Category Archives: Bunting

New Crochet Bunting for Handmade Monday

There’s been a lot of weather about this week! Anyway, moments like this when you’re out for a walk make it worthwhile, even when it’s below freezing point. And no apologies for sharing another snowdrop picture, I’m getting a little obsessed by seeing things from a miniature dachshund’s viewpoint!

I’ve been happy and relieved that this week at our monthly Knit and Stitch meeting the little heart pattern was tested out by a relatively new crochet-er, and it worked ! (Bearing in mind I might have been crocheting for a while, but I’m a novice pattern writer!) Not only that, but having cracked the pattern, Carol went on to reinterpret the heart with crochet wire and beads, which is so pretty…

They look huge here, but they’re not much bigger than a 10p piece, delicate crochet jewellery.

My latest rainbow creation from my gorgeous cotton yarn basket is a new version of crochet bunting. I know the white Christmas Bunting is very popular but there’s been a lot of white around just lately, and I needed an antidote!

I’ll be posting the pattern in Tutorials very soon.

Which brings me to the fireplace. And the hearth rug. the scene of many a power struggle amongst the four legged members of the family. On the one side is Henry, who has been here for getting on for 17 years, who isn’t in the best of health, but who know exactly what is due to a senior citizen and is quite prepared to use all his ‘Grumpy Old Man ‘ tactics to make sure he gets his way. And on the other side is Higgins, who is absolutely sure that everything is all about him…

Today my sister arrived with a special present just for Henry, and I rather knew it was going to cause trouble…

A beautiful rag rug, exactly what a old and bony pussy cat needs…

um…hang on…

…that’s better…

But when a little chat about ‘sharing’ fell on deaf ears…

Higgins retired to the sofa…

Hang on, can’t you see him?

It’s a dog’s life…

But enough of all that. It’s Handmade Monday again, and it’s time to visit the lovely Wendy over on 1st Unique Gifts and find out what everyone else has been creating this week.

Next week I’m hoping to share a new idea with you, one you might just want to join in with…

In the meantime, see you soon! xx

Happy Friday

How lovely it’s been today to have nothing but happy smiling faces on the television! It’s been a miserable year in the world so far, with earthquakes, the tsunami, uprisings and war and sadness, so the happiness of William and Catherine and all the people in London celebrating with them has been so uplifting. I said I was just going to switch on to see the dress, but I watched the lot, and cried and still managed to carry on needle felting… there was only a little blood!

I hope you had a lovely Easter. We did, and Higgins had boys to stay and he loved that. I’ve had to eat rather a lot of hard boiled eggs over the last few days as the boys forgot to take them home, but they’ve all gone now. (I think I would have enjoyed the chocolate ones more, but strangely they remembered those!)

Higgins discovered the joys of a hammock…

…but I found it a little disconcerting to be hit by a low flying dachshund landing on my stomach when I was lying in it myself, quietly reading.

Now it’s time to get organised and think ahead.

So much is happening in the next few weeks that I need to get to grips with it all, make a list and tell you all about it…then it must be true!

Watch this space …

Lifting the Gloom with Hearts and Pompom Bunting….

We really need something a little cheerful at the moment don’t we? January is such a gloomy month. Higgins and I went for a ‘squelch’ this afternoon and although it quite mild, it was what my Mother calls a Tupperware box day, and no one’s taken the lid off.

But, the days are getting longer(by about one and a half minutes a day apparently) and I have little daffodils bursting into bloom in front of me as I type.

I was really lucky to receive a lovely gift at Christmas, a beautiful jug which I have been coveting for about five years. Do you remember this post when I was given a pretty little mug for my birthday? Well my clever Daughter-in-law tracked down the very jug I have been hankering after all this time from the same designer, Gabriella Miller.

And I’ve found the little notebook I mentioned in the other post, where I had expressed my desire to have some Gabriella Miller pieces as well as all sorts of useful notes and pictures.

However, I’ve been working on something to cheer up the gloom, and the bareness left now the Christmas decorations have been consigned to the attic for another year. I’ve been playing around with a crochet hook and the yarns left from the cushion and blanket project which are a real splash of colour in themselves. And with February round the corner, and Valentine’s Day there are hearts, and I still love the pompoms so I thought Hearts and Pompom Bunting…

I’ve been fiddling around with the pattern and written it down which I’m really proud of because I got so excited about the whole process, and the prettiness of all the colours. I’ll do a few photos as soon as possible to turn it into a tutorial if you think you’d like make your own version but in the meantime, want to see some more?

(By the way, do you like the cup, saucer and plate on the top shelf? Another Christmas present which I love!)

And finally, bringing all the cheeriness together… Planet Penny Hearts and Pompom Bunting

A cheerful note on which to start the weekend! Have a lovely one, I hope the sun shines for you. See you soon x

Ed to add: You can find the pattern for this bunting here…

Drippy, soggy weather…

…hasn’t helped the general mood. Is it the same where you are? I have been cheered however by setting the laptop wallpaper to show a slide show of my blog photos. I didn’t really think when I started blogging what a bonus to general life it would be. I record so much more than I would have done without it, and my photography has improved enormously. Watching the changing display on the screen brings back lots of little moments I would otherwise have forgotten about. I know I really ought to get to grips with Flickr, but after a little tussle over passwords and things this morning I’m afraid I decided to do something more rewarding…Ironing, anyone? Mmmm, perhaps not!

Also, having a blog focuses the mind on getting on with things, and I have been beavering away at a tutorial today, for the white cotton Christmas Bunting which I hope to publish very soon.

Higgins doesn’t like this weather AT ALL and even though we’ve got the fleecy jacket out again, he just feels silly.

It actually makes a huge difference being able to wash the jacket rather than bath Higgins after every walk, but I haven’t convinced him yet!

Oh, and I’d like to share this with you. I’ve noticed on other blogs other pampered pets have gorgeous little knitted, crochet or even patchwork blankets. And you’ve probably noticed that my own pampered pooch doesn’t. This is why…

This was once a cushion cover…

I’m going to end with a couple of cheery pictures, little unexpected bits of flowery happiness, just the thing for a dark, wet and windy evening.

Who would expect to find something as beautiful as this in a Little Chef car park?

And this jolly pansy graced a table in the couryard of a St Leonards coffee shop…

Hmmm…I think I need to change my coffee brand…

A Sunny Sunday and Using Up Leftovers

No lie-in allowed this morning! Last night’s weather forecast promised us we’d lose the sunshine in the afternoon and the beach was calling. We were there by nine o’clock, bright sun, an incoming tide and a stiffish breeze. Very bracing. Only two other cars in the lane ( the beauty of our favourite beach is that there is no car park, no tearoom!) so once we came over the top of the dune the beach was nearly deserted. Higgins is now reliable enough to run off the lead, although he really misses having someone young enough to run with him.

Considering his reluctance to set foot outside when it’s raining and puddly he’s quite intrepid when it comes to the interesting pools forming as the tide raced in…

He hasn’t quite found a deep enough bit to actually have to swim yet so I hope I have the camera to hand when he does.

While Higgins sleeps off all that exercise I’m sorting out my leftover yarn.

I have a bit of an obsessive thing about winding wool. I have a lovely gadget for doing the big balls, but these little bits get wound very carefully by hand so they look pretty. (Yes, OK! I know it’s weird but it makes me happy…)

And it’s something to do while I decide what I else I can make.

I’ve lost my diary. It’s slim, anonymous, dark blue. Perfect for slipping in between books and magazines and losing forever. Well at least long enough to be madly inconvenient. So I decided to get something more substantial, an academic one so I can start it now.

But it’s not really me, is it? But, with a little application of brightly coloured yarn it can be made much harder to lose…

Although Tim has pointed out that I’m going to lose it as soon as I put it down on the blanket….

I’m also suffering from rapidly cooling coffee, but not any more…

… there are STILL bits of wool left, but I have a plan! Bunting! Well, everyone loves bunting. In fact, it would be quite nice to think of a new slant on bunting….

….Pompoms!

I’m very happy with the pompoms…and I still love all those colours. I also have lots of cushions just waiting for covers…and a new sofa which needs cushions.

Which is why I went back to the market on Friday…

…for fresh supplies!