Flower Power.....

Hello everyone...

are you ready for the weekend?

Sadly, the weather has been pretty dismal in our corner

so no opportunities to spend time in our garden...

Not to worry, I've been growing flowers inside instead...
my little flower bed will eventually become a cushion
and I'm still enjoying having more ways to play with lovely yarns....
especially as crochet is so suited to one of my most favourite things....flowers
~❀~

Lots of tea drinking going on while flower making..

(This is one of my favourite cups and saucers which I purchased

from Pip Studio a while ago.. the colours are really pretty.

We have all types of odd cups and saucers in our house

both new and vintage...I think maybe I should show you one in each post!)

Gorgeous yarn....

Rooster Almerino DK which comes in an array of beautiful colours.

I've used it several times in my knitting in the past and 

it's just as lovely to use for crochet.

This bunting is going to be decorating my craftroom....

which I really haven't had the time to pretty up as much as I would like to and

I want to make it look lovely and summery...

It was a bargain in a sale at Laura Ashley a while ago and speaking of....

......it's lovely to read in Mollie Makes this month

that there's going to be an exclusive exhibition celebrating 

60 years of Laura Ashley's iconic designs...

A free event which is being held at

The Vinyl Factory in Soho 5-6th June 2013

I would definitely be putting the dates in my diary if I lived a little closer.

I'm a real fan of these vintage catalogues of the 1980's

and over recent years have collected almost all of them. 

The layouts are wonderfully creative and beautifully photographed with page after page 

of  fabrics, wallpapers, borders, tiles and trimmings....but I still need 1982!

Would you give me a shout if you ever come across it on your travels?

I've been looking for it for a long time now although I did find 

a 1982 book just a couple of days ago on Ebay and am waiting 

for my lovely postman to deliver it to our door!

(I wish they still sold those mixes of hexagonal patchwork pieces in the pic there)

Each catalogue has a wonderfully organised print index at the back

which is colour coded with swatches of all the individual designs and colourways.

The good news is that they will be launching a new collection 

of their most popular archive wallpapers and fabrics for autumn/winter 2013

and I'm really looking forward to seeing the choices.

I've gained quite a collection myself of their vintage fabrics over recent years 

in different colourways (predominantly rose and sapphire....my favourites)

and have plans to make a quilt at some point using them all...

until then they are carefully stored away in the magic cupboard

(fabrics mainly found on good old Ebay)

~❀~

My quilt top, which I showed you in the last post, now has a border

(and yes, I definitely like the strawberry red)

and the backing fabric arrived today so I can share that with you next time 

I've also been working on my knitting

......busy, busy bee.....

~❀~

I had a sudden urge to pop into the garden to take this pic

just before I posted....the last of the blossom on our cherry tree

as it will soon be gone for another year

It doesn't last long enough, does it?

(Ooh, and it's not too warm out there today!)

Fingers crossed for some sunshine over the weekend

...Hope you have a good one...

~❀~

 Thank you as always for calling by

...you are the best...

P.S I've been doing some blog visiting this morning
and have loved looking at those beautiful pics of bluebell woods on friends blogs
...thank you for sharing them Faith , Jane and  Vivienne...it's been a lovely treat!

Ravelry treats....

Hello everyone...

Just a quick post this morning to let my lovely customers 

know that there is a 20% discount coupon

available over the Bank Holiday Weekend 

(ending midnight 6th May 2013 GMT)

for all purchases of single Pdf knitting patterns

in my Ravelry store

(you can use the coupon for multiple purchases of any single patterns)

These have proved to be very popular in the past
and the codes are very easy to use

Just enter

MJTSPRING

when prompted at checkout

(and I'm always available here

should you have any questions!)

~♥~

Offer runs until
midnight 6th May 2013(GMT)

hApPy bAnK hOliDaY
♥ Weekend ♥  


Thank you so much everyone for your support
and for the kind messages, photographs
and heartwarming stories 
which are always so lovely to receive.
I have the best time

Back soon
♥
xXx

Snapshots of a crafty week...

I've been enjoying a lovely crafty week here and even the sun is shining at long last!
Is he visiting your corner today?
I loved making this little crochet flower motif and I'm planning to add it to
 the front of a plain knitted cushion once it's been blocked

(and as soon as I've knitted the cushion!) then I'll add a pretty border around the edge.

It's also reminding me of the lovely Cath Kidston fabric in the pic there which I'm now

planning to use to make a tablecloth...it's been sitting in my cupboard for far too long now....

Making friends with my quilt again!

A few days ago, I finished the quilt top that I started at the end of last year

and it's ready for the borders now...I did fall out of love with it for a short time

but having a break has renewed the enthusiasm I once started with and I

do love the strawberry red and aqua combination (two of my most favourite colours)

A lovely afternoon was spent working on it again. It's much smaller than the last one 

and so I think I'd like to hand quilt it eventually...well, that's the plan at the moment!

Oh, yes....l also have to mention my beautiful Giveaway gift which I received in the post!

Handmade by lovely blog friend Jane along with one of her very pretty cards..

.(I do love the stamp on the back too, Jane!)

My gorgeous necklace is made with blue lava beads, jade hearts and sea shells....

(Ooh...and it's making me constantly dream of sand and sea!)

If you haven't visited Jane's lovely blog before here's the link 

(I know you'd be made to feel very welcome....it's definitely one of my favourite places to visit!)

You can find all Jane's beautiful makes in her lovely ETSY shop here too

(all the ladies in this house have the most gorgeous bag charms!)

 Thank you Jane x

Some more late night crochet...
I didn't expect to be able to follow the instructions for this
so I'm very happy that it even resembles a pretty leafed flower in a square
and I'll be doing it again now that I've worked through the instructions
as with most things...nothing made sense until I had a go....
I've also chosen some yarn for a project...will take a pic for next time as it's just arrived...
It's lovely and summery!
It will be so nice to finally not be using oddments from my stash
although it's been great to use some of them up practicing.
♥
Thank you to everyone here and on Facebook 
for giving me so much encouragement about my crochet
...and to Vivienne and Heather for the hook tips....
(I definitely find both the Clover Soft Grip and the Tulip Etimo lovely to use
and I feel these are the ones I'll be staying with now...(after trying several!)
the pretty pink one may just finally have the edge for me... not only is it pretty...
but I'm finding that it's soooo comfortable to hold and easy to work with too
...only time will tell!)

Another lovely magazine to browse through in quiet moments....

I love having a read through a new magazine and although I have my definite favourites

I will always seem to find something interesting and  inspiring amongst any pages!

♥

Among the plans for the next few days....

....adding the border to my quilt

(I have some pretty red fabric...not completely sure if it's the right choice

 but I do love strong coloured borders so it should all be fine!)

Starting to put a new knitting pattern together

(I also have plans for a larger project when I've completed this one.

Putting a pattern together is hard work but I really enjoy the whole process too)

More practicing my 'night time' crochet

(I have to restrain myself from not spending all my time doing it at the moment

Lovely (and very wise!) Fee warned me a couple of weeks ago of its addictive qualities

so I've only myself to blame for ignoring the warnings...it's too late now!)

Spending time in our garden

(potting up lots of flowers to put on the decking outside my craftroom

which I'll share with you over the coming Summer months)

The sun has got his hat on this morning...

and how happy does that little yellow flower look?

~ ♥ ~

Finally, for anyone who loves to shop on ETSY ...

sellers can now offer digital instant downloads

which is brilliant news for anyone who lives in different corners of the world

(no longer any waiting for purchases to be received by email!)

I've converted all my listings and as with all things ETSY they are going

extremely smoothly...I can never recommend the site highly enough..

Take care

Hoping the sun's shining in your corner

Back soon

(I'm looking forward to a lovely evening of blog visiting and catching up)

xXx

Yarny adventures.......

Many friends already know that learning to crochet 

has been on my wish list for a very long time now...

I think I've been hoping for someone to magically appear...

who would patiently sit with me and show me how it's all done...

but I finally came to the conclusion that it was possible or even very likely
that this was never going to happen.

If only my lovely blog friends with their hooky wizardry lived close by
(but then you're probably relieved that this isn't the case...
 I'm sure you have far better things to do with your time!)

Over Easter I decided to sit down and finally try and work it all out

(along with the help of a book (The Happy Hooker) and YouTube)

and I can definitely say I'm having so much fun now that it's all beginning to 'click'

...now that I've survived that difficult bit when everything looks...

well, lets just say not quite the way it should...(Yes, I did almost give up)

It probably still only adds up to a few hours with my hook and yarn

(so there's definitely room for improvement!) but it's making me feel very 

happy to be learning a new craft and especially one that I've wanted to attempt

for so long....I love to learn new things and if it's a bit of a struggle at first then
I always feel it will be all the more worth having when I finally get there!
I've been practicing with yarn oddments from my stash along with

some free crochet hooks from one of my knitting magazines and have
now invested in a few different ones to try including the 'KnitPro Symfonie' 

as I already have the straights, circulars and dpns for my knitting and love them...

 (so I feel a little more in my comfort zone)...I've been getting very attached to my
Clover hook over the last few days though...Any favourites out there?
I have to add I'm still quite relieved when the talk is all about the things
that I'm well acquainted with...yarn weights, needle sizes, tension squares....hurrah! ...
but I can follow patterns fairly easily (now that I've cracked the code!) and I love the diagrams.

I just need to practice whenever I can find the time...often just before I go to bed

(or when I'm actually in bed...which has normally been the case!)
It would be lovely to combine it with my knitting projects eventually.....(...already dreaming!)

Other yarny matters of the knitting kind...
You may remember Mimi from my Easter post...
who I created from a mix of the TEAROOM and CORNISH Mice knitting patterns
along with a few minor changes. For anyone who already has these patterns
(as they will be needed alongside the project)
if you would like a free copy of the 'MIMI Project' pdf to add to your library
which includes the yarn details and any changes made then just
send me a quick email and I will send her straight to you.
It will also be useful if you're substituting the cotton 4 ply in the original patterns with a softer yarn.
and she will also be sent out free with any future purchases of the MICE Collection.
For those who like to download from Ravelry or here on the blog just let me know
 and I'll email her to you after your purchase (or now if you have bought previously)
It's a fun project using lovely yarns and I hope to do more free projects in the future.

I also wanted to share this lovely book with you today....
If you'd like to learn more about the gorgeous yarns on your needles
(and I can never learn enough in all honesty)
then this is a fabulous reference source packed with all kinds of facts
It's definitely my kind of read and lovely to dip into when you have a quiet moment
(Apparently, there are an estimated 1,400 sheep breeds around the world!)

(How lovely are they?....and there are lots more beautiful pics in this fabulous book)
As soon as I read in one of the reviews that it takes the reader on a
'magic carpet ride' I knew I would love it and wasn't disappointed...
and it's clearly painstakingly researched.

Finally, a pic of my present from Ashley
shortly before she returned to study in Portugal
(and pictured here just so that she knows for sure that I'm taking good care of it!)
Both my gorgeous girls are now back at uni....Easter flew by...
and it's soooooo very quiet here without them...
(...sometimes peaceful...but I'm whispering now...)

Time to go 
~ Speak soon ~ 
(and as always thank you so much for calling by
I love to read your comments!)
xXx

~♥~
P.S Do you use Google+ ?