Just a few words

Hi all

I am just quickly dipping by to say, that I will be taking a bloggin break for a few weeks.  There is a lot going on at the moment and I have that "overwhelming" feeling - I am ok don't get me wrong but several things happening at once and I feel the plates may be falling off the spinning sticks!!!!!  So my friends worrying about blogging is at the bottom of the list at the mo.  My love to you all, I will try and dip into your blogs at some stage and say hi and then hopefully I will be back.

Speak soon xx

Positively letting off Steam!

I have to chuckle my blogette friends - you see last week my feathers were ruffled.  I had a bit of a bad day and then I arrived at a clients house (I am a beauty therapist), she wasn't there, "oh she has just popped out to the shops, she knows you are waiting and wont be long"  her housekeeper said. Grrrrr she was so late in fact,  that there were only two minutes left of the appointment when she arrived. Inside I was hopping mad,actually my time is quite precious too!!!!!!  Sadly I can't afford to make too much of a fuss so I graciously did the treatment, only much shorter.  Well the upshot of this is, that when she paid me I was so uptight I went straight to the Garden Centre and used the money to buy one of these

I know, I know, chocolate would have been good too, but I have wanted one of these for ages, but thought of it as a frivolous purchase, but that day pushed me to it!  Do you know I turned a very negative day into a real positive one because I have SOOOO enjoyed sitting in my conservatory or out in the garden watching the spendid array of birds eagerly feeding - it is so relaxing and theraputic to watch.  

You get the general gist don't you, sadly I am no wildlife photographer - took me loads of attempts even to get this dreadful picture!!!! Fancy that, if you get too close, the birdies fly away - and my zoom is pants!

This last week I have become a real bird spotter armed with my little Which Bird book - it was worth every penny and it proving a real calming influence when all around is chaos!

That's enough twittering from me!

Speak soon xx

Coil Pot Ta Dah!

Hello there lovely peeps, I hope you enjoyed the weekend, here in England we had a loong weekend, I like loong weekends very much indeed, in fact I would love them to be even longer!!

Coffee and homemade shortbread biscuits were the order of the day, I felt like "chillin" and "chillin" I did. 
That is until I could "chill" no more and just HAD to continue with a project of some sort, I carried on with the coil pot I started last week.  After a very fiddlesome start, trying to get the knack of twisting the fabric round the springy coily stuff, I began to make Progress.

It is quite interesting how the fabric takes on a different pattern as the pot evolves until you get this effect

Surprisingly it makes quite a strong pot, it was fun and different to make, hope you like it!

Speak soon xx

Unable to leave Comments

Morning, just to say along with most others using Blogger I am unable to leave comments - it is so frustrating!!!!  Has anyone explored others like Typepad or Wordpress - I know they cost a little but would it be worth it?  But then I suppose I would have to start again and not transfer my blog over - dilemma - don't know why I am asking after all, no one can leave a comment either hey - ho! 

Have a great day!!

Speak soon xx

Coil Pot Making

 Last night I was searching through my stash of "Things To Do". I felt figety and didn't know what I wanted to do, Nothing was appealing to me!  I didn't want to crochet, or knit but wanted to do Something.  Then I found the "Something"

A Coil Pot making kit - I have had this in the cupboard for about 2 years and finally it saw the light of day.  A book by Helen Deighan, the doyenne of coil pot making, soon had me reading up on how proceed. 

There were lots of pre cut fabric strips (always a help) and I had loads of the plastic cording. 

You start by twisting the fabric around the cord and securing it with the yellow clip - then you begin by making a spiral the other end and oversewing the coils to make a circle.  The beginning I did find Really Fiddly but after some trial and error I got going.  You can join in another strip by overlapping with the first strip and carrying on winding. 

As usual for me I want to run before I can walk and expected it to be easy from the start, and it did take me a while to get the hang of it, but it is coming along now

The effect is quite pretty don't you think?  Once you get the base to the size you want then you gradually build up the sides.  I will show you the progress as I go.  However, I have found that sewing over the coils does annoy my thumbs, but I am NOT giving up and am determined to finish at least one pot!!!!!!!

Have a lovely day

Speak soon xx

Lazy Sunday

At the end of last week I went to a little Decorative Living Fair - you may recall I went last year too.  It was the sort of day to put on a floaty dress - grab a basket and "waft" round the stalls!!!   I did wear a summer dress, but my basket is broken and I am not too good at "wafting", not dainty enough!  Still my friend and I had a very pleasant afternoon, and I have decided that "Vintage" or "Old and Rusty" still seems to be "in" , we sat and enjoyed our sandwiches drinking in the lovely view

The warm sun on our faces and the bunting fluttering in the gentle breeze, so calming.

I was quite restrained in my purchases (not out of choice, but necessity) but I couldn't resist some lovely herbs which I have now arranged on the front door step (gets lots of sun)

Lovely fresh Mint, Thyme and Dill mmmmm.

That wasn't bad was it - I resisted the packs of bunting, the clothes, the soaps etc - Well Done Kimbles!

We had a rather lazy Sunday yesterday, browsed round the garden but didn,t do anything, read the paper and ate lovely cake my Mum had made, could practically watch my cucumber plants creeping up the canes in my conservatory.

If felt like a re-chargin the batteries day - doesn't happen very often but boy, did I enjoy it!

Speak soon xx

Crochet

Good Morning, you see I am trying to become a good regular blogger again!  I have been indulging in a little hookiness lately, not as fast as I used to be, but hey that's no problem.  You may recall on one of my previous posts I started this project

Well after making half a dozen squares I just wasn't "lovin" it, it just wasn't working in my mind. It's quite a decision isn't it when you have to decide whether to abandon your hard work or limp on!  Well it had to be abandon I'm afraid and I don't regret it for a minute.  So it was back to the drawing board.  I was combining colours and thinking about what would go with my lounge. I wanted to Keep It Simple and traditional.  So now I am working on these

I am loving the colours and the simplicity of this pattern, I think sometimes I look for different and fussier stitches but there is something so comforting and scrummy about traditional grannying!  I have been signed off from the hand clinic ( have done all they can for me) so I have to be really careful, do special thumb exercises and rub in pain relieving cream.  Hey ho never mind - I just have take more notice when they get a bit painful and STOP!!!   I did invest in a soft touch crochet hook and that has helped me with the crochet thank goodness so all is not lost! 

Have a good day

Speak soon xx