Tinkering!

Yes I have been tinkering.  Trying to find a new format for my blog. And after trying several I have stopped on this one for the moment.  That’s right just for the moment!  It may change.  It may be tweaked.  I just don’t know yet.  It is a year since I started my blog.  A whole 100 posts.  So I thought it is time to move on and try something new for the coming year.  I want to make some mosaics.  Some montages.  I want to be more creative in the way I write my blog.  Whether I will  is another thing, but I want to give it a go!  I therefore need a broader panel to write in and hence the reason for my tweaking.  After much searching I have settled on this one.  I’m not clever enough to design my own – yet!!!! – so I have had to rely on a template.  A pattern.  Some instructions.  Just like learning a new craft.  And once I have mastered this new craft I can develop it.  So with that I give you the new alisonb2’s weblog.  I hope you will stay with me and help me learn!

Now I did say I have come to the end of my first year in blog land and I feel this  deserves some form of marking.  I should have made a cake and put a candle on it, but it has been a bit hectic here of late so that hasn’t happened.  Neither have I made a card or thrown a party!!  But I can do a give away – if you would like to take part.  A present to wing its way across to your door.  Bows and paper and goodies inside!  Something from little old me to say thank you for dropping by.  Thank you for saying hello and giving me a boost when things have been difficult. ( And boy they have been difficult at times!)  Thank you for being out there in blog land!  I will leave this available for a week, so if you want to take part say hello!

 

Special.

About two months ago I told you about my special friends.  True ones.  Ones who are always there at the end of a phone.  Always ready to help.  Always there to support.  Well this weekend they have been there for all the family.  For this weekend we lost a very special friend.  A very special person.  We said goodbye to a Dad, and a Grandad.  Someone who made us laugh with his ‘muttley’ laugh (remember Dick Dastardly?!); answer all the questions about the plants in the garden; listen when we were explaining some thing new, and not quite getting there.  Someone who was kind and gentle, and once upon a time was a dab hand with a paint brush! So this picture is to say thank you to the friends for their kindness, but mainly for our special Dad.

Away.

I’m not around to blog at the moment, so keep on knitting and crocheting and sewing and….. whatever you like to do!

Sorry!

Sorry I’m not around at the moment, but I will be back!

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!!

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.

Bye for now.

Sorry but won’t be around to blog for a while, but please do stay and browse the archives!

Once a week.

At the moment I am only managing to blog once a week.  It isn’t that I only want to do it once a week.  No, no, no, no!!!!  I love saying hello and showing you what I have been up to!  No, needs must at the present I’m afraid, but in between time I am trying to craft and crochet is still craft of the moment!!

So, what have I been up to!  Mum decided to have a go at an amigurumi character.  She managed to make the shell of her little friend before being too tired to finish him.  So I came to the rescue and he now sits on her bedside table with his happy grin!  So as Lucy from attic24 would say ‘ta-daaaaaa’!!!

He has been in the undergrowth!

Attaching flowers to his shell!

Peeping over his shoulder….

with a big cheesy grin!!   Well he makes my Mum smile which is all that matters.

And Squiddley Duddley will make some one else guffaw!!!!

But more from him next week!

I’m back!

Wow! Hasn’t it been hot!  Particularly while driving!  My trusty little car doesn’t possess air conditioning so the cold blower has been working over time and the window has been down some of the time.  That is OK except you can’t hear the music, so you turn the radio  up, and then when you stop that is too loud!!!!  You just can’t win!!  My little car has been tootling backwards and forwards, transporting me for some quality time with Mum.  Now I am in a routine I can come and say ‘Hellooooooo!’  So ‘Helloooooo!’  My hooks and needles have been taking a rest.  Just a short rest.  I am sure they will be weaving their magic soon, but at the moment I have needed to concentrate.  To focus.  To snip.  To sew.  To stick.  And pack.  What have I been doing?  I’ll show you….

Something soft and cuddly, something to make you smile…..

Yes you can count two, but if you look closer there are three….

Three little men to hang in the nursery, or sit on the side.  Squishy beans adding to the feel and the weight.  Only a few mind you!

Then…

notelets!  You know how much I enjoy making these little packs.  Measuring, sticking, folding…

before packing four individual cards into crisp cellophane bags.

And lastly – at the moment – my flower power posies…

I have a few more goodies to unveil, but I am waiting, waiting for some special packet tops for my Sun Shine Products.  Carefully designed by a brilliant graphic designer – er – my son!  My aim for all these little wonders is to sell them for the Sun Shine School in Jerusalem, with all monies going to help.  I will let you know how my first sale goes, but for now byee!