Poppy

 

Hello............ Earlier in the week my sister put in a request for another crocheted Poppy, so my crafting time this week has been spent making one.

The pattern I used is a free pattern from Simply Crochet magazine which you can find here, it's the best Poppy pattern I have found. The Poppy is crocheted in one piece and once you get you're head around the pattern it's quite simple to make.

I did adapt the pattern a little, crocheting it all in red instead of starting off with a black centre.

 

This was because I really wanted to added a button to the centre of mine.

Ta-dah

Not the best pic but here's a quick selfie of what it looks like on.  It you want to make a donation, to the Royal British Legion, then Simply Crochet have kindly added a link, or you could just pop a donation in one of the collecting tins when you are out and about.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Pretty Pumpkins

Hello............... Now I know what you are thinking, I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but for the last few weeks I've loved seeing all the pretty crocheted pumpkins appearing all over my Instagram feed and after seeing the cuties, Lucy over at Attic24 made 'here' I could resist no longer.

So I grabbed my chunky hook and then I did something terrible, I broken into the yarn pack I've ordered for crochet along starting in January. Eek I just couldn't resist I needed a chunky pumpkin in my life.

So with double stranded yarn I set to work (Spice and Tomato)

I even doubled stranded the top

 Ta-dah

My first pumpkin was born.  

As you can see it's quite a handful.

So that was it I was hooked, this time a very pretty vintage peach one with cream stripes with added golden sparkle, for this I used the tutorial in Lucy's post. 

This one had me dreaming of a pumpkin fit for Cinderella's coach, so pretty.  Now if I'd stopped here I would have been ready in time for Halloween, but I always think things look better in threes and I was hatching a plan.

 Adapting the original pattern to change yarn every two rows and using a much smaller hook.

So I could have the cutest stripey pumpkin, well maybe this one is more of a squash....

but I think I love it most of all with it's sparkly stalk and fiery tendril.

Ta-dah

My Happy little pumpkin family, so sweet I think I will keep them out on display all autumn.

You can find the original pumpkin pattern here over on Planet Junes blog. So a huge thank you to June and Lucy for sharing there talents with the world.

Happy Days 

Clare x

Throat Chakra Mandala

Hello Lovlies....

I'm sorry its been so long since my last post its been a bit of a time of it here at the Summerhouse.  'P' who is my full time carer had a stroke at the beginning of July. It was thankfully mild but never the less a Stroke and is taking some time to recover from.

With everything and my health already so much weaker this year, for the first time in 28 years of chronic illness, we had to ask for some outside help,  as I just couldn't manage alone while 'P' was in hospital.  I hated asking for help but after I collapsed at the washing line, my sister knew something had to be done.  

Sadly we live in Kent where you can only access adult social care via something called the Enablement Service,  not ideal for someone struggling with a chronic illness that means the more you push them the sicker they get.  The six weeks of Enablement I received from this service pushed me further into relapse and made me sicker than I've ever been, hopefully it has not caused permanent damage to my health I guess only time will tell, after quite a battle some care is now in place but it's really not ideal.  

Any how, that's another story and I really don't want to bring you all down.  With everything, not much crafting has been happening around here, although over the summer I did slowly make a new mandala to display my crystals on by my bed.

I can't really tell you how I made the mandala, as I kind of just made it up as I went along,

I can say that I had lots of help from my new crafting assistants, (we're still working on the rule about not playing with the yarn)

But over the weeks

round by round my little mandala grew

I selected colours to represent different crystals.

Working on the mandala from bed when I had a little energy to spare.

Until Ta-Dah it was finished.

It felt so good to achieved this little make, a glimmer of normality in the darkness.

I'm calling it my Throat Chakra Mandala because the colour blue is associated with the throat, the yarn colours were chosen to represent the above crystals. in order left to right we have Blue Agate, Blue Chalcedony, Aquamarine and Turquoise.

Middle row contains Sodalite, Blue laced Chalcedony, opalite, blue howlite

The last row contains, Lapis Lazuli, quartz, celestite and white howlite.

Which one is you're favourite???

Such lovely calming hues of blue.

As you can see I've been putting it to good use already

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

As for the Crafting Assisitants,well they are growing up fast, they are nearly six months now and cute as buttons.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Hello........... How are you? Today I thought I'd write a bit of a catch up post, as well life seems to be one big work in progress at the moment and I guess that's what it should be.

My crafting assistants are growing up fast, well I think they are every time someone comes to the house they say how much they have grown, being here with them every day we're not noticing it so much.  They are bundles of fun and full of energy so not a lot of crafting is getting done.

I did manage a tiny bit at the weekend as I went over to stay at my sisters, above is Monty on the top of my bag, it was either a case of 'don't leave' or 'can I come too'.

 While there I took the opportunity to do a little crochet.

Working on my Rainbow Drops Blanket.

Here's a pic of our little Alfie, aka (piglet) who is smaller than his brother but catching up fast, he eats twice as much as the other one.

The crystals I selected for this week are a mix of blues and green, so pretty, blue is mostly linked to the throat chakra and green the heart.

Mostly I've been carrying around this blue chalcedony, it's such a pretty colour I knew it had to be in the mix this week as I had a dream about this very stone, shape, colour a exact match, I'd forgotten I even had it, I have several storage crates containing crystals, so in the morning I went and had a look and found it there.  Weird but I'm going with it.

So craft assistant Alfie asks 'What you Doing'

Well, as you know not to much at the moment but I do have this lovely charm pack that I'm hoping to turn into a table runner when I get a mo, I'm hoping to have a play around with the colour and layout today, when you pair are having a sleep.

Aww they are so cute when they are sleeping.

Alfie even likes  to hold onto you're thumb while alseep, which is lovely but sure does slows down the crocheting.

What are you making at the mo ?

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Cornucopia Corner- This weeks crystals

Hello..... I thought I'd start off my first Cornucopia Corner post with a post about Crystals.  Well they are just the loveliest little treasure from the earth.  I tend to select some crystals each week for there healing and energetic qualities.  

I'm not a qualified Crystal Therapist (maybe one day ) but I have had a interest in them for years now and have acquired quite a collection, last year I started working with them again, anyone who follows me over on instagram with have noticed I post a Crystal picture most weeks like the one below.

So lots of  people have asked how I select the crystals I work with each week, well mostly I select them through doing a guided meditation, which is working really well so far. Sometime I'll add in any other crystals I'm particularly drawn too.

Yesterday I did a meditation and first main colour and crystal that came up was  Amethyst, which is the central crystal in the layout above, other crystals that came up were Prehnite a crystal that I seem to be strongly drawn too, you'll see it come up a lot over the weeks, then we have, Aquamarine, Malachite, Turquoise, white Howlite, red Carnelian, Tigers eye and Rose quartz.

So first up this week we have lovely Amethyst.  Who doesn't love a bit purple, it's a great all round healing stone, boosting hormones and tuning the endocrine system as well as cleansing and boosting the immune system.  It's a very protective stone and on a more subtle level it balances out mind body and spirit.   It is thought to help spiritual wisdom opening up intuition and enhancing psychic gifts it's a great one to hold during meditation.

Next we have Malachite, Aquamarine and Prehnite

Malachite.

As a green crystal is linked to the heart, it's a very grounding stone it's good for balancing female hormones and is sometimes called the midwifes stone.  It's a good one for me this week as it helps with vertigo and arthritis, swollen joints, it also aids the pancreas and parathyroid and immune system calming acidification of the tissues, so I guess you could say it a bit of a anti inflammatory.

Aquamarine

Oh it's just sooo pretty, it's also a very calming stone, it's link to the throat and I guess that's why it came up for me this week as I have terrible hayfever and tonsil trouble, it's very calming to the immune system so good in calming autoimmune conditions and I have plenty of those.

It's another good one to meditate with, it can sharpen intuition and also help clear any emotional blocks we have, promoting self expression. 

Prehnite

Is useful in diagnosis getting to the root of things, it's helpful in blood disorder and gout !!! repairing the connective tissues of the body.  It's a good stone for clearing and decluttering and can help seal the auric field.  I find it to be a very calming stone, and I just love the pretty green colour my one is.  It's a very spiritual stone and is also good for strengthening life force and energy, I knew there was a reason I was drawn to it, another good one to pop under your pillow as helps with dreams.

Turquoise

Is a great healing stone, good for the immune system reducing excess acid so good for the stomach and joints,  being greeny/blue it is linked to the throat but also works great with the third eye and solar plexus, it's great for meditation and dispelling negative energy in our environment.  

Red Adventurine

Is very energising strengthening the blood and calming autoimmune conditions it's a good one for lethargy it's linked to the base chakra so it's about bringing in energy

Tiger Eye

I guess this one was thrown into the mix for a bit of grounding all this meditation can make you a bit floaty, on a healing level it heals the throat. It's a good one for self worth and helping blocked creativity.

Rose Quartz.

It's all about love really, love and peace we could all do with some of that.  It's strengthen the heart, and is another good one for vertigo.  If you're heart need easing Rose Quartz is the one for you.

So that's this weeks stones I hope I've not bored you too much, so this is how I tend to use them, they sit by my bed and I use different stones as and when maybe putting some in my pocket all day or holding them during meditation. Another thing I always like to do is wear jewellery with the stones, I've selected for the week.

 With crystals it's important to cleanse and dedicate them to yourself so they are tuned into just you, but I think that might be a post in itself,  they are also all linked to the various energy centres within the body (chakra) but that's another one for later.

Well I hope you've enjoyed this first post please leave a comment if you have.

Clare xx

This is not meant as medical advice

Introducing...................

Hello............. I have some news to share with you all today.

and it's not only that I've started a new blanket................

it's because I'm introducing you all to the Summerhouse's new crafting assistants, this is Monty

and here's our Alfie, they are both eight weeks old today.

For the last few weeks I've been working on this mini blanket for them, I'm using left over  Lana Gatto merino, it's so lovely and soft, (just like them)

I'm using Lucy's Hydrangea pattern from over at Attic24, as it's perfect as the weave is quite tight so little kitties can't snag they're claws in the holes. (hopefully)

 I'm not quite finished yet as little kittens can be quite distracting

who am I kidding, these little cuties mean that all crocheting and crafts have stuttered to a halt, they are completely bonkers and no yarn or crochet hook would be safe around them at the moment, I need to train them up a bit.

I'll get there though and lets face it they are a wonderful distraction, it's been a long time since we had kittens at the summerhouse and we've never had two at the same time before.... yay for double trouble, I love to see them charging about and playing, so so sweet.

Even when they are conspiring about the best was to get into the craft basket.

Aww so lovely to have some little kitties

here again.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx