Sunshiney start to May

Goodbye April and thank you for taking your cold wet showery weather away. 

 

May has brought us clear blue skies and nice warm sunshine - very welcome indeed.

 

The end of a month means it is the reveal of the monthly challenge.  The design chosen for April by Christine was from Romy's Cross Stitch.  The chart can be found here.  

This is my version ...... 

 

The little bells were from Lindt chocolate bunnies at Easter and they have a lovely jingle sound.  I'll have to wait till Christmas for more free bells from the reindeers! 

 

There are 4 finishes in the forum gallery so far but others are added when they have been completed at any time of the year.

 

May Day arrived, a bank holiday weekend so an extra day off for those that work.  I've been resting a lot and made a start on a baby blanket for my great-aunt.  She is to be a great-grandmother at the age of 91 and asked if I could knit up a little something for the baby boy that is due in the summer.

 

As I knit with throwing the wool over the needle, my left arm stays still so I've managed a little knitting.

 

 

It was a free pattern from Deramores blog a while ago - paper pattern is now available to buy from their site - it's called Blanket in Deramores Baby DK number 1001 (it also comes in a digital version).  A nice repeat pattern of 8 rows which gives the lovely finish and is sized for a car seat, pram or cot blanket.  We chose the pram size as it would also double up for the car seat as baby grows.  Two shades of blue and the white will also be the border.

 

Joyful World SAL has also had a little attention.  I'd started this last month but it got left as I was finding it difficult and painful to stitch.  

 

I made a few changes to mine.....

 

 

Bird - changed to a blackbird and gave him brown legs

Cats - mine have green eyes, and I added a pinky nose and whiskers

White flowers - changed to blue as the forget-me-nots are out in my garden this month

 

 

Fabric choice was an oddment of 28ct quite stiff lilac linen (no label) something a little different and not a colour i often choose, but, the colours really do look nice on it.  I just need to make it up and stand it on the easel before the month has gone by too much more.

 

I've been blog reading and am almost caught up, you've all been so busy making such lovely things.  I've seen amazing WIP's and finishes, charts that appeal to my taste and others that look really nice but not something I would like to stitch myself.  Bloggers are on holidays and having fun.  Some have exciting and happy news to share, some are not so well and I also read some sadness too. 

 

Sending {{hugs}} to a couple of ladies who I know are not having the best of times at the moment

 

Blessings to you all

 

Julie x
 

A Spring Break

 

 

 

We headed northwards and taking a different route instead of the usual motorway journey, for the first time we decided to go across the Humber Bridge

 

 

It was wonderful ....

 

 

 

We were the first people to stay in a newly let bungalow.  The view was fabulous, you could sit inside looking out to Cayton Bay just up the road to the right

 

 

or watch the sea stretch for miles out to the horizon

 

and to the left in the distance was Scarborough 

 

Weather was very mixed, sunshine, showers and very cold blustery winds but it didn't stop us have a relaxing time.

We wandered around Scarborough harbour with its castle high on the hill above

Across to the lovely  lighthouse (we did hear the fog horn on Tuesday as the sea fog was terrible, we couldn't even see the end of the garden never mind the sea view!)

 

Around the tight bends and up to Olivers Mount where they hold car/bike racing events.  It's open to the public on non-race days so DH took the car for a spin around the track pretending he was in a race :-) 

 

The view is fabulous of the town and South bay from so high up - and you can see the harbour and castle.  This headland separates North Bay (behind the castle) from South Bay

 

 

We sat a while on the steps at the bottom of the war memorial drinking from our flask and enjoying a cake from one of the many bakeries in the town soaking up the view and spotting places we knew.

 

Another day we crossed the moors, the weather changing at every turn from dark grey clouds

 

 

to sunshine and blue sky

 

Arriving at Grosmont Station, part of the North Yorkshire Moors railway we walked through the worlds earliest passenger railway tunnel built by George Stephenson to the engine sheds where you can watch men busy working on the engines.

 

 

A steam train arriving in the station so DH was treated to his holiday train fix.

It's a lovely old fashioned very small place with the countries oldest independent co-op little store still operating incorporating a post office now too.

A leisurely drive up the coast to Whitby - we've been here before and visited the Abbey high on the hill and up the 100 steps on a previous visit

 

so just had a walk around the harbour

 

and around the small quaint shops. 

 

I'd taken some knitting with me and inside a tiny wool shop I found the perfect pink flower buttons for the waistcoat so finished that.

 

 

Long walks around North Bay (this is the other side of the castle headland) wrapped up warm against the wind

 

 

From here when looking out to see we spotted a dolphin playing with a seal.  I was so excited to see it and watch it that the camera stayed in my bag so no snap to show you :-(

 

Sitting on the beach at Cayton Bay watching the surfers out to sea enjoy the waves (apparently its one of the few places they can surf at all hours of the day and all year so it's very popular).  We enjoyed some quiet time listening to the waves and reading our books - see we did have some sunshine and blue skies.

 

 

A lovely, restful week, caught up on reading....

 

 

Knitting for me - a new pair of socks were started (and finished since I've been home)

 

All too soon it was time to head south again and home.  We decided we would pay the toll charge to drive back over the Humber Bridge again and not succumb to the quicker route by motorway and of course the sun shone beautifully all the way home!

 

Since being home I've had a little accident.   A silly fall and am suffering a crack to the collar bone so not a lot of stitching has been happening but I did add the green border to the LHN SAL before it happened.

 

 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my holiday snaps. As one friend said, our generation used to enjoy a get together with friends/family when you came home from a holiday to look through the photographs in the album you took and chat about the things you saw, but with technology that's now a thing of the past.

 

I am way behind on blog reading again what with one thing and another, i'll catch up with you all soon.

 

Blessings to you all

 

Julie

Gifted Gorgeousness - April

The 15th of the month so that means it's time for a Gifted Gorgeousness post. 

Created by the lovely Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching, a way to show what kind and wonderful people crafting folks are with their lovely gifts they send out to others.

The rules are quite simple and can be found on Jo's sign up page at the top of her blog.

 

The Snowflower Diaries free SAL for April was stitched on a piece of gifted Dragon Shades 28ct jobelan fabric from Polstitches Designs called Nature's Grace.  It's a lovely hand dyed pale green and I used DMC threads.

 

Knitting pins have been clicking away. My granddaughter asked for a 'cardigan with no sleeves' as she called it.   The recent red cardigans I knitted for her for school she loves and the pattern does give waistcoat instructions, so after a lengthy conversation about what colour she would like I went and bought some wool.

 

It's almost complete, just needs to be sewn together and the armbands and front bands added.  Does this class as dark pink? that's the colour she asked for .... it was the darkest pink aran I could find locally and my argument to her will be that it is darker than the pink cardigan I knitted before.   

 

So to fit in with GG a hand knitted gifted waistcoat (in the making)

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what lovely things you have all been using for this months Gifted Gorgeousness post and also anything that you have given away too.

I hope you are enjoying the springtime.  We have birds nesting in the garden.  Watching them to and fro into the nest box is lovely, a set of blackbirds are also in the trees as well as the blue tits this year.

Love and blessings

Julie


p.s. I've scheduled this post as I am enjoying a few days Spring break away with hubby, i'll tell you about that next time.

 

Meeting up with friends

April started with a lovely chance to meet up with friends.  It was the Spring meet of the ladies from Needlecraft Haven.  Just a small group of 5 of us this time.

Clare is the organiser of this and we met at her home this time.   The morning was spent stitching and drinking tea/coffee and chatting. 

Soon it was time to stop and have a bite to eat.  Clare made us a lovely buffet lunch ....

and gorgeous cake to follow - black forest gateau.... yummy.

 

There was a show of work.  It's lovely to see peoples work close up especially when you have watched it grow over time on the forum.  The quilt that sat on the sofa was handmade by Jan, she is such a good quilter and does lovely work.

 

 

We are all readers so a book exchange is always fun.   Wrapped up no-one has any idea what's in each parcel.  Inside the book you add a card to say why you have passed it on and whether you liked it or not etc

 

 

I wrapped up and took along Celia Imrie's debut novel called Not Quite Nice which was won by Clare.    I enjoyed it, she writes very much as she acts and the sequel to it is out soon.

 

The raffle ticket I chose corresponded to this one, included was the fabulous handmade lace bookmark made by Clare's mum.  Thank you Jan for such a beautiful gift as well as the book.

 

 

Everyone donates a prize or two to the raffle.  The money we raise from that always goes to make the forum advert free for a while which is nice.  Great choice of gifts to choose from.

 

 

I chose the wrapped parcel when my number came up, a little surprise inside of a colouring book and pencils, that's going to be fun to use.

 

 

A few weeks before we meet, Clare gives us a theme for the goody bag exchange.  There is a price limit so all bags are roughly the same value.  This time the theme was "A song from your childhood" this one took some thinking about!

 

Here is the assortment of bags awaiting choosing

 

 

The choice is made by picking a homemade cake - carrot cake this time and taking the hidden ticket underneath (hopefully not your own)

 

We had a fun time watching each person open their contents and trying to guess the song they had chosen to use for it.

My bag came from Jan, a great choice and the song was "Grandad" by Clive Dunn.  She had put a picture of her own granddad on the outside and all the contents were wrapped in brown paper and string.  It was super and well thought out.  DH loved the comic when I got home and was so excited to see most of his childhood favourites were still inside it.

 

My bag went to Clare, the song I chose was "The Ugly duckling".  I did have another theme in mind, but came across the Marjolein Bastin duckling kit and my mind was changed

 

Angi received Clare's bag, the song for that one was "The Unicorn song"   Gertrude the goose gave us all a giggle and as Angi had travelled on the train to meet us, Gertrude had a nice journey home inside a bag! (pic on Clare's blog as well as more information about Needlecraft Haven membership)

Angi's bag was won by Gill.  Her song was 'How much is that doggy in the window'

and finally Gill's bag which was won by Jan (Clare's mum).  "Sing a song of Sixpence" was Gill's choice with a clever chart added with both a blackbird and a pie on it by LHN.

 

All too soon it was time for us to pack away and head home, the day does fly by when you are having fun.   Thank you Clare for organising another lovely day for us and baking such delightful treats.

 

Perhaps you saw on the 'show and tell sofa' my latest socks, just in case you missed them here's another pic I took at home before I left.

 

 

I stitched on my LHN WIP during Saturday morning as I had missed my Wednesday evening with Barb and the ladies from Neeedlecraft Haven as we all stitch an LHN or CCN design that evening. I've just the border to add now.   Angi and Gill like this one so it will be off for them to stitch next when its completed.

 

 

I was also stitching on the Joyful World - April.  That's almost finished as I have done some more so i'll wait till its completed to show you.

 

The March challenge was revealed at the weekend.  The gallery can be seen here.  This design was from Sub Rosa.  I changed the colours and did a very simple finish.

 

 

I hope you had fun over the weekend and your life was filled with love and happiness

 

Blessings to you all

 

Julie