Banana bread Saturday

Ok it doesn't look like bake off standards,

but it is banana bread 

and it will get eaten in this house.

 

Oh! 

And some knitting which is resting for the summer,

but that's a story for another day 

Busy doing........

Well hello!

 I'm not really sure what to say, but I will give it a bash.

A lot has happened in the world since I last posted 

So there is no need for me to waffle on about that, we all know what is happening at the moment ♥️

So let's talk about other things instead 

 The great winter blanket project is finished and it was finished ahead of schedule, my original planned finish date was mid to late April, but it was finished by early March. The above picture is showing the start of the border

No photos yet!

Some making 

Pyjama bottoms for my youngest daughter 

No photos of the finished item yet!

So what is happening? 

Well I'm currently starting my autumn/winter 2020 blanket project early, it was a birthday present which I bought from Black Sheep Wools via another website. 

Also like alot other parents at the moment I'm home schooling the girls, which is a challenge with my youngest daughter.

So at the moment I've got lots crafting to do, lots of books to read and listen to as well.

Stay safe and healthy 

xx

Halfway point

Hello again!

Just a short post this time, 

but I have finally reached the halfway point with the winter blanket project!

Which is a massive feeling of relief and also a good feeling of actually getting somewhere finally!

I've tried to take a good photo of it, but the daylight at the moment is very poor, so getting decent photos is near impossible 

So out of the photo's I took this one is the best, well it gives a good idea of the size at the halfway point.

X

Washed, dried, ironed and ready to go

Hello 

This might not be the best picture in the world, but it shows that there was fabric hanging on the washing line drying last weekend, which has been ironed and now is hanging over the door waiting to be used.

There has been action on the crochet front as well, a few more squares have been added to great winter blanket, it's still not quite halfway yet but it's getting there 

Also I made a haul (well a naughty haul) in the charity shop this week these beauties all for 50p each, it was so good that I had to go back today and buy the the remaining three, no photos yet of the other three. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, there's a lot of ideas going around in my head at the moment 

Back soon x

2019 A year of uncertainty

Hello again!

This may be be a long post 

So you have been warned!

Is it me, or has this year just flown?

I know people say as you get older time flies

But this year has flown!

But this year we were waiting for brexit, which never happened in this year, after passing two deadlines, but personally I think we still have along way to go before we can say brexit is done and dusted.

So what have I been doing then?

Well lets say a little and a lot 

Well I've done a lot but got very little to show for it.

The reason why is that at the beginning of last year I decided not to make any new year resolutions for 2019, which at the time felt good, a sort of feeling of release not being bound down by any resolutions which would be probably broken before the end of January

But a few months into the year I suddenly had the feeling of no direction, there was no goals to achieve or no silly plans to do

Which felt weird 

Like driving on a road not knowing if you are going in the right way because you have left the directions at home, so it's a case of making things up as you go along and hoping it will turn out alright in the end

So what have I been up to then?

Well there has been knitting, crochet and sewing as well, also some baking too!

Lime drizzle cake

Lets start with the knitting front 

Well nothing big happened on that front I've knitted a hat for myself, no photos of that yet due to rubbish weather and that we don't get much sunlight in the winter on the back. More socks knitted from the toe up (again no photos) which has become my prefered method of knitting socks, I have decided I don't like doing kitchener stitch. Also a few scarfs / shawls and other small (travelling) projects which are works in progress

Ok now the crochet front 

Well not a great deal going on there, apart from the great winter blanket project (which it is now known as) is progressing along slowly, currently nearly halfway. I thought it would be something that I would do a lot of between Christmas and New year, but it was never touched

And finally the sewing department 

Well lets talk about the successes first

Another pair of pyjama bottoms for myself ✔

A prom dress for my eldest daughter ✔

A dress for myself, which is very wearable ✔

And another dress, which I'm about 50% happy with, it may be a case of using wrong type of fabric, but it's completely finished ✔

Now for the not so successful

Only one item this time 

A summer top for myself which is a total disaster, why I burnt two holes in it with the iron! So that is definitely unfinished because it has been semi destroyed by me ❌

No questions thank you 

Also I now have a totally f****d pile

So what are this years resolutions then?

ready

1. Read more books. I listen to a lot of audio books while knitting, crocheting, sewing, ironing, other house chores and general wandering around, but this year I want to try and read more actual physical books

2. Make more clothes for the girls and myself. First on the list for the girls are some more pyjama bottoms and for myself no idea yet, but pyjama bottoms are top of the list, just need to get the fabric washed and dried 

3. Try to learn some different sewing skills. Last year I learnt how to insert an invisible zip (prom dress) and how to make a rouleau strap loop (50% dress) 

4. To try and perfect my sock knitting skills 

5. Bake more cakes. I'm not bake off standards, but the cakes that I bake do get eaten very quickly by DH and the girls, so they must be edible

So that's the list, short and sweet this time

xxxx 

Winter blanket project

Hello!

It's been a long time since I last posted here.

But here we go then, it's a long story

Three years ago I made all these granny squares 

First it started with a few 

Then a few became more!

Then I got a bit artistic

So they became a way of passing the time in the evening 

More artistic poses

They became my travelling project, for in the car or on the train

The in the kitchen waiting for things to cook project.

So I kept going until the yarn ran out and that was it. So they were put away in the cupboard and sort of forgotten about, to be honest I just didn't know what to do with them, could they become a blanket, a cushion, or given away to someone else who could find a use for them.

And that was where they stayed until a few weeks ago 

When I started to look at ideas for a winter blanket project on Pinterest, there's some  very nice blanket ideas which would involve buying alot more yarn, 

but I'm still on the yarn diet.

Then I remembered the granny squares which I did three years ago, so I got them out and counted them, there was 70 squares in total. So the next thought was how on earth was I going to join them together? The thought of sewing them all together just filled me with dread and not only that I hadn't got any of the yarn used to make the said granny squares left, so that was a Definite no no! 

So back to Pinterest again, this time looking at ideas on joining squares together and the eventual idea that was hit upon was to join as you go, ok a bit of a problem there the said squares are already made and there isn't any yarn left, so the only way I could do that was to break the yarn diet!!!!!

So that is what has happened I have bought some more yarn 

But how I see it is that it is not a major disaster, in a way it's just some yarn to complete a project, it's the equivalent of having one chocolate as a treat instead of eating the whole box of chocolates and feeling guilty after.

So here we go

X

Achievements and plans

Ok, it's that time of the year again!!

I'm currently flat out on the sofa with a virus feeling pretty rubbish, hence the very bad photo and trying to put words together to create a blog post while arguing my youngest daughter over why she has had her iPad confiscated (I really don't need this at the moment) she doesn't understand that watching ridiculous amount of silly videos on YouTube is not educational, I'm not talking about cat videos here!

So what are my plans for this year?

Well for a start I've decided that this year I'm not going to make any resolutions!

Scary?

 Well no not really, most of the resolutions that I make get broken pretty quickly. Thing is that the amount of resolutions that I've managed to keep over years could be counted on one hand, while the resolutions that I have broken over the years well I haven't got enough fingers or toes to count them on! I think a lot of people out there can agree with me.

So what have been my achievements of the year been?

There isn't many of them I'm afraid 

1. I've managed to knit two pairs of socks (one pair is pictured above) which are wearable and not frogg-able 

2. More pyjama bottoms for the girls, no photos!

3. One summer top for myself (pictured above) there should of been another top but that one went wrong and is currently languishing in the sulking pile still!

4. A granny stripe blanket, I haven't taken any photos of it yet because the best place to get a good photo of it would be in the garden, but the garden doesn't get much sunlight in the winter.

A sneak peek at something else

So that's it, can't think of anything else to say at the moment.  

I'm now going to drag myself off the sofa and deal with small daughter who is currently trying to pick a fight with a chair again.

X

Let the fun of the school holidays begin!!!!

Or how long until the first fight breaks out?

Well am I prepared?

 To be bluntly honest with you, no I'm not ready I could do with another six weeks of preparation before I'm any where near ready

So what are my plans for the summer holidays then? 

 1. Try and not spend a fortune keeping them entertained, weather take note! 

2. Make sure they don't have too many fights, my husband (dh) is also off for the first two weeks of the holidays, which will cause some friction between them.

 3. Try and do plenty of cheap days out, we have got a family and friends railcard which saves a fortune on rail fares, it has been the best £30. I've ever spent!

And this is the summer holiday box that I've done for them it contains:-

2 sketch pads, 2 notebooks (one each), lots of stickers, a large box of chalk and a water balloon pump, with plenty of water balloons. Hopefully they will be entertained and give me some peace 

Must go as youngest daughter is currently planning world domination in the back garden again!!!!

X

Project secret knitting and other things

This is as much as I'm going show of my secret knitting project at the moment,

I will reveal all when it is finished 

The reason why it is a big secret is that it's a pattern that I have designed myself, I'm still at the stage of is it going to work or not? If it turns into a big disaster it will be sent to the to be frogged pile, I've got one of those piles too!

Moving on

I've started to make a top for a party we are attending in a couple of weeks time, it seems like an appropriate type of summer top to wear in this weather at the moment. But I have a feeling that when the girls finish school on Friday we're going to get six weeks of rain, which usually happens when the schools finish. 

As for keeping the girls entertained over the summer holidays I'm doing an activity box for them for the rainy days or days that we don't go out. Of course there will be days out, but some days it's nice to stay home and do things like reading, baking and making things, as well as normal housekeeping chores which don't go away for the summer holidays.

X

Trying to get back on track again

Hello again! This must be the third or fourth blog post this year? But there have been many more attempted tries at writing a post.

Well what has been happening since I last posted? Well a lot some good and some bad which may explain my absence, let's start with the good bits we've had a new bathroom roof, along with a new bathroom suite fitted, which were needed and a new boiler finally, we now have a boiler that is not living on lifesupport (hurray!!) Don't ask me how good the heating is because we haven't needed heating for quite a while, as you can see from the above photo which is the current state of my lawn, a combination a lot of sun and no rain!

Well after the very cold winter (see photos below) we get blessed with the hottest driest summer in a long long time.

My poor primroses took a severe battering 

The slight calm before the beast from the east struck 

So what has been happening on the craft front then? 

Not a lot 

 I Started this granny stripe blanket, but it got too warm to have it anywhere near me, so it is now currently in hibernation for the summer.

Made four pairs of pyjama bottoms for the girls (no photos) that were badly needed. Tried to make myself a top which went wrong, so that is now sitting in the sulking pile, defiantly no photos of that one and yes I do have a sulking pile. 

The only successful sewing project I've done recently is this small knitting/crochet project bag, I know you can't see much of it but currently it contains a secret knitting project that I'm working on at the moment, enough said about for that for now.

Well I suppose I'll have to talk about the bad bits, which I'm not going to dwell on too much, I will say I've had a lot of stress with the work we've had  done on the house. But also with the builders who have been working on the house next door for over 18 months and are nowhere near finished. I've had to put up with a lot noise and mess (dust) from them, the weather at the moment is a little on the warm side to keep the windows shut, so the house is full of brick dust, which makes me feel like giving up on doing any housework, the knock on effects of that is the decluttering is at a stand still and I'm not doing much crafting either, because everything  is covered in dust.

Well that's enough of my little rant, I'm off to make a cup of tea and see if my washing is dry yet, it's great weather for drying washing! x

Just keep going

I think this has become my motto for January this year

I'm still here, I've just got over the post Christmas cold, the girls are well and truly back at school and already looking forward to February half term. 

I've have finished the blanket that I started to crochet when the boiler was broke and well ahead of schedule, the original completion date was end of February. I haven't taken any photos of it yet I want to do it outside, but the light and weather isn't very good at the moment, it is really wet and dark here this morning.

And now this is my next my project some knitting, I really want to do some sewing but there is too much junk in the dinning room at the moment. All the yarn I'm using is from my stash it's a mix of Rowan and DMC yarn for this project I've given myself the completion date of of mid March, I've already frogged it once so what you see in the photo will not be the actual finished project, but we will see, oh and it is a shawl/scarf that I'm knitting if you are wondering. 

More about it next time x