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Over the last couple of years I’ve made dozens of crochet flowers to try out new patterns or yarn. When finished I’ve just put them into a bag and forgotten about them. I came across the bag a couple of weeks ago and in my drive to finish up ALL my projects before I start any more I decided to create my own everlasting, no more watering, always in bloom hanging basket and here it is!

I knitted a lining for it following Caroline Wilbor’s pattern on Ravelry. I then crocheted a brown circle for the top and stuffed the whole thing with toy filling.

A few hours were spent with an upholstery needle sewing on the flowers. I used my knitting mill to make the wibbly wobbly stems twining round around the hanging chains and sewed a few tiny flowers onto them.

It’s high enough to be out of the reach of the cats as they tend to swing around on anything that dangles!!

For those of you who are not into crochet here are some pics of a two legged mushroom I had for lunch yesterday!

Slainte

Linda xx

I came across this lovely crocheted wrap around cardi in an old Rowan magazine (number 49), it’s called Charm and it’s designed by Erika Knight. I fell in love with it and just had to make it. Only one problem, the pattern confused the heck out of me. It was all written without an accompanying diagram. I like a diagram so I can check where I am in the pattern cause I usually head off in bizarre directions with crochet!

I attempted the first row, then the second, ripped out the second, worked it again and tried the third row, halfway across, went wrong and ripped it back out again. Thought I’d got row 4, but I hadn’t. ripped it out again.  Ran screaming to the kitchen cupboard looking for the whiskey bottle.

I was in desperate need of help. Went on Youtube where I did find a tutorial on it but the lady did go a bit fast in certain places and my pause and rewind buttons were getting worn out. Visualising the rest of my life  spent in an institution for crocheters and knitters driven mad by confusing patterns I had one last place I could go for help.  I went online to my beloved Ravelry to see if I could find any references to the pattern. I found it featured in a few projects, one lady had written that she had given up on it, another lady wrote that she had to write out her own diagrams because the instructions were misleading. However I did find a post by the lovely Cupani aka Chris who had not only finished it but added a helpful comment about working row 2 and posted a link to a diagram of the stitch. The thought that another human being on the this planet had actually made the cardi really spurred me on.

Cupani’s beautiful finished cardi. See her gorgeous shawls at Chrissie Knits too Much

So this is it so far, only a few pattern repeats done so far, but I feel as if I’ve just split the atom!

Check back in a year and you never know, I might just have it completed!

Sláinte

Linda xx

My friend Claire has just given me an old fish tank she had no further use for, and being the lovely person she is she also bought me two Goldfish that I promptly christened Eric and Ernie.

Ernie is on the left and Eric is on the right. You can tell them apart as Eric has orange ‘lipstick’. Maybe I should have called him Erica!

They are absolutely adorable, they do everything together. In fact it was hard to get a picture of each one on its own.

Eric

Ernie

My cats were fascinated by them for approximately 5 minutes. Then realising they couldn’t get to them to give them a proper poke with the paw they lost interest in them. They are more fascinated with the bubbles coming from the airstone. The last time I had fish was when I was 12 and like most kids they were won at the local fete.

I’m growing more fond of Eric and Ernie every day, such lovely little characters. They are learning not to be scared of human fingers in the water as it usually means they are bringing food. Anyway they certainly bring me sunshine!!

Sláinte

Linda xxx

I’ve been debating with myself for ages about getting a ukulele. On the negative side I did get images flashing through my mind of George Formby singing “When I’m Cleaning Windows”. I’m even shuddering now thinking of that. However when I saw Garcia playing one on Criminal Minds it put a more positive slant on it. In true Garcia style she had pimped it with rhinestones and although she only got out one line of “Old McDonald Had a Farm” it turned negatives to positives for me.

I have a full size vintage acoustic guitar which is just a beautiful work of art and has fantastic tone, but I wanted something smaller to play and when I read Getchen “Gertie” Hirsch’s post on Ukulele Ladies I realised that a ukulele would fit the bill. Plus it is immensely portable, you could stuff it into a large handbag very easily. I have visions of whipping it out for impromptu concerts if I get bored waiting in lines at checkouts or at the post office!

I’ve got a beginner’s one from Amazon. It had a particularly helpful review submitted from a very knowledgeable and funny customer. Also it is purple which is one of my favourite colours so it just had to be! Here she is.

I have christened her “Gertie”. It’ll be a while before I’ll be posting anything on Youtube but I know I’m going to have so much fun with her which is really all I want from a musical instrument. Mind you I would like to learn “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and I did find an online tutorial for that. So far the Four Mouseketeers have ignored my renderings but did take turns to sit in the box it arrived in.

Here are a few vintage stylish Ukulele Ladies.

Greta Garbo

Marilyn Monroe

Lingerie Lady

Sláinte

Linda xx

This week I went for a couple of circuits of Cissbury Ring, an ancient Iron Age Hill Fort near Findon in Sussex.

I don’t go very often, but when I do I tell myself off for not going more! It’s very popular with dog walkers, so I get to pat quite a few! Today I met a couple walking 4 Collie dogs. As you know from a previous post Collies are my fav breed. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven!! There are two circular paths, one at the top which is narrow and chalky but has brilliant views over the Downs and a lower wider grassy one with loads of wildflowers and tweeters in bushes.

The banks and ditches which you see are are the remains of a vast defensive wall. It’s approximately one mile around taking the top path.

A welcome sight if you are still knackered from the climb up!

It’s great to imagine Neolithic tribes living here and mining the flint for their axes and arrowheads. Examples of Cissbury Flint have been found as far away as the Eastern Mediterranean. I sometimes think I must be walking the same paths as these ancients. I wonder what they would make of how it looks today.

Bird’s Eye View

Part of the surrounding area is farmland and you never know what you are going to find!!

Woodland Creatures!!

I’ll be taking my big camera up to see if I can get some shots of the famous round headed Rampion “Pride of Sussex”

Picture courtesy of Plantlife.org.uk
Can’t wait!

Sláinte

Linda xxxx

Thursday 25th April is Pay It Forward Day in the UK.

In case you haven’t heard of it, the idea of Pay It Forward is to do random acts of kindness for strangers for no payment but with the request that they do the same for others. The premise is that if everybody performed a random act of  kindness think how the world would become a much better place. A modern day take on Love thy Neighbour.

There is a film of the same name starring Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment. School teacher Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey) sets his class an assignment: they must each think up a way to make the world a better place. This prompts eleven-year-old Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) to develop the idea that instead of paying back good deeds, one should instead pay them forward. Putting his idea into practice, Trevor performs an act of kindness for three different people, requiring each of those three to perform three further kindnesses themselves. In doing so he starts a chain reaction which does indeed make the world a better place.

The UK site for Pay It Forward Day is here

Suggestions include buying a coffee for a stranger with the request that they do something in turn for another stranger. Paying for a parking space, giving someone an umbrella when it is bucketing down etc.

I would add

Give an old lady in the street a bunch of flowers (careful you don’t get accused of stalking!)

Give someone walking their dog a bag of doggie treats

Put some money in an envelope and anonymously post through a needy person’s door with a note that when they are able, they can pay it forward with a good deed

Go on, give it a try. You never know where it might lead!!

Sláinte

Linda xx

I was having a browse in my favourite charity shop, mainly looking for fabric when I came across this beauty

A dark lilac embroidered linen and silk skirt from Monsoon. I just love it and the price I paid for it – £5. As you can guess from my last post I’m a big fan of embroidered clothes. My grandmother was a professional ecclesiastical embroiderer making all sorts of church stuff from robes to wall hangings. So I think she must have had some influence on me. I wonder what she would have thought about my home embroidery machine.

It won’t be dry cleaned, it’ll be hand washed in soft wool detergent! It’s such a gorgeous floaty skirt, definitely a warm summer evening job. I keep getting it out of the wardrobe and gazing lovingly at it!

As Doctor Who is on later tonight I thought I’d also share my latest embroidered baby bib. It will accompany the Dalek bib. Now if I could only get hold of a Cyberman embroidery pattern!!

Sláinte

Linda xx

I’ve been taking a break from making things for my Etsy Shop and I’ve been making some stuff for me. Probably less making really and more of the embellishing. I have been looking for a replacement denim jacket for the one that went to textile heaven a while back. I found a beautiful new one in a charity shop for £4. Perfect fit and just gorgeous with it’s little zippy details.

Having fallen in love with Steampunk style I thought I would add a little something to the back. I kept telling myself it was going to be worth it while I was fighting with the embroidery hoop on my machine and getting the fabric properly positioned so I didn’t end up sewing the sleeve to the collar. And here it is – I really love it!

A closer view

It’s going to get a lot of wear this summer!  Meanwhile in another charity shop I found a chrome vegetable rack for the grand sum of £1.50. It’s now been sprayed pink and is home to my crochet yarns. I can’t claim the idea as mine – Lucy at Attic24 inspired me to have a go.

Lastly, I’ve just started watching Game of Thrones right back from the beginning. Loads of blood and gore and some very adult scenes! Ordinarily it would not be my choice of viewing, but I love all the stories and how they weave together. The scheming and plotting is fascinating, I wonder if they got inspiration from some of our politicians. I thought adding this embroidery design to a plain white tshirt would be a fitting tribute to the programme or I could wear it with a degree of cynicism next St Valentine’s Day!!!

Sláinte

Linda xx

I took myself off to West Dean Gardens to cheer myself up after Frisco’s passing. I always make for their fabulous greenhouses they always have wonderful things to look at.  This greenhouse has a beautiful cherry tree in bloom

In the tropical greenhouse I found the most perfect Coleus I’ve ever seen

Deep red Sedum rosettes

Weird orange flower

An espalier Fuchsia!!

Grape Hyacinths

And of course I found the resident pussycat!! We had a good ten minutes of chin tickling and ear scratching!

Some little lambs with their mums Look at the waggling tail of the little lamb towards the end! They are a bit far away so you might need a magnifying glass!

Lambs at West Dean Gardens, West Sussex

Sláinte

Linda xx