Attic24

September Mantel

I am most definitely feeling a subtle Autumnal vibe these days, it is seeping slowly but surely into my consciousness as I go about my daily business. At the end of last week when I went to the market to purchase flowers (I had bright zingy dahlias in mind), I came home instead with these beautifully seasonal Chinese Lanterns. Aren't they stunning?

Coming home from the market with a paper wrapped parcel of floral goodies always delivers such a big dose of feel-good. The whole process of unwrapping, admiring, snipping and arranging is hugely therapeutic and I really like that no plastic is involved too. I wish there was more paper wrapping in the world!

I have a nostalgic attachment to these unusual flowers (are they flowers? Or seed heads? Or fruits?) as my Mum used to grow them every year in her garden. She would bring great armfuls of them into the house to display in jugs and they last a surprisingly long time.

I just LOVE the shot of brilliant colour these three stems bring to the room, that orange is stunning in real life it really is. I keep finding myself surprised by them being there, they leap out at me every time I walk through the door, shouting a big HELLO from across the room.

Oooooooooooooo now then, did you by any chance take your eyes away from the orange lanterns and gaze along my mantel to see what else was there? Did you notice my most gorgeously gorgeous painted driftwood sculpture?? Want to see more??

Ta-dah!!!!! I totally forgot to share this with you when it arrived in the Attic in the summer. Isn't it superbly wonderful? Ahhhhhhhhhhh I love it so so so much ♥

See it even has my number on the door as it was made especially for me. It's the work of talented artist Kirsty Elson  who's work I am completely smitten with. I first heard about Kirsty over on Julia's blog and I instantly tumbled head over heels in love with her driftwood sculptures. Of course it was a dead cert that I would love her work as it combines two of my favourite-most-favourite things :: little houses and the seaside. I adore the jaunty little boats she makes, but it was the driftwood cottages that really stirred my heart. Actually to use the word "stirred" is bit under parr as my heart more or less tries to leap clear of my body when I clap eyes on these sweet little pieces of beach art. I experience such an emotional response to them, kind of like wanting to laugh and cry at the same time, do you know what I mean?

Anyhow, overwhelming feelings in response to creativity are something I am quite used to, and I know that I have to simply go with it. So when I was skipping through Kirsty's blog one day and saw this post, I found myself practically hyperventilating. Not only did I spot those sweet little cottages of hers, but some of the sweet little cottages had washing lines attached........and the miniature washing was all stripy and dotty!!!!!!! Jeepers, I nearly fell off my stool!!

So that was how I came to commission my very own driftwood beauty, complete with dotty-stripy laundry, and I love it very much.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, did you also spot something else on my mantel, something bright and colourful and of a decidedly hooky nature? Actually, you may have spotted three of them sitting sweetly together next to the yellow vase? These pretty little hooky things have some floral decorative bits look........

.........and they were one of my impulsive Must-Make-It-Right-This-Instant projects way back in April. Yes April! That's five months ago!! Oh dear, it seems that I've gotten unbelievably behind with my Ta-dah-ing, it's quite a disgrace.

I'm going to try over the next week to bring myself up to date with all my hooky happenings. Off the top of my head I've got at least three finished, un-shared projects to sing and dance about, so there's going to be a bit of a Hooky-fest coming to the Attic next week. Hope that's ok with you?

See you then, it's going to be fun!

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ps Look out for a special colour-filled post over the wkend to do with yarn colours an' all. Cos I know all you addicts are desperate to know what's staying and what's going. You know what I'm talking about, right? x

 

 

 

 

More Yarn Stuff

Hello! I was just re-reading the knitty post I wrote up last night and it occurred to me that I forgot to include The Sunflowers. I can't believe I left them out as they were one of my favourite things in the exhibition. 

I just love the above photo, it sums up the exhibition beautifully. Can you see how you are immediately captivated by the sunflowers, they're so tall (as tall as me) and so striking! So clever!! So beautifully made!!! But if you keep on looking at the picture, you begin to notice other things. The birdhouse on the wall. The butterflies that have alighted on the window. The little grey mice that are scampering across the top of the radiator. The little grey mice that are scampering along the pipes just above the floor. Ahhh the whole thing was just fabulous, it really was.

Of course I am now dreaming up my own stripy hooky pot of giant flowers. A Big, tall, colourful version of the above. Something wonderful and wacky to stand about the place. I can only imagine what J would have to say about it, The Look that he would give me. It'd be worth making a crazy object just to witness his reaction teehheee. Naughty naughty me.

Some other yarn stuff I've been meaning to share with you is the knitting progress that Little Lady has made in recent months. You may remember the post I wrote in March about her learning to knit, and her very first project which came from the Made By Me book by Jane Bull??

Well pretty much as soon as she had finished her little knitty purse, she began working on the sweet little owl softie shown on page 54. She picked the exact same colour as in the book (cloud blue Stylecraft Special DK) and off she went with great enthusiasm.

It didn't take her long as each row was only 12 stitches long. But somehow the actual making up of the Owl got delayed. We kept saying we would do it, but never actually did. That little strip of cloud blue knitting sat around on my desk for weeks, it even disappeared and then reappeared somewhere else a few times.

Then one day in the middle of the summer holidays, I found it under a pile of magazines and asked her if she would like me to work on it with her.

She was mega excited (I love how she physically jumps up and down and claps her hands when she's excited), and couldn't wait to set to work.

She did all the sewing up by herself with just a teensy bit of guidance in the beginning. She was absolutely beside herself putting the stuffing in, who knew that polyfil stuffing could provide such a thrill?

She ran to her bedroom and fetched the roll of coloured felt that I'd bought her (when I was trying to convince her that stitched felty things were waaaay better than complicated knitty things), and together we selected colours.

Owly eyes were cut out, and a little yellow beak took shape.

Some glue was found and the felt shapes were carefully stuck into place.

We had to leave it to dry for a while, and it was very hard to get her through the waiting.

But later that day, we had a little look to see if it was dry (it was indeed) and Little Owl was finally held up to be admired.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awwwwwwwwww, we had a proud little Mummy-daughter Ta-dah moment together and some  excited jiggy-jig dancing took place.

Love was even declared.

Little Owl was named Bernie, and there he sits on the mantel under the Love Heart Twigs. We love him very much. Bernie was originally destined for Daddy's desk at work, but actually we kind of decided we need to keep him here at number 24 for a while.

As soon as Bernie was roosting on the mantel, Little Lady moved immediately onto her next project. She is very like her Mummy you know, her Creative Mind is alive and kickin' up a storm it seems.

So after a great deal of pleading, I treated her to some posh new yarn to work with, her Very Own Stash. Queue more mega-excited jumping and clapping, I do so love her enthusiasm. This yarn is called "Snuggly Smiley Stripes" by Sirdar, an incredibly soft bamboo/wool blend. Gotta hand it to Little Lady, she has great taste in yarn.

So this is progress so far on Project #3. It's going to become a small bag so I believe.

I'm so proud of her. Like really busting at the seams with pride.

Now then........before I go off to The Land of Nod, I'd just like to say a big, huge thank you for all the lovely comments you leave at the end of my witterings. I love to read what you have to say, your collective voices bring me so much pleasure! It's hard to put into words but I am extraordinarily grateful to you all for popping by day after day in order to catch up with my potty little comings and goings. It means such a lot that you take time to write to me.

((THANK♥YOU))

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Blooming Marvellous

When we went Dorset a few weeks ago, I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon drinking tea and eating cake with an old friend, one of my oldest friends actually. We were at school together and then shared a room together when we first left home to go to art school. Amazing to still be in touch twenty five years on, with six children and two husbands between us.

Anyhow, she told me about an exhibition she'd recently been to at Bridport Arts Centre and recommended that I go see it if I could. The exhibition was called Blooming Marvellous and was described as "an intergenerational community knitting/crochet project culminating in a knitted/crocheted 3D garden".

Intriguing don't you think? A knitted GARden?? How could I possibly not go and see for myself?!

I really didn't know what to expect, it's quite a long time since I went to an art exhibition of any sorts. I was excited! And as I had Little Lady with me it felt like quite an adventure to be heading off to experience this together.

It was a bit baffling at first. As everything was visible all at once,  just entering the room was quite overwhelming. There was so much to see, big things and small things, a mind boggling amount to take in.

We began to work our way slowly around the room. We had to crouch down as most of the exhibits were on the floor. But it was an absolute necessity to get reeeeeeeeally up-close as the detail in everything was un-be-liev-able.

Ohh the work! The hours and hours and hours of creative work evident in this exhibition was astounding.

This exuberant floral border blew me away.

I loved the sheer fun of it, the absolute over-the-top, crazy joy of it!

 We crouched and gazed into this cool, blue yarny pool....

....and we circled round and round this buzzy, yarny bee hive.

We oooohhed and aaahhhhhed and mmmmmmmed over this knitty picnic.....

......and paused to appreciate this lush bowl of bright yarny fruit.

Like I say, the teeny tiny details in this exhibition were wonderful. Everywhere you looked there was something to surprise and delight. Tiny little knitted ladybirds crawled along windowsills and up walls. A knitted spider sat in a big knitted web at the window. A knitted owl roosted above a doorway. We couldn't stop smiling at every new discovery.

I think the veggie plot was my absolute favourite bit of all. I thought this little knitted tray of seedlings and seed packets was the cutest thing EVER.

There was an abundant harvest of vegetables.....

....tumbling out of crates and bags.

And can you see in the background there, a knitted shed! How ever many hours must it've taken to knit the side of a shed???!!

Throughout the duration of the exhibition there were regular knitting workshops held at the arts centre, with free patterns and help available to encourage people to contribute a little knitted something. The idea was to inspire people to become involved, to encourage the social aspects of knitting and crocheting together. 

Since coming home and reading the blog about the exhibition, it's become apparent just how many people were involved with it's creation. It was a huge community undertaking. This exhibition is sooooo much more than a collection of quirky handmade objects. The community spirit, the skill and the humour is truly awe inspiring.

Blooming Marvellous indeed.

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Edited to add :: a message from Pauline Stanley, the talented artist who organised this whole project...........

"HI, Just been sent the link to your Blog -it is wonderful and thank you all for writing such lovely things about it. I am the artist who organised this project with 1600 fantistic knitters - the youngest was 2 and the oldest was 99! Many of the knitters had disabilties including visual impairment, physical disability, learning disability and 42 groups took part. The garden is on tour around the UK. It is at Poole at Lighthouse art centre until 15th October and then will go into hibernation for the winter and will be at Durlston Country Park, Swanage in Dorset next Easter, then a casle in Wales for a few months then a museum in Yorkshire. It is avaialbe to hire and i would love some bokkings for it for over this winter rather than have it in storage.

Pauline Stanley 01202 392055"

 

 

 

 

Knitty Business

A month or so ago, Little Lady came home from school with a book she'd chosen from the school library. It was called "Made By Me" by Jane Bull, an author we already know and love. She was very excited by this book and spent day after day reading it cover to cover. She took it to bed with her. She made notes from it. And finally she declared that she really, really, really wanted to learn to knit. More than anything in the whole wide world, she wished to knit.

Truthfully I was not too keen on the idea of attempting to assist her with knitting. Knitting is quite a long way out of my creative comfort zone. I'm not very experienced with the sticks. Hooks yes. But sticks? Uh-uh. Well that's to say that I can knit, and indeed I used to knit a lot as a teenager. I used to knit myself gloves and jumpers and although I cannot quite believe it now, I once knit a cardigan for myself with a cable running up the front. A cable!!! Me doing cabley things with knit sticks, it seems incredible!

Now as well as knitting, this book also covers embroidery and sewing and has some really sweet projects in it.

The sewing pages are a true delight :: beautifully presented and very inspiring.

I loved almost every one of the sewing ideas and would have been thrilled if LL had chosen one of them to have a go at. In fact I even tried to persuade her in this direction by buying her a small bundle of coloured felt squares from a local shop. I enthused a lot about the pretty things she could sew for herself. But to no avail. It was knitting that she had really, really, really set her heart on.

Her desire to learn and her wonderful enthusiasm won me over in the end, and I made her a promise that I would help her learn to knit.

I managed to find some small childs knitting needles in a local shop, and we were all set. We would start out making a small knitted purse, just like the ones on page fifty six. The book has some very good step by step instructions and photographs to explain it all, and without too much trouble we learnt to cast on. When it came to the business of actually knitting I found that amazingly I still remembered how to do it. So between the book and myself, Little Lady was taught the basics. She is a fast learner, and before long she was confident enough to do it without my help.

We spent a truly fabulous morning together :: it was half term holiday and J had taken the boys out for the day leaving us girls at home to do girly yarny stuff together. I was working on The Secret Project (no word yet on when I'll be able to ta-dah that with you, am still waiting for News), and Little Lady was fulfilling her Greatest Wish. I wish you could have seen her, heard her, witnessed the pure joy as her little bit of knitting grew and grew. She kept saying over and over that she couldn't belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeve she was Actually Knitting. I was completely thrilled for her. And I was perilously close to tears...you know how some moments in life seem to become unexpectedly MonuMENtal, even though in essence they are so little? This was one of those big little moments.

Little Lady and her knitting were inseparable for a while. She did it last thing at night and first thing in the morning. She took it with her everywhere and she worked row after row of pretty good knitty. I hoicked back a dropped stitch from time to time, and sorted out some mysterious extra stitches that appeared, but mostly she just managed to do it without help and I felt so proud of her!

Over the past month or so, she worked steadily away at it and we kept on measuring as it grew. It began to get very exciting as she neared the end. Then on Saturday afternoon, she sat on the sofa and declared she would knit four more rows and then it would be Ready To Stitch.

The stitching up of the purse was fun, and she did most of it herself. She stitched on a button, then made a little "finger crochet chain" to form the button loop, then whhhoooooooped with delight when she realised she'd finally finished!!

It was FAB!!!

The little purse is well loved and well used, it's been much showed-off and much admired. And it's the perfect size for holding her lip gloss. Cool.

So that's the story of how Little Lady learnt to knit age six and three quarters.

She's already started her next project (a little blue owl, a present for Daddy to brighten up his work desk).

One FO and a WiP already on the go, that's my girl ♥

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 Edited to add :: a note from Little Lady............

a big thank you for all of your lovley comments, and i realy apreasheat all your lovely thauts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOP TIP!be confident about your work and it turns out lovley,i am really exited about my owl

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Winter Warmth

Hello! We're having a very Wintry week here in my patch, brrrrrrrr it's been sooooo cold of late!

The temperatures have been sub zero day and night which is quite extreme for us Brits :: we are more used to half measures and unpredictability when it comes to the weather and all this constant bitter icy stuff has taken us by surprise.

But no denying the sheer beauty of it as I go slip sliding precariously with the pushchair along the frozen canalside. The snow and ice has made our every day surroundings look like a Winter Wonderland.

Despite the very cold weather, I've been feeling all Wintry-warm this week, it's such a lovely time of year isn't it? Ahhhh I'm having such a lovely, buzzy, happy time, the Little People are in full pre-Christmas swing both at home and at school and it's so joyful getting caught up in their excitement. Only 16 more sleeps don't you know. Quite a horrifying fact when one hasn't actually begun purchasing any gifts, but at the moment the Excitement is managing to keep the Panic in check.

I made it slip-sliding over the ice to the cafe this morning for my knit and natter group, what an enjoyable morning I've had. After missing it for a few weeks due to germs+snow, it was extra lovely to be back with friends, doing what I love best. Slurping and nattering and hooking, it was really good. Like really good. I am still on with my Christmas Decs, I have become quite loopily addicted to making them. Just one more, just one more, I can't seem to stop myself.

I know many of you are loving making them too (yiippppeeee!), there're some absolute beauties appearing in the Attic24 Inspired Flickr group, do go and take a look if you have a moment to spare. Makes me so happy to share with you  ♥ thank you ♥

Just whilst I'm on the subject of sharing, I came across a lovely blog this morning that I'd like to tell you about if you haven't already found it :: it's written by Sara and is called Tangled Happy, it's fabulous!! Labelled as a "crochet pattern collective" there are oodles of creative hooky ideas and lots of links for you to follow. I was particularly smitten with Pips crochet baubles that Sara featured yesterday, wow, what a clever idea that is! Pips tutorials are smashing and very easy to follow, I think I'll be giving those a go when I can put my own ones down for a second.

Something about Wintry weather makes me want to stay home warm and cosy and bake things. Well truthfully my week so far has involved rather a lot of happy time out and about socialising with friends, but Little Man is keeping us supplied with fresh home baking. He baked these buns when he came home from school a few days ago, and as you can see he decorated them beautifully without the need to do boy-things with the little balls. Pheww. They will be fit to offer to visiting relatives then, unlike some of his other baked goods, that's a relief.

My hyacinth on the mantel has reached it's peak now, the fragrance is quite something. Soon be time for us to clear the mantel though and make way for all things Festive, I'm really looking forward to doing that very soon.

A few Christmassy bits and bobs have already found their way down from the Attic eaves, and some pre breakfast Christmas crafting has been happening too. Gosh. Is it really only sixteen sleeps till Christmas??

One lovely thing that has happened this week is that I've been reunited with my Granny Stripe blankie, yaaaaayyyyyy!! J went and did the necessary wintertime stuff with Connievan, prepping her for the cold weather and "putting her to bed" for the winter. I couldn't bare the thought of my beloved blankie spending the whole winter alone, so it's come home for some warmth and family loving. Right now it's being put to good use and makes up half of the roof to a Den Hotel. Apparently if you want to go and stay in the Den Hotel, it'll cost you £500 a night, although Little B is allowed in for free. It's very warm and cosy and intimately s-m-a-l-l in the blankety Den Hotel, but it does have a beautiful, colourful stripy-ripply roof.

See my new cushion up above there too, isn't it wonderful?? It was made by a friend of mine and I couldn't resist it when I visited a little local handmade selling event on Friday. I love it so much, most especially the beautiful felt triangle edging,  yeah, makes my heart go skipetty skip that does.

And looky what I found a few days ago when I was rummaging in my cupboards....my long lost Summer Granny cushion cover. My oh my, I had totally forgotten about this little thing, I started it way back in May and finished crocheting it months and months ago. I even have a delicious turquoise cotton jumper waiting to be chopped up and transformed into the backing. Need to chisel out a bit of time to do that soon, not that my sofas are short of colourful hooky goodness mind you, but you can never have too much of a good thing.

Well, on that colourful note I shall have to love you and leave you for now, I need to go and do foody things in the kitchen.

Stay warm and cosy my friends, and I'll see you soon, probably with a Christmas Tree in situ :o)

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All is Bright (well kind of)

Hello hello hello! Its been quite a weeny while hasn't it? I've missed being here and I've missed you all, truly I have. It feels good to be back.

All is reasonably OK here in the attic, and life continues to be full-on and busy, bright and colourful, creative and homely. Sadly we also have some nasty and unwelcome Germs in residence. Uch. Little Lady was first to fall with a snotty cold and nasty cough, and now Little B is having a bash at it. He also has a chest infection and believe me when I tell you it does not suit him to be poorly. He is the worst patient ever. Grumpy as hell. We've been enduring a lot of crying accompanied by the most eye popping temper tantrums. I had no idea that a 10.5 month old was even capable of  Temper Tantrums, but he is certainly giving it a bloody good go. Poor wee mite, I think he is simply exhausted by it all. Poor Mummy too, she is most definitely exhausted by it all.

So my days this week have been very demanding, and I've found that spending more time at home than we're used to has had it's ups and downs.  Staying warm and cosy as the cold weather sets in has been good. Sofa-time snuggles have been good. Attempting to do everything one-handed with a grizzly baby on my hip hasn't been quite so good (note to self :: in future don't try and make risotto with an ill baby to contend with, it's more trouble than it's worth).

But hey-ho, he is slowly, slowly on the mend and life will get back to normal at some point I guess. I'm looking forward to getting more sleep that's for sure.

The days feel very loooong and tiring to me at the moment, yet somehow time continues to whizz by. My hyacinth bulbs are growing away beautifully on the mantel and remind me amidst the difficult times to stop and be thankful for life's simple pleasures. On the whole I am pretty adept at doing this, but occasionally when life gets tough it's easy to lose sight of all that is good. 

Winter is beginning to well and truly set in here in my patch, brrrrrr it's freeezing here today! In fact, we are forecast snow and oh my lord, it is being eagerly awaited by my two Littln's. They are desperate for it to arrive. Me, I'm thinking that life will get very much harder with snow on the ground, I'll be happy for it to not arrive.

As you can see, the pre-breakfast crafting has gone all seasonal and much snippety-snipping has been going on of late. We have a fair pile of paper snowflakes now, and more and more flurry onto the table each day. I've given up trying to clear it away at meal times so we just sit and eat amongst the paper snow.

I don't really do much in the way of organised craft activities with my Little People, I find they pretty much get on with it under their own steam. I bought this magazine for Little Lady last week, it's full of creative Christmas makes and she is really enjoying taking ideas from it. She asked me to please help her cut out the pieces to make this flying angel, and I was more than happy to oblige....

....she really did a  good job, don't you think? Hoping for some more to happen so that we can hang them up for Christmas.

The view from the Attic continues to look as beautiful as ever. Another three days and we'll be marking our third anniversary of living here at number 24. Three years! Can hardly believe it, three years of watching the seasons play out across these hills and I love it more and more as time goes by.

Five more days and I'll be turning my calendar page :: the above image is the November page and I'll be sad to say goodbye to it actually. But Advent will begin and I am quite ridiculously excited about that! You may remember my crochet advent stars from last year? Weeeell, they are still hanging in place a whole year on (I couldn't bring myself to take them down last year), so all I need to do is locate the little felt numbers. Hmm. That's quite a mission. I think they are squirrelled away in the Attic cupboards somewhere, will need to go and hunt them out.

Right-oh, it's been lovely catching up with you, I'm off to make myself a hot cup of tea with a little bit of something sweet to the side. Quite necessary in this cold weather to have some Sweetness to the Side don't you know.

See you soon, stay cosy ♥ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Edit to add :: Thursday 12.30pm. It's snowing. @#$e

PS.... for those of you in the UK, I got the magazine from Tesco and it's simply called "Its Christmas!" It says that the flying angels were taken from a book "The Usborne big Book of Christmas things to Make and DO"... see here.

PPS the snow never stuck (yaaay) and we have blue skies and sunshine today, although it is -2 degrees brrrrrr. xxxxxx

 

 

Toilet Roll Project (TRP) :: Ta-dah!

 

Hello! As you can see, we are Ta-dah-ing today and I am so so so happy to be here!

I love writing my Ta-dah posts. Like really, really L♥O♥V♥E it. I guess I must've written quite a few of them in the two and a half years since I began this blogging lark, and I always get such a thrill out of sharing with you all. I mean, it's fun sharing the ideas and the inspiration and the on going creative process, but revealing the Finished Object is the most fun of all. Nothing like a pretty successful Finished Object to make one feel accomplished and really rather good and heart-skippy all the way down to ones toes.

What often surprises me about my ta-da-hing is that I tend to feel the same huge surge of excitement no matter what the size of the project. In other words, it could be a big crochet blanket that's taken more than half a year to complete, or a batty little craft project which comes together in a matter of days :: the excitement factor is generally as huge for both.

So yes :: toilet roll tubes then, here we go....

This quirky little project began back here if you remember. Nothing major, just a spot of spontaneous late summer crafting with the Little People. A fairly pointless project really if the truth be told, but oh my, how it captivated me! How I LOVED making it happen! This little project (the TRP) really got me excited to the point where I seriously began to feel extremely un-normal. I mean, I was stopping my neighbours in the street and talking nineteen to the dozen about toilet roll tubes, and that's not normal behaviour is it, to get so excited about bits of cardboard?

But excited I was, and then some. I think it was a whole combination of things really that made this little project so top notch for me. It was the fact that I was doing it with the Little Peeps, and it felt like a long while since we'd been creative together. It was the fact that I could get out all my lovely crafty bits of fabric and trims and buttons and beads which had not seen the light of day for a fair old while. And it was the fact that we were making and representing Our Family, which happens to be something I am passionate about. And to somehow see us all set out, all Five of us really made me think about my children and the fact that there are now three of them. Cos in many ways I am still somewhat getting used to the fact that Little B is here and that we are indeed a family of five. Not four. Five. Yikes! Those innocent toilet rolls proved to be quite a reality check!

Lovely isn't it when you go skipping through blogland and you discover a new voice, a new creative spirit? Sadly I don't have time to pootle through Blogland like I used to, but I do still love seeing what other folks are getting up to creatively. I like to feel inspired as much as the next person. So I was delighted to discover Jane over at Teawagon Tales and to feel inspired by what she was doing. And in fact, it was she who suggested I needed to make my own Toilet Roll Self something crochety to wear. Oh the joy! Hooking those little mini granny squares was the best fun ever. My cup did runneth over!

I am really excited to be showing you the TRP.

Like ants-in-my-pants-yippety-yeeehaw excited.

Can you tell?

Nearly time.

I didn't take many photos of the work in progress cos truthfully I was way too engrossed in it to pause and go get the camera.

The Little People really did me proud you know. They somehow sensed that this project was important to me and they put a lot of effort into making it work. They really thought hard about how they wanted their clothes to look, and they got sheets of paper and practiced drawing all kinds of different faces for themselves until they were happy with what they came up with. I assisted them with the hair, but mostly the rest was down to them.

So.

You wanna see?

OK, a little peek..............

.....ahhhhhhhhhh there we are look, the Attic24 T-roll family, looking all cutey on the mantel.

They look right at home don't they?

Sorry?

You can't see them very well?

You need me to go closer?

Zoom in you say?

Show you some detail?

OK, of course....

....just for you....

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think we did good, the Little Peeps and Me??

Love love love love love love LOVE my Cardboard Family!

Let us introduce ourselves...........

This is Me, modelling my very own dinky little crochet cardie, isn't it just a teeny bit super? I made little one-round granny squares using embroidery thread worked on a 2.5mm hook, joined on-the-go. A button to finish. Oddments of fabric and ribbon for my outfit, felty brown hair in a very Fetching Style. And to finish off, a little pretty hair clip cos that's what I wear most days.

Little Lady and I look remarkably similar in real life so I'm told, only her hair is much darker and her eyes are blue (mine are green). She chose the fabrics for her outfit and even drew a picture of exactly how she wanted herself to look. We worked on our faces together on paper first, drawing out lots of different variations until we were both happy. It wasn't spontaneous. It was very well thought out. And a little nerve wracking actually doing it for real, with Non Adjustable felt tip pens. Oh the strain! I held my breath the whole way through when Little Lady did hers, I honestly did, but she did great. She got herself in a little bit of a tizzy when her rosy cheeks didn't line up, but oh I was so proud of her.

Ahhh Little Man...my Big Boy. It took a bit of gentle persuading to get him in on the TRP, but when he finally did join in the fun he really enjoyed it I think. I allowed him to chop up some of Little B's grown-out-of dungarees so that he could have some denim, and he designed his top based on one that he actually owns. The 8 is cos he has just turned eight. But what really got me was the way he drew his face....awww, so cute, with tongue out and freckles and everything, this is so very him I tell you, he really did great.

And this is of course our Little Baby B. I made him first before I made myself and honestly, I was squeeeeealing with delight just making his little outfit (the sleeve from an old vest of his). Then once I got to drawing on his little cheeky baby face, well that nearly sent me over the edge. I've no idea why I was soooooooo excited, but I honestly was beside myself with happiness when TR-Little-B was born.

And last but not least, here is J. He was great fun to make. Easy hair cos he has None. I made his shirt from one of Little B's teeny tiny old baby shirts, and J's amazing face was drawn by Little Man. I asked him to draw his Dad's face on a piece of paper first as I was really curious to see what he would come up with and knew instinctively that it would be miles better than anything I could do. How right I was. It's fabulously accurate, even down to the wonky glasses.  I LOvE it.

Incidentally, I also had Little Man's assistance during the Photo Shoot :: I wanted to do it in similar style to Jane's, with some sort of prop to represent each of us. He chose all the props excepting mine which I was quite adamant about, it had to be fresh flowers from the back yard for me. I was really stumped with what to use for J (couldn't put a computer on the mantel), and it was Little Man who thought of this "Dad's Army" DVD box set which is a current obsession with J right now (yawn, that show drives me demented with boredom, but hey-ho, each to their own and all that). Just so you know.

So :: there we are, the Attic24 Toilet Roll Family. All complete and looking fine and dandy. Oh I have enjoyed writing this post, hope you've enjoyed sharing this daft little bit of Creative Nonsense with me.

Now then, just before I love you and leave you and head for bath and bed, can I quickly show you my picture that's also up above there?

I treated myself to it a month or so ago and it makes me so incredibly happy every time I look at it (which is often). It's a small print taken from an original by the supremely talented and very lovely Julia Crossland. Ahh it just makes my heart sing, it really does. You can find this print along with others in her online shop, do go and take a look. Lovely.

Right-o my Lovelies, I am out of here and off to run me a hot bubble bath, followed by clean pyjamas and a little bit of hooky.

See you all soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chilling and Crafting

What's this you say? Another blog post hot on the heels of the last one?? I do seem to be on a bit of a roll, don't I?!  I'm not entirely sure how all this is happening, but I seem to be managing to cram an awful lot into my days at the moment. And such good days they are too, yes, we have had such a good day today, me and my Littlies. Chilling out at home, spending some lovely time with our neighbours, in and out of each other's houses and front gardens, chatter and play, tea and biscuits. I live in a very sociable little street you know and am blessed to have some wonderful families living up and down and across. In summer we open our front doors and our children simply come and go between the houses, as do us Mums.

But before 9am (which is the semi-official start of the days Play), me and my little family are home behind closed doors chilling out together. Blankies and cushions in full swing. The Little People take a sofa each, select their blankets of choice and snuggle down for some top notch loafing in front of the TV.

Little B prefers to sit now that he has mastered it, his horizontal days are pretty much a thing of the past now. So sweet, he sits in amongst the other two, joining in with whatever they are up to. He plays continuously, working his little hands and fingers, discovering how to use them. He's been in a very cheery mood today (we finally had a good nights sleep last night, yaaayyy!) and honestly on several occasions I had to stop myself from trying to eat him up, he just seems so scrummy sometimes.

In fact, today Little B has been very content to sit and play with his toys for much longer than is usual, allowing me to miraculously sit in the Big Chair and do a little frenzied hooking. Oh how BLISSfUl it was! How I have missed being able to do this, to seize an inspirational thought and go with it at the drop of a hat. I ran upstairs, grabbed my little box of embroidery threads, a weeny crochet hook and immediately set to making a string of itsy-bitsy granny squares. It was Joyous!!! At one point I was so damn excited, I ran outside to interrupt two of my chatting neighbours to show them what I had made. Look! Just LOOK at my cutesy crochet, aren't these little squares just adORable??!! Of course they were forced to look and admire and I then had to explain that I was actually crocheting a little cardie for my toilet-roll-self to wear, and tell them about the whole TRP (toilet-roll-project), and, oh gawd, they must think I am completely and utterly bonkers. That mad, crazy Attic woman at number 24, what's she like??

Later on in the afternoon when Little B was taking his nap, I rollocked up two flights of stairs, crawled into the dark cupboard under the eaves and heaved out some supplies for the TRP. Baskets of scrap fabric, tins of buttons and ribbons, felt and thread. Heaped it all into a teetering pile then came carefully back down two flights of stairs to set up a Crafting Station on the dining room table. Little Man could not be persuaded to join us today, but Little Lady and I set to work, such fun we had! I would LOVE to show you how far we got, but I'm saving all the pics for a special TRP-Ta-dah. I am so thrilled by this little project, I don't know why, but it has totally captivated me. I couldn't wait to show J when he came home from work, but as with many of the things I do, he kind of indulged me but didn't really get it I don't think. I even showed him his own T-R Self (a work in progress, he has clothes but no face yet, I'm leaving the faces till last) but nope, I couldn't really guage what he thought.

Ahhhh I do so love being a Crafty Creative Type. Makes me sooooooooooooooo happy.

So to end today's ramblings, I thought I'd give you a quick peek out of the Attic window at the hills in the soft evening light :: it suddenly seemed like an age since I showed you my beloved view. Truthfully, I don't get to spend much time in the Attic at the moment as I use our downstairs laptop so that I can juggle my Internetty time with Essential Childcare.

Hope you've all had a wonderful day, I'll see you again soon. You never know, it may even be tomorrow. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Comfort and Creativity

I'm enjoying this middle part of our summer holiday. This is our homey bit in the middle which is kind of sandwiched between holidaying away (we go away again on Saturday), and I've deliberately tried to leave it free from any arrangements. No outings, no dates, no plans. Deciding what to do day by day according to the weather and the mood, and it's suiting me down to the ground. Well to be honest I think we're all benefiting from the freedom, it feels very relaxed and chilled out around here at the moment. Rather a lot of time spent loafing around in pj's, which as you know makes me very happy indeedy. Love-love-LoVE my extended pyjama-wearing time!

The Little Peeps are following my example and seem to be enjoying time spent idling at home. But should they choose to actually get dressed and venture outside, they are certainly not short of other Little People to play with where we live. There are often eight or more kids out on our street doing kid things together either on wheels or with balls. And when my Little People spend time hanging out on the street, it leaves me to enjoy Me-things indoors. Of course I have to work hard to squeeeeeeeze  these things in between the demands of my seven month old Little B, but I am becoming quite good at snatching up any available little itsy-bits of time and making them Mine. This morning, around 11am, I managed to sit and enjoy coffee and a bun, quietly, all by myself. Little People outside riding their bikes, Little B asleep in his pushchair outside in the back yard. Oh how very special this little moment of quiet comfort was!

Today we also began on a little Creative Project, inspired by a lovely, lovely blog that I only recently discovered. The above picture shows Stage One {the Prepping Of The Tubes}. And hopefully tomorrow we'll begin on Stage Two {The Decorating Of The Tubes}. To see what I am on about, do pop over and visit the wonderful Teawagon Tales, more specifically this post. You'll love it I'm sure. My very own tubular self will be adorned with a little granny square something (naturally), and ohmygoodness, I can't tell you how idiotically excited I am at the prospect of constructing little teensyweensy granny squares to decorate a toilet roll tube with. Maybe I've lost the plot somewhat?

And talking of granny squares, I have to confess that progress is veeeeery slow with the Sweet Flower granny blanket at the moment. I do little bits as and when I can, but as Little B is in the process of cutting more teeth, our nights have become very disturbed again and I'm not getting an awful lot of sleep at the moment. So when the evenings roll around I'm finding that rather than reaching for my yarn basket, I'm tramping my weary self upstairs and lolling into bed instead.

 

Mind you, Bed is rather a lovely, deliciously Comforting place to be and my self imposed early bedtime is actually rather blissful. I treated myself to some new Cath Kidston pillowcases when I was in York, and I really love them. I'm also really loving this book too, and I browse through a few pages each night before drifting off to sleep. It's called "The Comforts of Home" by Caroline Clifton-Mogg (isn't that a heck of a name?!) and is all about how we can use "clever decorating ideas to rejuvenate rooms that rely on style and creativity rather than a deep purse". It's beautifully written, and quite dreamily inspiring, although does make me slightly despair at the current state of my own home, which is, well lets just not talk about that eh.

Right-oh, it's been lovely chatting with you all....it's 8.20pm now in Attic land and almost time for me to go and flollop into my rosy pillows. I'm going to make myself a mug of hot chocolate and sit in bed for a weeny while with my book. A Lovely Comforting end to a not-half-bad day.

Sweet dreams to you all...

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Today I am...

:: Today I am...having a love-hate thing with the wintery weather ::

Loving the view from my cosy Attic window, with the hills looking impossibly beautiful dusted in a light sprinkling of snow. And hating the thought of snow arriving down here in the town as I am no longer able to fasten up any coats I possess or wear any footwear other than crocs. Neither of which is suited to doing the school run in snow.

:: Today I am...enjoying the sight of our early morning pre-breakfast crafting ::

We rise early here at number 24, at around 6:15am or thereabouts, so even on school days there is always time for some pre-breakfast activity of one sort or another. During this week I've been joining the Little People most mornings in making some more decs for our tree, and it's been a whole lot of fun. 

We're using pre-cut felt shapes, glitter glues, shiny stars and christmas stickers, all of which are making me feel quite Excitably Festive. Not decided yet whether to string these little decorated shapes into a garland or hang them individually, but either way, I think they're going to look pretty good.

:: Today I am...enjoying a little bit of happy hooky time ::

Been at the cafe this morning, nattering, cappuccino drinking and hooking. I worked some more colourful cottony stripes to my current WiP, which is a new bag.

I have to say I've not been crocheting very much at home just lately as I usually hook in the evenings or at weekends, both of which seem to have been swamped by either tiredness or other activities of late. But this afternoon, just after lunch I sat with a cup of tea and a little Sweet Something on the side (recipe for that coming tomorrow) and enjoyed some Afternoon Hooky. Very pleasurable it was too.

In fact....am about to go and squeeze in a few more stripes before it's time to plod along the canal to school.

Hoping you're having a Happy Today, whatever the weather and whatever you are up to, and I shall see you tomorrow for some Festive Baking.....it's gonna be rather Mmmmmmm at Attic24 tomorrow!

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