Arthur is now a walking 1 year old!

Arthur is no longer my little baby, he is fast becoming a walking toddler!

This video was taken a week before his 1st birthday on the 2nd of December and he's much more confident now, he's walking all around the house.. following me everywhere!! He can turn corners now without toppling over so Rose hardly ever has a moment of peace without him following her and trying to wrestle her! They are definitely ones to enjoy some rough play, if I hear Arthur crying out I'll go into the room their in and check no ones hurt and Most of the time I catch him being rougher with Rose than she is to him. He's finally getting some pay-back time are being pushed around for months by his big sister! 

I've been finishing off a few more craft projects...

I crocheted these maybelle flowers aggess ago with the intention of making them into a garland and then for a month they sat forgotten about while I got on with other things, then when I returned to finish off the garland I decided I'd actually prefer the look of them as a cushion instead. I turned the flowers into the Maybelle squares and then added a slightly floral red backing fabric and I love the way it's turn out. It now has pride of place on my sofa.

I finished off the little cardigan I was knitting for Gem's bump... it's supposed to be unisex as they don't know the sex of the baby but the blue buttons are quite floral.. Oh well, I think they look lovely. Even if the baby is a boy, a little bit of prettiness never hurt anyone! 

I came across my Best ever charity shop find the other day. I never come across items like this usually but I was obviously having a very fortunate day! This crocheted granny square throw/shawl was put in the charity shop by some crazy person and it was priced at only £7.50! I absolutely adore it and it's made with 4ply yarn so must have taken forever to make, I can't believe someone got rid of it!

Last night I finished Rose's Maggie rabbit that I'm going to give to her on Christmas day. I'm super chuffed with her because I'm not very experienced with hand-sewing but the pattern was really detailed and it was actually pretty simple! I love her... 

Our house isn't looking very festive at the moment, as we are currently going with a brown box Everywhere theme this year... we are moving on the 3rd of January (back to Dorset!) and so we are having to pack everything up in the next couple of weeks. We're going to stay with my family for a couple of day's over Christmas so at least we'll enjoy a bit of Christmas cheer there instead!

I'm so exciting about moving but also a little terrified. It feels a bit like I'm going to be starting all over again with the whole making friends thing, I hated not knowing anybody when we first moved here to Chichester but I need to remind myself that it's totally different this time. Now I have the children as a way to meet people and I'm pretty chatty, so I should make some friends quite quickly.. I hope! We have a couple of friends that will live about a 15 minute drive from us but I'd like to get settled and meet some people that live directly in my area too.. Finger's crossed. Wish us luck!

xxx

A little catch up with my most recent makes...

I finished Rose's Sunday sweater the other week. She wore it a few times before I even got around to blocking it! It looks so much better after being blocked though and the stitches look so much smoother. I knit the 4/5 year size thinking it would be pretty baggy on her and last for a couple years but it fits pretty much perfectly. Rose is just so tall! People seem generally shocked when I tell them she's not 3 until January, she looks so much older already..

I wouldn't usually go for such a girly pink colour when knitting but this Cascade yarn is from the 'heather' range and is quite multi-tonal, there are little flecks of light and dark pinks in there. I like the prettiness of it though and it looks lovely with a lot of her dresses.

When I was back in Bridport last month I bought two skeins of this yarn by Araucania Yarns. It's called Puelo and is double knit weight. The yarn is 100% llama and is very soft, initially I was planning on knitting myself a hat and then like usual, I changed my mind.

I decided to knit Arthur a jumper, from a pattern that I'd had saved on my Ravelry favourites list for ages. It's called Livingston and is the most lovely jumper. The yarn knit up like a dream and is so soft on Arthur's skin. I really enjoyed knitting the jumper but the pattern was so much more complicated than what I prefer... you had to start knitting from the bottom up, then knit the sleeves separately on DPN's, then attach them all together on the circular needle, then there were instructions to break the yarn on several occasions while knitting the top part of the jumper. All in all there were a Lot of ends to sew in at the end!

You can't really tell from these photographs but the little wooden buttons have tree's engraved on them. Very sweet, I bought them from Cloth Kits a while ago. I'd actually only bought three for some reason a couple months back, then when I realised that I needed one more I popped back into the shop and after a search I found the very last button they had in the shop. It was like it was meant to be! 

I knit the 12 month size but as I was using double knit weight yarn instead of sport, it turned out more around the 18 month size. Arthur is a quite a big boy at 11 months now though, so it already fits him! It just has a small amount of room for growth on the arms and length. Perfect really. :-)

I've also knitted a pair of Edwin Creams and happily managed to get one pair out of a 50g ball of Rowan pure wool 4ply. I just had to make the ribbing section a little shorter and be careful not to waste any yarn. I think the next time I knit these I will knit with 2.75mm needles though as these are slightly loose and because I'm always pushing the buggy, they tend to roll up a little which is a bit annoying. The perfect excuse to knit another pair!

I've been sewing quite a few of these drawstring lined pretty bags for me to store my knitting projects in. I'm attempting to get myself more organised! They are rather addictive to sew because they are so simple though and I've even sewn one for Rose's spare nursery clothes. She starts going to nursery 3 afternoon's a week the week after next and I am really looking forward to have a bit of one on one time with Arthur, she is so ready to go though and will love it.

Rose and Arthur seem to be growing at an alarming rate these day's... Arthur will be 11 months on Saturday and Rose will be 3 at the end of January. I was looking back on some of my photo's on my laptop from over the last 3/4 years and I can't quite believe how much things have changed!

I mean... he's already able to stand, all by himself!!

I wonder what the next 3 or 4 years hold...

Ashley xxx

Ta-dah! Mini quilt for my Nan x

Finally I have finished the mini quilt made for my Nan's birthday and it's in the post to her, so she should get it today when they return from having a few day's away.

I hope she likes it, I've sewn a few mini curtain/blind rings on the back for her to hang it up somewhere. I've said she can put it up somewhere that people won't have to look at it too much if she wants! 

I used a paper-piecing template that my auntie gave to me and used fabric that I had bought at The Make Lounge, it did take quite a while... but that was solely down to me being lazy and putting it aside about a hundred times!

I did my best at embroidering a label to go on the back of the quilt for her but the handwriting wasn't as neat as I would have liked but then again, I'm not a very experienced embroiderer!

Rose is becoming a bit of a bean-pole, she seems to be getting taller and taller every day. She's already the same height as my friends little girl that is over two now. I always remember being quite tall when I was a child though so she'll probably end up the same as myself. We had a bit of a disturbed night's sleep last night, as she seems to have caught a bad cold. There was a Lot of runny noses at the Wednesday toddler group that we go to, so I suppose she was bound to catch it off of somebody there..!

Right, I'm off to package up some parcels. I've been having a bit of a clear-out and have sold a load of clothes and things on eBay to raise some funds. But now it's the boring bit of having to get everything ready to post... not my favourite job in the world I have to say!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A quick peek at what I'm working on...

It's my Nan's birthday soon and I've been busy trying to finish her present in time, I just don't seem to have as much 'get up and go' at the moment and sometimes struggle to find the motivation to get working on things. I have so many WIP's at the moment that I need to get finished!

I started this paper-pieced patchwork quite a while ago now from a template that was given to me by my auntie, I'm making my first mini quilt to hang up on the wall and am struggling to decide how I will quilt it all together.. hhmm...

My friend has just had a beautiful baby and myself with a couple of other friends went round to hers for lunch. I was to provide something sweet for an after lunch treat and I made a chocolate fridge cake... and I have to say it went down Very well! I'm in denial about how many pieces I had myself but it's not I eat it everrryy day.. I would if I could get away with it though! Yum yum... :-)

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend..?! It was a nice sunny one here which makes a change to the Constant rain we've been coping with!

xxxxxxxxxx

Life according to my Instagram.

I've been using Instagram on my iPhone quite a lot lately and thought I would give you a little peek at some of the photo's I've put on there.. 

I meant to put a few of these photo's on my blog before but never got around to it so here's a little catch-up!

 

(Rose's new favourite place, she climbs up onto the buggy to have a peek through the blinds to see what's going on in the street outside.)

(This photo reminds me of the lovely sunny weather we were having a little while back... where has it gone!!?)

(It's been a very gradual process but I've been working a little English paper-pieced patchwork.)

(Hot milky time before bed!)

(Now that's a whole lotta citrus!)

(Apparently this is the new way to travel... not in the comfy padded buggy seat no, but down in the shopping basket..! Sooo normal, haha..)

(I've been busy sewing pin cushions to go in my Etsy shop, now I just need to actually list them on there!)

(It was a day for polka-dots)

(Mum came to stay and we were pretty unlucky with the weather, so we enjoyed having mornings in our pj's while crafting together.)

(Rose has discovered a love of tomato ketchup... I'm rationing it!)

(and finallyyyy... I'm actually almost finished sewing all of my patchwork shapes together, it's only taken me Months!)

If you fancy following me on Instagram you can find me by searching 'countryrosecrafts'.

I can't wait until I can get my iPhone upgraded, the camera picture quality is pretty pants on the one I have now. It does the job okay though..! :-) 

I hope your all having a brilliant bank holiday weekend. Ray is working lots to try and get us some extra pennies but we have the whole day together tomorrow, pleassseee don't let it rain, again!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Now that's a lotta stripes!

I'm currently half way through knitting the second sleeve of the little jumper for my friends new baby. I've never knitted stripes before but it's actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be... although having two balls of wool on the go at once, I do keep getting them all tangled around each other!

Rose had two of her friends around this afternoon for lunch, along with their mums who I'm good friends with. They all tired each other out, along with us Mums too! Rose went down for a nice long sleep after they left, I think I could actually have done with going down for a nice nap myself! I took the opportunity to get some sewing done though... my Mum's coming to visit tomorrow for the weekend (Yay!) and I'd like to finish what I'm working on before she gets here if possible.

We've been having a lot of family time together at one of our local parks... that girl Loves the swings! Whether it's on her own in the baby swing or on either one of our laps..!

We hadn't been to this park before and so Rose enjoyed discovering this purple tunnel to climb through... 

lots of new experiences every day!

We have some lovely neighbours and the elderly couple next door are always interested on how Rose is getting on, they gave her the sweetest little toy for her 1st birthday. I regularly have a chat with them when we're all out in our garden's (we live in a terrace house) and Rose can never quite understand how she can see someone through our fence in the garden. She always seems to get the giggles when I'm talking to them out in the garden and she spots them through the gaps in the fence. The other day she offered me some old toys and books that she used to have at her house for when the grandchildren came to visit, it was a lovely thought. :-)

Right, Rose is currently enjoying a little post-nap Cbeebies and a little pot of mini cheddars and she's nice and quiet... so I'm going enjoy a few more minutes of sewing!

xxxxxxxxx

It's raining, it's pouring!

I took these photo's the day before yesterday when it was lovely and sunny outside. Today is a different story... it's just WET! It's been pouring since I was I got up with Rose at 6am but at least the garden is getting a good watering! It definitely needed it...

I have a friend coming round with her little girl for a cup of tea this morning and then I have a lot of sewing and knitting planned for this afternoon. I don't plan to leave the house AT all, no thank you! Not unless it suddenly becomes beautiful weather outside! 

I'm currently knitting a cute stripy jumper for my friends newborn baby and then have a couple of patchwork bibs to get on with. 

Rose has now fully discovered the joys of crayons and has a little desk all of her own, so is spending a Lot of her time squiggling away on her colouring pads. She's been a bit under the weather the last few day's and has been really grumpy so I was realllyyy relieved this morning, when I was greeted with a smile when I went into her room. We seem to have got our happy little girl back! :-)

xxxxxxxxx

Giveaway goodies through my letterbox!

A little while ago I won a giveaway over at Rosie Hearts and then forgot all about it until I got a very exciting email in my inbox saying my my prize was on it's way to me in the post.

I'm completely over the moon with my new sunglasses case, it's sewn together perfectly and look how neat that freehand writing is! Amazing!

My glasses have gone straight inside it and I'm glad to have got rid of my old scuffed case. :-)

Thank you very much!

xxxx

Friday afternoon fun.

We planned to have a barbecue this weekend as the weather is so lovely here on the south-east coast of England at the moment but we still hadn't got our own one for this garden. So in a spare moment from work at lunchtime ray popped down and picked us one up. As you can see, Rose was in heaven having the thing in a million pieces on the front room floor... she gave it a good go but in the end Daddy had to take over to put it together.

We had my some friends round for a BBQ yesterday afternoon and it was really lovely. I took some nice photo's but when I went to look at them last night, I realised I had made the ultimate photography mistake and hadn't put the memory card in the camera! SO annoying!

We're having some of Ray's family around today for Another barbecue... it seems we've caught the barbecue bug! But it makes sense to be out enjoying the garden as much as possible whilst it's so warm and sunny. We've constantly got the french doors open to the garden at the moment and Rose is loving exploring everything out there.

I've been busy on the sewing machine sewing a few bibs for Cuckoo. I'm really happy with how their turning out, I hope she likes them! :-)

Right, I'm off to start preparing for today's BBQ! I hope your all having a lovely weekend and the weather is nice wherever you are...

xxxxxxxxxx