Brighton

This morning I had a lovely stroll along Brighton seafront with The Parents. We are very lucky to live so near the sea, just an hours drive away, if that, although I don't usually get the chance to go there that often any more.
I actually went to college in Brighton several years ago; it's such a brilliant and inspirational place for an art student to study in with diverse architecture (the Royal Pavilion for instance), rough textures from the sea air and some rather lovely graffiti adorning the sides of less interesting buildings. Then of course, you have the sea!

The weather wasn't overly fantastic and I did have to keep wiping the rain droplets from my camera lens so apologies if there are strange smudges in some of the photos. The sun was trying to break through the cloud cover though so sometimes the sea had a lovely glow towards the horizon; it reminded me a little bit of my Moonlight Reflections Stitchscape- perhaps I should do a similar idea again but focusing on different times of the day, a sunset one could be rather spectacular!

It was really quiet along the seafront and for most of the time it was just us, listening to the mournful cry of the seemingly floating seagulls, the wash of the waves and the wind whistling through the scrubby plants clinging onto the walls.

There were some surprising plants growing out around the steps down the beach. I really liked this little red/pink bud-like flower, it was such a beautiful contrast against the flecked green paint of the railing and the silvery green of another very prevalent plant growing alongside.

We didn't stroll for very long as we were essentially a taxi service for my Grandmother and her appointment was only an hour and a half or so, just enough time to pop into a really fascinating flea market (taxidermy angel mice....need I say more??), wander along the seafront and back again, before the rain really set in! A great way to start the day.

Snowy Stitches Progress

I'm on holiday!! Hurrah!! It's already going too fast as we are halfway through Tuesday and the rest of the week is stacking eagerly up behind. I have been working on my Snowy Alps stitchscape which is coming along nicely. I got a bit excited in the bottom half and found myself adding beads and extra details before I've even started the top half, but never mind- it's all a free flow type of thing so that's ok.

I thought you might like a 'mid-way point' progress report, especially as there are lots of fun things I can show you. The lustre and texture in this one is really lovely with the satin DMC threads and these gorgeous flat pearl beads that I found (in the sale bin = result!) in Hobbycraft a couple of weeks ago. They reminded me of Bullrushes, or Honesty, or large seed pods so that's what I turned them into. Originally I hadn't intended to turn them into a plant, I was going to stitch them in as rocks or something but one got stuck on my needle and when I put the needle down to get a smaller one, it looked like the plant so these little beauties appeared!

I also added some fly stitch fern-esque fronds in front of the Bullrushes to add more of an appearance of tangled undergrowth and to break up some of the harsher lines, I might pop some little french knots at the bottom as well to help 'ground' the stems.

I've used quite a few beads in this piece so far; also from the Hobbycraft sale bin were these lovely matte brown beads which really compliment my earthy french knots underneath the lace fence. I might pop some pale blue beads up there in the sky when I reach it as well. Next up though, are the Alps themselves!!

WPLUP: Christmas Crochet

Hello! Hello, and welcome to the first Winter Project Link Up Party of 2017!! As always, hosted by the lovely Jen over at Thistle Bear who very generously allows lots of other bloggers to cram up her blog page with their own projects and stories. It's a brilliant way to show how diverse and supportive the creative blogging community is when we can all muddle in together. Of course, this does mean now that we are on the final stretch of the WPLUP's and there aren't that many left to go before we can consider ourselves to be well on the way to Summer.

Those just popping in from Thistlebear probably won't recognise my current crochet WIP, which I started at the beginning of December (see introductory post here) in a quest for something rather more simple and mindless than my previous blanket, the Geometric Triangle, which was complicated and made up of lots of individual pieces. The blanket has taken something of a back seat over the festive weeks, and progress is slow but steady. I generally picked it up when my hands needed a break from the intricate and tiny stitches I have been doing on my Stitchscapes- I can't just sit still and do nothing so crochet is a good compromise. It is a really easy, granny stripe blanket and I have decided to order the colours in a regular repeat so that each colour is used evenly but I don't have to think about which one to put in next- simple, straightforward and easy are the words I am going with on this one.

Christmas time brought me lots of wool! Two bags of it in fact! All in my favourite brand and type, Stylecraft Special DK which, in my opinion, has the best range of colours and feels beautiful for an Acrylic yarn, both while crocheting with it and during use. It just seems to get softer and softer over time. The first bag contained ten balls which were in the latest colours released by Stylecraft, and some I think you will recognise from my previous blankets (the mustard returns!). In the above picture, from left to right, we have:

Top Row: * Mustard * Pistachio * Cypress * Kelly Green * Grass Green *

Bottom Row: * Fuchsia Purple * Boysenberry * Lobelia * Empire * Duck Egg *

I don't currently have any particular plans for this wool, although some of the colours- Duck Egg, Boysenberry and Fuchsia Purple- are being used in my stripey blanket so they will likely be incorporated into that one when I run out of the current balls of wool. I shall have to put my thinking cap on for the rest!

The second bag of wool I received was from The Mother, and is very exciting. She, too, reads Attic24's blog and knew all about the Moorland Blanket Crochet-A-Long, and decided to buy me the yarn pack from Wool Warehouse so that I could join in the CAL. This blanket has, not surprisingly, been inspired by the moors around where Lucy of Attic24 lives, and the colours have been chosen to reflect a landscape view of the green hills, purple heather and blue sky. The colours for this blanket (looking at the above image) are:

Top Row: * Storm Blue * Cloud Blue * Duck Egg * Sage * Mocha * 

Middle Row: * Walnut * Grape * Violet * Wisteria * Plum *

Bottom Row: * Pistachio * Lime * Cypress * Meadow * Khaki * 

The first instalment of the CAL was published yesterday (Friday 6th January) and I am planning on beginning mine this weekend. Lucy will publish 20 stripe colours a week so that everyone can follow along- if you wanted to join in there's still time- plus all of her posts will stay on her blog so you can join in whenever you want and go at your own pace. This is probably good for me as I will be attempting two blankets at the same time, plus keeping up with my stitchscaping!

I'm looking forwards to joining in with this project and seeing how everyone else does. It would be interesting to see if anyone chooses to join in with their own colour combinations which is good fun.
So then, as always, thank you if you have joined me from Thistlebear (and if you are regular readers as well), do hop on over to Jen's blog and see what everyone else in the party has been getting up to! (Just click here for the link!)

Moonlight Reflections Stitchscape

I wasn't quite sure what to call this stitchscape; Dark Cliffs, Night Time Waves, Moonlit Ocean, Velvet Stars.... Names just weren't grabbing me, but I have settled on Moonlight Reflections which I think is rather apt. And it is finished!!! The second in my Supermoon series (ooh, I like the sound of that!), and combining elements of the Supermoon Stitchscape and White Cliffs Stitchscape, two of my favourite so far.

I really love the gradient of blues fading through the ocean and into the inky sky; it's almost like a blue ladder, and each step has a different treatment to it, some sparkly, some beaded, some simply back stitched. The bottom layer has stripes of back stitch, some of which are whip stitched with sparkly thread and enhanced with french knot and bead waves, the layer up has whip stitches and sparkly running stitch, the next two layers are back stitch following the batik dye pattern, and the final sea layer has small stitched circles underneath the beginning of the reflection.

The blue is nicely framed with my moonlit cliffs, which I have tried to enhance with a two-tone effect. The side of the cliff has a lighter section full of crossed long stitches, beads and french knots, and a darker fabric underneath with cross stitch in two colours following the pattern. The grassy section on the top of the cliff has also been split into two colours, one lighter than the other. The darker, underside has back stitches following the pattern of the gorgeous fabric, and the top fabric has a very delicate whip stitch.

It's quite hard to photograph the inky, starry sky as the colours are so dark. The fancy yarn and little beads were Christmas presents from my family, although they hadn't intentionally co-ordinated them, that was a brilliant coincidence! I had half thoughts about the Northern Lights with these as the colours are almost like petrol in the way they change in different lights. I do love the deep sparkle they give the top of the stitchscape, which is then matched with sparkly, metallic threads and shiny beads at the bottom to balance it out.

Also for Christmas I was given a square(ish) hoop by The Mother as we had seen them at one of the London shows we visited last year and I commented on them. Naturally I have had to immediately try it out, although it is quite big, about 30cm across at a guess- currently my biggest ones have only been 20cm in a circle!! I think this 'scape, immediately named the Snowy Alps Stitchscape, might take me a little longer than usual!!

I am cracking on with it though, and thoroughly enjoyed stitching these beautiful feathers. The DMC Silky embroidery range is fantastic (I might have bought a few more Silky colours this afternoon whilst leaving work...) and combined with the metallic thread it adds a great lustre to the piece which it really needs with the matt fabric combinations. As always, I shall keep you updated on how this piece turns out!!

Farewell 2016

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2017! Let's hope it is a fantastic year for you all and brings many good things. I have something of a tradition which I think many bloggers do, which is to go back to the start of the previous year and just review everything that happened. Blogs are a bit like scrapbooks or memory albums, to be re-read further down the line. I certainly use mine to check what I have been up to and find it interesting to see the yearly patterns that we all find ourselves doing. So, shall we leap in?

January (above):: (From Top, Let to Right) My completed Criss-Cross Blanket, A beautiful Bouquet, Rainbow Crochet Case, Made With Metal ATC, Snow!, Egg Cup Penguins, Ziggy, My completed Granny Square Blanket, Embellished With Metal Postcard.

February:: Crazy Quilt Blocks, Newspaper & Buttons Postcard, My Completed Log Cabin Blanket, Valentines Day Wreath, Chinese New Year Cakes, Pampass Grass Silhouettes, Planning the Log Cabin, Snowdrop, Ziggy Sleeping on Wool.

March:: Stylecraft Crochet Squares, Bluebells, Bumble Bee Rescue, Easter Tree, My Completed Rainbow Granny Square Blanket, Sunrise, Wooden Letters, Ziggy Asleep in the Wool Basket, Rainbow Granny Squares.

April:: Lighting Beacons for The Queen's 90th Birthday, Scotney Castle, Crochet Table Runner, Bluebells, My Little Friend Kit, Travels Hamsters at Scotney, Crochet Circles, Budding Tree, Granny Square Baby Blanket.

May:: Travel Friends, EPP Pouches, Summer Felt Wreath, Chailey Common Pony, A Bundle of Blankets, Travel Penguins, Felt Flowers, Ziggy, Geometric Blanket.

June:: Travel Hamsters at Spa Valley Railway, The Colosseum in Rome, Mini English Paper Piecing, Parakeet, Standing on the Meridian Line, Fountain in Rome, The Trevi Fountain, Paper Piecing, Travel Pillow Cover.

July:: Cactus Embroidery, Lily at Kew Gardens, Paper Pieced Bags, Beautiful Sunlit Roses, Nitrogen Ice Cream, Blue Hydrangea, Birthday Sunset on Ashdown Forest, Paper Pieced Bags, Original Stitchscape.

August:: Yarn Bombing in Oxford, Lavender Fields Stitchscape, Donkey at Basildon Park, Sunset Silhouette Stitchscape, Carnival Creatues, Seaside Stitchscape, Mountains Stitchscape, Zebra Finch at Blenheim Palace, Mounted Stitchscapes.

September:: Wheat Fields Stitchscape, Walking in Little Barugh, Apple Picking, Crochet Stone Paperweight, Sunset Stitchscape, Elvis at Pickering Castle, Peacock at Nunnington Hall, Sunset, GirlGuides Carnival Float.

October:: Coffee in the Garden, Halloween Pumpkin, Spooky Flower Bouquet, White Cliffs Stitchscape, Geometric Blanket, Silver Birch Stitchscape, Flowers in Southover Grange Gardens, Misty Mountains Stitchscape, Autumn Leaves.

November:: Flora & Angus, Sunburst Stitchscape, Yarn Bowl, Penguin Place, Supermoon, Framed Stitchscapes, Field of Flowers Stitchscape, Apple & Pumpkin Muffins, Fireworks.

December:: Elf on The Shelf- Flora & Angus Annoying Ziggy, Snow White Panto, Advent Candle, Supermoon Stitchscape, Granny Stripe Blanket Beginnings, Beach Huts Stitchscape, Christmas Present Making, Icy Fennel Pods, My Completed Geometric Blanket.

Of course, you yourselves can also go back and re-read posts if there is something here that catches your eye. Can you believe that this is my 7th year of blogging? All of my previous posts can be found listed on the right hand side of my blog in the drop downs, and if there is a particular type of post or subject you are interested in then you can select from the category section. I am looking forwards to what 2017 will bring!!