The Granny Rose and Hello April

 I love April it's my favourite month of the year, longer nights and warmer weather but as I'm writing this there is snow falling outside, amazing really when you think that the temperatures were more than 10° higher last week, looking back to last year we had snow in April then too. At least I know that there won't be much more of it and it will get warmer. 

Looking back on March  I am happy to say that I did manage to complete everything that I said I would and a little bit extra too.  The last thing I made was another 24" square for the comfort blankets.

The Granny Rose 

I love this rose and have used it quite extensively in the past if you want to take a quick peek you can see more of my granny rose projects below. Back then, I thought it would be a lovely idea to make a blanket for my bed using this design and I set about making dozens of these roses and then crocheting them into granny squares, then other things took over and they got put to one side.  I have resurrected  these and joined them into a larger square, I think that they look really pretty and would make a lovely centrepiece for a larger blanket.

More of the Granny rose...

A Poncho For Joanie

My Family Think I've Lost The Plot

When Two CALS Meet

Granny Rose Cushion

The Granny rose pattern can be found on the lovely Astri's blog Apple Blossom Dreams.

Other Things

The trees just beyond my garden border have worried me since I moved in here over four years ago, I do love trees but when they plant them they do so without any thought of which type of tree would suit the space.

Taken yesterday as you can see a dull wet day with the odd snowfall.

These will grow over 20 feet high if left unchecked, already their roots have grown half way down my garden towards the house, I can't dig the soil because of the roots and the decking is buckled in places because of them. My garden is South facing but these trees completely block the sun when they are in full leaf.  A few years ago I asked the council if they would trim them and they refused so my neighbour and myself  took matters into our own hands and got someone to trim them for us.

Taken through my bedroom window, my heart was in my mouth watching him and he stayed up there in the midst of falling snow and sleet showers too working for over four hour on my side alone.

I've just snapped this photo below while the sun is shining you can see the difference, they don't look very pretty now but I'm sure that they will, as soon as they put on new branches and leaves in the Summer.

As I was driving home along the sea front this morning I saw this rainbow and I quickly parked the car and took a picture of it.

You can hardly see it in the photo, it looked so much nicer in real life . 

My March 

To do in April

• Give you my thoughts about waterfall crochet.
• Make at least one baby blanket.
• Embroider the birth month flower daisy x2
• Make an Easter display
• Continue with my Spring garland.

I'm sure that lots more inspiration will come a knocking.  What are you planning for April?

Well I think it's time for a little bit of Italian study, I have learnt a few words which is better than nothing at least a few things have sunk into my brain, a few random words that on their own don't mean very much at all, ah well at least I'm trying 😀

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, take care until next time.😘😘

String Tote Round up, another great CAL and a givaway!

Thank you for all the lovely comments about Odoh's Story and the Fantasy blanket, I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and liked the blanket.

I have also been overwhelmed and touched by all the lovely comments and emails I have received about my string tote tutorial, thank you so much! it's lovely to hear all your comments and the reasons why you want to make these bags.  
Here are some more that I have made for birthday gifts.

Made for Susan

  Embellished with Astri's granny Rose and made for AnneMarie.

Embellished with a granny rose and made for Dianne.

Remember these bags are great stash busters! 

Stats
Cream bag 42 grams, patons 4ply cotton
Pink Bag 55 grams. 2 strands of 4ply cone cotton
Green bag 56 grams. DK cotton/acrylic blend 
All weights include flowers.
It's interesting to note that the cream bag takes the least yarn, is the smallest looking bag, in fact you hardly know it's  in your handbag but when opened it stretches more than the others and therefore holds more. 

I thought it only right to round up some of the lovely bags you have been making and display them here.

Hindusanka

Astri

Casey

Loving Hands

I think that they are all fantastic! every time I find one I will add it here and link it to the tutorial to show all the lovely colours and variations so please let me know if I have missed yours.

A Crochet Along
As you all must know by now I love a crochet a long and I have just spied yet another I really want to do.  I'm not really sure that my finished result will look anything like it's supposed to but I'm going to give it a try anyway.  I'm talking about the Nesting Dolls CAL with Kara at Petals and Picots

Arn't they cute! 

A Giveaway
Amanda at Crafty in the Med wants to celebrate her 2nd blogaversary by having a mystery giveaway, so if you haven't done so already there is still time to join in as it's open until August the 24th! 

Hope you are all having a great week! :)

Granny Rose Poncho 2

If you remember a few weeks ago I found this yarn in my stash and I decided to make a poncho for myself  for Sucrettes CAL.  Well I did finish it a while ago but haven't had time to show you all till now, this is the finished result. 

 As you can see my addiction to Astri's granny roses is still very much alive and well. I made ten granny rose squares joined them into a v shape for the neck and then just crocheted around them and continued until it was the size I wanted.  The yarn wasn't that easy to crochet with however because there were bobbles in it, and me crochet and bobbles usually do not get on but I persevered with it until....... horror of horror's I was nearly finished but I was so scared there wouldn't be enough wool to finish it, I know you have all been there almost afraid to continue in case you would run out just before the end with no way of buying any more yarn to complete it, but as you can see there was just enough.   

It's lovely and thick, soft and luxurious to wear and I was going to put it away for the winter, but after a week of beautiful sunshine, it's raining, miserable and cold in the North East of England once again so I think I will leave it out  for now. :)

When two CALs Meet :)

I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has left me lovely comments about my posts and a big welcome to all my new Followers, I love to read your comments, it does mean a lot to me to hear your views and to know that you enjoy my blog, AND I now have 99 Followers I'm wondering who is going to be my 100th :)

This week I have been combining my love of making poncho's with my love of granny Roses, so it seemed to make sense to make a poncho for Angie's CAL and decorated it with Astri's granny roses and here is the result.

 

I just love it, those lovely roses turn everything into something special.

If you remember I began this little poncho here

Here it is all finished and decorated with a granny rose.  These little poncho's will be ideal for this part of the Loving Hands Summer challenges. 

If you remember I found some lovely snugly wool in my stash and I decided to make a poncho for myself, well it's nearly finished and I will post a picture as soon as it's done.  

Granny Rose CAL Grand Finale

In last weeks CAL Astri showed us how to complete the final round of the squares and showed us her method of joining the squares together here.  I loved her method of joining but unfortunately I had jumped the gun a bit and had started joining mine beforehand and had used the join as you go method, so here is one side of the cushion all joined up and ready for the next stage.

 

I had intended to keep the other side of the cushion plain but I wanted to try Astris joining method so I tried that with the reverse squares, then I found some stray roses and thought they would look good sewn onto the back too.  So now I have a two sided cushion I can swap over when I like.

In this weeks CAL we were shown how to join the two sides together, make a picot edging and add buttons.

So at last here is my beautiful finished cushion

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaa

 It's very pretty I think and it blends in with my décor beautifully, however I think this cushion looks lonely by itself so I'm going to make another one to keep it company :)

This is the reverse side

Granny Rose CAL progress so far

Here are the roses all waiting patiently  for their leaves.  I am only putting the roses on one side of the cushion so here are 12 of these little beauties.  This cushion will be for my sitting room and later on when I have managed to finish some of the other things I have on the go I will be making at least another one, I have the colours picked out already :)
This week Astri showed us how to make the next round or leaves, at first I wasn't sure about the dark green I have chosen but now I think that the dark green shade brings out the colour of the flowers and here they are all done and ready for the next step. 

I'm really enjoying this CAL it's fun and I can't wait to see my finished cushion at the end of it all, still two weeks to go so it's not too late to catch up if you want to join us. :)

On the subject of flowers

I have flower mania at the moment.  Well it is spring and the weather is beautiful, I know it’s going to change very soon but for now I’m enjoying it and looking forward to all the lovely flowers which will eventually bloom in my garden.  I have the urge to crochet flowers, my lovely kids gave me some money for Mother’s Day and I had to buy these books.

Endless possibilities I can’t wait to get started and yes I know I should finish off the projects I'm doing at the moment but I do enjoy doing several things at once and everything does get finished eventually and flowers are quick to make and even if you don’t use them straight away they can be waiting there ready to adorn some creation you have completed and give it that final touch which will make it beautiful.

So you can imagine my delight when I came across this Crochet-a-long.

What a beautiful blog and what a beautiful cushion, roses are my favourite flower so I just had to take part, I came across this just recently and so am a little late but it’s just week two so plenty of time to catch up.  I am now at the stage of deciding on which colours and what type of yarn and where I want to put the cushion, sitting room, bedroom or summerhouse, the location will be the deciding factor in the colour choice.  In the meantime I have been playing with various yarn types when I should really be doing housework and pegging out the washing lol.

Here are a few I have made.

Warning!! these roses are completely addictive once you start making them it’s very hard to stop :)