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

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

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

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

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