Hello.........it's happened again I've come down with another bout of mandalitis, I've made this one to send off to Lucy at 'Attic24' for Yarndale.
This time I decided on a seaside theme for my Mandala, Sea, Sand, Candy Floss and Rock all represented in yarn, well there is nothing like a trip to see the Seaside to cheer the spirits. I used Drops Paris to make my Mandala and to tell the truth I prefer the colour combinations in this one to my Spring time mandala
Oh well I suppose there is nothing else for it I'll have to make another one for here at the Summerhouse. As before I used Barbara's wonderful pattern
Hope you are all enjoying the weekend, linking up with Nicole's 'KCCO'
Hello...... So today I'm going to be answering Jill's questions so here goes.....
1. What is your favourite craft activity ?
I love lots of different crafts but I'm going to have to say Crochet it's what I do the most of and looking at the labels over on my sidebar it's the craft I blog about the most too
2. What was the last project you finished ?
The last project I finished was my Summertime wreath, I have lots of WIP's on the go but as my crafting time is so very limited at the moment due to my health and starting a stricter pacing regime to try and manage my ME, so I've not got much done which is why I've not managed many posts this month.
3. What would be your ideal crafted gift to receive ?
Anything really it lovely to receive a gift that someone has put time into making, I've have had some lovely crafty gifts. A few are pictured above.
4. What is your favourite season ?
Now this is a tough one, I always used to love Autumn all the colours of the trees, but since I've been ill, I struggle a lot in Autumn and Winter picking up bugs. So I'm going to go for Spring with Autumn a close second, Spring for Blossom and Spring bulbs and the promise of the year to come and Autumn for trees changing colour and hunkering down warm and cosy, under a snugly crocheted blanket.
5. What is your favourite craft-related-non-blog website ?
Another tricky one, I subscribe to Crafts Beautiful magazine, so I used there website a lot for downloading templates as for shopping, being mostly housebound and living in a small town I order most of my supplies online, Deramores and Black Sheep Wools for yarniness and I also order lots general of bits from Cuddly Buddly
6. Which craft activity have you never done but would like to try ?
I really want to try machine sewing, I bought a sewing machine in the Spring but as of yet I've not been well enough to play with it. First up I plan to make some bunting then maybe a apron followed by some patchwork, making a cover to go over the top of my WIP craft basket. So many plans so little energy........
7. What was the last magazine you bought ?
Funnily enough my last post was about this, it was 'Crafts Beautiful' which I subscribe to, this months issue was quite a treat as I discovered a photo of one of my crocheted wreaths had been published 'here'
I also buy Simply Crochet most months and sometimes Mollie Makes
8. What was the last book you read ?
The last book I read was Dr Myhill's latest book on CFS 'it's mitochondria not hypocondria'. It's very sciency so I think I need to read it again, I've also just started reading Phillipa Gregories Virgin Earth.
9. What did you want to be when you were little ?
When I was little I think I wanted to be a nurse or a doctor, I used to torment my Grandad with my little plastic Doctors kit, well he did volunteer !!
10. What is your favourite thing about blogging ?
I love blogging as it has really opened my world up, living in four walls with a chronic illness stuck in bed a lot of the time can be tough and isolating, blogging is my escape. I started my blog as back in 2012 I developed a new symptom, I was loosing the ability to spell and would write down completely random words without even knowing, you might notice this in my posts sometime. Dyslexia type symptoms setting in as a adult is very unusual, so much so I had to have a brain scan, so my answer to this new cognitive symptom, use it or loose it, so I started this blog.
11. How did you choose the name of your blog ?
The name for my blog came quite easily, I love my vintage Summerhouse so much and all my crafting supplies live in there so the name was obvious really, plus I'm lucky enough to live by the sea. You can read the story of my Summerhouse 'here'
So now I have to pick 11 blogs to nominate for the award and come up with 11 questions for them to answer, so if you'll all bare with me I'll put that in a third post as I've run out of energy for now.
Hello........Just a quick post today as I have quite a surprise to share with you
Yesterday evening a friend wrote on Facbook that my Summertime wreath was in Crafts Beautiful magazine (Aug) on the 'Your Space page' !!!
Wow really!! was my response, so off I went to find my copy that had also arrived yesterday. I'd resisted opening my magazine as I was saving it to take to the hospital today.
What a surprise, after the initial shock wore off I was over the moon, to see my little make in a magazine, happy, happy. My five seconds of crafty fame !!
Here's my wreath hanging in our lounge this morning, the magazine says it was made in a weekend!! which maybe possible for someone it full health, but mine took me a few weeks to put together making some new roses and using some of the flowers from my Spring and Winter version of the wreath.
I'm cockahoop and over the moon that they featured my make, been smiling all day, despite the fact I'm off to see the Cardiologist for the first time this afternoon, to see if as well as ME/Lyme I have POTS.
The Internet is a amazing thing really, that someone crafting from there bed while ill can end up with a photo of there make in a magazine, so keep crafting everyone, you never know !!
Happy Crafting
Clare xxx
Quick question before I go is anyone else having trouble with there blogger reading list, mines only showing one blog, the latest one to published, that I follow I can't see the others, so I'm sorry of I miss you're post.
Today I thought I'd share with you what's been going on out in the Summerhouse garden over the last few weeks. Ten minutes at a time I've slowly been planting up the Summerhouse border
Hanging baskets
and window boxes one at a time, with Geraniums trailing and normal in pinks magenta and whites, can't wait for them to flower
and also the trailing Sweet peas I bought by mistake 'here'
and when I was outside earlier I noticed they are starting to flower, yippee
so pretty what a happy accident, they are flowering long before the sweet peas planted in the border.
The border as well as sweet peas has a new Scabious to keep the bees happy as well as , Penstemon Orange blossom and Jasmine
Here's a close up, I do love the colour so
I'm nearly there with the planting just waiting for the Forget me nots to finish and seed before I can put in the rest of the bedding plants
The giant poppy in all it's glory
The sweet peas just need to start climbing now, for bedding plants this year I have
Pretty Verbena
and Petunia which sadly the snails are also loving
Elsewhere in the garden looking to the future we've planted as new Honeysuckle
and a Clematis Montana,
both replacement plants after loosing there predecessors over the past couple of winters.
The tomato's are in to, but are tiny it's sure is a slow old business this ten minutes at a time every week or so way of gardening but needs must and I'll get there in the end.
Wishing you all a very Happy Midsummer's day with this Mosaic of flowers, the pictures were taken in the Summerhouse garden this morning.
As always I'm running a bit behind with my blog what with bad energy levels and lots of hospital visits for everyone here at the Summerhouse. I was so happy to find out that the lovely Jill over at Emerald Cottage had kindly nominated me and my little blog for a Liebester Award a few weeks ago you can read more about how the award works over on her blog 'here'
So first off I'm supposed to post 11 random fact about myself
So here goes.........
Number one:
I love to garden, as regular readers might have guessed from all the flower photo's, my gardening is pretty scaled back these day to about 10 minutes at a time maybe once a week while seated but I still love to do it. Before my health got really bad, I even used to have a organic allotment.
Number two:
Onto the thorny topic of my health, where I find myself stuck between several diagnosis I've had diagnosis of ME since I was 14, over twenty years, since 2005 I've been being treated for Chronic Lyme disease which is a controversial nightmare, and as of earlier this year my back up diagnosis as my GP says is MS. It pants really and each year I'm getting worse, so that's why sometimes I don't always get around to stopping by everyone blogs or posting as much as I'd like, as I have to pace, spending the majority of the days resting between ten minute snippets of activity that add up to one hour twenty a day of activity, last week I went to a new ME Clinic so will be rejigging my pacing to the one they follow there and I'm off to see a Cardiologist next week to see if I have POTS as if I'm not lying down my heart beats really fast. So it's no wonder I love escaping off to blogland.
Number three:
Onto happier random facts, when I was little I competed in the British Championships for Majorettes.
Number four:
When I was twenty before my health fell apart again, I travelled across Canada on a Greyhound Coach with my best friend, we had a amazing time and I'm so glad I did it we went from Vancouver to Victoria by bus. plane, Rollerblades and even went in a helicopter over the Rockies, fab I'm so please I managed this adventure.
Number five:
I love Folk and Americana music and I have 1047 songs on my ipod at the moment I just hit shuffle and 'Winter Tree' by The Staves was selected. Here's a clip
Number six:
I play guitar and mandolin and write my own songs and plan to record some stuff one day when I have enough energy and can figure out how to work the 8 track recorder.
Number seven:
I love colour and also colouring books I have quite a selection, The Secret Garden one is my favourite.
Number eight:
A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised and touched when I got a mention in the thanks on my friends new album. It made my day,they have just been on a UK tour with great reviews, here's the first single from there new Album 'The Morning Key' by Hatful of Rain
Number nine:
I have way to many WIP's let alone things on the too make list, maybe I'll do a name and shame outstanding WIP post at some point, I'm trying to not start anything new until I've finished some. I've just had a quick count up in the basket and there are seven just in there eek, confessions of a fickle crafter.
Number ten:
As a child my favourite books were the 'Brambly Hedge' books I just loved the illustrations still do, then when I got a little older I loved Anne of Green Gables, like WIP's I have far too many books waiting to be read, and seeing as it's just us, I have to confess to the guilty pleasure of the odd vampire book.
Number eleven:
I learnt to crochet and knit a couple of years ago to try and stop the joints in my hands from ceasing up, above are the first thing things I made, I started off knitting but then discovered that crochet is much more cup of tea. I also started this blog, due to my illness as I was loosing the ability to spell, due to my brain fog being so bad, use it or loose it. so there are positives to be found living with a chronic illness
Well that's all for this time hopefully part two of the award post will be coming soon.
When I'll be answering Jill's questions and doing some nominating of my own.
Thank you so much for nominating me Jill you really made made day.
