BY2010 March Blog Hop

Here is my march layout for the BY2010 monthly blog hop.

The sketch we worked from was this

and this is my interpretation

I am last on the list so I can't send you to the next blog but instead I will send you to see the rest of the blogs on the hop so please visit here

Plantwatch

Remember those tulips?  Well it turns out they are a pale lemon with a red/pink tinge to the petals.  Gorgeous.  Can't wait for some of the different ones to bloom.

Double Skywatch

A very angry sky on Monday night at Elland Road, home of Leeds United. 

and today's sky - well it doesn't get much better than this.  A lovely spring day not too hot, not too cold.

for more skies from around the world please see here

Knitted Socks Are History - Scarves Are The Future

well for a little while anyway.  Basically the boredom has set in and I just don't enjoy making socks anymore so I have started on a scarf.  I was really sad (not crying sad but geeky sad) and decided that since it is the F fortnight I would try and find a pattern starting with F.  It will probably be S fortnight before it is finished mind :)

So here it is - Flit 'n' Float

I'm not 100% sure I like working with yarn as fine as laceweight, having given up on several mystery shawl alongs after just a few rows but this is knitting up nicely and the pattern isn't too complicated.  I am tempted to give this scarf a try in 4 ply too or even double knitting/worsted for the winter - OK so that is a bit ambitious to get more than one done before the winter descends again.

My next step might be Ravelry to see if there are any mystery scarf along thingies happening now I have got the scarf bug.

I have a feeling I have missed the closing down date of our local yarn shop but I will go and looksie if it is still open because I don't reckon 100g of 4 ply will be enough for a scarf and that is what most of my balls are from my sock stash.

Paper Scraps

This layout is one of the challenges on Shimelle's Something Out Of Nothing class.  The challenge was to use paper scraps.  I also made a very small dent in the brads and eyelets I rediscovered when we were set the metal challenge (see tree layout from last sunday).

Plantwatching

Remember that pot with the ivy and bulbs in that I thought were daffodils?   Well yes they are and I remembered why I didn't remember what they were.  The pot was one I bought from a local florist after easter or mothers day last year - I don't remember which - and was preplanted with the little miniature daffys.  They didn't last long after I bought them which is probably why there weren't very memorable. 

Anyway this is how they look now a week after my last photo.  Amazing what a bit of warmer weather can do.

I'm also keen to see this tulip open.  These are growing at an incredible rate and over the last 24 hours another bud has appeared aswell as this one.

Skywatch Archive

This week I have gone back into the archives to show you this sky from August 2006.  It is the Yorkshire Wheel at the National Railway Museum.  I don't think it is still there.

I also found this piccie in the same file of me and my boys.  WOW they certainly look young.

My Turn

This week it is my turn to set the challenge on Scrap Weekly In 2010.

My challenge is to use fabric.  I've just got some Basic Grey Blush so I used that on this layout

I also did this for Shimelle's class - Something From Almost Nothing.  The challenge was to use those metals that have been lying in your stash pile for years.  I used this chipboard tree from a kit I got a long long time ago.  I painted it pink and then used up some of my stash of metal eyelets.  I also used a metal rimmed tag.  I actually quite enjoyed getting my Cropodile back out and setting the eyelets.  Took a while to get back into the swing of it and some of the eyelets are much more squashed than I would like.  I plan using eyelets more regularly in future so I have decided to leave the imperfect ones as a reminder that I need to practice using them.

Eeeeeeeeee

I will admit straightaway that I struggled a bit finding things to do during the E fortnight which finished on thursday.  Onto F from yesterday which is slightly easier.

Main one was ENT (ear nose and throat) clinic where they decided my son needs his tonsils out whenever his name comes up on the waiting list.  Fingers crossed it will stop the massive number of ear infections and tonsillitis he has been plagued with most of his life.

I read my Elizabeth Elgin book I mentioned in a previous blog post.

We had enchiladas and I had a clearout of my wardrobe and sold a few items on Ebay.

No pictures though I'm afraid apart from this one of Daisy's ears

Skywatch & Has Spring Sprung

First of all is my rubbish skywatch piccie for this week.  It has been one of those weeks where I don't really get out and about anywhere interesting so this is a pic of a bird feeder in my back yard.  As you can see the sky is blue without any clouds.  We have had quite a few days like this lately but the temperatures soon drop once it gets dark and most mornings we have frost.

So yes during the day it might feel like spring has sprung but it is still technically winter and spring is only on the horizon.  

I've been watching Lambing Live on BBC2 this week.  I think it has been a fab show.  Whilst I was searching for a piccie for it I came across this article which is rather negative.  As anybody who has watched it will know many lambs have been born live on air.

                                   

 My bulbs have starting coming up but I can't for the life of me remember what they are.

These ones are OK because I put a label on (very blurry sorry).  Tulips

but these two I really can only assume they are mini daffodils because they look the same and the ones I put in with the ivy have some buds that look like daffys.  Time will tell

March My Little Heart Section

I completed the march section of the My Little Heart SAL run by Sylvia whilst watching Dancing On Ice at the weekend.

Inspiration - Cath Kidston Style

Onto another of my favourite shops - Cath Kidston

I love her bags and when she teamed up with Tesco to produce a range of shopping bags I just had to get my hands on some of them.  I have 4 and use them a lot of the time.

I've got the first two on this picture then a cute blue spotty one

and then I treated myself to a christmas one

They were good value at £3.50 each plus 50p of that went to the Marie Curie charity.

This bag is my absolute favourite at the moment from the Cath Kidston ones on the website

closely followed by this one

I saw somebody the other day had some flowers in a jug instead of a vase and it looked really nice so I am definitely going to treat myself to a spotty jug at some point.

This strawberry mug is going on my wish list

Any of these peg bags would make me happy.

and I would love a new ironing board cover.  I usually get the JML stretchy ones and the designs are a bit too bold and bright.

I like these mugs too but in a male dominated household I don't think they will be making an appearance.

and wouldn't my Daisy look so cute curled up in one of these.  The big one obviously to accommodate her huge bottom.  Shame she would probably eat it.

a knitting bag which is not a necessity but a very big want.

I really wish I had discovered Cath Kidston whilst my children were smaller.  I would definitely have had this buggy.  It would have been one of many because I had a massive buggy obsession.  I must do a blog post about that another time.

Inspiration - Laura Ashley Style

Our whole house is in need of complete redecoration but we have had to wait until we have had a loft conversion before starting.  It has given me lots of time to think about what I want to achieve.  One of my favourite shops is Laura Ashley.  We went into a local shop for a look around whilst the january sales were on.  My husband isn't a fan of that look and said it looked like an old ladies jumble sale.  I can see where he is coming from with his ideas as the displays were a mish mash of sale items and nothing seemed to really go.  I really wish I had had some money at the time because they were selling their furniture off at ridiculous prices in comparison to the original prices.  They had some gorgeous chairs at less than £100 which for Laura Ashley is a cheap price.

Anyway here are just a few of the pieces that I am currently yearning to buy.  Alternatives at cheaper prices will have to be sourced in order for me to buy everything we need.

An owl doorstop

Caravan Doorstop

I love this bird cushion

Union jacks seem to be all the rage at the moment amongst the shabby chic look. 

I didn't even know until earlier this week that there is a right way up on this either.  Apparently the white bit in the top left corner as you look at it is wider than the underneath white bit.  Something to do with a sailors distress sign in olden days. So there you go - a history lesson too.

I love love love beach huts as my kids will tell you.  Everytime we go to the seaside I have to take a picture of one.  France has some particularly lovely ones.  Anyway this cushion is on my wish list but I have no idea where for.

I have the catalogue and the front cover is exactly what I would love to achieve in my living room - minus the fabric sofa because it definitely will not mix with 4 kids, a husband who has a mucky job and 2 muddy dogs.

Now onto bedrooms.  At the moment we are unsure who will be sleeping where once the loft conversion is completed.  Would be a good idea to get started first mind but that will be in the next few weeks.  Teenage boys bedrooms are tricky especially when I have to bear in mind that my youngest is only 6 but will more than likely be sharing with my 14 year old.  So finding the right balance between little boys themes and older boys will be difficult. 

I am a big fan of ginghams and my little one currently has pale blue and red gingham and stripe beach hut design bedding but he is still in a cot bed and will be in a proper big bed when the work is done.  I am thinking maybe to just stick to something like this

or this

I could go on and on as there are so many lovely products but I won't as next time I will be sharing my favourite Cath Kidston products

Walk 9 & A Hospital Visit

Walk 9 was combined with a trip to hospital - only a review so nothing bad.

I will say at the outset that I am feeling a bit like a complete idiot taking pictures of my surroundings while there are people around so the pictures aren't too good as they were very quick point and shoot without focusing.

We saw a pigeon on the way down to the hospital.

A nice little seating area at the top of a very steep hill for those in need of a rest

The view from halfway down the very steep hill

The new entrance.  It was very nice on the way out to see a security guard telling somebody off for smoking by the door.  The lady said she was unable to walk off the premises so the guard told her to put out her cigarette.  As you can see the path isn't exactly huge to the road which is more or less where I was stood when I took this. Maybe if she didn't smoke then she would be in better health to be able to walk such a short distance.  I can't understand smokers at all - they stink, they are slowly killing themselves and their family and friends through passive smoking.  Sorry rant over now.

After standing at the automatic checkin for ages we found that childrens check in isn't computerised and we had to go down this glass corridor to the childrens centre.

They have some nice little gardens.

The hospital is brand spanking new and only opened in January.  Not all services are open yet but what I could see I was impressed with even if they had brought all the toys with them from the old hospital.

At this point I put the camera away because I was getting some very strange looks off the nurses.