Candy stripe...

So this week I made a start on another basket.

Although I don't normally do the 'C' word, I wanted to a try two colour basket. 

So I thought Candy colours would be the perfect choice

I love how the stiches look like little knitted cables!

Not only did I start, but I finished it too!

Perfect to put treats in, or decorative items

I'm excited to do another one now, as I have bells and quite frankly what more could you want than a basket with bells on!!

Out and about...

This week we've had a lovely week off of work and have been blessed with decent weather.

After a day of rest on Sunday, we caught a bus to Cissbury Ring

It was bliss, being in the heart of the countryside, so peaceful

Just surrounded by the sounds of nature

with views of the rolling fields in one direction, and across the town to the sea in the other

We weren't just there to take in the beautiful surroundings, but we knew there were plenty of Geocaches to find

It was a fabulous place for finds, and we bumped up our total by finding 11

The next day was another rest day, but we did take a trip to the cinema to see Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children

Midweek and we were on the bus to Brighton. I really wanted to go once I'd heard there were a trail of snow dogs

It seems we're always hunting for something whilst we're out!

It was great searching the lanes and seafront for these amazing doggies, all looking so different as they've been transformed by different artists

The following day we spent more time at home, but with lovely weather we did take some beach strolls, but can definitely feel that its Autumn now as the temperature has sure dropped

I took a trip to the hairdressers for a much needed colour. I've gone back to red to cover those 'natural highlights'

At the weekend we had a visit for hubby's sister and had a lovely day around town, stopping for afternoon tea and fun on the pier

Although we've been out and about a lot, on our rest days with our feet up in front of the tv, I've been beavering away on the mandala

I've managed to complete 3 rounds which I'm very pleased about

To give you an update I'm currently on round 94 out of 111

Despite a change of routine I've still kept on track with my eating

So a great week, relaxing and fun, but tomorrow it's back to reality and work :-/

Life's full of food!

It seems I have been quite slack in writing posts recently, which is down to general life getting in the way, and I need to reassess my time management. Since starting slimming world (which is going well, I hasten to add) any spare time windows have been spent on either meal planning or food prep.

I haven't neglected crafting completely, as I'm still working away on my Mandala, but with the size it is now, working each round is quite time consuming, especially if its a complicated round.

I'm still enjoying working on it, but it does get very tedious from about halfway round!!

Having looked back over my September pictures (where did that month go!?) I need to squeeze a bit more time in for my baskets, I'm not sure how or when! Maybe if I can get a bit more super organised with the food, maybe I can squeeze a few more minutes!

Seeing as we've been extremely lucky with the nice weather in the uk, we've made the most of it and been for some lovely beach walks

Last night we went out to the theatre and saw a production of 9 to 5, put on by a local amateur group, this being said it was a great show. I had no idea what to expect but it was most enjoyable 

This was a great start to what is now a week off work for us. We haven't got too much planned but we are hoping to do a trip to Brighton and possibly get to the cinema!

Ta ra for now...

Continuous pompoms...

It's been lovely having an extra day off this week, with a bank holiday here in the Uk, more time to play!

I did pop to town on the Monday to check out the carnival procession.

          We went for a mid week beach walk, where we saw pretty pastel, tranquil sunset skies.

Thank you to everyone's pompom advice last week, just one set it will be on the scrap yarn basket. I just need some goog light so I can take some decent pictures of the scrappy set.

My next basket is already underway, in fact the actual body is complete, but you'll be pleased to know that there is still an abundance of pompoms.

When i'd been plucking out different colours for the scrap baskets, I found a multi tone ball which I decided would be perfect for a basket all its own.

This one has been much quicker to work up without any colour changes, but to make it more interesting I thought i'd go all out with pompoms on this one!

So there's been plenty of wrapping, cutting, and fluffing!!

I am still continuing with the beast of the Mandala, slowly but surely i'm working my way round, but it sure is time consuming!

To give my wrists a bit of a break, I had a little play with my mini loom.

I had a go at the basics and some fringing.

Ideally I would love to have matching wall hangings to go with the baskets, but time will tell whether I can achieve this.

Can you believe we are already in September, and I've already had my first Christmas delivery at work :-(  I don't like that the evenings are drawing in already, and that we are heading towards Autumn.

Here's a look back at August

Too many pompoms??

                  We've been away for a lovely week in Cornwall, but more on that next week...


                                Before going, I was working on my latest scrap yarn basket

                        With the basket completed, I decided it needed a little something extra!!

I made a pompom using my smallest pompom maker, using a few different strands of different coloured yarns. However, putting it next to the basket, it looked enormous! I had to rethink, and remembered seeing a technique online using a fork, so gave it a go

It worked well, and was easy to do, just  a bit tricky to get the scissors in to make the cuts, but the size was much more suitable!

You can see the difference in size. The fork is definitely a good way to make cute tiny ones!

So the next question was how many?? Just a single bunch each side?

Or a bunch either side of the handle on both sides?

Is there such a thing as too many pompoms?

What do you reckon, which do you prefer??

Whilst away I took the Mandala with me. Although its a huge size so not very practical to travel with, I didn't really have a portable project to take with me. Not only that I wanted to get back into the swing of doing it, and correcting my mistake.

I made a start on the train journey, as its a long 7 hour trip

Took relaxing moments in the garden

And worked on it in the evenings whilst watching the Olympics

So now I have competed week 12 and made a start on 13, but still quite a way to go yet!!

I'll just leave you with one last image, where Ive given my pompom image the Prisma treatment!

classic cars and scrappy baskets

So for this weeks walk we took a detour. There was an annual classic car show at a local park, opposite the beach. As we're still new and acting like tourists we thought we'd have a mooch around. Cars really aren't my thing, but even so I could appreciate the beautiful styles that were on display.

The fun part was when they started to leave the arena onto the main road. The were revving, doing burnouts, wheel spinning, and honking their horns. It was a great atmosphere.

My focus this week has been on a large scrap yarn basket

Its the largest one I've made so far, with lots of colour changes

I work with a big bag full of yarns at my feet, and have a lucky dip to choose the next colour to add, although it can be slightly edited, as I wouldn't want two colours or tones the same, I want them all nicely spread out. So sometimes its orchestrated randomness!! 

I do like the double colours blending together

And look, we have handles !!

I'm close to finishing. There's just a few more ends to be sewn in, as you can see. That's the only downfall to making a very colourful piece, so many ends!!

We go away on holiday next weekend, across to the Cornish coast. I will be taking my Mandala with me. Although its a bit of a beast, it is plausible to be portable. This will give me the opportunity to focus on this piece again, and rectify my mistake and get back in the flow...