I know a lot of you know Helen (who I will insist on calling Archie, sorry, mate. #notsorry) and I put the blame for my latest obsession firmly at her feet. You see, last week she sent Chook and I these beautiful beads after kindly remembering we'd done a little jewellery making last year. Aren't they fab? Well they immediately sparked a gift idea which, natch, I can't show you. But I needed a few supplies to finish my vision (#pretentious) so turned to my guilty pleasure, Jewellery Maker TV.
Along with the wire and chain a few other things fell into my basket with the intention of making some Chrimbo presents.
Quite a few other things. (#whoops)
And Saturday afternoon was spent in a blissful haze of wire and gemstones. This is my first ring - not a perfect creation but good enough that I'm wearing it at work today - that's an agate in the middle.
And Saturday night was spent with "Pitch Perfect" and lots and lots of agate rounds and nuggets and 2 inch pieces of 0.6mm silver wire. The wee dangles are peach moonstone and fiddly to make but too pretty not to.
Chook, of course, knocked the ball out the park. Her amazonite ring, in particular, is sellable. Not that we plan to, it's just that neat.
So, Archie, thanks a bunch. You may have created a monster. But we'll be a prettily bedecked monster, eh?
In amongst the horses, scrapbooking, knitting and jewellery making (new obsession!! More on that another day) I have actually squeezed in some sewing, too.
You may remember I am participating in a little international round robin bee, the Pips. Well this month I have Jan's lovely little feather block to add to. Only birds would do, eh? Here's my first wee chap.
And here's how it is with his pal in situ. They each finish at 3 inches, the big challenge with this bee is keeping it small! The pattern is from Craftsy, The Bluebird of Happiness.
And today I've made 2 cushion fronts for wedding gifts. This one is for my boss's daughter who is having navy and orange bridesmaids. She is very cool and as she's a young thing I didn't want anything too patchworky. I've a couple of buttons picked out to add, as well.
Fat piping is on order (and big zips!!) and as I'm not quilting them (just backing the patchwork in plain cotton) they should finish up quite quickly and make two satisfyingly fat cushions. Result!!
Yep, another of those posts with bits that don't fit in anywhere else! Chook started back school last week. Groans from her, cheers from me - I do like to get back into routine! And, yes, those are Adidas Gazelles for school shoes. *disapproving pout* The uniform guidlines state any shoes as long as they are black so they are perfectly within the rules. But I'm a bit Presbyterian when it comes to school so they do rub me up the wrong way some. But you choose your battles, eh?
Sewing wise I am going to make my winter coat!! There's a few of us having an informal coat-along on Instagram and I totally fell in love with this pattern. The fabric is from My Fabrics and the grey is a beautiful soft but low loft wool/linen/alpaca blend. I'm excited to get started but suspect a muslin will be a good idea.
I bought my pattern with a #TVHhaul voucher I won from The Village Haberdashery and it also stretched to these skeins of beautiful Manos del Uruguay yarn. A scarfy-shawl to match my new coat? Yuuup.
Bringing me nicely to my current shawl. It's getting there! This is halfway through chart C - only D to go and I'm casting off! Although when I say only, I currently have 275 stitches on a row and it's only going to get bigger. I'm finally enjoying it, though, and my knitting has improved massively.
I changed my bedding again. I do like blue sheets, heh heh.
And today? Well I got a call at work from Chook's school - she had puked in a corridor and could someone collect her. Wee scone! That's no bad, though, into our 9th year at school and that's the first time she's been unwell there. And only the second time I've been phoned - the first time was to get badly skinned knees dressed by the nurse when she was 8. And I'm still slightly addicted to this guy's music. I'm just fascinated by the whole live looping process.
We found out last weekend that Chookie's riding school was having an informal show today at the yard and would we like to attend. Chook surprised me a bit by giving an enthusiastic "yes, please" so we drove up early this morning to give her time to help with tacking up and things. Here she is with her mount of the day, Bracken. She's a cob-like little horse and only 4 years old so very green and a complete novice at competition - much like Chook. She loves her, though, so was very happy to take her out and accepted that big prizes were NOT going to happen.
First up was the clear round* which should have been a shoo-in. The owner was worried she wouldn't have enough rosettes for everyone who had turned up. Ha! Nope. There was this one jump that at least half the horses ran out at (where they run past instead of jumping over it) and our Bracken was no exception. Oops. So Chook thought that was her one chance of a wee win - there were much more experienced showjumpers (girls and ponies) than her in the next round she was in. Never mind, eh? It's all experience.
Well she had a go at the middle height round (65cm) and did really, really well. The yellow fence that saw her come a cropper before was no trouble (tactics!) and only an unlucky trailing hoof saw a pole come down so she didn't get into the timed jump-off. A much happier (and sweatier!) girl was my companion for a barbecued roll on sausage. Bracken was desperate for a bite!
Her success bolstered her confidence so she decided on the hoof (ha!) to enter the largest height competition, too. She was the last to go from 7 girls and 5 of them were riding their own ponies. Again, it was going to be a lesson in experience. And then the other girls one by one started having nightmares of rounds with multiple refusals and runouts and there was a pretty huge chance that Chook's round was going to be a Keystone Kops style comedy.
See the green on her saddle? She came forth!! **
I took a wee bit video and you'll know how badly the others were messing up for this to be fourth place!! Bracken hasn't jumped this high or a course this size, though, and it's a long time since Chook did a full course. I think they both did splendidly.
Aaw. She's a pretty wee horse, right? But Chook's old loan pony head collar is a bit wee!
And then she went and got second in the pony games. Heh heh.
A most successful first show. And we are both knackered! Fresh air, y'know?
*a clear round competition gives a rosette to everyone who gives a clear round - no refusals, no runouts and no fences down. The fences are often set fairly low so people who won't win a placed prize later (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) go home with a little something.
**I still think she should have been third. One girl had the jumps put down to an easier configuration for her round and got 3rd place - how's that fair?!
Scrapbooking, that is. Yes, I've been having my (almost) annual urge to get out the stickin' and gluein' supplies and get Chook's birthday and Christmas pages done.
First up her last birthday. Which was only 6 weeks ago - check me being all organised! This was one of those chuck-everything-on-a-page-and-see-what-sticks layouts. There's chalk spray splattered underneath, a framework of washi tape and border stickers and various bits of cut-apart elements from paper sheets (like the "Sweet Child o' Mine" phrase) and I tried to keep a slight musical theme on account of the ukulele giftage! I wish now I'd used a different font for the "thir" in the title so that the "teen" was highlighted but that didn't cross my tiny brain at the time.
Last Christmas. This is a terrible quality photo snapped on my phone during a rushed lunchtime before the school dance. But I failed to take any on Christmas day and so this is the only record I have of her fox dress finery. Christmas present list is in the spotty envelope and the orange accents (like the holly berries - I'm so glad I kept that little leaf punch!) were to pick up on the foxes on her dress.
And one other Chrimbo page - this one an 8in size for my Christmas album. The Christmas Eve bauble box! I appear to have a thing for enamel dots just now, eh? *g* And that wee holly leaf punch turned up again - I wish I hadn't chucked my heart one.
So that may or may not be me done scrapping until after this Christmas. I do have a coat to sew, you know (yes, a coat!! I may have bitten off more than I can chew this time...)
Isn't it funny how wee changes can totally alter the look of a room? I've been playing about with our bed linen the last few weeks and it's amazing how different the room feels with just the sheets a new colour.
This is our original choice when we first painted the walls grey and got our white furniture. Grey and - unsurprisingly - white. With a wee bit of citron yellow courtesy of my long stowed, never used Earl Bob quilt. I liked it but always found it a bit......cold. I'm not a huge fan of black and white interior decor and this was a bit close to that.
When I finished my Natural Blues quilt I switched out the grey duvet for white. This is much more me!! A wee bit stark, maybe, but I like it.
And then came the blue birds. My Tiffany's Strings quilt got an airing and I love the vintagey feel it gives the white furniture.
Then on Friday (following a cat vomit incident - niiiice) I threwn caution and my cool colour tastes to the wind and went with red!!
Ha! Even the Vinnie the Cat quilt found a home (finally!) and you know what? I think this might be my favourite combo so far! The cushions were stuffed in my linen cupboard waiting for a use and even Jones and Temple approve. They've stopped running to the door to greet me when I come home, preferring to lounge at the foot of the bed and await their belly rubs. So well received all round!
So back in May the Chook and I planted up a bunch of seeds in little pots for our newly built raised bed. I was amazed when they came up!
I was even more stunned when they started to thrive in my wee garden in June - even the stuff seeded right into the soil!
We have had a terrible, terrible summer in Scotland. Chook has had shorts on twice and not since the first week in July. But when we got home from holiday in the middle of July this is what we were met with. Result!!
Well last weekend Spouse decided to tidy the bed up a bit and try and contain the finger sized slugs that were decimating anything remotely leafy. And came back in with a handful of carrots and red onions!
Not to be outdone I found some baby turnips and a red beetroot!
Here's our final haul.
Yes, the carrots are round (!!) And the slugs really did have a mighty go at that cabbage, there's not much left. But the peas are amazing (we've had loads) and my Little Gem lettuces are shop worthy. I still have a couple of big cabbages, brocolli coming on fabulously and green beans appearing. More peas and beetroot, too. So I think we can say the wee veggie patch was a succeess! Next year? Slug control!! And hopefully some sun coz my tomatoes are pitiful. But no bad, eh?
