Gifted Gorgeousness

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

 

 

My knitted baby blanket is finished and ready to be gifted to the mum-to-be.

 

 

Such a lovely pattern and so effective and simple and easy to knit at the knitting group, and not many stitches un-knitted like on a lot of my other projects after a mornings chat and cheer.

 

 

Other gift knitting that's been on the needles is clothing for a barbie doll collection. 

 

The conversation went ......

 

Isabelle - Nanny, can you knit me some clothes for my dolls

Nanny - I think I have some patterns, i'll sort them out and you can choose something you would like

Isabelle - I might like a granny clanger instead

Nanny - *oh no, not another of those fiddly felt clad clangers, me with eyes wide open and thinking fast*  let's look at the dolls clothes patterns first before you decide

 

Next visit - with patterns duly found and in my bag (and not a clanger pattern in sight) 

 

Nanny - I've found the dolls clothes patterns

Isabelle - *turning her nose up at the quite a few I have* mmm I don't like any of them

 

She then spots the booklet for a wedding party - a pattern picked up in a charity shop - one of those 'this might be useful sometime' purchases

 

 

Isabelle - Nanny, I think i'll have the red one first (the bridesmaid doll outfit)

 

 

 

Nanny - ok, i'm sure I have red, green and white wool at home

Isabelle - Then I might have the others

Nanny - Yes, but I might have to do other stitching or knitting so it might take a while to get them all done

Isabelle - ok nanny

 

After I put my coat on to leave, a kiss and cuddle goodbye and she says "will you bring the dress next time you come" - the dear little lady thinks I have a magic wand that can whip up something in no time at all!

 

Then her parting shot as I walk up the driveway "then I think you can make me granny clanger" ..... aaarrggghhh noooo!   

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she has forgotten about granny clanger next time I visit, and no, the dress is not completed yet, it was really fiddly along the bottom hem and had to be unknitted a couple of times as I was watching TV and made a mistake! 

 

 

Isabelle has a birthday at the end of the month and I am trying to get a cardigan knitted up for her birthday parcel ....

 

 

A gift that I haven't created by just had to share with you is for Isabelle's birthday and was knitted by the lady who runs the knitting group.   Her granddaughter is to be invited to the birthday party.

 

 

The base of the basket is using a Carte D'or ice cream box that is covered in knitting.  

 

 

Well done Tricia, a fabulous gift that Isabelle will love.

The chart from my recent CCN finish was gifted onto another stitcher - firstly to Angi, who will pass it on to Gill who will send it on to Barb

What's in your GG post this month, i'm looking forward to reading about your gifts received and sent.

 

 and blessings to you all

 

Julie  x

 

 

 

New homes

 

CCN Place of our Own has had the final stitch added to it.  The chart will now be off to a new home and I need to find a new start.

 

Another place of our own was being created this morning too. 

Looking out of my window this morning, I smiled to myself as I watched ....

 

a little robin is building a new home and nesting in the ivy on our garage wall ....

 

I spent quite a while watching him fly back and forth with bits of stuff in his mouth

 

I just hope the cats which live next door, and my own dear Midge, keep away from him and his family.

 

DH treated himself to a new feeding station a couple of weeks ago - the old one had seen much better days.  Don't look too close at the bottom of the garden, repairs are still ongoing to the fence that was storm damaged earlier in the year and the logs from the fallen tree are still stacked down there.

 

The birds seem to approve of the new 'restaurant' filled with lots of nice treats.   We've seen such a lot more activity.  Robins, blue tits, starlings, jackdaw, collared doves, magpies, blackbirds, long tailed tits, great tits and coal tits have all been visiting, we've even seen some house sparrows and hedge sparrows and they haven't been about for a long time.  A simple pleasure, sitting watching the activity .... happy days.

May's finish is now on display of the Snowflower Diaries SAL.   I see next months design came out yesterday as well.   An animal that hadn't entered my head would be on them appeared, she does look sweet though.

 

I've  had another finish too, the baby blanket I was knitting is ready for its new home.  As its only a few days till Gifted Gorgeousness i'll show you that in my post on the 15th.

 

Love and Blessings

 

Julie

 

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.