Picnics and fevers

It seems to have been a week of two halves.

The start was warm and sunny, and Springlike. We took a bus to go a little further out for another Geocaching trip. We went to Brooklands park, somewhere we'd not ventured to before, and found a couple more, one tucked in a fence

and a hole in a tree, a perfect hidey hole!

This time we took a picnic with us and sat by one of the duck ponds

It was lovely to be somewhere new, and to be out in the fresh air, feeling the warmth of the sun, and enjoyed being surrounded by nature.

We spotted this that made us chuckle, we've heard that Red Bull gives you wings but....how?

There has been very little achieved on the crafting front this week as expected, with the work load piling up, what I didn't expect was to be hit by another virus, after not long getting rid of one!

I did manage to block my cushion, the only time an iron comes out in my house!

and a few more flowers added to the mood blanket

and i've been reading through the first few of the course emails. I've not physically done anything yet, but it's all been very thought provoking, and i'm looking forward to making progress once I stop feeling so physically and mentally exhausted.

I get a couple of days rest now before the final push (for those of you who don't know I work in a Chocolate shop, hence my life evolves around seasons) and then I hope to get back into my crafting rhythm 

Happy Easter to you all

Fallen petals and Woodland walks...

So the 'Fallen Petals' cushion has been coming along nicely. 

The backgrounds are made, and i chose to use to try Attic24's teeny tiny flowers pattern, and they were the perfect size...

I picked out matching tones from the Ice background and chose 4 different Stylecraft shades.

Such quick and cute little flowers...

Now I need to make a start on the edging and get joining the pieces together

We managed another little Geocaching jaunt, this time heading into the woodland

With a great mix of finds...

In all different shapes and sizes, some so tiny!

And one which was easy to find, but a puzzle on how to get it out!!

I love that this is making us venture out and into the fresh rather than staying stuck indoors!

I'm pleased to say that I've pretty much caught up with my Mood blanket, except for a few ends...

This week I will be embarking on a 30 day course called Set-up shop. Thank you Lucy for the recommendation. I'm hoping this will give me some invaluable tips on my online store to enable me to start getting some sales. I'm sure I'm a little crazy for taking this work load on now, when the next two weeks will be the busiest of the year in my full time job, but my 'word' for this year is "Determined", so here goes...

Star light, star bright...

So last week I showed you a sneak peak of my latest make. I'm trying a new yarn, made by Ice, which comes from Turkey. I had seen and heard alot about their range, and in the end could not resist temptation at the various different shades. I chose a grey/purple mix and I was pleasantly surpised at the softness.

I chose to try the star stitch for texture this time. It was actually featured in this months 'Simply Crochet' magazine, but i struggle sometimes with written pattern, I like a visual to understand, so I went back to my usual resource at the crochet spot site

Once I got into the flow of the pattern I enjoyed it, it has a nice rhythm to it.

I have completed one side, and part way through the next, although it will need to be blocked as its turned out a bit skew-whiff!

Also, I made an extra square for Linda's yarnbomb. Its fun trying out different stitches, and seeing how a square works out

I'm looking forward to seeing everybodys pieces put together, it's going to be a bright fun tree, and will certainly stand out!

We did manage to get a little fresh air in between our heavy work schedules this week. So we endulged in a little spot of geocaching, a great way to blow away the cobwebs. The first one we were unable to find as unfortunately the tree had been felled. 

But we had better luck with two others in our local village, two well disguised fun finds.

They are part of a set of ten, so we are looking forward to looking for the others in the future.

Monochrome Floral Cushion

Only a little over my personal deadline, but the monochrome flower cushion is finished, complete with its butterfly buttons

I used a c2c pattern across the main body of the cushion

And added blooms all round the edges

Using just one shade. An aran yarn in Crimson.

And added some wooden, butterfly buttons for closing

This week I've been hit with the lurgy, so i've been trying to take it easy a little.

I chose the waterlily square from the 200 crochet blocks book, as there had been a request from a lady via social media, who owns an independent yarn store, as she wants to get the tree outside her store 'yarnbombed' to stand out from competitors, and this was my contribution. It was fun to make something completely different, but of course still incorporating a trade mark flower!

I have failed to keep up with my flowers everyday this week, but i'm trying not to chastise myself, as I did say i wouldn't pressurize myself, it is supposed to be for pleasure after all, so i shall pick my hook up again and continue...

I've cracked straight on with the next cushion, as always eager to start a new project, so here's a little teaser picture, but more on that one next week...

London bound...

We had our fun trip to London, and the rain stayed away. We ventured down Regent street, and I had to pop into my favourite shop, Desigual, which happened to have a sale which was a bonus, so I was able to add to my collection. 

We came across Chinatown, with it's festive colourful lanterns 

And worked our way along Carnaby Street

We found a restaurant near the theatre. We chose Bella Italia, and I had a chicken pasta with courgette, spinach and lemon.

Then it was round the corner to the stunning theatre

with amazing interiors

Fantastic singing and dancing, made this a wonderful production

So this week I made a little progress with my monochrome cushion.

The blooms have been attached to the edge of the cushion

Buttons chosen, and buttonholes made.

A little disappointed that I didn't manage to get finished by the end of February, but that pesky short month beat me to it!

The flowers are still growing

It feels like Spring everyday in my house!