A Lovely Gift

 As some of you will be aware I am a member of Loving Hands a group of lovely people who knit, crochet and sew for a number of charities and have been since 2009.  We have a lively forum and a 'would anybody like' thread where members offer unwanted craft items to other members. 

Last week one of the members asked if anyone would like a tapestry frame that had been given to her and she had no use for, I had been thinking of buying one because I'm really enjoying embroidery and cross stitch again so I jumped at the chance and it was delivered yesterday, I had to laugh because it was a bit like pass the parcel Karen had wrapped it so well but I was delighted when I finally managed to get it open....

I love that Tapestry! I haven't done a tapestry since I was 24 years old when I first went to Syria where I lived for nearly twenty years.  They had a huge market there where you could buy everything that you could possibly need craft wise, I remember I was like a kid in a candy store and seeing this brought it all back to me. Of course the subject matter is very English in this Tapestry, funnily enough  the one I did in Syria was too.  

I had planned on removing the tapestry and putting the twelve days of Christmas cross stitch into the frame but I have decide to leave it in and work on this too. 😊

The weather has been terrible this week, the rain continues to fall as I write this  I feel as if I've been stuck indoors for ages appart for a long walk to the shops taking a detour so that I could see some Autumn colour and crunch my way through some Autumn leaves

Last weekend my son and daughter in law and little grandson Mikey came through for a socially distanced visit we met in a car park right next to the sea front and we had a walk along the promenade.  Mikey loves water and the sea in particular and insisted on getting as close as he could .  It was inevitable that a huge wave would come along and drench him and my daughter in law haha, luckily Christa had clean clothes in his bag and she was able to change his trousers and socks and blot the worst of the water out of his shoes.

We walked back to the car park just before the heavens opened, got a take away coffee and sat in our respective cars with the windows down and chatted while the rain splashed down around us a lot of it coming in through the window too. It was short but very sweet and so lovely to see them and so hard not to be able to kiss and cuddle my little grandson and it looks like things are only going to get worse. 

I have been making a lot of soup of late as it seems the most logical thing to eat right now, you can't beat a lovely bowl of homemade soup when the weathers getting cooler and the days shorter.  I had some chestnut mushrooms and wanted to use those but because of my gastric reflux problems I have to be careful... 

I had a search and found this recipe 

Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

• 50g/2oz butter
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 300g/9oz mushrooms, sliced
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 600ml/1 pint chicken or vegetable stock

It was so easy to make and really tasty I will be making it again that's for sure you can find the full recipe here 

On the crafting front the Queen CAL Blanket is finished! but because I want to take lots of photo's I will post about it early next week.  The pattern for this blanket is discounted until the end of this month so if anyone is thinking of buying it now is the time.😊

I have yet to decide what to make in November too there are so many idea's buzzing around my head my 'would like to make' list is a mile long I shall be pondering over the weekend and will have made a definite decision by Monday.  

Have a great weekend and stay safe.😘

Click here to see the great parties I will be linking to.

The End Is In Sight!

 We are approaching the last leg of the Queen CAL already can you believe it! I can't begin to tell you what a huge satisfaction it gave me as I crossed each row off the chart, there were six charts in all. 

This morning I knotted and trimmed the edges and as I write this I have just had an email telling me that the last part of the pattern is published yay! that's the double border. 

The double border will take me a while as it is what is says a double border one at the front and one at the back, the two are then joined together to seal in the ends, hopefully the big reveal will be in the next couple of weeks, that will take me nicely up to November and then I can decide what my November projects are going to be. 

I can't believe how quickly the days are flying past, I was reflecting on this time last year when everything was normal can you even remember normal? Anyway a friend was going to a Halloween party and he asked me to make him a crochet scarf to complete his Halloween outfit at very short notice,  you know it's amazing how quickly you can knock something up when you can crochet.....

Easy Peasy Halloween Scarf...

I made this in a couple of evenings, I had the yarn in my stash, a huge ball of Poundstretcher Aran,  just goes to prove you always need a stash of  yarn because you never know when you need to make something at short notice like this.

An easy peasy halloween scarf  made in htr (UK) hdc(US)  

I scouted around the internet for some scary skull and spider patterns and found the skull pattern here and the spider pattern here 

I left the fringe raggy on purpose for effect you don't need neat for Halloween. 

My friend was delighted and it raised some favourable comments apparently. All he needs to do now is remove the motifs trim the fringe and he'll have a nice warm scarf to wear whenever he needs it. 

I forced myself to go out for a walk the other day you know how it is when you're sitting cosy inside with your crochet on your lap, cup of coffee and biscuit ( more about those later) at your side, who wants to go out! 

Once I made the effort I was so glad that I had, the weather was quite mild and it was perfect for a beach walk...

Interesting caves to explore too. 

I really enjoyed the walk and went further than I intended, just getting back before the tide cut me off further along the beach.

Those biscuits 

I had been tidying my kitchen cupboards and found a jar of peanut butter and a jar of honey that were almost empty so I decided to use them to make more room in my cupboard....

Honey and Peanut Cookies...

2 cups SR flour

1cup oats

125 grams butter

100 grams light brown sugar

100 grams honey

2 tablespoons peanut butter

Place honey, butter, peanut butter and sugar in a saucepan and stir until completely melted, add the mixture to the dry ingredients combine and then roll mixture into balls, place on a baking tray and slightly flatten with a fork.  Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown on gas mark 180C or 350F

So quick and easy to make and they tasted so good! in fact they are nearly gone already so I'm now thinking about what to make next.🤔

Bargain Buy!

My daughter and I like to visit the local garden centre for a coffee on Sundays and last week they were selling these Chrysanths off for just £1....

When the flowers die off I can plant them in my garden and hopefully they will flower again next year.😊

I hope you all have a great weekend! 😘

Click here to see all the great Parties I will be linking to this week.

The First Day, a Scam and a Waste of Money

Day One is Done!

I think it looks lovely, this is a nice easy cross stitch because there are only a few colours in it of course it will get more detailed as it progresses through the days but I'm enjoying it so far...

I was thinking that if I try and sew a day a month then it should be finished in plenty of time for Christmas next year You can find details about this lovely project here.  

Sewing this has rekindled my past love of cross stitch and I'm having to stop myself from starting another cross stich project, I have one I started many years ago and I'm looking at it again and wondering if I should pick it up again but it's a big one and counting all those tiny squares is not easy even if it is good for the brain it's not so good for the eyes I'm still deciding.  

The Waste of Money..

I just wasted £10 and it's all my fault or should I say Alexa's fault.  Have you got Alexa or something similar? well all I can say is be very careful especially if you are deaf like I am.  I use Alexa as a radio, for making lists, and for setting timers I haven't burnt a single boiled egg or pan since I got her...hang on I know what you are saying if you are using Alexa for an egg timer then why did you buy that egg timer you showed us a couple of weeks back? well all I can say about that is I was swayed by a friend who was telling me about his and how good it was and of course I wanted one too and did it work? I hear you say, it did the first time I used it and then after that no it didn't, so with that in mind I have actually wasted £16! 

Anyway I digress, I got my card statement the other day and there was a transaction for £9.99 from Amazon music, I hadn't bought anything and couldn't find anything on my account until I dug deeper and lo and behold I have had an an Amazon music membership since October 3rd but... I didn't apply for one. I don't even play Amazon music and then a little bell went off, I remember asking Alexa to play some piano music because I know there are some free playlists on Amazon and she did but before she did she rambled on a bit and then said would you like that? I couldn't hear what she said and thought she was just asking about a playlist and I said YES! Now I know what I was saying yes to, a blinkin Amazon Music membership! I'm annoyed because I have wasted a week not knowing I had it.  I have cancelled it so at least I won't get billed next month AND I will never say yes to Alexa again. 

The Scam

Many of us are now shopping more and more online and it's very easy to be influenced by all the sale talk and pictures of wonderful merchandise especially on Facebook, I like Facebook as a crafting resource there are so many great crochet groups on there and I love seeing what everyone is making but then out of the blue an advert will pop up for something you really need or want I'm sure our phone's, laptops and tablets must listen in, you can say I need a new pair of boots and before you know it all these advertisements will appear for boots.  

Anyway that's what happened to me an advert came up for a pair of lovely ankle boots from a company called INCOLORKEY there were over 300 five* reviews about these boots and the price was very reasonable so I bought some. After a couple of days I got an email saying they had been dispatched and a tracking number when I clicked on that I was directed to a very legitimate looking website. Weeks later the boots still hadn't arrived even though the tracking site said they had been delivered! 

I emailed customer services and was told that I shouldn't worry the boots were on their way and that there was a delay due to Covid 19. I then began to investigate which is what I should have done in the beginning. I found out that other people had had the same experience as me and we had been taken in by a very clever scam!

I requested a refund on paypal and to my relief within five minutes I had one.  Huge lesson learnt only buy from reputable sellers that are well known!

Remember that sweet treat I wanted to make last week well I hardly dare show you🤦‍♀️

Blueberry Muffins...

They have erupted! problem was I hadn't got any muffin cases and I put too much batter in the tins, but they taste ok and are oozing with blueberries so they must be healthy right? I only ate one and froze the rest, you can find the recipe here, now what shall I bake this weekend 🤔

Have a great weekend and stay safe 😘

Click here to see all the great parties I will be linking to

Autumn Decoupage

 Well there is no doubt about it Autumn is definitely here, the weather is decidedly cooler and the days are getting shorter. The Autumn leaves are beginning to fall and it won't be long before they will litter my whole garden.  With that in mind I thought that is was time to put my Summer pebbles away and make some for Autumn.

now where did that little mouse come from😉

I can't believe how easy it is to decoupage, mind you it does make an awful mess but it's worth it to produce such a pretty result, I do tend to get carried away when I'm making these but I like to give them to friends and family and display some around my conservatory shelves. I'm looking forward to making some wintery Christmas ones next.

Last years welcome to Autumn was this little leaf garland, I loved making it even though it was decidedly fiddly.  I was lucky to have lots of little Autumn coloured balls of yarn in my stash and really went to town on these leaves and berries, it's funny how when you are in the mood for making certain things you just get on and do it and enjoy the process, this year the thought of making those tiny leaves and berries fills me with dread! luckily I don't have to because I can take this one out every year.

If you are in the mood for fiddly and fancy making one yourself I got most of the patterns here from the lovely Lucy at Attic24

My tomatoes are still ripening very slowly but I've had a very poor crop, I'm enjoying each and every one there's nothing nicer than tomatoes still warm from the sun eaten straight from the vine.

It won't be long before we can stop cutting the lawn it's growing very slowly now and only needs a cut every three weeks, last week my lawnmower breathed its last breath just before I had finished cutting the lawn, I haven't had it that long either, anyway it meant I had to buy a new one and here it is.....

I like it, it's light and very easy to use, I hope it lasts a bit longer than the last one but it does have a three year guarantee.

I have planted some crocus and tête-à-tête daffodils in the lawn, I'm hoping that they will grow because I have tried this before in my previous garden with little success. The lawn looks a bit of a mess after I have planted them but I'm sure it will recover and hopefully I will have a lovely display in Spring, I think I'll plant some at the front as well. 

and finally my Queen blanket is now on the return journey and now that I have passed the midline I'm loving it again the colours seem to balance more. The next part of the pattern will be out today, I'm getting impatient to finish it so that I can get started on the Letitia Holiday blanket which I showed you in my last post.

Now I'm thinking of baking some kind of sweet treat, maybe muffins or maybe cookies🤔 decisions decisions 😄

 Have a great weekend and stay safe and I will see you all next week.😘

A Finish, A CAL and Another Rant.

 The Finish

I'm pleased to announce that I have finished this little embroidery yay!

I really enjoyed sewing this, trying to get the creases out of the material in order to frame it was a bit of a challenge, it's not perfect but it's fine for me. I searched high and low for a square frame and found this one in The Range it's a perfect size and I think the picture looks charming hanging on my landing wall.

I was going to make more of these little stitcheries but have decided to concentrate my stitching endeavours on The Twelve Days of Christmas Sampler for now. 

I try to sew a little bit every day it's fun to see the picture slowly emerging I think I will sew another pear today maybe even two and that D looks lonely on it's own.😊 

If you want to join in and sew this with Jo and myself you can find her post telling you all about it here. 

My work on the Queen CAL continues and I'm almost halfway there, I have gone from loving it to hating it then accepting it for what it is.  I'm not fond of some of the colours and am having to think outside my usual preferences, we tend to stick to colours we like the most but this set of colours was set by the designer and I went with that rather than stretch my brain and choose the colours myself. 

I have to remember that this blanket is not for me and I'm hoping that the person it's intended for will like them and they do seem to be very fashionable colours right now.

The CAL

I have found yet another beautiful CAL feast your eyes on this......

Wow! I like it even more than this one I told you about here, it seems like the designers of mosaic crochet are trying to outdo each other right now, I need more months to be inserted into the year from now to Christmas another 6 should do it haha and yes of course I want to make this one too.  the details are here and the pattern is discounted till the end of the CAL but you can get a smaller free version. 

I will add this to my post about Mosaic Crochet 

The Rant

My Scan result came back clear I'm pleased to say and I was quite impressed at the speed the results came back, just over a week! However I was not impressed that it was the receptionist that relayed the result to me and not the GP, when I asked the receptionist if I could speak to the GP about the result she seemed quite surprised, she said if you want to talk to the GP you will have to make an appointment on Friday morning this was Monday! so now you have to wait 4 days before you can even make an appointment, what is happening to the NHS! I get it we have Covid but GPs are hiding behind their computer screens instead of getting people in and giving them a proper examination. A negative result is not the end of the story, if someone is still displaying symptoms they need further tests. 

It's not going to happen now is it, I had to practically beg for the scan, so the plan of action is no action for now, wait for this Covid madness to abate then change GPs and tell them what investigations I need, yes I mean tell them because in all honesty most of them haven't got a clue I feel sorry for those who have no medical background and are going without the treatment they need because of the Doctors incompetence. 

On a lighter note I bought this the other day

I can't stand a runny white in a boiled egg, a friend told me about this little gadget and said he has a perfect boiled egg every time he uses it so I will be trying it out today, in these days of local lockdowns we have to find our entertainment where ever we can haha I'll let you know if it works. 

Have a great weekend and stay safe. 😘