Mother’s day flowers

It’s been a quiet blog week, but a busy craft week! I’ve been making all sorts of crochet goodies, but unfortunately it’s been so gloomy I haven’t been able to take any good pictures yet.

In the meantime I thought I’d show you a pretty little pot of flowers I was given this morning. Every Mother’s day all the ladies at church are given flowers, whether they’re a mum or not.

Very pretty and perfect for brightening up the gloom a little!

I didn’t have a pretty pot the right size to put them in, so I popped it into a cup instead.

And here’s the card I made Mum…

So simple to make (I stuck the buttons on with glue dots) and completely buttony!

January 2013

In January I…

…made 2 new garlands for my bookcase.

…enjoyed gates and trees in the snow.

…had a wonderful trip to a craft fair, resulting in a whole load of new goodies.

…expanded my crochet skills by experimenting with doilies (read about them here and here).

…celebrated my one year blogiversary with a giveaway (which finally arrived with Cheryl this week!)

It’s been a good start to the year!

Vertical garland

When I saw these gorgeous little crochet balls back before Christmas I immediately loved them. But with all things Christmassy I didn’t have time to actually make any. Thankfully things have slowed right down this month, so I’ve had time to indulge in all sorts of creativity just for the fun of it.

My original plan was to make a garland for another shelf on my bookcase (the 3 sets of bunting and garland of stars and buttons just aren’t enough!). And as I held it up against the shelf I was quite pleased with it, but it seemed like it needed something else. Whilst doing a little googling I came across this pattern for a crochet heart. It looked pretty cute so I gave it a go.

All went well until the decreasing stage. Suddenly I ended up with gaping holes that didn’t look like they should be there. And I also wanted the heart to be a little longer. So I pulled out the bottom half and made it up as I went along! I think (although I didn’t write it down, so I can’t be sure) that I did a round of alternate dc and dc2tog, followed by a round of dc (although the pattern is written in US terms, so all the dcs are scs), followed by another round of alternate dc and dc2tog.

Anyway, it ended up looking quite cute, although possibly a bit lumpy in places! And with a heart on one end it went from being a horizontal to a vertical garland. It’s now hanging on the end of my bookcase and looking ever so lovely.

Edit to add: I have just entered my gorgeous garland into this month’s Made It! challenge over at Woolhogs 🙂

An unexpected day

As I’m sure anyone in the UK will have realised (if you didn’t remember you may be in trouble) yesterday was Mother’s Day.  And although I’m not a mother, I got flowers!

Every year bunches of daffodils are given to all the women at church. I love this partly just because I love daffodils but also because it’s a reminder that I’m part of an amazing family there. (I must also say that my own family are also pretty amazing, just in case anyone gets the wrong idea!)

So these beautiful blooms are now gracing my bookshelves and adding a lovely springiness to the atmosphere. Lovely!

Anyway, as I was checking my diary for something I realised that I had absolutely nothing in it for the next week. This is so unusual and really quite exciting. So I made myself a little list of all the things I could do with my time.

I didn’t realise until I started listing them that I had so many unfinished projects (and these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head – there may be several more burried in boxes around the house). I also thought it’d be good to start planning some new things for the fair later this year. I know it’s not for ages yet, but I like to be organised about these things.

So I had it all planned out. Then the phone rang. At 6.55 this morning. And I ended up doing this today instead…

Not at all what I had in mind! But it ended up being a good day anyway (and I actually earned some money which is always a bonus) and I still have time for some relaxing crochet this evening.

And just to finish, I had some good news about an hour ago. You remember my procrastination last week? Well, I got the application finished and sent off yesterday and I’ve been offered an interview for next week. Let the panic begin!