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Another post I’ve been holding on to for the last month or so…

After yesterdays long post and copious photos of our garden shed I thought it would be nice to see some of the crafty stuff I’ve been getting up to over the Summer. Aside from shed building and bunting making this Summer has been all about mandalas. I’m not quite sure why but I just love mandalas and even more so of late. It all started way back in April when I found a mandala iron bead kit and went crazy on making iron  bead mandalas see here.  In May I bought a Mandala zenbroidery sewing kit see here and then I read all about Lucy of Attic24’s latest crochet mandalas and the seed was firmly planted!

Before we went away in the caravan I started the zenbroidery…

Since these pictures were taken, I’ve done loads more on this but I’ve decided not to show any more until its finished, which shouldn’t be too much longer (just so long as I can stop myself from starting any more projects in the meantime!!)

I took my stash of cotton minis with me on holiday in the caravan and spent a rainy afternoon blissfully playing with colours…

and set about making my first crochet hanging mandala…

It didn’t take as long as I thought it would and kicked myself for only taking one hoop away with me. Nevermind, as soon as I got home I set about making more…

The mandalas didn’t stop there, I found a mandala colouring book and now I’m hooked…

These are just 2 of many that I’ve coloured in, they really are addictive. I find colouring in so therapeutic and it can be picked up in any spare 5 minutes.

I am definitely not done there, I have 3 more hoops at the ready so I’m sure you will be seeing more crochet mandalas soon…just as soon as I’ve finished the 1000 other projects I’ve got on the go!! Hehe!

Karen x x

Ive been holding on to this post for so long, I even drafted it out well over a month ago and then life got in the way, August turned into September which then turned into October and I decided to get my backside in gear and stop ignoring my blog. so, here is the tale of what took over our lives over the Summer and beyond…

For years we had been umming and ahhing about what to do about our mismatched sheds. One of them had a fresh coat of paint this year (the other was made of plastic covered boards and corrugated plastic, yuck!) and was looking quite nice (from the side view) with hanging baskets

But, we just weren’t happy with them, they were too big, too open, too mismatched, too ramshackle and in a lovely sunny spot in the garden. So after lots of pondering and internet searching we decided to go for a shed with an attached covered seating area to make the most of the lovely late afternoon sun we get on that part of the garden. We set about ordering it and then the real work began. Once it arrived it needed staining before putting up, so many  many hours were spent:

painstakingly painting the panels…

dismantling the old sheds…

digging a bloody great big hole…

levelling the ground,putting in the concrete edging stones and filling bloody great big hole with 7 tonnes of hardcore:

levelling again, then filling with another 5 tonnes of gravel:

levelling again, beginning to lay the flagging stones and realising that the old flagging stones you were hoping to use for part of it, weren’t actually exactly the same size and having to buy yet more stones! Then finally laying the newly purchased flagging stones, brushing sand into the gaps and levelling yet again!

Then deciding that the bit at the back(that no one except us will ever see!) needed stones laying too, cue my groan and another a days painstaking work (we may have fallen out about this slightly but I do have to agree that it does look better now and yes the weeds will have a harder time growing through so may save us work in the long run!)

I’m sure you’ll agree that the finished groundwork/ patio look fabulous! It almost seemed a shame to put a shed on top.

But plough on we must, through several days of shed construction and finally, drum roll please, the finished result…

Doesn’t it look fabulous?! It still needs another coat of stain to ensure it stays weather proof and the feminine touch adding (I’m thinking bunting, seating and hanging mandalas) and then we can finally enjoy begin to enjoy it.

The man hours (and woman hours!) that have gone into this mammoth task have been incredible. Even the neighbours got involved and helped with shed dismantling and shifting piles of bricks. The whole family  spent many hours shovelling hardcore and gravel and even little Miss got in on the act with her little wheelbarrows and shovels, as did Dad when over for a visit(not with the mini tools I hasten to add!) But, the meticulous planning, sleepless nights and many many hours of hard work have been down to my lovely hubby. It was all worth it in the end but lets just say woe betide me if I suggest any more home improvements in the near future! I think diy may be a dirty word in our house for a few months, hehe!

Karen x x

A couple of years ago I cut out a load (well over 100) bunting triangles out of wipe clean tablecloth material.

I had every intention of making them into outdoor bunting for the caravan and the garden but just couldn’t quite decide how to join them and so they got left. I did look at them every once in a while but still couldn’t decide how to finish them off. I had thought of maybe using a glue gun (I have to admit I did pinch the outdoor bunting idea and possibility of joining them this way from a friend) but I just wasn’t convinced they would last. So, a few weeks ago I took them out once again, pondered over them for a bit and had a light bulb moment to sew them on the machine. I had thought the needle may not be strong enough but it worked a treat. I spent the last  evening before we went away in the caravan, frantically sewing about 70 of  the bunting triangles.

Once we arrived at our holiday destination I set about threading the triangles on to washing line (I had considered sewing them on to binding but this way, I can take them on and off the washing line if necessary, if I feel like changing the pattern or if one breaks, it can be replaced quite easily. I had enough to make a string of bunting for both ours and family’s caravan. Stupidly I didn’t take any photographs of ours once up but here is the other caravan bedecked in beautiful bunting…

After a bit of inclement weather causing the bunting to blow around, hubby cleverly thought of clipping on some funky table weights which worked a treat (forgot to take a photo again though, oops!)

I still have quite a few bunting triangles left so I’ve decided that once the new shed and seating area in the garden are finished they shall also be bedecked with bunting…I’m very excited, pics will definitely follow!

Not only have I been making outdoor bunting but I’ve also had a bit of a spurt on making indoor bunting, making 3 sets. I made these purely for the reason that I had never made bunting and wanted to give it a go. One set was gifted to my sister in law and I have yet to decide where the others will go. One is more than likely going to adorn the walls of my craft room, squueeeee!

Anyway, without further ado, here they are, be warned there are A LOT of photos as I was just so darn chuffed with my first (3) attempt(s) at bunting!

Are you still there? I am impressed!

Until next time

Karen x x

What a fabulous and sunny summer it has been. I’m not quite sure where the last 5 weeks have gone but the Summer holidays are almost over and its about time I caught up on my poor neglected blog. It has been a busy Summer, hence the lack of posts, but busy in a nice way as opposed to the hectic day to day busyness of the school term, which no doubt will hit me like a train next week! Anyway, with a week left till the madness begins and with little Miss now back at kindergarten I intend to make the most of my time crafting and catch up with blog posts. There has been a fair amount of crafting over the holidays but this post is going to be a pure indulgent look back at the Summer fun we’ve been having, my crafty exploits will follow shortly…expect to be bombarded with crafty posts over the next few days!

The Summer holidays started off with absolutely scorching weather, so hot it was difficult to do an awful lot. Mum and Dad visited and struggled with the heat a little but we managed a few short trips out, including picking flowers, visiting parks and gardens and playing pooh sticks in the river…

We loved having them here, its great for Little miss to spend time with much loved relatives that we don’t get to see often enough.

After Mum and Dad headed off back to blighty, Little Miss and I had a week alone before we all headed off to Holland in the caravan. Again it was a swelteringly hot and Little Miss didn’t want to venture outside much so we kept ourselves busy with dvds and early morning jaunts outside to water the garden (Summer garden post to follow shortly)and the occasional trip to the park when it wasn’t quite so melting hot and of course sorting and packing up the caravan. I love the hot weather and am not one to complain when we have a run of good weather but if I’m honest it was a little too hot and unfortunately not the best week we’ve ever spent together. I would have loved to have had a few days out to the tier park or outdoor pool but it was just a little too hot for us so we mostly stayed in the relative cool of the house.

The following 2 weeks were spent in the caravan in Holland where (thank goodness) we had a mixed bag of weather. I don’t have an awful lot of photos to show as most of the ones I took were of us and family  that we went with and I don’t like posting photos of other peoples faces without their permission. We did have a lovely time though and time was spent relaxing, playing, swimming, paddling, bike riding

and a trip to a lovely tier park where little miss delighted at feeding some of the animals. I wont bore you with copious shots of animals but I do need to share this little cutie…

The meerkats were my absolute favourite. What’s not to love about this adorable little fella?

Returning home from the holiday was, as always a bittersweet experience, its always nice to come home but so hard to leave family knowing it’ll be a while before you get to see them again. Last week little miss was back at kindergarten, hubby at work and so I’ve spent the spare time unpacking, sorting and running with a bit of crafting thrown in for good measure! The time has gone so quick though, it does make me wonder how I ever fit everything in when I’m working. Well I wont have to wait too much longer to be reminded of how I do (or sometimes really don’t!) manage to juggle everything when work starts again. But for now, intend to make the most of every last minute of this week, so on that note, I’m off to get the crocheting out. I hope you’re all having a wonderful summer too.

Karen x

Yet again, its taken me until the middle of the month to write a review of last months projects but nevermind, better late than never! Here it is:

Spring embroidery sampler: its finished and I actually got round to framing it too, along with my winterberry embroidery…Here’s my version of the spring sampler, compared to the original. Much as I did like the original, I wanted to put my twist on it, there was a little too much green for my liking!

Linen project bag: I did the embroidery on this and was all ready to sew it up when I discovered I’ve lost the velvet ribbon that goes in it for the tie, so its currently all pinned up waiting until I either find the original ribbon or a suitable alternative.

Mystery crochet project: This remains a mystery, I’ve lost steam with it so may put it to the side for a little while.

Zenbbroidery mandala: this is going very well and is largely the reason that I haven’t finished the mystery project as I seem to be wanting to work on this at every available opportunity.

I’m loving the embroidering so much, I find it very therapeutic rather like colouring in.

Ripple blanket: The ripple blanket is going well, albeit slowly as I keep getting sidetracked with the embroidery and machine sewing. I’m just about a third of the way through it now but I’m in no hurry to finish it just yet.

Machine sewing: Yippee, the old bird finally came out of her retirement and I am very very excited about all the things I am planning to make with her! So far I have whipped up lots and lots of bunting triangles. One length of bunting is actually complete,  1 more ones is all pinned up ready to have the binding sewn on and a third is just waiting to be pinned. Here is a sneak preview of the completed one but there will be a full post once all 3 sets are finished…

Itty bitty squares: they still remain in a box, with their itty bitty ends still attached. I think this may well be left for a little while and picked up in the Autumn in blanket making weather.

All in all I’m quite happy with what I achieved in June, especially the bunting. Unfortunately I don’t have an awful lot of spare time at the moment but I can see the sewing machine put into A LOT more use in the near future.

July project goals

Seeing as though we’re already almost half way through July it seems a bit daft to write a separate July goals post so I decided to tag it on to this one. Pretty much my only goal for the next week is to get through the last week at work, the last few weeks at school in the summer term are always a bit manic to say the least. Crafting wise, I’ll be happy if I finish the 3 sets of bunting that I’ve started, finish the linen bag and continue to work on the Zenbroidery mandala. Anything else I manage to get done will be a bonus!

What crafty makes are you up to at the moment?

Karen x

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