New colour blooms...

I did very little crochet whilst on holiday, but sometimes its nice to have a complete break, devoid of pressure.

Our first day back home, and we continued with the outdoor activities. It was back on our bikes, and we cycled westerly along the canal path. It was a lovely sunny day, but not too hot, and with our newly attached water bottle holders, we were refreshed along the route. We then did an about turn, this time hunting for geocaches on the return journey. We found that some of them we had tried in the past, but this time we had success finding 4 in total. And despite having to search through a horse-fly swarm and getting stung by nettles, we did have fun!

I had a night out with the girls from work, as we visited Las Iguanas, Mexican restaurant, followed by Creams for pudding! It was a fun night, with yummy food!

And Peter Andre came to town, promoting his fragrance. I do have a soft spot from him, so I was quite happy to watch at a distance!

Crafting wise I've mangaged to complete all the rustic lace flowers, and joined them along the way. So all I have left to do is finish sewing in the ends, and it will definitely need blocking!

As i've taken many flower pictures on my holidays, I now have a lovely amount of inspiration to return to.

For my next crochet piece, this flower was behind my thought process (anyone have any ideas what it is?)

I love the simple shape, the way you would draw a basic flower on paper.

I made a dark round centre, and changed to an orange colour. I made a long chain, turned and worked back down the chain, and joined at the same point on the circle, till I worked round the whole circumference.

I wanted to add a second colour to the petals, to match the two tone of the flower

So I went round each petal in a bright red, for a slight contrast

As you can see, it is in desperate need of blocking as the petals have closed and curled round

I decided to make another, only changing the centre colour (after finding the original colour I had wanted)

I had no plan when I started out, but they are lovely plump flowers, so I will see how they look joined together, as I invisage they could make a colourful cosy scarf!

Looks like its time to dig out the iron!...

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...

Duplicate padding...

As I hinted last week, I did indeed make some more of the little padded floral brooches

I enjoy making them, they're quick and fun

There was a lovely suggestion by Red Haired Amazona, (thank you) to also make some pincushions in the same style. I love this idea, and may well put into practice once I find a suitable filling

I've only managed to add a couple of flowers to the mood blanket this week.

I'm still trying to kick this cold, and with work, house chores and ebay, i've not had alot of time. But now I have a weeks holiday, we will be visiting my Mum in Fareham, so hopefully after some rest and sea air I can come back rejuvenated.

This weeks floral inspiration are raindrop petals...

I'll see you again in a couple of weeks...

It's the little things...

So I thought that with the way my week was going, I wouldn't have anything to show you. I've been hit with a summer cold, so I've been stuffed up, sniffling and coughing, and I hadn't once touched my rustic flower scarf.

It was only near the end of the week that I managed to add some more mood flowers.

Then impulsively I decided to try out an idea that's been in my head awhile. 

I started by making two identical circles, and putting some stuffing in between them before joining together

It looks like a little space ship, don't you think?

I then added some petals around the edge

To add to the 3d effect in the middle, I decided to add a highlighting colour, following the swirl of the centre, an effect from only working through the back of the stitches.

I picked up stitches from the top circle and worked my way round

Originally I had intended to do a cushion or blanket with a flat background and padded flowers, but after this little experiment, and the fact that big projects take me forever, I actually thought what a cute little brooch this would make.

I've already started on a different colourway, with just the swirls to add

I'll make a few more of these padded floral brooches, trying out different colours, but I suspect that none will quite have the impact of the original flower for me...

I spotted a great little find in Tiger this week (one of my favourite go to stores), a mini loom. Back in the day when I studied textiles, I had not only participated in knitting, but weaving, tapestry and rag rugs too. I have been itching recently, to have a go again, and in fact the big ideas swirling around my brain, are incorporating weave and crochet together.

So of course I was eager to get it out and have a little play

Now I just need to practice and see if I can bring any of my ideas to life

So it's been the little things that have allowed me to be creative this week...

Floral inspiration this week comes in the form of a mandala, coloured in using a colouring app on my phone

Woodlands and flowers...

It's been awhile but we finally managed to get out on our bikes last week. The sun was out, and the temperature was a bit cooler. We dusted off the bikes, made some adjustments and pumped up the tyres, and off we went. We went along to our lovely local park, as we had the intention of getting out to do some more geocaching. We found two in quick succession, hanging off a branch and nestled within a trunk.

We made our way towards local village, stopping for another, more taxing find, in and around holly bushes, but again we were triumphant. We stopped for a late lunch before making our way back, with two more finds under our belt before arriving home, from a fun and satisfying day.

My mood blanket is slowly growing, adding a few blooms each week.

It was the second week of Wimbledon, and I took time out to watch the Murray matches

I've continued trying to crack on with the rustic lace flowers. I do tend to get bored midway through projects, so I really have to focus on reaching the end.

I find it quicker to work a batch of the centres first, then do all of the second rounds and finally complete the third round and joining

I decided due to the openness of the pattern that it would work well as a scarf. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out...

I picked a few little flower heads on the way back from the village

So I'll leave you with a little floral inspiration...

Hot Hot Hot...

This week in the U.K it has been hot, damn hot!

I love summer, and warm sunny days, but this has been too much! Maybe i'm being a woosy Brit or maybe this country isn't set up for these conditions, as we get them so rarely. But it's been hard to move, function or sleep! 

Needless to say that not much crochet has taken place!

Its only the last couple of days, that the temperature has dipped slightly to allow me to pick up my hook

I'm still working on my Sweet Williams, rustic lace flowers

First a little colourful pile of centre circles

And then the second round shaping

And of course a touch of hookin in front of the tennis at Wimbledon

Although I don't complete a flower daily, I'm still continuing with my floral mood blanket, completing a batch at a time. Sadly i'm getting a bit slack with the ends though!

With the hot weather and Wimbledon what better excuse was there to have some strawberries and ice cream.....