Mandala mistakes and Basket beginnings...

It's been a hot muggy week here in the UK. Not that i'm complaining about actually having some summer weather, but I am thankful to now be living by the sea. It's enabled us to pop out across to the beach when ever we needed a spot of cooler air

This included an evening stroll at dusk, although it was the lure of getting a magnum that did get us off the sofa!

We had our usual beach walk when we had the day off together. It was a beautiful day, but with a lovely sea breeze it was comfortable to walk in

As we'd been out for a while we ended up stopping at a garage and getting ourselves a late lunch. We sat on the beach to eat it, you really can't beat that view!

Hubby had a great haul that day, and some good size pieces too

A range of colours. White, green, olive and pale blue

I was having a 'blind' day, but at least I managed to find a large pale blue piece

I had a work meeting to go to in Stratford. It turned out nothing like I could have imagined as we spent 2 hours around the Olympic park 'team building'. It was so much fun as we worked in teams, had clues to find and had to show photographic evidence. It meant I was able to visit somewhere ordinarily I wouldn't normally have gone to.

The mandala has been continued and been growing, with thankfully some quicker easier rounds. But I've hit another mistake!

I'm so frustrated! I'm not quick at crochet, and I have limited time, so to have to undo a whole round which I need to do is a little bit heartbreaking!

The problem is I didn't know I had gone wrong until I was at the end of this round! I'm supposed to have 31 of these lilac stitches in each section, but somehow the last section has 33!!

So I've chucked it aside for the moment, until I can bear to undo and redo, and made a start on a new basket. As you may recall last time I intended to do another (but slightly different) scrap yarn basket. Its not quite gone to plan, I have said before they do work up organically, and take their own shape. Well this one certainly has. For some reason the base on this one didn't come out flat like all the others.

Its like a ceramic bowl with a base, so if it wishes to be a bowl, then a bowl it may be!!

A week of mixed crafts...

We went out on  a most enjoyable beach walk last week, and yes the sun did put in an appearance. Despite the tide being in we still had a search for treasure. I wasn't able to find any glass at the beginning, but I took joy at all the other wondrous things that get washed on to the beach. For the first time I found some good pieces driftwood

Its amazing how time flies and how many metres you walk when you are completely absorbed in nature around you. The only problem is having to walk back again!

Along the way I did manage to find quite a few pieces, in fact I managed to beat hubby on quantity this time, but he came up trumps with our best find so far, an absolutely beautiful cobalt blue piece

This week I've dabbled in a few crafts. I have of course continued with the mandala rounds. It is now bigger than our patio table and to take this picture I had to stand on some steps

I have now completed week 11, a whole 76 rows!

So many different stitches, make great texture

I bought myself a little pack of  acrylic paints as I wanted to experiment to see if the paint would take on the chalk pebbles, and I was very pleased to find that it worked!

Hubby's Uncle gave us some of his home grown rhubarb, my favourite fruit

So I made good use of it and made a scrummy crumble

I made a start on a new basket, after seeing that I hadn't made one for too long.

As I have a ridiculously large stash of acrylic yarns I fancied trying a scrap yarn basket. As I wanted a complete random mix of colour I put two strands together, and went up a hook size. Its tricky to make it random when you're used to pattern, and matching.

I kinda like how its turning out though

Treasures and mandala madness continues...

So it was back to work this week, and the weather hasn't been the greatest, its been quite changeable.
On our day off together, despite the grey skies, we were determined to make the most of the beach.

We felt it would be a good treasure hunting opportunity as the sea had been churning well. And it was, we found plenty of pieces, but we hadn't anticipated on the strength of the wind nor the chillyness!

Apart from a lone dog walker we were the only ones braving the elements. Its normally me that struggles with the cold the most but the quantity of finds had me in a determined state of mind. We were in much need of a warm up, so we stopped for hot chocolate before we headed back.

By chance I came across some super cute mini glass bottles at The Works, perfect to display our pretty sea treasures.

              I took time out after work to visit the art instillation that's temporarily on our beach.

Its cleverly mirrored so you get to see unusual reflections.

The only problem, as they've been up awhile, they've been up against the elements so some of the mirrors are too dirty! 

I have continued to work on the mandala. I'm happy that week 11 is much less taxing

I wont go as far as saying easy, as I still managed to make a mistake!

I was so annoyed with myself, it wasnt really down to lack of concentration this time, but as i just pick it up in the evenings, I stop and start around the circle. For some reason I had the wrong stitches in my head so basically just made it up!!

                                 Looking back at my June pictures, I was shocked to see that

I hadn't made any baskets for the whole month! The Mandala and its massive rounds have literally taken up all my craft time, but also I thoroughly enjoy making it, I do though, need to find a way of fitting in some smaller projects too!

Natural treasures...

Just a quick check in this week, as work has been hectic, so ive been pretty tired and plus had a fall on Fri which meant a stop off at A & E and a sore swollen knee to contend with..

We did manage to have a pleasant day on Thursday when the weather turned out like a beautiful summers day.

                        We made the most of it, staying local and taking stroll along the beach.

We decided to go beachcombing, to look for natural treasures

and we found our biggest haul of sea glass to date, all be it quite tiny pieces

No surprise that very little crafting has occurred this week

but I am adding to both projects whenever I get the chance, and energy

Each round is taking a lot longer to do on the Mandala now that it's expanding in size!

Hopefully I can have a slightly less challenging week and make a bit more progress!