Monday 31 December 2012

Happy New Year

Hello Lovelies, 
Thank you for all visiting me in 2012.....it was a great year and it's been wonderful to share my crochet, holidays, love of nature, sewing, baking, thrifting, reading and running  with you kind people. 


Your comments always make me smile, and thank you so much for telling me how to make a Mosaic :0)
Wishing you and yours good health and happy times in the coming year.
Here's to 2013
Jacquie x

Sunday 30 December 2012

2012..... A year in Flowers

Hello Lovelies,
 it's been such a dark, wet week here that I've been only too happy to immerse myself in some pretty yarny and floral images stored on my computer in 2012. There are quite a lot!
 So here are my favourite flower pictures. Do make yourself comfortable :0) 



The date on this photo is 10th Jan 12......wow that seems so early to have crocuses in my front garden. I wonder when they will emerge this year......


In the same week my Amaryllis was flowering.......

                                This years may even be a bit earlier.

A bit later in January I was enjoying highly scented blue Hyacinths , and finding reduced, luxury yarn in almost the same shade........


Pretty indoor primulas can always be relied on to cheer up a dull February day........


And a pot of miniature Roses on my mantle, along with the Vintage seed labels I won from Emma ages ago, made me smile..........


I'm never more happy though , than when spring really gets going. Visiting this amazing snowdrop display in late February was wonderful..........


The same garden also had beautiful Crocuses.........


And stunning pink blossom trees.........


I spotted this delicate wild primrose at the side of the road on a local walk in March. I love it even more than the brightly coloured cultivated variety........


The spring  sunlight shining through the Hyacinths in my own garden really made their colours pop......


by the end of March the countryside was really waking up and this clump of daffodils at the base of a signpost always makes me happy when they reappear........


On the same sunny day I loved these Magnolia blossom against the blue sky.......


And noticed the first Daisy in our lawn..........


April had lots of showers, we didn't know then just how wet 2012 would be . Still , the raindrops made the tiny Saxifrage look wonderful...........


Love the rain splashed  Bleeding heart too......

 

Shopping town is a bit of a trial in the rain but splashes of colour in pavement planters certainly help.........


Thankfully our Yorkshire weekend in May was a bit drier and I loved this Saxifrage tumbling over a limestone wall.........


Malham looked wonderful in it's spring colours , with the zingy green of the new leaves and the pretty pink blossom tree...........


 Back home my new red jug looked wonderful with some yellow Gerbers........


And in my front garden the rather invasive, but non the less pretty, Verbena was flowering........


along with huge Peony flowers.........


On an evening walk with the boys we spotted wonderfully illuminated Dandelion clocks......


And on an early morning run I just had to stop and capture the delicate Cow Parsley........


And a buttercup meadow.........


The  Alliums looked happy by our new pond........


and I picked Anemones to look pretty and patriotic on the kitchen windowsill.......


By June the hedgerows were full of Dog Roses.........


and the verges dotted with Poppies.........


In the allotments huge double poppies flowered beside the veg......



The fields were awash with wild flowers in July..........


In August we were at the Seaside and Zingy orange Crocosmia were everywhere........


Love this barrow filled with Petunias on the harbour wall at Ilfracoombe..........


Back home the butterflies had returned, attracted by my Buddlia bushes........


I cheap ( about 70p ) packet of Morrisons Sunflower seeds had to be my best value garden purchase of 2012. The Variety is called "Sunburst" . Instead on one huge flower head , they bore multiple smaller blooms , still on six foot stems, that were perfect for cutting......I just loved them and picked them till late October.........



In October was had the wonderful luxury of a hot holiday. I love holidaying in Britain but it was bliss to enjoy summer temperatures and flowers when the weather was cold and grey back home. Some of the flowers, like this Bouganvillia , we do not see in Britain........


Others , like these pretty Buzzy Lizzies are more familiar......


 Got to love this stunning yellow Hibiscus with a hot pink centre........


It was a burst of floral colour and relaxing heat that I will remember for a long time..........


Back home in November pretty Cyclamen looked cheerful on my Kitchen windowsill  especially when the sun shone..........


And last ( well done if you have got this far ! ) my new tradition .....Christmas Tulips...........


I love red and these beauties really took my breath away on Christmas morning.
Thank you for all your super kind comments on my crochet post....they really made my day.

Jacquie x

p.s. if any of you lovelies could tell me how to make photo mosaics that would be great :0)

Saturday 29 December 2012

Crochet Projects in 2012

Hello Lovelies, 
I've put together some of my favourite images of this years crochet to share with you today. It was great fun to look back at my finished makes and see what a productive crochet year I've had. Without this space it would be so easy to forget when they were made.

As well as the ta-dah moment shots I LOVE the progress images, like this stack of hexagons, way back in the January sunshine...........


 The jumble of colourful granny squares in my blog header always makes me smile, I can't see me changing it anytime soon♥

Also back in January I made the stripy tin cover ( at the moment its around this years Amaryllis pot ...did anybody spot it in my previous post :0)   )..........



By the end of January all my Hexagons had been joined and my Kaleidoscope blanket was finished......


 In February I started on another blanket...this time a baby blanket, using trusty Stylecraft yarn..........

 I started to join the squares like this .......


 But I wasn't too happy with it and then my sister in law asked me to make two blankets for twins , so I added a white border.........much happier with that (tutorial in my side bar )............


In March I dropped the white and started another baby blanket. My yarn bag full of  beautiful rainbow colours made me very happy......


The first outdoor crochet of the year occurred later in March as I worked on this happy project ......


The Elmer blanket ta-dah.........


 Love this Easter image , not only for the crochet coaster but also the Daffodils and the glimpses of my Easter "tree" and trays of seedlings on the windowsill. Ooooh , I'm feeling excited about spring now....I bit prematurely ..........


April also saw me making these colourful boats.........


My Sail Away crochet decoration is safely stored away for Christmas at the moment, but I'll be popping it back up soon ( tutorial in my side bar )...........


I'n May I worked on a favourite crochet motif........Sunburst circles...........


Turning them into hearts to string together as bunting (tutorial in my side bar).........


In May I started on another baby blanket, this time using a daisy motif in the centre of the squares ( tutorial in my side bar )........


Things then when quiet on the crochet front , while I went through a patchwork phase, but by July I was happy to have a portable project to take to the park with the boys..........


Loved my three baby blankets on the washing  line together (the ripple was made in 2011 and I've since given it to a work college )........


At the end of July the school Summer holidays were beginning and I was dreaming of the seaside........


 So I started another baby blanket in soothing coastal colours , and took it on our weekend  camping adventure...........


And then in August, to Devon.........


 I loved that holiday so much and I loved taking some crochet and patchwork to prettify our static caravan....


 At the end of August I felt the need for a burst of colour so I started a fun project........


That turned out to be my super wacky but super useful string dispenser..........


 My colour craving satisfied , I happily compleated my seaside ripples in September.........


 And stuck with the same colours to begin my first full size blanket of 2012........


Another , join as you go solid colour square blanket , this time for middle son...........


I took my "seaside patches blanket" on our Autumn sunshine holiday in October, but didn't get much done........


 This is what it looked like in November.........


In December I seem to have enjoyed quick projects, starting with these hearts..........


Which I sewed together and stuffed to decorate my wonderful "new to me" dresser........


Then I when back to Sunburst circles..........


And played around designing my own owl pattern..........

 Very happy with this , and I will be sharing the pattern soon :0)

I also make a super quick doily from this book...........


One of my owls has flown away , to live on my sister and brother in laws tree.....


As a little thank you for all the hard work on Christmas day.........


But I'm making some more . I have a Pay it forward ( from last December! oops  )  to honour and I will be including  one of these in each of the three parcels, along with other goodies.

 I've loved visiting so many wonderful blogs this year and still love being part of this inspiring space. Almost all of these projects are , at least in part, inspired by things I've seen and adapted from the wonderfully clever folks who  so generously share their projects and patterns with us. My creative life would be a much duller place without them.

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting on my crochet , among other things, this year. And thanks for indulging me in this review.

I'll be back with a different Bunny Mummy 2012 retrospective soon :0)
Jacquie x