Springy Eastery Garland

Some of you may remember seeing this photo on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.

I was having a particularly creative Saturday (it was the day I made my peg bag out of shorts) and decided to spruce up some sticks I’d bought from Ikea. I’d bought them because I could imagine them hanging over my fireplace, all covered in pretty springy decorations, but up to that point they were just sticks with a few flowery fairy lights!

So I grabbed some plastic eggs (really cheap from the supermarket), a jar of paper flowers and a jar of buttons and this is what happened…

I loved the colours of the eggs, but not how plasticky they looked. The paper flowers disguise plastickiness nicely! And I love the bright, spring colours too. I hadn’t really planned them to all look so coordinated – it was only once I’d finished that I realised I’d chosen really similar colours for each flower.

In addition to the eggs, I also cut up some fake flowers to add to the flowery fairy lights (the big white flowers in the photos below). I’m not usually a fan of fake flowers, but I’d bought these to go in my basket when I was Red Riding Hood (it was a dress up day at school – I don’t usually dress up as fairy tale characters!) and it seemed a shame to let them just gather dust somewhere. I really like the different pinky colours too.

As I was unpacking boxes I came across a couple of other decorations. I think this tin egg was a gift from a child at one of my placement schools when I was training to be a teacher.

And I made this heart several years ago when I was experimenting with sewing fabric and paper. I really like it, but think it must have been a bit of a pain to make since this is the only one I have!

I finished off the garland with a few tin heart bells that I found in a lovely local shop. I love their colours and the soft jingles they made as I hung them up.

Here’s the finished product, complemented nicely by the bunting which used to hang on my bookcase.

So things are complete – for the time being! I love the fresh feel of all the combined items together, but at some point (probably soon after Easter) I’ll take the eggs off and replace them with other things. Not sure yet what I’ll replace them with though – any suggestions?

Spring decor

I had lots of fun decorating my house for Christmas. As well as all the usual decorations I also added red cushions and a super thick red rug to the lounge which made the room feel even more cosy and Christmassy.

But with Christmas over and the decorations packed up and back in their boxes for another year, I decided it was time to get rid of the red.

Red is a great colour, and I particularly love it at Christmas time, but it’s not how I want my front room to look all year round.

Pastels are my most favourite colours, and they just shout ‘Spring’! Now, it’s not really spring yet. Although we’ve had some wonderfully sunny days it’s still very cold. But it feels like winter needs to be given a bit of a push to make way for spring, so out come the pastels!

It didn’t take much effort – I simply swapped cushion covers, putting away the red ones until next winter. Some of the cushion covers didn’t need to be changed because they work with both colour schemes.

I like having blankets around no matter what time of year, so I just put away the red ones and brought out the pretty pastels again.

When I first moved in I had the pink rug on the floor, which I’d put away for Christmas. But it’s back from under the wardrobe, looking slightly grubby (I think I’ll need to wash it, but only when the weather’s a bit warmer so I can dry it outside!) but very spring-ish.

The look is completed (for now – I’m sure I’ll be adding more Easter related decorations soon!) with my colourful bunting and some flower fairy lights…

…some pastel candles…

…and of course some beautiful flowers in colourful vases.

Lovely!

Today I have…

…enjoyed working on my chunky granny blanket.

…unpacked two more boxes of books…

(…but it’ll still be a while before the room is properly sorted out!)

…found two friends hiding in boxes.

…enjoyed my favourite flowers in colourful vases.

…curled up with a good book.

What have you done today?

Restoration for the soul

I spent time at the beach this morning. I always love being near water and it’s been ages since I last went to the beach.

The sun was shining and, even though it was extremely windy, I could actually feel the warmth of the sun on my face. This was such a delight after weeks of seemingly unstopping rain.

I walked along the seafront…

…stopped for a cuppa and some colourful planning…

…then wandered through the gardens.

I loved just having some time to slow down. Time to actually think about things for a change.

I really wish I could do this more often, but until the next time at least I have the photos (and my journal) to remind me.

A new pattern revealed and help needed!

My lovely friend’s birthday is in the week between Christmas and New Year. I always feel sorry for people who have a birthday near Christmas as they seem to end up with less presents! So I always try to make sure I give her separate presents for Christmas and her birthday.

This year I was inspired to make her a shawl. I used the Ying Hua pattern that I found on Ravelry.

I used Senses Lace by Stylecraft in two Lavender (the main colour) and Black Elder (the border). I’ve not used this yarn before, but quite liked it. The only slightly tricky bit was the fact that it’s so fluffy! The fluffy fibres knot together, making it tricky to undo when you make a mistake.

The pattern was easy to follow and I made it in less than a month, working on it during my lunchbreaks and holiday. It was quite crumpled by the time I finished it, but blocking worked wonders! Here it is before…

…during…

…and after.

The blocking especially helped on the part where the little triangles were. I was worried that it would still look ‘dented’ even after blocking, but steaming it with the iron really helped.

I’ve not seen my friend since she opened the present, but she told me she liked it!

And now I need some help please! I told you the other day that I’ve started a new blog. It’s all up and running, but I’m having some issues with photos. I think at some point I must have formatted the photos for this blog, so that they’re always central and at the biggest size (without being too big and distorted!). Try as I might, I can’t find how to change the settings, so the photos are always aligned to the left and only at a medium size. There doesn’t even seem to be an option to make the photos larger. Can anyone help? I’ll be eternally grateful! 😀

June

How are you? I am well aware that it has been a really long time since I posted! School life and real life have both been pretty busy and I’ve felt pretty drained the last few weeks. Most nights I haven’t even had the energy  to pick up my crochet hook, a sure sign that things are bad!

It’s not all doom and gloom though – there has been a little creativity happening at odd times (I’m still keeping up with the stripy blanket CAL). So, because I didn’t do my normal end of the month picture board I thought I’d just remind you of a few of the things I made/did/saw/bought in the month of June

There are only two weeks and two days left of the school term now, so I’m hoping that normal service will resume then! In the meantime, I’m more likely to be active on facebook, so if you want to see what I’ve been up to pop over and have a look. And say hi while you’re there – I love hearing from you all 🙂

In April & May…

…I had more fun with Turtle Tales. (See the full story here, here, here, here and here.)

…I made pompom animals with lots of children at an Easter family event.

…I made a cute cardigan as a birthday present for a cute little girl.

…I had some lovely things in the post from Tamara and Jane.

…I finally showed you the Riverbed Blanket.

…I enjoyed bright splashes of colour as spring arrived – at long last!

…I spent a bank holiday with a lovely friend and a crazy cat.

…I had some lovely presents for my birthday.

…I revealed the winner of my birthday giveaway (and even managed to send it before the month was over!)

…I spent my half-term holiday making granny bunting.

That’s actually a whole lot more than I thought I’d done! I think it feels like I haven’t done much because I haven’t been blogging much, but perhaps that’s not the case…

Cute cardigan

I set this week aside to do my planning for the term ahead at school. It’s not been going well. I’m so easily distracted by things that are so much more interesting than planning!

A big distraction this week has been birthday presents. There are 2 birthdays coming up in the next couple of weeks. I’ve been working on a present for one of them since Christmas (and since the birthday girl reads my blog you won’t get to see it until the present is unwrapped!) and have been looking for inspiration for the other for the last few days.

So I headed to Ravelry. Always a mistake when I should be doing something else as there is just so much to look at! After quite a lot of browsing I found a really cute little cardigan, just right for a pretty little girly girl who loves to twirl her skirts. This pattern is by Holland Designs and can be found here.

Having found the pattern I then went searching for yarn. Again, a lot more time was spent on this than should have been, but I found an absolutely gorgeous cotton. It’s King Cole Cottonsoft DK and is just wonderful to work with. It’s beautifully soft and doesn’t split like some yarn does.

And here’s the finished product…

It looks a little different to the one in the picture. I’m hoping that this is because it’s a different size and is on a hanger instead of a child!

I adapted the pattern slightly and didn’t do a ribbed edge, but finished it with a row of DC in cream. I also used this edging to create a little loop for the button.

And I added three little micro flowers (found here) because it needed a little more pink!

So that’s one present ready. Perhaps I’d better get back to planning…

In March…

…I (very briefly) enjoyed a splash of spring colour in the sunshine.

…I updated the wreath that hangs on the back door (after a Christmas theme for a year and a half I thought it was probably time for a change).

…I made (well, I watched my friend make – that counts right?!) some very yummy, very colourful gluten free chocolate chip muffins.

…I made two pairs of baby slippers.

…And I started telling Turtle Tales (part 1, part 2, part 3).

Part 4 is coming really soon! And pop along to Little Muggles if you’d like to make your very own turtle 🙂

A Tale of Two Turtles

Friendship continued to blossom and grow between Timmy and Tamara. They saw each other every day and spent time chatting about everything under the sun.

They discussed the best way to keep their shells clean, their favourite foods, world events (they were both pleased with the choice of the new pope, and were sure that turtles must have been responsible for the decision) and what to do if they ever found themselves stranded on their backs with no one around to help (this had happened to Timmy as a child and he still had nightmares about it).

To this last point Tamara responded that as they spent so much time together it was unlikely that either would have to suffer the indignity long before the other found them and set them back on their feet.

In between these serious conversations they often played their favourite game of hide and seek, finding new and inventive hiding places every day.

Timmy was never quite sure how Tamara managed to get on top of the bird box (and Tamara never gave away her secret) but agreed that it was a very good hiding place.

Tamara was much better at the game than Timmy and always found him quickly, even when he tried to hide in the middle of a Christmas tree.

One not particularly special day, while they were enjoying a gentle stroll by the flower beds, something very special happened. Tamara was admiring the flowers when a sudden thought hit Timmy. He realised that all this time he’d spent with Tamara he hadn’t once been gloomy or lonely. In fact, he was actually beginning to be quite a cheerful turtle indeed. He glanced at Tamara and saw her in a whole new light. He suddenly knew that this was the turtle he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Without hesitation he proposed – and to his great delight Tamara accepted!

Only a few days later they got married at their favourite place in the garden. It was a simple ceremony, but they were both overjoyed.

And who knows what adventures might happen next…