miss marie's miscellany

Help for Haiti

I found a great way for all knitters and crocheters to make a donation to the aid effort for Haiti. Head over to Ravelry -  it's free to sign up and is a brilliant resource for all things wooly. There are hundreds of beautiful patterns to choose from, marked with a 'Help for Haiti' widget, which you can download for a few pounds and at least half, and in some cases all of  your money will be donated to a variety of charities who are working over there to help bring aid to the people whose lives have been devastated.  Sounds like a good idea to me........

Crochet latest

I've got a few things on the go; since I painted the living room white,  I can add more dashes of colour than I was able to when the room was deep yellow. I like to juggle several projects as I don't get bored that way! This round cushion cover is nearly finished. I got this pattern from the Erika Knight book, Essential Crochet. It crochets up quickly, these only took me a couple of evenings. I ran out of white wool, so I had to pause while I replenished stocks - a final push over the coming weekend and I hope to be able to show the completed article soon.

 

And these will make another cushion cover; I found this pattern at Sarah London's lovely blog, it's called a PinWheel motif.

 

I have to get some purple in somewhere!

I bought some sale wool in John Lewis in Liverpool; green, coral pink and cream. I think these will turn into a hexagon cushion cover, that's the idea at present..

 

I have other things in the planning stage; a friend has just had a little boy, so a blanket or maybe some baby clothes are a definite possibility, very soon after all the above are completed. I'm really enjoying making all these things, work is a bit stressful and tiring just now, and coming home and doing some gentle hooking in peace and quiet is a brilliant relaxation. 
 

 

Views from the top

A shopping trip to Liverpool  -  next to the smart new shopping centre we found a Big Wheel

 

A chance to see some spectacular  views of Liverpool's skyline; after a bit of persuasion, my dad agreed to take to the air.......look away if you suffer from vertigo!

One cathedral

 

and another! 

 

Below is St. John's Tower, once it housed a revolving restaurant; now it's the home of Radio City, one of Liverpool's local radio stations.

 

  

Looking over towards the Liver building.

 

Looking north

 

and south

 

Back down on the ground; if you've been covering your eyes, you can look now!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunset beach

Sunday afternoon at the beach near my dad's house.

 

Watching the setting sun

 

 

Beautiful  :-)
 
 

 

Sunlight

I am visiting Liverpool this weekend, and yesterday made a trip to one of my favourite places, Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight on the Wirral. 

 

The garden village of Port Sunlight was built by William Hesketh Lever in the late 19th-early 2oth centuries to house his workers at the Lever Brothers soap factory.  It's an amazing achievement, the whole village is now a conservation area and most of the buildings are Grade 2 listed. There is a peaceful atmosphere one might not expect to find so close to the bustling city of Liverpool. Along wide tree lined roads,  the houses are built in several different styles (as several different architects were employed). I like these mock Tudor ones

 

 

The quality of life the village must have given those factory workers was unprecedented at that time; it's a marvel of early urban planning, a piece of social history, and a must-see place  in the Liverpool area.

The Lady Lever Art Gallery was dedicated by William Lever  to his late wife and houses his amazing collection of paintings, sculpture, porcelain and furniture. It's an airy and light space

 

Particularly splendid are the collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings

 

 

It's a real treat if you like this kind of painting as there are some beautiful examples, along with 18th and 19th century portraits by, amongst others, Joshua Reynolds, and landscapes by Turner and Constable. There's a very good cafe too, always a necessity after multiple picture viewing. 

 

There are sculptures dotted around the village, this was right outside the gallery;

 

Just up the road from the gallery is a very good garden centre where I bought these lovely souvenirs of my visit; they are primulas(which look like rosebuds).They'll remind me of being here, in this special place, when I look at them.

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

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!

Bloomin' freezing!

It's so cold here, -8 degrees C  right now, and lord only knows what the temperature was in the night.......at least -10,  my spies inform me! A day for staying in and keeping cozy. The heating is on, I'm wearing my thermals and have blankets ready to snuggle under. I'm putting the enforced staying at home to good crafty use. I remembered that some while back I knitted lots of coloured squares; 

a) to practise different stitches 

b) to make a patchwork blanket

but I put them to one side and promptly forgot about them while I got into crochet. So they have been dug out and I'm sewing the squares together for chilly evening cover-up needs.

 

Some of the brown squares are actually a lovely warm mustard or dusky sky blue but the light is so poor today due to freezing fog that I can't get better photos than these - sorry. At least the variety of stitches has come out well.       
 

I'm also making a crochet cushion,easy rounds in reds, greens and creams to go with this loose cover I made for an armchair.

 

It looks like we are in for another baltic night, when will it all end?:-(

 

Snow keeps on coming

We had more snow during the night here in Glasgow. It's been a good thing though, the pavements were so icy before that it was a nightmare trying to walk anywhere, and drive, for that matter. But the snow has made the paths easier to tread, thank goodness.

I headed to the park for some much needed fresh air. Walking boots on, so no fear of flying!

 

 

 

 

 

I feel better now! Time to head home to take down the Christmas decorations.

 

I hope the weather is being kind to you wherever you are :-)
 
 
 
 
 

December collage

A happy month with Christmas and the preparations beforehand, good times spent with family and friends, some crafty goings-on and lots of glitter and tinsel.........oh yes, and lots of snow!

 

New Year's Eve Moon

The moon was so clear and bright last night. 

 

Lighting our way into a new year of exciting possibilities?!

Hope you had fun bringing in 2010.