50th Post and Give-away

Well here I am on 50 posts already and as promised a bit of celebration by sharing a few goodies.  First you may remember I knitted 2 Isis and Giotto shawls and I knitted two because one is to give away.  Hopefully one of you will enjoy a bit of snuggly warmth.

By the way if you ever want to see all my knitted projects pop over to my ravelry page here.  The winner will also get a choice of books, either Helen Phillip's lovely cross-stitchn projects or a rather wacky Alice in Wonderland (which you will like if you like Mollie Makes.

There's also some fabric, a vintage tray cloth, chocolates and some buttons and binding.

 There will also be a second place which will have a book, two balls of wool (enough to knit a scarf) and some other suprises.

To enter all you need to do is leave a comment - and if you are a follower you will get an extra entry!  Good chance of winning so have ago.  The draw for the winner will take place on 19th November.

What else I have been up to.  Still working on my cross-stitch, which seems to be taking ages.  Sometimes I have enjoyed making a project and not been too happy with the result, when I've been really lucky I've enjoyed the making and the result.  This one, I love the result, but not enjoying the process as much because it is very slow.  Using 18 count Aida rather than 14 has really slowed me down (not to mention not so easy for my poor old eyes to see!) but I think it will be worth it in the end.

I've also finished my Mollie Makes pinnie!  After getting MollieMakes for over a year this is the first thing I have made!  I really loved this fabric which is by Michael Miller  and you can get from here.  I  enjoyed making this - though I think you can probably spot the bib is a little big.  I also did get a bit lost with the instructions and sort of made it up in the end.    Good practice too, as I intend to have a bash at making clothes soon (wide-leg trousers here I come!)

And because I had a new pinny I thought a bit of baking was in order.  I used my lovely new vintage TG Green mixing bowl, bought at the vintage fair last week.

.. and whipped up a batch of sticky toffee traybakes (this is a great recipe) and from the TV series I've been enjoying (The Home of Fabulous cakes) some blueberry, yoghurt cupcakes ... displayed on a vintage cake stand (also bought at the fair).

I didn't eat these all myself and there have been a few cakes given to friends and colleagues.  I also enjoyed a trip to the cinema to see Skyfall (the lastest Bond).  Theres something about Bond films which take me right back to being young!  Lots of action, quite a few laughs, a good baddy and of course Daniel Craig isn't bad either!

.... and we've had every season here in Cumbria   ... you can just about see the snow on the fells here and the rainbow after the rain (not to mention the sleet which had just fallen and some spots of lovely sun).

Hoping you have had some sunny, crafty spells to enjoy too!

So long summer

Thanks for the comments on my trip to Lewes which were lovely to read!

The last week of my holiday has flown past and I've now returned to work and as usual some new challenges.  It's amazing how quickly you get out of your work routines and into new ones which involve tea in bed, lots of crafting and other self-indulgences.  Still I'm very lucky to have the job I have and to work for a great organization so I'm sure I'll be back in the swing fairly quickly.

The weather has been so bad that it's been difficult to get any decent photos but inbetween showers I've managed to snatch a few.

There have been a few colourful dishes from my new Rose Eliot cookbook 30 minute vegetarian meals. 

I actually timed how long it took me .... definitely more than 30 minutes.  First time I have ever cooked beetroot from scratch ... delicious!

I finished my new green bolero shown a few blogs ago.  As I also mentioned I snapped a bit of a bargain dress at the Manchester Cath Kidson shop and when I got it home and looked at the colours I immediately thought how great the lime green Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmero wool would look with it.  So I trawled Ravelry and found a bolero pattern (available here bonnie bolero).  I really enjoyed this knit.  Its actually knitted in one piece (although you cast on from the middle and then pick up and knit from the cast on and knit in the opposite direction).  It's not perfect and I probably should have knitted the next size but I do really like it and if it washes OK this is one pattern I will knit again.

... and just enjoying a rare cuppa and cake in the garden  (my favourite lemon meringue cake) ... and thankfully Rosie's coat has grown a little!

Rosie and Tess will do anything for cake (or any food come to that).

While in the garden I'll just show you the vintage cup tea-lighters bought in Lewes which are now in the garden, although too wet to light.

I also made a little cross-stitch project which came free with Cross-stitcher magazine for a "Diary of an Ewardian Lady" bookmark which is quite sweet.

After my bright green bolero I've started an even brighter coloured jumper with the raspberry baby cashmero I picked up cheap on Ebay.

More details soon.  Well all for now - hope you are getting some sunny times wherever you are.

Reasons to be cheerful (part 2)

As previously mentioned another couple of treats came ... some more Debbie Bliss wool  (lousy photo but you get the idea)

More about what I am going to use this for later.  I also bought my first teapot!  Yes, I've always managed with a mug and a bag in the past, but I had this vision of a pot of tea in the garden, a good book and some sunshine.  So the pot arrived ... lovely ... I'm very into the vintage postmark look and love this teapot from Greengate.  It is, perhaps, a little big for one, so I'll just have to drink lots.  On Saturday it was sunny and what better way to christen my pot than move into the garden for a restful cuppa ... OK that was rather optomistic because the wind in Cumbria has been anything but restful

So as I was attempting to take a quick photo my vintage embroidered tablecloth was taking off and the next shot was as it landed in the cup of tea and I had to quickly rescue my pot incase it took off too!

The wind added an additional challenge to the weekend walks and Rosie adopted a wind-swept look ...

Weather aside it has been a good month; what colour!

I've just loved enjoying all these!  I've also had a successful making month.  I have made:

My first quilt

a stuffed rabbit

2 easter hearts

1 needlecase and 3 pincushions

a knitted jacket for me

a knitted baby cardigan

An hyacinth cross-stitch

and almosts finished a baby sampler

Wow ...I'm impressed with the quantity even if the quality wasn't always quite there. 

I've had two lovely weeks with Dan and Gemma and some lovely days out.  So all in all great!!  Hope May turns out as well.

So back to the wool.  I came across a fair-isle jumper pattern and suddenly felt an urge to have a go.  Now this is quite strange as the only fair-isle I have attempted before was a little smaller (and I seem to remember actually thinking I couldn't keep going for a whole adult garment).  This is a pattern from the lovely http://www.maryjanestearoom.com/ (some of the loveliest photos on the internet).



So here I am for some reason very tempted, perhaps a fair-isle jumper is the macaron of the cooking world ... a real challenge.  Anyway the wool would be a big investment ,so I made a deal with myself.  If I enjoyed knitting some handwarmers then I would go ahead.  So here I am almost finished

Generally I have enjoyed it.  My usual lack of attention to the pattern and not enough care in checking the row is right, has resulted in having to pull back quite a lot of rows (this is a lesson I need to learn) and I found making the edges neat difficult, but overall I am pleased and yes I'm going to give the jumper a go (and as you can tell by the opening photo I have actually bought half the wool).

Finally my day has been made by reading the lovely comments made by Gillian (http://www.talesfromahappyhouse.com/) who won the runner's up prize in my give-way.  I felt almost famous reading it and it's increased my confidence no end - I feel able to actually call myself a crafter.  I'm loving this blogging.... it's really brought something to my life (woops sorry to sounds a bit corny). 

Have a happy May.