Creating Memories

We're home.....

Sadly our trip to the west country has come to an end. But it will not be forgotten. Oh no, I have fallen in love with that corner of this country and was quite willing to just stay. What brought me home more than anything was my kitty!

Our first stop was the new forest and the little village of Lyndhurst, where we had a glorious visit with the most wonderful and close to my heart Bush family. Thanks for a great night! Love you guys loads.

We then headed south to the coast and followed it West. We didn't get as far as we wanted on day 2, and spent the night in Beer. Not the frothy smelly stuff, the town of Beer.

 

 We were very lucky with the weather, and didn't have one spot of rain!

 

 Although we didn't have these blue skies for the whole week! Unfortunatly

St Ives, was our base and we booked a suite at the Porthminster Hotel, which we got for half price because they are having some refurb work done and the scaffolders were encasing the place.

King sized bed, beautiful sea views and a spa bath......priceless!

 

 The scaffolders didn't get around to our side of the hotel, so our sea view was not hampered at all!

 

 Oh I could have bought it all! And lugged it back up the hill to the hotel!

 

 And we relaxed....

 

 And drank ice cold wine on the beach....and ate....and ate, mussels, crab, steak and prawns, and lamb shank and more mussels, and braised beef, and oh it was glorious!

 To be beside the sea......

 

 The wildlife were a little scary when you had an ice cream cone in your hand!

 

 And sitting on the beach seemed like a good time to photograph my latest hooky project.

 

 I have been wanting to try a ripple blanket for ages, and having read and looked at just about every pattern ever written, I chose Lucys Attic24 neat ripple. And just so you know, it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a ripple and it's neat. And it's easy. And it's so pretty!

 

Ooh do you like my new crochet hook? I love, love, love it! So light and easy on the fingers :)

It wasn't ever my intention to use my crochet bag for crochet, but it fits, so well. So there it is, crochet in a crochet bag. Neat and tidy and always available ;) 

And now it's back to reality. Washing, shopping, cleaning house and work. Oh I do miss St Ives....

Ciao
Caz
xx

Ta daaaaa

It's done! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

So pleased with how it's turned out.

I will publish a page with full instructions soon :)

I'm not wishing winter to come sooner than it must, but I really can't wait to wear it.

haPPy hUMp dAy!!
Caz
xx

I'm flying.....

through tonight as I have a BIG project on my desk and haven't got much space to move about. But I wanted to leave a progress photo of the crochet scarf.

 

The colours are GORGEOUS!! It has such a vintage look about it :)

I've done 170 squares so far, they really are going quick. Just need to decide if it wil be 5 or 6 squares wide. My gut says 5 as it's an odd number. So if it's 5 wide, based on 170 squares, makes it 34 rows. And at 4cms per square, it works out to 136 cms long. That's where I am now. I want it longer. Quite a bit longer. So I keep going until I run out of wool. Then I go and top up my wool. I love the wool shop!

Right back to my BIG project. It's for IACW. I'll be posting it on the 18th of September. A day before the crochet scarf reveal! Best get moving.....

Ciao
Caz
xx

A new month....already!

Wow, September already! How on earth do we slow time down a little?

I only have two more August layouts to share today, because I haven't gotten around to scanning the rest yet.

 

 

These are my IACW Project 2009 layouts.

I feel like loads crafty and otherwise has happened lately that i've not blogged about, but now that I come to blog I can't think of much.

So lets cover all bases :)

Work is pants. Still. Our new system is still (YES it's been 6 months), not working properly. I'm not sure we will ever find out who's bright idea it was to implement this system, for fear that we will lynch him! But today we had a very positive visit, and we had the opportunity to voice some our concerns.

The garden is still looking okay although I have had to do some major clearing and dead heading. I can see the end of summer gaps so I know what/where to fill next year. I'm not buying any more plants this year. The shed is almost finished. We need to put a door on the chicken coop and do the fencing. The shed part is all done and I have decorated it with shelves, hanging pots and there is a place for everything and everything is in it's place. I love having my garden tools in there and most importantly out of Stuart's garage.

I am a haPPy hOOker! I am so loving crochet right now, that I have plans to make all sorts of things. Right now I am working on a granny square scarf.

This yarn just fell into my basket last Saturday and I am 65 squares in.

 

My inspiration came from Country Living...

 

You can read more and click links here.

I've not started my green kidsilk haze yet because when I went to the yarn shop I was faced with about 5 patterns that I could do, but couldn't make my mind up, so i'll need to think more!

And this bank holiday, for the first time on AGES (I don't really like bank holiday crowds), we went on a day trip to the seaside. We had a good day weather wise, and it was good for the soul to breath in some sea air.

 

I bought a lovely rose printed scarf and a lavender sachet at the Whitstable harbour market. Could have spent a fortune there!

 

We spent all our 2ps in the Herne Bay amusements. And had an icecream on the pier.

Oh and I dipped my toes in the sea. It was surprisingly warm! Nothing like the icy waters of Cape Town.

Oh and goodness, did I mention we went to the Hatfield House Country Show. I took my camera and didn't use it much, but I did get this photo of Stu after our helicopter (!!!) ride.

 

He had (as you can see) a grin from ear to ear :)

Right I must go start supper!

Bye
Caz
xx

I am desperate....

to declutter. It feels like I only did it last week, but it's possible it was a year ago. How we collect such a load of old crap I don't know!

We are doing a top to bottom declutter and I have a box waiting in the shed to collect what's reasonable enough to do a car boot. What isn't will go in another box to be taken to the dump. I will also be sorting through my stash and thought to make up bags of gear to sell off, you know stuff suitable for kids.

Part of my problem is getting motivated! But once i've started I do get the job done. mmmm I'm also a great procastinator, lol.

Anyway onto the rest of week 1's layouts...

 

And I got so carried away uploading last night, that i've just realised this is the last one :D

I have two from wk 2 scanned which I will share tomorrow and then I had better get cracking on scanning the rest from August.

I have three lime green balls of Rowan kidsilk haze that I couldn't resist when down in Lewis's last Friday, but i'm not sure what to make with them, lol. I am tempted to buy the Rowan Little Luxury Knits book. There is a capelet that takes three balls and a shawl that I think is also three! The wool matches my winter boots perfectly :) Ooh I feel another knitty project coming on. Mum have you finished your kidsilk pashmina?? No, me neither ;) YIKES! Must get on with it so I can use it this winter. Along with my patchwork, throw and shrug. I made a straight one and am now working on one with cuffs. I had the wool, which needed to be used ;)

Okay I must get off the pc. My head is spinning from my day job (man I wish I could win the lottery!) and my knees hurt. Did I mention I fell over AGAIN! Just as the swelling on my right knee was going down, I took a tumble outside the back door. And this time I was wearing a skirt. So I have grazed bruised knees!

I need a zimmer frame!

Till tomorrow.
Caz
xx

Grey and Gloomy

Goodness me, the day has turned horrible. And it's such a shame after the lovely weekend we had :(

Today was my lovely friends last day at work, and it was a sad day. My days won't be the same without her. But she lovely her bag so i'm really chuffed.

I still have some August week 1 layouts to share before moving on to the week 2 which sadly wasn't as productive, actually neither was week 3 and this week isn't looking promising. Although I have managed the UKS and sketch challenges.

So here are a few more...

 

 

 

 

 

A few more left, but that will need to wait till tomorrow.

I'm working on a new crochet pattern. It's slow going because I get carried away and realise 3 rounds along that i've not written down the last 3 rounds and have to go back, lol. Oh dear, my brain is a muddle sometimes.

Right I must go switch the dinner on. We had a cookathon last night so all I need to do tonight is heat up, and the same tomorrow!! Get me all organised, lol.

Till later!
Ciao!
Caz
xx

Night off!

Tonight is my night off from cooking and Stuart is making me toad in the hole, one of my favourite meals :)

But even though it's my night off I decided to get tomorrows dinner done. Bit of forward planning means I now don't have to cook tomorrow and at least while Stuart was doing tonights dinner I had some company in the kitchen for a change.

I am on a big mission to shop and plan our meals more economically. We often just buy a load of stuff and then realise that none of it actually goes together, lol. It's a pain in the butt!

So just two layouts to share before I go down to my dinner.

 

This layout looked way better in my head! I may need to do something else to it, it kinda went of track.

 

And beautiful Edinburgh Castle, viewed over snowy gardens. I love this photo!

Now off to eat.

Bye!
Caz
xx

While the dinner is cooking....

I thought I would upload a few layouts for August week1. I managed 13! Which i've not done for many years :)

My dad a wee boy! Totally LOVE this photo and loved using my 'vintage' papers. I have a box of heritage style papers and embellishments that I delve into every now and again.

 

This is either my mum or aunt, not sure. But either way the title fits, they are both beautiful :)

 

And my uncle Robbie. You can't see great detail from the scan as the photo isn't great but it looks like the bottom of his gun holster is held down on his leg with an elastic band which I just find so cute. Don't know why, I just do, lol.

 

This isn't a layout I did last week, but it shows the holster elastic better. Too sweet :)

 

I am loving scrapping the old photos at the moment. Maybe because i've not got too much new to scrap. I really need some photos of me. Do you find your albums bursting with photos of everyone else but you?? Got to change that ;)

More later in the week!

I finished Private Practice season 2 on the weekend and HOLY CRAP what a season finale, I was nearly chewing my fingers off. Season 3 premiers in the US on the 1st of October, can't wait!! And Grey's? When on earth does season 6 start? I can't find it!! Crikey, I need to know!

Ooh tonight I start putting gift bag together. I have loved making it. Knowing that it will go to a special lady who has been my friend for nearly two year. But I will miss her :(

Okay Stu is calling me to go sit with him. He doesn't like me being up here and him being downstairs. I love that he wants me near me!

Ciao
Caz
xx

Twisted Sketch 09

 

The twist was to doodle. I saw this style of doodling on one of the examples and it's a technique I have been wanting to try for ages. I love this layout and think it's a great sketch! One for my book.

Which by the way i'm not sure I shared on my blog. As i'm totally into using sketches I needed a place to keep them.

  

I've used an almost square sketch pad.

 

 

I'm only drawing sketches that really inspire me, and ones that match a variety of size and style photos.

I have loads of layouts to share which I will do during the week. But now I have crochet to do. The gift bag is so close to finished :)

Ciao
Caz
xx

It's been a long week!

But it's Friday and Stu and I are planning to have a chilled one, just the two of us. Can't wait.

I've just got one scanned layout to share and it's one I found very theraputic to do.

 

This layout was done using the prompt of a UKS weekly challenge and one of the criteria was:
We've got the thing about letters so, use handwritten / hidden journalling maybe in the form of a letter ( 10 points)

So I thought I would scrap this photo of my Gram in Edinburgh, a city she left many many years ago with my grandfather and their 3 children to start a new live in South Africa.
She passed away in 2005, and I miss her terribly. So my letter was to my Gram. To tell her how much I miss her and how much I would have loved to have visited Edinburgh with her.

Once I sat down to write, and I think this is the toughest bit, it was surprising how easy the words came, and I could have written much more.

I am doing a post on IACW showing a few more examples of scrapping the not so pretty times. And it's a very interesting topic :)

Bag number 2 is growing well. I am loving making it and the lady who it's for found out today she has a job in JLP Welwyn, so she will still be in the partnership. I am so happy for her, but sad too cause i'll really miss her.

Well i'm off to finish a layout and watch some more Private Practice. I'm addicted!!

Ciao
Caz
xx