Squares, hexies, plants and weddings...

I've started another crochet project... which is actually very bad as I have quite a few on the go now. I really hate to have projects unfinished but I can't stop starting new things!

I made these teeny squares last night whilst watching telly... I tried three round ones too but they looked too big somehow, so I've decided two round ones are the way to go. They are super small though so will probably have to make over a hundred of them! I want to make a second cushion for the sofa, one which will kind of match the hexie one I'm doing... 

The duck egg blue in the hexie one I have substituted for pink and red in the little squares one. I don't want them too samey but hopefully they will co-ordinate nicely as they will both have the green/cream in them.

I have nearly made all my hexagons, I think I need four more to go then I can start joining them. I was supposed to do this before I started on the squares but I just couldn't help myself. I bought a couple of new balls of yarn yesterday, (the deep pink and the red) and I *needed* to see what they looked like made up! I also stocked up on some more Tilda fabrics, aren't they just so pretty??

This week has been an odd one really. I have been here by myself for a whole week now, as Karl is away abroad. I'm usually quite good with my own company but I have been quite bored this week though I've tried to keep busy to pass the time. At the weekend, I spent quite a while in the garden doing odd jobs - not pretty planting ones, but mainly ones that involved being up a ladder with a saw! I was chopping down a load of branches that were overhanging into the garden... I think if anyone saw me doing it they would have laughed -  especially as I was wearing bright blue 'mad professor' safety specs! I am one of the least practical people you could meet and I'm quite small (only 5' 3'') so it was quite a tough job to do by myself but it looks loads better now.

Anyway we're going to give the grass it's first mow soon (excitement eh??!) I've ordered the compost for the flowerbeds and have been trying to decide on the plants to get. I am thinking a mixture of summer bedding plants and perennials such as...

and...

and...

and...

Pictures courtesy of here and here

To be honest, I'm just going for plants and flowers which I like the look of. I have no idea really whether our garden/conditions will be right for them but I guess I will find out soon! I think I am going to be very much a trial and error gardener :)

Anyway I have also been busy with work... lots of weddingy things mainly. I have had quite a few orders for these as wedding favours lately...

Also had an order for 8 of these to do this week for wedding favours... and quite a few of these too. In fact there was definitely a wedding production line going on!

And keeping on the wedding theme, I also designed a new card this week...

 

These has been an idea in my sketchpad for so long now, months and months, I'm really glad I've finally got around to making up the samples!

Right, I think I better go. I've been writing this post for ages and I'm not even showered or dressed yet! And actually I haven't even had breakfast! I did get up at seven though so not really sure how it is now 10 o clock. I do love working from home sometimes :) Anyway hope you have a good weekend... Am very much looking forward to it myself after my lonely week... the sun is supposed to shine (here at least) and Karl is coming home tomorrow, yay! Back soon xxx

An all sorts week...

It's been a funny sort of few days here. I've been getting quite a few orders through but for a real random variety of items, so there's been lots of different things being made.  I've also been trying to get my Father's day range up but the weather's been so awful that I've not had a chance to photograph anything yet!

I have added a few bits to my shops recently though...

'London Bus' mirrors

and  'London Guards at Buckingham Palace' mirrors

I am actually quite in love with this fabric! I haven't gone to town with making Jubilee products as I don't want to be left with lots of unsold stock afterwards so this is my token effort! I thought the London bus would be the most popular but so far I've sold an exact equal amount of both designs. Do you have a favourite out of the two??

I've also been concentrating on handmade personalised cards in the last few weeks. I've nearly completely changed my entire product range on Not on the High Street in the last few months, taking off products that haven't sold that well (or ones I was bored of making!) and trying out new things. I only get to have thirty products live at any one time, so I'm trying to make the most of them!

Thanks for all your lovely comments about our garden by the way! The weather has been awful this weekend though, torrential rain and such scarily strong winds that we have not ventured out there at all since I took these pictures. The grass has not been laid two weeks yet though so it's giving it a good chance to root before we start walking on it! It is still growing fast though, in fact at the moment it is looking gorgeous - the sun is shining and making it look extra green! Come on Summer!!

Anyway in other news... I finally started using my Debbie Bliss yarn! 

 

I'd been sat looking at it for a couple of weeks whilst I worked on my other patchwork blanket (so must get around to taking some pictures of that one soon!) I didn't want to rush into anything since I only have one little ball of each I couldn't afford to be making mistakes, but eventually I gave in and started making.....

...mini hexagons! Aren't they just so sweet?

They are made with Jacquie's pattern, except I've added an extra round to make them a little bigger. They're not joined yet, just laid out so I can see the colours together... They're destined to become a cushion cover for our sofa... the softer more muted palette is just right for our living room and I'm really loving working with these colours though I am missing the brights a bit! You might notice though that I took out the brighter pink from the pictures above, it just didn't quite sit right somehow as I really want a muted vintagey look with this one, like an old (but much loved) patchwork blanket...

 

I've made 32 hexagons so far, not sure how many I actually need, probably double that so it will take a little while to finish yet. Although I did a lot of them on Saturday, I've only been doing a couple in the evenings since, though hope to make some more tonight. They're really quick to make, though I find that if I'm not concentrating properly I tend to miscount the stitches!

Right I best go, as I am trying to clean up my computer this evening too. The one I do all my image work and blog posts on is my super ancient desktop as the screen is better than on my laptop. But it only has 70GB of disk space in total including for all the programs so it gets full so quick (my image files are always huge!) I have copied everything onto an external hard drive and am now going through it and trying to delete what I can. I have to do it every few months, which is really quite tedious but I'm fed up of the 'C drive full' message popping up every two minutes! So far today I've deleted 19GB but I want to see if I can clear off just a little bit more!

Anyway have a great rest of the week, back soon xxx

Happy Easter!

I did do a little Easter decorating this week, though sadly my Easter tree ideas never made it to fruition. I actually couldn't find any suitable twigs - the ones around here were too 'leafy' already! I did buy a few new hanging eggs though like these cute vintage  looking chick and bunny ones..

...but without a 'tree' to hang them off, they are actually hanging off the bunting on my dresser for now!

I wanted a dresser for so long, and saved up lots of pennies to buy this lovely one from Laura Ashley last year... I really love it but now I have it, I do find it difficult to decide what to put on it! I don't have much china to display so just normally go for a random mix of cups, jugs, cards, candles and other bits and bobs. It's much more difficult than I thought it would be to create a good display though!

Another Eastery touch around here is these sparkly little eggs which were a pound shop bargain...Cheap and cheerful displayed in a jug but they were calling out to me!

So anyway... my Easter weekend has been so nice so far, hanging out with friends, a lovely pub lunch, some gardening, and now I am currently lounging on the sofa watching tv with a big bag of mini eggs for company... somehow I've got through almost the entire bag already! The sooner I eat them though, the sooner they are gone and I can get back to trying to tone up for the summer :D we booked flights to Portugal in July so need to get back to my bikini body!!

Anyway, am feeling a little tired but content knowing that I have the entire evening stretching ahead to work on my patchwork granny blanket, it is a happy feeling. I do so love being at home... being comfy and cosy, there is nothing like it...

I still have quite a way to go on the square making front because I've not done any this week at all - think I was all crocheted out after the 90 I did last week! I laid all the squares out on the floor so I can see how they work together and how many more I need to make of each colour... I keep popping in just to look at them... happy sigh! I've added in the meadow green again as I thought it looked a bit pastelly - what do you reckon?

Anyway hope you are having a fab Easter weekend too whatever you are doing. Thanks so much for popping in as always and don't forget to enter my seaside giveaway if you haven't already! Have loved reading all your comments so far, so many fellow seaside lovers!! Am very jealous of all of you living by the sea though, it is my dream... one day! xxx

Spring has sprung!

 

I came back yesterday from my week away, and feel so much better for it, really refreshed and inspired - it was just what I needed I think! I couldn't have picked a better week off weather wise - it has been gorgeous every day, with blue skies and temperatures into the twenties. It's been more like mid summer than the end of March, though today  it's back to the cold and grey. I hope that wasn't it for the nice weather for the year!

I love spending time with my family, I don't get to see them often enough because we live so far away, so it was a lovely week. We took a few day trips out but because the weather was so nice we also were able to sit around outside quite a bit. I took all my blanket yarn so spent lots of time making squares in the sun, happy days!

Mum and dad also wanted to find a planter for their courtyard, so lots of wandering around garden centres was done looking for one. Needless to say they didn't actually find what they were looking for, but I really like pottering around looking at the plants and flowers especially as the weather was so nice...

 I thought the little coloured watering cans filled with  primroses were so sweet!

I so love spring flowers, so happy and bright and colourful after the dark grey days of winter...

We need to do our garden this year. It is basically just soil at the moment because when we moved in last year it was getting towards winter so we decided to leave it for a few months. Not really sure what to do with it though - it is quite a small space, but sure we can do something nice with it! Need to get some gardening mags/ books really for inspiration.

I managed to make another 90 squares for my crochet blanket this week in between trips out. I've changed my mind so many times on the colours - I started out with turquoise, pink and red (my fave colour combination!) but gradually decided a slightly paler, more Spring like palette was the way to go. I'm still using my Stylecraft yarn, so it was quite difficult to decide on colours which were different enough to the other two blankets I've made, but that would also compliment each other. 

This is what I have decided on at the moment...

What do you think?

It reminds me of crocuses with all the purple, yellow and green so just right for the time of year! I've now done about 140 squares in total. I'm not really sure how many squares I am aiming for, probably around 200 then it will be the dreaded joining together (really not looking forward to that bit)!

I also came back to some lovely post including Master Sorrel...

I bought him from the lovely Jooles of Sew Sweet Violet and I LOVE him!! Such pretty colours and so beautifully made, he is happily living on my new pinboard which I actually made at eight o clock this morning... (Told you I was refreshed and inspired,  I couldn't wait to start making again!)

I just covered an old board with some wadding and pretty pink floral fabric using my staple gun, then stapled on some criss-crossed ribbons and hammered in some upholstery tacks - sure they neighbours were impressed with the noise so early on a Saturday (actually their cars had gone so I'm hoping they weren't in).

Anyway have just popped some of my favourite cards and bits on it for now, though I'm sure I will fill it up soon enough! I love to make spontaneous things like this for the house, I just don't often have time. Some mini bunting is next on my list though whilst I am on a role!

I also bought this....

... after reading about it on lots of other people's blogs. Only had a quick flick through whilst I had my breakfast but it is so up my street - lots of colour, pattern and inspiring ideas, it is just gorgeous! You can buy it here and also check out Selina's fab blog.

I also got another super exciting delivery in the post too - but more about that next week - it will include another giveaway too! Anyway hope you have had a good week too, and have been able to enjoy the lovely sunshine while it lasted! Take care, will be back soon xxx

Short and sweet... (well that was the idea)

 

Morning! 

Bet you didn't expect me back so soon... but I've decided little and often is the way forward with my blog! Thanks for all your sweet comments on my last post - it is so nice to know that there are lots of us in the same boat! I've woken up this morning feeling positive and motivated though which is always nice... even though have been awake since six! Karl had to go into work this morning, so I got up, made myself a drink and went back to bed to read and do a little granny square making! I've only done a few so far, even though they are really quick. Having been inspired by both Jacquie and Heather, I've decided to go for solid colour grannies this time and make a kind of patchwork blanket! 

I originally was only doing three rounds per square but then I decided to add another to each, as otherwise they are super tiny and it will take me absolutely forever to join them all together at the end! (Don't even want to think about that part now.) Anyway, I have bought a couple more yarn colours which should be arriving this week, hopefully in time for when I go visit mum and dad next weekend. I haven't really got too much of a plan colour-wise, just making squares and will see what looks nice as I go along!

Apart from the crochet, I haven't done that much over the last few days really. After I wrote my post on Thursday, I took the rest of the afternoon off and lay on the sofa surrounded by blankets, my hot water bottle, some chocolate and watched a nice girly film. It was just what I needed even though I still felt a bit guilty about taking the afternoon off! I've kept my personalised products off the website even though my new embroidery foot has arrived (yay!) to give me some time to catch up on other stuff. Yesterday though I got another large order for my floral mirrors to be used as wedding favours so spent the morning making them up.

I also made up another couple of mirror designs which I have literally just put into my shop... there will be a blue paisley design to match the pink coming soon too but just not got around to photographing yet.

 Love this fabric, it is so fresh and Spring like - Tulips are one of my favourite flowers!

And of course the pretty paisley fabric is also a favourite of mine. Funny how taste changes as you get older actually as I never liked paisley designs a few years, I don't know why... but this one is gorgeous! It is discontinued now but I managed to buy up a few metres of it, so hopefully it should last me a while yet.

 For more crafting ideas, go to www.crafts-beautiful.com

I also made these fabric covered storage pots for the March issue of Crafts Beautiful. This was actually out a little while ago now, as the current issue is the April one, but I thought I would post the pics anyway! I really do mean to make more of these pots as they are so useful for holding bits and bobs and can be made out of any old tins you have around the house. These three actually started out as a cocoa powder tin, a tin of dried milk and a tub of bicarbonate of soda (which were the only things I could find in the cupboard that morning!!)

Anyway, I think that's enough writing for today - it's actually a slightly longer post than I intended, I just can't help myself! Hope you have a nice weekend though and you get a bit of sunshine to enjoy, back soon xxx