August

 

August has been a good month here....there has been our lovely holiday to Arran, lots of family walks, a visit to Ayr Flower Show and a few beach trips. We have eaten several ice creams and drunk lots of tea and the odd glass of fizz. Miss M and I got new teeny tiny brooches. I have also managed to do lots of crochet during my time off from work which is always good! Mostly I have just enjoyed spending time with my wee family this August.

 

Can you tell that I have a new love for making photo collages?! I really enjoyed putting the photos in wee groups for this post....some photos are from my Instagram account, others are just photos I have taken on my phone throughout the month. I am hoping to do a post like this every month now as I think it's a nice way to remember the good parts of my days!

 

I'm now looking forward to seeing what September will bring....

 

X

 

PS...Thank you for the lovely comments recently. I especially enjoyed reading the comments about Instagram, those were interesting and I enjoyed finding out what you all thought. A few had wondered if I would abandon my blog in favour of Instagram...I can safely say definitely not! I do enjoy Instagram and it's a fun way to share photos but I love blogging and fully intend to carry on with this little blog here!

 

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Still loving those CK colours...

 

I have made a couple of things recently which have been completely inspired by Cath Kidston florals. There has been my granny squares blanket and my tea cosy, both of which I loved making and I'm sure it's because I adore these colours together so much. I had some small amounts of yarn left over from these projects - not enough for anything very big but enough for a few small and enjoyable makes...

 

The little floral garland was made for a friend although I am very tempted to make another one for myself, I like it so much!

 

The triple layer flower I made to attach to Miss M's gym bag...the pattern from this is from Lucy of Attic 24 and you can find the pattern here. This was so enjoyable to make - the tutorial was really clear and easy to follow - I have actually made a few more in different colours, they make very pretty corsages.

 

The two teeny tiny birds were made following a request from Miss M - she asked for two wee love birds! The pattern for the little birds can be found here.

 

It feels very satisfying using up tiny amounts of yarn doesn't it?! I don't think I'm finished with my CK inspired crochet makes yet though...I have some more plans for another blanket in a different colour way and then of course I will have more tiny amounts of yarn to use up making pretty things!

 

X

 

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So, Instagram...

 

A couple of months ago I took the plunge and made my first post on Instagram. I had downloaded the app a while ago but to be honest, I was unsure if Instagram would be for me and if I would like it. However, I can safely say that I really, really like it! I love how quick and easy it is to just share a moment and although my posts are mainly flowers, cake and crochet (not that much different to my blog then!) I am enjoying capturing these happy moments. There is a lovely, friendly little community on there and lots of crafty people so it's very inspiring too.

 

I really like the filters on Instagram and how easy it is to make a not very great photograph look really nice. The photographs above are all from my Instagram feed and were all taken on my iphone.

 

What do you think of Instagram? Are you on there too? I am ladybirddiaries on there if you want to have a look at the rest of my photos...

 

X

 

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Settling back in...

So this past week has been all about settling back in after our holiday. Lots of laundry and other chores to catch up on and back to work for me last week too, although I can hardly complain after almost 3 weeks off!

Settling back in is good though, I quite enjoy getting to know my wee house again after a holiday...

 

 

I am loving this cookery book I borrowed from the library last week. It is gorgeous and there are so many things I want to make from it. I have mentioned here before how much I love Lisa Faulkner's first cookery book and this one is equally lovely...

 

 

I am finally getting some decent bunches of sweetpeas from the garden! My gardening skills are nil but my mum and dad have given me some tips to make sure that next year my sweetpeas are much more successful! I love having little bunches of them in jugs and jars around the house, they are so pretty and smell so good...

 

 

The little ceramic seahorse we brought back from Arran is also settling in well, in his new home on the kitchen wall...

 

 

There has, of course, been quite a bit of crochet going on and I have been making pretty little colourful squares for another blanket. They are so enjoyable to make in the evenings. This will be my big autumn project...

 

 

Miss M and I have been baking. We made these little iced biscuits this afternoon from a very simple recipe which can be found here. We had just watched the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off this morning and found that afterwards we really wanted to bake something! So we spent a lovely hour this afternoon doing just that...

 

So my Miss M returns to school tomorrow after 7 weeks off! I will miss her company during the day when I'm not working, I have enjoyed having her with me and having my house busy with her little friends this summer. But nonetheless, it will be good to get back into our wee routine again and I will probably have more time for crafting so it's not all bad!

 

Thank you for all the lovely comments recently, they are much appreciated :)

 

X

 

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Holidaying

 

We are back after spending a week on the beautiful Isle of Arran. We love Arran and we had our summer holiday there last year too. It is so peaceful but there is so much to do and it's the perfect place for a family holiday.

 

Again, we stayed in a little cottage in Lamlash Bay and enjoyed waking up to views of the Holy Isle each morning. The weather was mixed....there was blue skies, grey skies, sunshine and rain! But we were out and about, rain or shine. Most of our time was spent outdoors. We did lots of walking visiting the Giants Graves on Whiting Bay and also walking right over the top of Mullach Mor on the Holy Isle. We are lucky as Miss M loves to be outdoors, she can walk for miles and doesn't complain so long as there are snacks along the way! Miss M also went pony trekking which she loved, she talked about it for days afterwards.

 

We went to the Arran Annual Farmers show which was fantastic even though in the morning it rained very heavily. The Arran Pipe Band were there as well as lots of horses, sheep, cows etc and The Clan mountain biking stunt team. There was a dog agility course, and although we don't have a dog, we were able to borrow one so that Miss M could have a go of taking a dog around the course, lots of fun!

 

We played crazy golf and spent lots of time at various beaches around the island. Most evenings after dinner were spent at Lamlash pier where Miss M discovered a love of crabbing! She loved this so much and was always very careful about putting the crabs gently back into the water after admiring them for a short time!

 

We had such a great holiday. I am missing Arran already...but we have started planning to go back again next year!

 

X

 

 

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Granny Squares Blanket

 

This week I finished making my granny squares blanket. I started this way back last year, I think it was maybe last October. It was one of those projects that I would work on for a while and then need a break from, plus I ran out of yarn and forgot about it for a while. But....I am so glad that I went back to this because I really love how it has turned out and also because it really feels quite an achievement to finish a big blanket.

 

The squares are simple seven round granny squares. I made 36 of them and then joined them using double crochet. The yarn used was mainly Sirdar Snuggly although the cream yarn was Stylecraft Special DK. The border is my usual shell border but I decided to make it a little different by using red for this part. I had originally been going to use cream yarn but my Miss M thought that the red would look better. At first I was unsure, but now I think she was right...the red really finishes the blanket off.

 

So, this new blanket is now very happy in it's new home....in the living room over the edge of the sofa! Although it has not really been blanket snuggling weather, Miss M has tried it out and she has declared it "really cosy!" What more does a blanket need to be?!

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

X

 

 

 

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