A Tale of Three Chickens

Hello lovelies, over the weekend, I collected some new laid eggs from a friend who has chickens

There are a couple of blue ones and a pinky one and a white one! Look too good to eat!

This reminded me of my very own chickens which I had up until last year.  You see, I kind of got them on a whim - a bit of a mid-life wish - something I had wanted to have for ages, but alas our garden is quite small, but then ..... I read about the Eglu a small brightly coloured chicken house suitable for small gardens.

The thought milling around in my mind I monitored some on ebay - and then one day bid, and waited, bid and waited and WON!    Oh dear - did I really mean to win - I would have to go through with it now.

Hubby, bless him, humoured me and we prepared a space in the garden for the run and Eglu and I excitedly did research and bought lots of chickeny things - only thing missing was the chickens!

One afternoon we ventured off to a "chicken" place and came home with three lovelies:

Oh I forgot to say, the Eglu was bright PINK.  Now watching chickens is a brilliant pastime and I could watch them from the kitchen sink.  When they laid their first eggs, the excitement was almost too much !  The thrill of opening the nest box and finding a warm egg is magical - and the eggs become so precious.  One day we had a double yolker which hubby ate before I saw it (still haven't forgiven him for that one!)

We would let them out into the garden for a wander, but boy, could they trash, they trashed anything they would get their little beaks on

then there was the small matter of poop!  they could poop for Britain!

they would have happily made themselves at home in the house if I had let them!

and when we had loads of snow last winter, I thought I might find frozen chicken, but they were fine, just a little bemused.

As they grew, they became rather loud, noisily asking for treats and as the lighter mornings came they wanted to get up earlier and earlier - various family members started to complain about the noise, hubby started to make grumbling noises about the amount of "poop" and where were we gonna put the BBQ now the chickens were near the area.

So in the end the time was right and I reluctantly rehomed them - but they went to a family up the road with a field so they had far more land to roam on - lucky chickens (bet they don't get as many treats now though!)

I was a little sad to see Rosie, Crystal, and Prudence go, even a little teary for a while - they were sweet, at least I fulfilled an amibition, even if it was only for a short while!

Speak soon xx

Weekend Plans

Friday, Friday!!!  love Friday, hopes for the weekend are doing some of this,

using some of this

and tidying the garden after the severe winter we have had look what the weather has done to my lovely terracotta pot!

the little pansies are fine but the pot ..................mm not so good!

Yesterday I went to the Country Living Fair in London - great day, very tiring! 

I could have gone mad, yes spent a fortune, which sadly of course I don't have, could have been really tempted -------But I was  really restrained!  BoRinG I hear you say - but no, I collected loads of brochures so that I can come home and look at them at my leisure and make calmer choices!  Well thats my excuse anyway - I did take out a subscription to the Magazine which meant I got a gift of these scrummy smelling soaps

Oh yes I was tempted to try on a £250 pound Mac but I ReSiSteD.

It was well worth a visit my brain was a bit addled at the end of it all there was so much to take in.

I was looking for ideas for decorating - our whole house needs decorating and we are going to start with our bedroom - trouble is it needs decorating and updating - but I kinda still like it - and now there is nothing similar around because it isn't ThE colour of the moment - do you ever find that?

I will keep looking for inspiration.

Have a great weekend.

Speak soon xx

Mini Hexagon Tutorial

Hi there, I have been a bit of a stranger this week - can't believe it is Thursday and I am only just posting! I have been itching to get on here and give you the tutorial for the Mini Hexagons that I showed you last week.

Now, as you can probably tell, I am not the best at tutorials but will do my best for you all!   I promise you this is super EaSy, and great for a beginner.

I used a 4mm hook and some double knit wool.  I have used UK terminology, a UK treble is a US double crochet.

Row 1 : Chain 4 and slip stitch into a ring.  3 chain (counts as first treble) and work 11 trebles into the ring.  join at the top of the 3 chain with a slip stitch.  Fasten off.

Row 2 :  With a new colour join in wool between 2 trebles and make 3 chain and 2 trebles in same space, 1 chain, miss 2 trebles and make 3 trebles in next space. Repeat 1 chain miss 2 trebles and make 3 trebles in next space all the way round and slip stitch into to of first 3 chain.  You should have 6 groups of trebles.  Fasten off.

Row 3 : With another new colour, begin in a a chain space and make 3 chain, 2 trebles, 2 chain, 3 trebles in same space, *then 1 chain and make 3 trebles, 2 chain, 3 trebles in next space , repeat from *  all the way round and join to top of first 3 chain with a slip stitch and fasten off .

Hey Presto!  one Mini Hex!! These are sooooo quick to do

and you can join them together as you go - here is a peek at my current WIP

as you can see I have been making seven of them into flowers - I am hoping to make them look like a traditional patchwork.

Hope they turn out ok - would love to see pictures if anyone makes these!

Just have to show you the Amyrillis - its a giant beauty and worth the wait!!

Must dash now, blow the washing and ironing and all the other things I should be doing - I am taking a day out and heading to London to the Country Living Fair (strange, I live in the country and have to go to central London for the Country Living Fair!!!)  such excitement!!!!  

Speak soon xx 

Lady Helen's Challenge

Browsing through various blogs last night, I was checking out Helen at Lady Helsie's Happenings and she had taken up a challenge which she had found on another blog and that was to go to the 4th folder in your my pictures file and click on the 4th file and see what the picture is - well I did and this is it

my front garden from last year!  It made me feel all warm and glad that summer is on its way!!!!  I know it looks a bit scrappy but I love that cottagey look and the pink roses on the left of the picture are I think called Delphine and they are thornless, smell divine and flower all summer.

So thank you Helen you made me re-visit last summer and very nice it felt too!

I hope you have a great weekend, I have sent my squares off to Mrs Twins for the SIBOL project and this blanket it aiming to be the sunniest ever, so these are my contributions

It is certainly going to be a bright blanket!!

I am hoping to get lots of hooking done this weekend.  Oh and next week I will try and prepare a tutorial for the mini hexagons, as I have been asked for one.

Speak soon xx

Mini Hex Patchwork Crochet

Hi everyone, hope you are all ok and finally enjoying Spring!

I have managed to get back to a few stitches this week and oh my - it does feel theraputic!  You may want to take a look at SIBOL as I have posted details of two experimental squares with zingy colours and a spiral pattern.  It is really nice to experiment and crochet lends itself to this because it is so easy to 'make things up' and so easy to 'frog' if it all goes pear shaped! 

I have started another project which was buzzing around in my brain for a while and I hope it turns out ok, but we shall see.  This involves lots of mini hexagons - which  I have made into a truly simple design   - excellent for beginners and can be joined-as-you-go to make these

They are coming along fine - cripes! look at all those ends to be sewin in!  a good film and a bar of choc should help kill the boredom of that task!

I am aiming for a traditional patchwork look - see how it goes!

Before I go today look at this Amyrillis

It was a christmas present and has taken aaaaages to get this far, but just keeps growing up and up!  I saw the lady who gave it to me a couple of weeks ago and she asked me how it was growing and I said it was nowhere near flowering - hers had finished - I think she thought I was making it up - must be a slow grower, will show you when it eventually flowers.

Have a  great day, and thank you for your comments - much appreciated.

Speak soon xx

Mother's Day Walk

Morning to  you all - last week was hectic to say the least and even the weekend was busy - out with friends on Friday night, then other friends to supper on Saturday - and Sunday we did a country walk had dinner as a family - so do you know what - not a SiNgLE stitch has been done since last week!!!!! Quite unusual for me - and I am missing it.  I am itching to start a sunshine square for the SIBOL project - have an idea but don't know if it will come to light!  So I am hoping for a more productive week this week!

Having not a single photo to show you of project progress - I will thrill you!!! lol! with our lovely walk we did yesterday- a real spur of the moment one.  My only ask for Mother's Day was that I wanted to find and take a piccie of snowdrops - and as luck would have it not long into the walk we found some:-

So pretty, I love the way they grow in clumps

It was so lovely to be out in the fresh air walking across fields and

following the woodland footpaths, which some kind volunteers have recently restored

across the very clear water stream

down to the the South Downs with the "V" of trees commemorating Queen Victoria.

everything springing to life after the very harsh winter.

across the fields to visit 

lambs in the field at the foot of the Downs

After all of this we hiked back again - so did I feel guilty about eating chocs yesterday!  not a bit - I deserved it after all of that exercise!  Yes - Good Times!

Speak soon xx

Crochet Intarsia Square

Morning Peeps!  quick post today, too much work getting in the way of everything at the moment! Good for the purse strings - bad for crafting!

Late last night I was playing around with intarsia crochet again. My head buzzing after the square I sent to Mrs Twins.  I was really pleased with it and haven't seen anything else around like it   ( probably haven't looked hard enough!).  Anyway this materialised

Excuse the colours, I was just playing around with bits of yarn - what do you think?  I really like it but it is Oh So Fiddly!!  I forgot to take a piccie of the tangles of yarn at the back of the square but this is it after cutting the excess off!

basically I think I may need lots of clips so that I can keep the wool from tangling too much because you have to weave it in as you go - I think a large square would make a great cushion don't you think?  If anyone knows of a glaringly obvious easier way of doing this PlEaSe leave a comment!

I need to explore, explore, this technique further!

Oh I nearly forgot  'Little Kimbles' - that's the new nickname someone has given my daughter after sending in her first square to Mrs Twins, and she is delighted to be part of the crochet community.

Have a great day

Speak soon xx

Decopatch Mirror

Hi folks - hope  you all had a great weekend - it disappears too quickly - Friday night I did some more of my rug whilst trying to get even the tiniest bit of a hint of whats going on in "LOST"  my youngest and hubby and I watch each episode and are always frustrated by the end of the hour - with cries of "omg what's going on now!" 

Its still emerging, slowly  slowly (a bit like LOST!)

Thanks for all the lovely comments last week about the decopatch, and about my daughter sending a square to Mrs Twins - my daughter said she felt 'famous' and pleased with the response! Also a warm welcome to the new followers who have joined me over the last week, don't hesitate to leave a comment - nice to hear from  you and I will visit your blog if you  have one! 

Sunday evening was decopatch evening!  I found this in a charity shop on Friday for a couple of pounds and thought it was JuSt the thing for a makeover - its an IKEA small mirror.

I can't tell you how theraputic this craft is - Lucy kindly told me that you get a better finish by tearing the paper so that's what I have done this time - tear and stick, tear and stick - soooo soothing.  Hooked in Hove
has some lovely pictures on her blog of decopatch projects she has done too - so take a peek. This is the mirror completed.

I emphasised the the flower pattern with patch liner, which you dab on and it dries hard. 

I am really pleased with the outcome - hope you like it too.   Think I will rummage around at the next jumble sale our village has - bound to find some poor cast out items I could recycle and bring back to life with colourful decopatch!

Speak soon xx

The Delights of Decopatch☻

Morning all you lovelies out there in bloggie land, hope you are all well, I am feeling really excited today because last night I spent a whole evening doing Decopatch.  If you read Lucy's blog (and lets face it who doesn't 'cos she's a star!), you may remember she did some decopatch before christmas and before baby B arrived. I thought at the time how nice it looked, anyway to cut a long story short a few weeks ago I went to a craft fair in Brighton and lo and behold there was the decopatch stand, details to be found here.  Of course I just HAD to treat myself, and last weekend I tried it out on some small key rings.

You basically cut up special decorative papers and then you glue them on to whatever you wish with this special glue which has like a varnish in it too, so it dries shiny and the colours become more vibrant.

So last night ........I had the house to myself......... so out came the glue, papers, scissors and brush

and I started cutting and sticking.......

it was ToTaLLy absorbing and relaxing......I just loved it!!!

I alternated papers for a bit of variety and Ta Dah!!!!

This is going to hang on my wall by my computer, to make me chuckle on gloomy days!

Oh, but that isn't all, I just HAD to look around for something else to decopatch over, you can use most things, but I didn't think hubby would appreciate me covering chairs, table etc! 

Then I found this drab little bucket which had had some pretty flowers in it once upon a time.

I decided to experiment and use the pretty green and white gingham paper

and  Ta Dah!

It needed something to finish it off .......

Isn't it pretty and springlike?  Now I am thinking this would be good for either Mother's Day or as Easter presents.

At the end of the evening I really didn't want to put my brush down, but I will have to find some suitable items to cover ..........watch out cat!! 

Speak soon xx