Bunting for Lucy

Hello Lovelies, 

I know most of you will be familiar with  the wonderful blog Attic 24....my stats tell me most of you find your way here via Lucy's deservedly popular site.

Lucy is currently one of the talented people organizing Yarndale. I'm very excited about this event and plan to make the trip up to Yorkshire to visit it.....try and keep me away :0)

When I read this post asking for help to make bunting triangles to decorate Yarndale I didn't hesitate.

I've been missing my hook a bit lately , but not sure what I wanted to make. Of course I SHOULD return to the blanket at the bottom of  this post....but I fancied a quick , colourful project and Lucy's granny bunting looked so yummy that I had to start immediately.

I made half a dozen of these triangles, they really are quick and easy.........

I love their happy colours ( I used Stylecraft special DK ) and perfect points. Of course they don't work up like that , but Lucy shows you how to steam block them in her post and it works beautifully........

How happy this picture makes me....it's been too long since I had any pretty crochet to share with you lovelies ..........

I was on a roll now....grabbing my crochet and pegging it out between showers yesterday....

 Crochet on the washing line....yay ! I've missed this .

The traingles with seven colours are my favourite, but I think it's good to have some plainer ones too.

I hope  Lucy will have a HUUUUGE response to her request for these fun granny triangles as I would love to see masses of colourful bunting decorating the hall, or wherever it's used ...I think it will look wonderful don't you.


As I was making my donation I wondered if I would be able to spot my own work in among all the other peoples........and an idea popped in my head.........

Eeek, I hope Lucy doesn't mind but I've added a little felt bunny to one of my triangles.....I thought it was appropriate  for Bunny Mummy and I hope I can have a bit of a Where's Wally game trying to spot him :0)

This is the back .......

This week has been so inspiring for crochet in blogland...as well as this bunting there have been some gorgeous blanket ta-dah's HERE and HERE. I keep looking at my stashmerino ( luxury yarn collection) and wondering...........

It's a big decision of a girl who's used to the budget option.And I think I need a few more colours before I can start on a project with this.

That's why it was so nice to get my crochet vibe back by giving something back to Lucy, who has inspired and helped me so often in the past.........

If you would like to make some of these fun granny triangles there is a pattern link in Lucy's post and she is going to do a photo tutorial soon.

Any of you lovelies planning a Yarndale visit ?

Jacquie x

A Woodland Walk

Hello Lovelies,

On Sunday we went on a woodland walk. We haven't visited this particular wood before so it was all new...and what a perfect time of year to discover such  a gem.

The new leaves were an amazingly bright, zesty green in the sunlight..........

and the paths were brightly lit too, in places where the trees were a little thinner. It all looked very lush, with lots of cow parsley and nettles lining the path.......

Sunlight illuminated the beech leaves........

I took this photo after I saw my middle sun capturing it on his camera....he's a great photographer and I love that he enjoys taking photos of similar things to me....his pictures are often better than mine.

Some of the trees were huge. It made me feel a bit dizzy to stand beneath them and gaze upwards....

Of course I was secretly hoping to find Bluebells ....they are the most gorgeous woodland flower don't you think. I had begun to give up hope of coming across any when we found this sweet little clump......

And a bit further along.... among much younger trees we found this wonderful sight.........

Perfect

I especially loved this wood as it was so varied and had great paths. It was lovely to wander from relatively open areas of young trees and then find yourself in a thickly wooded part with towering mature trees.........

The young Sycamore leaves were pretty too.........

I was fascinated by these huge Fungi , but I didn't dare get too close........

and this fallen tree made a striking sight.......

At the edge of the wood you could admire the view across the fields......

In another thinly wooded bit there were masses of gorgeous, teeny blue Speedwell.........

It was very different to the older part of the wood ........

Masses of Red Campion  thrived here and I thought they too looked wonderful en masse.........

As we left the cloud was building and I couldn't resist taking one final picture .......

It was another special May outing and it was so nice to share this one with my family

Jacquie x

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy ♥ 20/52

Hello Lovelies, 

 Blogland is such a friendly and supportive place , it really helps me feel more positive generally.  I feel blessed to have such kind commenters and bloggy friends.

Here are my happy things for week 20 of 2013.  

1. A fabulous rainbow on the way home on Thursday evening....it was too big to get in one picture ...you can just see the second faint rainbow too.

2. Signing up for a couple of 10k runs. The first is in June, I find it really helpful to have a goal to motivate  my training.

3. Melon on a spotty plate.....just made me smile.

4. A walk in the woods yesterday.......I'll do a post about this soon,  nature continues to delight.

Hope your week has many happy moments.
Jacquie x

My Garden :: May

Hello Lovelies, 

are we in the second half  of May already ?! Time to share a little mosaic of the plants and flowers which are looking pretty in my garden at the moment.

 This is the second of my monthly updates , I just thought it would be a nice record for myself and I hope you enjoy these images....

left to right from the top 

1. Hosta leaves (pre slug attack...it will happen ) 2.Saxifrage 3. Alchemilla Mollis.

4.Welsh Poppy 5. Dicentra ( one of my favourtite garden plants ) 6. Tulip

7. More Tulips 8. Euphorbia Fireglow 9. Daisies in my lawn.

Here is my favourite border...if you compare it to April's picture you can see it's much more lush now , but again there is not a great deal of colour. The bright green Euphorbias are stunning and the Lung Wort is still going strong. The geraniums have a lot of foliage but are not in flower yet .....

It's such a lovely time of year for the garden, lots of fresh growth and anticipation of flowers and edible plants. I really feel blessed to have this plot of earth, especially in late spring.

It's nice to share my garden with you lovelies, I hope you enjoyed your visit.
Jacquie x

A Floral Walk

Hello Lovelies,

I'm continuing to get outside as much as possible and enjoy the beauty of my favourite month. I hope you are happy to come on another walk with me :0)

Monday is usually a work day  but not this week. So when I woke to sunshine I knew what I wanted to do....spend an hour in the fresh air with my little camera, before getting on with the housework.

The beautiful deep pink blossom on this young tree caught my eye.....

 This bench must be a lovely place to rest in the shade on a hot day.

But on Monday it was quite cool with scudding clouds and a fresh breeze........

I wandered along the roadside , enjoying noticing the return of many familiar wild flowers......

 Dead Nettle

I love to see a cultivated and cared for garden, but I love to see natural wild flowers just as much.......

 Forget-me-nots

I wander along enjoying the pretty views........

 and the more I look the more gorgeous wild flowers I find........

 Pink bells and blue bells

 Alkanet

I wasn't sure of the name of this plant , but I've since looked it up....

 Garlic Mustard ( with Honesty in the background )

And here's another tiny flower I hadn't noticed before........

Ground Ivy

After a while I turn down a path to visit a favourite place of mine and on the way I'm delighted by more wonderful blossom..........

Here we are , tucked away in a quite spot is this simple little church..........

It's such a peaceful and contemplative place  which looks especially beautiful at this time of year.......

I get lost in my own thoughts for a while............

Round the back of the church there is a quiet footpath with some interesting glimpses of buildings........

 And once again I'm delighted by the pretty wild flowers. None are particularly rare. Some are very common place and may even be regarded as weeds by lots of people, but they are such a welcome sight to me....

 Herb Robert

A mass of happy Daisies 

Just today I found a lovely 1950's  Ladybird Book on wild flowers in the charity shop and I couldn't resist it.

I love this illustration and excellent information, with plants I saw on my latest walk.......

You can click on the picture to see it more clearly.

thank you for coming with me on this little walk....it may be a bit familiar if you have been reading my blog for a long time , but I hope I never tire of sweet, familiar places and natures beauty.

Jacquie x

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy ♥ 19/52

Hello Lovelies,
my poor old camera wonders what's happening to it at the moment. It's working overtime as I seem to take endless pictures at this time of year. And thanks to the kind advice of you lovelies I now have an external hard drive backing up all my precious photos. It's mainly the pictures of my rapidly growing and changing boys that I was worried about loosing.
 I'm a bit of a techno dummy but in the end it was really easy to set up and I do feel much easier now I know there is a safety net......so thank you for the advice.... that is a happy thing from this week.

Here are my other happy moments.........

1. Flowers in my front garden. Last Autumn I planted some extra tulips and they have been gorgeous, along with the Pansies which looked really sick all winter but are now flowering their heads off........

2. Chimneys....well O.K. not just chimneys.
 I love interesting old houses with pretty roof lines and I do love interesting chimneys . This cottage had a huge chimney stack and check out the cottage in the background.....

 Diagonal chimneys with zig zag edges.....love it :0)

3. My garden........it's just such a great time of year in the garden.....my little greenhouse is full of new seedlings and I've planted out my peas....they are a dwarf variety so I hope they will be ok in a container........

I know it's only a very small amount but I'm very happy to be producing some of our own veg this year....it feels good.......

"little gem" lettuce

 4. Mums newest painting that she brought round to show me in the week......

It's such gorgeous Spring scene.....a very happy picture don't you think?

I hope you find many happy moments in your week.

Jacquie x