Welcome Spring!

Outside its a bit miserable but today is officially the First Day of Spring.  Its too wet to do anything in the garden but that's a good excuse to play with a new stamp set that arrived this morning.  Its called  Easter Blessings (from Wplus9, you can find it here in the UK at Make the Day Special) but the floral bordering and corner stamps are also just right for carding up these brooches I've made with Mothers Day in mind.  The sentiment is from Garden Grace at Papertrey Ink.

I used my Boutique Accessories die from Papertrey Ink to cut the cards.  The brooches use embroidered motifs from an old dressing table mat and wool felt cut out with Limitless Layers Ovals dies also from Papertrey Ink.  I backed the motifs with fusible interfacing to stabilise the fabric and stop it fraying and stitched the layers together with embroidery silk.

And here's a real sign of Spring in my garden, the lovely Pulmonaria or Lungwort - not a pretty name but a very pretty flower.

Down by the Riverside

There's much to do in the house and in the garden but I've been itching to go walking in the fields since the good weather arrived at the weekend.  So I skived off for an hour or so this afternoon.  The river banks have been "tidied up" by the council in this field, as you can tell by the piles of wood chippings left at regular intervals.  This has rather spoiled the footpath as although you can't see in this photo, the ugly industrial buildings and council yards along the opposite bank are much in evidence now they are no longer screened by trees and undergrowth.

These three little chaps were certainly on a mission to get from A to B as quickly as possible!  I kept overtaking them as they dallied now and then in the shallows, but in next to no time they were there again paddling away as fast as they could. 

There's nothing as spring-like and sunshiny as a Celandine - they are like little candles lighting up the hedgerows.

I love to see a ploughed field all ready for planting.  I wonder what will grow here this year.

You know its a good day when you can see the moon lit up by the sun.  Its been evident in the daytime sky for the past three days.

And the sky has been that intense blue you only get in the colder months of the year.  Worth a little frost at night don't you think!

For the rest of the week I've promised myself I'll spend all the time I can tidying up the ravages of the winter and recent storms in the garden but I'm glad I couldn't resist the call of the fields today.

And I have been a bit productive too.  These little corsage brooches I made with Mothers Day in mind.  I found the pattern in Nicki Trench's book Crochet with Flowers.  If you like Nicki's patterns as much as I do you might be interested to know she has recently started a Crochet Club.  I thought we would be getting an exclusive pattern every month and special offers on yarn etc but today I was delighted to find out we will be receiving the yarn to make this month's pattern too - a small corsage similar to this one.  There's still time to join and get the pattern and yarn yourself if you are quick.  :)

Remembering February

Oh dear, very late again I've created my February digital page.  These pages are really just for me to remember my year but making myself post them here does at least mean I get them done before December!  This is my third year of creating monthly review pages and I do so enjoy looking back at 2012 and 2013 that I really wish I'd started earlier - 2000, the new millenium would have been good but I can't see that happening now!

Anyway, St David's Day and the daffodil brooch project kept me very busy in the run up to 1st March and I'm very happy to report that so far I have raised about £90 for cancer charities selling my brooches.  I still have a few orders coming in so I'm carrying on through March in support of the Marie Curie Daffodil appeal.  If any of my lovely blog readers would like a brooch just leave me a comment. 

Happy St David's Day! Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus!

Its a beautiful morning here in Wales and we are celebrating St David's Day - and the first day of Spring (according to the BBC Weather department anyway).  I've been fiddling about with Hama beads recently and made this heart wreath to represent daffodils - our national flower.

I can't remember where I found this cookery book from the long gone Wales Gas Board.  Published in 1957 but I just love the graphics - including the Welsh lady version of the famous Mr Therm! Here are a couple of traditional recipes from the book.

I love the illustrations so much I'll probably share a few more pages in the next few days - anyone fancy a slice of Slapsan Sir Fon (Anglesey cake)!

Daffy Down Dilly

Its St David's Day on Saturday next here in Wales and I've been busy with my crochet hook and our national flower - the daffodil.  When I was little we were more likely to make paper leeks, the other emblem of Wales.  They were easy - a roll of white paper crayoned green at the top, fringed carefully with a scissors and attached to your jumper with a safety pin.  We made them in school and there was usually an Eisteddfod too. 

I don't know whether its coincidence but the Macmillan Cancer Support charity, whose emblem is also the daffodil, usually has a fund raising period at this time of year - is it just in Wales?  I don't know.  However a couple of people asked whether I would be making daffodils following on from my Remembrance Sunday poppy making marathon last year.  And I thought why not.   I've made about 30 so far, which will make a nice little sum for the charity if they are all sold.

And luckily the earliest daffs in the garden have decided its time to come out too - always a joyful sight.  It won't be long before every town and village in the UK is decorated with daffodils on verges and roundabouts but the first in my garden are always special and are duly recorded with my camera.

Nordic/FairIsle Shawl Finished!

I've finished my Nordic Shawl - I was hoping to finish it during our short break away two weeks ago but it didn't happen.  I found the shawl pattern on Annette's gorgeous blog My Rose Valley and it seems to have become rather an obsession with many crocheters.  I'm a bit obsessed myself and am already planning my next shawl.

The original pattern uses double knit but I was determined I was not going to buy yarn for my shawl as my stash mountain is threatening to take over my small craft room!  But I didn't have enough of anything suitable to be the main colour, ie 250gms.  So I decided to make my shawl using this vintage 2ply fair isle wool I bought some years ago in a charity shop.  Its a lovely silvery grey - but of course is much finer than double knit!

So I had to add lots of extra rows and stitches to the pattern - which in case you need to know, was absolutely no problem at all apart from it taking a lot more time to complete my shawl.  The colours for the striped panel were also skeins of various 2ply and 3ply yarns I've collected.

 

 

So I'm rather pleased with my shawl - its a cosy extra layer to put on when I'm sitting still crafting either over my shoulders or on my knees, and I'm very glad I went with the vintage yarn option.  My next shawl will be in double knitting however and I have a summery version in mind. 

Do take a look at Annette's blog - even if you are not a fan of crochet it will make your mouth water!

Last Minute Valentines

We're battening down the hatches here in North Wales as the storm rages outside.  No one wants to venture out unless absolutely unavoidable!  Happily I'm in no danger of floods, but if you can't get to the shops to buy a Valentine's rose for your special other you might be able to make one of my pom pom roses (or even a bunch) instead - yes, pom pom mania is still going strong in my house!

Hopefully you'll have everything you need at hand or something very similar.  I used a Clover pom pom maker and dark red acrylic yarn for my pom pom - you can use the old cardboard ring method  (video here) or even just your hands and a scissors - here's a great video showing you how.  You can even make them in bulk - Flax & Twine show how here - I haven't tried it but this method looks like fun!

Once you have your pom pom find a wooden kebab stick (really cheap in the supermarket) or a twig from the garden and push the pointy end through the centre of  the pom pom.  I cut the sharp point off the kebab stick once it was through.  I used a hot glue gun to put a blob on the end of the stick and pushed the yarn strands into it to attach.  I threaded on stamped office tags and tied green raffia under the pom pom to represent leaves.  You could use felt or even just green card to make leaves and hand write a message instead.

Well the electricity has just gone off so I'll finish and find some candles now before the laptop battery dies.  Hope you are safe where you are and keep warm!