lifestyle/ thoughts – A box of allsorts

Catching up

Wow, it’s been a long time! I’m not really sure why I ended up having such a long break from my blog but I suppose life just got in the way for a while and the longer the break went on, the harder it seemed to write that first post again. It’s been about 7 months since I last posted and i feel I should catch you up a little on what’s been happening in that time. Nothing major that should have stopped me from posting really but as i look back at the photos I’ve packed quite a lot in to this year, so it’s no wonder if not found the time to post!

If I was to tell you about everything that I’d done in the last 7 months I’d be here all night, so here is the condensed version with pictures.

There has been a lot of gardening. Our garden produced so much for us this Summer, I really am thankful! We had a huge amount of courgettes and green beans. We tried to use them as we went along but there were so many, our freezer is now full of zucchini soup and green beans. We also had plentiful tomatoes, raspberries and so many beautiful sunflowers.

There has been lots of running, including 3 half marathons and of course the all important bling!

There have been plentiful family times including a wonderful caravan holiday in the Summer where we were able to catch up with family and dear friends who we hadn’t seen for a while. Special memories were made and shall be cherished for a long time to come!

Alongside all the other goings on there has, of course been a lot of crafting. Never quite as much as I’d like but when I look back on the last 7 months I do wonder where on earth I’ve fit it all in. Over the Summer months I did a lot of embroidery for gifts as a number of friends sadly moved away. I forgot to take photos of all the finished embroidery but here’s a snapshot of what was made:

I have also done a fair bit of crochet but I haven’t got a lot to show for it as yet as it’s been for a couple of long term projects that still aren’t quite finished. I did however finish 3 children’s poncho’s recently (1 for little miss and 2 ready for Christmas gifts) and earlier in the year I made a baby blanket

I have a few ongoing wipes and lots of projects just waiting to be started.

current wips:

1. A bright squares rainbow 🌈 blanket for Little Miss:

I’m onto joining the rows and hopefully will have it finished in time for her birthday in a couple of weeks.

2. I have a stash of purple grey and white squares just waiting to be joined and made into a blanket. I plan to start joining them as soon as I’ve finished the blanket for Little Miss.

3. As if I needed another big project I felt the need a couple of weeks ago to start making large granny squares out of left over yarn and so a ‘happy scrappy’ blanket is now underway too.

Waiting in the wings to be started I have a bag full of chunky yarn which I just couldn’t resist a few weeks ago. Im pretty sure that’s going to become a blanket in the near future too but hopefully this one won’t take to long to do as it’s super chunky yarn with a 20mm hook!

At the same time I found the chunky wool, I also found a beautiful bright variegated yarn which I also failed to resist (just when streamlining had been going so well!). I quite fancy making some sort of funky shrug with that but we’ll see.

Just in case all those projects weren’t enough I’ve also got 3 more zenbroidery pictures ready to start and the Autumn Box from craftpod which hasn’t yet been touched, plus a hundred more ideas floating around in my brain, waiting to come to the forefront. If only there were more hours in the day…

Hopefully I’ll have some more finished projects to show you soon…watch this space!

Karen x x

Easter weekend

This years Easter weekend was truly blissful and already seems like an age ago. The sun shone the whole weekend and all was very good in my world. Friday was spent cleaning the barbecue, and planting and tidying in the garden but I didn’t mind it one bit. On Saturday I had a very proud Mummy moment as little Miss took part in her first ever race with me (1.2km) and was super proud of her medal. Rich also took part in the 5km race and of course I was proud of him too! In the afternoon we made the most of the weather and had friends round for a barbecue. Sunday started with the obligatory Easter egg hunt. Little Miss was so excited that the Easter bunny had left clues around the house for her. I just love her excitement and enthusiasm, just this morning she said to me ‘Mummy, I just cant stop thinking about the Easter bunny still. Bless her heart. Sunday afternoon was another barbecue but this time with my stepson and stepdaughter. It was lovely to have us all together as its not something that happens very often. I don’t have many photos to show of the weekend as they all have people in and I don’t like to put other peoples faces on my blog without their permission. I do however have lots of photos to show in the next few days of this weeks finished projects…I’m so excited to share them.

Anyway, back to Easter weekend. Monday brought yet more beautiful weather, so after I went out for an early run we set off to bad Wunnenberg, which is about 30 minutes drive away from us. There are a lot of walks around the area, one of them being a 1km ish barefoot trail. I really didn’t know how Little Miss would react to it but I have to say, she amazed me. Its not easy in parts as some of the stones are very prickly and the water was cold enough to make our feet ache. LM did the whole thing without complaining and even went around again with me later. The playground there is fabulous and she spent a good 2 hours playing on the apparatus, paddling in the stream and digging in the sand. Rich and I took turns to watch her whilst the other relaxed in the sunshine. The day was topped off with tea out on the way home, sat in the sunshine. Just perfect!

Even though it was a busy weekend, there was plenty of time for crafting for both LM and I. LM made this chick from a kit, I did me me giggle very childishly!

Her explanation was that the circles are there to hold the wings on, she’s wearing a crown (albeit in a rather strange place) and the egg is on her head because she’s thinking of when her Mummy laid an egg. I just love how little children think!

Together, we also decorated this beautiful jewellery box (one of the many kits left from her birthday last year).

I also finished my zenbroidery mandala but so many hours of work went into it, I feel it deserves its own post so, watch this space…

Karen x x

All the jobs and a bit of crafting

The first week of the Easter holiday was all about getting jobs done, in and around the house. Usually, if you asked me if I enjoyed housework, you’d be met with a very emphatic no! We have a cleaner come once a week as we both work long hours and if it was down to me we’d have a window cleaner too but since Mr O bought a window cleaning gadget (that doesn’t smear…honest!!) we have to do it ourselves! As Mr O has been very busy with the garden and putting up another shed for the garden tools, its down to me this time. I’ve been looking at those dirt smeared, streaky windows for a long time and finally set about tackling the worse windows downstairs. It wasn’t that bad to be honest but it does make me very cross when I cant get them perfectly streak free! I needn’t have worried though because, less than a week later, the hall window has marks on it again at cat level, the kitchen window has splatters from the washing up and the back door is once again full of smeary little handprints. Grrr!

As much as I have moaned about doing the jobs, I might actually have enjoyed them a teensy bit. I think its because I’m usually so busy that giving up any precious free time to do housework is quite frankly hateful. Last week though, because little Miss was still in kindergarten and I had a bit of extra time (admittedly, I could have spent it crafting!) doing the jobs weirdly made me feel a bit more connected to the house, like cleaning, tidying it, showing it a bit of love and tending to the garden somehow brought me closer to it. Does that sound bonkers? The whole house was tidied, hoovered and floors steamed. I tidied and sorted the craft room a bit more and finally got around to moving Little Miss into the bigger bedroom that used to be my craft room / spare room. There are more jobs to follow this week, including recleaning those blasted windows and cleaning the ones I hadn’t yet got to, cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom, including all of the kitchen cupboards (I’m not looking forward to this one, I will admit), weeding and cleaning the balcony (another yucky job I keep putting off) and several admin jobs that have been lingering for a few weeks, hovering over me like evil little spiky clawed gremlins!

In amongst all the jobs, there has been a little time for crafting, although not nearly as much as I would have liked.

I finished off this little fella:

I managed to do a little more on the rainbow squares blanket for Little Miss and I love how its taking shape. Joining the squares together is proving to be a labour of love but it will be worth it when its finished. 3 columns down, 10 to go!

I decided to get all the remaining squares off the floor so that I could clean the floor and Mr O suggested putting them onto knitting needles. I love love love the look of them like this, they look like colourful crocheted kebabs. I almost don’t want to use them as they’re adding so much colour to my craft studio lined up like this.

I also managed to snatch a bit of time for some embroidery in the sunshine whilst little Miss played in the garden …

Last week I was a little bit naughty and for the first time this year, I broke my self imposed ban on purchasing any more crafting goodies.

I ummmed and aaahed but they reminded me so much of the tablecloths my grandma used to embroider and nostalgia got the better of me, I had to have them. I know its yet more embroidery bits to add to my stash but they sparked joy and will continue to do so and bring back happy memories as I sew. I don’t think these will linger in my stash for long though as I am just itching to get started on them.

A fair bit more crafting went on over the Easter weekend but I’ll post about that separately in a day or two.

Happy crafting

Karen xx

Fuerteventura 2019

It has already been a month since we came back from sunny Fuerteventura where we spent a week at half term. It already feels like such a long time ago but I didn’t want to let it go by unrecorded as who doesn’t want to see pictures of sunshine and blue skies when we’re still struggling through the tail end of winter to serve as a reminder of what’s hopefully just around the corner!

I won’t write a lot about it except to say that we had a lovely time with two old friends (as in length of friendship not age! Lol!) and a great time making memories with Little Miss.

What would valentines day be without a barbecued love sausage?!

A week seemed like hardly enough time away but it was a very welcome break from the winter!

Karen xx

New Year Reflections

Happy New Year to you all, I sincerely hope that you have had a great time this Christmas celebrating with family and friends and that it was topped off with a smooth ‘slide’ into 2019.

As for a lot of people, the start of a new year finds me in a reflective mood and thinking back over the past year.

2018 wasn’t a bad year for us a family in a lot of ways. There were lots of good times, including holidays, visits from extended family and friends, good health and lots of time spent together as a family. One of the highlights for me has been in watching Little Miss continue to blossom into a quirky, funny, often cheeky but very fun and loveable 5 year old.

Whilst there were lots of good times, like any year, 2018 had its ups and downs. In February I came off the antidepressants I had been on for over a year and with the help of exercise, yoga, meditation and positive thinking (wherever and whenever possible!!) I continue to be antidepressant free. Although no longer reliant on the ‘happy pills’ I am not afraid to admit that I still struggle on a regular basis. I have learned that my brain can no longer cope with multitasking and I get stressed very easily, even by the silliest of things. All it takes is a few minor things to go wrong or for someone to tell me of something else I should have done or need to do and I begin to feel as if I have the weight of the world on my shoulders or an insurmountable mountain to climb. In reality all I need to do is focus on one thing at a time and block out all the other things that can wait or are of less importance. With November and December being such busy months both at work and at home in preparation for Christmas, with the addition of the dark nights drawing in, things did get on top of me, hence the lack of blog posts. I just kept plodding on, one day at a time, working my way through things that needed doing and clinging on to the knowledge that with Christmas comes time with family and time to recharge the batteries.

Over the Christmas period with time to reflect, I got to thinking about how I could make life easier and more pleasurable (for both me and my family…a stressed and anxious Karen is a very snappy and uptight Karen who takes things out on her nearest and dearest) and so that I experience less of these times where I feel as though I am hurtling from one thing to another without time to breathe and without ever truly being ‘in the moment.’

The word that came to me was ‘streamlining.’ I feel that I need to make my life more streamlined, to strip away things that burden me. So for me 2019 is going to be all about streamlining. I’m not sure exactly where this is going to take me but I’m going to start with looking at my finances, possessions and how I spend my time. The first thing I am going to look at is my crafty stuff. At the moment we are in the process of decorating the attic room, which, up until November was my stepsons room but since he has moved out is to become my new craft room or as I like to call it, due to its size… my craft ‘studio.’ Every box that goes into the craft studio is going to be sorted through and anything that I’m not likely to make use of is going to be disposed of or given away. No longer will I keep on to anything ‘just in case’ or simply because someone gave it to me. I will try to keep you posted with regular updates of my streamlining and of course will show you the craft studio once its all up and running.

Wish me luck

Karen x x

Enjoying the simple things

With all the lovely weather we’ve had here in April, there has been a lot of outdoor time here at Chez Oakley and a lot of pottering in the garden. Mr O has given the shed a fresh coat of paint, I have been planting flowers and weeding and little Miss has helped me plant A LOT of seeds. We planted pumpkins, spinach, tomatoes, peppers and courgettes which will all go into the vegetable patch once it has been weeded and prepared. We also planted sunflower seeds which I’m planning to put at the back of the vegetable patch to cover an unsightly wall.

I’m so looking forward to seeing the flowers grow and fill out the hanging baskets and the geraniums and lavender open up in the flowerbeds. Hopefully in just a few weeks the garden should be transformed by colour!

Of course as well as all the gardening, there has been time for relaxing outside too

We’ve also had a couple of really lovely days out at a local park. The first time we went with my friend Lou and her boys. Little Miss and the boys were absolutely fascinated by the tadpoles and water snails and spent a good couple of hours pond dipping. We made sure that all creatures were put back in the water they were taken from. I got a chance to have a play with my camera and try out some different settings and am really pleased with the result.

My favourite photo from the day out though has to be this one of Little Miss taken by my talented friend Louise Mackenzie with her super duper lens!

I’m planning on having this one printed out onto canvas.

Last weekend, a week after visiting the park with Lou and her boys, Mr O and I took Little Miss back to see if the tadpoles had changed at all. There was very little change to see but once again she was fascinated and spent a long time ‘collecting’ water snails and trying to spot the biggest tadpole (again all creatures were returned to the water). At one point one of the bigger tadpoles come to the surface to eat some algae and we actually saw it open its mouth, which for a little tiny tadpole is not something you can visibly see very often. Again, I had a play with my camera, trying out some manual settings (until the battery died, which wasn’t very long into our trip unfortunately).

We didn’t stay for as long this time and there was no crocheting done as the weather wasn’t so good and it had started to rain. As the weather is supposed to be lovely this weekend, I have promised another visit to the park so we can continue to follow the tadpoles progress. We’ll hopefully cycle there, take a picnic and make a full day of it and of course I shall be taking my crochet with the aim of squeezing a couple of squares whilst little miss plays. Happy happy days!

Karen x

Fuerteventura – half term

Its 3 weeks since we came back from Fuerteventura and the tan has pretty much faded and sadly so has the refreshed, just back from holiday feeling. I had wanted to post about the holiday much sooner but as is often the case, life and work just got in the way. Oh well, better late than never!

With the freezing cold temperatures we experienced a week or so ago, I have to keep reminding myself that it was only a few short weeks ago that we were sunning ourselves in Fuerteventura. Ok, so it wasn’t super hot but it was just hot enough and a much needed and welcome break from wintry Germany.

We stayed at a self contained villa with a heated pool and a hot tub. The first day was extremely windy, which made it feel colder than the 18oC it was and left me wishing id packed more jumpers. after that first day though, the wind died away and we had lovely sunny days of 21oC. We had a few days out but the rest of the time we were just content to relax outside in the sunshine and Little Miss relished the opportunity to swim in the pool every day.

Of course I managed to fit in some poolside crochet time and my creative urge was further satisfied by a visit to a fabric/ wool shop in Puerta del Rosario. What a treasure trove it was, packed floor to ceiling with fabric, wool and all the accessories you could possibly ever need to work with fabric. with so much choice it took me a long time to settle on the fabric I wanted but here it is….

I got a bit of a surprise when the colourful fabric was all folded up as it was much heavier than I’d realised (I think its upholstery fabric, oops!) and I was a little worried about how I’d get it in the case…clothes would have been discarded though if necessary to fit in my beautiful material! I haven’t yet decided what to use the fabric for but I do know that whatever I make will evoke happy memories of a lovely family holiday.

Karen x

Giving myself permission

Ok, so this dreary grey weather has finally got to me and that combined with being busy, not having much time for crafting in the last week or so and feeling a bit under the weather with the constant company of ‘Horace’ (my unfriendly headache companion) has left me feeling rather meh! Last night I was talking to my good friend Michelle at craft and chat group about how I was feeling and having lots that I had planned to do on my day off today. Her response was to be kind to myself and give myself the permission to do things that make me happy rather than feeling like I need to achieve something all the time. I do have the tendency to set myself goals and feel the need to have something to show for my time, so today I decided to heed her advice.

Little Miss woke up super early this morning and came through to my room at 6 but it was actually really nice to be able to spend 2 hours with her, playing and getting ready for kindergarten without having to rush. After dropping her off at kindergarten I popped to the shops to get some supplies for my self indulgent day and I found these beauties in Lidl (I love Lidl for its crafty surprises every now and then)…

I have no idea what I’m going to use them for just yet but they made me smile and the tapes make a pretty, colourful addition to my desk.

I also couldn’t resist these either:

They make such a nice contrast to the ever so dreary weather outside and I cannot wait for them to open and show their beautiful colours.

After a few small jobs around the house the rest of the morning has been indulgently spent sitting in my bed enjoying a bit of me time, crocheting, watching a bit of tv, reading, eating biscuits (I didn’t stop at the 3 pictured…oops) and drinking tea with the company of my beautiful kitties (pictured is Mina, Misty was feeling a bit camera shy today!) and I have to say it has been bliss.

I thought the book title was rather apt as that’s just what I feel like doing at times!

The rest of the day will be spent doing more of the things I enjoy. I shall be visiting the sunbed on the way to pick up little miss (I know its not good for you but 15 minutes with the heat shining down, pretending I’m in St Lucia is just the escapism needed on a dreary, rainy day), snuggling on the settee for a bit of afternoon CBeebies and maybe some colouring in, eating pizza for tea and finishing the day with a glass of my favourite wine on the settee with hubby, whilst crocheting. My idea of heaven! Stuff everything that ‘needs’ doing, today I give myself permission to be a little self indulgent and it feels great!

Karen x

ps. Sorry for the rubbish quality of photos in this post, as aforementioned the light today is pants!

January so far

You can take the Brit out of Britain but you can’t take the Britain out of the Brit and so with that thought in mind I’m going to start todays post, true Brit style with a bit about the weather. What a mixed bag of weather we have had so far this January! We have had the odd sunny spell (fairly few and far between, I must say), we’ve had rain, we’ve had hail, we’ve had snow and just this last Thursday we had the mother of all storms, with winds over 100km, schools closed and trees falling left right and centre, it was a bit scary if I’m honest. Most of all though January has been grey, grey, grey and sooo dark. When its so dark outside its easy to start feeling glum but I can say thankfully that this year it has not hit me in the slightest. In fact the only thing blue around here are the shades of blue in some of the fabric and yarn I’ve been using. I’m not sure quite why, maybe its the fact that I went on the sun bed, burnt my bottom slightly and had a glow for a few days…as the glow worm song goes, its hard to be glum when the sun shines out your bum!!

Seriously though, I’m very thankful to be feeling good, whatever the reason.

I’m actually rather pleased with myself at how much I have managed to fit in this January and we’ve still got over a week left. The craft room sort has continued, the bed has gone and whilst we are planning on getting a bed settee to replace it, I’m actually enjoying having the space to spread out a bit at the moment…

At the side of the picture you can see a blanket laid out, this is the baby blanket I have been working on for a friends baby and as it has now been gifted, I can show you. Its actually the first time I have ever bothered to block a blanket as the squares had bunched up a bit. I was a bit nervous about blocking as I hadn’t done it before but I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I really love this blanket, especially the way you can see the crosses in the squares when the blanket is laid out. I’m very happy to say that the recipient was very happy with it too, which is after all why I make them.

I have been having a little experiment with appliqueing and stencilling bags with the idea of selling them at a craft fairs…

I’d love to know what you think of them.

In recent months as I think I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been yearning to work with fabric and start using the sewing machine again. I have so many ideas for things Id like to make on the sewing machine but have decided to start with bunting and bags. The bunting is all cut out and ready to go…

and here is the fabric I have lined up for the bags…

I still haven’t actually got the sewing machine out yet, for some reason I’m procrastinating. Its maybe nerves as I haven’t had the machine out for 2 years and I’m a bit worried I wont remember what to do. I am determined to get it out this week though and to have finished the bunting and a couple of bags by the end of January.

I’ve started running again after just not feeling like it for the last couple of months and am pretty happy with my progress. I even forced myself to go out on my own on a particularly cold and slushy Friday morning on my day off. I’m going to have a look for some 10km races to enter and once I see how they go, I may think about another half marathon.

I’ve even managed to find some time to do a bit of colouring (see top picture). Normally I don’t really see the point of those adult colouring books as you spend so long colouring the picture but don’t actually do anything with it. As part of one of my secret Santa presents at work I was bough a mindfulness colouring calendar, so I thought I’d have a go and as the picture will be displayed for a whole month I thought it was worth giving it a go. I have to say I really enjoyed it, Little Miss was doing her colouring alongside me and it was a really nice way to spend an hour or so.

I hope your January is going well and that you too are escaping the post Christmas blues. I’d love to know what craft projects you have been getting up to.

Karen x

January projects

In a bid to assign more time to crafting and at the same time set realistic goals (with all the thousands of creative ideas going around in my head that I want to do RIGHT NOW, its definitely worth a try!), I’ve decided to start making a list at the beginning of each month of the projects I would like to do and then review the list at the end of each month to see how I got on.

Here’s what I’m planning to achieve in January:

Finish crocheted granny squares baby blanket (I’d best get a wriggle on baby is due on Saturday…eeek!)
Continue and hopefully finish crocheted bright stripes full size blanket.
Start a crochet poncho for Little Miss
Make my first machine sewn fabric bunting.
3x stencil/ applique bags ready for craft stall.

I think this sounds achievable, right off to get started on the bunting, I’m very excited!

What crafty projects do you have on the go? I’d love to hear about them.

Karen x