miss marie's miscellany

Kind of blue

More poppy discoveries today, although I remember planting this one!!

This is the blue poppy or Meconopsis to give it its proper horticultural name.

I love the sky blue colour, it's so unusual for a flower, very eye-catching and beautiful with its delicate feathery petals .

 

 This definitely achieves full marks on the smileometer!

What's making you smile today?

 

Lime and violet

 

I bought some more wool.......which was probably a bit naughty of me, as there is plenty in this house already but, well, the colours are lovely, and very 'me',  and they were a bargain! Resistance was futile!

I started making some of these rose motifs on Friday (pattern by Sarah London)

Over the weekend I've made some more squares and I also began making a large granny stripe square (pattern is found in this book......or you can just pop over to Lucy's blog where she has done a great tutorial for this pattern).

And this is how things look today

 

A while back, I bought these great lime green buttons on Etsy

So one of them was used to make this flower brooch (pattern found here)

I think I'm craving bright colours just now as the weather in Scotland has been awful for the last 3 weeks or so, more autumnal than spring going into summer. So I think there will be lots of vivid and zingy colours on this blog for the foreseeable future :-)

 

 

 

More African flowers

Do you remember a little while ago I showed you these African flower hexagons?

I wasn't exactly sure what they would become........but I kept on making them and joining them together

and over the weekend, and with final finishing off today,  they have turned into this

lovely cushion cover. I used 2 shades of pink, light and deep raspberry, leaf green and white, edged all the hexagons in black and joined them together with the black yarn too. I think the black makes the lighter colours sing out.

i used some mother of pearl buttons for fastening

I sewed the buttons on at the point where the hexagons meet, made an extra row of hexagons with chain loops at the bottom point on the other side, et voila, a nice tidy envelope fastening.

I'm still loving making these, they look so pretty and with every colour combination, they have a completely different character.

I'm thinking about making a bag next; possibly pyschedelic, I feel like mixing colours up big style! Plus, I still have 3 half made items on the go, so I really should get those completed so I can show them here. Best get on with it!!

 

 

 

 

Going, going, almost gone

The last tulips are hanging on in the gardem despite being battered by stormy weather of late. They've have been brilliant and beautiful this year, an absolute delight of colour and frilly gorgeousness. So take a last, longing look, they'll be gone all too soon.

 

April 2011

Cherry blossom inspired - part 2

Just in time for the cherry trees to be in full bloom, I have finished my African flowers with a Japanese twist cushion cover.

I really loved this pattern, it has a nice relaxing rhythm to it, and I enjoyed all the different variations of the colour combinations.......very pretty, in my opinion.

I made one side of African flowers, 18 hexagons in total and 4 half hexagons (very useful pattern to be found here, and a big thank you to Anne at Andamento for providing me with the link to this) and the other side is a large granny square in the same colours.

I couldn't find any buttons to match the colours, so I decided to try a tie fastening, just 2 colours chained together and crocheted onto the hexagon edging.

I think the little bows look pretty and they seem more secure than a button fastening, so after a great deal of hesitation and procrastination on my part, I think it was the right way to go.

Now I am hooked on these, so I've started making some more in a different colour scheme.

I hope your Easter weekend has been fantastic!

 

 

 

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In the garden yesterday

Ah, yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, just perfect for some alfresco dining

Some tulip admiration

My cat friend who often pops by for a visit!

My new boots, oh how I love these; they rock!

Cherry tree covered in beautiful blossom, just breath-taking this year

More tulip love

And of course there was a some hooky goings-on, always very lovely to do this whilst sitting in the sun. I've just about finished this and  I'll be able to show you the finished article very soon

More of the same tomorrow, as the forecast is for a scorcher!

Tantalising tulips

It's time for my favourite flower of all, the tulip, to burst forth in the garden.......I know in warmer climes you will have been enjoying them for a couple of weeks (head over to Jane Brocket's blog for some floral eye candy, she is the Queen of Tulips!) but we have to wait a bit longer in Scotland. Today I spied a couple of lovely flowers already starting to show their gorgeous silky petals.

This lovely deep pink tulip is looking so good - I planted this a couple of years ago but it didn't appear last year, so I thought it had been a casualty of the freezing winter weather. But it must have just been having a year off!

I love this tulip so much; it really looks like it's on fire, with its glowing orange petals. I happily spend quite a few long moments just gazing at this beauty, it is completely mesmerising.

There are lots more ready to burst forth, some old  and some new; something really special to look forward to.

Wishing you a happy weekend!

Snapshot from this week

I whizzed down to London on Monday; travel delays meant it was a whistle stop trip; just enought time to catch up with my lovely friends G&G for dinner, wine and gossip, then it was time to set my head on the pillow for some much needed sleep before Tuesday dawned. Business matters took up the morning, and before I caught the train back, I made sure I had time to pop into here.

I struggle a bit with London's crazy busyness, all those people, all that traffic, it can be overwhelming. So I really do love this wonderful shop, it's a haven of calm and elegance, with lots of gorgeous stuff to smell and touch and wow at. I had a peaceful and de-stressing wander around, and felt much better!  I must say a special thank you to the lovely kind lady in the bath department who was so friendly and helpful, and who chatted to me for ages!

I did make a small purchase, it required huge restraint not to go completely bonkers and buy, buy buy! Do you want to see inside the bag?

Something pretty to put my face in!

 

In the garden today

 

There's a lot happening in the garden just now; in a couple of weeks, there's been a dramatic change from practically nothing in flower to a wonderful spring burgeoning of colour, a fantastic array of daffodils, primulas, primroses, early tulips and plenty of other plants awakening from their winter sleep.

I particulalrly love the colours in this photo; it's garden design by accident on my part, but I love the contrast of the yellow daffodils and black hellebores together. Beautiful!