Blooming Marvellous...

We have another ta da moment!!

My Giant Bloom cushion is complete..

I had made the blooms from 'once upon a pink moons' pattern, and used the lovely squishy 'Stylecraft' dk yarn

Added some foliage 

And popped them onto a plain background of multi-toned yarn

And added some pretty, pastel, floral buttons for fastening

I'm so happy with how this cushion has turned out!!

In other news this week, we took a visit to the cemetery as it would have been my mother-in-laws birthday on Monday. We took a beautiful purple bunch of flowers, and met up with hubby's sister and her carer so we could support each other. After paying our respects we went to a local garden centre and had lunch, hot chocolate and cake, whilst we spent time catching up.

I've been trying to catch up with my Mood blanket, but it feels like 2 steps forward, and 3steps back. I managed to get another row and a half joined, but by concentrating on the joins I've got behind with making the actual squares.

I did manage last weeks, a mix of grey and yellow (for fun holiday,and gloomy weather!) based on the Wisteria block (from 200 crochet blocks by Jan Eaton), I say based on as I start following and then go off on a tangent and do my own thing

and I've made a start on this weeks, using a mix of blues and purples in stripes, loosely based on the Interlocking Stripes pattern.

When I've needed easy mindless crochet, I've been working away on the next background. The back is complete, but unfortunately after a large chunk of the front was made I realised the width was completely wrong, I'd made a chain of 34 instead of 43, well at least the numbers were right! So hubby frogged it for me and I'm working my through it again...

Out of season...

This week was our holiday, ok so not across the water to sunny shores, but out of season, damp and chilly uk. But hey we were at the beach, and would enjoy our time away.

We had an enjoyable 1st class train journey and on arrival at Weymouth we were greeted by the Olympic mascot.

We walked down to the seafront and had a walk along the sandy beach, and the first spits of rain came down.

We found a fabulous sand sculpture depicting the last supper and a war memorial.

We found our hotel on the seafront before setting out to explore the town.

We wandered around the town centre, and down to the marina, but the weather sadly got worse and worse, till we ended up soaked through and frozen, to the point of wondering why we had chosen this town.

We hid out in the amusement arcade to brighten our spirits before venturing back to the hotel to dry out.

The following day was brighter so our spirits rose. Everything thing looks better when the sun is out, so we went back down to the harbour, as the plan for the day was to visit Nothe fort.

It was a steep climb so we stopped for a tea break to take in the views and give hubby's knee a rest.

We managed the steepest finish to the top only to find it was closed, only opening on Sunday's when out of season. We were gutted especially after the effort to get up there.

At least there were gardens at the top so we could rest and look across the sea.

Whilst walking through the park we found the most tame squirrels. They literally came right up to us, to the point of shocking hubby as one leapt up his leg!!!

In the evening we found a bright and cheerful pub, where we ate the most amazing steak and ale pie.

We were off to the Sealife centre the next day, where we took a long stroll the opposite direction down the beach front. It was overcast but fairly bright and blustery. We started at the Ray pool.

On to the nursery section with cute seahorses and the most amazing Weedy Sea Dragon.

After a quick pit stop, we went in the shipwrecked section, I was mesmerised and fascinated with the Moon Jellyfish. There were changing coloured lights, which made you notice different features with each colour. We were lucky to be there when the keeper came to give them their food, and stopped to give us some knowledge on the creatures, which made it more special.

When we came to the outside section with the Penguins, of course the heavens decided to open. But we stayed to see their feeding and the keepers talk.

After seeing the turtles, it was time to see the Seals get fed and show how they are trained, with going to specific rocks, touching balls, waving and jumping.

The last section was the Ocean tunnel, where there were large sharks, Rays and turtles swimming around and overhead.

Before leaving we had a much needed hot drink to warm us up after the rain had chilled us again, but we thoroughly enjoyed our day.

We finished our day with dinner at the local Wetherspoons.

The last day we checked out, and made our way to the Sealife tower.

We had to wait as it didn't open till 11. Up we went up 173ft, and rotated to see the views across the whole Jurassic coast. The clouds were quite low so we couldn't see to far into the distance, but it was still a good experience.

We went back to a couple of shops that I wanted to revisit and try on some clothes. We had a late lunch and spent our last moments back in the arcades before catching our train home.

On our return I had to do a large food shop, which took ages and I spent too much, but I did come up with a wish list!!

I'm determined on our last few days off at home to try to get up to date with my 'Mood blanket'. I was very good at the beginning, doing my square each week and sewing in ends and joining straight away.

Sadly in the past few weeks my focus has been on other projects, which has made fitting in my square harder with my limited spare time, so I've rushed the squares without joining them. The problem I've made for myself, as I've been trying out different patterns and stitches, is all the squares are different shapes and sizes, which will make the task harder!

I've also been making up another plain background, in moments when ive needed easy, no thinking crafting. This is a textured yarn that was in my m.i.l stash, though I don't know what exactly it is, I will be turning it into another style of flower cushion, but I will be trying something different....

Bits n bobs...

So I tried again after my failed attempt last week.

I decided the issue was the thin yarn and tiny hook, so I went back to my usual size, just reverting to the little hook to ease the yarn thorough the buttonhole.

This was much better and went back to being the fun little project that I had originally expected it to be!

I was very happy to find some  pom-pom makers in one of my favourite stores 'Tiger' I'll admit it took me awhile to get started, and figure out what I was doing.

But oh my goodness look at the lovely fluffiness it produces...

I can see me making many more of these yarns fluff balls, though I should really figure out what to do with them first!!

I was hoping to have another ta dah moment this week, but I've not quite managed it.

I did tidy up the ends and do an sc edging, and so nearly finished joining together. All that's left now is to finish the join and find some buttons for fastening, then the 'giant blooms' cushion can have its glory!!

Autumn has well and truly set in, and the weather on a whole has been quite miserable. So on one of my trips out I went gathering and brought home some of the colourful parts of the season.

Sadly I've not managed my mood square for this week, as I've been suffering majorly with fatigue. Thankfully I have some much needed time off next week, and we are taking a short break away to Weymouth. I am hoping to catch up with the joining of my mood blanket. I really don't want to get too far behind and miss out on the amazing end of year sharing. Problem is I have a load of other projects lined up in my head, plus I really would like to tidy up my blog page and I had intended to open my Folksy store again this month. Oh to have extra hours in the day and the energy to utilise it!!

I did start a square, but this one is going to a good cause. A lady in Australia, who I follow on IG is collecting pink squares from crafters all round the world, and will be putting them all together, for 'Pink Ribbon day', the blanket will then be donated to someone in need.

This is my square so far...

Bloomin' cushion...

So this week, I have completed the berry toned background. 

And got the giant blooms sewn on.

And made a start with adding the stems...

As I work full time my crafting tends to take place in the evenings in front of the tv.

We've watched two films this week, Epic and Robin Hood...

I've now made a start on the foliage.

 I've tried to add some tones to the leaves, so they are not just a one dimentional colour. 

I did deviate from the cushion for one evening to have a go at the button flowers that I have seen online. I found it really tricky!

For the majority of my work I use a 4-5mm hook, but to fit through the buttonhole I needed to use a 2mm and thin embroidery cotton. This was so fiddly, and on my initial try it as coming out too tight and slipping away from the button. I unravelled and tried again this time adding more stitches on the round but it still didn't work out like the images. All a bit frustrating as it looked such a simple, quick project. I might persevere and try again using my usual size hook and yarn and find some way of getting it through the buttonhole!!

I have seen images by Sarah London of the apache tears stitch which is on my to do list!! So for my mood square this week, I thought I would have a play and see if I could get to grips with the basics of this pattern. It requires you to just work through the back of the loop on standard stitches and through the front loop 3 rows below for the stretched stitch. I like the way the square turned out as its quite 3 dimentional. It's just a shame my to-do list is growing much quicker than I can work!!!