Jasper and the big red balloon

This could end in tears! Just wanted to share these photo's of my lovely puppy and his first encounter with a big red balloon!

Busy lives

It's been a while since I've had the chance to sit down and crochet. Life's been very busy and the excitement of a new puppy has taken over our lives, he's so sweet and everybody just adores him. He's not big enough to go out for  walks yet, he only had his first set of vaccinations with his breeder and he can't have the second until 8th May when he's 12 weeks, but he loves going out in our enclosed garden and is getting really good with his toilet training. Yesterday he had his first puppy class and was by far the tiniest there, every other dog towered over him, but after seeing the cocker spaniels leaping round like loonies, I'm really glad we decided on a Cavalier King Charles.  I have been taking him out in the car lots, he has his own (cat) basket that he rides in and is just so good, just lies down and goes to sleep. I've also been taking him out with me here there and everywhere to socialise him and get him used to all the sounds, sights and smells around him so he grows into a well balanced, happy, confident woofer!

We've also celebrated 5 birthdays this week, mine was on Monday and I'm moving ever closer towards the big 4 0. My best friend took me to my favourite garden centre for a wander and then to the pub for lunch which was fab. Little H celebrated his 5th birthday yesterday with a barbecue in the beautiful sunshine and a massive party last Sunday. My sister in law and nephew also had birthdays on the same day and my husband celebrates his birthday tomorrow. So all in all a very busy week.

I finally got to sit down today and finish the booties I'd been making and had promised to my friend for her shop. I love how they've turned out and hope they keep a few little pairs of tootsies warm.

Chaos

My house has turned onto an animal madhouse! The kittens are the puppy have most definitely made friends and you take your life in your hands crossing the living room in the morning and risk being mown over by a whirling dervish of fluff, fur, kittens and puppy. I love it, wouldn't have it any other way :0)

Last night I got a few minutes peace and quiet and finished the booties I've been making. They are for my little nephew Zak and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.  I used a newborn pattern from YouTube and adapted it in length and size to fit Zak's bigger feet as he's now 3 months old.  I'm a big, big fan of Robin wool, I just love how it feels and crochets up and I made these using Robin Chunky. The little stars on them were some buttons I had in my button box and I think they finished them off really nicely. The booties crochet up so fast, I finished both of them in under an hour and a half. They fitted him perfectly and I'm hoping, will keep his tiny feet warm until the weather warms up a bit.

Well, Jasper's first night went amazingly well. I put him in his big cardboard box at about 10pm and immediately he made a bee line for the baby bed mats and duly produced a pee and poo, in all the excitement of getting him the breeder didn't tell me he was paper trained and I forgot to ask! Poor baby must have been holding on and holding on thinking "when are these stupid people ever oing to take me to the loo?!" After about 4 minutes of barking he settled down and slept right through until I woke him at 8am. How good was that!  I'm not counting my chickens yet, tonight could be a whole different matter!

I started making some little baby booties on Thursday, the boots themselves are finished but the pretty it's aren't quite, I might try and finish them off this afternoon while Jasper is sleeping and post some photo's later x

Introducing the newest member of our family.........

Today was a super exciting day for everyone in our family. After such a long search we finally found a responsible and trusted breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels who had puppies available. After another trek up to Old London Town, thankfully only as far as Heathrow this time we were able to choose our new puppy and bring him home. His name is Jasper-Joe and he's a real heart stealer.

To say I'm head over heals in love is an understatement! He is absolutely stunning with a tiny wrinkled nose and feet far to big for his body. His new collar and lead that had been so carefully chosen had to be put to one side until he gets bigger and instead he is borrowing one of Skye cats collars, her harness and lead (Skye likes to travel about visiting people with me, especially my Mum)

The kittens were fine with him, a little wary to begin with but after an hour or so they were fine, they were both brought up at the breeders with dogs so they are used to them, however I do fear Jasper will end up thinking he's more cat than dog by the time my girls have finished with him!

Here's a few piccy's of him xx

For some reason I seem to have problems scrolling down the page when writing a blog, it only lets me see what is actually on the page and not further down so I apologise for the bittiness of my posts. It also won't load the blue flower picture so I'll have a go at uploading that later. In the meantime here's a few more close ups of the detail on the cushion:

Flowers.........for me? How lovely, what have you done?!

I always know my hubby's up to something when I come home to flowers....................

Very beautiful aren't they? I love the colours and they really are making me happy and brighten up my day, however I'm not sure I can say the same about the little jet boat parked outside!!!!!!  He says its his newest project and the kids will love it in the summer when it's up and running! I guess it'll be fun so I forgive him :0)


I've had inspiration to make a flower garden cushion for a while now and the last 2 days that's what I've been working on.  I have to admit that I am very pleased with the finished result. My daughter made me the cushion and cover on the sewing machine and I did the rest.

I crocheted each flower before really deciding what to do with them and they naturally came together.  My favourite is the blue one that's beaded with tiny blue seed beads and iridescent sequins. I love the flower beads in the middle of the grass too, I bought them at the weekend at the Excel Exhibition and they seemed perfectly suited to this project.

Here's a close up of the flowers:

Flower garden

I came across a fantastic site whilst surfing last night and inspiration hit me for my next project. Here's the link:

                                http://www.allcrafts.net/crochet/crochetflowers.htm

I'm going to make up a plain sky blue cushion and crochet lots of different flowers to go on it and 
turn it into a really pretty flower garden. My daughter has offered to make me the cushion, at 13 she's 
really good on the sewing machine, I may even go so far to say as she is much better than me!

I'm loving my hexagon blanket too so I'm going to be a bit torn between which to work on. I'm a bit 
of a pain when it comes to projects, I get half way through one and then inspiration hits and I move 
onto the next. What I really need is a finishing off day where all loose ends get sewn in, all patches 
get sewn together, borders get crocheted on and all details get finished. I must make this my 
mission..............................just not today :0)

He he, a funny picture of my funny cat to make your day all funny! Xxxxx

My fur babies

Meet Skye-Belle, my bonkers baby Bengal. She is mad mad mad! Slightly lacking in the brain department and the clumsiest cat you've ever come across but with the sweetest personality. She was a poorly baby when I got her, riddled with fleas, suffering with suspected cat flu and oozing eyes and had terrible diarrhoea, who refused to come out from under the chest of drawers in my bedroom and growled at anyone who came near her. I gently nursed her back to health with the help of our splendid vet and she has turned into such a lovely companion. She's really comical and follows me round all day chirping away like she's holding a conversation, she loves the car and I keep a lead in the door pocket for her which she happily wears if we go out! She comes with me most mornings to take Little H to school and sits on the passenger seat waiting for me to come back. I fear she's a bit of a collectomaniac, the things she brings in through the cat flap are hilarious, sticks, plastic doggy bags (thankfully unused) socks, a plastic spade and just yesterday was very vocal and pleased with the jelly sweet she'd "caught"  :0)     Silly cat!

My other kitten is the stunning Lupin-Blue. She is a white Turkish angora and the softest cat you've ever felt. I got her the same day as Skye (before we knew poor Skye was so poorly) Right from the start she has been a dream, she's so loving a friendly and has such a loud purr. She loves everyone and is always full of affection and kisses. She looks so large then you pick her up and realise she's all fur and is actually a very delicate cat underneath the amazing coat.   Lupin is a mouser and delights on dropping one by my pillow during the night for me to find with a shriek in the morning! She's very very quick, thankfully the birds in the garden had got this figured and sit on the fence taunting her while she quivers and chatters away, I'm sure they know what they're doing!   I seem to spend my life removing twigs, leaves and moss from her fur, goodness knows where she goes?

I decided to start letting my cats out now, they're both approaching 10 months and are fully vaccinated, microchipped and spayed. I've grown up with cats and they've always been given freedom. I can't imagine keeping them as house cats when I see them basking in the sun and chasing

leaves round the garden, but I do understand people's fears and I do worry greatly whether giving them freedom is a good move as I adore them so much and would be devastated if anything happened to them.  They were so desperate to go outside and kept escaping so I decided it allow them.

They are now the best of friends, chasing around all over the house and curling up on the bed at night together. They really are simply scrumptious!

Flower Cushion

This afternoon I finally got round to sewing up a cushion I made a while ago. I followed a pattern from Lucy at Attic 24, I loved hers so much I tried to replicate her colour choices, I think I achieved it however I did make a few colour changes along the way. I'm really pleased with the finished pieces but I stuffed it with toy stuffing as its all i had to hand and it's really spoilt it :0(       I've taken it apart again and am going to get a nice heavy circular feather cushion liner and restitch it.   I'm cross with myself because I knew I was cutting corners but hoped I'd be able to pull it off, but it didn't work so it's back to square one!

Olympic knitters

I met an amazing group of ladies yesterday, and I'm hoping they eventually achieve their goal. They were from the east end of London and had set about challenging people to knit or crochet them a square. The goal was to stitch together all 2012 patches in one long line then take it into the Olympic Stadium and stretch it right the way round the running track. They managed to get 2012 patches plus several more but unfortunately the powers that be said they were unable to facilitate the request as it was a health and safety hazard?!!!!!  Boooooo.  

They are hoping that West Ham may be more accommodating when they take over the site, so fingers crossed. Once they have done this they are going to separate up all the patches and stitch them into blankets to go abroad for children in the third world.

I though it was an amazing achievement and I really hope they reach their goal.

Crafty craft fair

Well that was a long old day and I can one say with certainty that my heart lies in the countryside and not driving through the urban sprawl of London with it's hustle, bustle and down right rude, impatient drivers!!!!    That aside I had a very inspirational day, saw lots of amazing products from very talented people that I wish I'd thought of, and came away with a head full of excitement and ideas.

Right in the middle of the fair was an amazing exhibition on the theme of under the sea and everything contained in it was either knitted or crocheted and was life size. The work had come from far and wide and from all over the world, including a puffin I fell in love with from Singapore. I've uploaded a few so you can see how marvellous it was............