Sunday Smiles

The first thing to make me smile is all your great dishcloth feedback, thank you so much it has clarified the dishcloth making process so much for me and made me eager to make more, so much so I have gone and bought these,,,,

They are Aran weight but not quite as thick as the Lily sugar n cream and because of reassurances about the colour's running I'm quite happy to make them bright and cheerful. In fact although the colour did initially run from my green dishcloth it has stopped now and I do love it now that I'm getting used to it so I hope my friends and family will like them too I have one on the hook as we speak a facecloth in fact for a birthday gift, will show you once it's done. :)

Poppies
I love poppies be they real

or handmade...
I have been making these for a sea of poppies project.
Some in crochet and

a knitted one..

I much preferred making the crochet ones they took me no time at all, I found the knitted one a bit fiddly and there was sewing involved that's why there is only one and why there are only four petals when there are five in the pattern.
There are loads of poppy patterns for free if you fancy making some yourself or just click on the pictures to find the patterns I've used although I did play around with them a bit I just can't help myself :) 

Doily Progress

This is where I am now, round 19 and there are 34 rounds! I really am a slow coach I think everyone else has finished theirs but I did pause for a while to see if daughter was going to buy a fuchsia rug,well she didn't but all wasn't lost because she did buy some fuschia cushions yay!! 

I'm loving making this doily because it's something I don't usually do, some of the rounds are quite challenging and it takes forever to finish a round, the bigger it gets the longer it takes but of course but theres no hurry, it will get done one day.

Visit Pammy Sue to see how beautiful hers has turned out and there are pictures others finished doilies too.

Have a great week!

Sunday Smiles

 Hello all you lovely people I hope you all having a great Sunday the sun is shining, I have just got back from the gym and put a load of washing out and have another one in so the day is off to a good start.  It seems ages since I did a this and that post so here is a quick catch up.

What have I been making lately?

well I went through a phase of making lots of preemie hats, these are ventilator bonnets, some complete and some in need of buttons, once I have finished them all I will do a proper post about them along with a very quick and easy pattern.

I am going through a butterfly phase at the moment, I seem to be flitting from one thing to another without getting anything finished,  I must get back on track but there never seems to be enough time to try out all the lovely patterns that are out there, I feel as if I'm going through some kind of mental overload at the moment, my head is spinning with all sorts of projects I want to start but darn't because I have so many other things that I need to finish.

I have just finished reading this book on Daphne's recommendation, it's a light read just what I needed with my butterfly brain.

and I'm now reading this at Pammy Sue's recommendation...

I am really enjoying it, there are a few books in this series but I don't seem to have the time to read as much as I used to so it will take me a while to get through them all.

A really huge thing happened for me last month.....I got a new car! not brand new but a five year old car which is new for me!  I have been driving the same car for 9 years and it reached the grand old age of 15, so I have been looking for another one for at least six months, I needed something that I could afford and was cheap to run too.  I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it. I love the colour it's so bright and puts a smile on my face it's small and cute, well I think so anyway.  It's going to take a while for me to get used to driving it but I'm really pleased with my choice.  It's a Suzuki Alto,.....

This isn't my car of course but it looks just like this... cute or what :)

What's happening in the garden?
Well things are dying back now as the weather changes but there are some things that still stand out...

 like this beautiful dahlia

and these impatiens that have been flowering their little socks off all through the summer

Hope that you all have a great week! 

This and that on a Sunday

Hello all you lovely people I hope that you have all had a great week and that you had lots to smile about.  Here is a little peep at just some of the things that made me smile this week......

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the Flower show pictures I'm so pleased that you enjoyed them, this is what I bought it doesn't seem like much but they cost me plenty.

Cute little buttons

Mr Bee and Mrs Ladybird

Licorice for a friend who is rather partial

Two Poppy Plants (hoping they will survive.)

A full sized quilt this is the pillowcase to give you an idea.  I feel that I should have been able to make one for myself rather than buying one but as yet I haven't mastered the art of quilt making, maybe one day :)

Together at last

I don't usually blog that much about my personal life but I'm fit to burst so it has to be said. My daughter got married in Syria over two years ago she lives in the UK and has been trying to get a visa for her husband to come over here and live since then.  It would take me hours to tell you all the problems she has encountered along the way and always with the constant fear that hubby would be injured or killed with the trouble that's going on over there but I'm so pleased to tell you that he is here at last and now they can start their lives together.

I made some red currant jelly with my red currants, I had a huge crop this year, I always think they look so pretty like red jewels glistening in the sun.

A big thank you to Judy who donated this yarn for me to use for charity projects, Judy is one of the lovely ladies who attend the Day Unit where I work, she also loves to help and is making a lovely scarf at the moment which I will show you when finished. 

and finally

Watching the butterflies on my budlea

Have the best of weeks. :)

Sunday Smiles.

I know it's supposed to be Sunday Smiles but in all fairness It's not all smiles this week so please bear with me.  My broadband connection has been excruciatingly slow this week and it has taken forever to load up my blog and your blogs, infact blogger has been slow for weeks, sometimes I can't see all your pictures and it's sooo frustrating.

The worst thing is when I leave you a comment and press send and a box comes up asking me to sign in! I'm already signed in for goodness sake! and then when I've done that the comment I have left you has disappeared, so I don't know if you have received it or not, so if you have two comments from me nearly the same you know why and if you have no comments well please let me tell you it's there flying in cyberspace somewhere phew ....sorry I had to get that off my chest, is anyone else having problems? are you finding blogger slow too.

Anyway enough of the moaning at least for now. :)

I started going to the gym a couple of months back for the simple reason I felt tired and sluggish, no wonder really I hadn't done much exercise for a long time and I had a couple of spare tires around my middle, that's where my chocolate goes and on my tummy of course, where does your go?
Anyway there is nowhere to leave your stuff in the gym really so I needed a solution and this is it, A bottle holder with a little pocket on the side for my membership card and I can fasten my keys to it too.  I used the cotton which has been languishing in my stash since my stepping back in time trip  
If you can crochet you can easily make one of these but if anyone wants the pattern just say and I will gladly write it out.
I find the gym very boring but I have lost one of my tires and I do feel much fitter so I will persist. Do any of you use a gym and what do you think, do you like it, is it helping?


Do you ever watch those sale channels? I don't usually but a couple of weeks ago early one Sunday morning I found myself watching this fella who was selling a paint spraying system, in no time at all he had spray painted a fence, some decking, garden table and chairs, then he moved indoors and painted walls and furniture.  Everything looked wonderful and he made it look so easy, so I was completely taken in and ordered one there and then because my whole house needs redecorating and garden fences need painting too.  
They are so clever these sales people they suck you right in.  

Anyway it arrived in a huge box I took it out and tried to understand all the instructions but I'm really useless at understanding long drawn out explanations  and have to try to figure as I go, it took me two weeks to actually use it.  I thought it was safe to use it on my garden furniture so I put it on the lawn with a huge sheet under it here is the result.

I am pleased with the result but it takes ages to prepare everything and minutes to actually do the job, then ages to clear away.  I felt the paint came out too quickly and it seems to use a lot, but it only needed one coat.  So I'm not convinced it's worth the money yet, I think it will be fine for the garden but maybe not for the house, so watch this space.
Maybe you have one of these yourself, please let me know if you do and any tips would be most appreciated. 

My newly painted garden furniture was put to good use this week

We had our monthly Loving Hands meeting and sat and nibbled, chatted and crafted it was such a pleasant afternoon.  The ladies brought lots of beautiful finished projects too which I will show you another time because I think I have kept you all long enough but just before I go....

The stars in my garden this week

Lady Hamilton

Another one from my David Austin collection, I love it's colour, beauty and fragrance, however the blooms are short lived and will only live a day in the vase then it's pretty head will droop and the beautiful petals will scatter themselves all over your table.  It's still worth it, even for a day, I love to have a single cut rose on my table don't you?

I hope you have all had a lovely warm and beautiful week and that this next one is even better. :)

Sunday Smiles

I hope that you have all had a lovely week and thank you for all the comments and feedback you have given me this past week, I love your comments so please keep them coming. My week has been a busy one with lots of smiles along the way.

I was able to meet up with my cousin Angela this week it was so lovely to see her and hand over the baby hats I had made for her. The cute bonnets on the top left and the two blue hats on the right were made by my friend Ann from my Loving Hands group.

From left to right, Aunty Doreen, Elaine, Angela, myself and thank you to Sue for taking the picture.

We met up in York, Angela had rented a cottage nearby and my Aunty and two of her friends were staying there with her.

We visited York minster

So beautiful both inside and out and impossible to capture the sheer beauty of the place on your phone, I had forgotten to take my camera but even so the atmosphere of the place can't be captured even with the best of camera's, definitely a place to revisit again and again.

 wandering through the beautiful old historic streets of York.

It was a lovely day until I was making my way back to the station to catch my train and the heavens opened, I was literally soaked through to the skin but that's English weather for you :)

I know it sounds crazy but every time I use my string bag I have to smile, I really love these bags I have one in each of my handbags, they always come to the rescue for me when I'm out shopping and I need a bag in a hurry, it's amazing how much you can pack into these, why not make one for yourself or for your friends if you haven't already they make great gifts, you can find the pattern here

I really thought that my crop of blackcurrants was meagre this year, they are growing right at the bottom of the garden and it's a bit of a jungle down there, but once I got in there and had a good look I had enough to make all this jam.  I'm always afraid it won't set properly, but the set was perfect and it tastes really yummy. 
Shopping list...
jam thermometer.
Jars 
Wax discs
I still have a crop of red currants that are ripening nicely and a huge crop of blackberries so I need to be prepared, looks like my family and friends are going to be gifted lots of jam this year.

The stars in my garden this week

Mullein Pink

I didn't even know the name of these until I did a little bit of detective work on google today.  I love these flowers and they self seed like crazy, I have them in white too and have little groups of them scattered all over my garden.

I hope that you all have a lovely week. :)