Attic24

The YES-day

A couple days ago, Saturday to be precise, I found myself sitting and pondering a while, thinking about my two Little People. Thinking how good life at home is when they are good and happy and enjoying themselves, and how horrid it can be when the opposite happens (we've been dealing with some "issues" of late which I don't wish to go into right now, but there have been tantrums involved and it has indeed been horrid). I thought about my role as a parent, and how I don't often sit and actually think about that role very often. I thought about how as parents, we can so often be on automatic pilot with our offspring, how we don't often have cause to stop and question they way we actually go about our Parenting Role. Our actions/reactions, moods and perspectives can affect our children so much, can't they?

And so at the beginning of Saturday I made a decision. A conscious, considered Parenting Decision that would need an Announcement. So I summon the Little People for The Announcement. I declare that Saturday is to be a YES-day. A positive, happy day where anything they ask for (within reason) will be granted, where I shall attempt to say yes to any requests, to allow them to do anything their little hearts desire. Because I am so proud of them, because they are wonderful children and I wish them to have the best day. And because I am veeeeeery curious to see what they will ask for.

Little Man jumps straight in to test out the YES-day. He asks if he can have a glass full of water with sugar mixed in. He wants to make a sugar-water drink, and he wants to drink it all. He looks at me directly, wondering if I will indeed agree to him doing something I have previously said NO to several times. I say Yes, he can. He is thrilled. And he gets his wish.

Next he asks if he can have a bubble bath, nice and deep. He asks for a plastic plate to be dolloped with "potions" for making experiments. I say Yes, he can, and I give him a plate with various blobs of shampoo, conditioners and bath lotions, with a bowl and spoon. He is SO happy!

Out of the bath and he asks to bake buns, yes of course you can. Can we make red icing? Yes! Can we use whatever we like to decorate them? Yes! Wooohooooo!!!

Can we do Easter Crafts too? Yes (but go steady with the glue). Actually, they cannot in fact be bothered with glue and go for the full-on selotape option. Effective and not nearly as messy. So far so good, the YES-day is working a treat.

Lunch time and Little Lady puts in a request. She asks to make her own sandwich. No, no, I'll do it I say, it'll be easier and quicker. Oh pleeeeeeeeease Mummy, I want to do it!

I have temporarily forgotten my promise, slipped back to old ways. But when she reminds me of the YES-day I have no option but to let her do it. And why not? Where's the harm? Why do I automatically say No when she asks if she can do this for herself? I don't know!  Habit? Control? Ease?

 

She does great. She allows me to slice the cheese and cucumber, but does everything else herself.

She is so very, very proud of herself, the first sandwich she has ever made, arranged with care on her Flower Fairy plate.

After lunch, I remind the Little People that this is their day, it's a day for fun things to happen and that they can ask for anything they like. They think about this. They ponder it. And then they ask for the Argos catalogue. They ask if they can choose a toy each and if we can go on a trip to buy them. Yes, you can!

Oh much page turning and deliberating here, but eventually yes, some toys are chosen and two excited Little People get taken to the shops.

 

Little Man chooses a Lego set. He is very, very happy. He says it's been the Best Day of His Life.

 

Little Lady chooses an Ariel doll that changes colour when it goes into the bath. She requests a bath, yes yes, you can have a bath, of course, it's YES-day! So Ariel and LL go and get wet together. They are very happy.

It was the BEST day. It made me realise that as parents we often have the power to grant wishes and allow our children the freedom to experiment a little, to test things out, yet its all too easy to say NO, to decline a modest request. I enjoyed the YES-day enormously and shall do my best from now on to say YEs as much as I can.

But that is not the end of the story :: there is one last installment.

Sunday morning and I am in the bath, a lovely deep hot bath with bubbles, listening to the radio and day dreaming. I am in the best place. It's quiet and peaceful. I hear footsteps running up stairs, muffled excited voices just outside the door, and then a knock.

Both Little People come in together, they stand side by side. Little Man has something behind his back. He shows me what it is and at first I cannot tell what he is showing me. It's a bit of an old cut up Christmas card and something in spotty paper with lots and lots of selotape.

They tell me that they've wrapped me a present and made a special tag to go on it. They tell me it's a Thank You Present, thanking me for their new toys and for the YES-day.

I am close to tears, I am so very, very touched by this. I have to jump out the bath, grab a towel and open my gift straight away (see my fingertips there are all pruney from soaking in the bath!)

The Little People have written a little tag for me, each of them signed their names, with lots of XXX kisses XXX too. And when I open my tiny gift, it's a cockle shell, a shell that I recall was collected and bought home from the beach at Heysham a few weeks ago. 

It was possibly one of the loveliest gifts I have ever, ever received.

Now where is that box of tissues, I think I'm about to have a little cry ;o)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Weekendy

Hello!! And how are you all today? Good I hope.

Sorry I wasn't around to post on Friday, but many thanks to those of you sweetly noted my absence and asked if I was OK. Yes, very OK I am thank you, just managing to beat the backside of a short head cold and doing great. Just busy is all.

On Friday morning straight after the school run I jumped in my car (an old bright red Mazda if you'd like to think of me zipping along, singing loudly and tunelessly to the radio) and drove the forty miles over the hills, past the windmills, on past the reservoir, through the outskirts of the Big Town, across the big hairy-scary roundabout, over the motorway and onwards through rolling countryside to the place where I used to live. It takes me exactly one hour to make this journey on a good day.

When I got there I made my first stop at my old supermarket, which happens to be huuuuuge and is one of the things I shamefully miss about where I used to live. I like that it has a large clothing section where one can purchase such luxuries as new socks and pyjamas and undergarments at very reasonable prices. Ok well I confess I don't get much of a thrill about purchasing new bra's and knickers, but socks and pyjamas, oh-yes, quite high on the thrill-o-meter for me. I just love getting new socks, although it's not something that happens very often. I wear my socks to the death, till they get to be completely worn out, so it's probably been a couple years since I had the ditsy pleasure of personal sock buying. See the ones I chose up there in the top photo?? Aren't they just FaB???! I can tell you they put me in the best mood to start the weekend.

 

As did my new pyjamas (the bright pink pyjama top is a super-soft jersey hoodie, the bottoms are cool printed cotton. They're sold as mix and match separates, which I love :: read more here if you like). As well as the socksies and pj's, I also managed to get much needed new pj's for the Little People as well as a whole bundle of Eastery crafty bits and bobs.

After the supermarket sweep on Friday, I jollied along to visit with friends for a few hours, which was so enjoyable (the same friends that came to visit me a little while ago)..coffee and easter buns, chitter chatter and laughter, the morning passed in a whirl and it was soon time for my drive back over the hills. Wave goodbye and see-you-again-soon. Drive straight to school, screech into the car park, only 5 minutes late for the assembly where I get to witness my Little Man standing up in front of the whole school to read out a poem he'd written. I very nearly break down and sob with the sheer pride and happiness but manage to just sniffle into my sleeve and dab my eyes because other Mums are looking at me oddly.

Get Little People Home, flop for ooo 35 mins or so, then cook dinner, eat dinner, go back to school to help out at the school disco. Then straight out of that mayhem into town to meet friends in the pub for our monthly book club meeting. And nope, I didn't manage to read this months book either, damn it. I am the worst book-club-member ever ever. I beg for thin books with the least number of pages. Perleeeease don't expect me to read a thick novel, I just don't have it in me. It was my turn to choose a book this month and I've picked The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. It has twohundredandfortypages, I hope I can manage it because it will be embarrassing to say the least if I can't get through my own book choice.

Gosh aren't I waffling today? Lordy I do appologise, lets try and speed up a little shall we or we'll be here all day....So, after all the rush-rush-rush of Friday, how was my weekend? Welllllll, thankfully it turned out to be extremely Weekendy, with plenty of slow bits and that was a Good Thing. I did from time to time remember how to be still, how to not go anywhere.

Saturday morning and ooooooo joy of joys, it's a weekend with No Plans. My favourite kind of Weekendy weekend. An early start 6am or so), and an hour or two in bed with tea, toasted crumpets, a magazine and some crochet and all is extremely blissful in my little world. The day unfolded and it turned out to be sweet and cheerful :: some baking with the Little People, a trip out to the shops for some toys and a new bit of equipment for me (more will be revealed later in week), followed by a scenic car drive homewards over the moors and a spontaneous stop in a very lovely pub for our dinner. Think high hill top, characterful building, old beamed ceilings, huge fireplaces with roaring log fires, stone flagged floors, large picture windows with panoramic views, fine food. Happy children with new toys and tummies full of pasta. Relaxed Mum and Dad with wine/beer respectively and a tasty meze platter to share. It was lovely. Then home to number 24 to light the fire and read/crochet/build lego/play with dolls before bedtime.

Sunday dawns bright and clear, the first day of our British Summer Time here in the UK when our clocks move forward by one hour. After a leisurely start involving a hot bubble bath and a magazine, I take myself outside to the front of the house to sit on the front step in the sun with my coffee. I am wearing another pair of my new socks and I enjoy wiggling my toes in the sunshine and admiring my polka dots.

 

11am and the phone rings, it's my in-laws. They explain that they've just been to a car boot sale and purchased a new barbecue, and would we like to join them by the river for a spot of barbecue lunch? Would we? Why most certainly we would! So a few hastily packed provisions and off we go to Bolton Abbey to enjoy the delights of eating al fresco.

I like barbecues because generally speaking it puts the cooking firmly in male hands. And I like lunching out with my in-laws because generally speaking it takes a certain amount of childcare out of my hands too. Both of which leaves me free to sit, look about me, relax, stretch my feet out (ooooo look, haha polka dot pink socks in my crocs, I suspect it's probably very un-cool to wear socks with crocs?), get my crochet bag out, drink beer, crochet a little more. This day I sit wrapped in a blanket, snug as a bug because despite the blue sky and sunshine, there is a cold wind blowing.

So officially we enjoyed our very first barbecue of the year this weekend. I have to say it was super to be able to sit and watch as J expertly cooked, to know that the most I had to do was get up to squeeze tomato ketchup onto my burger. I enjoy that element of a barbecue lunch very much.

The Little People had such fun :: playing football, climbing rocks, throwing stones into the river and finally stopping very briefly to sit and eat their burgers. They have a chair each but truthfully their bottoms very rarely rest there, too much to do, too much playing to be had, can't sit down.

But me, oh yes, I most certainly can sit down. I can sit and watch the teeny tiny fluffy little clouds scud across the bluest of skies. I can sit and listen to the sounds of children playing and the river babbling. And for a moment I can appreciate that my life can indeed feel still at times, that my internal accelerator pedal has not jammed after all, that I am capable of braking, slowing and coming to a halt every so often.

Thank heavens for Weekendy weekends.

xxxxxxx

Thursday Thrills

Those of you who have gotten to know me over the past year will know about my Thursdays. You will know that Thursday mornings are cafe mornings. I can always be found there on Thursday mornings except in extreme circumstances  ie funerals, school holidays and severe weather conditions. Yes, Thursday morning is a Knit, Stitch and Natter morning.
In fact, it's come to be such a permanent, blissful fixture of my week that friends know they can reliably stroll in to the cafe on a Thursday morning and find me right there. And they often do. Sometimes they come unannounced, just stroll in knowing full well I'll be sat there coffee in one hand, hook in the other. And sometimes I'm forewarned and a little rendezvous will be arranged. A few months ago, it was the gorgeous Bertie who popped in to join in the hooky nattery fun. And today I had the pleasure of Fiona's chatty, bubbly company...oh such fun! You can just see Fiona's hands there in the above picture look, busy crocheting some sweet little fairy light covers.

I had my camera with me this morning to take a few pictures as Lovely C has asked me to design a new poster to advertise the KS&N mornings. I really LOVE these stripy mugs, aren't they gorgeous? They are usually used at the cafe for hot chocolate as inside the mug (underneath the froth) the word "chocolat" is written. But today I asked nicely if I could have my usual latte put into one of these mugs as I knew it would look lovely in the photos.
Incidentally, the mugs come from the delicious Jules China shop in Hebden Bridge, you can find them on their website if you fancy buying yourself one. Or maybe several. And aren't the heart shaped oven dishes gorgeous too?

There's something so lovely about meeting fellow bloggers, because it's as if you've already met many many times before and are simply picking up where you left off. Conversation flows at full pelt, so much in common, so much to talk about, but also so much you already know and don't need to ask. Fiona, if you are reading this, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you, please come again, any Thursday that tickles your fancy. You'll know exactly where to find me.

Now then, I wish to share a little something with you, if that's ok? See that delicious stripy paper bag there sat on my chair, isn't it the most fabulous paper bag you ever ever laid eyes on? This was presented to me this morning, just a little something from Fi-to-me. To be truthful, I would've been overjoyed just to receive the bag itself, that would have made my day.

But inside the bag were some beautifully wrapped gifts :: a pretty box for me and two tissue paper ones for the Little People (still waiting for fingers to arrive and rip them to shreds). Want to have a look inside the box?

Go on then....have a peek....

,,,,sky blue tissue paper, and what's that nestling inside????

A little woolly something, what can it be?

Oh look!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The most gorgeous little house :: crocheted and then felted, with such intricate embroidered details look....

and look at the back too....a washing line!!! Isn't it just beautiful?

I love love love it. Very very much.

I can see a little collection beginning to grow here, a little handmade housey-housey village.

Which reminds me I've been meaning to show you a couple of housey pictures of mine which sit on my bookshelves downstairs....

This first one is by textile artist Janet Browne, who hand dyes her own fabrics, then pieces and stitches them into these very unique pictures...more of her work can be seen here.

 

And this picture I've had for years, it's by embroidery artist Rachel Setford who I used to bump into a lot when I was also making and selling my textile work :: we exhibited at many of the same fairs and shows (oh that seems like a life time ago!) and I loved her work very much. I remember I had a particularly successful show one Christmas time, resulting in the unexpectedly delicious feeling of having rather more money in my pocket than I was used to. So on a whim I extravagantly commissioned this piece from Rachel and she made it especially for me, all hand stitched, such teeny tiny stitches...ahhh I do so love hand made things. Such love and skill and care in every stitch. 

And speaking of stitches and love and skill....maybe very soon I might be able to find a little time to do more of this myself....and maybe then this will soon be open for business.......

xxxxxx

Crochet-crochet-crochet

Ahhhhhh me-oh-my, life this week at Attic24 is SooosoSOSoSOSOosoooo Good!!! I'm in a whirl of contentment,  pottering about, homely and relaxed and I am so very happy with the exact right amount of Fullness to my week. This week I am managing to find the right balance between solitude and sociability, time spent at home and time out with friends, and it fits me, suits me and I am happy. I am coming down with a cold, but I don't care, I am happy. This week is so different to last week, and oh I am relieved to say that. It has reaffirmed my belief in myself, in the fact that I am most definitely, utterly and completely meant to be a Stay-at-Home-bod. If one could make a career out of being a Home-bod, then yes, I think that's me sorted. Might try for promotion someday soon, a little progression up my own career ladder haha.

A big part of my contentment continues to come from hook and yarn. Yes it's crochet-crochet-crochet all the way for me right now, I cannot get enough of it. It continues to wow me, soothe me, inspire me, excite me and relax me on a daily basis.
I've just this morning finished the third installment of my crochet workshops at the cafe, and what a wonderful, fabulous time I've had doing that. Over the course of the past three weeks, we've done granny squares, started circular cushions/bags, made flowers and finally today the ripple has been attempted. It's been full on, but soooo good, and I've been thrilled with the enthusiasm and determination of my Hook-camp ladies, they were absolutely brilliant.

So thought I'd share with you a little crochet-crochet-crochet update on current projects and inspirations. My big Summer Garden blanket is temporarily on pause. This always tends to happen about 2/3 of the way through a blanket, I find instinctively that I need a break from a big project to work on smaller things before carrying on with the rest. And that's OK, I'm quite happy to work this way, don't feel the need to rush to finish one project before starting another. I'm not in it for the slog, it can happen in it's own sweet time.
The photo above there shows the progress made on the small throw for the back of the Lloyd Loom chair. Next week, I promise I'll be able to do the tutorial for this joining-as-you-go method. Cos you're gonna love it, I know. Its fabulous!!

There's also another little WiP sneaking into my yarn bag this week, a delightful little round something. Above photo was taken on Monday, and photo below taken just now so you can see how it's growing....

This is the beginning of a quick little circular cushion, also intended for the Lloyd Loom chair. The pattern is the same one used for the bottom of my bag.

I've bought a 16 inch circular feather cushion pad and am working the rounds till they're big enough to fit....looks like I've got about another six or seven to go? I just love working this pattern, I take it to bed with me and work a few rounds just before I'm ready to drift off to sleep. It's like a sedative.

And there's more...as well as squares and circular stripes, I've been busy making a little flower garden grow. What fun this has been! It's been very interesting getting to grips with reading and following some quite complex written patterns for these flowery bits and pieces, a Challenge certainly. But despite my initial fears over the Gobbledegook of Pattern Language, I have to say the patterns are in fact extremely clever and well written.

This is a beautiful book folks...I know that Jane over at the Posy blog has also recently got this book and you can read more about her views on it here.

And last but not least, the Ripple.
I've been working on a pattern for this, as a good many of you I know are desperate to try it or perhaps need some help with following it. The way that patterns are written for ripples/waves/chevrons is generally quite complicated I think. In my opinion its not a hard pattern to actually work, but there are one or two parts that can cause confusion at first. So I'll be aiming to eliminate that confusion....I intend to make this pattern FoolProof, with lots of pics and Plain English explanations.

In order to overcome any hazardous Copyright issues involved in reproducing patterns that are not my own, what I have come up with is my own modified version. I'm calling it the "Neat Ripple", because it is just that. Its not too spiky and zigzaggy and it doesn't have holes in it either which many traditional ripple/chevron patterns tend to have.
So I shall be taking photographs and writing it all out ready to share on here at some point next week. I predict lots of Ripplesome Action beginning to happen in Blogland veeeeery soon!!

So thats about the extent of the Crochet News around these parts. See, I told you this week was a good one, can you just feel the happiness radiating out of the Attic today? Oh good, well imagine I've just given you a great big hug too. Now off you go and do something to make yourself go ahhhhhh.....me, I'm off for a quick cuppa with a chunk or two of chocolate on the side.
See you tomorrow
xxxxx

Flowery Scrumptiousness

Can you remember back in January, instead of a New Years resolution, I chose a word for this year? The word was/is  F R E S H, and amongst other stuff, one thing I resolved to do during 2009 was to have fresh flowers in the house every single day of the year. A very good resolution to make if you ask me, it is simple to keep and generates such pleasure.

I adore fresh flowers, the simpler the better. I like a humble bunch of something seasonal bought from the market, a small posy of flowers picked from the garden, or a simple pot of bulbs to bring into bloom.

They are not expensive, not extravagant, yet to me they give so much :: I think of them as Food for the Soul. And therefore an Essential rather than a Luxury.

So I thought today I'd share with you the current Floral Scrumptiousness residing throughout the house.  I bought this bunch of delicate creamy narcissi (called Bridal Crown I think) on Friday from the wonderful plant stall on the market (the same Plant Man who provided me with the one hundred primulas last week). I like buying flowers from the market for several reasons ::

1) because it supports a  small local business run by lovely people

2) because the flowers are often more in keeping with the seasons

3) because the whole experience of selecting from buckets, having them wrapped in pretty paper and then jaunting through town with them is so very happy.

The scent of these particular little flowers is stunning, and I'm loving them on my bedside table.

Late on Sunday afternoon, I walked down along the canal and into town for a quiet hour of pottering. My first stop was our local antique/collectors centre, which is my favourite place for a gentle mooch if I'm on my own. I found these little old glass bottles which I absolutely love :: something about the colour of the glass which reminds me of the sea. The tall thin one on the right cost 50pence, the other two (old ink bottles) cost £1 each. I carried them home wrapped in newspaper, so delighted with my purchases, proudly unwrapped them to show J. Well, you can imagine, the response these little bottles got was decidedly luke warm.

But no matter, I set about filling them with water and put them on display on the bathroom windowsill. Please excuse the state of the window frame, but please do feel free to admire my shiny white ceramic tiled surface. Oh, and the blooms of course...don't the teeny crocus flowers look beautiful? They were getting a bit soggy and windswept in the front garden, but look oh-so-beautiful in the bathroom I think.

Amaryllis next...I realised today when I was looking through my photos that I totally forgot to share these with you when they bloomed. Do you remember Red Lion? Well the second one to flower was Vera...and here she is in all her pink flowery beauty.

She flowered through the end of February, and it was not trauma free. Yes, similar to the fate of Red Lion, Vera also went through something of a tragedy. This time it was Little Man who apparently "didn't DO anything", yet Vera's pot came mysteriously crashing down from the high shelf all-by-itself. Strange how that happens. It was messy, with one of the stems snapping clean off in the fall. Luckily these stems do continue to bloom quite happily when put into a vase of water like a cut flower.

So by the time the third amaryllis was due to flower (this one is Minerva), I had learnt my lesson. I did not move the pot to the high shelf, but onto the mantelpiece instead. And as it grew taller and taller and became more and more top heavy, I cut the stem off and put it into a vase to finish flowering. See, the Little People taught me. It was a tough, fraught, messy lesson, but I learnt in the end.

Other bulbs that have been coming into the house lately are muscari (grape hyacinths). I love these very much, especially as I am having an obsession with these lovely clear blue colours at the moment (my hands this morning are covered in blue paint, I'm currently in the process of painting various wooden shelves/pegs/cupboards, but more of that a little later in the week)

I loved setting these on the table for a photograph with a couple of sky blue cushions and two thrifted jumpers folded up in the background. Blue against blue.

I put the muscari into an old jug with a broken handle that I found in our back yard, its delicate blue colour with gold leaf pattern looked so pretty with the blue of the flowers.

See me there, walking around with my flowers, I do this all the time, I like to carry them around. For some obscure reason I love to look at the colours of the flowers against whichever top/jumper i happen to be wearing that day. I just love to do that.

Crackers? Bonkers? Yeah, just a little.....

BBG

Hellooooooooooooo!!! Thanks for stopping by, it's good to have your company as always.
So here we are on Monday and a new week unfolds before us. I know that I for one am glad to wave goodbye to last week, it was just waaaay too Full-on for me last week, I was so relieved when Friday evening rolled around. Thank heavens for a touch of alcohol and a deep hot bath, not to mention the rather super weekend that followed.
Saturday saw us pottering about at home in the morning with my customary baking-in-pyjamas, and a picnic lunch and afternoon spent by the river. How soothing it was to sit by the riverside in the late afternoon sunshine with yarn and hook, the memory of that makes me want to kind of go ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Sunday was a dawdling morning at home followed by a fantastic pub lunch and a pootle round town in the afternoon. More crochet, a little light reading...all in all quite simply blissful. And here I am now, bright as a button and feeling totally refreshed and raring to go. Woohoo!!

 
I was sorting through some bits and pieces at the weekend and I found my little box of Moo cards hiding underneath a big pile of books and papers. Do you like them? I confess that I'm rather pleased with them actually, well put it this way :: I was leaping off the furniture with excitement when they arrived in the post, but shhhh don't tell anyone how ridiculously excited I get over things like this, don't want folk to think I am crackers.
Yes, I had these printed before Christmas when I was optimistically attempting to open up my Attic24 Etsy shop, do you remember? Well what can I say about that then? The banner was made. Moo cards were printed. Supplies were purchased. And my Little Shop was created. It sits waiting patiently with empty shelves, waiting for some Stitchy Goodness to arrive. I do want to make it happen, honestly I do. Just need to Fit It In. And I don't seem to be too hot on fitting things in. But I shall try....shall I? Do you think I should? Do you think my little stitchy things would be able to find loving homes? I like to think so.

This was me on Friday (the day that was shaped like a pear), in amongst the chaos of that particular day when things just did not go to plan, finding a moment to finish crocheting the posie-brooches for the BBG (Big Blogiversary Giveaway, in case the letters confused you).

I did say I would try and make as many posie brooches as I could manage for the giveaway, and that number amounted to four. I wish it could be more, but even to make four humble brooches means making twenty four separate components remember, not to mention buttons and felt circles which still need to happen. So four it is.

And there is the textile picture too, all ready and waiting to go off to a new home. I have to be honest with you here, this little picture is still hung up in my hallway and I have fallen in love with seeing it there. Its a very happy, cheery little number and  I confess I shall be sad to take it down. But hopefully whichever name comes out of the hat to win this picture will be the name of someone who will love it just as I do. Someone who will find a little spot for it in their home where they can walk past and smile when they see it, just as I have been doing.

So.......this BBG of mine. Shall I say a few words about it? Shall I tell you how utterly awesome it was to receive so many wonderful comments on Attic24's birthday? Well it truly knocked my socks off. I was shocked. Stunned. Excited. Bowled over. Thrilled. Overwhelmed. All of those things and more.
I took a look at that post this morning and the final number of comments was 394. Uh-huh, threehundredandninetyfour. Such a crazy-big number!! Please know that each and every comment that you leave on my blog gets sent to me by Typepad as an email. Please also know that I read every single word you write, no comment gets "lost" amongst the others because I systematically go through my emails one by one. And if you leave me a www with your comment, I also visit with your blog too. It was very time consuming, but oh, so enjoyable! You are such a super, generous, creative, talented, funny, special bunch of people and I consider myself so lucky to have you all as friends, checking in on me, giving me a wave, a nod, a hug, a pat on the back, a giggle.

OK...on with the show.
Five numbers to pick out from the threehundredandninetyfour.
I cannot possibly write out 394 bits of paper, so the Random Number Generator has to be employed.

Posie brooches first...
78 :: Karen in Somerset, UK
149 :: Marian in the Netherlands I think?
279 :: Dorrie (no blog)
389 :: Alessandra in Tacoma, USA

And the Primula Picture...
156 :: Wend (no blog)

If your name is one of those above, CONGRATULATIONS!  I'll be sending you an email and will need your postal details....I only wish I could give you all a little something, I truly do.
Thank you so much for making this a very special experience for me.
Right, off now to enjoy a quick cuppa in the sunshine before I jaunt along the canalside to go get my Little People back from school...have a fabulous rest-of-day, see you tomorrow
xxxxxxxxxxx

Pear Shaped

Morning all.
Today is not going well.
Electricians just arrived unexpectedly to finish work in the bathroom.
They have monopolised the upstairs landing and I cannot get up to the Attic, or take a pee, both of which I am fairly desperate to do.
I need to leave the house in an hour to be back at school for the final round of PPP's, followed by a PTA meeting, followed by a visit to friends straight after school which I've only just remembered about.
So I am trying to cook dinner right now because I won't be around to do it later. And from past experience, it gets mega stressful arriving home late from my friends house with over excited, hungry  children and no food available for immediate consumption. Not to mention a hungry commute-weary husband coming through the door at the same time also requiring immediate food.
I know we are supposed to be gift giving here at Attic24 today, but I don't think I can make it happen right now, there is simply not enough time. I am so sorry! Last I looked there were a staggering 380 comments, and although the Random Number Generator can pick the numbers easily and swiftly, I will still need to count through the comments to make sure I arrive at the right number won't I? And as I've managed to make four posie brooches, the selecting and number counting will have to happen 5 times in total. And I am trying to not wet my pants, to cook dinner, and need to go to the shop for more bags for the PPP project yet...oh dear, well you can see the distinct pear shape of today , can't you?

If I can, I will make the Giveaway happen later tonight, if not it'll be Monday I expect.
This is the first ever post I've made with no pictures too, cos I can't load pics onto my baby laptop. And I even took an arty photograph of a pear to illustrate today...but can't upload it, Pah!!!

Sorry to you all if you bobbed in here for excitement and fun, normal service will resume as soon as I can manage it.
Lucexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Edited to add :: 6.40pm and I am feeling SO much better. I know Gin is not the answer to everything but bloody hell it does a sterling job in times of need. My day did get very much better, I took your advice and 1) had a pee in a bucket, 2) took some deep breaths 3) put it all into perspective. It was not the end of the world, was it?

And although the sparkies have still not finished (I had to kick them out at 1pm), we now have a beautiful, gleaming chrome towel radiator radiating heat into that chilly little room. By the way, we are having the flooring laid on Tuesday (MUST remember to use the toilet before the floor man arrives, I don't like Bucket Facilities), but the walls still need painting and I don't want to show you photos when it still looks so unfinished....but soon, I promise.

My time at school today went well, and OH how wonderful it was to see all the children come out of class with their flowers, it was glorious, truly, and made my heart swell. And my visit to my friends house was also lovely, nothing better than a natter in good company with a few cups of tea and some hot cross buns. The Little People even got to go up the lane to the farm to see baby lambs and stroke some local goats (my friend lives in a cottage out in the sticks, a contrast to our terraced town life here).

So as my Mum would say, Alls Well That Ends Well. I'm about to finish my gin, pour another and run myself a hot deep bubble bath. Thanks for all your concern and kindness, I so appreciate it. Have a super weekend, and see you Monday all bright and breezy and back to normal. Love you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Another Hooky WIP

Pheewwwww...4pm and I am jiggered. I was at the cafe for my regular knit and natter this morning, and even the waitress there remarked on how tired I looked as she passed me my cappuccino. So I must look like I feel then, oh dear.
I shouldn't really be up here at this time of day, but well, I do so love coming up to the top of the house, up the creaky wooden stairs to the Attic. It relaxes me to touch base with my little messy space and to catch the beautiful afternoon light glowing on the hills. The Little People are happily occupied downstairs and I felt like popping in to say hello to you all quickly before I have to go prepare dinner.
At the cafe this morning I was happily making some summer garden squares for another little project, a new hooky WIP (WIP= Work In Progress, just in case you wondered but didn't like to ask). I am really LOVING this little project SO very, very much. Ahhhh, such happiness in these itty-bitty flowery squares, such joy!

And see what I discovered only a few weeks ago?? I experienced a total EUreKa moment folks, as it dawned on me that it might be possible to join granny squares as-you-go, same as you do with the hexies. WoW, what do you think?? Did you know about this?? WHy did I NOT have this information before, why has this miraculous discovery eluded me until now???
So I am honestly thrilled that this little project is going to grow in this way, how bloomin' wonderful!!!!
I took a little time today to photograph a tutorial for this joining method, it should be en-blog tomorrow if I can find time amongst everything else that needs to be done tomorrow.

Another hooky WIP above there too, I finished the ripple stripes for my cushion cover a few weeks ago now, and managed to find a beautiful pale blue lambswool jumper in the charity shop to use for the backing. So now the two just need to be pulled together and a cushion will be born. Couldn't resist photographing these two together, scrummy-yummy, aren't they just?

Wanted to show you this chair too, recently bestowed upon us, it's an inherited chair that holds many sweet memories of the wonderful lady who owned it, and of the house where it used to live. And now it's come to live here at Attic24, awaiting some tlc. It's a most beautiful duck-egg blue colour (it looks a bit grey in the photo because the light wasn't so good), and the seat is fully sprung too so it's really comfy to sit in.
I'm visualising a brightly coloured patchwork seat cover, a crochet/patchwork cushion or two, and the above summer-garden squares throw to fling over the back.
Isn't Creative Imagination a truly great thing? I can picture this chair so completely in my mind, can see it all decked out in it's colourful creative finery, can't wait for it to come to fruition.

You going to be here tomorrow with me then?? Popping by the Attic for the Big Blogiversary Giveaway?? Oh I do so hope so, I am incredibly excited about it!
Later this evening, when I've finished cutting out the last of the butterflies, and baked and iced twenty four buns for the school cake sale tomorrow, I'm going to be finishing off the posie-brooches. Its all go-go-go around here these days.
See you tomorrow
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My Today

:: 9am, walking home from school along the canal, loving the sunshine ::

:: enjoying the stillness of the water.... ::

:: ....with it's upsidedown reflections ::

:: the yellow of these forsythia flowers stopped me in my tracks ::

:: 9.10am, a load of dirty laundry to see to before I dash out again ::

 

:: 9.15am, bags on the step as I stop to lock my front door ::

: :9.30am, at the cafe for my second crochet workshop  ::

:: 11am everyone busy with hooks and yarn ::

 

:: 12.30pm, oh dear, housekeeping is not up to scratch these days ::

 

:: 12.45pm, oh dear-oh dear, must see to those narcissi ::

:: 1.30pm, into school for more butterflies and PPPs ::

:: 3.30pm, back home, and a much needed sit down with a cuppa ::

 

:: 3.45pm, up to the Attic, and oH!! That View!! That blue sky ::

Such a busy, brimful kind of a day for me today. So much sharing and doing, creating and talking, hither and thither. I will breathe out again soon, I feel like I've been kind of been catching my breath all day, well all week come to think about it. I'm not accustomed to so much activity, to so much sociability, to so much rushing about. Its good though, to pull ones idle bones out of the fur lined rut and shake things up a bit.

Isn't it?

To be completely truthful, I am so looking forward to my Todays being slower again. Yes, bring me them slow-easy days and let me potter again. Let me try and get my house back into some sort of habitable state, where flowers are not half dead and where essential household items are in existence. Where laundry is clean, and where I don't trip over the piles of stuff everywhere. I can feel a Spring Clean coming on. Either that or a Gin Cocktail.

Now where did I put the gin?

xxxxxxx

Butterflies and PPP's

A busy week for me this one, with a touch of madness I feel. I sometimes wonder why I volunteer myself for such things, why I choose to put myself out there so much at times. But then how can I not? How can I be a stay-at-home-mum with no employment to speak of, and not get involved with activities at the Little People's school when I am Time Rich?? Of course I can't shake my head and say no. Of course I have to jump in with both feet and get involved.

So this week finds me leading the way in organising a Mothers Day craft project with the school children. The hope is that it'll be a fun activity for them to do, resulting in a lovely gift for all those Mummies, and also a little cash will be generated to put in to the schools coffers.

I've had a few weeks to get it together with this project, but in typical fashion I don't prepare in advance and instead choose my usual fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach. Its OK I think, because The Idea has already been sorted. The Creative Design has been established, my ideas got a Nod at the recent PTA meeting. All I need to do is bring it all together. Purchase craft materials and the such like. Eaaaasy, no probs, I can get away with doing this oooo let me see, the day before? The day itself? I kid you not, this is generally how I operate, you would not want me on your team.

So want to see what my Idea was? Want to see the Creative Design?

Ok, well here you can see we need lots of brightly coloured card. A heart punch too.

Many, many frazzled minutes are spent cutting and punching and snipping.

Components for the Creative Design are assembled....

Hearts (two sizes), butterfly bodies and butterfly wings, all cut by hand.

With-love-from labels printed, and little cards cut and folded too.

Butterfly wings and bodies are glued together.

Butterfly wings are decorated, my-my I'm enjoying this.

Butterfly attaches to folded card with a jaunty label glued inside.

Space to write ones name, and a little x too.

Now if you pass me the selotape I can stick the whole butterfly ensemble to a brightly coloured lolly pop stick, and ta-dah!!! A Sticky Butterfly!!!

Hmm sorry, what was that?

What am I proposing to do with this butterfly stick?

Where am I gonna stick it, excuse me???

Well....into a PPP of course!!

A PPP, yes :: a Pretty Potted Primula!!!

Look.......

Don't you just think the Little People are going to enjoy making these?

And don't you think all those Mummies are going to love them?

Simple, yet effective.

Now then, need to figure out where/how to purhcase 100 PPP's.

Need to go and harass poor unsuspecting plant man on the plant stall at the market.

Plant man is very nice indeed, says I can surely pop to his nursery and purchase 100 PPP's.

And so this morning (the first day of The Project) I pop to the nursery and fill my car boot up with glorious PPP's.

I dance around with delight when I get home, opening and closing my car boot several times just to get that ker-pow effect of seeing all this floral goodness in there.

Open-Ahhhhh!!!-close. Open-Oooooeeee!!!-close. Open-ohhhhhHHhHhhhhh!!!-close.

It absolutely thrills me to bits to have a car full of flowers.

And this afternnoon, off I go to school and spend a couple hours working with the smallest class which happens to contain my own Little Lady. We successfully transform 30 PPP's with crafty Butterfly Goodness, and everyone is delighted. Teachers are wowed, children are excited, me, well, I'm both of those things and a few others besides.

Tomorrow afternoon I shall go back for more. And the next day. And the next. We have one hundred of these to get through, four more classes of children.

And then there will be The Moment on Friday afternoon, when one hundred  Little People will come tumbling out of classrooms, clutching their PPP with its sticky Butterfly to proudly present to their Mummy.

Ahhhhh, I am SO looking forward to that moment, I shall have two of these coming back at me from my two Little People, and I'll be very happy indeed I expect.

xxx