Crochet goodness

I've been getting back into learning to crochet. So far, I've made 3 scarves, a few flowers, and some granny squares.

As spring was coming, I wanted to make something in springy, zesty colours, so I purchased some Debbie Bliss cotton and learnt how to make granny squares. I've made 9, just enough for the front of a cushion cover.



And I'm doing stripes for the back.


I've got a plan for the flowers that includes pipe cleaners!

Now, where was I?

Aah yes, I was going to show you some pictures of my little jaunt to Wells and Exeter. I'm afraid that despite my dad's love of photography, I haven't inherited his skill and it would appear (according to hubby) that I took the pictures with the indoor lighting mode on, hence the blue tinge to the first few pictures!

Anyway, without further ado:

Some lovely little houses by Wells cathedral. I loved the fact that there was a gate in the wall like the entrance to a secret garden and beyond the gate, the houses and gardens looked as if they were stopped in time.



Wells cathedral



Some of the carvings at the front


Exeter Custom House


One of the antique shops on the Quay


The House that Moved. Apparently, it was in the way of a new road, so it was moved to where it is now!


I loved the look of this alley, loved the pattern that the steps and cobbles made.


And how gorgeous is this building?


Here's a close-up. I love the pattern the tiles make.


There were some great shops in Exeter too and I've just discovered that one of my favourite ones has a blog. Knowing this could be costly!

Another long gap between posts.

Be prepared for another long post. Make a cuppa!

I'd like to blame it on the long hazy days of summer, but as people in the UK know, that's just wishful thinking!
No, it's been cold, wet and gloomy for most of the summer. I don't know if I suffer from SAD
but if the weather is gloomy for too long, I feel gloomy too and tend to go into hibernation mode. That's why I always look forward to Spring and Summer despite loving the traditions of Autumn and Winter.

So, there have been lots of things that I've wanted to talk about and yet I didn't feel like typing out posts.

I do hope you'll forgive me.

Firstly, I'd like to thank those of you who posted birthday wishes for my daughter. She recently saw them and posted a thanks too. :)

I mentioned in my second to last post about a train journey that I was going on. I was going to Bristol to meet up with a couple of online friends. One from Canada and one from the UK.

We've known each other for nearly 6 years and when Herb (our Cannuck friend) told us she was visiting we had to arrange to meet up!

So, we all booked into the same B&B (nice B&B, If I go to Exeter again I'll stay there again.) and I arranged to meet Herb in Bristol where she was staying overnight.

We met up after a hiccup with Herb finding the station (if you've ever driven around Bristol, you'll understand, then add to that someone driving a right hand drive car when they're used to the left, on what would be the wrong side of the road) and went to Wells.

We spent most of our time there in the cathedral, oohing and aahing at the architecture. :)
I do have some photos, but they're currently on my other pc (I'm using a laptop in order to try and save electricity) so I'll upload them later.

Drove on to Exeter where we met up with our other friend and my hubby.

It wasn't a whole weekend away, just one night. Hubby and I got back late Saturday night (would have been earlier but for the fact that we were using public transport and it was a shambles.) but it was really nice to be able to get away and meet up with friends who I've known online for years but never met in real life.
And I have to add, that all of the people who I've met online and become friends with, when I've met them, I've never felt that my friendship was wrong.

Anyway, Hubby and I decided that we really like Exeter (we played the game that goes *what house would you live in? what shops would you buy from?*) The shops are really interesting and if hubs had driven down we'd have been able to pick up a few bits that we couldn't bring back on the train, like the old, very long enamel sign warning people that if they didn't close the gate they would be fined 40 shillings.
(Our postman always leaves the gate open, despite knowing that we have a dog. We would have loved to have seen his face seeing that sign on our gate!)

Oh, and I almost forgot! In one of the charity shops I spied a lovely fabric. I was thinking that it could be used for curtains in the hall, but upon investigating it, I found it to be a Sanderson double quilt cover with Oxford pillowcases. For £5.

Of course I bought it.

I love it, even though it doesn't go with our bedroom colours!

Well, I think that's enough for this post.

I shall regale you in my next post about jam and piccalilli making.

(and hopefully upload some photos)

23 Years Ago Today

I gave birth to my daughter.

Happy Birthday K. Love you. :)

My husband is mad!

So, I finally got to a car boot sale. Yay! Unfortunately, I didn't find any goodies. Not yay.

Hubby and I made our way to our favourite one, hoping that it had started for this year. It had, although it wasn't as busy as it normally is. Hubby found a couple of bits and then we decided to head off to Cardiff to go to another boot fair.

When we parked up and started walking to the next one, we bumped into Samantha with her boys and the gorgeous Arthur who is such a sweet little thing.
I noticed Samantha was empty handed, so didn't hold out much hope of finding anything, as we seem to go after similar things, and my hunch was right. However, again, hubby found some bits, including a copy of a flight helmet. He asked how much it was and the guy said he wanted £20 for it. Hubby walked away.
After we'd been around the rest of the stalls, and people were starting to pack away, he went back, told the guy that he only had £5 and would he take that for the helmet. Score!
And here it is:


So, hubby spent the rest of the afternoon when we got home, sitting on the sofa wearing his new helmet! Yes. The. Whole. Afternoon!(He is a bit mad, that's one of the reasons I love him!)

It now fits rather neatly in our new TV unit, along with all the consoles and other geeky nic-nacs.



We spent the bank holiday monday getting some garden things and demolishing the old playhouse that was in the garden. It was too rotten to salvage, so we're getting a proper shed to take its place. Then I'll be able to get all the tools and DIY stuff out of the house. At the moment, they're cluttering up the hall, bedroom, dining room and kitchen as we don't have anywhere else to put them (no understairs cupboard and the loft hatch is too small to even climb through-that's another project planned).

On the crafty front, I haven't got around to doing any more of my crocheted scarf, but I have taken a picture of it.



I'm really rather pleased with my first attempt at crochet. I'm finding it really enjoyable and a lot easier than knitting.

I've got an hour long train journey on Friday,(more about that in another post) so I'll take my crochet with me to pass the time.

Gosh, it's been a long time.

I hadn't intended to leave the blog for so long. Actually, I hadn't intended to leave it at all, but my pc started playing up and I was offline for about a month, then life got busy and I got out of the habit of blogging.

So, I'll just jump right back in with both feet and tell you what I've been doing lately.

Like, learning to crochet. I bought just 3 balls of Debbie Bliss' cashmerino wool a few months ago, and finally got around to sitting down with wool, hook and instructions just over a week ago.
The resulting scarf is almost finished, I'm just adding a picot edging. I've been really enjoying doing this. It's great to have something I can do whilst sitting watching TV with hubby.

Of course, now I've almost finished that, I have another project planned. With a few ebay wins of some more wool (cotton angora this time) I have enough to make a ripple blanket. Can't wait to get started on that!

Another first for me was making marmalade. One of the books that hubby got me for Christmas had an easy recipe for marmalade, so when seville oranges were in season, I had a go. And it was a success! Yummy homemade marmalade! The original recipe said it made about 23lbs but that the amounts could be halved. I didn't think that I would be able to get through that much marmalade, so I halved the recipe. Should have made the full amount because I'm now down to my last two jars!
I'll have a go at jam next-strawberry season is nearly here.


This weekend (weather permitting, which of course with it being a bank holiday weekend, the weather will probably be wet and windy!) I'm hoping to go to my favourite car boot fair. There is an indoor all year round one near us, but it seems to be mostly people selling their baby stuff and kids toys, so we don't go there very often. Our favourite one is in a great location with views across the Bristol Channel to Somerset and Devon, and there are loads and loads of stalls selling all kinds of wonderful items. It was where I got those bolts of fabric and the old sewing box amongst other things.
Oh, I hope the weather is good!

Anyway, it's good to be back. I'll get some photos to upload tomorrow when it's not dark.

Yarr!

Avast, it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day today! Have fun me hearties, yarr!