Lovely morning

i just love it when you wake up and the sun is streaming through the window - just makes makes me want to leap out of bed - well, almost. its a pleasure to be outside even at the crack of dawn haying up the horses. at that time of the morning where we live its so quiet and you can hear the birds singing and feel the sun on your face - sorry, am getting a bit lyrical!

Things are starting to grow in the garden and some flowers, as well as the daffs, are appearing

and things are stirring in the greenhouse its only a broad bean! but nonetheless - its growing!!! even tho the only ones who eat the damn things are hubby and eldest son!

i am determined this week to get to grips with some of my unfinished projects! i am working on this

its going to be a slouch sock when its finished - i hope - part of my startitis sock club!

am still struggling with this crochet lark - if you are an expert look away now!

had a go at double crochet and a circle! my aim is to make a bag as in this lovely blog - such lovely goodies! but at the rate i'm going it might take rather a long time - however i'm not going to give up!

well before i can do any sewing i think i may have to attempt a bit of housework, just to show willing - and probably some washing as hubby running out of shirts!!!

have a lovely day.

xx

Decisions to be made

The weather has been so lovely the last week or so its been a joy to be out and about with the horses. They are loving it - at last they can have their rugs off and have a good roll and start to get rid of their winter coats!

this pic was taken at the start of the nice weather - within half an hour Iona had her rug off and has not had it back on since - she is very woolly and moulting like mad! unfortunately she has come out of the winter with a cough so she's on medication and cannot be ridden at the moment.

We have been starting to get them fit over the last month or so - we gave them the winter off as both Em and I were working and the weather was so horrible - i've gone past the days when i want to hack out in the pouring rain and blowing gale!

Unfortunately now we have to make up our minds as to what we are going to do with Em's two horses as she will be going off to Uni in the autumn and i'm just not going to have time to look after 5 horses alone! She does not want to sell them (and neither do i as they are part of our family) so the next option is to put them on loan with a good home. This is a lot harder than it sounds - firstly her little pony Mitch is a bit of a character putting it mildly! there is no harm in him but he is full of life and can often buck when going into canter as he finds it all very exciting. Although small he can carry an adult quite happily and rides bigger than he looks. He loves jumping and we find that the more work he does the better he goes. So it will have to be a very confident child or small adult who takes him on.

look at that little face - he is so handsome and looks amazing when bathed and groomed - a real show off.

Pye is a different character altogether - much more laid back

mind you, when he wants to go he can certainly get a move on! he too is a good showjumper and would give someone loads of fun. he also has a habit of escaping out of his stable - he undoes the bolt if we forget to put a catch on it!

caught in the act - almost!

Anyway for the moment i'm trying not to think of them going and am concentrating on getting them fit and having a lovely summer (hopefully!)

Right now its time to get them in, give them a feed, groom them and then Em is going to exercise them in the little school we have - and not forgetting poo picking!!! oh joy!

Hoping to find time for a bit of this later

but am crubbish at it and am finding the lingo a nightmare!! why can't they do it in plain english!

have a lovely day.

xx

Happy Mothers Day/i did it!

A very Happy Mothers' Day to you all - are you all being spoilt - breakfast in bed, flowers, cards? ha ha, i hear you say! Well to make you feel better if, like me, you are not, mine are all still in bed - well it is only half eight i suppose! I have had a card from my eldest - he gave it to me on Wednesday (he doesn't live at home) in case he forgot - as he did last year - in fact, they all forgot last year!!! have i been prompting this year? just a little!

Anyway, onwards and upwards - don't know why i said that - where does phrase come from i wonder? Crocheting - i have been watching, with not a little envy, all the lovely crocheting that is going on in blogland at the moment. Some absolutely gorgeous creations and colours. i have been trying, unsuccessfully, to teach myself from a book but gave that up as a bad job! I was talking about this to a lovely lady in a shop and the upshot was i popped back in the other day and she showed me how to get started and i made this -

its meant to be a little flower, a bit wonky i know, but i was thrilled. However on getting home i find i can do the chain - having big problems with tension but we won't go into that now - but can i do what looks like a flower, can i heck! So Lesley, if you are reading this, you may rethink your kind offer because i'm not going to be an easy pupil!!! on the upside i really, really want to master this!

I love getting parcels and yesterday i received the most beautiful, generous gift from a lovely lady called Dionne. Her daughters had seen some wristwarmers i had made on one of my posts and said how nice they were so i offered to make them some and duly posted them off. I think i definitely came off best as the gifts i received were amazing! First was the envelope they came in

how pretty is that, and when i opened it, there were all these lovely goodies

there were two thank you cards from Dionne's daughters, a key ring from Hawaii, a lovely shell necklace and some absolutely gorgeous fabric! and that's not all

there was this lovely garland which will be hanging over my mirror in my bedroom! Thank you so much Dionne for such generosity.

Its such a beautiful morning here that i feel the need to rush out and do some seed planting in the greenhouse before the weather goes all murky again . i did buy some tomato plugs last weekend but the frost the night before last was so hard it killed them off!! so i think there may be another trip to the garden centre!

well i hope you all have a lovely day.

xxxxxx

bits and pieces!

Bit of a jumble of things today, a bit like how i'm feeling really! I don't know if its because spring is in the air but at the moment i just can't seem to settle at any one thing! I whizz about doing one thing and then go off at a tangent and start doing something else! and not just crafts either - even housework!



I am feeling slightly virtuous as i did have a good go at the housework yesterday - dusted, hoovered, washed floors, did loads of washing and even, i may add, some ironing, yuk! so i decided i deserved a treat and bought these
they are soo pretty, and don't flowers just make you feel better!

There is one room i have not tackled yet and there is a good reason for this, because everytime i do i find a book or an unfinished project and start pfaffing with that! this is my sewing area - its such a mess - if you are a very tidy person, look away now!

my mother would be sooo disappointed in me! but i will tackle it today, ... ,maybe.

Surprises - i had a lovely parcel come yesterday - it was from Lesley, i had won a competition on her post!

such gorgeous fabric and buttons and a lovely card which is a design her mum had painted - how fantastic is that! thank you sooo very much Lesley.

One project i have to finish today because its been driving me nuts is with this oilcloth -

my machine hates it and keeps jamming - have covered up the feed dogs but that means i have to sew it more or less freehand and i just can't keep it straight enough! i was talking to a friend about it and she said try putting paper underneath and then just rip it off afterwards! well, brilliant - why didn't i think of that!

and finally, i have bought some of this - to make these --

i have never attempted socks before but the sock startitis club has inspired me!

am having to rush now as this b....y computer has blacked out twice whilst i have been doing this post! time to start saving for a new one i think!

have a lovely weekend!

xxxxx

Meet Matilda!

She's finished! it was such a horrible afternoon yesterday, absolutely hammering down with rain and blowing a gale so it was the perfect excuse to do some sewing. Firstly i did Matilda's hair - had no idea how to go about it so just played about with some wool. and then the face - i had drawn it loads of times as i so did not want to get it wrong - anyway i think she turned out okay in the end. i think i might just do a little patchwork quilt of her own to send with her and hopefully get her off to the Toy Society by the end of the week! well here she is - please bear in mind that i have never made a doll before so be gentle with me!!!

i also did some stitcheries which i had been meaning to do for the last couple of weeks, plus a little heart pic

hopefully someone might like this for mother's day!
this was a commission for a little person's birthday.

and this is the little heart applique.

I love doing these and its such a lovely feeling when someone buys something you have made - i don't know about you but i always feel so critical about my own stuff ! there's always something i feel i could have done a bit better!

Right, back to reality, better go and muck out the horses - we brought them into their stables last night as the weather was awful and there's not a lot of shelter in the paddocks. but the sun is shining now so i had better make the most of it.

xxxx

frustration!!!

God i hate computers! (actually i had better say that in a whisper otherwise mine will probably go awol again!) they are sooo frustrating, especially when i am technophobic! one minute it was okay and the next.... nothing!! the odd beep and that was it! first it was something to do with the modem, then the broadband thingy (yes, we had paid the bill!). But at the moment, all is calm!
sorry if i've not replied to emails - now you know the reason why and i will be in touch asap!

Am now going to spend the next hour or so catching up on what you've all been doing - got my cuppa at the ready and lots of toast - heaven!

Firstly however i have been v.v. naughty! i did say i would not buy any more fabric or yarn - wrong! bought this the other day

just gorgeous - so did make a couple of cushions yesterday.

then i bought this

the hank is Mirasol llama - it is the most softest wool i have ever felt - just amazing and i had to have it! the Rowan KSH was a bargain at £5 so that found its way into my bag too!

On the knitting front i finished some wristwarmers for two lovely people and they are winging their way to the USA - i will show pic later in case they have not arrived yet!

i wanted to make something for the Toy Society to send to Australia so i thought i have never made a doll so i'd give it a go. Turns out there's a very good reason i've never made dolls and thats because i'm no good! my attempt was at this stage

i started to get an inkling at this point that things were not going well - however i persevered and am now at this stage - (its taken about 2 weeks!)

just face and hair to do - but am worried about doing the face as it could mess up the whole doll - don't want her to frighten anyone! so will be practising a lot on bits of fabric first!

well am going to catch up with you all now - final pic - these lovely flowers - was wedding anniv yesterday!

xxx