Really windy today!!

It's blowing a gale here today! It's a good job I took the photo yesterday of the cherry blossom in my yard as all the flowers have blown off today :-( Hope some more grow and I don't have to wait until next year to see them again!

On a brighter note, I bought this........

a gorgeous bright begonia! It's a great time of year to get lovely plants in the supermarket with all the Mother's Day pots appearing :-) 

Spent the day stitching cards, a 60th birthday one and I'm almost finished one of two for an order. There's a birthday card for a lady and a ruby anniversary one which I'll be starting next. Hope to be finished in a day or two and get back to Cozy Night, she's calling me as it's been a few days since I picked her up, lol! 

My ami swap parcel arrived!

Postman arrived with my parcel in the monthly ami swap with Steph today :-) Love getting a present every month and not knowing what's inside! Aren't these little guys just sooooo adorable? They are called Pookies and are just so lovely, I can't pick a favourite as they are all just so cute..... I've been totally spoilt by Steph as usual, lol! I mean three of them! I did say that they're cute didn't I? As well as these little cuddly balls of gorgeousness there was these two little guys in the parcel, a lucky four leaf clover and a lucky piggy!!! These are tiny and adorable......Think I'm going to make the piggy into a bag charm to carry around with me, a bit of good luck is always good and that way it might just help when I buy lottery tickets! :-)

This is the gorgeous card that came with them all, isn't it pretty?  Love the stitched butterfly with the beads it's just so pretty. The hologram card is so gorgeous too! Aren't I a  lucky girl? :-)

Blossom is out!!!

Well I guess spring is here when the cherry blossom starts to appear :-) I love seeing this every year, such a pretty colour and a happy sight to see! Inside my latest hyacinth bulbs have flowered too...........

Wish you could smell these, they are gorgeous and the scent is beautiful! It travels through the whole house :-) The blue ones seem to smell stronger than the pink or white ones do but they are all lovely.

Loopy the sheep ami for Steph :-)

Monthly ami swap time again!!! This is what I made for Steph this month, a cute little knitted sheep called Loopy (for obvious reasons!) and this card to go with it. She was very happy with them when they arrived today, mine are in the post so I'm hoping tomorrow to get them :-)

The mystery stitched pieces made up!

These are the two pieces of stitching that I found last week and can't remember stitching :-) Turned them into a couple of cards, pleased with how they turned out especially for ones I really can't remember, lol! Been on a bit of a card making binge for the last few days and stitched up some others too so now I have a stash of spare cards (and another half finished) to tide me over for a bit! Here's the other two so far.....

Well I'm confused.........

Today I was rooting around in my stash and decided to sort out some bags of random stuff. You know the sort of thing, free kits from magazines, assorted bits and pieces etc.... Well I found two pieces of stitching, card sort of sized pictures of bunches of flowers, very pretty and colourful, but here's the thing........I can't for the life of me remember stitching them!!! I have been trying to remember all afternoon and have no clue at all where they came from, I know they were stitched by me as no one else does stitch here but I'm at a loss as to when I did them, lol!

Anyway as they are card sort of sized they are going to be washed ironed and made into a couple of spare cards so they'll be useful :-) While I was going through the free kits I've dug out a few to stitch and make cards from them too, I want to have a stash of spare cards so I don't have to keep one eye on the calendar the whole time and keep stopping and starting on the big projects to fit them in. Going to start one tonight!

Finished Mother's Day cards

Here are the two Mother's Day cards finished and ready to give. Can't decide which I like best now! The poppy one is a Faby Reilly one that was in Card Shop magazine a couple of months ago and has metallics and beads and is very posh! The cupcake is from Cross Stitch Collection last month and looks very bright and cheerful.

My secret stuff I made last week

So now I can show the things I made last week that were for my friend Laura, she got them at the weekend so I won't blow the surprise now! These were a thank you for a fabulous book she sent to me of knitted amigurumi, so many great things in there to make! Thanks Laura :-) The bunny is always fun to make and dress up with buttons and beads, I've made a few of these but not kept any of them so maybe I need to make myself one!

Another new arrival!

I have no idea what this plant is but I loved the little blue flowers! Had a free spot on the windowsill as yesterday I threw out an old plant that was looking past it. Good excuse for a new plant, not that I need one....

Another pretty flower for my windowsill!

A pretty pink gerbera to brighten up the day! Actually today is lovely here, very bright and sunny and springlike so can't complain :-) Found this as I passed the local florist shop this morning and saw a whole lot of them all pretty and colourful sitting outside on the pavement, loved the colour of this one! I probably buy way too many plants but can't resist when they look so pretty,  my kitchen windowsill is nicknamed Kew Gardens by my boyfriend! He might have a point as there's ten pots on there at the moment :-) 

Finished, another page on Cozy Night and an anniversary card

So I finished page 6 on Cozy Night late last night, YAY! There are six pages left to go but the last three are only part pages so they'll be fast to stitch. Page 7 is a good one, her cat starts to appear :-) Love how this is turning out, lovely bright colours and great detail too, the stars in the background look great!

Stitched this card for my parents wedding anniversary which is today, 49 years very impressive!!! This was a free kit on the cover of a magazine and I think it's a pretty one, made it look a bit more special with the ribbon bow and a paper inner.

Made something else this week that I can't say about yet as it's for a certain person who reads this, lol! Will tell all in a few days :-)

My lovely cat is on the mend!!

After a rough few days of taking my lovely cat to the vet every day and no improvement suddenly last night she seemed to respond to the medicines and started drinking and eating again! I was so worried about her and thought it might have been the end of the road for the lovely old lady but all is good again :-) She had colitis and she'd gone for four days with no water or food in the end as her insides were so sore and infected. Being on a drip for 24 hours certainly saved her I think.  Have to give her antibiotic medicine twice a day for a few days which is.........interesting, lol!

Pretty tulips to brighten the day and the room!

Gorgeous aren't they? Love the wonderful sight of tulips in the shops as they are such fabulous colours! Got these this morning and they are looking all sunny in the middle of my room and making me smile :-) Needed something to make me smile too as my lovely cat is in the animal hospital this weekend on a drip as she's been so poorly this week. I phoned them up this afternoon and they said she'd doing okay and I have to ring back in the morning to find out if she can home again. I miss her already and she's only been gone six hours....guess I'm just a big softy!

Owly mitts and two more books :-)

Finished my owly mitts last night YAY! I love the way the simple patten of cables makes these adorable little owls, the beads for eyes is a fab finishing touch too, I'm thrilled with them. Think I made these at the right time too as the weather has gone a bit pear shaped again, gale force freezing winds and showery rain too, and there was me thinking spring was here, lol! 

Emptied out the big whiskey bottle of odd change at  the weekend so I had some money to spend :-) After seeing the book of knitted blankets I got a week or so ago I thought I'd get the  first one, typical of me to buy the second one first, lol! So here it is,

More gorgeousness!! I love loads of them but think my favourite in this one is the beach one, it's the one with the the bunting around it that's unfolded on the cover. The squares have beach huts, punch and judy stand, ice cream cones, it's lovely! The Magic Carpet is fab too, like a Moroccan rug with sequins and beads and tassels all around the edge. I have too many things I want to make now! Got this book too,

The Teddy Bear book influenced this one as they were such lovely designs, love the little doggy in has basket on the cover too! Another great one with lots of designs from reindeer to pixies :-)

I started knitting the cardigan last night with the purpley lilacy wool I got this week. Seems a simple pattern so I'm hoping it won't take too long to make as I want to be wearing it!

Full of the joys of spring!

Lovely spring day again today! It's been lovely and sunny for days now if still a bit chilly and it makes me feel really happy :-) Went out this morning and found this pretty purple chrysanthemum for only £1.25, another reason to smile!  I was out to buy some wool for a cardigan, here it is.......

It's actually a purpley lilacy sort of colour but in the picture it looks blue for some reason. I was really lucky as this was the last of this wool in the shop but three balls short of what I needed but they rang their other shop and they had 4 balls left and it's the same dye lot! Couldn't believe my luck :-) I'll pick up the rest on Friday but it means I can get started before that. I'm busy knitting some fingerless mittens at the moment in a fabulous cabled owl pattern that I found on Ravellry as a freebie and almost done with the first one, not bad seen as I only started it last night!

Another reson to smile! Bought two hyacinth pots last Wednesday and the first one burst into flower over night. Yippee! Such gorgeous flowers and they smell fabulous too! The second one is a pink one and is looking like it might take a day or two yet but will soon be all flowery too :-)

Birthday card for my nephew

Finished the birthday card for my nephew yesterday, so pleased with it :-) It's not easy to find a design for a nineteen year old boy but I thought this was pretty simple and not too girly!

Haed, Cozy Night. Page 5 finished!

Just finished page 5 of Cozy Night so 7 to go now. This was a great page to stitch with all the detail in it shame the next one will be a lot of background and a bit more dull! Oh well, you got to do the boring bits too I suppose to get the whole picture done :-) Have to make a card next though for my nephew's birthday, no idea what to do for a nineteen year old but I'll find something!

Pretty primulas!!

Popped out this morning to get a loaf of bread and spotted these beauties on the pavement outside of the greengrocers shop, aren't they gorgeous? Love it when the primula season starts and I can add a splash of bright colour to the house, and at 2 for £1...... well  you can't beat a bargain like that!

Another new book

My new knitting book arrived this week, YAY! It's just fabulous and I can't wait to knit a blanket from this. The book is patterns for squares that you can mix and match to make up your own design or stick to the ones in the book. I love one called Afternoon Tea, it's cream, pink, lilac and purple with loads of beads knitted into the squares and tiny mother of pearl buttons stitched on too, very sparkly which appeals greatly to a magpie like me :-) Bonus is I have most of the wool already in my stash for it but I do need to get 3mm beads.....mauve I need 1512, silver 384 and pearl 504, so just a few, lol! Oh yes and 120 buttons too!!! Might have to wait a bit then until I can afford to spring for that lot then, oh well, I'll just have to drool over the book until then.....

Sewing companion

    Knitted this to look after all my bits and pieces for me, very cute pattern! She stands about 8" tall and has needles in her apron and pins in her skirt. Around the bottom of her skirt I've attached buttons and charms with more pins, her little basket has a thimble and knitting row counter in it and scissors are under her arm! Very handy for keeping stuff in arms reach for when I need it :-) I'm really pleased with how it turned out and it only took two days to make too, which is a bonus!

New book!

My new bear book!! Got this last week and it's fabulous, there's lots of different types and sizes of bears and instructions for jointing them which I've never tried before. The outfits are adorable too! I love the two on the cover, so sweet! I'll be making one soon I think and maybe a lot more.....