Floral madness...

We've had fabulous weather this week, and we tried to make the most of it. I had seen pictures of Highdown Gardens on facebook and knew instantly it was somewhere I wanted to visit. So we leapt on a bus, and found it easily enough, and it really didn't disappoint. You may know by now that I have a small obsession with photographing flowers! So this place was a perfect playground for me, and we'd gone at the ideal time of year.

There were carpets of bluebells

and forget-me-nots

little clumps of primroses

an array of blossoms

and magnificent splashes of bright colours from the proud standing tulips

As we'd made a spur of the moment trip, we hadn't thought about refreshments, but thank goodness there was an adorable little café, that was full of homemade goodies, so of course we indulged in a drink and some cake!

Crafting wise I have been focussed on my Mandala rounds and made good progress

And as I couldn't choose between relaxing and doing crochet or going out in the sun, my Mandala took a trip to the beach with me!

Best of both worlds!!

Each round looks so complicated in the written instructions, and occasionally I have a wobble and wonder if i'm out of depth, and then I break it down step by step and before I know it I'm in the flow of doing it, and then feel proud that another section is complete

Today I had to work in the afternoon, but the luxury of living so close to the sea enabled us to have a couple of hours strolling together

We even managed to pick up a few little treasures on the way

The forecast doesn't look so great for the week ahead, so it may mean we get some housework done ;-)

And then there were 3...

So after completing last weeks small pink ombre basket, I made a start on the next.

This time using the thicker rope. I made the circular base using up the thinner line and a neutral colour, and chose my next colour scheme. The only thing I had in mind when starting out on this one, was I wanted a wider shape. For the previous two baskets I used a single crochet stitch, so it was quite tight and closed, for this wider shape I chose the double crochet stitch, which is more open and stretchy, and makes the inner rope more visible, so has a completely different look and feel to the others.

There is no knowing how these turn out, its kind of an organic way of working, as the tend to evolve as they are being made. I'm thoroughly enjoying making these, they aren't too taxing and I enjoy seeing how they turn out.

I have also managed to complete week 5 of the mandala madness, and the good news is I managed to  not make any mistakes this time!

No other news, or trips out this week, although I managed to find myself a new hairdressers. A tiny independent business. After washing and cutting, she wanted to have a little play, so I ended up with a head full of curls!

Ive managed to pick up another couple of packs of thinner rope, so its time to plan the next in the basket family, and with an extra day of crochet play next week!

Until then...

Posy Scarf...

"I had a break

I didn't intend to

It was a week

But turned into three

I haven't been lazy

Lots going on

Not much crafting

But changes for me..."

So the 'Posy Scarf ' is complete.

The ends have been tidied away and it was laid out and blocked

For the first time Doris got unwrapped and put to use.

The days have been dark and grey, but Friday when I was home from work, the sun showed it's appearance, and we had some light and brightness.

Firstly we had an indoor shoot near the window with rare natural light.

But I couldn't resist taking her out, into the rays of the sun, with the dark green bushes filled with bright orange berries as a background

Meanwhile, I have still be working away on making lots of pink posies, when I have a field full, then I can then face the task of working out how they can join for the shawl pattern...

So after my prize winning last month, it's like buses, I won another prize! This time it was a Woodland prize pack from a group of amazing crafters

It's been exciting getting different packages through the door, so far I have received these goodies...

Cards, notebook and print from @bycharlieshand and 3 prints from @erryberrydesign

I'm feeling extremely lucky!

From one little posy...

If you cast your mind back to prior my holiday, you may recall I was working on my posy scarf. Having got past the fiddly stage of working out the join, it just needed completing.

I can happily say it is now finished. Once in the rhythm of the join it flows quite nicely, but still takes a bit of concentration to make sure it's going correctly. It just needs to go on the blocking mat now so that it can be photographed in all its glory!

I had intended to then move on to a new design, and I've been having a little play!

After looking at the scarf and with my new yarn purchases I thought how lovely it would look as a shawl.

So I set about doing some colour swatches.

After eliminating one, I was undecided between the other two, and after posting my picture,the response was split too.

So I listened to my gut instinct and went with the warm soft pinks. I made a few centres, and now have started with the petals.

I'm hoping, as the joining will be the same in theory to the scarf it won't be too hard, but we will see, as we will be working in odd numbers in a row instead of even!

I still kept looking at my other colour swatch, and decided that this more contrasting colourway would lend itself nicely as a cushion. After more glances I thought how nicely a little hexagon would slot into the gaps!

So now from one little posy, we have a scarf, shawl and a cushion...

Out with a bang...

Very little to show you on the crafting front this week, due to being away with work on our annual conference.

I have though made some progress, as I've finally got to grips with the joining of my latest flower project.

Now that I have the rhythm, it's flowing quite nicely.

Me and hubby celebrated (I use the word loosely as we didn't actually do anything! ) our 5th wedding anniversary. Our annual holiday is our time together,so it was just a takeaway and a bottle of wine for us on the night! I did however get given a beautifully coloured plant.

We did make the effort to venture out to Carter steam fair last night.

It's great to see all the old style rides,

machinery and caravans in all their glory.

The night was rounded up by a great little firework display.
So this time next week we will be sunning ourselves (I hope) in Marbella so for now I bid you a dieu till our return...

P's.  Please excuse if the pics and layout are a but dodgy this week, but the laptop is in repair, so I've struggle to get his out via my phone! X

Floral chain...

Just a few little pics to share with you this week. I've just been continuing with my little white flowers

And joining the flowers as i go

All inspired by mother nature

I've continued to make one endless chain, till I get to the required length, before I work back up the other side, and hope that my pattern is correct now

So next time I hope to show you more progress, and that you'll start to see the pattern form

Animals and flowers...

So as promised, or threatened, whichever your viewpoint, I have a whole host of animal pictures from our great trip to London Zoo last week.

The weather wasn't as good as we hoped, but it was good enough.

We started round the reptile room

and round to Gorilla kingdom, where this big boy ambled towards us, 

and we saw smaller breeds of monkeys in their groups, relaxing, grooming, running and jumping.

We went to see the Tiger, but he was fast asleep with his back to us, so went on to the Llamas and Alpacas who were adorable

These Giants were amazing slowly making their way to their greens

BEWARE if sqeamish!! We were brave, very brave. We were in the Bugs section, which coincided with the Spider talk, and a man came out with quite a frisky tarantular on his hand, to give details and answer questions. But then we ventured into 'the' room, where the spiders are loose, just hanging about on their webs, dangling from the ceiling! I cant say it was a pleasant experience, quite frankly we just clung on to each other, where the young amused guide stated "dont worry they dont move"!

A much more pleasant experience was the Butterfly pavilion. Where amongst the greenery and flowers flitted flashes of bright colours, they were fascinating to watch

Then it was off to Penguin beach to watch their fun and frolics, in and out of the water

One of the best experiences was being surrounded by Squirrel monkeys. We went into the enclosure, and walked round the pathways, seeing all the ropes up high, but seeing no signs of life. But as we got to the end we stood still and then heard the bushes rustle, then spotted a couple of tiny faces peering through, and before we knew it the place came to life. Tiny bodies leaping around us, around the bushes, up in the trees and adeptly across the ropes. They were adorable, and we didn't want to stop watching!

Meercats are always a favourite with their cute little inquisitive faces

Another great experience was to be in with the Lemurs. Alongside this black and white fluffball were a group of ring-tailed lemurs with their infamous long black and white tails hanging below the branches. They love the sun, and they'd sit in the sunniest spots, head up, leaning back and basking.

The last section we went round was Into Africa.

Before leaving, we checked back in with Mr Tiger. He was still fast asleep, but had moved to a ledge where he was in full view. And he did eventually open his eyes and sleepily look around!

I would thoroughly recommend a trip there. I went many many years ago, when animals just had small little cages. Now its great that so many areas are walk through, to be at such close encounters with the creatures.

We were exhausted after a full day of walking round, and it started to rain, so rather than face the rush hour, we opted to stop at a little Italian cafe in Camden for dinner

On the crafting front, I have been working on my latest flowers

Starting with a whole rainbow of circular centres

Before starting to add the petals

Each flower has a beginning, middle, and ends...

A whole bunch of flowers just waiting to be joined

And yes, I have finally figured how to do an all in one join. It took a lot of doing, undoing and redoing. And even after I figured out how to do it, I managed to make a mistake, and I'm back to the beginning. Now I have drawn myself a very simplistic graph, so hopefully I'll be all set.