If Only I Could Crochet...

Woke up on Sunday morning, nice and early, to bright sunshine. Not a regular occurrence in the UK, so worth making the most of. Made myself a lovely cup of tea, served in my 750ml floral cup and got out my latest project: a cushion cover of odds and ends made into solid granny squares. I spent 2 hours soaking up the sun, making a huge number of little squares that will be joined together using the join-as-you-go method with red wool. As you can see from my "into the sun" shot - it was warm - beautifully warm. Blissful in fact. The whole family stayed in bed, while I appreciated our newly cleaned garden. So the blissful bit might have come from being alone. Sometimes you just need it...alone with nothing but your thoughts and a crochet hook. I thought I deserved a break after spending 4 hours on Saturday making the garden look like this. Oh my aching back!

Lilies were my Mum's favourite flower, but when I was a child I couldn't bear the stamens (the orange bits that stick out of the middle of the flower) - they gave me running eyes and the sneezes. They still do - but I buy them anyway just to remind me of her. Mum used to pinch out the stamens just for me - but then you lost the gorgeous smell. I have decided to grin and bear it...or should I say sniff and bear it? Lilies also remind me of Christmas...I am a southern hemisphere girl, remember. We would have the whole house adorned with these at Christmas time, stinking up the place but performing the perfect backdrop to the tinsel and pine Christmas tree. So this is my own little piece of a mid-summer Christmas - in June. As you can see, this is also my workspace. My own little corner of the living room where the sun peeks through in the late afternoon. Sometimes it is cluttered and somewhat unruly and at other times it is a tiny little piece of heaven. As y

Well, it was finished some time ago. That Attic 24 inspired, Stylecraft Special DK stripey monstrosity. It now takes pride of place on our bed and is patiently waiting for us to re-wallpaper the wall behind to match. We did buy new blinds for the window in a lovely shade of green - but then ran out of steam. The wardrobe doors are also in a state of distress owing to the fact they were stripped but never painted... that's not good "shabby chic distressed" either. Its the bad kind. This was the first time I had tried a ripple and I am really pleased. We decided that it didn't need a border and I was too excited to put it on the bed in any case. That might be a project for another day. But actually, I like the ripply edge. Yes, you have noticed correctly. It doesn't quite fit our double bed and is really only for a single bed. I blame my lack of skills in the measuring department.  The next blanket I tackled was for our teenage son and as

Check out my workshop page for more details of workshops for beginners this month. They will be held at the Chineham Village Hall and are open to all (but not children unfortunately...). Looking forward to seeing you there!