Thank you so much for visiting me in the Attic, it's lovely to see you. My name is Lucy and I'm a happily married Mum with three children. We live in a cosy terraced house on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in England which we are slowly renovating and making home. I have a passion for crochet and colour and love to share my creative journey. I hope you enjoy your peek into my colourful little world x
♥ a jug of bright yellow daffies on my table reminding me that yes, despite the persistent cold temperatures it is in fact Spring. I love that I can pick up a sweet bunch of daff's for 80p from the market at this time of year, hard to resist their simple charms ♥
♥ a super-sweet picture made for me by Little B at nursery, for Mothers Day. Apparently, there was a vase of flowers with a sheet of glass propped up in front. The children then painted directly onto the glass, trying to copy the real flowers sitting behind. The resulting glass-painting was then used to make a print onto canvas, it's such a great idea don't you think? Just trying to decide where to display it, I think I might take it upstairs and hang it in my bedroom ♥
♥ a homemade Mothers Day card from my gorgeous Little Lady (age 9), it made me very happy. I love the sentiment so much, but I wonder if I should now be providing lollipops on a regular basis? ♥
♥ a homemade Mothers Day card from Little B (age 4). Although he has been writing for six months or so he has only very recently started to draw. I think his expressive little happy people are particularly lovely ♥
♥ having a bit of a crush on toasted hot cross buns with proper butter, such wonderful comfort food at this time of year ♥
♥ loving issue 17 of Simply Crochet magazine which plopped through my door at the weekend (it'll be in the UK shops this Thursday). Lots to inspire, I love those big pouffy roses designed by Kate who writes "Greedy for Colour" blog. Have you seen Kate's own bike? Go look...seriously lush ♥
♥ still working my colourful, chunky rows and loving it very much. I have been working two new bag designs plus this, a circular cushion with a chunky flower in the centre. I'm sorry to seem so secretive with my crochet at the moment, hoping it won't be too much longer before I can show you what I'm up to ♥
Wishing you a heap load of Little Joys to brighten your hours this week xxxxxxxxxx
If you've been visiting me here in the Attic for any length of time, you will no doubt be familiar with my Caravan Love Affair. It's almost four years since Connievan became part of our family, and gosh what a huge amount of pleasure she has given us in those years. I can still so clearly remember the tremendous excitement of discovering her, viewing her, then very quickly agreeing there and then on the spot to welcome her into our family. That very first trip away in her, oh the sheer joy of it! Yes, I remember it all so well.
Four years on, and my love affair feels like it is stronger than ever. The older the Little People become, the more important it feels to make the most of family time spent all together. Little Man will turn 12 this summer, and I see his true childhood beginning to slowly ebb away now. He is maturing and changing so rapidly, I look at him these days, as tall as me, and get a glimpse of the very fine young man he is becoming. I don't know how much longer he will wish to squish into a caravan and share a bed with his little brother, how much longer we can hope for such simple harmonious holidays to fit with our growing family. But I am clinging to the thought that it is still possible, for this year at least. Owning a caravan makes it possible for the five of us to pack a few bags and head off to the coast to spend time together, and I love it so, so much for that.
Last year, towards the very end of the summer I was sent this book to read and review. Vantastic was released in Australia at the start of their Spring, but of course that was the start of our Autumn here in the UK. I was feeling a little melancholy with our 'vanning season almost at an end for another year and it didn't feel quite right to chat about planning caravan adventures back then. But now....well now Spring is here and once again I can feel the uprising of excitement as we begin to plan where Connievan will take us this year.
Putting it mildly, this book is Utterly Divine. It is written by Kate Ulman, author of the wonderful blog Fox's Lane. Kate and her young family took six months away from their organic farm in Australia to go on a travelling adventure in a vintage caravan. Kate blogged all about their amazing trip and the book then followed. You can see some photographs of their caravan here, Kate did such an amazing job making it beautiful.
Vantastic is a mixture of travelogue, practical advice, recipes and crafting projects accompanied by a delicious selection of photographs and friendly, engaging writing.
The styling of the book is just wonderful, it feels as if you are holding a precious gift in your hands and every page turn is a pleasure.
Kate crochet's and sews, crafts with her children and crafts to fulfill her own creative needs. Her passion for all things handmade shines out of the pages and every time I dip into this book I feel inspired to get busy making and creating.
Although Vantastic is essentially a book about caravanning, it is also very much more. It is about enjoying the simple pleasures in life, making sure to value time spent with family, relishing the freedom of living, eating, playing and exploring the great outdoors, making memories and having fun times. It encourages you to cook well, be creative, live life to the full, enjoy nature and spend time with loved ones. For all those reasons it has touched my heart and is a book that I have read and re-read many times already. You can find Vantastic on UK Amazon and Amazon US , it is a lovely, inspiring book for sure.
Now while we are merrily on the subject of all things Caravan, I would love to share something else with you. Exactly two years ago (yes exactly, to the very day, my life is so freakily rhythmic it scares me a little)...two years ago I shared the story of the above artwork, made by my very talented friend Caroline Rose, do you remember it? You can read all about it in my post from 26th March 2012, it is a sweet little story of like minds (and hearts) meeting and creating something rather gorgeous. Well Caroline did the creating of course with her very clever fingers, but I feel as if my heart is definitely entwined in that picture.
Well look now, there is a new cutesome little caravan on the block, a dinky little red number this time, isn't it lovely? Let me tell you, this isn't just a box with a pretty sticker on it. No, no. We have to look inside the box to see what treat is in store.......................
.....it's a most beautiful, shiny, colourful mug! Swoon!!!!!!!!!!!
Caroline has been working on some really beautiful new mug designs during the past few months, and my heart truly skipped a beat when I caught sight of this work in progress. First there were flowers, then there were stripes, and then a caravan? Really? A red caravan?
I couldn't wait to see it finished, I felt genuinely excited as I waited along with Caroline and many of her fans to see how this mug idea would turn out.
As it happens, it turned out really pretty great indeed, and all four mugs are just beautiful don't you think?
The image for each of the mugs is long and thin and wraps itself nicely around the mug. It is just such a nifty idea and as with everything that Caroline does, very beautifully executed and presented. She has also made fine art prints for each design so that you can see it all laid out, oh I just love that little caravan so much! I bought myself the caravan mug as soon as it landed in Caroline's shop, and I have been very happily slurping my morning coffee out of it ever since. I absolutely love it.
You can find these beautiful mugs and prints for sale in Caroline's Etsy shop, should you wish to treat yourself to some colourful handmade goodness.
I still have unfulfilled prettifying plans for Connievan, and I still regularly drool and sigh my way through Pinterest images of vintage 'vans and trailers when I feel the need for a little inspiration. You can have a little look at my Caravan Dreams board if you like, there is lots to love in the world of pretty caravans (above image source here)
I am a little ashamed to say that I still have one pair of curtains left to make for Connievan. I had some trouble with my old Bernina sewing machine which scuppered my sewing plans two summers ago you see. She began to protest and stitch badly, and then refused to do any more bobbin winding, so after the cushions were made, I ended up packing her away and no more sewing got done.
Today, after spending rather a lot of time daydreaming about caravans and feeling rather elated to be heading into Springtime, I took the plunge and arranged for my beloved Bernina to go away to a specialist repair place. She is forty-five years old you see, and needs a clever bod who knows how to tinker carefully with her old mechanisms. I am ridiculously excited about doing stitchy fabricky things again after an unexpectedly long two year break. I'm going to finish stitching my curtains! And I'm going to make patchwork curtain pelmets to hang above my curtains!!
Yippeeeeee for creative caravanning!!!
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edit to add :: just wanted to mention that this is not a Sponsored Post. I would always say if I was being paid in any way to review products or give links to products.
I was sent the book Vantastic by the publishers on Kate's request, but offered to write about it voluntarily as I was already a huge fan of Fox's Lane blog and had followed both Kate's caravan and book writing journey. Caroline Rose has become a good online friend in the years since I first discovered her work, and I have bought several pictures from her that I love, the mug too.
I wanted to share Kate's lovely book and Carolines amazing work with you just cos I love them both very much and thought it would be nice to bring some lovely creative caravanny-colour to my blog today! However, I am a participant in the Amazon Associates programme and do earn a small commission if you follow my links and make any purchases via Amazon. I think I should write this into my sidebar so that it's clear what I am doing? Yes, I will do that :)
Today has been wonderful, a very chilly early spring day full of sunshine and cold, still air. The daffodils in my neighbourhood have only just opened their petals, it's still remarkably cold here in Yorkshire and this morning we woke to a frosty landscape.
I enjoy my school run on days like this, enjoy the pleasure of being able to walk along the water's edge, dipping in and out of sunshine and shadow, feeling rather blissed out by the pure blue colour of the sky.
The stillness of the air makes the canal water so mesmerising, I can't help but stand and stare at it, drinking in it's very stillness and the wonder of reflections. The ducks bring me out of my daydream, swimming over to me and sending ripples across the surface of the water.
Today was certainly a day for being by water. J was home from work, Little B home from nursery, so despite the chill we decided to go on a little outing. Little B is just recovering from a weekend of sickness and his energy levels were a little bit lower than usual, so we chose somewhere for a gentle stroll.
This is Swinsty Reservoir, somewhere in the midst of deep countryside between the Yorkshire towns of Ilkley and Harrogate. It was the first time we've been here, although we have glimpsed it often from the main road up on the hill above.
The water was really hugely big! Compared to the little local reservoir that we usually walk round, this expanse of water felt ginormous. There were even little waves lapping in at the shore, and for a few very brief moments I felt as if I might possibly be beside the sea.
No seagulls though, but plenty of ducks. After a short stroll, Little B was wilting so we found a wooden picnic table in the sunshine and sat down for a rest. Fresh hot coffee from my favourite Contigo, and some little foil wrapped chocolate Easter eggs.
J had his heart set on a pub lunch, a bit of a treat to enjoy on his day off. Normally we are a family of modest picnickers, so pub lunches do feel quite extravagant. A nice treat though, especially when the pub in question is so good. That's where we went look, that building teetering on the edge of the hillside in the photo above. This is high up on Ilkley Moor at the Cow and Calf rocks.
After a lovely lunch in the warm and cosy pub, we went for a little bit of a wander on the moor. We took in the expanse of sky and enjoyed being buffeted by the rather brisk wind that was whipping around the rocks.
These rocks are sooooooo huge! Look at this picture of Little B running and you can get the scale of them. It makes me want to hug them and run away from them all at once.
The views from up here are tremendous, it's a very high-up place indeed. I am SO glad I live where there are hills. I absolutely love love love to be up high and take in a view, one of the reasons we moved here from the Vale of York (which is flat as a pancake with zero hills)
It was a good day, a day of still waters and beautiful skies. And now I can't stop singing "On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at" over and over, and wishing very, very much that I wasn't. Go away, silly song, you may leave my brain now, Thank you.
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ps for those of you who don't know this famous Yorkshire anthem, there is an explanation here, and some vocals here. Darn it.
Opening my Attic window, waving a gentle hello to you all :: Hellooooooooo! Thank you so, so much for all your wonderful messages on my last post, it's been heart warming and extremely uplifting to read them all. Thank you, thank you. I thought it would be a nice idea to create a Photographic Blog Retrospective, I was/am very excited to do this, but the reality is that it is a Very Big Job. Six years, nine hundred posts (900!!). Seventy-two monthly files of photographs, which on average contain 300 images each, yeah, a big job to condense that lot into a blog post. I have made a good start, I am half way through in fact, so will definitely persevere and share that with you when I'm there with it.
I'm having a busy week, lots going on here. I've been working on some crochet that's not quite ready to share just yet, but I am jittery with excitement over it. I've also spent a lot of time working on Yarndale this week, plans, meetings and a journey to The City (image above, isn't that Victorian arcade amazingly beautiful?). We are just about to start work on a FaBuLouS yarn bomb project which I will share with you very soon. I am also sampling/designing a pattern for this year's Global Community project for Yarndale which should be ready to share at the beginning of April. I absolutely LOVE planning all of this, pulling together a multitude of creative ideas and visions and involving myself in my local community. But it is pretty time consuming.
Mixed-bag weather this past week, some stunning spring sunshine, some wet and stormy days and some eery foggy days which draped the landscape in a veil of water droplets. My "red" hyacinths are in full bloom on the mantel, they are utterly glorious. More of a deep, vibrant pink than a true red, but most definitely the best colour hyacinths I've ever had.
Right now I am positively drooping, and am fantasising about my rosy pillowcases and my freshly plumped up feather duvet. So I will love you and leave you for now, thanks a million for calling by to catch up. Back soon!
This week, Attic24 became six years old. SiX. I can scarcely believe where the years have gone, and yet at the same time it feels as if this blogging time has stretched on and on and on and I can scarcely remember a time when I didn't blog. I feel I have achieved quite a lot in this time (including making a baby!) and actually I do have quite a lot I'd like to say about this creative blogging journey I find myself on. Yes, I would love to chat more about that, but I will save that for next time. Today I'd like to celebrate the thing that Attic24 has become so well known for. The thing that constantly lights up my life and colours my days :: crochet. Of course!
I'm going to show you some pictures, and will keep the words brief. I hope you enjoy this little visual celebration.................
I have made 12 blankets.....
....and 8 cushions.
Two bags....
....and many things to wear.
There have been garlands....
....and there have been little twiggy decorations.
There has been crochet that hangs and dangles....
....and there has been crochet that wraps and covers.
There have been quite a few critters and creatures....
....and four wreaths.
There have been other bits and bobs too, I had trouble rounding every single bit of it up out of my archives. But I think we can safely say that I have done rather a lot of hooky in the past six years, it's quite something seeing it all together in one place!
I have shared fifty-two Ta-dah moments, and written thirty-nine tutorials.
I continue to be completely smitten with all things crochet, and I can't tell you how much I love to share it all here. It fills my heart and soul with complete joy. Thank you SO MUCH for your friendship during the past six years, your enthusiasm and support is priceless. Thank you. Thank you very, very much.
Early on Saturday morning, I prepared the studio for my second workshop. I arranged nine chairs around our table, laid out a rainbow stripe of yarn balls, printed out nine sets of patterns and gathered together nine bags of stuffing, eyes and hoops.
I laid our little blue table with a palette of gorgeous merino yarn, ready to inspire my visiting ladies.
I went to the market and bought a bunch of daffodils for my stripy jug, and I borrowed Tracy's white step ladders to make a little Bower Bird display. All was set, and I felt ready for the day. I had some flutters of nerves in my tummy, but once the Lovely Ladies began to arrive I suddenly felt at ease and surprisingly in my element. No need to be nervous! I know this pattern exceptionally well now, I am confident teaching it, I love teaching it. I love to inspire, to share, to encourage. It's fun!
The hours fly by, honestly, the clock seems to run at warp speed. The Lovely Ladies take to the project so well, they concentrate and they work hard, they count and they scribble. But also they chat and laugh, share snippets about their lives, their families, their work. It is relaxed and friendly, and I enjoy the whole experience so much.
The ladies in the café downstairs look after us very well, and we are kept supplied with drinks and platters of pastries and sweet nibbles. The crumbs mingle with the yarn ends, and slowly one by one, my Lovely Ladies sing out their Ta-dah's as their Birds hatch and stretch their wings. It is magical to witness, and with each proud Ta-dah, my heart melts.
By the end of the day, there are nine beautiful new Bower Birds in the world, and ten very happy ladies.
I feel so blessed to have this gift that I am able to share. To see my own design come to life in the hands of others is such an amazing experience, and one that gives me great pleasure.
At four o'clock we reluctantly begin to say our goodbyes. Many of the Lovely Ladies have travelled some distance to be with me, and I wish them safe journey's home again. The studio hushes, and I potter around tidying crumbs and yarn ends, smiling all over. Such a great day, so rewarding. Teaching workshops is a big learning experience for me, I am really enjoying it but I am still finding my confidence and learning to relax with it. I've got five more workshop dates running one a month through to July, all fully booked up. That's good I think?! I have become someone who teaches workshops, that still takes me by surprise!
♥ the most gorgeous early Spring weather. Cloudless blue skies and gentle warmth. Fat buds and early blossom on the trees, the first daffoldils and lots of happy bird song. Unbelievably lovely, all of it ♥
♥ frilly scarlet tulips on my table, a £1.50 purchase from the supermarket yesterday ♥
♥ the sun streaming into the studio this morning. The little flowery heart was a project I made for Simply Crochet magazine (issue 15) ♥
♥ spending time at the studio. I sat working on a new project, chatting to Tracy as she worked hard on her new designs ♥
♥ loving our studio, it's such a wonderful room when the sun shines, so warm and light and inspiring. It's exactly a year since we finished decorating and moved in ♥
♥ a punnet of surprisingly juicy sweet strawberries brought from the market on my way through town this morning ♥
♥ sweet anticipation as I wait for my hyacinth to flower. This is supposedly a "red" variety which I have never had before, I absolutely can't wait to see the colour! ♥
♥ crochet goodness filling my home. Blankets, cushions and my beloved poncho, it's like being given a warm, visual hug when I walk into the room ♥
Hope you've had some truly happy moments in your day too......
This morning, instead of heading to my studio to work, I headed up onto the moors with J. It was a glorious day, a perfect taste of very early Springtime. Crisp and bright, with a delightful soft warmth which meant we could leave our coats at home for the first time this year. We parked the car in a lay-by at the top of the moor and walked along one of our most favourite tracks, high above the reservoir below. There is a circular walk here, but it is lengthy and we only had a short amount of time. So we ambled along the track until we found a sun warmed rock and settled ourselves down for a coffee and chocolate stop. We listened to the plaintive sound of the curlew calling, and the comical sound of the grouse going about their morning business. The sun warmed our faces and we talked. We made plans, we talked of our hopes and dreams for the future. It crossed my mind that we have been doing this for twenty years now, planning, dreaming, enjoying each other's company. Twenty years of happy times, and I am truly, deeply thankful for those years, for J and the simple family life we have created together. I am hopeful for many, many more good years to come.
Edit to add :: thank you so much for all your sweet comments! It wasn't actually our anniversary or anything yesterday, just a normal day where J was using up his holiday entitlement and had a day booked off work. But it felt special somehow, kind of reminded me how it felt when we first got together twenty years ago. Yesterday was a day of counting my blessings x
ps...for those of you who asked....here is a link with an audio clip of the Red Grouse, and one for a Curlew too! They are common sounds when walking on the moors in the Yorkshire Dales.
This cushion has been such a happy project to work on, a quick and spontaneous make which I used to test out my new Raindrops stitch pattern. I also wanted to try using chunky yarn for the first time, so the combination of the new stitch and the new yarn was a whole new experience for me.
There is enough yarn here to make two of these cushions, you only actually need 4 x 100g balls of chunky to make a 45cm cushion in this pattern.
Unusually for me, I chose to order these colours into a repeating stripe (you know I usually go for random, so this was yet another new experience for me). I deliberately went for a rainbow effect, I think I might have been subconsciously trying to counter balance the extreme drabness of the weather we've been having! It's rainy and grey, lets make yarn rainbows!!
The very rainbowyness of this project really did lift my spirits and the very chunkyness of the yarn made the rainbow stripes grow satisfyingly fast. I have to say, I did find this chunky yarn quite physical to work with. The Stylecraft Speical chunky is a lovely yarn, very soft and squidgy and bouncy, but with a 6mm hook it did take quite a bit of "working", if you understand what I mean, and that made it quite slow going. I found I could only work in quite short bursts before my fingers and hands began to ache a little, so this would put me off using chunky yarn for a blanket project. It is GREAT cushion yarn though, as the resulting fabric is so soft, dense, and well, chunky!
I tried hard to deal with my tail ends methodically as I went along. With this pattern, you change colours every other row, so there are a LOT of ends for a reasonably compact project. My method is to crochet over the tail ends as I work the first 8-10 stitches, then pick the ends up with a darning needle and weave them back on themselves right to the outside edge.....
....like so. You can then just snip them off at this point. It's a secure way of dealing with tail ends, plus you don't get the yarn ends poking out in the middle of a row this way, as they sit neatly at the edge of the work. I use this method for all stripy crochet (including the ripple).
The Raindrops pattern is a great success I think. I struggled with it a little at first (I had trouble keeping the edges straight), but after adjusting the pattern I managed to put that right. I love the textural look of it, and the way it allows the colours to dance around with each other.
I made this cushion cover in one long piece, which allowed for a front, a back and a bit extra for an envelope style button flap thingy. The finished length needs to be twice that of your cushion, plus an extra third of the cushion depth. So if you are making a 45cm cushion, your crochet needs to measure 45cm wide, and 105cm deep (45+45+15).
The button hole strip was easy to make, worked in four rows as follows ::
Row 1 this is still part of the Raindrops pattern, the row with long and short half trebles (this will become clear when you read the pattern!)
Row 2 this is a row of double crochet
Row 3 this is the button hole row....I wanted to make 8 button holes, so with 50 stitches I did some maths. I worked dc three times, then a chain-2, skip-2 to make the button hole, then dc 4 times to make the space between the button holes, then another chain-2, skip-2 button hole, then dc 4 times etc etc.
Row 4 this is the final dc row. Work dc's into each dc from the previous row, putting 2dc's into each ch-2 button hole loop.
The button holes look quite small, but I did test them out with my 23mm buttons and they were fine. Crochet stretches remember, so don't make your button hole loops too big.
Shall we take a look?
Seven colour repeats in total. I worked out that three repeats fit the 45cm cushion perfectly, so I would need 6 repeats to cover the front and back. The seventh extra repeat (which measures about 15cm) will form the envelope flap.
You can see above that the bottom of the crochet is very skewed! This shows where I had trouble with the pattern in the beginning (remember this was me sampling the raindrops stitch from scratch), I had to adjust the way I started and ended each row in order to make it grow straight. So please if you don't mind, can you just overlook that wonky bit? Ta.
This is my method of constructing this type of cushion. It's a bit rough and ready (basically fold, stitch and turn outside-in), but it works.
1. Lay out your crochet piece, with the button flap sitting at the top. Right side facing uppermost, wrong side facing the floor.
2. Fold over the top button flap. My top flap measures 15cm and is approx a third of the total cushion height.
3. Fold up the bottom edge so that it meets the top (folded) edge. You should now be looking at something roughly square in shape, with the wrong side facing you uppermost.
If you look at it from the side view, you can see that the button flap is sandwiched between the front and back. Rights sides are facing in together, wrong sides are on the outside. The bottom edge sits neatly lined up with the top (folded) edge.
I decided that due to the thickness of the layers of chunky crochet that I would stitch instead of crochet the edges together. I picked yarn the same colour as the button flap. Hold all three layers at the top of your cushion firmly together and begin stitching (over-sew), starting from the top edge and working your way down. Keep stitches close together and as neat as possible, make sure they pass through all three layers of crochet.
Keep going, making small over-sew stitches. Once you pass the end of the button flap sandwiched in there, you'll only be sewing through the two front and back layers. Work all the way down to the bottom, then fasten off securely.
Now do the same on the other side. Start at the top fold, stitching through the three layers, working all the way down to the bottom edge. Now it's time to Turn!
You have worked your stitching up on the wrong side, so now all you have to do is turn the whole thing the right way out. Push your fingers into the corners to poke them out and make them neat. Your stitches will be visible, but hopefully the seam should look neat enough. Homespun, remember? You can't really be too much of a perfectionist here.
Your button flap should now be sitting neatly on top of your cushion back, overlapping it by about 15 cm or so. Time to sew on your buttons! I went for 23mm resin buttons in rainbow colours, which I bought from Wool Warehouse HERE (you have to select/buy them as individual buttons, all the colours should be there if you look through the list). I have to say I LOVE these buttons very, very much. They are Happy buttons!
I stitched my buttons using normal sewing thread.
Oh, beautifully buttony! You can see the stitched up side seam there, it's not too untidy I don't think.
I think we might be pretty much needing a swift Ta-dah now.......
One gloriously bright and bouncy Rainbow Raindrops cushion.
And this is the buttoned-up back, which I love rather much more than the front, oh that row of happy buttons really makes me smile☺!
This rainbow cushion is very much at home here in the Attic, already being used on a daily basis for important snuggle activity.
It's unashamedly jolly, bright, bouncy and happy.
And squidgy. Did I already mention how squidgy this chunky yarn is? Mmmm, yes it really is.
Now then, about the pattern, this Raindrops Stitch I've been going on about. Would you like to give it a go? Fancy working up some stripy, textural rows of dancing colour? I've been working very hard this past week working on the tutorial for you, and I am very happy to let you know that it is all ready to go. YEs! It really is.
Oh my goodness me, I've been so unwell! Such a wicked virus, it took hold of me very fast and for forty eight hours I was held in it's mean, unforgiving grip. I woke up this morning, moved myself ever so very, very gently and realised with a huge sigh of relief that I wasn't hurting anywhere much. Thank goodness. I still feel quite drained, but I am SO glad to be able to move about normally and not be either shivering or sweating or hurting anywhere. It was pretty wonderful to emerge out of the house this morning, breathe in the fresh, still air and realise with a leap of my heart that March is here.
Hello, March, how good to see you again!
How lovely to walk under your fresh blue skies and feel a little bit of warmth from the sun at last. It's been far too long.
This glorious crocus patch is planted just to the side of a main road leading in to the town centre. It stopped me in my tracks this morning and as I suddenly felt in need of a breather, I took the opportunity to sit myself quietly on a sun warmed wooden bench to rest and gaze.
The stripy purples are my favourites, although the juicy yellows are pretty wonderful too.
Back home, and all was quiet. Ahhhh, I have so needed this little bit of quiet time, it's quite tricky being poorly across a weekend when you have three Little People (with visiting neighbours children added) and your hubby is out for the day. Not that I did much childcare as I pretty much spent the entire weekend laid on the sofa shivering under a blanket. But oh I did wish for silence from time to time!
Inside the warmth of home, my pink tulips are beginning to flounce and dance. Lovely, sweet things.
I snipped some marigolds from my back yard pots today to bring inside. March marigolds, how unexpected! They are lighting up my desk in such a simple, wonderful way, I really love that particular bold shade of orange.
The sun has shone all day and it's been such a treat. I keep telling myself that Spring isn't officially declared sprung until the Spring Equinox on the 20th, so not to get too excited just yet. I remember last year only too well.....but ooooooo it really did feel more than a smidge springlike today, it really did.
My daily routine is so much more pleasurable when the sun shines, as I do a lot of walking throughout the day. Today the air was also very still, which made for beautiful reflections in the canal.
This isn't my back street, but it's one I stroll along each day with Little B and is typical of the many back streets here in my town. I love rows of Victorian terraced houses with their wonderful old cobbled back streets. A place for rubbish bins and back-yard-access, but I really love their charm and character all the same. When I next have a spare sunshiny morning I'll take a walk around my neighbourhood and show you some more streets, there is lots to love about them.
I haven't had much appetite these past few days, but today I craved something fresh, tasty and healthy. Colourful too, yes it does you the power of good to eat colourful food you know. Avocado, tomatoes, cucumber and sweet red peppers with a splash of olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Lots of salt and pepper. It was really good.
I finished up my Rainbow Raindrops cushion late this afternoon. Stitched it and buttoned it and plumped it and tossed it on the sofa for approval. Little B road tested it straight away and said it was Nice. Little Lady said it's very You, Mum. Not sure if that means it's good or not, but the important thing is that I like it. I like it a LoT in fact. The colours are happy, the stitches sort of dance a little jig and the buttons....ooommmm, the buttons really do give me heart flutters. It was too late in the day to photograph it as the light was already fading when I finished it, but tomorrow I will. I've made a start with the Raindrops tutorial too, so that'll come tomorrow as well, all being well.
Bouncing back, see? No stinkin' virus is going to keep me from my happy hooky work for long!
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was released in Australia at the start of their Spring, but of course that was the start of our Autumn here in the UK. I was feeling a little melancholy with our 'vanning season almost at an end for another year and it didn't feel quite right to chat about planning caravan adventures back then. But now....well now Spring is here and once again I can feel the uprising of excitement as we begin to plan where Connievan will take us this year.
, it is a lovely, inspiring book for sure. 
