The crafting, the grandparent and the wardrobe....

We are still stepping outside the door here and into Narnia, well it certainly feels and looks like it! 

Sorry about the title of this post, all this snow seems to have made me put on my silly head lol.

It's been years since we've had snow like this, it just keeps coming and not thawing much at all, 10 days and its as bad as ever.

The garden still looks lovely

and it gives me the chance to have some fun in it too. Grandpa was pulling Isabelle and I on the sledge at the weekend. Being a grandparent does give you licence to be in your second childhood doesn't it?  One guy we passed on the sledge did tell me i was a bit old to be doing that.... bah humbug to him, it was fun and I loved it.

Lots of groups at the community centre have been cancelled due to the treacherous underfoot conditions, but my Book Borrower ladies wanted to meet on Tuesday so we did.

Our youngest member has had her little baby boy. He's called Andrew, weighed in at 7lb 14oz and both mother and baby are doing very well.  We held a surprise 'welcome baby' party for her and gave our gifts. I'm sure you all remember the blanket and cardigan I made a few posts back - she loved them. We had a nice homemade cake and lots of fun as well as chatting about our latest reads and having baby cuddles too....mmm that Johnsons baby powder smell, gotta love it.

Just in case you are nosey like me, here's where we meet each Tuesday afternoon in the lounge of the community centre, a warm welcome to all who come along.  One of our ladies made the super bunting with the words Book Borrowers on it for us to put up each week.

Time has been spent crafting and reading with all the 'keeping you inside' weather conditions.

I've read 5 books so far this year (list with links in the right hand side bar)

Knitted a fluffy cardigan for Isabelle

 

Crocheted a round cushion for hubbys footstool using the leftover wool from his lap blanket

and started Block 9 on Shores

I hope you are all safe and well and life is being kind to you. {{big hug}} for the poorly folks and those in need of a cuddle.

Off for a cuppa and then a venture out to the shops, hopefully i'll stay upright and not end up on  my  ... you know what!!!

Walking in a winter wonderland

Today we woke to a covering of snow, and so pretty it looked too.

I had to venture out in it and stopped off to enjoy some playtime in the snow with a certain little lady. She loved it, and was not happy when mummy decided she had better go inside.

The scene from my conservatory made the perfect backdrop for my latest stitching finish. LHN's Blue House in Winter from the JCS 2012 Ornament Edition has been my Parlour evening stitching for the past 2 weeks with Barb the ladies at NH.  It's also doubled up as my ornament for the month... organised or what! lol.  I've joined a SAL for Santas Village so as soon as i get my fabric organised and the first chart arrives with me i shall be doing those for my Wednesday evening stitching.

No other stitching has been happening, knitting pins have been out instead. A friend who i met some 18 years ago at an adult education class (and still keep in contact with, we meet up 3 or 4 times a year for a coffee and a catch up) will be celebrating her 65th birthday next month.  I decided that one of my little bunnys would make a nice gift for her milestone birthday. Yes, i am still knitting these little characters.

February 1st will see the start of another SAL for me too. Friday evenings is to be the Christmas Stocking-A-Long evening with online stitchers/bloggers Linda and Catherine. I'll be making Isabelle a stitched stocking all ready for next Christmas....forward planning again. I figured, that if i have one evening a week and start early, there is a good chance that it will be completed in time.  I'm just waiting for my chosen design to arrive from a well known online supplier.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, we had a nice quiet one catching up on some errands and other household things that needed doing after the holidays.

Till the next time .... stay safe in the snow UK folks, i hear there is more on the way....

First finish of 2013

The dictionary defines finish as "bring (a task or activity) to an end; complete" so technically this is not a finish.  My husband referred to it as a 'travelling work in progress' which i thought sounded really nice.

For me though it definately is my 1st finish as my part is completed and i've sent it on it's way to Angi (no blog).

It is of course Tina's Speciality Stitches Round Robin. We started these back in September but there was no posting at all in December as we didn't want any problems with the Christmas postal service and them getting lost.

Three bands are to be added by each stitcher. Tina is a good friend of mine, we get together at the regular meet ups and she has also been to visit me at home a couple of times. After looking at what everyone else had added, I decided i wanted to incorporate a couple of rhodes hearts into my bands. They are a little large so i had to design a little piece that i thought would look nice and made my 3 bands into a smaller type of block of it's own.

The speciality stitches incorporated into my part are square eyelets, divided round eyelets, smyrna, rhodes hearts and tied windmills.  I hope you like it Tina.

I wonder what mine is looking like now?

My round up of 2012

Happy New Year to you all ....

I've spent some time this afternoon looking back on my finishes for 2012, its lovely to look back and see what you have achieved, some you remember well, others you forget what you've done! I had 58 finishes in all.

47 were stitching projects, no biggies just smaller ones this year. 10 Christmas ornaments for the ornament a month SAL, 2 round robins - one of which is still ongoing, and plenty of gifts for friends and family. Shores didn't get as much attention as i had hoped, but with Block 8 now completed there are only 4 more to go, surely that will be a finish this year.

I did manage to squeeze in just one more before the New Year. I completed the stitching on my RR - Little Book of Stitches - so this really was a 2012 RR.  Just need to read how to do the making up now, good instructions as it came from the Gift of Stitching Magazine, just need to make some time to do it.  Thank you to all the ladies who stitched on this for me.

I had 6 knitting finishes and i can now show you the socks that i was secretly knitting for DH for Christmas.  It's hard to make a surprise gift when you have family that are really interested in your craft, it was hard to make progress when he wasn't here. There was some query as to whether they would be finished in time for Santa to deliver them, but like all crafters, there is always one projects that comes right down to the wire for a deadline date. They fit and he was thrilled with them.

Crochet finishes amounted to 5. Hubby's lap blanket was the biggest of those. Midge is still really pleased that mum made such a comfy blanket and snuggles on it a lot of the time.

December 31st was opening day for the winter exchange at NH. Mine went out very early to avoid the Christmas post.  Jane was my partner and i made a pocketed pinkeep using the JBW Design 'Let it Snow' that had 2 sachets of hot chocolate inside.  I thought winter weather and it would warm her up, but we've only had rain, rain and oh yes, more rain.

I received mine from Kate in the post today. She made me this beautiful stitchers pocket. Thank you Kate, its really lovely.  It's been a great exchange and there have been so many different designs and finishes.

My workbasket starts off 2013 containing 2 WIP's. One of course is Shores of Hawk Run Hollow and the other is Irish Garden by Liz Turner Deihl - i didn't put a stitch in that at all last year, does that make it a UFO?  I do have one that really is a UFO and that is Leo by HAED, it was my first try at a HAED and i was gifted the chart and the 25ct fabric a very long time ago for my first attempt at stitching over 1.  Its about a quarter finished and its only a little one. Just maybe, now i have been stitching over 1 for a while it might make an appearance out of the basket one day this year to surprise you all.

The Book Borrowers started in June and reading has taken up quite a bit of the stitching and crafting time. I was amazed when i counted up the number of books i've read in 2012. Can you believe it, there were 40!! Being introduced to Agatha Raisin was great, she brought such fun and laughter to our meetings each week and i have worked my way through 15 of her adventures, they are not big books but i have really enjoyed them thats why the total seems so high lol.  We have lots of new things planned with the BB for the new year, but i am hopeful that my stitching and crafting time will take place, i still find it so very therapeutic and relaxing during the evenings.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all make during the comings months.

Wishing you a very productive and happy stitching, knitting, crocheting .... and whatever other craft you do filled year.....and may the frogs stay in their ponds and not bother us all too much lol.

2012 comes to an end ...

How was your Christmastime with your families and loved ones, i hope you all had a wonderful time. We had lots of family time and also some quiet relaxation time just the two of us.

The Christmas lights walk was really nice, we wandered along, one of us was wrapped up more snuggly than the others!

The childrens story characters and scenes that are in the Town Hall Square are always lovely. This year it was Paddington Bear on one side

and Noddy on the other.

The Town Hall itself had its usual flashing 'Christmas Greetings' sign

The crib scene was very lovely.  Isabelle loved this and had heads turning shouting 'baby, baby' at the top of her voice when she saw baby Jesus laying in his manger.

We must have all been very good this year as Santa visited and spoilt us all.  I received a lovely selection of goodies from stitching friends. Thank you to Clare, Christine, Angi, Karan and Kathy. I've also received lots of lovely cards and emails with Christmas wishes, thank you to you all.

Hubby and I spent Christmas morning seeing Isabelle open her gifts. She was so excited and loved ripping off the paper. Lots of nice toys including a baby doll and pram and also a toy kitchen.

The 27th was a sad anniversary day for us and we went to Mount St Bernard Abbey and spent some quiet time there with our own thoughts. I always find peace when visiting here. The day passed and we were ready for another family gathering.

Saturday 28th we travelled to visit my mum for the day. Good food and conversation and some shopping in the sales near to where she lives and yes, we did spend some cash on purchases.

No stitching has taken place, but I have finished the crochet baby blanket I started.

Today is the last day of 2012. For some it has been a good year, for others not so good. For me personally, I have lost both friends and relatives. There has been a lot of sickness around with both family and friends too.  Good news with DH's results as we had feared bad news for him. He is far from being back to 100% but doing so much better.  There have been good things come into my life too during this year.  I joined a tai chi class in the Spring and am really noticing the changes that it has brought to the way I look at things. Not only physical but spiritually and mentally. The Book Borrowers started and that is great fun each week.  I have far exceeded the amount of books i usually read and have made changes to my daily routine so I include some quiet reading time each and every day.  I think we also had the 2 sunniest weeks of the whole year both times we went on holiday.  So, this year has not been all bad.

I'll do a stash round up next post as I hope to have just one more finish before the end of the year...I still have a little stitching time before Big Ben rings in the New Year and we find ourselves singing Auld Lang Syne.

I'm looking forward to 2013, new things happening and some old things continuing.  I wish you all good health and happiness for this brand new year and I hope whatever comes your way in the next twelve months, by the end of it you find that you have come out of it having lots of fun and happy times with family and good friends surrounding you.

Enjoy your New Year celebrations and when the clock strikes midnight here for me, i will be raising my glass and toasting you all wherever in the world you may be and wishing you all the very best for 2013.