Fleur and Fred

Last week felt like one of those weeks that drags on and on and on. I've no idea why really, just one of those weeks. To cheer myself up a bit Little Miss and I sat down to some sewing on Saturday - more on that in a bit.

Yesterday was the London Marathon, which as you know I'd planned to run. However with my Dad's passing I just felt it would be too emotional and distressing so I've deferred to next year. Thanks for everyone's encouragement, and I hope to make you proud next year. I need to thank loads of you for the squares you've sent for my Autism Blanket, I have over 100 squares which is lovely, now I need to get joining them together.

On the subject of squares ....

.... I have a nice little pile waiting to be turned into a cushion cover ....

.... I did actually start joining them yesterday with a slip-stich join but my tension was obviously way off as they just wouldn't sit right. I knew there was a reason to join-as-you-go. So tonight I'll be ripping out the last half or so of each round and doing what I should have done in the first place.

Does anyone else get this .... when I decide to rip something back I find the ripping out is ok but the decision to get there is harder. So by the time I get to the ripping out its all fine as the decision has been made .... but the look of dismay and pity that hubby gives me is hilarious - he sits there with this look of utter horror and his hand over his mouth and says things like "I can't bear it for you ...." ... such a drama queen lol

I've also got some bunting in progress ....

.... to use up some aran wool gifted to me by a friend.

.... and a bag that I started on the ferry on the way over to NIreland at Easter. I'd just heard about my Dad's death and I was a wreck, but I had to do something to pass the time on the boat so I just crocheted this yarn ....

.... into this granny square ....

.... which I'll turn into a bag at some point. It's this Sirdar Click yarn ....

I can't decide if it's gorgeous or if it just looks like someone's thrown up. I'm hoping a funky orange lining and maybe a flower will help.

I mentioned ages ago about a couple of blankets I was making. These have rather taken a back seat, but all the squares for the green and yellow one are now done ....

.... they are big squares, a good eight inched square each. The photo above is rubbish, the colour of the green is much closer to this one ....

.... and I've started the pink ones ....

.... actually I had quite a few more done but then realised I'd done them with a bigger hook so yes it was more ripping back .... I thought hubby was going to cry .... !!

Anyway back to the sewing that Little Miss and I did on Saturday. Ages ago I had bought this book ....

.... and I'd bought some groovy socks so we decided to make some sock toys. Little Miss made some tsum-tsums (no, I hadn't a clue either) - they are pronounced zoom-zooms and are these weird little blobs that have no arms or legs, just a head-body. I was going to take a photo but she's taken them to school I think.

I decided to use a flowery sock and make this little lady...... meet Fleur the rabbit ....

She has floppy ears and a flower in her ear ....

.... and a cute little tail ....

....but she was very lonely on her own ...

.... so I used a stripey pair of socks to make her a friend .... Fred the zebra ....

Fred has some very smart buttons and a bow-tie ....

.... and a fluffy blue mane ....

Don't they look sweet together ....

Til next time folks,

Jill

Xxxx

Dad's Blanket

Hello lovely readers and friends :)

I'm "jetting" off to Norn Irn again tomorrow. Friday would have been my Mum and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary, their Golden Wedding Anniversary. My brother (who lives over there) and I are taking Mum out for lunch, not sure where we'll go after as Mum is waiting for a leg operation and can't walk that far otherwise a nice National Trust stroll might have been in order.  I'm fortunate that it's only just over an hour away by plane, and hubby has been fantastic in looking after the school runs and things during all the trips I've made over there.

Anyway I thought I'd do a brief post tonight to waffle on a bit about the blanket that I made for my Dad before he passed away.

I wanted to make a blanket that was sort of a bit bigger than lap-sized, I wanted it to be portable so that Dad could take it to his chemo sessions. It's probably about 1m x 1.5m in size, and is made with Stylecraft Special DK. It's my favourite yarn without a doubt, soft and snuggly whilst being practical and budget-friendly.

Little Tomboy and I went to my local woolshop (www.stitcherydo.co.uk) to choose colours, and inspired by a friend's blanket we chose the following:

               White * Pistachio * Kelly green * Sage * Aster * Lobelia * Graphite * Silver 

I used my favourite pattern too, it's the "Wave" stitch shown below ....

.... from the "Mollie Makes Crochet" book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mollie-Makes-Techniques-Exclusive-Projects/dp/1908449209) ....

I think it's the same as, or certainly very similar to Lucy Attic24's Neat Ripple pattern that is widely used - and Lucy has a great tutorial on her blog here (http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html).

I crocheted two rows of each colour, working back and forth, turning at the end of each row. It's a very soothing pattern, and a brilliant one for watching telly to! That is to say, it needs a fairly low amount of concentration - which is probably why I like it so much. I used this pattern before when I made a blanket for baby Sofia. I've just gone to find where I posted about Sofia's blanket and realised I never did a post on it! One for next week then !! And as I think I mentioned before I'm next going to make one for my Mum. She loved this one that I made for Dad, but understands how special it is to me.

For the border I worked one round of half-trebles of each of graphite, silver and lobelia ....

I probably should have incorporated increases and decreases into the borders along the wavy ends but I forgot and then couldn't face redoing it !!

And it certainly doesn't affect the snuggle-factor :)

And to finish, who can resist a "Swiss-roll" blanket photo ....

Love and hugs to you all,

Jill

xxxxxx

A bit of a holiday

Hello dear friends and readers,

Thankyou so much for all your kind and thoughtful replies on my last post. It really does help to know that people are keeping me in their thoughts and prayers.

We had planned 2 weeks in N Ireland over Easter and we were all ready to go when we got the news that my Dad had passed away. As we were all packed we travelled over as planned but what should have been a holiday obviously really wasn't that at all. Mostly I was with my Mum and my brother arranging the funeral and so forth, while hubby entertained the kids - i.e. they watched DVDs and played on their iPads. We did manage a few days out though, and I thought I'd share some photos with you....

First though I have some rather exciting news. Can't remember if I mentioned this before but after years of dithering we took the massive (and expensive!) step of buying a holiday home in N.Ireland. It's in a really small town quite close to my Mum's house, and our plan was always to go over loads in the holidays and see a bit more of my Mum and Dad. I'm really sad that my Dad never got to see us in the house, but at least now we have it so I can go over to be with Mum a bit more. Its a new-build, we had no intention of buying a new-build - but we saw it (well, we saw the show house anyway!) and fell in love with the location. The houses are on the edge of the small town Donaghadee which is on the coast. It's approached by a country road and takes about 7 minutes drive from my Mum's. There is a wonderful garden centre with fabulous cafe and gift-shop near our house, and in the town itself there are not 1 but 2 ice-cream shops! What more could you want!

Donaghadee is home to Ireland's oldest pub Grace Neill's (www.graceneills.com) which dates back to the 1600's, and there is a fab family restaurant called Pier36 which we've been to many times in the past with my folks. We didn't manage it this time but there'll be plenty more visits I'm sure 😀 Pier36 is the cream coloured building 2 along from the bright yellow one below. The bright yellow one is a new one opened by the same owners as Pier36 - but they don't allow children in! At all! I don't think we'll be frequenting there much!!

The houses along the sea-front are all postcard pretty. Honestly you feel like you're in an episode of a children's TV programme (remember Balamory any CBeebies Mums out there ?!)

On the right hand side of this photo below you can see the bunting which was hung all along the se front and boy was it whipping in the wind!

There's a lovely promenade, and on a clear day you can see all the way over the Irish Sea to Scotland, as Donaghadee is the most easterly point in N.Ireland.

Donaghadee is also famed for it's lighthouse, we didn't walk right out to it but I did manage to get a couple of pics.

I especially like this photo below showing the harbour and the opening to the Irish Sea.

.... and this one looking back across to the promenade, so pretty ....

There is even a castle! I've visited Donagahadee many many many times as a child but I never knew there was a castle til this time! One to investigate on another visit 😃

As our house is new, everything in it is new too! The hubby does not go in for vintage or antique or rustic even, so I'm afraid everything is from a certain Swedish furniture chain! I've managed to sneak in a few cushions and pretty things though, and next visit hubby can't come due to work, so it will just be me and the Little Peeps, I have my eye on a couple of charity shops and he'll be none the wiser ....

In the meantime though here are a few wee pics of the "nice" things ......

....lovely muted colours in this cushion cover ....

.... delicious apple scented candle, next to swedish (fake - so it won't die lol) house pant, I rather liked the little bamboo-ish pot ....

.... we got some lovely new home cards from family, but my favourite is this one that my hubby bought for me ....

.... my brother and sister-in-law gave us this lovely print of the Donaghadee lighthouse ....

.... and another lovely candle ....

.... in the kitchen everything is quite plain. It do you like my Orla Kiely-esque tea caddy ? I just loved the colours ....

.... and some lovely pussy-willow that was in a little bouquet that some friends gave me. I'm hoping it will dry nicely and just be perfect forever .... doesn't it look gorgeous laying in the sunlight ....

My cousin also gave me this enjoy the little things" china heart, so sweet ....

And of course I have to have a crochet project on the go in our holiday house - I bought, and had delivered straight to Donaghadee, Lucy from Attic24's Coastal Ripple pack. I'm doing the ripple blanket exactly to her pattern, after all who wants to be having angst about stripe sequence on holiday when someone has already done the hard work for you!

I didn't have a lot of crocheting time but managed a few stripes 😊

It's time to go and fetch the Little Peeps from school, so I shall say goodbye for now, wishing you love and hugs,

Jillxxxx

Sadness

I've been absent for a while. In early February my Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and we were told if he had chemotherapy that he had 18 months to live. He had his first chemo session on Wednesday 16th March, but 3 days later was very ill and was taken into hospital. It was hoped he'd only be in hospital for a few days and be home within the week. Sadly this was not to be - he went downhill very quickly and passed away peacefully on March 24th. We had his funeral yesterday.

My Dad was an amazing man, he suffered a lot with a neurological condition for 30 years which had caused him immense pain every day. Later he was in hospital for 6 months with lung problems, and in the last 2 year he had had prostate cancer which left his with a catheter permanently, and then he had skin cancer. In all that time I never ever heard him complain. Not once. He never let any of this get in the way of leading a full life, and indeed until November he was golfing three times a week. He always had a joke and a smile, and was simply adored by everyone who knew him.

Fortunately I had been able to fly over to NIreland to see my folks on 3 separate times in Feb and March, as I had a bad feeling about the cancer. I made my Dad a chemo blanket and am so glad I was able to give it to him while he was still here.

I'm absolutely devastated. There are no words to express the feelings of loss and grief. I can't believe he isn't here any more. It doesn't seem possible that he's gone.

Dad - you were, and remain, my hero, you were a wonderful person and I will miss you more than words can ever say xxxx

The Autism Project

Many of you will know two things about me:

1. My son has autism

2. I am running the London Marathon (OMG) in April to raise money for the National Autistic Society (www.autism.org.uk)

I've had to think up lots of fundraising ideas, and my latest one is one of my favourites as it involves crochet. My plan is to get people (including you lot hopefully) to sponsor me actual money and also to crochet some squares for me. Yes, I'm getting people to pay me AND crochet for me - hopefully they will see it as paying to be part of a fun and worthy project :)

I'll somehow gather up all the squares and join them together into some kind of banner (like that above) which I'm then planning to donate to our local autism school in April. It ties in well with the timing of World Autism Awareness Week (http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/world-autism-awareness-week.aspx) too.

I posted about this in a couple of Facebook groups this morning, and already there are people making squares for me - how fantastic! These are some of the photos they've posted so far ....

And here are a few I rustled up this morning .....

I am reeeeeeeaaaaaaally hoping to turn this into an international project, and it would be totally awesome if some of you, my lovely readers, whether at home here in the UK, or overseas, could crochet me some squares and also sponsor me. I am more than happy to bear the cost of postage, we would need to work that bit out, but it really would be fabulous to have a project that is truly global.

If you're interested (and I really really really hope you are!) here are the details:

- squares need to be roughly 3 inches by 3 inches (7.5 cm x 7.5 cm)

- you can use any pattern, solid granny, standard granny, rows, anything.

- each square needs to be one colour of green, yellow, red or blue. Any shade. But please feel free to make several squares of each colour if the fancy takes you!

- ideally I'd need the squares by March 17th (St Patrick's Day, easy to remember!)

- I'll email anyone who is interested my postal address

- I'm happy to reimburse for postage

- and the important bit - you can sponsor me at www.virginmoneygiving.com/jilldavidson

I don't really like asking people for money but the National Autistic Society is an amazing charity providing support, information, advice and training for families, like mine, who are affected by autism. Since our son's diagnosis we have turned to them for help,so many times, and the training course we attended, provided by the NAS was literally life-changing.

If you're not sure how this project will work please feel free to ask questions, and I really hope some of you will participate :) 

So - are you in???!!!?? Hope so!!!

Many heartfelt thanks for reading :)

Jillxxxx

Sunlit Sunday : 2016, Week 2

Just a few things that made me smile this weekend .....

♥ beautiful carnations on my coffee table ♥

♥ big green squares finished - 18 of them - starting yellow now ♥

♥ new magazines, and yes one of them is knitting! Shocker! ♥

♥ needle minders arrived in the post ♥

♥ aaaaaalmost finished January motif of magical creatures stitch-a-long ♥

♥ my spring vase cosies are back out ♥

♥ next cross-stitch pattern - for hubby for Valentine's Day ♥

♥ book (which I didn't get) from my Christmas list, on offer at the Works ♥

Hope you found some sunny moments in your Sunday ♥♥♥

Jillxx