miss marie's miscellany

July 2011

July was a pretty good month, and even if the weather was a little variable, there've been a lot of sunny, hot days; I'm not a great sun lover but even a pale person like me needs some brightness and warmth!. I had time to chill out and do some thinking about what happens next, there were quite a few birthdays of family and friends, and I visited my hometown of Liverpool, which is where I took this month's photo, down at the Pier Head where there were celebrations for the centenary of the famous Liver Buildings. It was a beautiful evening and the sky looked amazing, as you can see.  Happy times :-)

  

April 2011

January

I've decided to have a change; new year, new look. My end of month round-up will now be a list of good things with my favourite photo in the background. I hope you like my idea!

 

Tom's stained glass blanket

I've been working away making my nephew's multi-coloured blanket, a square here and there, but I got behind when I had to go on my travels for work and missed last weekend's birthday deadline. My nephew was very understanding and patient, he knows you can't hurry a good thing! So this weekend I had time for a final push...... this was the state of play on Friday.

 

After a Herculean effort,  all that joining up and starting an edging which just didn't work and had to be frogged, it is complete.

 

I'm really pleased with the end result - I wasn't sure about the colours when I began making this, but I have to hand it to my nephew, he has picked a winning combination and I have tried a palette which I wouldn't have done, but for his choices. He loves it too :-) 

The bright colours against the black edges put me in mind of stained glass, hence the inspiration for the name of this latest crochet creation......

 

Tom's stained glass blanket!
 

May collage

A month of contrasts of temperature, starting off cold and ending warm and promising. A month of tulips galore, they have brought wonderful colour to the garden. A month of happy crochet projects, including a special gift. A month when I visited some old haunts and places I'm glad I re-acquainted myself with.

 

This is the first time this year I've been able to post lots of flower photos, something which makes me very happy! Enjoy :-)
 

Granny green and black

When I was down in Liverpool at Easter, my sister-in-law asked me to make a granny square cushion to go with their living room decor. She liked the ones I'd made already, and I was happy to oblige. Their living room colour scheme is soft grey with accents of green, black and red, so I chose a mix of light and dark grey, black, apple and moss green, red and white.

 

This is one side, a large granny square, just like my 2 previous granny square cushions. There are already some cushions with large flower designs in all of these colours in their room, so for the other side, I decided to use this design,  Sarah London's wonderful  Rose Motif pattern.

 

I made 12 of these 

 

In these 4 variations of the colours used.

 

 

Here they are all joined together

 

I love making granny squares so that bit was easy, I'm a dab hand at them now! The rose squares appear complicated but were not too tricky at all, and they really look the business. I like the contrast between the flat granny square side and the raised texture of the roses side. I used a 4mm hook, and a mixture of wools, all from my stash. 

Black and apple green -  Sirdar Countrystyle DK

Red - Patons Diploma Gold DK.

Dark grey, light grey and moss green - Rowan Pure Wool DK.

White  - Sirdar Snuggly DK.

And here's the finished article

 

 

Fastened with some red flower buttons

 

 As luck would have it,  it was my SIL's birthday yesterday, so I managed to finish in time for the big day :-)

Happy Birthday, Deb!
 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

January collage

The first half of January seems to have been dominated by the snowy, icy weather which was lovely to look at........sometimes! And the results of staying in the house have been much yarny goings-on. Then there was my birthday and my trip to Liverpool. So all in all, a pretty good month to reflect on.

 

Birthday

Today is my birthday :-) which I will spend at work :-(  However, not to be thwarted in the pursuit of enjoyment, I decided to start celebrating on Saturday and went for a mega-treat, Afternoon Tea at one of Glasgow's loveliest restaurants, Rogano.  Decorated in the Art Deco style, it is just beautiful, like stepping back to the 1930s. And the food?

 Sumptuous! 

It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon with friends, we all enjoyed it immensely. 

Why stop when you're having fun,  Sunday was a big family gathering and trip to Pizza Express for nice food and chat.

 

3 boys on the town in their chefs hats!

 

Birthday cake too!

 

Purple presents 

 

and cards for this purple-loving gal!

I'm having a quiet birthday tea tonight with loved ones to round off an extended birthday weekend.

So that's it, another year older, now I'm 46, an age which sounded positively geriatric to me when a teenager........now I've got here, it's just fine!