Monday 31 October 2016

October Moments....


Little snippets of my last few weeks


....Autumn mantelpiece makeover....


....Colourful skies.... 


....Beautiful scenery....




....Stunning sunrise over Glasgow....


....Vertigo....


.....Discovering Glasgow's Museums.... 

 

....Spotting Claude...


....Learning about the Glasgow Boys....


....Meeting Anna.... 


....Evening stroll at George Square....


....Loving Dahlias....


....Bumble Bee beauty....


....Chasing leaves....


....Rusty giant charm....


....Glimpsing a special House....


  ....Mackintosh elegance....


....Enjoying the moment....


 I had a very very busy but ever so lovely October!



XOXO

Friday 7 October 2016

Sending....


A little posy of joy! 


Wishing you all a beautifully happy weekend.

xoxo


Thursday 29 September 2016

Work In Progress....

Autumn has now officially arrived in the Highlands.
Time to wrap up warm!
  This time of year always feels like a new beginning
to me much more then New Year ever has.


Mornings are filled with a lovely crisp chill, drizzly rain during
the day (not so nice) and howling winds at night.
 Our days also feel so much shorter now, living in the north
you really get to appreciate the stark difference
from summer to winter daylight hours.
All snuggled up under a blanket,
sipping fruit tea (my Autumn & Winter drink)
candles glowing and listening to the wind
swishing up the leaves outside, what is not to like,
just thinking about it makes me all happy and cosy!


Whilst I'm on the subject of snugly, I have managed to
fit in some crocheting time to working on my hexagon blanket.
I had a bit of a struggle finding wool to put my hexagons
together with, I always have to see & feel yarn before I buy it for
the first time, living in the Scottish Highlands limits my choice with
only a few wool shops around which are mainly offering synthetic yarns.
Last weekend I finally found what I had been looking for,
a perfectly beautiful medium denim blue in merino wool.
This colour compliments all the others and the crochet hook size needed
is the same as the rest of my hexagon yarns, making it a win win for me. 
Only snag....  there where only two balls left of this wool and
four or five is what I really need to finish this blanket nicely.
I have taken a little bit of a gamble buying those two but the shop assistant
assured me there will be more of this wool arriving in late October.
Fingers crossed!


Pondering over which way looks best for putting the hexagons together....
I played around with a few ideas


....settling on crocheting a single stitch border around each hexagon
in the new wool and then sewing them together.


I LoVe how the boarder makes every hexagon stand out on there own 
whilst still making them look great together.   
If that makes sense?


As I had thought.... two balls of wool aren't enough,
I have run out of wool before I even put all the hexagons together,
so my blanket construction is on hold for now until the resupply arrives.  


In the meantime....
there is plenty of things that will keep me busy
sewing in all the loose ends, for one.  


My head is also bustling with new woolly ideas after I stumbled across
& bought this beautiful alpaca wool whilst searching for that other wool.
LoVe at first sight!
One of those buying just because I LoVe the colour & texture moments,
something I have been trying to stop.
Old habits die hard ....and some clearly take longer then others, I guess!
I have an idea but no firm pattern for this beautiful yarn.
I'm thinking ....a little shawl maybe?
Watch this space!  


There is also a another basket full of wool very patiently
waiting to be worked into a throw for my bed.
The pattern ideas for this are coming together!
 So there is no shortage of cosy woolly projects to keep me going,
all I need now is


TIME
....any ideas where I can find that?



XOXO


Tuesday 13 September 2016

A Basket Case....


This past week and a half has whizzed by,
my head is spinning and I'm feeling a little drained.
Work.... work.... more work!
Do you ever get that feeling ....you run around all day
trying to be everything to everyone but by the evening
you just slump into a chair feeling like an epic failure at it all? 
That is me at the moment!
For days I have been meaning to share 
with you these photos, from a little pretty project,
 I finished at the beginning of September, only to get sidetracked 
every time with more "important" stuff.
Tonight I'm finally trying to taking back SOME control
over my time again, starting with this post.... 


I LoVe baskets
Big baskets.... small baskets.... tall baskets.... short baskets...  
round, oval, square baskets....
I like them all!
 Pretty & practical at the same time,
there is always room & use for another basket in my house.
And when this vintage one caught my eye recently in the 
window of a charity shop, at just £1.99 a steal for it's
perfect condition, it just had to come home with me. 

 Natural wicker is very beautiful but I have to confess


I LoVe a bit of colour on my wicker.
A few years back I started playing around with paint
on old wicker baskets & I have continue ever since.


The combination of light blue, white and
natural wicker is a firm favorite of mine!
 It works for me every time.
Surely I'm not the only one that loves this colour combination?


This case has so many beautiful little details,
I tried to highlight each & every one.
Little things make me so happy.


If you have been following me on here for a while
you know we are a family of old fashioned boardgame lovers.
Yahtzee, Draughts, Memory, Monopoly the list goes on & on,
but without a games box they have been scattered
all around the house and I much rather them all in one place.
Enter this basket....


It has become the perfect new home for some
of our games collection.
A vintage case for oldie games.
I told you there was always room & use
for one more basket in my house


I'm so pleasantly surprised by how many
of our games I have managed to fit nice & neatly into it.


I liked this case when I first saw it.... now I LoVe it!
A little paint mixed with some imaginary vision has created
a practically perfect case, filled to the brim with hours of vintage fun.


Looking at this beautiful case lying under my sideboard I'm reminded that
whilst sometimes how my time is spend is beyond my control
....that is life as a mum, wife & employee....
it is important for me & my happiness
to retake control whenever & wherever I can!

xoxo

Ahhhhhhh....
feeling much better already!

Wednesday 31 August 2016

This & That Happy....



HaPpY.... 
with my extra long bank-holiday weekend.
It's so lovely to potter around from here to there at my own pace.
Made a little more special as I got to enjoy the house 
in all it's peace & quiet for a few hours over the last few days
with the Paperdolls & Mr Mc back at school & work!
I need the silence to hear myself!
I LoVe my family very much and I wouldn't want to be 
without them EVER however "ME" time is ÜBER important to me
and I don't want to feel guilty enjoying it!
Something I'm slowly learning. 


HeXaGoN  HaPpY.... 
the hexagon blanket is coming on rather nicely. 
....the mix & match yarns are fast disappearing
with the pinks, pale blue & mustard already all done. 
I spent Monday morning trying to figure out
the best arrangement, with the help of a few
lattes and much playing around I have concluded,
I could be spending days trying to find the perfect layout
and still not be happy,
....so no layout strategy is the best strategy!
Next step now is finding (buying) a yarn as a 
connecting and framing colour, that may take a little while.


GaRdEn  HaPpY....
The weather was a bit of a mixed bag this weekend
.... I guess the nice weather couldn't last forever!
During the rain showers Mr Mc & I dashed to garden centers
for a few new flowery additions and
this beautiful trug also found it's way home with me.
I have been LONGING for this style trug forever
....no seriously it's been years & years....
I always made an excuse why I shouldn't buy one
 ....that guilt thing again....
....after all I'm no gardener why do I really need a fancy trug....
Saturday I finally picked one up, took it to the till and
bought it before I could even think of talking myself out of it.
I'm very happy to say no guilt felt by me this far just sheer delight! 


We also picked up some plants of course
which we managed to plant during the sunnier spells.
I'm a real "fly by the seat of my pants" kinda gardener.
Experiment & hope for the best is my motto!
I need plants that look after themselves.
Watering, a little occasional pruning and feeding 
all within my capability but not much more.  
I have two ways of picking plants firstly I like there names,
 secondly they have spoiled me with a felling of
gardening success in past garden experiments.
General Sikorski falls into the latter group
I have had this Clematis before and I agree with the
RHS Award of Garden Merit for reliability, 
so far this one has never let me down in my previous gardens.
So here is hoping for this one.


What is not to LoVe about Pansies?!
Perfectly HaPpY flowers,  
so adorable in this pot, making a perfect distraction
from my ugliest of ugly front door.


PaInT  HaPpY....
This time for the garden, I bought this paint without a sample
and was a little worried that it would be too cream.
It may be called Cream Tea (LoVe the name) but this
garden paint is definitely no cream,
to my great relief it's an old or off white, just what I wanted!


GuInNeSs  HaPpY....
Guinness makes me smile every day, no not the alcoholic variety
but this well traveled little bunny with huge personality,
toilet trained (if he wants to that is)
he has opinions on the telly program,
hind leg thumping if he doesn't approve.
He loves snuggling (on his terms of course)
and follows us around the house.
Goes crazy for peanuts & peanut-butter, he has never drank water
loves salad but only eats carrot when cut with a peeler.
He has us all rapt around his whiskers and he knows it!
Little did I know the day we took him home
from the pet-shop a little over eleven years ago
that Guinness would become such a huge part of our family,
every day with him is a such a giggle & joy!


DuStInG  HaPpY....
I'm defiantly NO domestic goddess when it comes to cleaning


I have to admit though I do LoVe the fresh & new feeling that comes
after a bit of feathered magical wand action!


AuTuMn  HaPpY....
I'm looking forward to my first Autumn 
in Scotland in over twenty years.


Wishing you all a HAPPY start into September!
xoxo


Thursday 25 August 2016

I have Sunshine....


HuRRaH 
  

The Sun has finally found it's way to the 
Scottish Highlands!!!


We have been blessed with a week of mostly sunshine,
with very few raindrops interrupting!
We are having a mini summer after all!
Unsurprisingly the sun arrived just in time 
for the first day back at School,
honestly though I couldn't care less 
....I have SUN!!
....Long may it last....


I have made the most of this lovely weather when I wasn't working.
Open windows & doors to let the warm sunny breeze into my house,
washing drying outside on the line
OoOh what a joy!!!
Yes I'm so very easily pleased.


It's back to School time with the term started again last week with
that has come back our familiar early weekday mornings routine.
Just now, our starts are even a little earlier then last term,
as baby Paperdoll has started High School. 
BIG step for her & me!!!
A little nervous & shy on her first day in High School
...who can blame her....
she has since taken the new & unfamiliar
in her stride and adapted very well!!
WoW.... what an ENORMOUS relief that is for me! 


Over the last few weeks I have been painting every evening,
a little this & that,
not just in shades of white may I add.... 


blue was the choice to up-cycle this garden bench we picked up
very cheaply for the front of the house.
I LoVe how a lick of paint really can change
the feel & look of a piece furniture.  
 

I have cherished every free minute in the sunshine
on my beautiful "new" bench!
It is incredibly satisfying to use something you
have up-cycled or made yourself.
This cushion I stitched years ago and yet it still fills
me with happiness every time see it!  


The Roses & Lilly's we planted earlier in the month
have flourished in the sunshine, rewarding us
with plenty of stunning blossoms.


This lovely weather has also allowed us to get on
with some of the unfinished jobs around the garden....
 


....my first attempt laying the path was rudely interrupted by rain....
finally last Sunday Mr Mc & I finished the
first part of the path, cut pieces included!
Now I'm hoping for a good (at least dry) weekend so we
can get the rest done and finally build the gate for our drive.
 Fingers crossed!!! 


DO IT YOURSELF
is without question tremendously rewarding....
you just have to except that it will take a lot of patience & plenty of time
before you get to enjoy those rewards fully!

xoxo