Friday 29 September 2017

True LoVe....


As September draws to a close unmistakably Autumn is here!
Our days are getting shorter & shorter with the light fading
earlier each day.  The temperature has dropped just another couple
of degrees the leaves have started to change colour
 and the air is still damp but I'm not complaining!
I'm HaPpY!
If you have been following me on here for a while you know by now
I LoVe Autumn and next to Spring this is my favorite season!
There are so many things I LoVe about this time of year.


I LoVe Autumn days cozily lit up by the flicker of candles,
as the soft steam from a hot cuppa of goodness is floating
into a room where the air is filled with that comforting smell
of something yummy in the oven and we are all snuggled under
a warming blanket watching a film!


 I know I'm not the only one in my family enjoying those days.
Even Guinness is always up for snuggles.



I LoVe this little fella he is so full of personality.
At the ripe old age of 12 equaling 108 in human years he has become
a really cuddle bunny especially if the cuddles include a blanket!
His favorite blanket at the moment is my hexagon creation....
REMEMBER this one?   


I shared the beginning of it with you last July.
(If you fancy a little time travel ....this is the way back to July '16)


This gorgeous blanket was finished last November but I never quite
got round to sharing pictures of the finished piece with you....
something I have noticed happens far to often with me.



In my defense from the moment I had finished sewing in
the last loose end, it has been loved & used nonstop!
So it hasn't been easy to grab it for a little photo shoot.


I have to confess I had very little expectations for this
blanket at the beginning.
After all it is the result of a wild mix of odds & ends
with no real plan & idea of how it all would come together!
The overall blanket size and number of hexagons I would get
out of my leftovers remained a mystery until the end.


Working on something where nothing is a given,
everything is made up as I go along has been great fun.
Even when there were a few times
during my crocheting as the yarn colours started running out
I worried a little that I would not be able to achieve
that wonderful colour mix I have now ended up with.


As this blanket was always about busting my existing yarn stash,
the only new yarn purchase I made was the beautiful denim blue
Merino wool to join & border all 84 hexagons.
I have ended up with a large size lap blanket which is
very soft and super warm. 
I guess it is that soft warmth Guinness is so fond of.
 

I LoVe its beautiful colorfulness.
The colours melt into one another & then again pop all at the same time.
Looking at this heavenly blanket all spread out like this....
the mesmerizing magical happy memories of gazing
into a kaleidoscope as a child come flooding back.
This may be my first hexagon blanket but most definitely not my last!


Well there you have it ....even if a little belated....
my very happy hexagon Ta-Dah
I'm truly in LoVe!



Now I say goodbye for today so I can stake my claim
on this blanket and get snuggled into it for the evening....
enjoying a bit of Cold Feet.

Thursday 14 September 2017

A Higgledy-Piggledy Summer....


Scrolling through my Pinterest the other morning looking at an 
endless feed of beautiful Autumn pictures,
it dawned on me Summer has faded away and Autumn is now in the air.
When.... where.... how.... did this happen?

 
Maybe I didn't notice it as for me the Summer of '17
was the Summer that never was.
I was DISTINCTLY lacking that bright, happy Summer feeling,
instead I found myself more often then not feeling
lackluster, tired & washed out.

 
Please don't get me wrong I have laughed & loved a lot this summer,
....it was good....
 it just hasn't felt quite the same as in summers gone by.

 
Pondering over why I have been feeling like this....
a higgledy-piggledy mix of reasons & events comes to mind,
some very personal.... others much more global.... 
their are those I can influence....
others that are completely beyond my control....
nevertheless impacting my every day.
Completely out of my control but having a big impact
on my cheeriness is the weather.... it has been most utterly PANTS!
Grey, damp & very wet best described as a giant wash out!!!
Not what I call summer!
I need warming sunshine in summer, I'm a season's kinda girl
Summer has sun & flowers blossoming,  Autumn has wind & leaves falling
I'm sure you get where I'm going with this....
Watching weather forecasts for elsewhere with their promises of
warm temperatures & glorious sunshine created something
in me I have never known I had before....  big fat weather envy!!
The odd glorious moments of sunshine we were blessed with, never quite lasted
long enough to lift my spirits & sufficiently replenish my vitamin D needs!

  Another out of my control event with big impact was being
notified in mid May that I was to be made redundant at the end of June.
 I very much enjoyed my little job and working for this company
altogether nearly nine years made this news a sad blow!
I needed a few days to wrap my head round it all!
I was lucky to find myself a new job within days of my notification but
this has meant I was unable to have anytime off with my Paperdolls
during the school summer holidays.
Something I soOo very much cherish, it is our easy, go with the flow,
 pottering at our pace time normally. Very much needed by me to
recharge my batteries, not having this time is probably the main reason
for my lackluster summer mood and why I completely lost
track of where we are in the year!
 

   I have had my first experience of been head hunted: the job kind.
(scary & exciting all at the same time)
A phone call out of the blue only days after I started my new job,
has left me pondering all summer what I really want verses what fits in
with my family life as well as trying to be everything to everyone.
An event where the outcome very much lies within my
control but it doesn't make the decision any easier for me
....because let's be honest here, when you are a Mum
it's more about the family then the want part in all this!
Hence why I'm still flip-flopping with my decision.
 

Much within my influence and then again completely out of my control
has been the building stuff in & around our house
that needed & still needs my attention, not the pretty fluffy finishing
bits & pieces I love getting stuck into but lots of that technical stuff,
very important but OH so flipping boring & therefore ÜBER exhausting!


My creative head most definitely hasn't been much help either,
working overtime with a million ideas whilst I'm lacking any time
to turn just one of them into reality.
This is one of teen Paperdoll's cake creations.... a super yummy mood booster!

 
 Topping all this, is the daily dose of crazy politics from
home & abroad on the evening news.
Am I the only one....?!?....
Silently screaming "stop all that crazy s**t". 
Desperately longing for someone intelligent to take control,
as I'm watching with utter disbelieving bewilderment, often cringing
with sheer embarrassment at the ignorant stupidity on display
by far to many of today's politicians.
For journalists on the other hand this Summer must have
been a dream, politicians were a gift that kept on giving.


Oh Summer '17 
you have been a strangely weird one....
not bad by any means....
but just not quite great either!


Okay moaning over!
Here is now hoping for the Autumn of all Autumns