Seaside walks and washing lines...

We had another great Geocaching session along the seafront. It gets us out and about, and fun to do and in a great setting too!

We invited my Mum to visit our new place, on Mothers day. She enjoyed having a look around, and we had a lovely seafront stroll.

We cooked dinner, and gave her a present, but she arrived with homebaked goodies for us! A malteser cake and marmite cheese straws, yummy!

Last time I showed you my neon crochet squares, these were supposed to help get my creative flow going again, but they failed to do so. I thought by making simple squares, the ideas and passion would come back, but I ended up disliking them, so put me off doing any at all.

I had in my stash some washing line, that I found at poundland. I had bought this with the intention of having a go at making a basket. Now, I was itching to give it a go

 

No plans, no pattern, just having a play and see what happens

It's working up quite quickly, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

I know there's not much colour going on here, but don't worry this will change, as this is just the base. As i'm making this up as I go, I thought I would make it for my own use, ideally to keep whatever my latest project is. So I thought I would choose colours suitable to match our living room.

I have a rug that i'd bought in Morocco many years ago and I thought I would use this as colour inspiration

So I've chosen an oatmeal colour and various tones of red, and the black of the washing line will be seen through.

I'm looking forward to continuing with this project, and fingers crossed it will end up resembling a basket in the end!

Today was a beautiful sunny day, so of course we ventured outside to enjoy the coastal views.

We also went to find some local Geocaches. This took us inland a little, around the local streets and park, following clues and various coordinates to get to the end result.

It enabled us to have a look around the area, and spot other things

These two had a great vantage point

And we stayed out till we saw the sun go down

It was so lovely to see the sun out and to feel a touch of Spring in the air

sea walks and puffs...

We've been in our new home, and we're starting to get settled and get into a routine. Thankfully as we have a spare room, it means we don't have to sit and look at all the boxes yet to be unpacked and sorted! We got our new washing machine delivered and installed, so no more trips to the launderette!
The weather hasn't been amazing, but on Thursday we were able to venture out along the seafront. We will never tire of watching and listening to the waves

And we enjoyed watching 2 little birdies at the waters edge, trying to avoid the crashing waves

We also got our first glimpse of birds flying in formation

We had gone out without breakfast, so when we came across a garage, we decided a pit-stop was required!

On the return walk we stopped to look for Geocaches, and although it was next to a busy main road, it's amazing how discreet you can be!

I've tried to get back into crochet, and decided to just do a simple project to get the creativity flowing again. It turned out not to be quite so simple, as I intended to do puff stitch petals, except I got confused with the cluster stitch. I made a start and realised the petals were looking quite flat, so had to look up the correct technique.

All is not lost though, as I think a combination of both squares will look pretty good. I've had these bright, sparkly yarns in my stash for a couple of years, but now that I have a lovely, large cupboard for all my yarns to be stored, rather than boxed up in the garage, I have access to them all.

Now I've got my stitches organised, I should be able to get the squares made up quite quickly

Until next time...

Blocking Blooms...

On our day off last week, we were lucky with the weather, so after the chores were done we were back on our bikes. We cycled to Woking town centre, and stopped to look for our first Geocache around the WWF building. We made our way back, and found 3 more, but they were harder to find so we saved the others for another time, and cycled the rest of the route back...

I have continued working on my orange blooms this week

As I have so much blocking to do, and a towel really wasn't ideal, I sourced a set of foam mats, although technically play mats, they seem to be a popular, affordable option.

They have worked so well. The pins pop in so easily and stay in too!

The flowers are coming together. All the orange petals are made so i'm just adding the red edging and joining as I go and then blocking each flower

I'm thinking about writing out a pattern for this one, but as I haven't written a pattern for someone else to understand, I think I may need to do a bit of research first!

The weather has been quite erratic this week. From bright blue skies to deep, dark heavy rain clouds, but whichever we've had it's been very humid

Our flat is pretty hot, so when it gets too much, we have a lovely lake we can visit. just down the road

I never tire of this view, and a lap of the lake is a perfect stroll in the sun

We did have a sneak treat this time !!

Fareham frolics

We took our annual trip to stay with my Mum, and had our jaunts around the area
After our train journey and refreshments, we made the most of the nice weather (although not nice enough for the beach) and headed to the Alver valley. Mum was eager to try Geocaching, and we are always ready for an opportunity. The first one eluded us, so we moved on, through tall grasses, and scrabbling round trees

We had success, finding 6 in total. We all thoroughly enjoyed it, and got to walk around some pretty countryside

The following day we visited Gilbert White's house, learning about the naturalists life

After a coffee break, we headed upstairs to see the Captain Oates exhibition, and his exploits to reach the South pole

We had a picnic on the lawns, before walking round the expanse of gardens

To round off the day, we took a stroll around the picturesque village

We do love a good Ag show, so we were pleased that our holiday coincided with the New Forest show. We have been before and it is a great mix of animals, crafts, flowers and displays.

We had planned prior to our holiday, a trip to the theatre. Annie is one of our favourites, and with Craig Revel Horwood playing Miss Hannigan we couldn't miss the opportunity

As we saw the matinee, which ends at rush hour, we took the opportunity to make a stop at Ikea

Our next choice of place to visit was Fishbourne Roman palace. We arrived in perfect time for the guided tour, to learn the history of the archaeological site

We had a walk around the gardens, had a picnic and saw a small archaeological dig for kids to join in

As the weather had come out nice, we didn't want to waste the opportunity, so we had a brief trip to the beach. The tide was out, but we took a stroll to the waters edge and went looking for shells

For our last day it was a relaxed affair. We took a stroll into town, and it goes without saying that I had to take a visit to the new haberdashery/wool store

We watched local teams compete in handmade raft races

Before heading back through town, with a vital stop at Wilko to stock up for home.

It was lovely getting out and about, enjoying the summer fresh air, what we miss most from working indoors each day...