A Ta~Dah Moment and a 100th Post Giveaway!!!

Hello!

And "Hello" to some lovely new followers too!! While I think about it, I'd like to thank you all for the gorgeous comments you left me on my last post - it makes my day to hear from you!

So, on my last post you may remember me teasing you with a shot of some scrumptious circles that I'd joined together (the original pattern can be discovered at Attic24 for those wondering). I wasn't giving much away was I, but today I can reveal what I've been up to...and Oh My, it's a bit of a scrummy reveal if I do say so myself!

I had the idea to do this Project some time ago, and eventually I weaned myself away from my Rainbow Ripple long enough to do it. This is another In Progress shot...hee hee!!

I wonder if you can guess what it is yet...?

Perhaps this next picture might give you a few clues...

Look at those swoonsome buttons would you? Aren't they just the best buttons for a lovely piece of rainbow infested crochet like that???

Alright, alright...I won't tease you any longer - here is my Ta~Dah moment, imaginary drum rolls please!!

For those of you who haven't guessed already, here is my Rainbow Flower Bolster Cushion!!! Woot Woot!!! Hurrah!!

Brace yourselves for some seriously gratuitous Bolster posing shots:

What do you think? Isn't it the most happy, Rest-Upon-Me-Right-Now looking thing you ever saw?

I was surprised how quickly I managed to do this actually. There are 70 little flowers (circles) that are joined as you go (which speeds things up enormously), and then the two main edges were finished off with white, green, turquoise and blue.

Let me tell you that it was very much a Fumble Your Way Along kind of pattern, in as much as there was no pattern - I made it up as I went along. The end circles are both made up with different colours and finished with some little picot stitches around the edges. You see the main point of this project was to use up oodles of bits of wool I had left over from my Big Blanket, and to be honest I only had to invest in a couple of new balls to supplement what ran out midway, and of course I had to buy the bolster cushion too.

So it didn't cost that much :D

And I love the colourful roly poly~ness of it, sitting on my sofa like a big rainbow sausage roll!

Ahhhh...I do like a good Ta~Dah moment to share with you lovely people!!

In the midst of all this evening crocheting, I found time to make the Little One some Proper Bunting at the weekend. She has been asking for flags in the garden for weeks now, and on Sunday morning I had a flick through Homemade (a gorgeous book by Ros Badger & Elspeth Thompson) and followed their very easy pattern and came up with this, which is now draped about the garden making it look very summery and festive!

Needless to say, there hasn't been much time for any painting this week. The other reason for that is because we are off to Northumberland to spend a few days by the sea and I have been busy washing, ironing and packing like a mad woman. I cannot wait for this little break, it is a much needed tonic for us all!

But before I go, there is one more important thing to share! Yes, today this is my 100th post. I know I am not the most frequent of bloggers and it has taken me quite a while to get to 100 as I generally only post once a week at the moment. But I love it, I enjoy writing my blog, I really enjoy getting to know fellow bloggers out there and the whole experience of reaching 100 posts has been wonderful.

So as a little Thank You to you all, for coming by and reading, following and commenting I would like to offer a Giveaway:

I have a very pretty Cath Kidston address book for you and two seasidey art cards of mine for you!

Isn't that a pretty address book? It's full of pretty designs like the Strawberry one above, and I thought I would treat one lucky reader to their very own as I love mine (the one Im showing you above) so very much indeed.

If you would like to be included in the giveaway, just drop me a comment here and your name will be added to the draw which will be taking place next Thursday the 27th May.

Im off now to treat myself to some new summer footwear, the weather forcast has promised sunshine and warm weather (fingers crossed) so Im away to the shops!!

I will try and catch up with your blogs when I come home, I wish you all a lovely weekend and send you lots of sunshine and happy times!

Love Julia x x x

Another Blanket is Born (and some other bits and bobs)

My dear blogging friends!
I was overwhelmed to receive so many wonderful comments from you about my new painting and the Big Blanket. I can't tell you how much they made me smile, and how much it meant that you all took time to write them. Thank you very much, from the bottom of my little skippy-happy heart.


Needless to say, on the crochet front there was a slight anti climax when it finally dawned on me that the BB was well and truly finished. What's a girl to do??? Oh its obvious isn't it!! Start another one of course!! And thats a wee corner of it above there - I have to tell you that my inspiration for the colours in this one came from some photographs of Seville I'd been looking at. The whitewashed walls of the old houses were drenched with beautiful and vibrantly coloured flowers, and the juicy orange trees in the little squares quite inspired me! So upon realising I did not have any white wool, it was hurriedly purchased on Saturday in John Lewis (who have a splendid selection of Rowan at the moment, and 15p a ball cheaper than most of my favourite internet wool shops!! Hurrah!!)


New Blanket began in earnest on Saturday afternoon. The little squares are quite fast to do and I can easily whip a couple up in 10-15 mins while the pasta is bubbling on the hob! (I think this counts as obsessive crocheting doesn't it?)


Now today was meant to be an art day - but I had one of those rare and untimely moments of utter creative blockage. I sat and stared at the paper, meddled with some inferior sketches and scrunched it all up and threw it (mindfully) into the recycling bin.

The best thing to do when creative flow stops flowing in one particular medium, is to mess about with an entirely different one. I had a yen to crochet some more little squares, but I had to be strict with myself about that - today was Art Day, a whole day with Little Person at Nanny Mum's and so therefore it was a day designated for other things.


So I thought Id have a go at the Valentine's cards that the gallery had asked me to supply.
And I remembered that somewhere online, a month or so ago I had seen the most inspiring idea of sewing writing paper. Some of you may have seen this, and its brilliant - I can only apologise for not having a link to the original piece I saw but I thought Id try my own hand at it and embroider some little love notes to turn into cards...and here are a couple to show you!

...and this one here is a bit different, playing about with a heart theme...

I had tremendous fun making them and as I sewed, I had a couple of ideas for the character work I need to do for the Agency...Oh yes. I had a terrific email on friday, and it said that another couple of publishing houses had been pleased with my work and taken copies...and...asked to see character studies and line drawings! The character studies involve drawing the same little person/animal over and over in different positions, with various facial expressions. It is to show that I can create characters that would be recognisable throughout a whole book no matter what they were doing.


So that's what Im doing next. And line drawings, which as most of you will know are black ink on white paper usually.

Busy busy...as usual... :D

And so, to relax this weekend, despite the gloom and the cold we took off to Old Moor RSPB reserve and had a good walk around. Little Person was delighted to go into the bird hides and peep out through the windows. She didn't quite understand the concept of being quiet so as not to disturb the birds, and at one point announced quite loudly (and much to our amusement) that 'it would be quite nice to have a cup of tea in here!'

At which point we had to get out of the hide as we were laughing so much.

I was quite taken with the colours though. Faded browns and greys were predominant with the odd russet bull behind the reed beds giving the scene a warm burst of colour against the milky blue/grey sky.

As late afternoon approached, a large flock of geese came into land. We could hear them calling in that lonely distant way that they seem to have, darkly sillhouetted against the lilac clouds.

Before I go...its Award Time.

I was given this sunshine award by Louise Broomhead
and the rules state I have to pass it on to another 12 bloggers who are inspiring and delightful!
Well here I encounter a humungous problem. You are all inspiring and delightful. I can't bear to pick just 12 of you - its far too difficult. And so Im about to break blogging protocol and be very naughty.


I think you're all marvellous, you all bring me huge scoops of joy and inspiration and so I would like to invite each of you to take the award to your blog if it cheers you and proudly display it there - and if you wish to send it to 12 bloggers yourself then that would be lovely too!


Oh dear, am I terribly bad for doing that?

I hope the bloggers who do take this seriously will forgive me for being a little lame, but I honestly would struggle awfully trying to choose 12 favourites, when I have at least 120 favourites if not more...! (but then again, sharing sunshine with everyone seems to me to be a rather pleasant thing to do, especially in dreary January!)


Well, this was rather a long post! If you've got this far, well done!! Thank you for reading my ramblings today, and Im now off for a well deserved cup of hot tea and to sit down and do some character sketches.

See you all soon!!
Love Julia x x x