11 Dec 2012

Santa Parade

Friday night was the night Ardrossan had their Santa parade through part of the town and down to the civic centre.   I didnt manage to get so many pictures of the parade, camera was being a bit iffy at that point.

These are the lovely trees outside the Civic Centre before and after they turned on the lights.  There is a manger as well and various lights up and down the street.  




This is the PIE Arts Glee Club performing some of their much practised Christmas specials. They really were a delight. So much hard work goes into their performances and they are getting so confident. The Christmas Fayre was really busy by the time they went on stage.  My wee tootsie Jessica is up there too singing her wee heart out.



This is a hair band I bought from the Impact Arts stall. They were selling lots of up cycled goods and this hairband was so my kind of thing.  The products they were selling really were beautiful and the kids that made them were selling them as well.  I've attached a link if you want to  Find out more about impact arts

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8 Dec 2012

One Thursday in December






Time for Christmassy socks.




The hills of Arran, looking a bit snowy and cold.




Some mistletoe and wine. Bit heavier on the wine front but hey! It was my night off when this was taken.
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7 Dec 2012

Ive been having quite a productive few weeks project wise.  Ive been working on a wee bit of this  

 This was a baby blanket for my cousins wee baby boy.  Its all finished now and keeping him warm.  I forgot to get a final picture before it went over to him.




  This is a pennant / bunting style  decoration ive made.  I first saw it in Attic 24 and really wanted to make it such is my love of making bunting.  It really didn't take me that long and instead of felt for the letters I used some of my vast selection of buttons.  Any excuse for getting my glue gun out.

Now for my granny square blanket, which is in fact for my own granny.  I wish I had tied in my ends as I went along.  Ive spent ages tying them all in over the last week and scunnered myself with them slightly.  The pattern came from Heathers blog Little Tin Bird



I have been taking a different route on my doggie walks in the morning due to having access to a car that can accommodate a dog in the boot.  All the following pictures are from Cannonhill, Ardrossan in the morning.  All taken at the same time but from different parts of the hill.

 Across from Ardrossan right the way over to the Apollo in Saltcoats
 The windfarm
Arran ferry coming in, a wee bit late I think that day. 


The Castle.  Its currently under going Heritage work.  My dad had been going to the meetings about it.  Its a really lovely old castle and lovely to walk around.  You can see it from a lot of places in Ardrossan and Saltcoats.  The Castle, the high flats and the wind farm, the three landmarks I suppose.

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29 Jun 2012

Rainbow

Today was the day that school finished for the holidays. Six and a half weeks of play, adventure, kids clubs and fun. Well, that's the plan. Hopefully this rain will go some other place.

I was letting them watch high school musical while dinner was on and my son came and asked ' did you watch HSM when you were little. I explained that Grease was our thing but at his age I was watching rainbow and sooty. I can't imagine I would have been allowed to see grease at 5 though.

So, anyway, I fired up you tube and put on a episode of Rainbow. A particular favourite of my sister, the pirate episode. He loved it, especially Bungle. What's not to love about a big brown bear.


I've finished 50 shades and have now purchased the second. I haven't enjoyed a book that much for a while. Plus, I think I'm getting towards the end of 'the help' on my audio book. Sometimes when in listening to it I think it was way further back in time but it was only forty years ago.


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27 Jun 2012

A 'I can't sleep' blog

Its 0130am here in this sleepy house and guess who cannot sleep.  Husband and kids are asleep, dog and guinea pigs are all asleep but alas, I am not.  I work nightshifts and spent the last three nights looking forward to my bed, my one night off before being back on for a few.  And here I am in the kitchen, after having done the ironing while watching 'wife swap'.   Thats the life.


 I was very taken with Little Tin Birds  ME blanket and have started one to give to my Granny for Christmas.  Granny squares for my granny, that tickles me somewhat, haha.


 


 
     Hope fully this lovely delicious drink will send me off to sleep.  Its Whittards of Chelsea's Rhubard and white hot chocolate and its just the most yummy hot chocolate ever.





It was such a sunny day after school on Monday that I let the kids outside with my good camera.  They took some really interesting photos , my wee boy took the one to the left which I particularly like.  My daughter would rather be in them than take them, don't know where she gets that from.  

Im not usually a book person but I heard lots of people talking about 50 Shades of Grey.  I down loaded it to my iPhone to read.  Well, I'm not normally one for those kind of books but woah, Christian Grey is a busy guy.  Its actually a very good read.  Cant help but keep going back to it, a wee page here, a wee page there.  I can't help but wonder if he is a nice guy with issues a nice girl can sort or is he just a looney who likes his own way at all time.  

Anyway, signing off to try and catch a few hours before its time to get back up and start another day.



17 Jun 2012

Today I bought cheesecake

Today was fathers day. Which is a bit of an odd day when your dad isn't here anymore. Still I braved the card shelves to get the kids a card to give their daddy. I got one for my wee papa as well.

We went down to visit my grandparents today, the kids and two of my sisters which is all the spaceship could seat. I must confess, the focus is good on the bypass. Zoooooom. But not over 70. Of course not.

I bought that guy and me some cheesecake and we ate it much later as he took our girl to see Jaws. Our boy and I just chilled. He didn't want to see a shark in action and to be honest, I wasn't fussed either. I'm spoilt with 3d.

I also fitted in some crochet, ironing and photo sorting.
Well, goodnight. Have a wee swatch at my cheesecake, yumyumyum.


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16 Jun 2012

Things to do while waiting for your sister to finish work

You can........



Take pictures of the Arran Ferry from your car. It's docked for the night. But I seen someone going on the other night. Wonder what they do? Bet its an underground gambling den Or something.



.......you can crochet in the car while looking forward to your wine you just bought.


..........you can get down to some bangin tunes from West Fm.

That my friends was the most happening Fiat 500 in town.


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What Laura did next.....




This weather today is just horrible.  Nothing will get done in the garden today.  Not one thing.  The dog doesn't even want to go out which I can quite understand.  At least the plants and the new veg I put in my vegetable corner will be getting a good drink.  Maybe next time I go out the carrots might have started to have made an appearance.  I though I saw green the other day but I didn't have my exray specs on.  Hmmm.



For a while now I have been eyeing up the amiguruami patterns on ravelry to see what patterns I could have a go at. I have a little time on my hands just now and after what happened to dad I'm trying to keep busy and keep my mind even busier.  The first one is the one with the eyes.  I got these eyes on one of my charity shop hunts.  I have two wee jars of weird eyes. I have no safety fasteners for the back of them though so for this project I had to get the glue gun out.  I love getting the glue gun out,  'that guy' always looks a bit concerned.
Credit for these wee critters go to   amigurumi dust bunny pattern by Kate E Hancock

I am actually now on dust bunny number 2.  Im finding the wee blighters incredibly moreish.  I shall post some pics when I have added the eyes.




This is how last Sunday lunchtime was spent.  The kids were at granny and grampas for a few hours, that guy was at work so I got out the fine china, haha, and settled down to do some more work on my granny stripe cushion.  I had started a granny stripe blanket but my attention span is limited and so after a few rows I wasn't quite liking it.  So I frogged it and started a cushion instead.


This is a wee bit of the veg patch.  Some salary thing, big rhubarb bush to the side and there are new things in not in the picture, some tomatoes (not got good history on the ole tomatoes).


Spicing up the custard a wee bit with some edible glitter and chic chips.  Kids loved it.

My wee guy with one of mums dogs.  I really feel for the poor dogs, they must be wondering where my dad has gone.  Hard to explain to wee doggies. 


The newest members of our home, Coco and Rocky.  Two male guinea pigs that my wee girl got for her birthday.  They are an absolute delight.  They truly are :)


And of course there is no show, or blog, without punch.  A bit of beardie luvin for you.
Thanks for reading.

5 Jun 2012

Goodbye dad

Two weeks today a bit of my world collapsed. My dad died.  Its very weird to think that you don't have a dad.  One minute you do and one minute you don't.  I know I still have a dad really but he just isn't here any more.  It was so quick.  Age 55 is far to young to leave, what things more were there for him to do and see.  He liked the warmer weather.




Dad liked to garden and so do I though I'm more scared of the buzzy things than he.  Ive got lots of bedding plants and my veg patch to attend to.  I do so love to see the veg growing, especially the cut and come again lettuce, lol.




I have finished the baby granny square blanket for a friend and hopefully will get up to see her next week at some point.  I have also finished another blanket I started 8 years ago, lol, when Jessica was in my tummy.  I was knitting this one but since having discovered crochet I now don't like knitting as much as I used to.  So the Jessica blanket has been finished off in crochet.    I have told her I shall be putting it away safe for when she has little people of her own. I will post pics of these later.

11 Feb 2012

Crochet flat circle

After crocheting the daffodil tub jackets I have now moved on to the crochet flat circle, another tutorial from Attic 24.  The flatter one is the second attempt, you can see from the circle on the right of the second picture that there was a good reason why you should count the stitches exactly.  I suppose everyone was aware of that except me and t was a good few rounds in before I noticed that something was going wrong.


So on I persevere, getting it kinda right. I started another one so I have a front and back and my mum dad and sisters are away up to Ikea today so I have asked mum to get me a circular cushion insert and I can just keep doing rounds till it fits.  That being said I did ask mum to use common sense and not get me one the size of a tractor wheel.


As I was nightshift Thursday night my sister came down yesterday to look after the kids once my other half went to work.  I need sleep after my nightshifts and get very grumbly without it.  This is Emma challenging the dog for its dog toy.  She thought better of that one once she got the toy, dog was a bit drably yesterday.  Ewwww.



Emma did do art with the kids yesterday.  She is really good at being crafty with the kids and keeping them amused and there was no mess when I got up.  Love it.  The picture above is what they achieved yesterday and it is now up on my living room wall, is quite big.

This picture was made by my youngest at school for his fairyland topic.  I love the trees, its so bright and cheery and I've put that in my kitchen.

What with colourful pictures and colourful cushions, you would be right to say that muted tones are not something that we have much of in this house.

Lx

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8 Feb 2012

Learning to crochet

For ages I have been dying to learn to crochet. Ive been a long time reader of attic 24 and marvelled at Lucy's lovely crochet creations.  I poured over books but to no avail.  Then I discovered this tutorial by bethinks and it all started to slip into place.  How to knit a Granny Square for beginners

I started, I stopped, I rewound  and I repeated this more times that I care to mention.  Then it clicked and I started crocheting like a demon.

First ever granny square cushion.




I had these whaler cushion covers and attached the granny square to that while I was crocheting the final round.



This is another cushion made the same way for my feel girl.  She requested one of her very own, she was so impressed when it was finished.


The kids have daffodil bulbs home from school, the idea being that they will take them back in a few months and sell them to raise money for Marie Curie.  So I thought they were a bit bare sitting in the hall so I have knitted them some jackets much to the amusement of the ceramic dog.
I love cornishware and don't have enough of it but now I can crochet my own.  Obviously when the daffs go back to school the jackets go too but then I can do some more now I know how.





 The last one is almost finished and then to decide what I can do next. Its very exciting now I can finally make these things and I'm finding it easier than knitting.  (Sorry knitting, i still love you)

3 Feb 2012

Belle, me and Eglinton Park

Belle and I ventured out yesterday morning to Eglinton Park,  Irvine.  I dropped our wee people off at school and went home for Belle.  I only have a small car so space is limited hence the two journeys.


Belle enjoying a good run in the open air.  She looks as if she was flying almost.  I love these action shots of her.

For being a very good girl Belle got a treat.  She had to sit first though. 



I love this view.  Its just as stunning from the other side too. 

Galloping through no doubt chasing some imaginary dog. 


 This is Eglinton Castle, whats left of it.  They were doing work round it and there are ugly but necessary signs all round it telling you not to climb on it so it was hard to get a god angle without the signs.
I was trying to be clever taking shots that were in focus and blurred. 



This lovely bridge was closed so we turned back.... 


and down this lane.


I was a lovely morning.  Afterwards I popped to the supermarket to get the March edition of 'making' which i was really looking forward to but I still haven't had piece to read it.

Both kids had playdates last night so it was a rush all night , picking up, dropping off, making teas but it was all good fun.