Hot Orange

Gorgeous aren't they? My Calandiva has truly come into its own diva-ish ways. A definite pot of KAAAAAPOWWWW(!!!!) on the patio.

My sister has requested a ripple blanket (like the one I made for my brother), but in sunset colours, with lots of orange. I find myself quite wary of the orange colours that you can get with acrylic yarns as the ones stocked in shops are usually quite fluorescent, but I am having a crack at it anyway. Maybe I should use these flowers as inspiration.

I have started off with a kind of orangey pink colour (the picture doesn't do the colour justice I'm afraid) as it is one I already have in my copious collection. The pattern is from Attic24 and is nice and easy to do, rippling along the rows in a smooth rhythm. (Incidentally, Lucy at Attic 24 is working on her own ripple blanket, a seaside inspired one- with a colour palette totally different to the one I am taking on!)

I have now finished the first two colours for this blanket (the second colour is quite peachy). I always find the first colour to be a bit fiddly, fraught with counting and looping through different coloured wools to mark a certain number of stitches, but by the second colour I am flying!

It was very hot this morning. Ziggy was delighted as he hasn't been overly impressed with what the weather has had to offer lately. He always seems to blame us if it rains and mopes around in a strop. But as soon as the sun comes out he simply melts into the patio in gooey delight!

Playing Catch-Up

Harriet and Hamilton are off again on their adventures. They and their friend Amy are off to Barcelona (in fact they are probably there now, enjoying the sunshine) for a few days. I'm not jealous, no no.......not jealous at all......

Us English peeps have been having some wet, windy, dull weather of late. There was 5 minutes of sunshine this morning but I blinked and missed most of it. The plants seem to be enjoying themselves though- my Hydrangea is starting to gain colour, albeit v.e.r.y s.l.o.w.l.y.

And my lovely purple Rose has taken a definite battering from the weather.

It has been a good time to stay indoors and catch up on some of my Sew and Stitch. The Mother is very anxious that I don't catch her up and is doing her own little bits at a time whilst trying to discourage me from continuing- just a small amount of sewing rivalry!

My lovely little starfish square. I do like the detached chain stitches in the middle. They really add a three-dimensional element to the fabric.

This square is a little longer than the others, apparently it is going to form part of the border. I guess we will have to wait and see what S&S have planned for this little boat.

And finally, a very simple square that has been designed to snuggle next to one of my previous squares.

The Smallest Of Changes

I finished a boat square for my Sew and Stitch yesterday evening. I think I prefer the boat with strong black lines but there we go. Variety is the spice of life. I am considering putting a logo or some text in the sails to make it more personal and interesting. Do you have any thoughts on what I could put?

(Mine)                                                            (The Mother's) 

On the subject of changes, I thought you might be interested to see what I mean when I say I have changed and personalised mine. The general premise, shapes and themes within the squares are the same, but I like to change odd little bits. The Mother tends to keep hers relatively true to the original pattern so I am comparing mine with hers. The square above actually caused a bit of controversy within the S&S following because they tried to make you print off your own template rather than printing it for you like they usually do- when The Mother printed hers, the template came out a lot smaller than the square, so I adjusted mine to make mine bigger- she kept hers at the size of the printed template.

 (Mine)                                                                   (The Mother's)

 (Mine)                                                       (The Mother's)

 (Mine)                                                     (The Mother's)

 (The Mother's)

Hopefully you won't judge the neatness of mine too harshly against The Mother's- she is super neat!! Especially all of her stitching.

(Mine)

Recuperating

Ah, what a nice afternoon we have had. The last few days have been quite busy but with a kind of strange calmness about it. There have been moments tinged with sadness but also fond memories and sometimes hysterical laughter. The cats seem quite unperturbed by it all, and Ziggy especially has been enjoying the sun- pinching Dad's chair when he gets up to do some gardening.

The garden itself has been getting a slight face lift. The droopy spring flowers pulled up to make way for pretty summer florals. I put my new gardening gloves on and was in charge of replanting the bluebell bulbs as Dad pulled up the leaves.

On Friday I treated myself (or rather The Mother treated me) to my very own Hydrangea plant. I have wanted one of these for aGeS!! Ever since I saw that bank of different coloured Hydrangea bushes at Killerton in Devon last year.

I have been working quite hard at the computer recently as well, being in charge of my Mixed Media Class' yearbook. Lots of pages being created on Photoshop, but I have also started a new square for my Sew and Stitch quilt. A blanket stitch boat!

I was even treated to an ice lolly from the ice cream van that comes up our road. Mm, delicious!

A Gentle Goodbye

Last Saturday was a very sad day as it was the day we said goodbye to my Grandad. He was a lovely man, who had just reached the grand old age of 80 years, surrounded by family and friends throughout his life. He loved to laugh, tinker with old cars (Morris Eights in particular), make friends, help people and be in his garden, watching the birds or feeding the foxes. I am not going to say much more in this post, and I hope you will enjoy the photos of the beautiful flowers in my Sussex garden (the flowers above are given in love and sympathy from The Mother's work colleagues) which I am sure Grandad is looking down on from wherever he is.