September's almost here

Again August has been a bit of a quiet month for me on the creative front. I think I've just been a bit too ambitious with my lists of things to do given the actual time that I've had to spend. But here's the confession anyway.

• Work on Birds Eye View - Done
  
• Finish 4 crochet blocks for the new cushion - Done
  
• Participate in Rainbow scrap challenge - I finished off my yellow chequerboard blocks if that counts
  
• Make 2nd PIF gift - I've made a good start on this now and it will get finished next month
  
• Finish Chapter Six for c&g - thanks to more machine problems this has not happened, but I did finish chapter 8 instead
  
• Work on two 'secret gift projects' - Total fail on this one these never got off the ground.

As I now (fingers crossed) seem to have a fully working sewing machine back. I'm going to devote most of my stitching time for September to catching up for lost time with my city and guilds course. If you are interested you can follow what I'm up to over here, but I will set myself a little list.

• Cross stitch - I'll be working on some Halloween themed stitcheries
• Finish PIF gift this has been hanging over me for 8 months now and I want to get it done :)
• Make postcard for 'Out of the Box' swap
• Make postcard for 'Give it your best' swap

If I do manage to find some extra hours in the day, I have plenty of other WIPS on the go that I can fill my time with.

River Festival

I still have a whole load of catch up posts to do from days out and about earlier on the year, but figured before I get back to those I'd do something a bit more current.

So here are a few snaps from Chippenham's River Festival held over the bank holiday weekend.Can't beat a good old fashioned Punch and Judy show. Of course I had to partake in a bit of ice cream eating while watching this. Was just like being at the seaside!

Raft racers on the river

The park in town transformed in to a giant play area.

Loved the Edwardian Bather jugglers in there attractive swimwear throwing fire. Very random combo if you ask me but their whole act was hilarious :)

Lucky Me

Check out this beautiful little quilt. How lucky am I? I won this in a giveaway on Kate's blog. It arrived a couple of days after my birthday, what a great present to keep the birthday celebrations alive. I love it. Thanks Kate

Summer in the garden

So we're in the middle of the last long weekend of the summer, I thought this would be the perfect time to reflect on what a lovely lazy summer in the garden it has been. So here are some snaps.lots of summer beverages :0)

bbq's

Fun memories of a very random afternoon spending time doing silly things like making morph.
Summer stitching

And getting the family stuck in to helping us clear the area that will become next years veg patch.

Because of one thing and another I've had to put my travel dreams on hold again this year, but when I look back on how amazing our summer at home has been I wonder why I ever wanted to be anywhere else :)

Birds Eye View Update

I know it's not quite the end of the month yet, but with lots of things to do this weekend I don't think I will be getting anything else done on Birds Eye View this month. Picture above shows where it was at when I picked it up at the beginning of August and the one below shows where we are as of today.
I manged to get a fair bit done. The cat and bird are outlined and I've made good progress on the top of the bird house. Next time I'm hoping I'll get the bird house finished and maybe get to start on the next cheeky kitty. For September I've decided not to work on Lakeside Farm, even though it is so close to being finished, instead I love Halloween and I have a couple of smaller designs that I want to make up in time for this years celebrations so I'll be working on those instead.

Hope you all have a fabulous fun filled weekend. X

Spread your wings

Earlier this summer I was sitting in the park minding my own business when a little baby blackbird landed nearby and started drying his wings in the sun.

I can feel the change of season coming on, the summer is ending and autumn is just round the corner. A new season is a great tim to think about change, time for new hope, new adventure and new beginnings. This picture is a little reminder that every once in a while we should all try spreading our wings. Let's just fly and see where the wind takes us....

Roche

Time for another blast from the past post. These pictures were taken on the same weekend as the ones from Bodmin. Looking at them I can't believe how blue the sky was!This is Roche's rock. There are various myths and legends attached to the site and the chapel that was built on top of the rock. You can read about some here.

It's a pretty amazing place to visit and not particularly well know. The few times I've been have always had the place to ourselves.
If you're feeling brave enough you can climb the rusting ladder into the ruined chapel itself.While I'm not exactly afraid of heights I don't particular seek them out either and I have to admit my legs do get a bit wobbly, but on this occasion I did make myself go as far up as you can safely get. This is the view from the top.
Not everyone was as brave as me on this trip. Here I am looking down on Dave who only fancied the trip up the first rusty ladder but didn't want to take on the second :)

Considering the inelegant way I had to cling on to rock and make myself slide back down from this point, he probably made the better choice, lol

Flower squares

Well it's been a while but at last some creative content here again! Though don't get too excited it's not much.I've managed to finish four of the sixteen square I'm making for my crochet cushion top. As you can see they have not been blocked out yet, but they all seem to be working out about the same sort of size so I'm happy that I seem to have settled in to a consistent rhythm with my crochet hook. They are still taking quite a while to do I'm finding that I have to keep checking the method for each stitch it's not sinking in yet but I'm sure it will the more I do!

A whirl wind week

I had my lovely sister and two nephews staying with me last week, what madness! The usual quiet peacefulness of Angelcat Manor was replaced by the sounds of raucous children and of course much laughter.

Last Wednesday was my birthday, so we took ourselves off to the beach for the day. The weather was very changeable. We went from eating ice cream .....(me, Dave and the nephews)

..... to playing crazy golf in the rain(my sis)

And of course there was lots of birthday cake when we got home.The cake wasn't big enough for all the candles I'd need these days, I think they loaded it up with a representation of the age I act most days instead ;)

I'm way behind with my blog reading, but I'm sure I'll catch up eventually. Hope you all had a great week! X

A walk on Bodmin

I've been having a good sort out of my photos recently and have come across a set of pictures from a trip we took to Cornwall way back in April which I don't think I've shared. (I knew I was behind but April is just ridiculous!!, lol)

Anyhow in the interests of making sure I have enough to make some more regular blog posts than I have been I think I can stretch these Cornwall pics in to a few posts :) This first one is all about a wonderful walk we took across Bodmin Moor.

I adore the rugged moorland landscape. We had a pretty cloudy day when we went but at the very end the clouds started to disappear, don't you just love this beautiful blue sky against the open moorland?
The route we were following took us to the top of two hills. Rough Tor - the summit had these amazing rock formations, the views were spectacular.

We also went to the top of this hill called Brown Willy - no snickering please (ok so maybe it's just me with a mind in the gutter!)
We did see a few people out on the moors but only a few, they're such a lovely place to walk you don't have to go far before you start to feel like you could be the only person left on the planet, the empty landscapes stretch for mile upon mile.
And of course no visit to the moors is complete without sight of some of the lovely wild ponies. Check out the bandy legs on this cute little foal.
Taking a look back through these pictures is making me long to go back for another visit. We do have a few weekends away booked up, but all other thoughts of booking trips and travel are on hold for the moment. There is a strong possibility that I will be being made redundant in the not too distant future so no more frivolous spending in case I have to join the ranks of the unemployed. I should hopefully find out for sure by the beginning of next month, it's quite a stress filled time here at the moment some big changes could be ahead if my job goes..... in the meantime I'll be making the most of the things that we have already planned and paid for no point being glum.

Pay It Forward

I'm working on something new right now, and it's something I've not attempted before so hopefully will be fun. I'm using these lovely fabrics.And a pattern from this book
It's the second Pay It Forward gift that I promised back in January on a Facebook PIF. The recipient I'm pretty sure doesn't read my blog so I'm not going to be spoiling any surprises by posting her. It's a gift for my friend Jess, Jess loves baking so I'm going to make her an apron. Or at least I'm going to attempt to make her an apron. Wish me luck.

Summits

This is my final Lake District post, after the lows of last time it's time for a few shots of the highs, the places that we did make it to the top of. Not many words today mostly pictures.Lingmoor Fell

The view from the top of Pavey Ark

Pavey Ark from the bottom

The view from top of Harrison Stickle

On top of Silver Howe, looking over Grasmere and Rydal

Getting to the top of Silver Howe the first summit of the holiday

Going Places

If you have been at all wondering (though most likely not!) what I did with the little elephant embroideries that I've been working on well here is the answer. (sorry you'll have to twist your head a little as blogger won't put the photo on right again).
They were destined for some postcards that I made for a 3CS swap, called Going Places. I decided to choose India as my theme. All the cards were slight different as I built up the backgrounds using some silk scraps, but unusually for me I forgot to remember to take photos of them all - ironic huh? considering elephants are never supposed to forget!! I just have so much on my mind at the moment some days I spend in a total haze wondering whether I'm coming or going :)

Lows of a different kind

After finishing my last lakes post on a low note, with me being all huffy about not reaching the top, I thought I'd share some lake land lows of a different kind.

On one of our days we spent our time wandering round the valley that our cottage was in.We wandered through green fields and past gurgling rivers. The hills in the morning were mist covered ........ and the spiderwebs in the hedgerows were decorated with droplets of dew.We got to admire the unmistakable peaks of the Langdale pikes, and were quite amazed to think that the day before we had actually been admiring the view from the top.The benefits of walking in the valley as opposed to hiking on the hills was that there were plenty of refreshment stops along the way, we visited six pubs in about six miles :)The downside of too much drinking was that vision started to blur and the map got harder to read as the day went on, lol.This last shot was probably my favourite view of the day. Ok so there were no majestic peaks, or pretty rivers but if you look closely you'll make out our little row of cottage. They look so cosy nestled into the hill side looking over the lovely rolling valley.

Scraphappy again - behind but hanging in

Yeah, I finally got my yellow chequerboard blocks done. Two months behind but I finally got there. It feelings good to be joining in the challenge with everyone again :)

Crochet Scarf

Something new to share today craft wise ... that hasn't happened for a while so I must have my blogging mojo back. Can you remember last month when I fell in love with an alpaca or two? Well I've started using this lovely Alpaca wool.It came in a kit to make some wrist warmers. I'd gotten to the point of getting knitting needles out and everything when I decided at the very last minute to change tack and go with a crochet hook to make a scarf instead.There is a long way to go yet but everything seems to take me an age these days. Anyhow it'll get done slowly but surely and I like the way it's turning out so far. The wool is so soft and lovely to work with.

Happy Anniversary

Dave and I will be busy today celebrating 2 years of putting up with each other. I love the life we have together and wouldn't change a thing right now.

We have been spending some time over the last few weeks tidying up the garden, the picture is a lovely lavender plant that Dave bought me at the weekend, my absolute favourite plant to have in the garden.

What ever you are up to today I hope you have a good one. Thanks for popping by, I appreciate you all taking time out of your busy days to read my ramblings......