A new visitor!

I'm a day late with this post but my weekend has been jam packed with sorting & cleaning! I caught the cleaning bug again so was on a major mission! We also have family arriving on Thursday & my fiance's birthday next week so there is a lot to plan and organise. Sometimes I think I get more excited about his birthday than he does!

 Do you remember the photo last week of the red & brown squares? Well, this is the finished project! It was really fun to make but I would've loved to use other colours. It's part of my stash busting mission! I haven't got a link to a pattern because I got it from my head but it's really easy to make and there is probably plenty of similar ones around. I think it's 52 granny squares in total (I could be wrong) and I used the JAYG method. The handles are very basic. I ran out of yarn on the handles so I couldn't make them very long & couldn't add the flowers like I had hoped but it's great as a sort of handbag.

So here is my charity collection! It's all currently in the shop, waiting for someone to buy them and all of the money made from the items goes to the charity. The small bag already sold! The lovely manager bought it as soon as she saw it! It certainly makes me feel good being able to do things for charity and I've still got loads more yarn to use up!

I'd like to introduce you to our new visitor! My dad had been making dinner when he noticed it on the bird feed. I quietly went to grab my camera & started snapping away! It's not often we get squirrels in our garden. Actually, we've never had a squirrel in our garden so this was definitely a moment to remember!

I don't think the crows & magpies were very happy to be sharing their garden, especially when the squirrel kept chasing them away from the food! Moe didn't look too please either. He was a bit confused at first. I love it! I thing it's so cute and they are so clever! We've not seen it since but that might be thanks to the rain! Oh & we've been getting regular visits from a woodpecker! I ♥ wildlife! It's the Zimbabwean in me!

And lastly I will leave you with these images! These are 2 things I'm working on at the moment (along with the many other WIPs). One is a gift so I can't say much about it but I throw in photo here & there and the other is something I started to make because a family member needed help but now I've just carried on with it. I'll show you more once it gets a bit bigger. The pattern can be found here.

Thanks again for reading. I hope your week has had as good a start as mine has. It's not often that we have a good Monday in our house but so far so good! I'm in desperate need of some R&R. My neck is still sore (my own fault for spending too much time on the laptop over the last few weeks) & the pain has been causing other issues so have strict instructions from my lovely man to do nothing today. I don't think that will last long because I'm the type of person that always needs to be doing something.

Take care everyone! Wishing you a week filled with happiness & positivity! I'll try to post at the weekend but otherwise it will be next week!
♥


PS: I'll show you my new crafting lamp next time! It's awesome! ☺

In the midst of a heatwave.....

I'm currently sitting in our lounge, listening to a favourite band of mine called Ours (the lead singer has the most incredible voice) and sipping a refreshing cup of tea. 

It's been so hot lately! Too hot to eat, too hot to clean, too hot to sleep, too hot to move and too hot to be anywhere near the laptop! Our fans have been going nearly all day, everyday for over a week. I'm used to much hotter temperatures (being from Africa) but this is a different type of heat. I think the high humidity is the problem. I've been up everyday at 4am and have absolutely loved it because it's the only time it's cool!

So, my blog has been a bit neglected lately & this little boy is one reason why. Two weeks ago we noticed that his behavior had gotten worse. He already has issues (we think his previous owners abused him) but it suddenly got to the point where it was unbearable. Something wasn't right and we knew that a trip to the vets was needed. 

Poor little boy had an infection in his mouth due to some very bad teeth. He was given 2 injections and some antibiotics. The vet told us to come back near the end of the week to see what the next step would be. Have you ever tried to give a cat medicine? It's almost impossible! 

By the Friday of that week the infection had cleared up and so the vet took him in to have some teeth removed. You can see the two spots where they shaved him to attach all the special equipment needed to monitor different things.

That Friday was dreadful! I hate sitting around, waiting for the vets to ring. I just wanted him home.

Over a week later and he is a very happy boy! Tabby no longer has bad breathe and no yucky teeth!

His behavior has improved (he still has his issues) and he is starting to relax. We're a bit broke but he's better & that's all that's important!

My special boy ♥

I've been doing a fair bit of crochet & finally finished sewing in the ends for the second lot of solid squares, bringing the total to 231 (only 544 to go!). The ends are taking me a bit longer than normal as I'm dividing each end into 2 and then weaving them in opposite directions. (I don't trust squares!)

I've messed up a bit but I don't know if it's going to affect the blanket yet. I changed from an aluminium hook to my clover soft touch which has resulted in slightly different sized squares! Grrr! Not happy but fingers crossed!

I started working on a little scrap stash project on my volunteering day. I got the idea from the lovely Sarah London and it can be found here. It might become a sort of curtain at some stage. It's easy & so fun! The best part is that it doesn't use up much yarn so all those tiny scraps are perfect for it!

Curtains! Yes, we finally have some decent curtains in our lounge! When we moved in we had a week to sort our selves out so we had to buy the cheapest curtains we could find. These windows are so large that it's not always easy to get the right size (and I know nothing about these things) so we were stuck with horrible brown ones. The kittens pretty much destroyed them (as you can see from the above photo of Vinnie clawing and hanging from the curtain).

So, last weekend (after nearly 6 years) I went hunting on Argos and found some lovely (and cheap) curtains. 

They are thin but perfect for summer! They brighten up the room and make me smile every time I see them! So far the cats have left them alone! I'm still on the hunt for winter curtains!

And look! The main hot spot in our house has finally been sorted! I had some spare time so spent a day sorting everything out. The top photo is the before and the bottom is the after. I'm feeling very happy with myself right now!

And we finally have some blinds up in the kitchen! The heat in the kitchen has been unbearable lately. The sun shines right in your face from about 4pm onwards which is lovely in winter but not right now.My lovey dad decided it was enough so he put them up today and boy does it make a difference! The kitchen began to cool down immediately.

Some cat photos to share with you! They've been so hot this week but there are water bowls everywhere for them and plenty of coolish spots. Boxes are a favourite! It's not even safe for the older cats to go out right now as cats can get sunstroke (Socks has had it once before). Friday was slightly cooler and so Tabby & Socks had a brief run around. The kittens weren't happy about being shut off from the kitchen as you can tell by the paw! It appeared under the door ☺

My last thing to share with you is the crows that have decided we are their main food source! Everyday, starting at 5am you can hear them making a racket & see them waiting for food. We don't mind feeding them as they are keeping the garden fairly clean by eating everything in sight! They also have plenty of young and it's been so enjoyable to watch them feed the babies. I've learnt a fair bit about crows in the past month.

Well that was a long update but it's been a while! I've got plenty on this week (including a very important meeting tomorrow that is all part of me "finding the positive in the negative") but I really want to share some of the books I've read recently with you. I know this is more about crochet but I love reading so it obviously has to have a place on my blog. So I'll leave you with one last thing.......

My current read "The Bronze Horseman" by Paullina Simons is probably the best book I've ever read & I doubt there will ever be another one like it so it's great that it's a trilogy! I don't even know how to describe this book or how it makes me feel & how amazing it is! It's the greatest love story ever written & I want to recommend the hell out of it! If you see it, buy it! It's long but every one of those pages is worth it! Oh but have a bar of chocolate handy because you are going to need it!

Ok, that's it from me! I'm off to relax & read! Hope you are all well. Take care and I wish you all the best for the week ahead!

♥

PS: Seriously, if you are looking for a great read, buy that book! You won't regret it! ☺

Feeling a little sunburnt!

This is what the sky has looked like all week! I can't remember the last time we had sunshine for this long & it's made me soooo super duper happy! Summer seems to be in full swing here! We've spent a fair bit of the week outside.

The beginning of the week started with a bit of playtime! My dad was on night-shift this week and just before he left for his first night of the week the kittens decided it was time to play! They love playing with glittery pom balls so we usually end up having to throw balls up & down the stairs for them to chase after. They also have a tent they play in. Vinnie prefers it upside down!

Moe had his first adventure outside this week! The weather was so warm on Thursday that we were sat on the kitchen floor, with the door slightly open, enjoying the breeze. He kept showing an interest in the door and so we thought it'd be a good time to try out the leash. I think he enjoyed it but he was still a bit unsure of this strange world (and the leash)! His mother kept a close eye on him! I took him out for a little bit again today and he manged to get himself completely covered in grass!

I did loads of crochet this week. Mainly on my father's blanket. I'm trying to stick to a schedule with it but I'm struggling. I volunteered to do an event for our volunteer centre on Saturday. Sadly, it didn't go very well. I was there to teach crochet and only taught a bit to my friends daughter. I helped her make the little flower in the corner. (It's a very simple pattern.) I brought a few samples along but didn't have much room to display much of it. 

My fiance helped keep the kids entertained with some drawing on his android tablet. We left early as it was quiet and we had a lot of gardening to do!

The birds (as usual) have been rather busy. We've had our regulars (doves, magpie, crows, chats, thrush and bullfinch) and some new ones visiting lately. I haven't got a clue what they are yet apart from one that I don't have a photo of. That one was a woodpecker. Sadly, my camera wasn't ready! They certainly are getting very friendly though. While we've been out in the garden, they've been running around digging up warms and eating seeds.

After being so busy on Saturday and being in the sun for so long doing the gardening, I actually fell asleep before 9pm! I slept for nearly 10hrs, apart from waking up for water. So by 8am the next morning, I was sat in the garden with my camera and a cup of coffee while the older cats got a bit of fresh air. It was lovely & breezy! I even squeezed in a bit of reading.

We've spent the whole weekend sorting out the garden. This was a 2 day job and that was only the back garden. The front will have to wait a little while. My dad did all the mowing & strimming while we raked up the grass & bagged it! I took some before and after photos for you.

I had to include these photos for you. This blackbird was so funny. While my dad was mowing the lawn, he was running behind him looking for worms. I came out to ask my dad if he'd noticed & he said he'd been watching the little bird. Even after I'd walked down the path, he still carried on. He didn't seem concerned that we were around, he just wanted his grub!

Here is the after. I didn't get a chance to take another after photo (it's even shorter now). I baked a chocolate cake as a reward for all the hard work! After enjoying his slice of cake, my dad decided it was time to have a short rest before going back out into the sunshine! We are all pretty sunburnt now (due to the lack of sun in the UK, we don't actually have any suncream in the house. Not clever!) and ready for bed!

As usual, we are about to start another busy week! I hope you've all had a good one and I wish you all the best for the week ahead! Thanks for reading my blog & for the lovely comments.

Take care & hopefully I'll see you here in a weeks time!

We all have our limits!

I think I finally reached my limit. After a week of early mornings, days spent constantly on my feet & a week full of cooking, cleaning, crocheting, exercising, reading and everything else, my body has finally told me it's had enough! So this weekend I am planning on seriously relaxing and for that reason I'm going to keep my blog post simple. More photos than writing which I am sure everyone prefers!

So, this week....

I started reading Divergent. It's seriously addictive. I ♥ it & highly recommend it! I feel like I've finally found the book I've been searching for over the past few months!

I crocheted a bit more of the Rainbow rug that I mentioned here & here and a bit more of the Skull shawl that I mentioned here. I'm finishing off old projects (sort of) & starting new ones!

I finished the design for my dad's camouflage style blanket and started making the 775 squares (24 done 751 to go).

We looked after little Moe because he was still unwell. The colitis has stopped for now (we are keeping a close eye on what he eats) but he caught a cold so he's been moping around the house, burrowing under blankets, sneezing & sleeping all week. A few of the others seem to have picked it up as well but all seems well today (hopefully it's all passed).

As tired as we both were, we still went for a walk this week and it was lovely! The best part of the walk was smelling the wild garlic. It's so lovely!

Our regular visitors were busy feeding themselves. We had a dove that kept appearing in the garden & acting a bit odd. We think it was roosting & enjoying the sun!

Once my dad came home from work, the men went to town to do some shopping & I came along for the ride. I sat in the back & did some crochet. It was great to have some chill time!

I baked some bread and a chocolate cake. The chocolate cake was the simplest recipe ever. It's 240g of chocolate spread mixed with 4 eggs (whisked until they triple in size) and then baked in the oven for 30mins. It makes a flat cake but so yummy! My dad treated us to steaks (a luxury that we don't have very often) tonight & they were so lush! We had chocolate cake & ice-cream for dessert.

And lastly, we went outside for a little bit to enjoy the sun. Tabby disappears every time but the girls (Socks & Bella) just sunbathe in the garden so I get to photograph them. It was fun but we didn't stay out long as it was a bit too warm for them.

Ok, so that was my week. I've been getting up at 4am everyday (including Saturday) because my poor dad has been on the early shift & I've been making breakfast etc. So right now we are all exhausted and ready to get a good nights sleep & looking forward to sleeping in on Sunday! He's worked nearly 2 weeks without a weekend. He's pretty amazing but he seriously needs a break!

Take care all & best wishes for the week ahead!
♥

Life, always keeping us on our toes!

This little boy hasn't been very well this week. Yes, poor Moe had a (very expensive but he's worth it) trip to the vets on Tuesday. He gave us a rather nasty fright when we woke up and so our morning started with a mad panic. We were rushing around trying to sort out a cage and find out if the vet was even open (thank goodness it was). I'll spare you the gory details and just tell you that he is ok now. He's back to his usual naughty self. He has colitis (he's always had some issues) so we'll have to be careful what he eats in future otherwise it will be another expensive trip. ♥

These are a few things that made me happy this week. 

1. Blue skies! We had a few of them for a change. It was lovely and when it started to rain towards the end of the week, it was actually more relaxing than annoying. I love the smell of rain, especially after a week of warm weather.
2. The jewelry type thing on the right is an angel. I was given it last week by a lovely lady that stopped in where I volunteer. She said that all of life's heroes need an angel to watch over them. I was having a tough day & it really made me smile. ♥
3. I found some leaves in our garden in the shape of hearts. They are from our little rose bush that was grown from the stem of a shop bought rose that was given to me by my fiance a few years ago. We get about 2 or 3 roses a year from it. I'm keeping a close eye on it!
4. And lastly...I sneakily took a photo of my fiance. He was having some much needed rest. It's been a tough week (more so for my dad who worked two 14hr shifts with only 5hrs of sleep in between) but we've struggled through & there have been many happy moments to help. Our weeks are busy and sometimes it feels like our weekends are even busier. We're trying to find the balance but it's an uphill battle.

Drops Extra Fine Merino

Say hello to my new yarn stash! I couldn't resist. My order even arrived with a free gift from the lovely people at Wool Warehouse. I've been buying yarn from them for nearly a year now & they've never let me down. I honestly can't recommend them enough! I've had a lovely stash of DROPS Paris for a few years (bought when the label was black) but never used it because at the time it wasn't easy to purchase in the UK so I was waiting for the right project. I love DROPS yarn. They have a lovely range of yarns and at a decent price so I was overjoyed when I realised that my favourite shop (Wool Warehouse) were selling it. I've had my eye on the DROPS Extra Fine Merino for a long time so when it went on sale I knew I was going to purchase some as soon as I'd saved up enough money. I ordered one of every colour late Wednesday night, order arrived Friday afternoon, checked to see how they go together & then quickly ordered a second lot (with a few extras that I'll photograph next week) which arrived Saturday morning! See how fast they are? It's all going to be used to make a warm, snugly winter blanket.

(The blur on the left is Moe about to burrow into the blanket while I'm trying to photograph it)

The rainbow scrappy ripple is finally done! It would've been finished on Thursday if I hadn't run out of yarn halfway through the border. Thank goodness Wool Warehouse are so reliable otherwise I'd still be sitting here with an unfinished ripple! The colour I needed arrived with my DROPS order on Saturday morning. Isn't it funny how we almost always end up buying new yarn when making something from leftover scraps? 

I had planned on doing a separate post for the ripple earlier in the week but hit a few road blocks along the way (straightening a ripple is not easy & running out of yarn is not helpful either) so now it's going to have to be sometime this week. Maybe Monday?

Have you seen the neck warmer pattern over at Attic24? I've been itching to try it! Sunday was a lovely relaxed day so I sat down and gave it a go. It really is an easy pattern and keeps you lovely and warm but I think I'll put it away till winter. I'm planning to make another one with chunky yarn, using a different pattern I found. It can also be used as a hood. I will provide a link to the pattern when I post about it.

Friday was the best day of this week. I baked, relaxed, read a bit, had a cappuccino & started a new project. I am totally in love with this pattern at the moment! It's very popular right now & has been tempting me for a while. I found some King Cole Riot yarn in my stash and decided that this would be the perfect project for it!

At first it seemed really hard & I've never made anything like this before so a bit scary but once I got going it was easy! If I can do it, anyone can! I think I'll be spending my week working on this. Not sure how I'm going to block it but I'll figure that out when I get to that stage!

The birds are still very busy in our garden! Currently we have crows, the occasional ring-necked dove & a magpie visiting us. There are a few little birds as well but I can't remember what they're called. They've been enjoying bits of bread & seeded crackers. Can you see how close they are? I got some great photos this week. They sit right on the shed roof which is outside the kitchen window. The magpie likes to taunt me. He/she will sit on the shed roof and just stare so I'll grab my camera and as I go to take a photo, it flies off! If it had happened once I'd think it just got scared by movement but this happens regularly! Cheeky bird!

Moe & Vinnie....members of Bird Watchers Anonymous! Moe spends most of the day talking to them and Vinnie just watches. Can you see the photo of Vinnie scowling? I'm not sure why he was in such a bad mood! It couldn't possible be because of my camera ;) 

I'm not to sure why Moe's tongue is out....maybe he was thinking about having bird for dinner?

And because they all need their 5 minutes of fame...here is a collage of all of them & what they've been up to this week! The only one I didn't get a photo of this week was Bella so I'll have to make up for it next time.

So, this has been a very long blog post but thank you for reading (or just looking at the photos). I hope you've had a lovely week and I wish you all the best for the week ahead. Please stop by again in the week to see my Scrappy Rainbow Ripple post!

Take care

♥