Paris on my mind....

 

As the news was unfolding on my TV screen late Friday evening 

disbelieving what I was seeing....

I was feeling

shocked....  dismayed.... angry... sad....

overwhelmingly sad,

that once again, people going about there everyday life

were murdered in cold blood. 

I wasn't surprised though,

I have come to realise years ago,

there are people that just want to hate

 they desire to spread fear & misery wherever they can.

I have long stopped asking why,  

the answers would never make sense to any 

reasonable person anyhow. 

And just like after school shootings I am not interested 

in the perpetrators names, faces or there life stories. 

They are not worthy of my time.

My thoughts are with

....the victims of Fridays atrocities 

....the beautiful city of Paris and its people.

My thoughts are with 

.....people who just wanted to enjoy 

the little things that make life 

beautiful & worth living for....

meeting family & friends 

eating out 

listening to a concert

taking a stroll on a mild evening

My thoughts are with

 ....people that embrace living life
in a free Europe!

"Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité"


 I for one have decided

the best way to honour those victims 

and to defeat the haters is

to 

LoVe & LiVe 

life to the full.

wishing you

♥ peace ♥

XXXX

A little blanket Ta-Dah....

my last post made me realise....
I'm very good at sharing the beginnings of my projects
but not so great at showing you the finished pieces.
Thinking about it....
I often get so excited with my finished items
I have to use them
then & there forgetting to take any photos.  

Perfect example of this is my Babushka Rose blanket.

In March 2013 I shared it with you in the making
but I never had a Ta-Dah show-off it is so well worthy of.


So I'm thinking....
no time like the present ....

Ta-Dah 

 My Babushka Rose blanket in all it's glory.

Gosh.... I like this blanket so much.
No I am head over heels in LOVE with it!!!

Let me give you a bit of a behind-the-scenes to this blanket.
 Firstly let me say
I'm no crocheter by any stretch of the imagination,
I'm a fabriholic and sewing is my first love....
knitting & crocheting are hobby's I dip in & out of.
All that said though I do enjoy crocheting very much
I just find I need my patterns drawn rather than written.

We are a family loving to snuggle under blankets
any time of the year whilst watching the telly.
And no matter how many blanket we have
there is always room for one more.
In the past I have always opted for sewing our snuggle blankets
but after having discovered a little over two years ago
the amazing world of crocheting blogs I was drawn
  to try something new. 

Initially I had planned on a more traditional granny square design
but when I came across a photo of the Babushka Rose blanket by
Heidi from www.sewingdaisies.com.au 
I was smitten,
 then finding the pattern on her blog drawn
rather than written made me jump for joy.
I just had to give this one a go.

Quite a few month's, a couple of changes to the original pattern
and forty-two roses later came my biggest challenge.
Deciding on which method to use for put the squares together.
This is my first crochet blanket (but definitely not my last)
as well as my first exploration into the world of granny squares
so I found it difficult to visualize the finished look, 
holding my project up a few more month.
Sometimes though you just have to allow yourself time

to make the right choice.

 

I am so very pleased I did!

I had at first envisioned a much big fancy border,
but looking at the roses joined altogether, I changed my mind.
Sometimes less is really more,
this border allows the roses to be the stars that they deserve to be.
I loved working on this blanket and
crocheting makes such a nice change from sewing one. 

  
My colour choices for this blanket
were influenced by our other snuggle blankets.
A mix of soft pink with cream pale green & coral muted yellow
and a pooping red framed by baby blue all surrounded
with a dark denim blue.  
Sorry I don't have the actual colour no. any more.

For yarn I used Superfine Marino wool by Lana Grossa,
 

Here you have it

my
very very VERY
LOVELY
Babushka Rose blanket,
better late than never.

SOOOOOOOO worth a little Ta-Dah post!!!

Have a beautiful weekend. 

xxxx

Feeling....

It's so grey here today.

Winds with drizzle rain today....

 just like yesterday & the day before that & the day before that.

Dreary days season has began.

Domestic delights otherwise known as housework 

were on my TO DO list for yesterday

but I just wasn't feeling it... 

I was feeling....

 candle light, fruit tea, yummy sweet tangerines 

  and creative time with wool.

A little bit of ME time in the morning just

while the house was blissfully quite.

I have started yet another scarf.

Inspired by the English Garden scarf

from a book by Kazuko Ryolai called in it's German version 

Vintage Häkeln but I believe it's originally a Japanese crochet book. 

For my colour choice....

I have fallen head over heals for a Tilda fabric 

I used to up-cycle my tweed jacket a few weeks back.

I'm not normally a Tilda person but this fabric does it for me.

I love everything about it ESPECIALLY the colours!!!
When I came across this wool

by Debbie Bliss which perfectly matches the fabrics colours,
I know it was the only way to go.  

Honestly....

when I sat down, I had every intention 

after my pot of tea was finished

 to get up and get on with my day of domestic delights.

 (I think I call it that to make it sound more appealing to me. 

Not that it really works)

This is the thing with intentions though....

there only that

....intentions.

By early afternoon I was all tea-ed out 

but still not feeling it.... 

 half the day over, baby paperdoll home from school 

and the sky still covered by a thick grey blanket

 the housework just had to wait for another day. 

I was feeling...

 board games & hot chocolate 

I love playing board games, 

even though most of the times I'm the looser

much to the delight of baby Paperdoll,

we still have to practice a little

....be a humble winner and a dignified looser bit. 

I had a nice day doing just what I felt like 

a real luxury for me.

Today 

I'm still not feeling it on the domestic front

I'm feeling....

Christmas decorations 

unfortunately they will have to wait though for a few days as

I do really really really have to focus on my housework. 

XXXX