SoS ....

I knew even before my daughter, that she was pregnant, she just felt different. So I had started to knit a very simple ' blankie' before the pregnancy was even confirmed. Then we were told there were two babies, sooo Granny had to knit another one. These simple square 30" x 30" blankets were knitted with a double strand of DK wool and on nice thick needles so it took me no time at all. These little blankets have proved to be invaluable for outings in the pram

and for when the boys are in their car seats.

 

Last week I had an urgent SOS from my daughter to please knit another two, so that she can at least wash the ones she has. I find that once I have made something once I really have to motivate myself to make more, but when there is an SOS concerning my grandchildren I make a plan. So I thought that to make it a little bit of a different project I would knit squares instead of a solid colour blanket for the boys.

Not sure this was the best idea cause when I had them all together and realised how many treads had to be sewn in I thought maybe I should have just made another two like the previous ones.

I knitted like a demon to get them finished and posted before we left for our holiday and I was so pleased with the result

and the boys seem to be cozy and comfortable with their other blankies!

39 years on........

Have you ever met  someone you  like  instantly ? 

Someone you feel is a kindred spirit?    

Someone you are so comfortable with in the first few moments of meeting, you  feel like you  have known them forever? 

 What about the age old 'Love at first sight'  adage, do you  think that is possible? 

 Yes,  it is so possible!  Let me tell you how I know this for sure  ....... thirty nine years ago I met a man and  within seconds of  meeting him  I knew we were meant to be together.  It felt to me as if a part of me had been missing and  when I met him it was like a lightening bolt of realisation that  this was it, this was the  other half of me.  I remember  going home and dreamily telling my Mom that I had just spent the afternoon with  my future husband,  the love of my life, forever. 

  My darling Mom  scowled and said in her dreaded  ' I don't approve'  voice ,  

" you are too young to know what love is and there are many fish in the sea my girl, go do your homework" (I was only 18)

Poor Mom little did she know that my prediction that afternoon would all come true.

One year later I married the man and let me tell you, all I can say is my parents can be grateful I didn't meet him when I was 13, cause I would have still married him within the year of meeting him!

So, 38  years ago today I married an earth angel, the kindest, most caring person I know, who I am still deeply in love with. 

  A father of note to our three amazing children.

A Granddad, well no, not a Granddad, a Genedad,   all the grandchildren  call him Genedad. 

Happy anniversary and thank  you  Gene for  being  my rock,  my life and the  best  husband ever for  all these years.  I love you.

I have to apologise  again for not posting  and for not  announcing the name of the winner of the Scrapbook bundle on the due day.  I have also not replied to kind words and comments, so please forgive me,  but I have had more computer problems and have not been able to do anything.  I have lost all my information and have  been so frustrated.  My new computer had a factory fault and had to be returned.   I am hopefully on track now with another new computer. As I have said before I am seriously dependant on  my computer and well  technology in general.

 

Thank you so much to those of you who entered my second giveaway. 
A  name  was ceremoniously  drawn  for the Scrapbook  Bundle and I am pleased to announce that it  was Debbie at  My Brown Eyed Girl who has won! Congratulations Debbie, please email me your postal details so I can get your package off  ASAP!

Hugs

Cxxx

Happy Birthday Granny

Today we remembered my maternal Grandmother, Irene, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday.

 She was born at 11 o clock, on the 11th day, of the 11th month, in the year 1911. 

Her name, Irene is the name of the Greek Goddess of Peace.  How amazing is it that 7 years later the war ended and on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11 o' clock,  Armistice and Peace would be celebrated for all time to come!

My Grandmother was an absolute inspiration to me.  She was a horticulturist and started one of the first Hydroponics projects on her farm in South Africa. 
My earliest memories of her are of trips into the City o f Johannesburg,  when I was about 4, to buy the latest seeds on offer at Kirchoffs, a large seed company.  It was always such an adventure.  I had to be dressed properly, bobby socks, my favourite red shoes, my best dress and we would have tea at a very posh restaurant – I loved it.  It was the beginnings of my passion for shopping! 

She  taught me to arrange flowers from a  very young age and entered me into the Flower arranging section of the Annual Horticultural Show in Johannesburg at  the tender age of  5 and I won first prize in  my division.   I was awarded a trophy that was larger than me. 

 I had  a flower bed in her garden where we planted  flowers for the fairies to live and so started my  love of gardening and fairies :}.   She also sewed a lot, did embroidery and was an incredible cook.   A lot of what I love doing was inspired in some way by my dear Grandmother and I loved every moment of time spent learning from her.   

Happy birthday Granny – I love and still miss you.

Giveaway # 2

Giveaway # 2 - Christmas Scrapbook Bundle

This may seem like a bit of a cheeky giveaway, but I would be so happy if one of  you could benefit and enjoy this little  bundle of Christmas scrapbook supplies that I have put together

I am making a Christmas ......  umm  what shall  I call it .... a brag book, album, memory book,  not sure, I suppose it is a combination of all  these things  ......  I  will share some  pictures  soon.

Stickers

When you do a project do you also end up with  loads of extra  'bits' , I do. 

A few 12 x12 papers and a few A4's

With the very limited space to keep all my craft stuff I thought that maybe someone else could enjoy the extras instead of me trying to  find space for it.      

Bits and  Bobs

Soooo if you  would like to win this bundle of Christmas Scrapbook bits, please go ahead and ......   

a)     Leave a comment  for one chance to win,

b)     Become a follower  for a second chance,   let me know if you are a new follower or an oldie

 And

c)     Mention my giveaway on your blog for a third chance,  don't for get to let me know.

I will draw a name randomly on the  20th November .

Thank you  for  taking part and good luck

Hugs

C

xxx

I am back......

....has it only been short of a month since I last posted?  It has felt like a year! 

My computer screen started to  flicker really badly, then dark lines appeared and then it died, in a thin spiral of smoke!  The man bought me a new one on sale, but nothing could be installed and  every time I went onto the Internet it shut down.

  After two weeks of doing everything the experts said to do, and all the mans extensive computer knowledge put to the test, he took it back.  They diagnosed 'Low Grade Hard Drive Failure'????  and gave me a new one that was £50 more,  but it is beautiful and so worth it.  It has a silver case and is  'finger mark proof' 

 It is   lovely.

I am such a  happy girl now, so happy to be back on line too. 

 Not having a computer is terrible.    I am so dependant, so addicted.

 I need to be  able stay in touch.....

Can't wait to visit you all again!

Hugs

C

xxx  

Birthday celebrations....

 ....My baby, Tammy, had her 31st birthday on Sunday and my darling Dad will be 79on Wednesday so I arranged  Sunday off work and the man and I drove three hours to get to Tadley, it usually take us one and half hours to do this drive – too much traffic on the M25!  I read somewhere that the M25 is the UK’s largest parking area - and that is what it felt like on Sunday, the agitation at the time it was taking to get to our destination was making me feel ill. We eventually collected my Parents and we met up with Tammy and her family, my son and his family and our dearest friends Belinda and Tony at a brand new Toby’s Carvery for lunch. 

 It was so incredible to have our children and grandchildren and my parents and special friends all round one table, chaotic, but wonderful.  I was aware of all the other poor patrons in the restaurant, but I don’t think we made too much noise, hope not.

It was so chaotic that I only managed a very few and not such good photos of this important event (I had Matthew in my arms most of lunch time and really did not want to give him up to take photos)

We were so excited to share Tammy’s birthday with her.  Tammy, our beautiful girl.

She is our beautiful daughter who is amazing.  She has grown into a woman of note and is an amazing Mother – we are so proud of her. She is such a gentle soul who is so happy with her partner Neil and her twin boys. That is all you want for your children is that they are happy.

My precious Mommy and Jenny holding Matthew - yes I let someone else hold him just for a little while

Belinda and Tony, have been our special loyal  friends for the last 28 years. It was wonderful to have them with us and they got to meet our new daughter-in law to be, Jenny and Tammy’s partner Neil and of course Matthew and Alex.

A lot of the fun of celebrating someone’s birthday is buying the gifts and wrapping them isn’t it? Tammy is collecting beads and charms for her Pandora bracelet so that is what she got from us and her sister sent her some too and I was charged with wrapping.

I always like to put a lot of effort and love into wrapping a gift, if someone is worth it, it is worth doing it with love.

 Tammy is crazy about dragonflies so I decided this year she would get a dragonfly card.

My heart is so full of love for all these special people in my life and the man and I are so, so blessed with our stunning family and friends.  We so wish our much missed Hayley, Em and Livi, who live in the USA, could have been with us.  On occasions like this I miss them even more than I do every single day.

Hugs

C

xxx

Ohhh look I am on a roll, another Journal

Yup, I made another Journal. 

This one was inspired by a note book made by Karen of My Desert Cottage and I think the Picture may have come from The Graphic Fairy, but I really can’t remember. 

I am continually saving pictures that I find from all over the place. 

 I sooo enjoyed creating this book.

 It is a hard covered note book, one of those brown paper ‘organic’ type note books, my favourite kind, all natural looking.  It has an insert  page inside that has pocket on both sides.

I suppose this kind of book could be used for recipes, notes, anything really. 

 I was thinking of  giving it away for a  Christmas present, but maybe I will just keep it for my self as a ‘Wish Book ‘ or a Gratitude Book. 

 Don’t you just love the lace, I found it in an Antique shop it was attached to soft netting.  It took me hours to cut out all the intricate little swirls to separate it from the net.

 

Maybe,  I  think, I may just  keep it as my very own 'Wish Book'
My Grandmother used to teach me to keep a wish book. 
I must have been all of 5 years old when we first started these wish books. 
We would gather magazines and scissors pens and crayons on  the dinning room table and she would make us a pot of ‘glue’ out of flour and water,
because this kind of glue didn’t make the paper crinkle as much as the pot of school glue. 

 There was always a very large hard bristles paintbrush in the pot, if I remember it had a  redish handle.  

 She encouraged me to cut out pictures of things that I really, really wanted, no matter what it was.  As a child I used to cut out dolls, toys, rings, crowns, delightful things.

We would even have a Christmas page in the back of the book to stick in our wish items.  

 As I grew she taught me to write about the treasures I had pasted. 

 I remember her wish book being very intricate with lots of writing and
pictures of seeds and plants. 
 I wish I still had her books, wonder what happened to them!

  I still keep a  wish book with pictures of my goals,  with affirmations and poems and anything that grabs me, I suppose a type of journal of what I would love to have and 
at the  back I write down everything I have to be grateful for every  day. 

Yes I think I will keep this book, after all,  my dreams and wishes deserve to be kept in something special.

Maybe you would like to keep a 'wish book' too.........
And I wish you a wonderful rest of the weekend!

My son is getting married next year and my DIL to be has asked me to make the wedding invitations – yay!  I made four sample invites yesterday and some wedding favour samples and got them off first class post yesterday.  Can’t wait for her to get the package today and then I have to wait some more for the final instructions!

 Sooo looking forward to getting stuck in and making the final articles.

While I had all my rulers, glue and mats out I finished a Journal I have been working on. 

This was a book I bought over a year ago at Ross on my last trip to the USA. 

I used a metal flower with a gem brad in the  middle of the clock

There is lots of glitter on this book
 I loved the elastic ‘tie’  

  The black and white polka dot cover on this book was lovely so I left some showing

 I think it turned out pretty well.

I have enjoyed visiting such pretty blogs the last three or so days  and have wanted to leave  comments, a very few have been saved and  gone through, but  with most of the comments I have tried to post I either get a ‘401 error message’ ,

or  ‘sorry we are unable to connect’ or an email returning my comment???? 

It is so frustrating and sooo annoying. 

 Is anyone else struggling?

Inspirational Crochet

I  was sent this very inspiring  article by a dear friend,  because I  suppose, I  always have some sort of crochet or knitting on the go and being South African, she knew that this would be  something I would love to share with you all. 

 Please visit MoxyCrochet and have a look at the work this wonderful lady, Laura Summs is doing in a devastatingly improvised area. 

 Take a look at the incredible blankets these crafters are crocheting.  

Such incredibly beautiful work that they are producing.  The colours are amazing.

Can you imagine owning one of these blankets or any article they make for that matter? 

Projects like this are so close to my heart, projects like this mean so, so much to the woman (and men) in Cape Towns, Khayeliesha, where some people are the poorest of the poor and live in really desperate conditions with not much hope of earning an income. 

It just takes someone like Laura Sums, with a vision, a passion and the skills to make a huge difference to these people.  It gives them some sort of much needed, income and makes them feel like what they are doing is of value and worth.  Well done Laura on a really good job, you are an inspiration. 

 Crocheting is such a lovely craft, crocheting is to me what tranquilizers are to others. 

If I pick up a crochet hook I am so happy and relaxed. 
 I don't crochet very advanced patterns, but what I love about crochet is that anything goes, any colour combination, which is what appeals to me so much.  As I am doing one row in one colour I am thinking about the next colour that can be added.

  I found a pattern here last week that I thought was very pretty and different. 

  I made one square with the idea of using up the purple wool I had left over from the flower cushion I made last month. 

 Now the bug has bitten, big time.  I altered the pattern a bit, because I love a larger fuller flower and I HAD to buy one or two a few extra balls of different colour wool....

now I have visions of making and owning a blanket of note!  Just gotta make loads of squares.

A perfectly wonderful winter project I think.