A Walk in the Park.

Beautiful sunny weather brought us out into the open for a leisurely stroll in the park.

Enticed outside by the squirrels we put our best foot forward….

to stand and stare uuuup at the very tall trees…

before tracing them doooown from top to bottom!

Discovering around the corner a carpet of tiny cyclamen….

penetrating where the sun didn’t shine, but still managing to be so perfectly formed…

Crunching through the leaves and conkers…

before wending our weary way home…

for a nice cup of tea!

Phew!

Busy, busy, busy!  That is what I have been today, busy, busy, busy!  I have done a spot of housework, that is, I have cleaned and polished and tidied and de-cluttered the lounge!  Boy did it need it.  I don’t know about you but things pile up, and the only way to de-clutter is to systematically start in one corner and work around the room.  Putting things away, polishing the surface and then moving the piece of furniture to hoover underneath, and around the back.  Aggie would have been proud of me!!  I did, however need something to keep me sane.  Something other than a cup of frothy cappuccino.  Can you guess?  Some cutting and sticking.  Something very simple but quite satisfying.  I have been making some Sunshine School gift tags.  Ta-dahhhhhhh..

Yes, that is the ‘C’ word.  I am getting ready for the next craft sale with  lots and……

lots and lots of Christmassy things including the gift tags!!!

So I have watered the plants inside

and out

and am now going to settle down to some hooky business in my nice clean lounge!

Little things!

I have been surfing!  My husband says I have been silver surfing!!  Spending a little time looking at what everyone has been up to.  Being inspired.  Oooooooing and ahhhhhhhing!  Such beautiful things!!! Quilts. Blankets.  Cushions.  Scarves.  The list is  endless, but because the craft of the moment for me is crocheting, I have lingered over the crochet projects.  I have marvelled at the little squares of Lucy’s Attic24 cushion.  I have been intrigued by Vanessa’s doyoumindifiknit scarf made of 248 teeny squares. So I thought  I would have a go. A go at crocheting some small things.  Lots of small things that could be sewn together to make something a bit bigger, which in turn could be joined to make something a lot bigger.  This got me thinking of patchwork and what does everyone start with when embarking on their first patchwork?  Hexagons.  So that’s what I made….

Tiny little hexagons.  First one…

Then another…

Until a pattern started to emerge…

A granny pattern…

A granny flower pattern…

One that is carefully sewn together and waiting for its fellow flowers….

To what end?  A cushion cover for the guest room. One to compliment the blanket at the foot of the bed. There, the project is decided upon. So you will have to wait for a ta-dah photograph to see if it works!!

Beckoning!

It has been sitting in the corner of the lounge for the past four weeks amidst a jumble of wools, needles, hooks and patterns, but I turned my back on them all.  No, I couldn’t pick them up.  Not yet. For there was no comfort in their bright colours.  I knew there would be soon, but not yet.

Well the soon came yesterday.  I had a sorting out day.  An integrating day.  A day to stroke and hug and say thank you.  Thank you for all the gems.  The patterns, the kits, the completed pictures and cards.  A day to combine my craft stuff with Mum’s craft stuff.  So I cleared the shelves and threw out the rubbish and carefully stacked the boxes, the tins, and the baskets.  Boy did it feel good!  I sat and looked at it and smiled.  And then the moment came.  I needed something to hug.  Something to feel warm in.  Something to connect with, to sit and hold.  So I sorted the wools.  I folded the materials, and there at the bottom it beckoned.  My attic24 bag.

The smilie flower on the side.  The handles criss crossed on top.

The balls of wool saying gently “Pick me. pick me”.

So I did.  I pulled it out and hugged it.  Crumpled it.  Made it cosy.

And then I began.  In, out, round a bout and through.  Oh was it therapeutic!  I lingered and counted and hugged and completed my first row of gentle ripples.

This morning I laid it out, smiled and remembered.  Mum loved this creation, my ripple blanket. So I will finish it and then curl up with it to remember all those happy times. Wrapped in my ripple!

Treasures.

Treasure.  What comes to mind when you think of treasure?  A big chest with a rounded lid raised revealing pearls, diamonds, gold?  Or a small jewelry box full of trinkets carefully bought over several years by little hands?  Or is it nothing material, but all the memories stored away to be brought out into the open when someone says “Do you remember when…….”?  Over the last two weeks we have shared many of these “Remember when” treasures.  Holidays spent in the sand dunes, driving to those far flung corners of the British Isles, family birthdays, get togethers, quiet days sitting at home in companionable silence hooking and sewing………. and that brings me to the treasure boxes left to me by Mum.  I know it is going to rekindle a craft that I enjoyed many moons ago, but like so many things was left to try something new.  Want to know what it is?  well let me show you the boxes first.

Five of them all neatly stacked.  They started life as trays of Ferarro Roches, loving munched at family Christmases.  Those little bundles of gold..mmmmmm…..!!!  But now, look….

a tray of ruby reds, scarlets, pinks reminding me of poppies, roses, sunsets.  But wait….

yellows, golds, oranges, sunflowers, daffodils.  But these beauties need leaves….

moss green, dark green, bright green, all greens!  Oh and don’t forget we need the highlights….

You have missed one I hear you call.  You have missed a colour way.  No, I have saved the best for last!

It is full of my favourite colours.  Blues, lilacs, mauves and the deep deep purple that is me! Waiting ready for me to cross stitch the pansies, irises and everything purple.  For that is what Mum loved to do – cross stitch.  We have sat many hours cross stitching together. Up and down, over and under.  Very methodically building a leaf or a petal.  I know I will again.  Not yet, but soon.  First I want to linger with my treasures and stare at the picture I have on my inspiration wall, carefully cut from a magazine.  The one I take an imaginery walk in everyday.  The one I dream of sitting in, dipping my toes in the cool pools. The one that is full of blue.  The one I say to myself “Remember when….”

Friends.

Many moons ago when autograph books were all the rave, a friend wrote this little ditty for me;

“True friends are like diamonds, precious and rare,

False ones like autumn leaves, found everywhere.”

Over the last couple of months I have been blessed with lots of true friends. Friends within the family and those who we get to know through work and play. Each one has given me so much support, not in a showy way, but in a gentle precious way.  This week their help has been very practical, from a cake to comfort eat on(!) to a casserole for the family, to bunches of flowers and cards to say how much they care and are thinking of us, to a hug and a kiss.  And I know that over the next few weeks and months they will still be there, quietly in the background ready to answer that phone call or that text which says ‘help’.

So thank you for being there, for all the cards and the flowers you have given,

for the hugs and texts you have sent,

and thank you for helping me cope with losing my best friend – my Mum.