So busy!

Well do you remember this little guy?

Well little Louie is settling in well.... we kept him separated from the dog but eventually after several attempts to climb the barrier I took it down and waited with baited breath......
after a few weeks I walked into the lounge and found this....

Smudge does not look overly impressed by the new sleeping arrangements, in fact he's poking his tongue out at me... the cheeky mutt!

The mouse is not real but appears to be getting in on the photo shoot!

Jamie and I took part in the village Flower Show at the weekend....

Jamie entered a Rabbit made from veg (he's looking a little shriveled now) and she won first place and £2 prize money...

She also entered a garden on a plate... and won first and another £2

She also entered a colouring competition and won 1st place and yet another £2, she was very please and I am glad I pushed her into making the effort...

I entered the floral arrangements, this one was a profusion in White, this won first place...

I entered the foliage arrangement class, and I was really pleased with this one, I love all the different greens and colours that you get with foliage... when I was at college I hated the leafy stuff and coveted the flowers when doing designs but now I really see the beauty in the variety of colours... any hoo I digress.... apparently the arrangement was too big for the vase... so I came third....

I also entered the painting class but I had to rummage around in a stash of watercolours I had at mums.... I came second with my mouse watercolour...
and the card was very quickly thrown together and came nowhere... not surprised really its a little naff! lol ;D

I also entered my afghan blanket in the hand knitted/crocheted article class and came third, I think I was beaten by a cardigan and a knitted clown.... I have to admit those knitted clowns scare me! ;D

Jamie has taken the watercolour C in to school for her teacher, with a couple big bars of chocolate and a bottle of wine... its Jamie's last day today and her teacher is leaving the school to go to another...

I am almost there on the giveaway, so I hope to do a post on Saturday....
I am coming along with my seaside swap, but all this rain is not inspiring me to make summery things... its typical really that during the creation of my cosy crochet swap we had a heat wave...

I have the table cloths and decorations for my parents 50th wedding anniversary party to get sorted (1st August) and have to drop a deposit into the ladies doing the catering...
half of the invited have replied, so we have about 50 people so far...

and to top off my weekend I received a letter from the lady I rent my office space from asking me to leave (my 6 month contract comes to an end in August) as she has a new use for it... she said in the letter that I have been a good tenant etc but you just feel a little hurt in a way....
So I will admit you were all right and I should have had the cabin in the garden, and that is what I will do.... when I can afford it!

Hope you are all having a fab Wednesday
take care
Alex
x

Eerrrmmm! .......99c .....

I Know... I am pushing my luck... but I wanted to show you what I sent Tintocktap for the Cosy Crochet Swap... and as she has received her parcel now I thought I would show you some of the stuff I have been making recently... and I need to make something from this again to be in my give away so let me know what you like most....

I made a coaster, a beaded bag, a covered notebook, a pin cushion with a Scottish Thistle, a heart badge, a beaded star bookmark, a bag with decorative straps and a cloche hat...

The hat was from an American Crochet magazine... and I really enjoyed making it, I used some really nice Big wool and I think I might be making some of these for Christmas presents...

I made this pincushion from a pattern I found on the Lion Brand Yarn website, the pattern was for a teacup with a tea bag tag hanging out, so I left off the tag and the teabag and added the thistle that I made from my 100 flowers book, I also made a Heart badge that I have pinned to the other side but you can't quite see it in this photo..

I made up a cover for this little notebook and threaded some ribbon through to add a little something, the beaded star bookmark was from the American Crochet magazine that Mr P brought back from the states... mind you the lady at our village shop is ordering it for me now so I get a copy every other month...

This little coaster was from a cosy crochet book I bought ages ago... and even though I used a thicker wool and it rippled up a little I think it came out OK...

All in all I really enjoyed doing this swap.... in fact I wanted to do many more bits but ran out of time... ;D

Here's wishing you a fab weekend, I am off on a course at our village hall tomorrow to learn how to make a mohair teddy bear.... if it works out OK I will show you a picture... I suppose that will have to be 99d.... :)

I will make a concerted effort to get the giveaway goodies finished this week

take care
Alex
x

Can I call this post 99b....

Its just that I am not ready to call this post 100 as my give away goodies are not quite ready...
so I am calling this 99b....

I wanted to show you the lovely items Lesley from Tintocktap sent me...
I managed to post her parcel yesterday... and I hope it arrives safely and that she likes it as much as I enjoyed making it...
This was the cosy crochet swap organised by Mel and it was really tricky trying to crochet something cosy in last weeks heat wave... but look what Lesley has made me....

A Fabulous cushion... it is soooo clever and pretty...
I also received a pom pom key ring kit... a ribbon flowers project pack and a crochet book....
and don't forget the double chocolate fingers... (they are chilling in the fridge)

The cushion was soon grabbed by Jamie, and was grabbed back by me...

It really clever though... its a square that has been sewn around the cushion and then has an envelope style opening with buttons... how cute is that... under the front flower is a recessed bit that I haven't looked at hard enough yet to work out how Lesley did it...

The book is half crochet and half knitting, and I have spied fingerless gloves, beanie hats, and a lovely afghan blanket... but the afghan takes 24 balls of wool and if I managed to get the wool for £2.50 a ball it would cost me £60 to make it... Yarn work is not cheap is it....
but it is oh so addictive! ;D

Thank you so much for my lovely parcel...
you are way too kind...
Take care
Alex
x

Hello again...

Hello.... I am sorry I haven't posted in a while but I have been sooo busy that I have just realised that I hadn't blogged in an age....

Well since the Fayre... sorry Fete I was washed out and worn out for a few days... we did make just over £2,100 so that was well worth it in the end....
Then Jamie was off school with a cold, which Danny had a little bit of and luckily I dodged it... mind you I could have turned into an orange the amount of juice I was consuming...

I have been trying to clear the house up but with the introduction of Louie the kitten I tidy and he pulls stuff out again, rolls around the floor and then goes off for a nap!

The garden had a make over at the weekend, so both 60ft hedges cut (they run down either side of our long narrow back garden and boy did they need it) and the lawn cut and the front hedge cut, oh and my car died.... my dear little Mitsubishi RVR has a sea lion living in its rear wheel... that was the only way I could describe it to Mr P... apparently that's the noise of a wheel bearing going and then it developed an oil leak... So it was decided that it would be easier and cheaper if Mr P rode his motor bike to work and I got his Freelander mot'd.... so that has been done and I am now driving a soon to be half soft top Freelander.... I have just bought the soft top off eBay... so the dry weather will hopefully return soon...
Creatively I have been trying to complete my Afghan blanket.... that I started using the green, gold, red, charcoal and silver Paton's Jet wool...

The blues are going to be the beginnings of another blanket... not sure if it will be a ripple or a afghan....

I have had to order more wool to finish it though...
and it will be a Christmas present for a poor unsuspecting relative...
If any of my family are reading this they will all be crying "oh no... whats mad Auntie Alex going to give us now"
Mind you the amount of wool this blanket is eating it might be cheaper to give everyone a £20 gift voucher and keep it for myself... lol

I have been reading lots of these looking for inspiration for my Cosy crochet swap which I hope to post tomorrow, and my Seaside swap that I need to complete by the end of the month

My Auntie Bridget bought me some crafty books from her book club, the only one I won't need is knitted cakes... as I don't knit!

I am about to "frog" this crocheted hat... I used a cotton mix wool and its too floppy... it was a good experience to make and it only took an afternoon, but its not right...

The hat band is nice though so I might make it into a bag or something...

Well that's me... I have been crocheting and cutting and sewing and making a few other bits and bobs but I can't show you any of those just yet as they are for swaps and the big 100th post give away.... this is post 99 so next time will be the big reveal....

ooohhhh how exciting!

take care
Alex
x