.... the weather has been FOUL in the mornings with rain and wind ... then the afternoons have warmed up (a bit xx) and the sun has come out to play... SO into the garden I go .
Because we are heading into dark days with little or no colour.. apart from brown and the forecasters say snow snow snow!! I don't like to chop the plants or empty the baskets when there is any colour or flowers left.
SO.. here are some of the colours I have left in the garden..
have to hang onto them as long as I can x
Hope you have some colour in your life this weekend x
Diane x
.... seems to have flown past!! I am sure I have a leak by which I am loosing time somewhere !!!
The oldest grandson stayed over (it is Half Term this week)and it was his choice to say which film we went to watch at the cinema.. he chose PAN .. the critics may not be keen .. BUT WE LOVED IT xx .. hopefully there will be a follow up x
The weather was actually nice for 2 days ... and my garden is looking like it is almost ready for winter x ... shame it has rained for the last few days .. and I have had to stay inside ...
.. mind you that means that NOW I am ALL caught up with my (surprise) Christmas swap presents ... and now I can look for some lovely paper to wrap them .. mind you I like tissue paper as well xx
My Christmas knitting is almost finished too .... this shawl will be soo difficult to put in the post as I really like it ..
the wool is so soft .. it is a Cascade Heritage in the Isle Of Skye colour..
....the pictures don't do it justice .. there are blues and greens .. and is beautiful x
Hope none of you has a "time leak" !!! lol x
Diane xx
... continues xx
To top my.... lets keep the birthday celebrations going for (5 months!!) as long as possible I had a phone call in the wee small hours of the morning to tell me that ...
....the latest edition to the family made his much awaited appearance at 11.45 am (Australian time) xx
BABY ...weighs 8lb 2oz dong fine
MUM .. missed breakfast starving hungry and doing fine
DAD .. shellshocked x
LOVE this Happy time x
Diane x
... readers may well remember that I managed to stretch out my birthday celebrations for MOST of June x WELL.... yesterday ... to finish off the celebrations ...my son and his wife..
took me (I always look like a started animal in the headlights!!) and my mother...
off to Manchester to have a meal at Panama Hatties in the city centre xx... oh my goodness it was GOOD xx
THEN it was home with just enough time to have a brew and walk the dogs before going out again to see....
at our local theatre..
AH! It is wonderful to have a day without responsibilities and be worrying about others x Made a nice change xx
I am off to get the oldest grandson now and we can have a day together.. well a weekend actually as he is staying over xx ... then next week it will be .. NORMAL life!.. what ever that means xx lol x
Hope you are all having a Happy Time x
Diane x
... working on the wall hanging made with Jo's blocks that she made for me in our swap..
.. whoops! that's my camera work that's crooked not the hanging!! lol x
I used minimal quilting ... and LOTS of beads..
each block has different beads to make it FUN xx
Diane x
.... Dull Dark and Damp here in Cheshire ... HOWEVER .. it was also Do-Your-Own-Thing day organised by Congleton Quilt group.
As usual we had tea and biscuits .... BUT we also had 2 ladies with birthdays .. so lots of CAKE went round too x Wont find me complaining about that !lol x
I worked on Jo's swap blocks and the Zoo Animals wall hanging...
and my Brit Bee Swap blocks for October...
they will be in the Post on Monday x I am going to boast a bit now and say I like the BACK as much as the front..
lol x
You may remember I was NOT happy about the garter stitch on the last shawl I made ... (I MAY just have mentioned it!!) .... so I changed to DK weight and a stocking stitch body ...
...and I LOVE it x This is going as a Christmas present ... THIS..
is all I had left of the purple!! I was casting off REFUSING to look down and see how much was left lol x... I finished it in a bit of a sweat xx
To-day is FOUR years to the day that Sally and Blair left on their Australian adventure xx So we went out for dinner ... seemed right to me xx lol x Wont be long now before they land on British soil once more and I can get my hands on them .. and the new baby xx
Hope you are all having a great weekend x
Diane x
.... that many of you know that as you get older "bits" of your body become a little more unreliable!! Normally when I am sat in waiting rooms... hospital out patients, chiropodist, warfarin clinic .. or any of the MANY places I take my parents to.. I take along some hand sewing . This helps pass the time .. often attracts someone who wants to talk .. and generally just keeps me occupied.
THIS week my hand has looked like this....
.....and holding a tiny needle is not necessarily possible. SO it has been the knitting that has come along with me x...( just thinking about it I wonder what the reaction would be if I wheeled in a machine and plugged it in!!!!.. made me giggle to think about it!!)
I have made another of the shawls (same pattern as the owl wool was used for)..
I used DK this time to see what it would look like in a heavier weight..
I mostly LIKE the shawl... I LIKE the lace .... I LIKE the wool and the fuzzy halo that it has however... GARTER STITCH is NOT for me. I know I have hundreds of thousands of hours of practice with stocking stitch... I know I don't have anything like that number of hours with garter stitch .... I JUST DONT LIKE IT!!
This will be ideal for Sally when she up in the middle of the night feeding baby and her shoulders need warming .. so it is not wasted ... but NO MORE garter stitch xx lol x
My finger and thumb are a lot better to-day so maybe the sewing will get some love xx Heres hoping you don't have any "bits" ailing you this week x
Diane x
... some sewing was done today xx.... oh yes x
I made my October Swap block ..
....not my best BUT there are a lot of HST and points to match!! WHY do some people in swaps do this? ...... another set of swap blocks have been put together ...
.....these were the blocks that Jo made for me in our 6 month swap ... I have partly attached the binding because I wanted to check I had enough of the fabric. NOW I have to think about the rest of the quilting x
My Zoo Animals B-O-T-M is coming along too...
I need to finish off the binding and the embroidery on the faces of the monkey and the lion then it will be done x
I have also finished another little shawl!! I actually finished it a couple of days ago ... BUT ... I kept looking at it .. and was NOT happy! SO I unpicked the last border ... re-knit an extra pattern of the first border ... AND .. I am now much happier x...
I used this wool ...
.....which is called OWL... (they have a whole lot of these all inspired by different birds x) I used it because my daughter loves owls .. and these are SO her colours x ALSO I am not a lover of garter stitch .. so this style of dying covers up a multitude (!) of sins xx I do feel that the pattern and wool combined look as if there are owls wings in the pattern.
Hope you all had as good a day x
Diane x
... getting excited ... because tomorrow I will be .....SEWING... that's my plan AND NOTHING is crawling out of any crevice to stop me!!!!! lol x.... I have a list of "stuff" that I am going to be working on .... wish me luck xx
Last night was Quilt group in Sandbach ... I took LOTS of pictures ,,, but wont bore you with them all ... just a selection!!
These lovelies were part of Show-And-Tell.... (for those outside the UK the bear is PUDSEY who is the mascot of the Children-In-Need fundraising appeal which happens every year on the BBC)
The theme of the night was .. My Favourite thing ... most were sewing related ... and here is a selection...
... this beauty is embroidered.. by hand!
Off for a brew ... and to see what else I might be able to "squash" onto tomorows list x
Diane x
.... the catch-up begins x We had our stall for Hope House Children's Hospice ...
(...what you cant hear is them saying NEVER MIND the picture WHERE is the cup of tea? lol ....)....on what must have been the hottest September day FOR YEARS!!!.... so not so many visitors .. but BIG thanks went to all those who did come and see us .. and spent their money x We made over £70 so we are happy ... and we are still selling so it keeps coming in x
I made the sparkly pink shawl for Sues BIG birthday...
.. and you know ... for a non pink girl ... I LOVE IT!!!! lol x Who knew that would happen! Mind you I think maybe it is the shawl knitting bug that bit me NOT the pink lol.... but its pretty x
I also made a grey shawl..
and another pink one ...
They are destined to be presents x You know thinking about it ....it may have been the adrenalin rush that I enjoyed ! The sparkly one went from ..
...to....
which was pretty scary ... BUT the dusky pink one left me with .....
Can you guess just how much steam was coming off the needles as I got to the end! lol
I have been sewing ... on SECRETE CHRISTMAS SWAP PRESENTS .. so I cannot share those with you ...YET xx But I am SOOOO up to date it is scary !
I caught up with some of the girls I used to work with ..
mmm wonder if you can spot the "theme" for our meal out this time? lol
Tonight is Sandbach Quilt Group meeting ... we are each taking a "Favorite Thing" to share with the group ... should be fun x
Off for a cuppa speak you soon ... because now I CAN xx
Diane x
