a month!

I cannot believe a whole month has passed since my last post!!.
Life has been pretty busy here & the lane outside has turned rather wet & muddy during that time. We have also had some major changes in the house. Ok so no walls have been knocked down but the hole in the loft was made large enough for Mr T to now get his shoulders through & it has also had electric lighting installed & flooring put down. Our lovely chippy ,Mike did such a great job. He also thoroughly cleaned the space out for us & considering the first few days of his work he came out looking like an old time chimney sweep, it was no mean feat. Mikes achievement has enabled us to move a lot of our "stuff" into a storage space out of our way.Bliss!! No more tripping over boxes.Talking of boxes, as I sit writing this on my laptop & look around the lounge , we have no more boxes in here!!! I am just waiting  for the chimney to be swept net week & I can start decorating & put our own mark in here.I have just finished the dining room .The transformation from peach to white is very pleasing. Add in our newly painted dresser & its much more our style.  

 

Hope you like it.It took quite a few days to sand the surfaces down & then paint two coats of lovely blue paint on & then after it had dried ,wax it all.

Our new range cooker arrived as well .After we had it installed I was able to cook this most yummy sour cream

 apple pie.

The recipe is over on one of my favourite blogs ,Posie gets Cosy. The link is here if you would like to make one.We can certainly recommend it as can our neighbours who also had a slice each.Alicia Poulsons blog is so lovely , she is a very talented lady. Her lovely applique ,knitting & patchwork projects are very inspiring.

 

I have been getting back into my spinning again.I went to a Guild meeting where we had a masterclass in felting flowers. Here is my effort. I shall show more pictures of the meeting on my next visit with you.

 

TTFN.xx

 

 

 

 

 

Hedgehogs & Mollie Makes!.

October has begun.
With it comes colder weather, Mr T's birthday & the man who will do a miracle job on our loft.
 Mike will be visiting in 2 weeks to make a larger loft hatch, board the floor & put in lighting & a ladder.I know, not something you would normally get excited about but it means the tide of brown boxes will lessen & my quest for a tidy & useable craft room will become closer.
I attended a guild spinning meeting today.A nice gathering that ended up just over into Cambridge! On the way home we got a bit lost until I saw a sign. The girls in the back said ," you don't know the way round here!". I said "Yes but I know I live in Lincolnshire & that says its the county line!".Normally I wouldn't have a clue, but something told me I was right!!ha ha!!
I finished painting the dining room yesterday & tonight we put the dresser back. Now all it needs is a coat of clear wax. I cant wait to show you photos of the finished room when its completed. Soon, very soon!!
The dogs were going silly again tonight.It gets to a certain time & they are convinced they need to go in the garden. We are sure they think that the hedgehog will be out there. I leave you with a picture of a cute creation that is in this months Mollie Makes.It is on my to do list!

Changes

Autumn ,I always think, is a time for cleansing & change.I so love the change in the weather. The cool freshness of the mornings then as the day goes on , the warming of the last rays of summer sunshine. This year I feel even more of a cleansing. Maybe its to do with the complete change around of my life . Leaving work, moving home , leaving my dearest friends, making new friends & being put into a completely alien environment.
Things were very hard for me the first couple of weeks. I am starting to feel more settled & have started making new friends. The house is getting there slowly. We are still in boxes. I have just been hunting for my keyboard! Thankfully I found it quickly in a box & that should now aid me writing my posts.
The garden is also shaping up. Having previously been a paddock for a pony, we are very short on interest in the garden. Borders & beds are currently being dug by myself , which in itself is back breaking work , so I have to take things very slowly & carefully so as not to re injure my back again. Mr T is thankfully helping to dig as well ,with Magweed & the Grouseman , watching on & noting anything that comes out of the earth with a wriggle with great interest.
Being surrounded by great flatness & fields , the wind whips across the land. We have little shelter apart from a huge hedge which takes me all day to cut & fills a compost bay with clippings when its done.Thankfully this hedge also provides great shelter for some fabulous birds. We have a visiting song thrush , robins , sparrows , house martins & many other species. We also have an owl that swoops through the garden very early in the morning. I have yet to see it, but have been assured by my neighbour that I will around 7.30 in the morning. I cant wait!
The plan for the garden is to create two circular lawns that link together. The resulting areas around the lawns are to be filled with shrubs & perrenials. I also need to have vegetable beds & a space for some chickens. They will come later, maybe in the springtime. For now I am needing to increasing my plant stocks.
I always have felt that the main garden centers make such a large profit on their sales . I plan to only buy from only either local nurseries, car boots , seed & plant sales ,damaged stock or greatly reduced stock, seeds , cuttings ,swaps & gifts .Few!! Thats quite an order but I really want to stick to it &create a beautiful garden on a budget.
We have made a start. The compost bays are in using recycled materials found in the garden.The sheds have had some guttering added at great expense to stop the walls from rotting with the rain & to collect water into butts . (i feel a song, I got big b...!!) The first vegetable bed has been dug & strawberry plants & cabbages along with purple sprouting broccoli have been planted up. These were either reduced in a local nursery or bought form another local discount nursery.We have a fabulous place locally called Butters. They supply to companies like Marks& Spencers & Next. Whatever they have left over , they sell at greatly reduced prices to the public.You should have seen what we bought for £45!! It filled the car up.
For now I shall leave you with a few images from the last week in the garden/house & go get on with digging & directing the digger.
Have a great day. xxx 

Still here!

Yes I am still here.
Its been a very busy summer & a fraught one at that! We have only just moved house.We have been in Lincs for only 3 weeks.There are still boxes to be unpacked, gardens to be dug & rooms to be decorated. Busy but great.
I will be back again with an update very soon!

An update of sorts....

Please forgive my absence. Major things have been going on in our household & its been a roller coaster of emotions.
Firstly our little Scottie , Peggy passed away. At thirteen years of age I felt it would be someday in the not too distant future. She was a happy little soul & although she spent much of her days sleeping ,she enjoyed her food & coming up on mums lap to see out of the window.
Now if you read back ,you will find the history of how little Peggysue came into our family. She was our little foster girl & we loved her with all our hearts.

She became quite poorly & went off her food. I took to hand feeding her & for a while she was happy with this.After a few days she stopped eating or drinking & we knew she had decided it was time to say goodbye. I miss her terribly but I know she is happy & will never be in pain again.
The next thing that happened was in a space of days the following happened!We found a house we liked . The next day we sold our house & the following day whilst on our way to a wedding ,we bought the house!
I am quite excited /apprehensive!Its a huge move for both of us & our remaining No2 son. He will be moving out for a year & into  student digs. We will be moving away from jobs, family & friends & making a new life in Lincolnshire.

Many people have asked us why there & the answer is simple. We no longer wish to be a slave to the mortgage & enjoy the time left together.We have bought a smaller house with a much much bigger garden & will have the luxury of off road parking & surrounded by fields.Here is the view in the garden looking towards the house. I know its not quite ours yet but it all seems to be moving along & I am sure we will get there.Goodness knows we are having a bit of a time at the moment but I am sure things will work out.

The next thing that happened is about 2 weeks ago ,my mother became very ill.Mum had a complete mental health breakdown. We are not really sure why but I am sure she has had a lot of stress recently with us moving & my brother had a fire at his farm & she had recently had a knee replacement. I have found things very difficult & although I was visiting mum every day I found it too much & now go every other day.Its so frustrating to watch her & her moods & trying to make sense of what she is trying to say & get across to us.I am reassured by the nursing team that she will get better but some days I am not so sure & it breaks my heart.
Through all this my constant has been my loving husband & children. They are always there ,even No1 son who is hundreds of miles away. Thank goodness for smart phones!!

My other constant has been knitting. I have at last finished my Debbie Bliss shrug made out of Angel. It was not easy for me to concentrate on this & I was pleased when I finally got it finished. I must get some pictures of it. I had hoped to wear it to my friends wedding but with going up to Lincolnshire house hunting at the last minute that went out the window.The pattern is in the current summer Debbie Bliss magazine. Its well worth getting. There are some fabulous patterns in there.

At the moment I am knitting a very simple project in Katia Cotton yarn. This is lovely cotton to knit with & comes in some really bright zingy colours. I am knitting a round cushion.

Its from this book

This is a great book & well worth getting hold of one to add to your library. It has some lovely classic pattern in from a retro tea cosie to a patch work blanket all using colour block work.
The Queens 50th Jubilee is coming up fast!To enter into the spirit I have made a small strip of bunting to go across the fireplace.I used the yarn from the knitting set i got from the Works. The colours are not fast & the red dyed my needles somewhat.This wont be getting washed in a hurry so should be ok.

I shall miss this pretty fireplace. Our new one is a little plain at the moment but when we have time , maybe we will have a new mantle & a log burning stove! How cosy that will be.
Hopefully my next update will have some happier news in it. I may even have some completed projects to show you.
Enjoy the current lovely weather.
Lxx

Busy busy busy!!!!!

I cannot believe how busy we have been the past couple of months.
At long last our family countdown to Mr T's retirement has ended. At the beginning of March he officially became unemployed & was retired from his job!I have to say he has never been quite so busy since!
Our house is now on the market & we are looking for our dream home to buy. We don't have a huge budget & really want to have as small a mortgage or be mortgage free if possible.
For now ,we just keep as tidy a house as possible & entertain strangers looking around our home. Some have been very nice, others downright rude! Is it just me or should you really ask if you can use someones loo before taking to a squatting position in their house?!!I think I would....!!!
I have also been busy , making bits & pieces.I really must show you what I have been up to with the things I showed you the last time I was here.Some have been for the house ,others for my pure indulgence!

I finished off various rooms in the house for the market place & in doing so I made a blind for our bathroom out of an antique linen tablecloth.I also made blinds for our bedroom to match the wallpaper

from linen & beautiful Laura Ashley fabric.I need to get the bedroom blinds down again as they are not perfect & the defect is sooo annoying!!I am not going to say what it is, but its just driving me crazy!!!

I have a number of projects now finished. I really must get them photographed.
Our son & his girlfriend are home from Austria for a week & we are so enjoying their company.I shall really miss them when they go home again & I will be back to work myself.
For now I shall enjoy having a month off work. I so needed it.
I found this lovely sewing blog,Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. I love her retro style & very handy hints & tips to brush up my sewing skills.Pop on over to have a look.

Knitting set in The Works.

Look ,

for £7.00 you can buy this set in The Works. Its really nice & would make a lovely gift for a new knitter , young & old alike.
It has 3 balls of yarn inside & some very nice wooden needles that are not too chunky for small hands but big enough.

There are also some simple knitting instructions in the lid of the box.

Full Steam Ahead!

Last weekend we went away up to Lincolnshire.We had a lovely weekend & stayed in a Travel Lodge room at Long Sutton. The staff were lovely but oh, how the room was so in need of a lick of paint!.Never mind, I was asleep most of the time when we were in it!
We saw a double Rainbow whilst we were driving around.I was so excited to see one. The skies are so big up there you could see both ends!Its a shame the second rainbow doesn't show up to well in the photo but it is there!

We went house hunting.
My life is about to change drastically!Mr T is due to retire from his job in March & we are about to put our lovely family home on the market & head into the future of unknown....Its quite scary really but also exciting.Technically he will be unemployed.As you can imagine ,so many worries go alongside that in this current climate.Its also time for me to do less hours at work.So with all that ,we are downsizing & hopefully will be almost mortgage free.Lets just hope we can sell our house.Fingers crossed.
Anyway , back to the weekend.I lost one of my lovely gloves I made using a green Zuberball. I was so annoyed with myself. We hunted all over where we had been & just couldn't find it. Luckily I had just enough yarn left to make another one. I have just sewn up the seam & so now will be back to having toasty hands.

My hands have been giving me a lot of pain during this colder weather we seem to be having.Apart from wearing gloves, does anyone have any good tips out there. The joints have been so painful.Its stopped me from knitting so much this week.
I snuck into town yesterday & treated myself to a few items.

The little girl always comes out in me when I shop for myself!Here they are. See if you can spot them in future posts. I am sure you will.
I also gave the dogs a haircut.

Phew ....what a busy week . Oh yes ,I was at work as well.
Have a great week & keep warm .

Make it Bling!

I saw this phone cover on a shop site called Make it  Bling.I really fancy having a go myself. Phone cover is on order & now deciding on what bits to use.A brilliant way to use up all those small bits of broken jewelry & beads.

Wishes were horses!

I just came home from Knit & Natter.
One of my friends was wearing this blouse.Click here to see where to buy this lovely!

How I yearn for this lovely little ditsy print!
Little cotton reels all over.Sadly it just goes up to a large. When I checked the sizing ,the large equated to a 12-14. Lucked out there by a size.Its just not on!!!
I had a bit of a rubbish day today.It was so good to be out with the girls tonight.They chill me out when I get quite stressed.Quite a bit of knitting got done too. I am making up my Zuberball I bought in Vienna.I will show you soon what I have made. Just 2 more evenings & its finished,I hope!!!
See you soon.

xxx

Sock workshop

In December I held a sock workshop at The Wool Bar in Worthing.
I have done workshops for socks before but this one was different.The group had not been knitting for too long & they wanted it the evenings.I decided to do it over 2 weeks & they had homework to do in between as this time we were making a full size sock.Previously I have taught the techniques using a mini replica sock.This time we used a lovely ,but simple toe up pattern which can be found on Ravelry.http://www.ravelry.com/projects/lilibet21/steel-toe-boot-socks

The girls did so well making this sock.They learnt a lot of techniques using this pattern & they all managed it very well.
I used a stretchy cast off technique where you do a yarn over before the stitch is worked & then cast off.
Two circular needles used throughout.
The girls all achieved a sock which they made to a high standard.They were proud of their completed sock & I was proud of them. We had a few exclamations of "I cant possibly do that" along the way, but they all finished their socks.Sadly I didn't get Clare in the picture as she couldn't make the last evening.

Well done ladies!!XXX