It's party time

If you are here from the Grow your Blog event being hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full then welcome to my small space in blog land, it's lovely to have you here.

I'm looking forward to getting to know a few more bloggers out there.  It's brilliant getting to know people from all around the world.

This is me, a bit of a crazy picture I know, but it cracks me up.  It was taken while I was on holiday in Malta at the end of last year.  The little boy is my nephew, my sister and her family are living in Malta at the moment so hopefully I'll have many trips to that lovely island to look forward to.

I'm Angela, and have been keeping my blog for 7 years now.  My blogging journey began way back in 2006.  I had lost my Mum to cancer christmas 2005 and needed an outlet, a distraction from the grief.  My Mum taught me to knit and sew when I was a youngster and keeping busy crafting has seen me through many an up and down on this crazy journey that is life.

When I first started my posts were mostly about quilting and cross stitch, but these days pretty much anything and everything goes.  As well as crafting I love walking and photography, so you'll find all that on here as well family stuff, my holiday snaps and pretty much anything else that tickles my fancy.

I am planning on having a giveaway as part of this fabulous party, but I haven't yet decided what the prize will be.  You'll have to bare with me I'm in the middle of a house move, and I'm sure you all know how crazy that can be ..... especially when the world outside looks like this

 ... and of course the world inside looks mostly like this.

Once I get back to normal I'll figure it out but if you don't mind a bit of a mystery prize leave a comment and you'll be entered.  Draw will take place on 1st February.  In the meantime thank you for popping by to my little corner of blog world.

Grow your blog

I just found out about this fun event happening in blogland in a few days. If you're quick you might still be able to sign up and join in the fun if you fancy :) Go here and follow the link in the side bar

It's been a while.......

.... since I worked on some cross stitch. But I figured a bit of embroidery would be the perfect portable project to take with me when visiting friends and family over Christmas and new year. I think the last time I mentioned this one was way back here in May last year.

Isn't it funny how our moods and opinion change over time? This project has been sat languishing for months as the last time I worked on it all those many months ago I remember thinking how little I was enjoying it. Fast forward several months, the mood takes me to pick it up again and I'm loving it.

I love the beautiful soft colours, I love the challenge of working on linen and most of all I'm really loving the mix of stitches that this pattern uses. I'm even enjoying backstitching the details in, which I've usually found to be one of the most frustrating parts of any cross stitch design that requires it.

There is still a little way to go.  I still have at least half of the border to finish and one more tea cup.  But I'm going to try and 'make hay while the sun is shining'  If I keep going while the enthusiasm is with me I'm sure it'll get done in no time.

What  project are you working on at the moment that has you smiling and enjoying every minute of your time that goes in to it?

Creative Goals for 2013

I'm back to work and a 'normal' routine this week, which has been a bit of a shock after two wonderful weeks off.  I hope to get round to sharing more about what I got up to over the holidays, especially the lovely day trip to Whitby that I went on, but that will be for another time.

For now my evenings are full of packing in readiness for my house move.  Packing isn't exactly the most thrilling of activities and inevitably my mind goes off for a wander.  My thoughts have been turning to creative goals for the year.

I think the main thing I want to achieve is to do more, last year I wasn't very productive ..... though some of you have commented on my last post to say that it looks like I was very busy.  I think I had a busy start to the year and tailed off in the second half but that was fine, it was what I needed.

I have stuck a list of the projects that I want to work on this year in the side bar, and really it is much the same as last, with a couple of new additions.  I am promising myself that I can only start something new once I have finished something on the list.  So hopefully the list will be quite fluid, and while it may not get any shorter the items on it will change.

There are a couple of things on there that shouldn't take too much effort to finish so these will be the first priorities, the scarf, the throw and the 'Take Time' cross stitch.  Take Time got worked on over the holidays so I'll be back with an update post on that one soon.

Once I get moved I'll hopefully have plenty more opportunities to be creative away from stitching, there will be decorating and embellishing to do at home :)

Phew, well thinking about all this activity is wearing me out so time for a sugar injection.  I'm off to tuck in to one of these delicious handcrafted cuties that I found among the presents labelled just for me on Christmas day.

2012 year in review

I hope you all had a wonderful christmas and new year.  I had a lovely time visiting family and friends, have barely stopped smiling for the last two weeks its been brilliant.

Today I am at home for the first time in two weeks, a short but welcome visit.  A day to recharge before dashing across country again tomorrow to visit my little brother.  And all too soon Monday will be here and it's back to work.

2012 has been a funny year really, I have taken things at a slower pace.  Less walking, less creating, less reading, less everything that I usually do to keep myself amused.  traditionally I  might beat myself up for not cramming something productive into every minute of every day but I've been happy and I guess i just needed a slower pace of life for a while.  Time to wind up again for 2013 though.  I have so many things planned for this year, starting with a house move in the next couple of weeks so the year will get off to a busy start.  I can't wait.

I hope you all have an amazing, peaceful and happy 2013 xx

It's time to clear out my lists kept in the sidebar and to start with them afresh, so the following is just a little round up of my year in 2012

Projects I've completed in 2012

• Water lily crochet cushion
• Knitted Hat
• Knitted caterpillar for corsham yarn bombing
• Salmon birth totem cross stitch
• Yellow house on the Hill embroidery
• Bison in the buttercups embroidery
• 7 handmade thank you cards

Movies I've watched in 2012

• The Hobbit: An unexpected journey
• Skyfall
• Rust and bone
• Frankenweenie
• ParaNorman
• The Watch
• The Bourne Legacy
• Ice Age 4
• Judge Dredd
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Amazing Spiderman
• Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter
• Snow white and the huntsman
• Men in Black 3
• Prometheus
• Dark Shadows
• American Pie: The Reunion
• Avengers Assemble
• Cabin in the Woods
• Battleship
• Head Hunters
• Mirror Mirror 
• Wrath of the Titans
• We bought a zoo
• Hunger Games 
• Contraband
• Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• The Vow
• The Muppets
• Woman in Black
• The Artist
• Monster in Paris
• Underworld Awakening
• Mission Impossible

Books I've read in 2012

• Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
• Fifty Shades Darker by EL James
• Fifty Shades Freed by EL James
• The Magicians Apprentice by Trudi Canavan
• Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
• Prince of Thorn by Mark Lawrence
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

Places I've visited in 2012

• Avebury, Wilts
• Brean, Somerset
• Caen Hill Locks, Devizes
• Castle Combe, Wilts
• Cherhill, Wilts
• Glastonbury, Wilts
• Gwithian, Cornwall
• Holmfirth, Yorkshire
• Huddersfield, Yorkshire
• Kingswear, Devon
• London
• Malta
• Northampton
• Okehampton, Devon
• Osmington, Dorset
• Paignton, Devon
• Portland, Dorset
• Purton, Glos
• Ross on Wye, Herefordshire
• Stourhead, Wilts
• Studland, Dorset
• Teign Gorge, Devon
• Weymouth, Dorset
• Whitby, Yorkshire
• Zennor, Cornwall

Bath Christmas Market

You know that the festive season is fast approaching when the Christmas Market in Bath springs up.

Sadly I didn't have as much time as I would have loved to explore it this year.

I was in Malta on my holiday for most of the days that it was running.

I did manage to pop in to Bath one evening to have a quick look.  Unfortunately I only had about 45 minutes before the stall holders started to pack up so I wasn't able to really get much shopping done.

Maybe next year :)

This will probably be the last blog post of the year.  We're off to Yorkshire at the weekend to spend Christmas with James' family so it's just left to say Merry Christmas to you all, and I wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2013.

See you next year :)

Snow!

First off many apologies for the lack of blog action round here at the moment.  Lots going on ..... I'm moving house, have been on holiday and have a wonderful new man in my life.  Hopefully in the new year, once the holiday madness has passed I will get back to regular blogging.

I haven't done a whole lot that is creative recently, but when I went on holiday I took a little crochet project with me.  I decided to have a go at making some snowflakes.

I managed to make quite a few while I was away in a couple of different patterns, I used up two balls of yarn infact.

However, none of them made it in to the suitcase home.  They are now all hanging on the christmas tree and around the apartment that my sister and nephews are living in in Malta :)

This of course now means that I have to make some more for myself!!

I've treated myself to a couple of lovely hanks of yarn called Willow Tweed by Louisa Harding, its an Alpaca, merino and silk mix.  I'm also attempting to make them on a slightly smaller hook, I used a 4mm hook for the ones I made in Malta and I'm trying a 2.5mm hook for the new ones.  We'll see how it goes :)

Smile......

....... life is good.

I know I'm being a terrible blogger recently but life is so busy lately.  I hope to get back in to the bloggy habit soon, there are so many positive things going on here at angelcat manor at the moment I can't wait to tell you about it all.  I just need to find an extra hour or five in the day and I'll be set.

I miss chatting to you all and it's been ages since I've been able to catch up with your blogs too so hopefully I'll get some time for that soon.  Until normal service resumes hope you all stay happy and healthy.

Time Flies

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. Time really does get sucked in to a big black hole sometimes!! I've had a bit of a lazy month, busy doing nothing.  But it's nice to take a break and step back from the madness once in a while, to forget about cramming as much as you can into each and everyday and just watch the hands on the clock tick by.

My hands haven't been entirely idle though work on the throw is continuing.

I'm almost there, just three more rows to add and it'll be done.  It does take me a while to sew all the ends in on these crochet projects, but it'll get there.  I am working on a couple of other projects too now which means this one has slowed down a bit, but it's a nice thing to do in front of the TV now the evenings are starting to get quite chilly.

Piles of colour

The crochet throw project is progressing well.  I have piles of colour in my little project corner at the moment.  I love bright colours so this is a joy to work on, makes my heart sing :)

Family Fun

My sister and her family are moving abroad next week so I've been spending a few more weekends than usual with them these last couple of months before they go.  We have been having so much fun.

There has been hugs with my nephews

tree climbing

lots of pulling funny faces and laughing

doing my best Lorax impression

making bubbles

feeding the ducks

walking the dog

feeling the breeze in our hair

eating icecream

And lots and lots of smiles

I will miss them all so much, but hope that the new adventure they are about to embark on brings them happiness and their own little slice of heaven.

Starburst Progressing

I've been busy hooking so the starburst blanket is making good progress. All the centres are done and I'm starting on the second rounds.  I wonder how long it will take to get all these to finished blocks?

I don't think I mentioned that the directions I'm following for this can be found back in Mollie Makes Issue 2

Mans Best Friend

If you have been kind enough to have been reading for a while you might remember that I have recently been walking my friend's dog. It's something that I'm still doing and loving. What a great excuse to get out in the countryside everyday.

I more or less take Naz along the same route everyday with a few minor variations, but what a beautiful walk it is.  I get to enjoy views of the beautiful English countryside

My faithful friend leads me along quiet country lanes.

We get to enjoy fields of beautiful wildflowers.

look how these fabulous views make Naz smile :)

More than anything i want my friend to make a full recovery soon, but I have to admit I will be more than a little sad when my dog walking skills are no longer required!

Starburst Begins

A new crochet project has begun.

I'm using these lovely yarns.  An aran weight by Tissa.  There were cheaper opinions in the yarn shop but these are so soft and beautiful to work with.  It was my birthday last week so I figured what the hell, I'd treat myself :)

I made a test block just to make sure I could get through the pattern ...... now I'm good to go.  Let's hope this throw comes together quicker than the waterlilies cushion :)

The dragon has spoken

It's been a while since I made a gift for someone who responded to my 'self' blog post earlier this year.  The months are ticking by fast now so I'm going to have to make sure I pick up the speed a bit to get everyone a little something made before the end of 2012.

The dragon has spoken once again, the next name has been drawn and as you can see from the picture above, stitching has begun :)

Okehampton

My little car is off the road at the moment so I'm limited as to the places I can get to explore at the moment.  Luckily I have lots of happy memories to relive from trips earlier this year which will keep me going for the time being.

Earlier this year I took myself off to Devon for the weekend to spend some time in the great outdoors doing a bit of walking. I took a wonderful walk around the Teign Valley but unfortunately I managed to delete all the photos I took from that walk off my camera ..... first time I've ever done something that silly!!

Never mind, no use crying over spilt milk as the saying goes. I did manage to save the photos I took from a lovely short wander round the town of Okehampton.

Waterliles Finished

I can hardly believe that I am finally writing this post. My first crochet cushion is finished.  It's been about two years in the making as other things distracted me from working on it constantly.

It was a big learning curve and it's far from perfect but it's done and I made it :)  I am happy happy.

I got the measurement wrong on the back panel and it finished up being a round or two too big, but luckily crochet is pretty forgiving and I managed to fudge it when I joined the two layers together so no unravelling had to be done.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out, and I think it looks lovely on my bed.

Even more exciting ... I've been itching to start on a nice colourful blanket and had already gone out and bought the yarn I needed but was determined not to begin until this one was finished. Now I can pick up hook again and get started.

Zennor

Just a few shots that I found and realised that I hadn't posted from my few days away in Cornwall earlier this year. Looking at these makes me want to go back right now, lol.

These were all taken on a fabulous walk round the South West Coast Path from St Ives to Zennor.

In Zennor church there is a chair with a beautiful carving of a mermaid.  This is not a great picture but it's the best one I managed to get.

I absolutely loved seeing this beautiful art work.  It's something that I've wanted to see for many years, it was pretty much a life changing experience for me, which I know might sound a bit strange it's only a chair after all!!

I've visited Cornwall many times over the years and this has always been on my list of things that I wanted to see, but I never got round to it, mostly because I always gave in to doing the things that the person I was with wanted to do in lieu of my own preferences.  So this trip when I visited on my own I got to do what I wanted and when I wanted to do it, it was nice to feel independent and empowered and somehow I have felt like a better version of me since then.

Quit procrastinating

I don't know about you but I have a whole heap of projects laying around the house in various states of finish. Some are just barely started while others are almost there. All have been neglected for their own reasons which are many and varied ;) 

Take this hat for instance, all the elements were made I just had to sew them together.

So why in the hell did that take me six months to get round to .... who knows?  Sometimes you just have to quit procrastinating and get on with the finishing.