A little sewing fun

Thank you for all your lovely kind words on my last post. I really appreciated each and everyone of them, I feel so touched that I can show a little of my ups and downs here and can enjoy our "virtual friendships".

I had time for rest and relaxation this past weekend and found myself up in my sewing space in our partially converted attic on Saturday afternoon. I love it up there, it's where I have an old antique pine chest with all my fabrics and yarn in as well as my old sewing box full of cottons, buttons, ribbons and pins and needles. I can put my lamp on, radio 4 and have plenty of floor space to chop away at fabrics. I don't know why I always have had to cut patterns out on the floor, it just feels like the most natural place to cut fabric for me. My mum taught me to sew in my early teens and I am not sure if she meant to teach me to use the floor for cutting out, it's just the way it happened :O)

So, I pulled out a book I had borrowed from the library and followed the easy instructions on how to make a lined tote bag.

 

It was so therapeutic and great fun to see the end result. I'm pretty chuffed with this as I have never sewn a lined bag before.

 



The outside fabric was some old Sanderson British furniture fabric I found ages ago in a charity shop and the inside is part of an old vintage sheet. My old Elna sewing machine did well sewing through this thick fabric, it needs a service I think. I got it for my 20th birthday from my mum and dad and am ashamed to say that in 23 years it has never had a service...ooops, better correct that I think.

I feel like this first attempt at making a lined tote bag has now opened up opportunities to play around with fabrics, add pockets, add doilies or old embroidered tray cloths etc. to my bag making possibilities. Look out Christmas, a few bags might be being made!

I have decided to give this to Yvonne as a little thank you gift for kindly giving us her old hutch for our bunny, Dilly.
Andy did a sterling repair job and it looks and functions as if it was as good as new for our little bun bun.

Just before I wrapped it up I gave it a test run by popping down to the library to return some other books and came back home with this sweet little new to me knitting book. I know I am not meant to be starting any new projects, but a girl can window shop can't she?

Thanks for visiting, I do hope this week has some very cheery moments in it for you

xox

See you soon

 

52 Weeks of Happy 37/52

My dearest blogging friends,

To say that this week was a rollercoaster of emotions is an understatement! I've gone full pelt along the spectrum of extreme happiness to extreme blue-ness...is it down to being tired and very busy in my fabulous job? or the fact that the Summer is slipping through our fingers here in the Northern half of the world? or just not really coping with being at work full time, being wife and mum and cleaner and cook? I'm not complaining, I have just struggled a little these past 7 days.

Somehow, having these weekly free, sweet moments posts makes me notice in amongst feeling blue that my life is rich and very colourful and I am truly blessed. Thank you for visiting and sharing with me.

First up, I crawled into bed after a hot bath on Tuesday at 6.30pm! I was super tired from a long 14 hour Monday and needed to be warm and cosy under the covers with cups of tea, Alice reading to me and my crochet hook. I managed to make a few more colourful covered pebbles for her friends who have asked for one as a "pet rock" and especially favoured the yellow one thinking of the sunshine and warmth I was craving. Here it's pictured on a piece of Lucien Day wrapping paper I bought a while back. I adore her designs and this mustardy one gives me the thrills especially.

I made some of our favourite spicy carrot and lentil soup from this easy recipe and it was delicious with hot crusty bread and butter, just what the chills doctor ordered. I love that Alice loves this simple meal too, we have got her into eating more and more spicy foods because we love them so.



I scrambled up into my attic last Saturday afternoon and sewed Alice a vintage sheet and recycled fabric patchwork cushion for her up and coming 13th birthday. A lot of the vintage sheet pieces came from the lovely Ada at Vintage Sheet Addict (thank you so much Ada, they are so pretty). I always like to give Alice a little something homemade from her mama for her birthdays. She likes cushions on her bed so hopefully this will be a cherished one too.

Once again, just some simple delicious food for lunches, add some mozzarella and a wee bit of pesto and yum, I could eat sandwiches like this forever. Simple, but scrummy.

A little visit to the Vintage/Antique warehouse around the corner from us called Eras of Style for coffee and cake on Saturday afternoon with Andy whilst Alice was at ballet was lovely. These mostly German vases made me smile.

I've also been working on some more granny crochet squares for a friend of mine's blanket which I think will take the whole Winter to do! and of course the second arm of my scrappy cardigan which I'm plugging away at. Alice is watching me like a hawk to make sure I don't rush out and purchase some more yarn to start yet another project :o)

I do hope you are all well and that you haven't felt too blue this week with the cooler temperatures? I hope this weekend will give me the rest I need and look forward to chilling out and visiting your blogs.

Happy days to you all wherever you are

xox

Penny

52 Weeks of Happy - 36/52

I have missed out a few week of my 52 week blog posts with having been away and just trying to catch up with myself. I was a little on the fence as to whether I wanted to carry on, it almost feels a little self indulgent...but then blogging is a wee bit like that for me. It's a fun record of my happenings and the fact that you might come and say hello, is a bonus. I do love the "virtual friendships" through blogging.

So here goes for week 36...

Tea and cake and chatter in my friend Janie's English country garden last weekend. She has the greenest fingers and the most beautiful garden space which I have the fortune of enjoying.

A little collage of some of the glorious parts of Janie's garden. I could do a whole post of all the beauty that it gives.

I've been trying to be committed to finishing knitting my rather OTT scrappy cardigan which seems to be taking an absolute age. It feels like mindless knitting round and round and round we go, but I'm getting there almost finished one arm. I am knitting it longer than the pattern which is a 3/4 sleeve cardigan as I have scraps of yarn to use up and I want this to keep me warm in the Winter when I come home, have a hot bath and mill about in my pj's in the dark Winter evenings. I feel so tempted to start another project BUT my clever girl Alice is keeping me in check and on track. She helped me sort our all my yarn and fabric in the attic last weekend and has cleverly bagged and labelled all my WIP's and promptly told me that I have various crochet and knitting projects I can chop and change to when I am bored without starting a new one! Now who is the child and who is the adult in this scenario....:o)

Making malteser milkshakes from our homemade ice-cream. The recipe is so easy peasy, a colleague gave it to me and doesn't involve an ice-cream maker or mixing/whisking it up every 2 hours while it starts to freeze as some recipes suggest. All you need is:

• 3 mixing bowls
• 4 eggs separated
• Beat the 4 yolks with 100g caster sugar in bowl 1
• Beat the 4 egg whites to stiff peak stage in bowl 2
• Beat 300ml double cream to incorporate some air bubbles in bowl 3
• Add all these ingredients together with a teaspoon of vanilla essence
• Put in the freezer for 24 hours and voila you have made vanilla ice-cream!
• You can add fruit or bits of choc or other flavourings etc. to make a fun ice-cream, we added crushed maltesers chocolate this time and it was delish

Last, but not least, Andy bought me some of my favourite flowers on Tuesday, just because. The best excuse ever!

I hope you have all had some sweet moments in your past week and thank you for all your lovely compliments on my last post about my finished crochet blankets, for the first time ever I actually enjoyed the rhythmic sewing in of all the ends, we'll see how long that lasts ha!

See you all soon

xox

Penny 

All those ends

Hello there, happy first week of sweet September! I'm loving the gloriously beautiful sunny days and evenings we are still having despite that wee chill in the air in the early mornings. My September is a full one and a very busy post Summer holiday one at work, but all is good. All is good especially when "All those ends" have been sewn in and cut off in neat little piles. 

Which ends am I talking about? My yarn ends of course!

Ta-dah! Here is my long awaited Rico Aran cotton large granny blanket, full of bright and happy Summer colours. Much to my shame it has been sitting in the attic with some of my other yarny projects waiting for me to sew in the ends and snip off the very end ends. Hooray, it's done and has already graced Alice's bed last night.

Here it is in all it's colourful glory!

Dilly, our pet bunny also had to inspect and thankfully approves this cotton granny when I was trying to take photos yesterday evening. She is an inquisitive little thing and loves anything cotton, especially clothes when I am trying to hang them on the line!

Next up were these ends...

The ends from my chevron zig zag baby blanket which I finished on Sunday night. It's soft and warm merino yarn and I just love all these colours for babies, soft, earthy and mellow, I hope Lynette does too.

Thanks for letting me indulge in my crochet love and for your sweet comments. I hope the rest of your week goes well and you find some crafty moments as the evenings start to draw in .

See you soon

xox 

Penny

Naughty but nice

I've had a busy busy week being back at work after our holidays, it's left me dog tired, but I have found some time to be naughty in the evenings with this ...

The reason why I say naughty, is because I was supposed to be keeping focused with finishing knitting the sleeves of my scrappy cardigan, however I have found myself distracted with this chevron, ziggy zaggy baby blanket I am making for Lynette who is expecting her first bundle of joy in December. 

The pattern is from my copy of this gorgeous book by Jane Brocket. I have made a blanket in this style for myself before and when I went to one of my local yarn stores on Monday lunch time, I saw this Rico Aran 100% wool yarn and simply couldn't resist purchasing these beautiful colours.

I'm really not into blue for boys and pink for girls when it comes to baby blankets, I prefer more earthy colours and my thoughts behind these colours and the order in which I crocheted them was deep earth,earth, grass, sun and sky.

My plan is to repeat this pattern and colour pattern once again to complete the blanket. The first colour I crocheted to represent "deep earth" is actually a deep grey but looks almost purple in the above photo, maybe it looks more purple in the sunlight?

The easy rhythmic crochet of this pattern is ever so gently addictive, I just can't stop!

Wishing you all a marvelous weekend

I can feel the season changing as we head into September, goodbye August

xox

Penny

34/52

Oh what a glorious week of camping we have had followed by the bank holiday weekend at our church conference in Ashburnham Place. We started out camping on the Bank holiday, but after all the rain and puddles in our tent by Saturday late afternoon we chickened out and came home to sleep. Someone mentioned to me that we had had about 2 weeks worth of rain on the Saturday, hence those puddles :o)

So, here are some of my beautifully free joyful moments over this past week...

Smiling at my tunic making efforts last weekend before we went camping. I decided to practice making a tunic with an old duvet cover I have and thinking I could sleep in it once made. Well, the tunic pattern wasn't what I hoped for, but I do get to sleep in a loved soft recycled cotton duvet cover in the warm Summer nights and Andy summed it up politely by suggesting that he was sleeping next to a pillow case (cheeky boy!)

Picking some flowers on our walks and sharing tea and cake with friends on the camp site.

Cycling to the beach and making some more crochet covered pet rocks for Alice and her friends who seem to be amused by them.

Enjoying "Alice's mess" ie. her scrambled egg that she makes for breakfast.

Beautiful grounds of Ashburnham Place where our New Ground Conference was held this past weekend.

The beautiful lake early this morning reminding me how I live by Gods Lavish Grace and mercy.

I hope all of you have found sweet little joys in your life this past week as I have.

Thank you also for the very kind messages about our burglary, we have now fitted a double lock on both front and back doors which should act as an extra guard against easily breaking in. 

I'm back to work tomorrow whist Alice has another week and a half off with Andy until school restarts.

Thanks always for your fab comments and conversation, always appreciated.

See you all soon with my scrappy cardigan progress 

xox

Penny

33/52

 

 

 

 

Thank you to all of you who visit my funny old blog and for your fabulous comments and conversation about our holiday snaps. I did manage to get to a yarn shop in the heat of Barcelona and purchased some deliciously gorgeous hand dyed local yarn which I will share in another post.

 

I'm back to my weekly happies, I missed out the first 2 weeks of August with being away and this past week having gone back to work was very busy trying to play catch up and get ready for our next Summer break this coming week. We are off camping with the hope that the heat and sunshine will reappear after hiding away for a lot of this past week. We camp quite locally as we can't be faffed to spend a day in the car getting somewhere and our car isn't big enough to accommodate for my glamping idea of camping! I like a proper portable mattress and duvet please, none of the sleeping bag malarkey (been there and done that for most of my childhood) :o)

 

So on with some sweet happy moments this past week;

 

My scrappy top down cardigan I am knitting, I have gathered all my scraps of DK yarn and am putting them to good use by making this scrappy cardigan which I can slouch around the house in this Winter. I hope to finish this next week on the campsite, unless I get distracted with crochet.                          

 

Alice baked some Nigella Lawson "cheesy feet" (quick and easy recipe found here) this week. They are delicious and we like to add a little more pepper and a tiny sprinkle of cayenne pepper into ours. Yum!

 

Some present giving to my two colleagues going on maternity leave (these little pixie hats I knitted) and a lovely Italian dinner out.

 

Last, but not least some posies of my potted flowers picked after coming back from Barcelona. I was surprised to see how many of our pot plants survived and still flowered without being watered while we were away.

 

On a less happy note, I woke up to discover that we had been burgled last night! Our telly and mine and Alice's purses were taken. Nothing else, just mindless theft. The Sussex Police have been really efficient with statements and forensics this morning. A real pain to have to cancel cards and try and remember what other things I had in my purse. Horrid to think someone was lurking downstairs whist we were all asleep upstairs. Never mind, I 'm just pleased we were left alone and hope that what goes around comes around with such needless behaviour.

 

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend and I hope to catch up with you soon. I'm off to get a new library card, can't live without that!





 xox

Penny