herself ( they are polymer clay and apparently it's a bit like making seaside rock ) . I love it .

The garden is looking lush at the moment.....

I love this full looking border with no soil to be seen . Admittedly there are a few weeds and not too much colour. I'm hoping to remedy that next year.I do love this self seeded foxglove and the amazing red foliage behind it is Herb Robert ( also self seeded ) ....

After a simple lunch I enjoy pottering in the front garden ....planting a penstemon the replace the one that was killed by last years hash winter.........

The lavender under my front window is just coming out . This was here when we moved in 16 years ago and it literally grows out of a crack between the house wall and some concrete slabs. Tough stuff ! I'm hoping to dry some for making lavender bags this year........

There are bees every where at the moment which is so lovely to see.....

Later in the day we visit a local park to allow the boys to let off a bit of steam. On the way home the showers returned resulting the most amazing double rainbow I've seen in years....if ever.These pictures were taken out of the car so it was hard to capture the whole arc ...

it was so bright and a stunning end to the day. Did I say how much I love June ?

Have a great Sunday
Jacquie x

please read

Hello lovelies ,
I've been reading some more about the plant I mentioned in my latest post ... Hogweed.This is Common Hogweed , but there is also a similar plant Giant Hogweed which is a nasty fella.

Turns out this can cause a nasty rash if you get the sap on your skin so please take care if you decide to take a closer look at these plants. I never pick wild flowers ...except Daisies ..... and now I'm glad I don't .
Jacquie x

June Outdoors .... oh, and a little indoors :0)

Hello Lovelies,
Thank you , thank you for all your great comments on my tutorial. So nice it seems helpful to quite a few of you :0)

Anyways , getting on with this post . .....I'm so taken with all the plants along the roadside verges this year. Whilst I'm driving about I'm constantly noticing so many stunning plants  at the moment.
 On my way to work there are some magnificent thistles in the central reservation ...hard to photograph though !!
Then there's dog daisies , buttercups and long grasses . I'm really awed by the beauty of it all  .

Replacing the frothy, frilly...almost bridal prettiness of the Cow Parsley I loved in May is the more structural ..........Hogweed .
Shame about the name but It's my favourite at the moment.......... I know that may seem rather odd  but there's something stunning about it's skeletal form that I'm loving this year ............

This stuff is big and looks pretty viewed like this , but my favourite way to photograph it is from below ...a bunnies eye view :0).........

I love the way you can see the individual flowers are made up of the same shaped round spokes as the whole flower head and the sun shining through the petals is so pretty.......

I know I'm not alone in loving these structural plants , do have a look a Angie Lewins stunning prints

Another favourite of mine at the moment has got to be the wild poppies. They are particularly abundant this year , and how appropriate as it's the 90'th year of the Poppy Appeal. From a distance they look amazing.......a red field ...wow !!.....

And in close up they are so pretty.........

Especially with some hog weed and a gorgeous sunny blue sky  .....

Yes I'm loving the bunnies eye view :0)
The out doors is so beautiful at this time of year  , it's great to capture it and share it with all of you lovelies around the world, especially those on  the wintry side .I know how much I enjoyed Sunny posts from the southern hemisphere during our winter .

Jacquie x

P.S. As the weather is so warm I've treated myself to a new ( charity shop ) dress.........

It's really pretty with lots of added sparkle ........

And I didn't even realise till I got it home that it's exactly the same shade of plum/ purple I'm using on my granny squares :0)

I hope you are getting chance to get close to nature this week .
Jacquie x

Sewing Granny Squares Together

Hello Lovelies,
I thought I would do a little tutorial on how I'm sewing my granny squares together for your lovelies . I've also included the method I'm using for weaving in my ends .

You can sew together any motif that fits closely to the next . The effect you get when sewing together motifs is much more solid than the Join as you go method.
Both are lovely . Joining as you go saves time it is true and I like the effect it gives .

For this blanket however I wanted the more solid finish that sewing together motifs gives.

So here we go :-

1. To start hold 2 squares together , right sides facing and using a large needle and a workable length of yarn start in the very corner of the 2 squares..........

2. Draw the yarn through a corresponding stitch from each square .Pull through the yarn , leaving approx 6 inches to sew in later. Then reinsert you needle in the same place , locking your stitch by putting the needle through the loop before tightening..........

3. I join my squares by catching the back loops only . This is not as tricky a it first sounds . The back loops are at the outer most edge of the squares when you work from the wrong side so it's just a case of taking a little time to make sure you only catch these loops........

As you can see I'm stitching over and over ...whip stitch.

4. Once you have worked you way across to the opposite corner the right side should look like this.........

Can you see how working in the back loops only creates a line of raised stitches ( the front loops of the joined stitches ) and these eventually make a nice "frame" to each square...........

you lock the final stitch in the same way you did the first .

5. Next its time to weave in the ends . Insert your needle through a few stitches , taking care your needle cannot be seen from the right side ........

I've recently started to lock this weaving by bringing out the needle ...then back stitching one stitch......

then reinserting the needle where this back stitch began ....and then run the thread through more stitches ...............

before cutting the yarn flush.You could do this more than once and it's the same method I've  used to weave in ends in the squares themselves

I'm constructing my blanket by selecting suitable squares first........

This random thing is trickier than it looks :0)

Next I join all the squares in that row......

Then I attach the new row to my growing blanket by pinning the blocks right sides facing, being careful to line up the corresponding squares .....

I'm then sewing along the row in the same way I've shown you I sew the blocks together.
It is time consuming but I'm loving the final result and since this is a smallish blanket it doesn't seem too bad.

I hope this is helpful and clear. Do please tell me if you spot any errors or would like further explanation .
And a BIG thank you for all your kind comments on this project :0)
Jacquie x

Piles of Smiles

Hello Lovelies , hope you've had a good week . I'm so pleased to be able to say I haven't been tempted to stray from my blanket making . I thought the day would never come .....so many little projects so far this year. But I did say this blanket was not a quick one and I did love looking at my little  grannies , they are so cute don't you think?.....

This picture was taken on Monday when I decided to have a bit of a photo shoot for the little squares that were yet to get their plum border . It was great fun scattering them in the lawn......

Aren't they pretty close up .....

They look great scattered randomly...what about a little arranging...

It's not a pair of glasses..... as my youngest thought when he saw this picture :0)

It's the initials of my blog !! .....

I expect the neighbours think I'm completely bonkers if they saw me standing on a chair photographing crochet on my lawn , but hopefully they weren't looking :0)
I even like  all the pretty ends .....

As the week has gone on gradually all of these little fellas has gained a plum edge . I've got quick at this round ...it takes me four and a half minutes to complete one . But then there's the new plum ends. Here's what they looked like at 1pm today .........

Sorry about the fuzzy picture , it was dark and rainy...perfect crochet weather .
It took just over two hours to sew all these ends in securely . I've taken some photos of my method and I'll do a tutorial soon.
This is what they looked like after.....

Ahhh that's better . I've just got to sew them together now .

Did you notice July's Country Living at the top of this post ?I'm fortunate enough to have a subscription ..last years birthday prezzie . Here's a closer look at the cover isn't it lovely....just needs some crochet to be perfect don't you think......

 As it says on the cover , here's to some long lazy days this weekend                       

Jacquie x

My June Commute

Hello Lovelies,
Just though I'd share some pictures I took on my way to work this morning . It was beautiful and sunny first thing and I was sorry I was going to miss the day but the scent of the honeysuckle as I opened the front door at 7.30 was gorgeous .........

Another lovely surprise was a poppy that had opened up overnight .....

I've got loads of these in my front garden this year thanks to the second master BM who collected some seeds from a plant that was growing out of a crack in the pavement , he scattered them randomly and so many have come up I'm amazed  :0)

Once in the car I'm stuck by how beautiful the countryside is at the moment and while in one of the many queues of traffic I grab my camera and manage to take a  shot whilst stationary .......

I think the wild poppies growing in the rape seed fields (which have now lost their yellow flowers ) are the best I've seen ...I'm determined to get a closer look on my day off.

Once I arrived at work I still had a few minutes to spare before I had to say goodbye to the sunshine so I hooked a plum border or two in the car........

I think the day turned out showery so I guess I was lucky to be out and about first thing ...I do love the early morning light .

Right off to crochet more of my blanket ... I can't wait to show you my progress  :0)
Jacquie x

Half Term Simple Pleasures

Hello Lovelies ,
This past week I've been on holiday with my boys for the half term break . We enjoyed a couple of busy days celebrating my twins birthday with a family barbecue at home ( a tradition these days ) and then a another day we had trip to the cinema with friends to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2...great fun.

The nice thing about this break for me has been it has been a good mix of busy days and slower days .
Days with no work pressure or school commitments . I really appreciate not having to rush about watching the clock .It was great to slow down and enjoy some simple pleasures.
Time to smell the roses........

I only have one rose bush in my back garden and this week I certainly wondered why as this beauty was was at it's best and the smell was divine.
By midweek the weather was really summery. When I got up on the first of June it was lovely to throw the windows open wide and really let the fresh air in ....

The picture on my calendar this month is delightful , don't you think....

There was time to add more recently made T.shirt yarn to my rug...

Time to notice cute bunny faces....

And then smile at comical bunny sunbathing ....

Time to have fun making a Fairy garden inspired by this great example ( scroll down )...

The boys did join in with this but I think I enjoyed it the most :0)
Do you like the ponds made from upturned limpet shells and the tortoise on the lawn.

Just this morning I added the welcome sign made from ice lolly sticks and yarn.....

To round off the week I even managed to leave the boys with Mr BM for a couple of hours and look round some open gardens with my Mum.....

The gardens were beautiful and the village was just so pretty. I loved the cute little cottages with roses round the door .....or even growing in through the upstairs window in this first picture :0)..........

and the old out buildings at the entrance to the allotments....

The perfect end to a relaxing break with three boys...I never thought I'd be able to say that !!

Jacquie x

P.S. Thank you so much for all your comments on my granny square blanket. My extra yarn supplies arrived at 9.20 am Saturday ( 24 hours after I ordered it !! THANKYOU Masons Needlecraft :0) )..........

And it's exactly the same shade ...phew.