Hexagonal knitted throw....finished.

These were such a joy to knit and surprisingly lovely to sew together. I did 54 in the end...I would have made it bigger, but cost was getting silly. I used Debbie Bliss Rialto aran and I got about just over 5 hexagonals out of each ball. I have just one more ball to buy to finish the stitch edging as you can see from the top part. It surprisingly not just makes a pretty lap/throw but looks lovely as a shawl wraparound. Tried lots of different designs to sew them together but found this one worked for me, as you can see its a off angle triangle, if you get my drift? Actually the colours I used are clearer than shows on this photo.

Just the thing to throw over your lap when blogging eh girls!
and even matches new cushions and repainted chair...brilliant.

Must thank http://btchwstix.blogspot.com/ once again for her pattern....its lovely.

One made over rocking chair....done.

Take one drab rocking chair, sitting in the corner, forlorn unloved unwanted...nearly got thrown out a few weeks ago.

Didn't think repainting it would work, then darling hubby tells me use this stuff.

I did one coat as there wasn't heavily coloured varnish underneath and two top coats of eggshell in chalk white.

One unloved rocking chair, now turned into a thing of prettiness. So today I've been sewing cushi0ns for it. Green floral and green spot material from Dunelm Mills.

Brought this panel of material a few weeks ago, love it. So its just been backed onto some cream cotton....actually felt quite guilty today. Mondays is usually housework day....but today I woke up thought...it can wait!!!....I'm having a me day... loved it...made a loaf this morning.....read through my favourite blogs.......rang hubby at work.....watched Loose Women. Did my sewing up of cushions, I'd cut them out previously and now its 4.10 and I need to get dinner sorted...hope you had a good day too. ...what you get up to this grey Monday?

My first attempts at machine embroidery.....

Here she is girls..my gorgeous Brother Innov-is 750e and she is wonderful...full of such loveliness to use. What with lots of different memory cards to purchase with patterns on and also plain cards to download onto, the choice will be great. Just realized that she isn't thread up on this piccy but I was just changing colour. I dived straight in and embellished some of my new towels.

The colours used don't show up so well on this towel, as I have only purchased 14 colours as yet...so was a bit limited. Pretty though!

Tried doing a bit of moving the hearts around, very unsure as you can see, the patterns can be rotated etc and moved up/down/left/right....I feel a lot of trial and error is needed, as you can see when I added the flourish of flowers...ops.

Also I didn't move the middle heart down far enough, but hey, I'm still chuffed.

The colours show up beautifully on this plain white hand towel....gosh I'm sitting here itching to do some more...but must not rush things. Can you imagine all the things to personalize, I'm thinking plain white t-shirts of the Grandbubs, which I can put cartoon characters on...I'm thinking M & S white blouses with delicate roses scattered all over. I'm thinking bottoms of granddaughters dresses prettied up.....plain duvets prettied up, there are so many possibilities....anyway off for a cup of tea and a relax....no I shall be good and refrain from doing anything else on her tonight.....byeee x

Taaaaaa daaaaaa! .............X

Brother Embroidery Machine...woohooo!

I have such a sweet darling hubby....well to cut a long story short. A friend of mine who is a prolific seamstress and I mean wonderful, wedding dresses and the like, clothing you name it, this lady can do it. Me I can make curtains and used to do swags and tails and austrian blinds (when they were in fashion)!!...make cushions etc. Well anything that doesn't involve a dressmaking pattern....anyway I was round hers the other day and she showed me her embroidery machine, well girls what can I say it was LUUUURRRRVVREEEE at first sight. So I duly did my research and narrowed it down to 2 this one http://www.sewingmachines.co.uk/PDFs/pdfbronv750.pdf and another one a Janome. I was going to go for the Janome but panicked as I found out this particular model is about 3/4 years old...whereas the Brother has memory cards and usb for downloading designs straight from the computer. Well spoke to hubby and he looked at them as well and we went down to our local Sewing Machine shop and we spoke to the chap there, he was so nice ( I know one could say that he would want to sell us the more expensive machine) but he went through the pros and cons...must admit my tummy was doing summersaults with excitement and after 20 mins or so I came away with this awesome embroidery machine on order. Didn't expect it till after the weekend. So went with DD and twins to Friday twins club to help out.....lucky for me, but unlucky for darling hubby, who is at home with erm shall we say, he ate a not so nice tuna sandwich...and bless him he has suffered!...anyway duly arrived home and standing in the hallway is my beautiful machine. I have been really good and not even unopened the box as well I am re-decorating the study/craft room...I decided it needed to be a restful shade of green so I have gone for Farrow & Ball Green Ground, I have painted my old rocking chair chalk white and also a old Ikea melamine unit, used some wonder Easy Seal Primer....this stuff makes everything stick to it like glue, metalwork, even brickwork...its wonderful. So am busy bee, hey don't you just love the latest fashion look, enjoy whatever your up to this weekend....me I'm just itching to get this room done and sorted.....ttfn x

Oh and would just lijke to thank you http://bellascountry.blogspot.com/2010/01/little-bit-of-sunshine.html for the award, its my very first ever award and I really didn't ever dream that I would receive one, must say its made my day....just need to work out how to post flower to sidebar.

Knitted hexagons and Emma Bridgewater...

These cute little mugs are from Emma Bridgewater and I fell in love with the cute little robins They are just the right size for a small cuppa or coffee....been coveting these since before Christmas, but waited for sale.

I have been very busy knitting hexagonals thanks to this lovely lady http://btchwstix.blogspot.com/2007/07/for-love-of-hexagons.html

whose blog I stumbled across as you do. So far I have made 54 and I'm thinking am nearing the end, unfortunately I was silly and have made it in Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran, I thought I was going to get more per ball than I have, so when sewn up will be more of a lap blanket...think will sew up in blanket stitch...

Don't you think the wool colours are quite Cath Kidston? Think this will live over the back of the chair in the kitchen. If your into knitting the hexagonals are easy peasy and the pattern very easy to remember....but I would definitely use a cheaper yarn if I did them again.

Bits and bobs posting

Hi....has everybody enjoyed their weekend...I suspect like me you waited for the big snowstorm to appear and hankered down for the night.....and niente!!!!!...and I can hear drip drip from the guttering so it seems a bit of thawing is going on round this way. I must admit to being a tad disappointed that its going....I know I know...its a pain and one cannot get around etc. But it was just nice to be just so, do you know what I mean, all that rushing around, tooing and frooing seemed to halt for a few days, people have been stopped in their tracks, they had to stay in, be with the family. Mind you I had to laugh when a lady was being interviewed on TV and she was bemoaning the fact that the shop/supermarket had run out of bread......erm!!! ever heard of a breadmaker or failing that bread flour etc and hey they even do the packets already mixed and just add water....I don't know?

So I wondered what I could post about today and looked around by home and spied a plate, well a plate and 1 miserable saucer to be exact, I have been trying to start a collection of this lovely little design by Johnson Bros, called The Friendly Village, quite pretty don't you think....I feel it may time some time and searching, but thats half the fun.

She sits next to my window lamp, the two halves were flea shop finds, I think the glass shade is one of the 1950 glass shades that used to be in the loo, ops! Ah well they marry up quite nicely and seem to match by Laura Ashley curtains, I love these, they add such a touch of warmth to my snug.

I bought Februarys' Country Homes & Interiors and whilst browsing came across these, Oh! my goodness, did you ever......aren't they the sweetest. A MICRO PIG.......and you can house train them. Think I'll stick to my Megs though.
Honestly Lady muck, love her to bits even though she can get under my feet, but she's always there for a lap cuddle and somehow needs to know when I need one...clever aren't they?

..........and if your in the market for a beautiful fire screen...wouldn't this handsome screen just fit the bill.
Look out....cream kitchen alert.....lovely but to be needs a tad

accessorising....but one of the kitchens from the most beautiful oak framed homes company.

http://www.borderoak.com/ There is an article in Country Homes about a couple who used them....could I...would I.......can I.........hmmm!!! some pipe dream, but ne'er the less its a lovely site to visit and gloss and gloat at....and some even more beautiful designs and interiors. Go and enjoy!

This ones for me!!!! if only......x

or may on a grander scale, no too big for us now the children have flown.

Byeeeeeee.................xxx

Whats been walking on my roof?

Whose been walking around on my roof?
As I opened the curtains and I spied......
on my rooftop extention....
Little footprints in the snow
Little footprints side by side....

Tiny little imprints they were..........
With no beginning...and no end
It came, it saw, it searched I'm sure.....
For some food put out with love.....
But when it looked down from the guttering ridge.....
All it saw was by empty wheelie bin lid!!!!!

In seriousness though, I have been making sure that the bird feeders are all filled all the time, so the poor little birdies don't have to search too far....also they've been enjoying the last of the Christmas cake...yummy.

Hows all today, still brrrrrrrring. I went and visited my DD and twins this morning, I had thick tights and sexy bee socks (piccy)!!!.....don't you just love my knitted wonders...but they are wool and wool is natural and sheep stay outside with their coats on in winter and these socks kept my feet comfy cosy. Cord trousers plus two other layers plus thick coat, scarf and some wonderful sheepskin mitts. The cold seeped through these layers, but my hands were warm and I lovingly wore them, you see they smell of my Mum (who is very very poorly)...well the story is Mum has had these mitts for 40 years and Dad asked me a few weeks ago, if I wanted them along with a pair of her thick gloves. I must admit I reluctantly took them, as Dad keeps asking me if I want any of Mums clothes, and most of the time I politely refuse, after all they are all shall be say for ladies of elderly age, but my darling Dad doesn't seem to understand this. So back to mitts, I gave them a wash and put them in a draw just leaving them there until yesterday and today and they now have a new life with me. I love them and I cannot believe the sentiment I feel wearing them, even after a wash they smell of my Mum, she used to wear Max Factor compact face powder and the gloves smell of it. So my darling Mum (even though in the Nursing Home) has been with me today as I walked the cold freezing road....it was sooooooooo comforting. xx

Winters grip!

Hello, hows everybody in blogland today. Hope your all keeping warm and cosy and that no-ones the victim of any power failure. I managed to get out for a walk today and with the sun shining it just somehow managed to take the edge off of the bitter cold. Lots of people walking everywhere and so lovely people were just actually talking to each other in the street. I generally say "morning" or such when taking Megs our dog out for her walk...but today people actually talked. I was greeted by "take care"...."do you know if Tesco Express has any milk"...which funnily enough brings me to my next bit of todays writing. I remember when local residents (myself included) were up in arms at Tescos wanting another express shop around...well I have to eat humble pie. As the car is well and truly iced into our driveway and darling hubby has walked to and from work these last two mornings. Honestly yesterday he looked like a michelin man...but he got there 35mins, he walked a lot of it in the middle of the road which somehow seemed safer. Anyway going back to Tescos, so not being able to get car out, so lovely to walk and get bread etc.

I must admit I am not very good at photography but having a blog somehow it seems to make you look at things a different way. Looking at other peoples blogs there is some beautiful work, which I admire. I could put it down to my camera I suppose but whether it be £80 or £300, its all in the eye. I thought to myself, well I have an eye for colour in the home decor and crafting side of my life, so its about time I tried with the photography. So heres a few of my efforts, not great, but I will try to improve more and more.
Our local church where our daughters got married.

I loved the way the shaft of sunlight just shone across and lit up the bush which unfortunately doesn't show that well.

Beautiful, nature in the snow and ice at its best.

A treacherous road in our local village Tarring.

View from my bedroom window, the South Downs, actually even though I at times would love a cottage (unfortunately finance doesn't allow)....this view which me and hubby adore, keeps us rooted. I look out and don't feel hemmed in and I know the downs are just 7 mins by car.

Thats me done for today....keep warm. I'm going to have lunch, make a apple cake for pudding tonight, then hopefully do some knitting this afternoon...keep warm....xx

Prospect of snow...

I was reading http://ournewlifeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2010/01/getting-colder.html earlier and the colour of the sky was mentioned. Well the colour was very much the same down here on the South Coast, eerily a orangey/red but with a smokey tinge to it, wish I'd got my camera out but had just risen from my snuggly duvet. Supposed to be getting some snow here, I know I know I shouldn't get excited as it is a pain in the proverbials but...I just want to go for a lovely walk up to Cissbury Ring (which is a local beauty spot down here) and walk it and take photos of beautiful white crisp loveliness, but until the snow comes...will go off with my lovely friend for a coffee, chat and knit and a looksee around one of our garden centres.

But girlies, how about some Cath Kidston, made this cute pelmet for the kitchen window, it just needed cosying up...think its done the trick. Also bought a box bag in the sale, love it love it. Then got this cute melamine tray from Homebase, didn't know they did this flowery stuff, only £2.94 too.

What to do with dreary beige napkins....

throw them....NOOOOOO!!!!

tart them up. All pretty now.
Ok! don't look at the wonkey stitching....duh!!!

The oilcloth tablecloth is the same material as pelmet and it also goes lovely with my recovered chairs...don't you just love the way Cath Kidston colours work.

Once upon a time....

Once upon a time in October 2007, two little twins were born, one girl and one boy. They were 9 weeks premature and weighed 3lb boy and 4lb girl. The little boy was quite poorly for about 10 days after the birth and weight dropped to 2lb 8ozs, these adorable little light of me and hubbys lives are two of our Grandbubs, the two we see all the time and we are in their lives all of the time. Our lovely daughter was poorly all through the pregnancy and quite a while afterwards, she is a wonderful Mummy to her twins and I am very proud of her.
Anyway they grew and grow and now at the age of 2 and quarter..............

Hey Nanny, Mummy says we can come to your house and bake some cupcakes....so little'uns along with Mummy came and stirred and made cakes and good fun was had by all....and my how they've grown.

Oh if I could bottle up their gorgeousness and if only we could all bottle up the cuddles and hugs and laughs, wouldn't it be wonderful. xxx

Just popping in to wish all lovely fellow bloggers who stop by a lovely healthy happy New Year....its funny by hubby raised a glass last night at dinner and proposed a prosperous New Year....I said "hey hang on a moment, health comes first, if you haven't got that....well. So heres to Health, happiness.....and
ssshhhhh!!!!. if any of us are lucky enough....a win on the lottery wouldn't go amiss!

Look forward to reading all loads of lovely bloggyness this 2010....

xxxxx