Back at the wheel...........

........ Literally

I've been struck down with a hideous virus, laid low in all ways. It's a hazard of working with small children! But I'm back behind the wheel now. 

 Back to work today armed with a supply of tissues and cough sweets, my life is so glamorous.
Now I feel I should warn you at this point, this is a looooong post.
Get yourself a cuppa and a little treat, get comfy, ready, here we go then!

So I've been back at my spinning wheel. Fighting this yarn once more, you may remember the sorry tale of the felted roving

I managed to spin some at the time.

Boy it was hard work.
Now I don't know what the logic was but I decided to get my spinning mojo back I'd spin some nearly impossible felt.
Yuh it was even harder than I remembered!
I thought my fingers were going to drop off.

I didn't worry too much about spinning it too fine and I found that drafting it by pulling it apart across the roving rather than along it's length made the job alot easier.

But I was very glad to see the back of it and to be honest it did serve the purpose of reminding me of all those little spinning tricks I've picked up over the past few months.

Best of all I ended up with something usable.

So after winding onto my niddy noddy(Did you notice my Lovely Man made it for me) and skeining it up I set the ply in the usual way.

Soaking gently in lukewarm water.

Rinsed again really gently no running water on it, I kind of hold my breath when I'm carrying out these delicate operations, because I really don't want to end up with more 

FELT!

Squeezed dry in a towel and left to dry in our spare room.

Finally the plied skein crocheted into a fancy pair of fingerless gloves for Lovely Man who suffers with cold fingers (It's a Parkinson's thing)

This is before the thumb was added!

Very pleased with this project.

And my mojo is back.

SPIN

SPIN

SPIN

Glorious BFL and silk mix.

Look how fine it wants to be!

Oh a dream to spin too, just flew out of my fingers.

A very lively single yarn

Soft and snuggly, destined to be a scarf for me.

I ordered some dyes from a lovely Etsy shop Sweet Gorgeous Things

They arrived super quick and I just HAD to give them a go.

Wow such vibrant colours from such a tiny amount of dye and so easy to use.

I made candyfloss colour!

Love it!

Anyway I think we're all caught up now, on the spinning front at least.

Hope I haven't bored you all too much, thanks for reading and commenting on my ramblings. 

It means alot to me!

What d'you fancy next time?

photos, crochet, cooking, gardening!

Lets wait and see what pops up shall we.

Love

♥Sue♥

Wonderful Weekend

 Oh what a glorious weekend we had here in the South of England.

I even put my shorts on for a little while!

What did you all get up to?

What did I get up to?

Well, as the evening get longer we've been popping out to catch the sunset.

This shot is taken from Hayling Island looking across Langstone Harbour towards Portsmouth.

Beautiful isn't it.

Saturday we headed to Petworth House to enjoy the magnificent grounds.

Still some gorgeous daffodils in bloom.

The most amazing trees.

Huge!

Some of them had holes in the trunks that we stood in!

Petworth is famed for it's deer and they didn't disappoint, well they did a bit as they seemed very cunning, whenever a camera came out they didn't run away they just turned their backs!

The scenery was stunning.

Lots of photo opportunities 

Oh and one staring competition.

It was a wonderful day time to spend together relaxing.

Next time we're going to go in the house too.

Sunday we spent in the garden pottering, one of my favourite ways to spend the day.

These lovely cherry blossoms are in my next door neighbours garden, pretty aren't they.

Howard chilled out too!

He's good at that.

Time for some hooky fun to of course, just a few coasters for our new coffee table and some little motifs for a bit of a secret project I'm toying with.

And finally a little gift for one of my bestest friends in the whole world.

Cute and quick to make, it only took a couple of hours!

I found the free pattern here

Anyway today saw us all back in our woolies, brrrr chilly.

How was your weekend, did you get up to anything crafty, or go out adventuring? 

Do tell I'd love to hear.

Next time I'm talking spinning.

See you soon!

Love

♥Sue♥

A Blanket Ta-Dah and more!

It's finished!

So happy with this lovely creation, even if it didn't work out quite as I'd planned.

Over 200 gorgeous grannies and it's a lovely generous size 146cm x 135cm.

COSY!!!!!

I know it all went a bit wrong but I am happy with how it's all turned out.

AND

I get to make another one with the rest of my daisy granny squares

I kept the border simple just wanted the squares to be the focus.

It looks great on our coffee table doesn't it.

D'you like the table?

We love the table!

It came to live with us this weekend courtesy of a neighbours front garden.

Unwanted, unloved and made of pine.

"Yeh take it they said save us dumping it"

OMG

It's solid pine, it amazes me that people can just dump perfectly gorgeous stuff, but oh the joy of giving it a new home.

Well a bit of trimming and cutting and routing and 

Hey Presto a beautiful BIG coffee table.

Looks perfect in our lounge.

So perfect I felt we needed some other little embellishments.

A jolly pouffe, using some Ikea fabric that I had in my stash.

I also used some pretty bobble trim!

There you are!

New table, new blanket, new pouffe.

It's enough for one weekend isn't it.

Well no actually, gripped by a creative fervour I needed a cushion. Snipping and measuring I used the last of the fabric to make a pretty little cushion cover.

Just had enough!

And a pretty crochet edge with some green cotton yarn.

I've never added a trim to fabric before.

I love it!

Finishes the edge beautifully.

Seems our lounge has had a stealthy makeover this weekend all triggered by someone throwing something away!

I love that, I love how one creative thing sparks another. I love how things can just evolve so beautifully. I love that I have things in my home that delight me because I've been part of their story. A story that begins before they are mine and a story that I've added to.

But most of all I love that I MAKE THINGS!

I'm hoping to get some spinning done this week, I'm a bit rusty.

Oh and finally a quick bird update, no Blue Tits in our nest box this year but they are enjoying the fat balls at the end of the garden!

See you soon

♥Sue♥

Show and Tell 2013

Hello have you missed me, I've been busy, what with trips to the North and work, time just runs away with me...........as usual!

And I forgot, it's that time of year when family and friends gather together for our now annual.

Show and Tell.

More rosettes to be won!

(warning this is a long post)

Much feverish preparation.

Tom and Jacob took over the kitchen.

Actually Tom took over the dining room too.

Don't ask...........the results were very popular though!

Little bit of rule breaking as Mum and Auntie Trissie helped 

Heather sort her fudge topping out, hmmm sure the rules said no assistance allowed!!!

Jacob's lemon curd puff pastry creations.

Very popular.

White chocolate cheesecake by Tom.

Frankly divine!

Just a small selection of the cakes.

and confectionery (did you spot my Turkish Delight)

Plenty of infusions and home brew. Way hey, lots of people walked home!!

Like last year judging was taken very seriously

Yarncraft corner

Lovely little knitted fairy!

Photographs (unedited)

Photographs (creative)

These three ladies spent ages deciding which spirits were best and I mean ages!!!!!

Last years Photography winner trying out the cakes

Oh the choice, honestly we were so full cos as well as all the cakes there were jars of jams, chutney, marmalade and gorgeous breads of ever description. 

Didn't manage to snap them couldn't get near enough!

After fair and scrupulous scoring the winners were declared.

Brilliant fun again, do it, have a Show and Tell yourselves it's such a lovely way to spend time together and everyone had a go at something............the prizes are just a bonus.

So now what next.

A bit of relaxation and finish my blanket,

Be back later in the week to show you.

Just wanted to say thank you for coming and visiting me in my little world, I love to share and your comments and visits mean alot to me.

Love

♥Sue♥