Lovely Sunny Weekend

Well the LotR wall hanging has taken a backseat for the last few days because we've been away camping. We went with some friends again and luckily this year the weather was much nicer. I seem to remember being thankful for a break in the rain while we pitched our tent last year and a little sun to dry it out before taking it down. This year it was gloriously hot and we were on the bottom field which is a lot flatter.

Had it not been for camping with friends we probably wouldn't have gone back to Holme Valley campsite. The site is great but one of the benefits of having a tent is that you can go to new places every year and this campsite is fairly close to home so we have already visited a lot of the 'attractions' near by. This year we revisited Holmfirth on Saturday morning and had lunch there. In the afternoon we went to Greenhead Park in Huddersfield, which is great for the kids. There's a miniature railway (we paid £3.50 for a family to go round the track twice), plenty of play equipment for the kids, a shallow pool for paddling in and places for a drink/food (though we didn't use those).

Paddling & Ice Lollies - what could be better!?!

On Sunday we came home via Wentworth Castle. We didn't visit the gardens but we did go for a lovely walk around the parkland trail. We grabbed a bite to eat and a drink in the cafe before letting the kids loose in the children's playground. We bought them a bucket & spade (bargain at £1.20 for a set) to do some digging in the sandpits.

I took some hand sewing to do. If I remember correctly I think I took these last year and I haven't made much progress. The plan is always to sit and sew while the kids play around the campsite and then do a bit more when they're in bed. However what usually happens is I'm too busy cooking food, taking one of the kids to the loo at the other side of the campsite or providing drinks & snacks to get any done while they're awake and by the time they're in bed the light is fading and I can't see well enough to do much sewing.

4 flowers done

So there you go, still working on the UFO's while on holiday, even if I'm not making much progress :-)

8 Down, 16 To Go

Blocks that is!

I managed to get another 7 granny square blocks finished at sewing class tonight. That brings the total to 8. It's basically one full set. There's another 2 sets to do, so I'll end up with 24 blocks. Having laid the 8 out on the floors I'm definitely going to add some sashing.

First 8 Granny Square Blocks

Christmas Chaos!

Well, I've just realised I haven't blogged since the end of October. It has been so busy here.

First off I started my second Open University module in October. The assessment for the first 5 Units consists of a computer marked assignment after each one (i.e. every 2 weeks). I have a longer tutor marked assignment due on Thursday that I really need to get started on.

I've also been busily crafting. I took part in a swap on the We Love Lucy ravelry group. This involved making some bits and buying some more things to send to a partner. I had lots of fun selecting items and was sooooo pleased with the items I received.

It included this handmade fairy, which went on our Christmas tree and will do so every year

Some Rowan handknit cotton. I still haven't decided what to use this for.

and lots of other bits

One of the items I've been finishing off is the neat ripple blanket as featured on the Attic24 blog. I made this from Jarol Heritage DK.

I added a sc broder just to finish it off as I thought the lime green end stripe looked a bit unfinished. It's now on the sofa in the living room awaiting cushions to match. I have crocheted the front of one cushion by using wider ripples and sitting on the back of the sofa are 25 granny squares for the other cushion cover. I need to weave all the ends in (hate that job!) before joining them together. My Boxing Day shopping consisted of me searching for some jumpers I can chop up for the backs of the cushion covers.

Of course it wouldn't be Christmas without some last minute panic crafting and this year it was stockings. I made one for a friend of my husband and enjoyed making it so decided to make one for each of us. I'm really pleased with them but oh my, do they hold a LOT.

I didn't have any stocking hangers so did a mad rush round the shops on Christmas Eve and managed to make do with some plastic hooks for hanging lights on the outside of your house. Once these were hanging up I felt very festive.

and the children were very pleased with them. Better still there was no fighting over which one they wanted!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!