I've Been Busy

 Thank you so much for all the lovely comments about my kitchen and bathroom, I have to say I am loving them both I can't quite believe the transformation I keep stroking my kitchen cupboards and opening the doors and then watching them close all by themselves, I gaze down at my new flooring and give a sigh of contentment.  As for the new shower in my bathroom it's causing problems I'm afraid because once I get under it I really don't want to get out and energy prices being what they are that is not a good thing haha.

Once the mess was cleared and thing's settled down I had to get over the 70th birthday, thank you for all your birthday wishes😘😘 I did have lovely day and week, I was quite spoilt it has to be said and got some lovely gifts....

This is one of the gifts my lovely daughter got me to use for my embroidery and it has been used many times already, it makes it much easier having two hands free.

My eldest son and DIL gifted those lovely flowers still looking fresh after two weeks and the terracotta rug you can see on the floor, I have to be very careful what I say around my kids, I did mention that I needed a new rug for the conservatory and so they got me one haha.  

I was complaining to my youngest son about not being able to find a NHS dentist and on the morning of my birthday he said I have put a bit of something in your bank account Mother so you can go and get some private dental work done 😲 I really couldn't believe it, as a consequence I have a dental appointment tomorrow and at last I can get some much needed treatment, it's over three years since I was able to visit a dentist.  I am very lucky I know there are so many who can't afford private dental care and are in agony because of dental problems. 

My brother has MS but was able to make this lovely barrow for me it has pride of place outside my front door

I could go on I got some fabulous gifts from family and friends alike and I would like to thank them all for their generosity. 

So What am I up to? 

 I am still working away at the Festive Forrest CAL although I 'm way behind and the CAL is finished already. I wasn't able to keep up because of the disheaval in the house and we don't have much natural light at this time of year so I find it difficult to see to sew the tiny details. I aim to finish it in time for Christmas, fingers crossed that I'll succeed.

Now while I was wading through my cluttered home a new CAL was being released and I was dying to take part, it was impossible at that time and so just as soon as I was able I bought the yarn and I started to make the Whoopa cardigan, by then the CAL was finished and I was able to see all the lovely Whoopa's that had been made.  

The Whoopa CAL was a ten day CAL hosted by Tinna Thórudóttir Thorvaldsdóttir. Tinna has a video tutorial for each day which made it super simple and very quick it took me ten days and look.....

She has introduced us to slouchy blocking which gives the cardigan a lovely drape. I think mine grew five inches after blocking.

I love this stitch it looks like knitted rib, I have used it before as you can see here

I used James Brett Masquerade Chunky and it only took six 100 gram balls to make it I have a feeling that I will be making more.

Another thing I have finished is this

This was an experiment for me, I used Rico Essentials Crochet Cotton which is a 2ply. I Lined the back to enclose the ends and it's the perfect size for a pot holder. I tried this because I'm toying with the idea of making one of the mosaic blanket patterns into a wall hanging, it would be far too large and bulky if I used anything other than the 2ply which I have used here. Cotton yarn doesn't have that much give and you have to be more careful to ensure that your stitches are neat and even but it hasn't put me off so watch this space.

You can find the pattern for this cute penguin here

At the moment I am working on this can you guess what the picture is going to be...

and this is the start of a simple sweater for me..

Time will tell if it ever gets completed.

I hope that you are all well and enjoying your Christmas preparations, I have have done nothing so far and am still looking for some small gifts to hook up for my friends, talk about leaving things to tha last minute.  I have come across these cute decorations here but I have a feeling that they will be super fiddly, although I do like those teeny sweaters, we shall see.

Have a great Sunday 😘😘

Linking with Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday

Hand Made Monday

The Work is Done and a Big Birthday

 I know it's been a while but at last I feel that I have emerged from a very long tunnel.  I can now thankfully announce that the bathroom and kitchen renovations are completely finished. Looking back it has only taken four weeks but it seems so much longer.  It was the getting up and getting dressed at 7 30 am that really got to me and having the whole house in disarray, no bathroom and then no kitchen, boiling the kettle in my bedroom and having all of my kitchen contents spread all over the house. 

Then when the last bit of silicone was stuck into place and I waved my builder off for the last time I was left with the aftermath, the painting of the kitchen walls and ceiling, I painted my kitchen ceiling six times and it still looks patchy! I have had enough, I just won't look up and as for the patchy wall I shall cover it with wall art and a beautiful clock.

Then of course the filling of the new kitchen cupboards trying to decide what to keep and what had no place in my new shiny kitchen, trying to rid the whole house of the dust and dirt that had accumulated because of all the banging and drilling.  

Today it's nearly all done I'm down to this room my little bedroom that I use for my office/storage place and I will sort it out next week, I need to make one last trip to the tip, there is a small mountain of stuff lying on the garage floor patiently waiting to be taken to it's final destination, it will be my fifteenth trip to the tip and my poor little car is showing the effects, it will need to be valeted inside and out and given some TLC after all the hard work it has done over the past month. 

Enough talking let me show you my bathroom as it was...

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

I could go on and show each day from then but it would take forever, it's amazing to think it could go from that to this..

THE KITCHEN

I forgot to take a picture of the whole kitchen before the work started but you can get an idea of what it was like here, this was the floor and you can see the colour of the cupboards 

they were dark and the room quite gloomy because there's very little natural light, I needed to brighten it up as I found it quite depressing..

DAY ONE 

When everything was ripped out, the walls were in a state behind the cupboards and apparently there was evidence of little visitors, I had never seen or heard them and it may have been before I even moved in but thankfully the walls are now repaired and all the pipework was changed and this is the completed kitchen...

I had the hall and the cloakroom  floor changed too to match the kitchen and a new vanity in the cloakroom.

There were lots of ups and downs during the whole process but I guess that it's normal when you are getting work done, but as a friend told me it's like delivering a baby, hell when it's happening but once you have that new baby in your arms you forget all about the pain. I haven't quite forgot it but now I can put it behind me and enjoy the results.

All of this work was a birthday present to myself it's a big one 70 years old today so I figured I deserved it😂 I can't believe I'm 70 where have the years gone.  I have had visits from friends leaving lovely gifts this morning and I'm going out for a meal later today, in fact the celebrations will be continuing into next week so it's all good.

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday and I'll be back soon to show you what I've been up to craft wise. 😘😘

Even More Christmas Mosaic

 As Mosaic Crochet becomes more and more popular our talented designers are creating the most amazing designs and as Christmas draws closer they are tempting us almost daily with a new festive pattern release.

Here are those I have come across so far this year, I will add to them as more become available, if any of you find any that I have missed please send me the link...

Starting off with a free pattern from Yarnspirations...

Evergreen Mosaic Blanket

This is Inset Mosaic and you can find the free pattern here

Winter Night by Gaëlle Urbanet
Paid pattern here

Heart and Hoops by Tinna Thórudóttir Thorvaldsdóttir

Paid pattern is here

Frosty Friend by Marissa Tetmyer
Paid pattern is here

Lovely Wintertime and Advent Calendar Below

The designer is  Susanne Toth and she has a 50% discount on all of her patterns at the moment to celebrate SUTO Crochet Design's one year anniversary 

Her Ravelry Store is here

Facebook page here 

Ho Ho Ho by Rosina Plane
Ravelry Store here

Magda Christmas table Gaëlle Urbanet
Paid pattern here

In the Spirit of... by Anke Wintermans

Paid pattern here

Santa's Visit 
by Marissa Tetmyer
Paid pattern here

Snowscape by Abi McIntyre
Paid pattern here

Wintery Forest by Ana Morais Soares
This is a six week CAL and it begins on the 10th November there will be a discount throughout the length of the CAL
Details here

by  Lucille Schubert

Paid pattern here

Click below for more great Christmas Patterns.....

A Mosaic Christmas

More Christmas Mosaic