Small cheerful chair throw

Here I am showing off my latest very cheerful chair throw - three lovely colours of Adriafil Regina yarn (100% merino wool) in Deep Yellow (046), Dark Orange (035) and Lilac (033). The photo below shows it just after blocking with the pins removed which highlights the border.

To make it I combined the Sunflower Square (motif #34 on page 87) from Betty Barnden's book 75 Crocheted Floral Blocks and Edie Eckman's Border #24 on page 70 of Around the Corner Crochet Borders. The individual motifs were hand sewn together using back loops only, I really don't like sewing that much but it wasn't too bad, put a film on the DVD player and just get on with it! Absolutely typically, I have since discovered a crochet method of joinig that I probably would've used instead. I don't think it would've been any quicker but next time I have to join motifs like this I think I will try Dedri's zipper method as there's not a sewing needle in sight!

Crochet Lace Curtain

I am very pleased with the way this lace curtain has turned out which I made for the ensuite bathroom. It's my own pattern and made in linen purchased from LinenSpirit on Etsy

Here's a close-up of the lace. It's my own design but very easy once you get going on it. I'm going to write up the pattern and put it up as a free download on my Ravelry projects list when I get round to it.

The lace curtain is held up by using a tension rod which I purchased from an an Amazon shop called speedy. They're really easy to fit, just push and pull them to the length you require. They're only really suitable for very lightweight net curtains (or handmade lace!) This photo also shows a close-up of the heading which I also designed myself.

I really like the shadows that are cast onto the curtain when the weather is sunny outside. It's another one of those small things that can make you happy.

Here's an overall shot without the chair in the way which also shows the little fishes that I have swiming by on the wall, more little things that make me happy!

I've been doing more crochet recently than knitting which is unusual for me. I've just purchased some more yarn and am currently working on some cushions for my lounge.

I have a really colourful small blanket which I finished recently to be used as a chair throw, I've still got to block that so pictures will follow when it's done.

Sometimes the littlest things make you happy

I noticed how nice the blue flowers of borage looked against the colour of the new flight of garden steps that Geoff is building and it made me smile (and want to take a picture!)

Here's a close up showing the true prettiness of these flowers ... the bees really love them and they look so pretty on a plate of salad or floating in a glass of Pimms. So glad summertime has returned a little to England. Lets hope we squeeze a bit more warm weather out this season!

House update and first outdoor tomatoes!

These are the first outdoor tomatoes I have grown in the garden of our not-so-new house. I can't believe it's been over eighteen months since we moved in. I don't have a greenhouse yet, that has been one of the projects keeping us very busy over the summer. Got several things half way through. The greenhouse base is built, got to put up the fence, make a low retaining wall at the back and actually buy and put up a greenhouse.

The hallway has had a new entrance door and screen. Inside, the hallway has been drylined and matchboarded to cure some rising damp.  Here is the wonderful Martin laying the new oak flooring.  Since this photograph, it's been half decorated with a little joinery for Martin to finish off when we get round to getting all the materials for it.

Geoff's study, soon to be the dining room has been completely dry lined (including the ceiling!) and replastered. I've done two coats of plain white emulsion on the walls (to seal them) and 3 on the ceiling. So the ceiling is finished but got to choose a colour scheme for the walls and the room in general now. Jobs to do: refit radiator, fix skirting board and windowboard, fireplace surround to be fitted. Here is the "before" shot.

The main bathroom has had a load of boxing in done but one of the pipes has developed a slow leak and is seeping out underneath so some of the boxing in has to be removed for the plumbing to be fixed before I can decorate in there.

Kitchen is virutally done though, still a few soft furnishing touches and a doubled glazed window pane which has gone all cloudy to be replaced but the curtains were finished a couple of months ago

New garden steps are half built, slowly but surely, step by step our stairway to heaven is taking shape ....

However, here's one thing that we have finished today, two chicken and tomato sandwiches (complete with the obligatory salad cream!)

I've been using Facebook far too much, I do hope my blog will forgive me for neglecting it to a shameful degree. It's not you, it's me. I promise I will treat you better in the future my lovely, beautiful blog, do you still love me?!

RIP Spike - with us every summer until 2014

I'm very sad to write that Spike, our tortoise who has been with us every summer for over 30 years died a few days before Easter. He'd come out of hibernation as usual at the Spring equinox in March. It takes a couple of days to get his appetite back, we put him outdoors on warm days and always bring him in at night until there's no danger of frost. During bad weather and potentially frosty nights he lived in a big box with a heat and daylight lamp.

On the Wednesday, he was off his food but it's not unusual in the first few weeks for his appetite to be sporadic so I wasn't too concerned but when we got up on the Thursday he was gone.

When we first got him, the vet estimated his age at around 40 so he was over 70 when we lost him. I can only imagine it was old age, I'm not sure exactly how long tortoises live in captivity. You don't get much back from a tortoise in the way of love, cuddles and companionship and so I've found it surprising how much I am missing him.

Except for the first year or two of married life, Spike has been on guard in every garden of every house we have lived in every summer and his welfare was woven into my daily routine to such an extent that I permanently feel I've forgotten to do something. In the morning if he was indoors overnight, I would turn on his lamp to warm him up a little before he went out with some cucumber. After making every set of beads, I pick choicest dandilions and buttercups and other such tasty morsels for him to eat. He will graze from the lawn itself when he was hungry but as he got older, his mobility slowed a little. Of course when he was indoors, he couldn't graze and so was dependent on me delivering his meals.

Before it got dark, we would have to search for Spike to bring him in ... in all of our gardens he had three or four places he would dig in for the night but of course, we couldn't leave him out if the weather was going to be cold or wet so we had to bring him in. I can remember him surprising us a few times by him finding somewhere new and we would have to play hide and seek. Dinner was delayed several times for this reason every summer!

Over the years I have bought and constructed what I have thought to be the perfect places for him to overnight but he never used any of them for more than a night or two! He preferred to dig his own holes hidden and sheltered by foliage and use those so in the end we left him to it barring bad weather.

As you know, we've moved around quite a bit in the last few years. In the last couple of gardens, we have not had any plantains or hawkbit for him to eat and variety is obviously important in any diet so I used to pick them when out walking Missy and store them in the fridge like a prepacked salad. I cannot count the number of times I've had funny looks from passersby as I bent down to pick weeds and put them in my pocket! Even though he's been gone a couple of weeks now, I think of him every time I see a nice patch of plantains - I'm so much in the habit now of looking for them, I don't think that's going to go away any time soon.

He only had one summer here but he had a favourite sunbathing spot and that's where we buried him.

The tribute over his grave is made up of the first mowing of the lawn after he died, the idea being that the clippings are the last bits of greenery that he crawled over and then topped up with an abundance of dandilion flowers, he always absolutely loved dandilion flowers, they were the bestest of best things for Spike. 

Goodbye old friend, we miss you. Rest in peace xxxxxx