Tuesday 6 February 2018

January Happies

Happy February , Everyone. Just a quick post to  clear my camera of a few snapshots of my month. There has been a bit of decorating, a lot of dust, some nice day trips out in Bridget and a few crafty bits and bobs.
R decided that he needed a new coat, so a trip to the Outlet Village in Swindon was planned. Rather than go straight there, we stopped off at Liddington Castle,  a late Bronze Age/ early Iron Age hill fort in Wiltshire. It was a bit of an uphill trek and very exposed to the wind. I was wearing ALL the knitwear and was still  freezing. The views were worth it though and we treated ourselves to a pub lunch afterwards to recover.
 A poor photo of the bank and ditch:
 My new dining chair cushion made from sock leftovers and minis from my advent calendar:
 Painting the hall. We made a bit of a boo boo doing this. Prior to starting, I suggested to R that we sand the floor first as it was looking rather sad and worn by the entrance. He decided against it, saying that it was only bad in one patch and a bit of dust was easily cleaned up. Famous last words! I spent a week painting, only for it all to be covered in a film of dust when he then decided that he might as well do the entire hall and got out his belt sander. I was not best pleased!
 Supermarket tete a tetes:
 A visit to Bristol to visit E. We thought we'd try out the vegan menu at Zizzi's. I can thoroughly recommend it, especially the chocolate and hazelnut torte with vegan ice cream. We shared one and it was delicious, but too much even for the 2 of us. E took the rest home in a doggy bag!
 A trip to Cirencester. There was an L.S.Lowry exhibition on at the gallery which we pottered round. Most were signed prints but a few were originals. Sorry no photos were taken, but my favourite was probably an oil painting of a small boat. It was priced at over £300,000. Looking at it objectively, if I ignored the signature, I probably wouldn't have been that tempted if I'd come across it in a charity shop. Maybe I'd have bought it for the frame. Deciding that we weren't Lowry fans, we wandered round the town (lovely) and warmed up with a coffee before driving home.

 My Christmas Eve cast on. 'Gilmore Girls' Socks' in the 'I smell Snow' colourway:
 A dog walk with a friend:
 
 Snowdrops - are they early this year?
 Digging out my English paper piecing. It has been languishing for far too long, so I'm determined to at least get a cushion out of it:
 Another pair of socks using some birthday yarn from L:
 More signs of Spring - Camellias:
 ....... and my Mothers' Day Narcissi from last year. I potted them up outside when they had stopped flowering and it's lovely to see them growing again.
Well, that's my camera clear. I hope you're all enjoying this beautiful sunny, cold snap that we're having. I spent the morning outside gardening and can just about feel my fingers again!

Wishing you all a happy week.
Toodle pip for now. x

9 comments:

  1. Very envious of your lovely trips. Cirencester one of my happy places. Like the look of the cushion, great way to use left over wool. Well done on the decorating. It always gets worse before it gets better. If you know what I mean. Lovely flowers to remind me springs on its way :). B x

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  2. Oh, your cushion is fab, I'd buy one of those! I get your frustration re the sanding dust after all that decorating, I would have been hollering from the rooftops! Chaps eh??? If we did that to them....I loved the snowdrops and the camellias and good to know you are sticking with the vegan run. I almost don't miss cheese....lying obviously!xxx

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  3. Super cushion and I love the birthday wool socks colour. I'll bet you were hopping about the sanding after all your hard decorating work! Husbands, eh? Your paper piecing looks amazing. How is the vegan diet going? x

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    1. Hi CT. The vegan diet is still going, thank you. I've managed to find a vegan cheese that I don't find utterly repellent. It's called Vegamigo but, sadly, I can only find it online at the moment. It's useful for when those dairy cravings hit! xx

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  4. I love your cushion cover and your patchwork, so pretty. I recently tasted vegan ice cream and it was delicious! xx

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  5. I love your knitted square cushion, and the pretty patchwork. I must get mine out again. I'm impressed with your hall-painting, as we bought paint for ours 18 months ago and haven't started it yet. Cirencester looks nice - somewhere I haven't been. Well done with staying vegan too.
    Cathy x

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  6. What a pity you didn't enjoy the Lowry exhibition. My mum did an embroidery of one of his paintings and I always enjoy seeing it when I return "home". All your outings sound fabulous, as always! The chocolate and hazelnut torte looks yum!

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  7. I love the looks of your chair cushion. It makes me fingers itch to try your design, looks like a great stash busting project.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. Thanks Amalia. The cushion is made using the Cosy Memory Blanket pattern by Kemper Wray. It is indeed a great stash buster! xx

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