Side tracking!!

Yesterday was a potttering around day.  A little bit of this.  A little bit of that.  You know the sort, you start one job and then get side tracked into something else?  I was supposed to be doing housework, and yes, I did the washing – all three loads of it! – and I even ironed it all!  It was nice to be able to put it out on the line to blow in the sunshine!  But the hoovering and dusting, I am afraid got a lick and a promise as I was side tracked into making these.

Something for tea!

A plateful of love!  Yes I know it wasn’t Valentine’s Day!!

And then these little moments – thank you Lucy, again!!

So which would you have done?  The cleaning or the making?  No competition really!

All the ‘p’s

A pause for thought as Lent begins.

• peaceful
• poignant
• passion
• prayerful
• praise

The beautiful bracts on Mum’s Poinsettia.

Little blooming  pearls. Thanks Lucy.

Pretty in pink as my ripple grows.

Slab square.

The beautiful weather enticed us into Nottingham yesterday and a trip on the ‘Nottingham Eye’!  Slab Square in the centre of Nottingham is a common meeting place for everyone.  Say ‘I’ll meet you by the lions’ and you know exactly where to go, but at the moment the Square is dominated by the Eye.  A temporary structure which contrasted sharply to the clear blue sky.

Standing with our tickets I couldn’t really believe I had suggested we should go all the way up there!  But as we waited we started to look  up above the shop fronts and the world of architecture appeared.  What beautiful buildings, made ordinary by the run of the mill shop windows.

And as we started to climb our focus shifted.

Look at the amazing turret and pinnacles.

From the top the view was breathtaking, a little on the hazy side, but well worth sitting still and not quaking!!  My photos do not do it justice.  My excuse is the sway of the car caused by the breeze!

Our descent brought the elegant, beautiful Hall into view with its fresco story.

Once down. there was one more shot to take in the Square – the fountains.

And while waiting for the bus an upward view of a patchwork quilt?!

Following a spot of gardening, another set of notelets made for another birthday.

And lastly, this month’s tea cosy!

Buzzzzzzzzzzz!

Shopping!

Yes I have been having a spot of retail therapy!  Always good on a rainy day, but even better when the sun is trying really hard to come out as it was on Monday.  Have you ever thought about the weather conditions affecting the things and colours  you buy?  Hhmmm?!  Well this is what I bought on Monday.

Having been drawn to the wall of colour, I really wanted to buy, but which colourway?  Oh what the heck – one of each ended up in my basket!

I have six great nieces and nephews so I think some little slipper socks will be knitted over the summer for Christmas pressies!  Ooops sorry!  But for now I shall gaze at the colour combinations.

Monday also saw me sneak this little bundle into the basket.  It was all done up with ribbon and cried out ‘buy me!’  Soooo…….

And then on Wednesday in the pouring rain and fog I ventured into Nottingham and bought Kaffe Fassett’s book purely for the colour fix on such a grey day.

So together with a big cutting mat my therapy was complete, but now the itchy fingers have started!

So tomorrow will be spent in the garden, tidying and trimming, and thinking about the projects I can start with my stash.

Oh yes meet…

Well you will when he has gone to his new home!

Phew!!

Celebrations have been in the headlines recently for Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, but there was one other 200 year birthday celebrated this last weekend.  CMJ or The Church’s Ministry among Jewish People.  It was started in London in 1809 by William Wilberforce, (of slavery abolition fame), Charles Simeon and Lord Shaftsbury, to spread the Gospel to the Jewish people and it continues today on a global scale.

So Friday saw us winging our way down to Bath for the first of the large services to celebrate this bicentenary.  And phew! hasn’t it been a busy couple of days.  Bath Abbey is beautiful with spectacular fan vaulting.  Sadly I only had time to take some quick  pictures.  I couldn’t resist the sun rising behind  the Abbey.  We had a lovely view from our bedroom window.

The nave is very light with the high clear windows.  Contrast this to the aisles.

Sadly the sun didn’t shine enough for me to gather the colours from the windows but the tracery was beautiful too.  Imagine quilting lines and patchwork!

So yesterday was a quiet day for catching our breath and doing things crafty!

It is growing!

It all started with…

..daffodils!  I treated myself to some flowers yesterday, daffodils!  They were tightly furled in their buds like a small present waiting to be opened.  The present has started to open.

I have dotted them around the home, in the hall as a welcoming treat,

in the lounge where the heat has really brought them open,

and in the kitchen window, where I can smile at them and they can smile back at me!

It was while I was smiling that I looked again at my green and blue bottles.  I just love coloured glass.  The reflections and hues that they cast with the sunshine.  Sadly the sun is not shining here today but the light is reflecting.

And although these bottles are on a high shelf their colours still reach out.

The double sided glass cabinet allows plenty of opportunity for the light to play.

The glass in the middle was a very special present from my Son on a big birthday!!  They all , daffodils and glasses, help to brighten a day.  So smile!!!

Wips.

Yesterday was completely different weatherwise to Saturday, cold, dank, and in the evening it snowed again!  So I spent alot of the time on my WIPS.

Remember this cardigan back in the autumn?  Well the end is in sight!  Just one more sleeve to do.

And I started my ripple blanket.  It has quite a light and airy feel to it so will definitely be one for the spring/summer season.

It’s dinner time!

While I have been stood beside the kitchen window getting the roast dinner ready – roast chicken today with roast potatoes, broccoli, and blanched sprout tops, followed by baked apples – I have been watching the birds come and go from their feeding station.  The Blackbirds, Fatty and Skinny, have been around chasing each other; the Sparrows have been swinging on their feeder allowing the Wood Pigeons the chance to clean up underneath; the Starlings have found the new peanut feeder hanging from the clothes line; and at last two Gold Finches have found their niger seed feeder.  Sadly my camera doesn’t do very good close ups.  The colours in their plumage was brilliant.  The scarlet red of their faces contrasts vividly with the golden yellow in their wings and against the white snow – yes it is still here – their brilliance shone!  Oh and I mustn’t forget the Blue Tit and the Great Tit.  It truly was a day for the birds.

Then and now, this and that!

We woke up this morning to a two inch covering of snow and it is still snowing two hours later.  Really snowing!

Then and now.

Just before Christmas the older ladies at church joined me in a spot of needle felting.  We made brooches for our lapels.  I quite enjoy this technique. Stabbing away on a pan scourer as a felting block, being careful to mind your fingers!  Ouch! It does hurt!  So from this

to that!

Colour splash!

I have decided on my wool collection for my ripple blanket.  The pressie bottle bag came with a wee dram at Christmas and I just love the contrasting colours within it’s design!  So the ripples will follow this colour scheme.

I have also found a backing fabric for my mini quilt and they are pinned together ready to baste and quilt.  I couldn’t resist a sneak preview!

The sun is shining today and alot of the snow has gone.  We await the next dusting tonight!