Twits and Flowers

Hello and thanks for visiting :)

Important bit first - if you are reading this and its tomorrow (Sunday) and you're in the UK ... did you change your clocks ? Remember they go forward an hour tonight.

On with the post - this afternoon I thought "I'll just see if my blog has any views". Well, actually what I really thought was "I hope there have been some views but I bet there won't because who would bother really, I'm not very interesting, how ridiculous to think anyone might have looked at it". Well, imagine my surprise and utter GLEE when I saw that not only had I had some views but I also had some replies!

Look, can you see ... 9 comments! (alright so 5 of them were me replying to the replies but 4 were from 4 actual real people!)

Thankyou soooooo much for reading and commenting, it really does mean a huge amount :D

We were very fortunate this week to have been given a Family Ticket to a museum. A Family Ticket for 2 adults and 3 children, nothing EVER is for 3 children, its always only 2, so we were really chuffed. Here is our ticket, not just any old ticket, no, this was a GOLDEN ticket....

Yes, a golden ticket for the Roald Dahl Museum. I did have to warn the children that there wouldn't be great glass elevators or rippling rivers of chocolate, and when the conversation then turned to Cadbury's World (also on our list to do) things got very confusing....

However, despite lack of chocolate waetrfalls and so on, we had a really lovely day. We are just at the tail end of Little Man still enjoying these things but he does manage to, despite trying very hard to complain of boredom.

There were lots of hands-on activities for the children, and everything was very Roald Dahl-y with illustrations by Quentin Blake, like this map of the museum, isn't it fab ?!.....

.... and the info leaflet, plus top trump cards that were the quiz trail prizes ..........

..... Little Miss and Little Tomboy wanted to buy Enormous Crocodile teddies with their piggy bank money .....

.... so there was lots of re-enactment of crocodiles eating various things on the way home.
But not before I got dragged into a couple of really lovely vintage-y shabby-chic-y shops, and told by Mr EC to "feel free to express an interest in something" - which he then, I think, purchased on behalf of the children for Mother's Day tomorrow. I will let you know tomorrow if he did notice what I (very loudly, and directly to the shopkeeper) expressed an interest in...

It was a beautiful sunny day here in Berkshire, I do hope it was sunny where you are too.
I need to get better at remembering to take more photos for you to enjoy, I saw some stunning displays of daffodils and primulas and hyacinths today, but totally forgot to snap any. Next time, I promise.

For now you will have to make do with a photo of my oddments basket .......

I often think the oddments look too nice and balanced, in terms of colour, to use. However I did use some bits and bobs to make some little flowers from the Inside Crochet magazine that I shared with you yesterday.

 

They're just so scrummy and dinky, aren't they :)  I love crocheting flowers, they just take shape so quickly, it really is sort of instant gratification crochet.
I thought I might use some and make a card for my Mum - I did send her a card for Mothers Day already but thought a second surprise (late lol) one might be nice too. Another job for tomorrow :) I think I'll do a few more with blue, green and yellow too, and make a garland for my fireplace - I currently have this rather unseasonal one still up .....

Just to get back to Mother's Day, I hope everyone has a lovely day whether or not you are a mother or spending it with your own Mum or whether its just another Sunday. I'm hoping for my expressed-interest-in pressie and of course lots of cuddles with my 3 special Little People. In the evening I'm going with Hubby and his Mum to see Little Miss performing with her school choir - lovely way to end the day :) What will you be doing tomorrow ?

Welcome to my blog

Hello and thanks for visiting :)

Welcome to my blog :) Hope you enjoy reading - this is the first post :)  I'm Jill, I'm originally from N.Ireland and I now live in Berkshire in the south of England.  I'm happily married to my lovely hubby, and stay-at-home Mum to 3 amazing little people - Little Man is nearly 11, Little Miss is 9, and Little Tomboy is 6 1/2. That's me and them below :)

I worked outside the home on and off until about 9 months ago. My wonderful funny caring Little Man is on the autistic spectrum and this brings extra challenges. I found I needed my energies to manage the children and our home, and I gave up paid employment to become a full-time Mum. I'll be honest, its taken a while to get used to being on my own, at home, and in control of my time (apart from the incessant school runs obviously ....). I'm not very good at being alone, or doing housework, so I've found other ways to fill my time.

One of these time-filling pastimes is going to be blogging. I've started blogs in the past but not had the time, energy, inclination or whatever to stick at it. I do hope this time is different because I do find I have a lot to say :)

I've always loved doing craft things - making cards, knitting, cross-stitch .....  and last year I discovered Crochet. Aaaaaah crochet, how wonderfully relaxing, therapeutic, inspiring, colourful and enjoyable you are :)

Just look at that gorgeous colour, makes me feel all warm and happy :) Its a cushion cover by the way, though I haven't actually put a cushion in it yet - another job on my to-do list.

 

I started crocheting about a year ago. I asked for (and got this book by Jan Eaton for Christmas 2012. We'd been in the USA for holidays and I had spent a lovely afternoon in one of their bookshops. 

Americans do bookshops extraordinarily well. They are MASSIVE and seem to sell LOADS of EVERYTHING. The craft section was amazing, so many lovely books full of gorgeous colours and projects. Our baggage allowance didn't allow for many purchases so I had to make do with making a Christmas list.

Anyway back to the crochet. I started with a plastic hook and some wool that I got with a magazine. I was terrible! And the plastic hook broke! I gave up, for a while anyway. Every so often I returned to it, but didn't really properly get it until I took some bits and pieces on holidays (back home to N.Ireland). I found a great wool shop, bought some lovely James Brett Passion wool and a really nice KnitPro hook - and that was it - I was hooked! Apart from the colour and general loveliness of working with wool, I love how crochet things grow so quickly, very useful as I'm a bit (okay very) impatient.

Since then I've made quite a few bits and pieces, lots of hats, gloves and scarves for the children and myself, some baby blankets for friends, cushion covers, vase cosies and other random things.  Including a guitar strap for Little Tomboy for her teddy. Told you they were random!

I have several current WIP's, lots of tiddly bits and bobs but also 2 things which are gifts. Firstly a blanket for my friends' new baby boy - lots of lovely squishy disks as the centres from the motifs which will be joined soon - here's the pile at the moment - lots of ends to deal with ...

This is the "dot in a square cot blanket" pattern from the book Granny Square Crochet by Catherine Hirst.

......and the other one is a cushion cover for my Mum for Mother's Day (sorry Mum its going to be late). The cushion is this shell-stitch pattern from an old issue of Let's Get Crafting: Knitting and Crochet magazine.

I am Totally Addicted to books and magazines, especially crochet magazines, that is most definitely a major weakness. Thank goodness there aren't any more on the market (and there are already several), I have to buy them all, can't throw any away, and my shelves are full to bursting. I'm sure I will devote several future posts to magazines but for now here's what I bought today ....

.... sigh ....look at that throw's Gorgeous Colours .....
 ........ and look at this little flower corsage ... No2 will love a couple of those ....

... and how cute are these little plant labels ....

There are so many other beautiful things to make, no idea where I will find time for them all :)


Thankyou for visiting, hope you enjoyed reading. Please feel free to leave a comment (so I know I'm not just wittering on to myself lol    :) And please visit again soon :)




edited to add : I've been thinking and thinking about an original way to refer to my children in my blogs, but I just can't come up with anything that I haven't already seen used - so I'm going for Little Man, Little Miss and Little Tomboy, a la Lucy at Attic24 - hope you don't mind Lucy!