Still busy

Life is still incredibly busy and getting in the way of my crafty time. But I'm doing a little crochet here and there. My latest project is still very small and much cooler to work under than the monster. LOL

 In between chores this morning I also pin basted the next bunch of nine patches. Wish I had time to sew them today.

Right, I'm off, a quick lunch and I'm outta here.

Catch Up.

What beautiful weather we're having here in the good old British Isles. I could get used to this. There is a down side though, it's far too hot to sit under my big crochet blanket. Look! See how big it's getting, 38 inches. I bought some more yarn for it, but as I said, it's just too warm to play here at the moment, so I've put it away for a while.

 You know me though, I can't sit and do nothing when I'm watching TV with my Hunney. So I started a smaller project. The colours are a bit off in this picture, the blue and cream are ok, but that green on the end is way off and no matter what I try, I can't get it right. 

 This project will go into my hope chest. I hope one day to have grand children! LOL

Mr Heron has been a bit slack lately in the flowers department, so when I saw this big jug begging for a loving home in a local charity shop, I knew it had to come home with me. We arrived via the florist and a huge bunch of Lisanthus and gypsy. 

I'm off to bask in the sunshine.

Fun Time

As I suggested earlier today in the last post, I had me some fun time today. I made a few more of my Black, white and grey blocks. These are a few shops own charm packs. I'm waiting for more to arrive, but they will be special charms, Janice offered to send some of her off cuts from a recent, similar coloured project. Thank you Janice.

 I also had time to make a start on the quilting, just simple stuff, echoing the seams. I'm using up that nasty polyester batting I learned my lesson about, so wanted to keep things simple. Besides, if you know me, then you know that less is more!! In an effort to inject a little more colour, I'm using some variegated thread which has a lot of red in it.

Then, I couldn't resist putting two blocks together, using a quilt as I go method.

I cut strips of black to 1.5 inches wide then pressed the edges to the middle of the strip, I sewed it on as usual right sides together with a quarter inch seam. The using a 2.5 inch strip of red, with it's edges pressed to the middle, I top stitched it into place on the front. 

Works for me.  :-)

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I stopped there for lunch, then quickly put in a row of my crochet. Now it's time to get ready for work.

Postcards

When I was a child, I remember seeing a series of post cards. and I was reminded of those cards yesterday. There were three cards in the set. One was a glossy yellow, with a beautiful glow and bore the words, 'The Isle of Man in the Sun', another was pure black, it said, 'The Isle of Man at Night'. The third one in the set was grey, it depicted the Isle of Man in the fog, so when this lot rolled in off the sea yesterday, I was very much reminded of that card.

 Not only the hills, but half of the town seemed to disappear into the fog.

 We did have some rather weak and hazy sunshine yesterday, but I was happy to wake up to clear skies this morning.

I'm working a late shift today, but plan to have fun with my morning before going in.

Repair Jobs.

My brothers MIL recently had a small household disaster and as a part of the clean up, they came across this. Apparently Granny was an avid crocheter. This beautiful twin bed size Afghan has been loved so much it's beginning to fall apart. 

 As well as this huge hole which goes across the whole width of the blanket, there are several smaller holes.

 I said I would TRY to fix it. My plan is to find a yarn colour that hasn't already been used in this scrappy beauty.

 So that hopefully my repairs will blend in, but will all be the same and recognisable.

There are lots more holes, every time I look at it I see more. Some are tiny. Wish me luck.

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My own crochet monster continues to grow. I'm still resisting the urge to throw it over the bed to see how much longer I need to make it. I do know that I will have to get the clicky finger busy and buy some more of the yarn though. Boy did I ever under estimate!!

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I have a late shift today, and loads to do before I get in the rest of my me time.

Me Time!!

After the boring curtains came some play time. I finally made my way back to my Black, white and grey patches. I still have a few more blocks to make, but I was itching to play with my new square ruler.

 The angle is a little more obvious on the top picture, but here's a closer look anyway. Nothing especially clever, just a 12 inch square ruler set at an angle on some 14.5 inch nine patch blocks.

I'm off to get my clicky finger busy, I think I may need a couple more packets of these charms as I changed plans and decided to use less red. 

It's curtains!

The problem with going on holiday is, you have to come home again!! We're settling back into our routines and our work. I was barely through the door when I was presented with two pairs of curtains. Will I take them up please. One of the respite rooms is having a face lift, but we need them done by next Wednesday. So I get to spend my day off work, doing stuff for work!

 I can't have you leaving having seen only boring beige curtains, so here's a look at the beautiful orchid my Hunney bought me as an Easter gift.

There were a lot more buds, but I forgot and left her feet in water for a day or two. Bad Loulee, orchids like to be well drained.

Right, where is my seam ripper, I have 30 feet of curtain tape to remove.

Home Again

We're back. Phew, that was an epic trip. As I said before we left, that wasn't a relaxing holiday. We were up before 06.30 most days and frequently on the road before 08.00. We has a fantastic time, despite the content of the tour. I won't bore you with billions of photos. Between us we took nearly 1500. Maybe once we've had a chance to sort them out a little I'll post some pretty scenic shots.

For today you'll have to settle with proof that I really did do some crochet. We had beautiful weather for most of the way, so it was pretty hot under a blanket, but I managed 16 rows.

 At 45 - 60 minutes a row, on a moving bus I think that's pretty good going.

And as proof that we met some great people.....

The Dark Side. 

So called because the boys took a liking to the very dark German beers.