To anonymous or not to annonny-mouse - that is the question*

Dear Anonymous - I took on board and I agree with what you said and you will have seen I was delighted to read your thoughts and have published them .

The reason I have that little phrase 'Sadly anyone signing anonymously will not be published'  is down to a few blog-readers who have written some unkind things and hide behind their anonymity. They don't take responsibility for what they say. Since adding that little phrase, the only 'anonymous' comments have been genuine .Blogger also do not allow you to remove the anonymous option.

I am not looking only for positive comments choosing to ignore anything I disagree with, I was just trying to prevent another vitriolic tirade. You can sign a name if you wish,once you have typed in your comments, by choosing the NAME/URL option (one higher than the anonymous option) it allows you to sign in - but if you still wish to remain anonymous that is your choice and please feel free to remain so :)

Poppy Cottage thank you for your comments - I got my name tags from - Woven Labels UK and they have some nice colour combinations and icons - my little ribbons came from the craft and hobby label option.

I've just collapsed at my desk with a throbbing knee - Youngest was desperate to go trick or treat-ing (or as he calls it trickle treating) and he wanted me to go with him.  Unfortunately I was supposed to be at work, however, thanks to a timely and suitably spooky power cut forcing us to close early - I managed to get home in time to help him into his ghoulish costume, paint his face and hobble off (complete with wig and suitable facial grimace) We went out with friends and saw many familiar families of monsters and mini-witches. Now, home after a suitable haul of sugary treasure, I am limping like a peg legged pirate (oo-argh me 'arties).

Any hoo - thought I would share with you a photo of my littlest darling........ in all his gory........ he's a sweet kid, really, no really!!

Well, two posts in one day - waffled enough now, will end here ..... got a bit of crochet to get on with :) 

Night all and blessings be on this night of all Hallow's Eve and tomorrow is a new day - 

Have a lovely Tuesday xxxxxx

*Apologies to Shakespeare for completely ruining his line (or was it Edward De Vere's?)

verdict and other waffle

I threw out a dilemma to you lovely lot and thanks to your suggestions -  the general consensus was the green has to go - funnily enough my least favourite colour is the yellow! But, I did get the feeling that - like me- you mostly agreed that the colour combination wasn't that brilliant - SO! That has given me the impetus to go ahead and choose 3 more colours. Oh the *hardship* of having to do that hehehehehe :)

Thanks Radish's mum for the link to the stripe maker - I see that Lovely Lady also was rather pleased to see that link too :) I will definitely go and have a play.

Thank you every one!

I'm also kinda excited - I ordered some labels to add to the blankets and crafty-things I am making and they arrived this weekend - it feels all grown up having things like this! ❤❤

The catnip 'meeses' - all catnipped up and suitably scented check out the new labels, they will be added to the hawthorn handmade part of my shop - I'm still coming to grips with my new laptop and apparently my website doesn't recognise it, so I am sorting that out too - oh deep joy at technology (and my apparent lack of knowledge of it- hah!)

Oh and before I forget - the promised pumpkin carving done by Eldest and a heartfelt samhain wish -

May the change into darkness bring you light

may your memories keep you strong

and remember the coming winter is the beginning of the year 

and not the end

Crochet advice please!

The last few days my hook has been red hot and my fingers feel quite burnt!  I've been making a soft soft babe blankie (but am unsure of the colours) As it grows I alternate liking it and loathing it.....

Looking at these pictures, I realise that the rather shocking pink and red background doesn't help either. In it's favour, I love the snuggly softness of it all but the colours....hmmmm what do you think? Be honest!

I tried taking a picture of the blankie on a neutral (sort of bleugh grey) colour to see if that helps but again, I can feel my brow furrowing....

I have to admit that the colours look dreadful on the computer, why is it red never comes out true? I think I might be ripping this back, but I will have to start the replacement one soon as babies don't wait for blankets to be finished!

Hmmmmm....... any way,  I am pleased with my string bags, I've been working away with these and am loving how they have turned out. I've also been tweeking and altering the pattern until I am happy.

In the spirit of the season we have been carving pumpkins and lighting candles and switching on lights.

This is Youngest's first ever effort - he's never really been interested in carving-his-own but this year he has done really well and he's chuffed to bits with his results.

Mine. Not keen on my efforts - not doing very well am I?!?!

Eldest has only just finished his, so the photos are still on the camera, will download them tomorrow, I'm rather tired - spent the entire day moving furniture (not brilliant with only one co-operative leg, two end of half term boys and years of rubbish and dust suddenly appearing as by magic every time a bookcase is moved - my vacuum cleaner is exhausted!)

Final bit of waffle - my old computer (aged and cantankerous) prone to over heating, absent-mindedness and of general grumpacious tendancies has finally been retired and I am now a proud owner of a brand new laptop (which is sooooo clever and quick that I am now the aged and cantankerous one) but it does mean I am able to update my photos and shop without fear of all my work just vanishing or only half appearing - a great relief!


All for now, off to bed,  night night - ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ 

A woolly feast for your eyes!

Yesterday, just before I left for work the door bell rang and there waiting to be signed for, was a box full of yummy wools - ooh I was so-o excited. My heart was all skippity when I opened the box but I had to leave it until this morning to have a really good look and snuggle and oh boy snuggle I did ❤

As soon as I could I took some photos and shortly I will be listing them over in my wool shop -  the hawthorn tree .

I am loving❤ making my shopping bags, especially I now have some more carpet wool to play with in the most gorgeous rich berry colours.

Right, now to dash off a few more rows before I have to go to work. **humph**


Just one last look at a most delish colour - Nymph in Wisteria - ooh I love❤ the variations yum yum

Oh well, better stop otherwise I will have no time at all for any crochet!

Yours in woolly madness! - hawthorn xxxxxxxxxxx

Yum-yum-Plum pudding and not a Jack Horner in sight!

A quick share - and a promise that photographed calories are not fattening - it is the eating of them that is totally disastrous but totally yum :)

I present to you my Plum Pudding Cake ala Nigel Slater - follow this link for the recipe Yum yum yum.

Top left - melting the butter, the honey, the syrup and the sugar (there wasn't much else apart from flour and spices and oh yes plums)
bottom left - the raw cake with the plums just prior to popping into the oven.
Main photo - the cooked cake with added plum sauce.

Delish.

Hope you all had a lovely Saturday day :)xxxxxxxxxxxx ❤ 

My kinda maths!

I have been fulfilling an order for some catmint mice and thought I'd share progress. Once I've finished these little cuties, they will be added to my shop :)

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!❤

Baking by us (3), Himself goes up in the world and finally some precious crochet time❤

Do you ever get those moments, when having idly looked at a rather yummy recipe feel really inspired to do it?
Yes?
Do you ever, having been inspired, print the recipe out in a dash at work, stuff it in a convenient bag/pocket/drawer to retrieve at a more kitchen appropriate moment?
Yes?
Do you, then having been inspired, stuffed recipe away safely, got home and cast your eye over the baking the cupboard and decided that you have enough or nearly enough or similar or alternative items to do said baking?
Yes??
Do you then, having been inspired, printed the recipe, sort of confirmed ingredients then have to wait several days to the weekend to actually make said recipe
Yes? Yes??
Do you then find when the weekend actually arrives you have lost your cooking mojo but in a slip of concentration actually mention the words baking/weekend/new recipe to your children who  yell back at you...
YES!!

Oh... only me then - *sigh*

May I present to you............Baking by us (three) while Himself goes up in the world.

1. Windfalls, lightly cooked, chopped then tossed in cinnamon and sugar (thank you Eldest)

2. Pastry rolled and 30 mini pie bases cut ( Eldest)

3. Mini bases after chilling (Photo thanks to Youngest)

4. Pie base, with added apple and now topped with another disc and crimped (Youngest)

5. Pies - glazed with milk and sprinkled with sugar, ready for the oven (Photo thanks to Eldest)

6. Ready little pies, still steaming  from the oven (I'd tried holding one to photograph and burnt my fingers)

7. & 8. Cool enough (just) to eat and the last time you'll ever see them!!

Follow the link for the proper grown up recipe that - if I had read properly - I may not have done. Above  is our simplified-boys-and-mum-on-a-Saturday-afternoon-cooking version. The original look soo elegant and were probably made under ideal conditions - either way - ours tasted yummy❤❤, kept the boys very entertained and fed Himself - a win win situation :)

We've had a bit of a long standing niggling problem with our bathroom leaking when it rains - not every time it rains, just occasionally and when the east wind blows. Himself has been up several times and with this type of DIY, it can only be tested - when it rains.....

The repair some times lasts for months even years before it starts again.

Well, while we were away in Galloway - it rained and rained and RAINED at home - both outside the house and ..... inside the bathroom. Himself once again gritted his teeth but this time he decided to DO SOMETHING MAJOR..... no patching or re-tarring but A RE-ROOFING type mission was planned.

This entailed the purchase thereof HUGE ladders (something he's hankered after anyway so not a difficult task) it involved ripping off ENORMOUS chunks of roofing felt, TONNES of gravel (why on EARTH do you put gravel on a roof???) Years of layers of old tar and pitch which, despite being up there for ages, some of the tar was still sticky.....his trousers and hands are visual proof of the stickiness. Urgh.

With offers of many reviving cups of workman like tea, little apple pies and support from 2 boys and me, he ripped off the roof, re-pitched with thick stinky gloopy black tar from a bucket then lay down layer after layer of roofing felt.

And  did it pass the Rain-Test? On Sunday night - it hammered it down....but was it the right kind of rain? Well..... the bathroom didn't leak! So hopefully his hard weekend paid off - any way he's gone back to work for a rest!


Still surprised by the fact we all like ❤love❤ my blooming flower cushion, I wanted to try something else. Not as 'girly' a bit more edgy but still with ruffles and sporting different colours. I found my inspiration from Made in K-town. So, casting my mini-bunting aside (it is still in progress, I have just run out of cotton yarn) I have started this......

Not finished yet and still an experiment, I do *L*O*V*E the way it is going. I started with straight ruffly-wiggly diagonal lines then got bored and allowed my hook to take me where ever 'it' wanted and now I have a wonderful fracture line running right through it - causing all sorts of interesting movement.

I have a long way to go and it doesn't look anything as neat and as pretty as the original inspiration but I am still loving❤❤ the way it is developing. I will keep adding the stripes and accentuating the fracture line - watch this space!❤❤

Well, that is a small snippet of our weekend and as usual it has flown by and we are back to the beginning of a brand new week full on things to happen - bring it on!

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤Hope you all have a wonderful Monday :)❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

There's a flower in my pedal

This says it all......

I must have been a cat......

......in my past life.

Any hoo enough of that woolly stuff, I have some crochet purrgress to share.

Remember this?  *{shudder}*

Well,  I seriously wasn't that impressed with my first attempt so armed with gritty determination (ok with a different hook, different yarn and different pattern) I tried again - and success! Woo hoo!

 A before shot with original string bag I purchased on holiday and below that the empty bag. Now with the obligatory 4 oranges and then stuffed full with things I found on the dining room table (oof - better do some major tidying up!)

But messy house aside - I am so so pleased with the results, it was quick and it was easy and I found it on Ravelry. It took me a bit to get my head around it but I am not that brilliant at reading patterns, tending rather to 'read' the photographs instead.

Ok,  details...............
Yarn - 100% wool - before you think how extravagant!! - its carpet wool, tough as old boots and strong enough to use as an elephant trap
Time - one car journey (approx 3 hours) minus map reading, nibbling, drinking tea, chatting, map reading, nibbling and drinking tea and oh yes - map reading
Cost - free - how frugalicious is that?!
Happy-happyness - pretty high :)
Do it again? - yes definitely.

Purrrrrr purrrrr purrrr  =^.,.^=

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Still on the crochet happiness high - I am trying something new. I saw a picture on the net sometime, somewhere, filed it in my head (where it got lost for some time) then suddenly the 'image' reappeared in my mind and I fancied crafting them. It was a string of crochet bunting and they looked really cute. 

So off I went to try and find this image again and see if there was a pattern and try as I might - I can not find it. 

Never mind. So also while on our jolly to Galloway - I tried making them. Several froggings later, frantic scribbling out of and re-writing of a 'pattern' I think I have gone some way in creating my 'image' 

But, until I am TOTALLY happy with my crafting, I am keeping it under wraps and who knows - I might even share the pattern. So until then, I shall just tease you with the pile of coloured cottons and crochet mess on the table - purr purr purr purrrr...........

Before I go I want to say   ♡♡ T*H*A*N*K  Y*O*U♡♡  for all your lovely comments and suggestions what to do with my last attempt at the mesh bag - they all made me laugh. I love the idea of it being a laundry bag (Radish's mum and Maria) or  pumpkin shopping (Melissa Plank) or elephant shopping (K) and as for a swimming costume - thanks ladies you know who you are!! (Lovely Lady, Sarah and Cat)



Have a lovely Tuesday xxxxxx 

Galloway birthday gettaway!

A secret weekend getaway was planned......bags were packed.....boys were excited (all 3)......maps, camera and crochet organised....hen sitter sorted......hotel not booked (what? Not booked??) weather atrocious...(aah that's why)

I'd arranged everything I could except the weather. Eventually I had to confess my plans to Himself - this weekend was for him - to celebrate his birthday and it looked like it was going to fall through. Finally late on Friday evening I decided that we would go grotty weather or not. It was forecast to rain pretty much everywhere so we might as well get wet out and about and have fun doing it rather than stay home and sulk. Woo hoo!

Clockwise from top left : Collecting shells for Bumpa's secret project..... Welcome sign through rain streaked windscreen.... Red squirrel! - albeit a bit wooden...... how could I resist a sign with a name like that? It has a beautiful loving reason behind it's name.

Clockwise from top left : The lobby of our hotel.... view from the rather grand staircase....look at the Victorian tiles and stained glass windows..... The books and candlestick in our room.......The view of the house hotel -{our room was on the second floor and took the two windows on the right}.....Our rather wonderfully huge four poster bed!

Clockwise from top left : We saw cliffs (!) and wildlife (!!).... beautiful lochen scenery in Dalbeattie Forest......totem pole - carved by Canadian First Nation artists....... Huge granite sculpture by a French artist {forgot to note his name}.......The coast {it is there - promise. No we couldn't see it either!}.. 

Clockwise from top left : Giddy dog insists on walking between himself and I.... 'walking' in Knowetop Loch reserve {well I hobbled and was carried!!)....Scottish Wildlife Trust board down to a natural arch.........beech leaves......board walking/puddling at Knowetop.




Considering we only had one night up there we packed in so so much. The boys were absolutely delighted and took every advantage of the meals on offer - I have not seen so much food consumed by two boys on holiday before. Sadly I have no photos to prove we had such delicious delicacies - the eating and quaffing and enjoying took precedence.  - It was a brilliant weekend.

I do have some other stories to share....like the missing pajamas and the Mu-u-u-um there's NO toilet paper in here! and the no-money-after-you've-eaten-in-a-cafe situation....normal every day things like that :)

The only damper (pun fully intended) was when we returned, our bathroom roof decided to sulk while we were away and sprung a leak. We now have to do a slalom between several buckets to get to the loo and back! Ho hum - never mind, poor old Himself will have to get back up on the roof as soon as it stops raining long enough to get the ladders out.



Well, better stop here, got to get on with mundane domesticity - I have decided that I am the most undomesticated goddess around here but I do still make some sort of an attempt.

Have a lovely and Happy Monday!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Guess what?!??

 ❤Naaaa............

 -you'll never guess, well, you will just have to wait till I reveal all!! 

T'ra-a-bit - off to share the weekend with my boys :) 

Well what ever we get up to, hope you have yourselves a wonderful ❤weekend❤ 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A non-ta daa moment ... the confessions of a crafting disaster

The room was hushed, the mood was tense - the questions on every one's lips were................

It only took four??!

Are you sure?

Was that all?

The evidence was there, yes, it was only 4.... The proof was in the pudding or rather in the bag.....

It only took FOUR ORANGES to stretch my bag from a reasonably vest sized item measuring about 35cm (just over a foot) to a WHOPPING 78CM (2"7').

No wonder the bag/vest/fishing net was dragging on the ground.........................

A. Pre-orange induced situation with turquoise coloured inspiration (yes yes it does look a tiny bit like a vest - but humour me please!)

B. and C. Still 'bag-shaped' but still empty

D. Now with added oranges and feeling a little stretched....

C. Base of bag in line with my feet....well actually resting on the floor

E. My haven't you grown.....................

*sigh*

Well - that's my confession out - my disaster revealed - hope it made you laugh too (my ears are still ringing at the chortling and merriment I have caused this week). But it has spurred me on to try again - just you wait you lot, just you wait!! 

Yours in crochet madness - hawthorn xxxxxxxxxxx 

(the sounds of manic laughter can just be heard in fading into the back ground)

PS - thank you for all your lovely comments I have received recently - they are delightful to read and I still get such a buzz when I see  that I have 'comments awaiting moderation', woo hoo!

Have yourselves a lovely tipping day (coz Wednesday tips you towards the weekend) and enjoy doing what ever you are doing =^.,.^=

Things making me smile ♡♡

Despite the fact the weather seems to have let itself go and I've got to go to work in a bit - my heart is all skippity-happy♡♡ at the things I've been doing.....

I've had the delightful terrible chore of having to go through my wools to get a couple of orders ready. The urge to caress each hank is wonderful awful......

Isn't the green gorgeous, it is so so so soft. I must admit I adore the silky sheen on the heather - hope their new owners love them as much as I do!! I'm loving having the hawthorn tree wool  - it's like having a sweet shop with out the calories :)


Also on the enjoyment Richter scale ♡is some crochet dalliances.

I've been attempting to crochet a mesh style shopping bag.  The first one was met with some interesting comments -------

Is that a lobster net?
Looks like a scratchy string vest!
Can I have that for my husband to wear?
Is that Marge Simpson's hair net?.............................................

Gee guys - glad to be of some amusement :)
Any way (sorry no photos yet coz the battery is on charge) I soldiered on and finished my mesh/net/vest/bag, even attempting a flowery embellishment (which only served to increase its similarity to a vest, so I removed it sharpish)
Even I have to admit that it looked a bit...wonky.

But anyhoo all in the spirit of creating useful things that I can use, I filled my mesh bag with goodies and it stretched downwards and downwards and downwards until clunk it reached the floor. Hmmmmmmm - photos will follow I promise if only to serve to amuse you lot too!

So, undaunted, I used it to carry my bag and lunch to work yesterday - to trial it you see- that too only caused mirth and merriment from my work colleagues.

Now.... after a search on the net and searching in my heart - I have ditched (but not frogged) the first attempt and am now trying attempt part two. I found a cone of a yummy lilac in Jonathon Jo and it called out to me

***I am the mesh bag of your dreams***** 

well, we'll see.

The house is smelling gorgeous with the end of season sweet peas, they have done so well this year, filling our days with their wonderful scent. It is such a gentle but deep smell, makes me really happy - I shall miss them when the first frosts finish them off.

Also making me feel rather happy is all our garnering and harvesting, I mentioned it a couple of posts ago so I thought I'd finish off with a montage of our apple processing and ultimate sampling of scrumptiousness with lashings of custard - ooooh hmmmmmmmmmmm nom nom nom....

Looking back at the montages I realise I have just revealed a serious dose of inner girliness - just look at the colours - lilacs, pinks and purples...........

Will finish here, need to post off some wools and tidy up before leaving the house, boo - got so so much more playing to do.

♡Hope you all have a lovely day :)xxxxxxxxxxxx

A flashback and my cushion tada!!

We had a spontaneous jolly-out on Saturday, with this glorious Indian summer weather - it was silly not to.

We used to do them fairly regularly 'before children' but then we had babies followed by toddlers and our spontaneity was thwarted. Now the boys are older and able to enjoy as well as instigate spontaneity we have taken up our 'jollies-out' again.

We packed a scrummy picnic, camera, dog, towels and wet suits (just in case) and the all important crochet and set off early on Saturday morning. We decided to head east towards the Humber and then down the coast to find some sea air.

We'd done something similar a few years back and from memory I tried to re-create some photographs.  So, once we'd crossed the bridge (great excitement from the boys at the sheer size - shock at the cost of the toll by us) we found the bench we'd used six and half years ago and just look how they have grown!

With a bit of tootling through the countryside and the coast line we eventually landed on a beach north of Mabelthorpe. Somewhere between  the villages of Saltfleetby All Saints and Theddlethorpe St Helen - what brilliant names! 

The tide was out and it was a HUGE stretch of sand - not a wave in sight. But the air had a tang of salt and the breeze was delicious.

Himself set up our beach tent and we soon had ourselves a little encampment. We sat and took in the view and the air and scoffed our picnic and slurped our tea and just relaxed. After lunch, the boys wandered down to the waters edge (we worked out it was about half a mile away) and I crocheted and took a few photos. I was a bit limited to my usual explorations with my camera so had to be content with taking pictures from our lunch spot.

Clockwise from top left  - my three boys setting to find the waters edge, sand dunes and buckthorn, 

Youngest puddling while a rescue helicopter flies along the coast, 

Giddy dog - getting more grey daily - sunbathing, 

the vast expanse and solitude of the beach - bliss

****************************

My cushion cover❤❤ - just wanting for a nice red button - is finished!

 Left - cushion - yummy, cushion  (again), cushion (and beach).

Middle -  cushion (and dog)

Right - Cushion (of course) and finally cushion (and beach)!!

Cushion - I've just typed it out several times (in case you hadn't noticed) and now the word looks really strange to me...........

***********************

I'm surprised at how pleased I am with it. It is not really my normal 'style' as I don't really do fluffy or girly but this cushion cover seems to have really slipped through my guard and I have fallen in ❤L*O*V*E❤!!
Any way - details

Yarn - scraps left over from my ripple blankie 

Pattern - inspired by but adapted from Lucy from Attic24's version of  Two Butterflies vintage pot holder

Simplicity? - Yes, once I worked out the patterning it just flew off my hook

Happiness - off the scale ❤

***********************

Sunday was a bit of a washout weatherwise however we were kept busy with homework and harvesting. 

I am delighted to say we have washed and chopped and blanched and weighed and froze plums, apples and rhubarb and still feeling all  'self-sufficientish' I then made leek and potato soup (home grown potatoes) for lunch and vegi lasagne (using home grown onions and garlic) and lattice apple pie (with gleaned apples) - now I am all pooped out and in need of some crochet therapy - I have something new on the hook - can't wait to show you!!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and wishing you all a Happy Monday!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx