Monday 15 December 2014

Things that made me smile last week…...


…… finishing a patch work play mat for my niece's new baby. I made one for her sister when she was born which has been very well loved - see here

…… waking up to see the first snow of winter on the hills - it was such a lovely clear cold day - this is my favourite view from our house.
…… more snow later in the week - I ventured out with the dog in the late afternoon. One of my first dog walks since being ill - I'm now feeling so much better.
…… trying out a new pattern. My first attempt at fingerless gloves - with a thumb. The pattern sounded so complicated that I thought I needed to make one up using some odd yarn …...
…. before making another with some beautiful soft alpaca yarn.  Once I got going the pattern wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, it seems to make more sense once you actually start knitting!  ….I just need to make the other one now and get some little buttons to stitch to the cuffs.
…… making leek and potato soup for lunch with home made bread - yum!
….. using my lino cut to stamp out more Christmas cards - I need to add some green olive branches yet.
The girls will soon be home for the holidays so we need to tidy the house and get the Christmas decorations up - the celebrations will soon be upon us! 

Thursday 4 December 2014

At last, I'm able to finish a couple of 'work in progress' projects

A little more creative energy this week - thank goodness! I am beginning to feel a little better now and have taken an interest in doing things again as I get stronger.

I bought this fabric last year, it is a furnishing fabric called Rooster. (not sure who the designer is) I intended to make my friend a tote bag with it as she has chickens and has lots of 'chickeny' things around her home. I ran out of time….

…… but have come across the fabric again, so matched it up with some red gingham, and some fabric I had which looks like little eggs.
I have now made her a tote bag with a gingham lining and internal pocket, with a red trim around the  inside and on the over the shoulder handles. Work in progress 1 completed!
Next, I started knitting these socks way back in February. They have been sitting in my knitting bag for ages just waiting for me to graft the toes using the Kitchener stitch. I always need to concentrate when doing this stitch, so tend to wait till I have have finished both socks and can sit quietly, with my crib sheet next to me, and work through the last stitches.
I bought this yarn at Woolfest 2013, I can't find the yarn band now so have no idea where the yarn came from - but I love the way the colours fade into each other.
Cosy socks for Christmas - work in progress 2 completed!
However, I still have a few more WIP's  to finish - hope the energy keeps coming…..

Sunday 30 November 2014

Christmas cards for friends

Having little energy at the moment, due to my illness, I have not been able to get out to buy cards this year. I had a look on the internet for charity cards, but the ones I liked had sold out, perhaps predictably - so I thought I would have a go at making some lino print cards myself. There is plenty of inspiration on the web, so after spending far too much time searching I came up with a design idea. I have had the lino cutting tools for ages, but not had a go - so the ideal opportunity!
I wanted to use a peace dove image with a folk art feel on the cards. After making the design, I cut it out and stuck it onto a piece of wood, so I could use it as a stamp using some poster paints I already had. 
 I thought the detail would be too fine to show when printed, but it seems to have come out ok. I just need to experiment a bit more to get the pressure even when I print them.
 The other little birds at the bottom of the above photo are a carved wooden block I bought at the quilt festival last year - not sure if they are guinea fowl or turkeys, but thought they might look fun in a line running across the bottom of a card also.

Hope you have had an fun week.

Sunday 23 November 2014

Feeling a little better now

I am so pleased to say that I am beginning to feel a little better now. It has been a long 6 weeks recovering from pneumonia, and I am slowly getting a little stronger. I don't think I realised how poorly I had been until now, when I am beginning to take an interest in things again. I think it will be a while before I am back to full strength, and am still visiting the hospital for them to see my progress. I' don't think I will be out walking the dog on the fells for a while yet though!

I'm always reading from other bloggers about how therapeutic it is to crochet, so thought I would try and master the ripple stitch - using the brilliant tutorial from Lucy at Attic 24. I started a small sampler just to try out the pattern and it worked out OK! I will now drop a few hints for Christmas for an Attic 24 yarn pack. I'm still not sure if I could concentrate at the moment long enough to get the foundation row sorted for a blanket, but come the new year hopefully things will be improved.

Being ill, I also missed most of October/early November with the leaves turning colour, but at least I could look out of the window at my favourite view and see the bracken and the trees changing with the season
The girls have been home for visits and to fuss over me, which has been lovely. On her last visit Molly helped to make the Christmas cake, so at least that's ready now. 
Work on the house renovation, has really moved on since my last photo on 3rd October when the foundations were just being dug. J has taken photographs for me to see the progress and my how it has changed. This photo is of the extension, which will be the new kitchen and family room, I love how the builders have used the old quoins which we kept from when J demolished the previous flat roof extension.
 Last Friday J took me out in the car for a little trip so I could see for myself the progress. Now the scaffolding is going up and early next week the upper floor joists are going in - I just hope the weather holds and the builders can keep going - its really exciting now as I can see it taking shape.
 I hope you have had a good weekend.

Friday 17 October 2014

Who would have thought…….

……. that I have pneumonia!  I have been feeling ill on and off for a long time now and recently it just got so bad that something had to be done. Its now just over a week since I was admitted to hospital for a couple of days with, as it turns out, pneumonia. I am now back home with a big bag of medicines. Yesterday I went back for a review and it seems all is going in the right direction and I am beginning to feel just a little improvement each day.

I sat in the garden for a while this lunch time - it was so nice to feel the sun on my face - it really is warm today for the middle of October! I think it will take me a while to fully recover, but I'll take each day as it comes. I'm hoping that this pneumonia is the answer the Drs have been looking for, but am still having a range of other tests and scans done as well.
I'm also hoping I will soon have the energy to knit and sew again - it will come as I slowly slowly recover.

Friday 3 October 2014

Things that made me smile last month…..

Just a few things that I didn't get around to blogging about.

…… a lovely parcel of fabric arrived from Eternal Maker…. I must get making - what will it be??
…… my jumper that I had to pull back is growing again!!
…… my birthday, celebrated with carrot cake. 
 
….. birthday lunch out with friends, and on the way we called in at Brougham Hall near Penrith to have a look around the arts and crafts workshops. Just love this huge door knocker!
….birthday walk in the Lake District on Loughrigg Fell, above photo with Beanie looking back to Grasmere
 and here looking over towards Lake Windermere from the summit
and Molly taking the stepping stones into the cave/quarry, hard to resist stepping stones and water!
….. a green and black moth, sitting on a stone I had felted
….. and building work has now started on our house renovation project!!!!. 

I was so looking forward to going to Yarndale last weekend, but illness prevented me from going in the end. Such a disappointment - but I have been looking at some of the photos that are about on blogs and Facebook and have actually seen the Mandala that I made which was part of the huge display 
I am hoping to get to the bottom of what is causing me to keep feeling ill all the time, and have been back and forth to our local hospital for tests, so hopefully will soon get some sort of an answer.

Have a good weekend.

Wednesday 24 September 2014

'SheepFest' weekend

SheepFest weekend came and went (Sept 14/15), but unfortunately in the end I was unable to go along. So I missed out on all the excitement of the weekend, which I understand was really good. Lots of craft workshops, and artisan and craft stalls, and of course the sheep trail with well over 100 sheep. However, there are still sheep about in Sedbergh, and now quite a few have been taken back to Farfield Mill and will be on display there until after the October school half term - so I have been able to have a good look at quite a few. Below are the three winning sheep…..



How cool is this one outside the Vets - you could actually have a go at lambing!!
……. and the rest are sheep that took my eye as I walked around the Town and the Mill.


Our very own Baaa Baaara - the Knit and Natter sheep, sitting in the corner of the Cafe at the Mill, where we meet each week.




Outside the Bull Hotel in town…..
and I love this one that the Post Office contributed….
and this one in the Church, where the 'wool' was made of curled music scores…...
and the Art shop.
The Mill also has on display the 'Technicolour Dreamcoat' that was made by local school children. Each child wove a square and into it poured their hopes and dreams. A great achievement.
I was really looking forward to seeing the felt work of Andrea Hunter, and was hoping to go to a talk she was giving over the SheepFest weekend - may be another time. Her work was on display for such a short time and now the exhibition has finished, but I did manage to call in and see it. It was difficult to photograph as there was a lot of reflection.


All in all a fantastic community event, with a great deal of hardwork in planning the event by Farfield Mill, and hopefully will be repeated!