*** Summer Holidays ***

Our little woman starts her school summer holidays at lunchtime today and will be off until the start of September.  This is the first year that I have been lucky enough to be at home with my kiddie-winkies for the holidays.  And, I am really quite excited about the prospect.  Whether I will still be on the rainy days when they are bickering will be another story!!!

In preparation we made a list of fun things that we can do together over the summer. Of course, there was swimming, the cinema and the indoor soft play centre but there was also water fights, craft time, baking and wrestling (yes - that was the little man's suggestion).  I really want this summer to be one of happiness and fun that they remember in years to come.

They weren't terribly impressed, however, when I told them that the t.v. would be spending a lot of time resting....

My little woman is desperate to learn how to crochet so I think that may well be our first project together.  Any suggestions on the best thing to start to teach???  Hopefully there will be little hooky creations from us both to reveal soon.

Will keep you posted...

*** Valula ***

Feeling Great!

Good Morning!  Hope you are all feeling fantastic today.  As you can probably tell I am in a super mood (or maybe just a little buzzy after several cups of industrial-strength coffee he he).

Now - I had planned on giving you a run down of the progress on my lovely hooky projects and a veggie-garden-update...but a quick scout outside has revealed that I need to take urgent action to stop my beautiful cabbages from being eaten alive by tonnes of teeny caterpillars....

So just a quickie update....  In the last few days our little family has been doing a relay-race of throat infections and raging temperatures, which meant that despite the beautiful sunshine I was cuddled up inside with small ones.  But with a little multi-tasking I managed to make my very first piece of clothing! It is a shrug for my little girl who was feeling very unwell at the time.  Normally I'm not a big fan of crocheted clothes but I wanted to made make her smile.

It was made using a free Lion Brand pattern with some yarn that my thoughtful aunt-in-law bought for me from a charity shop.

Maybe I'll get all adventurous now and try another little top....but first its caterpillar time!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

 xx Valula xx

Footy

Being of mixed nationality has its advantages and its disadvantages...but one of the major advantages is having two teams to support at International events.  A disadvantage would be if the teams lined up against each other....oh no...who to support...panic....!

Alas Ireland isn't in the World Cup, therefore, with clear conscience I shout....

Come on England!!!!

Of course, all the footy on the telly means that I have loads of fantabulous hooking time to look forward to and thanks to the wonders of Sky+ I can rewind and won't miss a bit!!

Wishing you all a super-duper weekend.

♥ Valula ♥

Spoilt for choice

There are times where I struggle to settle and enjoy a particular crafty project that I have started and then there are other times where I am spoilt for choice with lots of fun things to choose from.  Happily - I am in the other times at the mo!

My plan sometime ago was to crochet cushion covers for my settees and I wanted all 10 of them to be different (it wouldn't do for things to match in this house....).  To date I have five finished and a further two or three on the go. 

There is the Truely-Triangley-Granny....

  

The Random-Patchwork...

The Stripey-Treble...(my current fav - love love love this one)

I am also trying to do a Flowery Granny but haven't quite settled on one that I am happy with despite trying quite a few.  Any suggestions would be truly appreciated :-). 

There was a pretty little tulip pattern that I was trying out but sadly it a went a bit pearshaped...here why...

My lovely precious little chap sneakily snipped into the top of several balls of yarn - should be thankful that it wasn't his fab curls that got the chop -

anyway, he didn't snip through the yarn completely each time, so it held together while I crocheted but finally unravelled as progressed...do you see the the hole in the white??  Ah well, at least the whole cushion wasnt assembled when it happened!  Back to the drawing board me thinks.

So, I predicted tonight there will be rain, a roaring fire (in June - can you believe it), bean chilli for dinner, a glass of wine for Mammy Hedgehog and some more lovely stripey-trebles - Yay - bring it on!!

Enjoy     :-)

Lovely trip home

Hello there my dears, long time no blog....writing that is, not reading!  I'm not quite sure what happened other than getting caught up in the day-to-day stuff that is the life of a small family...

We did have a lovely week in my childhood town of Macclesfield in Cheshire.  We got off to a great start with a beautifully sunny and (thankfully) tranquil ferry crossing which the kids really enjoyed.  We had a great time visiting my Dad and my Grandparents on their farm and we did the rounds of the parks, shops, Gawsworth Hall, West Park Museum and of course...Waterworld - Yeah - Fantastic!!

Every time I go home I am struck by the beauty of the buildings and scenery of Cheshire, I don't think I truly saw or appreciated it while I was living there.  Unfortunately my camera died so the photos are borrowed from Google.

Macclesfield Canal

Gawsworth Hall

West Park Museum

Pretty house in Alderley Edge

Alderley Edge Woods

Hovis Mill, Macclesfield

Macclesfield Town Hall

And, I even squeezed in a little happy-hooking time but more about that later....

Take care,

Valula

:-)