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Saturday 7 January 2012

Crafty Corner

MOANS AND GROANS

Other than its 9 degrees in my house and I am typing with my fingerless gloves on that I made, there isn't really anything to moan about this week. I know that's not normal for me cause lets face it, we could all spend our days moaning about stuff.

HAPPENINGS

Its been a good week so far at work and a reasonable week at home. Today (Saturday) is very quiet here. My boys are out helping their Dad move to another house with his girlfriend and when I woke up this morning, I felt quite miserable. Dont know why really but I watched a couple of videocasts this morning, one called 'rainlover knits'and another one called 'mommyneedsyarn' They are both about knitting, (what else would they be about) and they cheered me up. I then went and cleaned the house, I cleaned everywhere and when I got to my bedroom, I just stopped. I have left the hoover up there, put the clean laundry away and left the ironing board out for later. I thought, 'theres another day tomorrow' or if the tv is crap again tonight, I might carry on this evening.

CRAFTS

I finished the Blooming Flower Cushion and it is sitting on my sofa as I write this. Want to see the back of it that I designed, ok then. Here it is.....I am so pleased with it. I was going to take it to work on Wednesday but the heavens opened so bad that I am glad I didnt take it outside. I walk to work every day, (3 miles) its part of my exercise routine and been doing it for almost a year now. Anyway, the rain poured so bad and the wind blew so hard that I had to hold onto several fences to stop myself from being blown over. By the time I got to work, I was soaked right through and had to ask Laundry Dept to dry my clothes in the dryer. Here's another picture showing you my idea completed (just in case you were wondering about the buttons.

I also got my patchwork quilt out and laid it on my bed to see how much more I have to do. Well, as you can see I have got loads to do. There are 400 hexagons there and after working out that I dont have enough red hexagons left I am going to have to do some tweeking. I put aside the right amount of cream and red hexagons in a bag so I know I have them to make the same edging at the other end but it might end up being a smaller quilt than I wanted. The company that I bought the hexagons from dont do them anymore and its my own fault for taking so long to get round to doing more of the quilt. That'll teach me. Funny thing is, when I started doing the hand sewing, I forgot how much I enjoy it. It is a very slow kind of sewing as anyone can imagine sewing hexagons over papers and then sewing the hexagons together, but at least my quilt will be a one-off that cant be bought in a shop.

HOME

Whilst tidying up today I moved a couple of small tables around and made myself a patchwork corner right next to my reclining armchair.
The table is over 30 years old, it was given to me by Aunt Nell who passed away about 19 years ago. Its an old table but its got a lot of memories for me. I also have my yankee candle lit which my friend Jodie gave me for christmas and sitting patiently is my patchwork for tonight.

That's me finished for now....happy crafts and have a good weekend.

Sunday 1 January 2012

New Year Chilling

I decided to put some headings here today just to try and see how it goes. All the video podcasts I watch have headings too so because I am not blessed with a webcam yet, I will try it this way.

MOANS & GROANS

I spent a boring evening alone again on New Years Eve. Kids were out celebrating and am glad they did but oh boy was I bored. Crap on tv, radio was playing nonsense so I pottered around, watched a few video casts and before I knew it, it was 11:50pm so I went up to bed. The radio went back on so I could hear Big Ben and then got washed and changed whilst waiting to hear from my family and friends text messages. I got a few eventually and that satisfied me so I went to sleepy byes. Unfortunately, I woke up at 4.30am cause the dog wanted a wee and the cats wanted to go out. Also, the weather here is crap. Its been dull all day but this morning was dry but windy so I put washing out on the line. Then when I was engrossed in my cleaning and thinking about plans ahead, I didnt notice it was peeing down. Too late, couldnt be bothered to get washing in.

HAPPENINGS

This is my lovely dog Tammie who has decided, after watching me clean and tidy most of the day, to chill on the armchair behind the small pile of laundry to put away. She is snoring and makes me want to go to have a nap. She has had a problem with fleas the past week, I have tried a product I havent used before but it didnt work so after de-fleaing soft furnishings, carpets and blankets, I went to the old faithfull 'Frontline' and she has finally settled. I treated the cats too and found out that if you have the central heating on too much during the day, it can encourage the little itchy sods so am only putting heating on in the morning for an hour and in the evening.

CRAFTS

This is the Blooming Flower Pattern which I adapted a little at the front. I love the way it turned out in these two shades and then I had a brain wave. I dont like the thought of crocheting a back and front together of a cushion cover without being able to take it off and wash it properly so am doing a different backing. If it works out I will show you my design for the back.

I am still using the acrylic yarn from the big stash I have and am not even making a dent in it. I think a big blanket might be in order and will double up the strands together. I feel a bit unsure to be honest about my crochet and knitting, I really want to pick up my patchwork quilt to do but just not got the incentive at the moment. I think its because I may have to take it apart because its been 8 plus years in the making and the shop I bought the pre-cut hexagons and papers from dont sell them anymore.

HOME

I did some cooking today and decided to make a one pot meatball casserole. I browned off meatballs in my encona pot, added water and herbs, a tin of Mulligatawny Soup, diced up carrots and spuds and let it cook for an hour. Oh My Goodness, it is so tasty and have just finished my first bowl full. Thing is, there's only enough for 4 of us and I have to leave the rest for my boys.
I might do some baking tomorrow too because I worked it out how much I spent on crap food that is just not nourishing enough. Its probably why I feel so sluggish, not because I eat crap food because I dont all the time and I exercise every day. Its because I dont bother eating a decent meal.

THATS ALL FOLKS!

That's it for now, will try and post at least once a week. I am thoroughly enjoying the video casts, so glad I found them because tv is so boring now. Speak to ya later, aligator...