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.

Getting Lost

There is something to be said about getting lost every once in a while. We all have routines in our lives ... paths, roads and routes that we take all the time to get to work, the shops, the kids to school etc. But its good to go out and get lost once in a while don't you think? Whether we live in the urban jungle or amongst fields and trees in the countryside there is always beauty to be found, sometimes it all takes is a quick a wander off your usual beaten track.

I have lived in my town for 9 months now, but haven't really explored my local area too much, I'm always hurrying off to get to somewhere else.  So the other day I decided to put on my boots and take a wander from my own front door.

I found meadows surrounded by trees......and even a bit of blue sky look :)

There are dangers to be associated with heading out of your comfort zone though, look at the size of this giant stinging nettle behind me .... walkers beware ;)

You also have to not be afraid of the weather.  We are experiencing the wettest summer I can remember so if you're worried about getting wet there isn't much hope that you'll be getting far!

If you're super lucky you might stumble across the green man, hanging out protecting the woodland..... can you see him?

I found beautiful lakes I didn't know were just round the corner from my flat

fabulous bugs

and mesmerising patterns in nature.

All this and I was only out for 40 minutes, I can't wait to get out again for a longer walk.   So go on, go out and get lost for a while, I dare you ........ 

Getting Closer

I'm going to set myself a little challenge of trying to blog once a week. And who knows once I get back in the habit it might end up being more frequent than that. But I figure once a week will be achievable even in the busiest of weeks.

Thought I'd pop by this week with a crochet update. This cushion I'm working on seems to have been in the making forever and a day, but I have been enjoying every minute and the end is in sight.

I'm blocking the squares (I'm using an old rubber bath mat to stretch them on, the only thing i had handy at the time!) and there are only a couple more rounds to go to finish the back piece that I have been working on.  I can't wait to see this when it's finished it will be my first completed crochet project of any size.  I'm sure it won't be anywhere near perfect but it will be mine :)

Tempus fugit

I just can't believe how quickly this year is disappearing and how little time I've had for blogging.  We have had so much rain here this summer so far, it's not been great for getting out and about at the weekends.  But I have been getting my fresh air another way.

Meet Naz, Amos and Rosie.

One of my friends was struck down with a nasty illness which attacks the nervous system.  She ended up in hospital for a few weeks and has had to begin relearning how to walk, feed herself etc.  A very sad story as she is only 22 years old.  She lives with her Gran and Grandad and owns Naz this beautiful Husky.  Gran and Grandad have been struggling to take him out as he's a bit of a handful, and so I'm on dog walking duties.  Amos and Rosie are Naz's friends and if I can rope a friend into coming out with me all 3 doggies get to walk with us :)

If I lived in a bigger place I'd love a dog just like Nazrei :)

Godrevy

I really am turning in to a bad blogger aren't I? I must make the time to get back here more often. I love posting but it's the same old thing  ... time just keeps disappearing and weeks have flown by before I know it. Can hardly believe that we are half way through the year already.

I'm enjoying a few days off work at the moment which is nice. Am off to see my family for a couple of days and when I get back I'm hoping that weather will be dry enough for me to get out for some walking. We've had what seems like nothing but rain these last few weeks. So to encourage the sunshine to make an appearance again I thought I'd post some pictures from a weekend away in Cornwall earlier this year.

Check out all the seals lying on the beach, not a particularly clear shot as I had to have my little camera on maximum zoom which makes images a bit shaky but worth posting nonetheless I thought.

Cameron the Caterpillar

My addition to the Knit Corsham, yarnbombing event is complete. Meet Cameron :)

He's now at home on the wishing tree in the precinct in the town centre.

Good job caterpillars don't mind the rain, it's going to be another soggy week here by all accounts.

Needles are out

Turns out I'm not too late to join in the knitted fun that's going on in Corsham at the moment.  Needles were busy yesterday.....am almost ready to take my piece to the high street :)