"Woolly Hugs!"

I have taken part in my first ever "woolly hug" blanket. A lovely Mumsnet donor posted me some wool, Rowan Cashsoft DK and the rest was up to me...as long as my square measured 6x6inches. I still have enough to make another square...possibly even two. Once finished I will post my squares to another member who will put all the squares together, eventually making up blankets for families in need of some comfort who have recently suffered a tragic loss!

I am quite a confident knitter but still I stuggled trying to find patterns for squares of this size. I love cabled knitting and when I happened to cross an aran jumper pattern using the "hugs and kisses" cable, I thought the idea would be perfect to use in my little square. A way of sending hugs and kisses through entwind cables.

Sorry, colours are awful, will try to update when I have better lighting. If any would like me to write up the pattern I am happy to do so.

I feel quite honoured to feel my little square/s will join so many others from all over the place to provide a comforting, keepsake. Probably even more so as a dear friend lost her husband tragically and unexpectedly, on Valentine's Day. Leaving her with 3 boys to bring up alone, the middle boys being just a little older than Amelia, also has Down Syndrome. It's left me feeling that life is so very precious and that I just had to contribute to something "useful" for families in such awful situations. My heart goes out to you.

Sorry, more waffle!

x X x

Thoughtful Friday!

Did you see the sunrise this morning? It's a shame the colours never quite came out as vivid on the photographs but I still think it looks pretty.

Still in search of some creativity, will let you know if I find some!

x X x

The Little Box Swap!

I have just taken part in a little box swap over at Crafts by Carolyn forum. We were given a few links to make up our little boxes and then crammed them with tiny little goodies and swapped. I really had fun making up the box, easy to do and surprisingly sturdy. Then I rummaged aroung my craft boxes to try to make up a varied selection of bits and bobs. I had forgotten all about some of them!

Here are some of the goodies I put in my little box, when it was as full as I could get it, I sprinkled seed beads into it to try and fill up all the little gaps.

A grat fun and enjoyable swap, thank you.

x X x

Snowy Sunday

Well, they said it was coming, looking out the window last night, it was quite blizzard like. Here's what we woke up to this morning. Just typical really as we had a sickness lurgy in the house last week, with Chris missing a day's work (and pay) Jack missing most of the week at school and Amelia the whole week. Fingers crossed that the snow won't cause too much disruption tomorrow and our little corner of Kent does not come to a complete stand-still!

Chris and Jack clearing the drive.

Our snowy little garden.

Stay safe, stay warm. I am sorting out patterns and wool in another vain attempt to dust off my knitting needles.

Wedding Invitation samples.

Things are hectic in the "Dingle House." Chris is starting a day release course from work, this means his already overloaded work schedule is being crammed into a 4 day week. I am helping to cover sickness at work and fitting in 5 session a week at the Pre-school for a little while.

It was my "day off" today so after trying to catch up on the boring things like phone call and housework, I decided to start putting together the ideas I had for a Wedding Invitation enquiry I have had.

Very basic design but I think I would have preferred that the dotty paper was blue and perhaps the ribbon was wider.

Still, it has long last got me in my craft room.....still can't really see my desk though! LOL

I am determined to get creative again this year, perhaps I need some new goodies to play with to inspire me!

Adele
x X x

Just had to share......

....................THIS!!!!!

Ho, ho ho!!!! It's has been a very long hard day, I feel tired and grumpy and getting stressed that I am running out of time (especially child-free time!) BUT when Amelia came home and gave this to me it put the biggest smile on my face ever. Isn't it often the smallest things in life that make the biggest impact!

Sorry for the waffle and the awful lighting but I just wanted to share some Christmas spirit.

Love 'n' hugs.

x X x

Well, just back from another hospital visit with Amelia. After several cancellations, I complained and we have at last got to see an ENT consultant. Amelia has been going round telling everyone that the doctor is going to "hoover her ears out" and we giggled about having to wait and the fact that I couldn't exactly clean them out with my Dyson!

Luckily the wait was unusually good but it seemed the consultant barely had time for us to sit down before he was trying to get us back out the door. At least her likkle ears are wax free again for a while but her has referred us to yet another Paediatric ENT consultant regarding her adenoids. Ho hum, something for us all to look forward to next year then!

Anyway, enough of the moaning, let's get on with the only little bit of creativity in a while. We melted some chocolate the other day and poured into some little Christmas moulds we salvaged from a previous year's Advent Calenders. Then after they had set Amelia enjoyed selecting them and putting them into our "Advent Truck" which was a bargain in the January sales at Lakeland Plastics.

Concentrating hard...decisions, decisions. Hmmmm

Hmmm, I wonder if mum would notice if one "went missing!"

"I'll save the spare one for Daddy!"

Thought Jack might have been too old to want to do this but I think the thought of chocolate swayed him to give 5 minutes of "Game time or tv time or computer time!"

Right, I have a few hours "spare" shall I try to do some crafting or start that fight for Amelia Blue Bagde that I keep on putting off?

Take care.

x X x

Santa Claus is coming to town..

I had a "day off" today. A day to attempt to catch up on housework, phone calls, work records...and even a bit of online shopping.

In a vain attempt to find my crafty mojo I have been scouring the crafty sites but got annoyed with myself for wasting so much time and still not knowing what to buy to get me crafting again. Eventually I settled for a few downloaded Christmas sentiments so I have at least created SOMETHING today.
This afternoon I sat at my breakfast bar singing "Santa Claus is coming to town" all to myself! I coloured the sentiments with my copic markers, inked the edges , backed them onto an old Cuttllebug stamp shape die and finished off with a dab of Glossy Accents on the berries.

I might add a dash of glitter or metallic high lights....that will have to wait until my next "day off!"

Ho, Ho, Ho! ( Trying to get Festive!)

xxx

And for this week's attempt....

at baking we have cheese scones.

We have been out to do a bit of shopping today: a new pair of boots for Amelia, a new coat for me, some note pads, pens...etc...and some Christmas lights!!!! We had planned to go into Nandos afterwards but it was packed, so instead we came home via KFC but ended up with a rather late lunch.

The cheese scones have gone down a treat helped along with a large glass of wine! Cheers!

x X x

A bit of baking!!!!!

Please forgive me but baking really isn't something I have done much of, in fact I am a complete novice. Anyway, despite my complete incompetence in the kitchen I have plans to change this and spend some time baking with (hopefully) both Jack and Amelia.

Today we started with some scones which, despite their appearance, tasted lovely. Much lighter than I was hoping for and while still slightly warm we smothered them with double cream and cherry jam.....delish.

Next I made another batch of plain biscuits, with the children being at home this week, I don't suppose the will last very long.

Now, having had to use egg yolks for the biscuits I thought we'd try making meringues rather than wasting the egg whites. Never made these before and as a first attempt, was very pleased. In fact we have just eaten them with a fresh fruit salad, a squirt of cream and a drizzle of toffee sauce.

Oh dear, I had better get on that cross trainer tomorrow! LOL

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon!

Been a fuuny weekend really, trying to catch up onn the 1001 jobs that need doing around the house but actually achieving a bit fat nothing! LOL

I am very slowly helping my mum with a bit of knitting.....it is actually part of my Christmas present from Mum and Dad, but me being me, I chose a hooded aran coat. Seeing as, to make matters worse, I chose a dark marl grey, I offered to knit the sleeves!

In a moment of utter madness on Friday evening, we bidded for a piano on Ebay. None of us can really play, although Jack can read music and can play a few tunes on his electric keyboard. We thought it would be something fun to do with Amelia. Anyway, to our complete surprise, we won the bid at £21 and picked the piano up this morning. Not 100% sure of it at the moment, it doesn't really fit with the "decor" of our dining room but I really cannot moan for what we paid.

So far we have had renditions of Jupiter from "the planets" by Jack and we are trying to teach Amelia to play Happy Birthday. I feel I need to label / colour code the keys perhaps but we have had fun anyway.

,

Just finished tidying the kitchen after a lovely roast dinner, now I am going to sit in the sunshine of the conservatory and chill as I finish my wine and do a few more rows of knitting.

Sunny Whitstable!

Making the most of the last weekend before the children go back to school as well as the forcast of a glorious sunny September day, we decided to take off to Whitstable for a few hours. I have visited a long time ago but don't know the area very well.
We started of by walking "The Street." (A strip of land about a half a mile long that you can only walk at low tide.) After ambling along, collecting shells, mother of pearl and a few oysters along the way, we only managed to reach the end just in time before the tide was against us.

After a walk around we settled for a fish and chip lunch on the beach, the weather was truely gorgeous and aftyer lunch we spent some time just enjoying the sunshine...... it wasn't long before my little mountain goat, Jack, just HAD TO clamber over the breakwaters!

By mid afternoon it was far too hot tobe wnadering around so we decided to make for home where we watched the children run around the garden as we enjoyed a rather large jug of Pimms...well I did say we were trying to make the most of the summer didn't I!

A card for Jack!

My darling Jack is 12 today, goodness how quickly has that gone.

I did make a start on his card a little while ago, downloaded and printed a few images, chose my paper, coloured the image, got the frame ready and made up a few embellies. BUT then it sat in a polybag waiting to be assembled...which I managed at about 12.30 last night! (BLUSH)

As organised as ever! Still I was quite please with the results, especially as my mojo is still missing. I have done very little crafting recently apart from a bit of knitting.

I used papers and embellies from the Basic Grey collection I won from Card Making & Papercrafts via Facebook. On first impressions I didn't think I would have much use for the Life of the Party collection but I have loved working with these bold but grungy colours, thought them ideal for a 12 year old boy.

Loved this image, Paul Texting from Mo Manning - first time I've used it.

I inked some of the little stars and then applied some glossy accents to add texture.

This card meets;

Basic Grey Challenge 51 - Anything goes.
Cards for men -G is for ...... grungy, Glossy Accents, Grey (as is Basic) or even GRRRR he is on his mobile AGAIN! LOL
Challenge up your life - 51 Something for men.