Spring has Sprung, plus a award

Hello........ for the last few days here at the Summerhouse

We've had lots of this :0) 

 there have still been a few showers but it feeling very Spring like indeed

even the flowers would agree, just look at this little lot all flowering in the garden at the moment. Happy Happy so much colour, even the birds are getting a bit twitterpated.

as for the 'Shoots' from last months post well, the triffid as 'P' calls it has shot right up

and up and then up some more

 with two buds, it's now taller than our fireplace.

 This not so little Amaryllis

With it's beautiful but quite alien looking buds

From this to......

This, wowee

 It's called apple blossom and it really stunning, this stem has five blooms in total, and the second bud is yet to flower

as for the other shoots the Tiger Striped tulips are yet to flower

but the mini Iris are finally in bud.

There are other blooms to, as I've started making some Roses for the Woollen Woods in Cumbria, they are going to be posted off once I've added some leaves, to join in with a flower garland that a friend is putting together for the 'Chronic Creatives' tree in the Woollen Woods, so exciting.

Yay for yarn bombing

A Blog Award.

The other day I was thrilled to discover my little old blog had been nominated for a blog award, 'me really' was my first reaction, it really cheered me up as I've been struggling a bit lately with my health and writing the posts. 

So a huge thank you to Jet for the kind nomination, that said about my little Summerhouse

'Mostly a craft blog, but done by a fellow sufferer of chronic illness. It’s amazing the things one can do if they put their mind to it!'

Here's my little award which hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to put on the side bar at some point.

My nominations:

 So now it's my turn to nominate some wonderful blogs that I love to follow and find some great support and inspiration from.

 Cosmos and Cotton - First up we have the lovely Hannapats blog, which is a joy to read, such a positive and fun place to escape to, it's really an inspiration as to how much can be achieved even when you are battling this terrible illness. Plus there are lots of tips and healthy recipes.

Decimawho-I decided to nominate this blog as though it's not strictly a ME/CFS/FMS blog, it's a great resource for those ME'er like myself who suddenly find they are lost in the confusing and sometimes scary world of Lyme disease, just trying to get a diagnosis and some help. So hopefully Decima won't mind me nominating her blog for a ME/CFS/FMS award as a lots of Lyme patients seem to have a prior diagnosis of ME or CFS. The blog is a very witty, funny and sometimes heart wrenching read, she tells it like it really is in her posts.

Lindy Laine Crafts - What can I say about Lindy and her lovely bears, it amazes me that even though struggling with Fibromyalgia she creates so many wonderful things from jewellery to photographs and not forgetting her teeny tiny bears who are pint size perfection. She's such a great support to so many suffers of chronic illness running a local support group too.


Sweetpea Family- This is a fabulous crafty blog, full of yarny goodness and yummy baking, it's amazing how many of us with these chronic illnesses seem to discover a creative side. Sue's blog is a wonderful place to visit and it always cheers me up, seeing what she's been up. I think that is important and shows that despite low energy levels you can still achieve so much and be creative.

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ME & CFS & FMS BLOGGER AWARDS:

Awarded by bloggers, to other bloggers, to acknowledge outstanding endeavour in promoting awareness of Myalgic Enchephalomylitis (ME), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)  and/or Fibromyalgia (FMS).The blogs receiving the awards do not need to be dedicated solely to ME, CFS or FMS, but they should contain at least one post that has helped to increase awareness.It is hoped that these Awards will increase blog readerships and also encourage networking between ME & CFS & FMS bloggers themselves.  No matter the title of our diagnosis, patients of these conditions all suffer from a frustrating state of health that is poorly recognised by most of society.

HOW IT WORKS:

1,   On receiving the ME & CFS & FMS BLOGGER AWARD, you should be directed to a post that describes why you (and others) have been given this award.  The page will also include this set of instructions and the two award images.2. Please note, you do not need accept the award.  The aim of the awards is about recognition and a bit of fun, NOT extra work! Please do not feel pressured to participate.3. To claim your award: a) Create a new post on your blog, in which you thank the individual who gave you the award  (remember to include a link back to their blog).  You can then copy the images to your blog post and/or side bar as you wish.

You may need to click on the image and download it, before putting it into your own post.

Below is the code for adding the small image as a link in your blog side bar if you wish to do so:

<a href=”
http://sallyjustme.blogspot.com/2014/02/launching-me-cfs-fms-blogger-awards.html
” target=”blank”>
<img src=”http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/salpublicphotos/BloggerBadge_zps26d28ded.png”/&gt;
</a>

b) List three to ten blogs that you would like to recommend, giving a brief description of why you think each one is special.  A couple of lines is fine, but be sure to include a link to each blog you name (or specific page if you prefer) so that others are encouraged to visit.c) Copy and paste these instructions into your post. Copy from the first *** above, to the last *** below to ensure that every thing is included. (Add the images separately if they don’t copy automatically. Control-Shift-V also removes crazy formatting during pasting if that is a problem. )d) Alert your chosen blog owners to their awards by making a comment on the most recent post of their blogs.  The comment could simply read:

“Congratulations, I have nominated your blog to receive an ME & CFS & FMS BLOGGER AWARD.  Please visit <insert link to the post you have just created> to collect your Award”3. Hopefully these awards will spread far and wide.  I would love to keep track of where the awards end up, so I would be very grateful if participants would also copy their list of awards into a comment beneath this post:
http://sallyjustme.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/my-nominations-for-first-me-cfs-fms.html
I hope that collecting all the recommendations in one place will help each of us to find and explore new blogs.

THANK YOU ALL FOR PARTICIPATING.

Sally
http://sallyjustme.blogspot.co.uk/

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Any road hopefully I have done all the bits and bobs for my award nominations correctly enjoy the rest of the week

Clare x

Bird Needle Book

Hello........ today I thought I'd share this needle case with you. It's a post that has been sitting in my drafts folder for a while now waiting to be written up, so I decided it would be perfect for a Stitching Sunday post with Chrissie and Nicole's KCCo so why not have a look at what everyone else has been making

I made this needle case in January as a birthday gift for a friend of mine.

First I cut out a rectangle of green felt, I guess it's kind of wallet size ( really should have written the measurements down !!)

Then I cut out a little felt bird and added a fabric wing and button eye. This little birdie might look familiar as I'm using the same paper template I made for my Birdie cards and my Birdie Bunting (which is a very ongoing WIP.)

Any road I stitched my birdie onto the front of the needle case.

Then with pinking shears I cut out two slightly smaller pieces of cream felt for the pages of the needle book

I also cut out a piece of felt to form a little pocket at the front of the book

Which I pinned in place then stitched with a blanket stitch, as I stitched all around the edge of the book.

Then using a running stitch I stitched the pages into the book

and Ta-Dah

my cute little birdie needle book was complete.

 

The only thing is, now I'm very tempted to make me one of these little case too.

Happy Crafting 

Clare xx

Three Things : 43/52

Hello........ It's year of happy time again, so here are this weeks 'three things'

Number one:

Is being well enough for a spot of song writing, over the weekend I actually had enough energy to pick  the guitar and do a bit of writing. So my first song of the year is written, which makes me skippy happy as some lyrics have been floating around in my head for a little while now, just waiting for me to be well enough to play the guitar

I even managed to catch a rainbow in my song book, from the crystals hanging in the window

Happy Happy.

Number two:

On Monday we had a bit of a busy day here at the summerhouse, my nephew came for the day as it's half term. So I arranged for my friend to come round with her mini's for a play date,  'L' phoned in the morning to ask if he could bring Mutley the dog too, so that's two cats one dog and three children. 

We had a good old get together.

After lunch we went to the local park for a bit, which makes my sixth trip out of the house this year, not counting medical things.

Number three:

My third thing this week is that the Craft Club exhibition is finally up and running at the local library.  It feels a bit weird to see my makes on display.

I've not had anything up on the wall since school, I guess,

 but it's nice to see everyone's work from the past year in the exhibition.

 I'll post a bit more about the exhibition another day.

Hope you've had a happy week too.

Clare xx

Radio Roses

Hello.......... A couple of weeks ago our local BBC radio station had yarn bombing as one of the phone in subjects on it's morning show.  I was skippy happy to hear they are planning to Yarn Bomb the station building.

 They were asking for people that wanted to help to get in contact.

So I emailed them saying I'd love to help, I'd made lots of crocheted flowers for my seasonal wreaths and that I was already making some flowers and things for a project in Cumbria so I thought it would be good to make something for somewhere local.  As a after thought I said to 'P' 'they won't read that out on the show will they?' 'No' was the reply.

Wrong, my five seconds of fame followed shortly when they read out my email and even asked to put this picture of my wreaths

up on Radio Kents Facebook page eek.

'blushes'

luckily 'P' was out at the shops, by the time they read it out on air otherwise I never would have lived it down, I was still teased for the next few days as apparently it's very funny.

Any road mortification over !

I set about making some Roses, I just love how these springy spirals become a Rose

The larger Blooms are made using the Rose pattern from 'Cute and Easy Crochet with Flowers' by Nikki Trent and the smaller ones are good old Attic 24's May Roses

I also made some blossoms and added some pretty beads all made from yarn from my stash.

The theme for the yarn bombing is hearts and flowers so I made a few extra hearts last week when I made my Valentines Garland

Here they all are bright and cheerful and ready to go off in the post.

I'm so looking forward to seeing the photo's of the yarn bombing at the BBC.

Sometimes life just makes you smile. So onwards and upwards to the next project, making some nature themed crochet for the Woollen Woods.

As for reading I'm still enjoying Earthly Joys by Philippa Gregory, part of the book is set in Canterbury so not far from my little corner of the world, so it's interesting reading a book set in the 1600's, where the son attends a school still exsists today, in fact my neighbour used to teach there.

Joining Ginny's 'Yarn along'

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Three Things : 42/52

Morning.......... wasn't it nice to see a bit of sunshine yesterday, that alone cheered me up. Even with the stormy weather I've been try to find the positives and we sure have had some spectacular skies over the windmill. I'm running a bit behind so here are last weeks three things.

Number one:

My first happy thing, is this little book. Part of the New Year plan it's a five year journal that asks a question each day. So far it's been lots of fun. Being mostly housebound because of my health, every day, week and year can sometimes seen pretty much the same.  

So this seemed like a good thing to try

So the idea is that there is a question for each day, then at the end of the year you start at the front of the book again and so on, until you have five years of answered questions in one book.

As it only a sentence a day I'm hoping I can keep it going.

Number two:

Came as a bit of a saviour, as I've been following a anti inflammatory Lyme diet for the last couple of weeks. It's very strict No dairy, yeast, sugar, meat, gluten, (fun!!) so the first week was basically brown rice fish berries and certain vegetables.

So I was skippy happy when Mr Amazon delivered this lot. We were struggling to find brown rice noodle locally, then I had a light bulb moment and thought amazon, yippee I manage to get not only the Brown Rice noodle but also some organic brown rice pasta (that actually tastes like pasta) and also some dairy free pesto, happy happy it sure has made life a bit more interesting. (Even if I had to buy six packs of everything)

As for the diet, finger crossed over the last couple of days my energy have been improving.

Number three:

Yay for new yarn.  I needed some 100% wool for a project I am joining in with on my favourite facebook group  'Chronic Creatives' we have been asked if we want to decorate a tree for the Woollen Woods being run by Eden Arts in Cumbria here's the link if you'd like to have a look or even get involved.

I was skippy happy that all the Red Heart yarn was in the Deramores sale, the theme we have decided on for our tree is nature so I think this yarn will be find for making little flowers,birds and insects.

As for the British Blue Wool I just couldn't resist, I just loved the colour 'boho' so I decided to treat myself to this little 25g ball. 

Well that all of last weeks happy up to date, thank you so much for all the lovely comments you leave I promise I read them all, I've just been struggling to keep up to date with my replies lately, so I must try harder.

Have a Happy Week

Clare xx

This week...

Hello...... This week here at the Summerhouse has been a bit of a hectic one with it's ups downs.

It started well as on Monday I taught a friend how to crochet

and Spring is coming along very nicely out in the garden

The weather however has not been so great, rain rain go away !!

even the fields are started to flood here and we are on high grown, the water shining silver in the sunshine

This week I've picked up my summerhouse sampler again and started work on my tree to represent winter. Doodle stitching away, just need to add some frosty sparkle to the branches and maybe some snow, instead of all this dreadful rain.

This week my lovely sister drove me on a six hour round trip, through winds rains and flooded roads to a hospital appointment to see a Immunologist.  It turned out to be a worthwhile trip, despite how exhausting it all was. As he was very knowledgeable about CFS and has recommended some new treatments that might help my ME/Lyme disease.

He said he thinks I have CFS and wants me to start on antiviral drugs and also Vitamin B12 injections among other things to see if they will help.

He has also asked me if I would take part in some research studies into ME that are being run.

The day did not however end quite so well, as we arrived home to a very stressed out 'P' as water had being pouring into the Garage and through the fuse box. It has knock out the electrics in the Garage and Summerhouse.  

So it was made safe, until thankfully my brother in law who's a electrician could come the next day and start to sort things.  Unfortunately the chest freezer and washing machine are in the garage but we managed to save the freezer full of food by him hooking up a waterproof cable from the house.

Hopefully it will all be rewired and working again at some point next week.

The cats are going a bit cranky too with all the rain,  I couldn't resist taking this picture of them acting like a couple of books ends

So for the rest of the week I've been feeling pretty unwell, so it's been lots of resting and a bit of crochet, cuddle up with the crafting assistants. I'm working on some yarn bombing makes (more on that another day)

On a more positive note there has been a bit of  gorgeous blue blue sky and I've been sticking to the anti inflammatory diet, which I think is helping some of my symptoms

and there have been Roses too, real

and crocheted.

A week of ups and downs but looking back it's not been all bad. I count ourselves very lucky so far with the weather, the troubles in the garage seems bad enough so I feel so sorry for everyone who is suffering with the flooding and storms in the UK. Another one hit last night, so lets hope there is no more major damage to this weather battered little Island of ours and the sun is shining again soon

Happy Crafting

Clare x

With everything I'm really behind with my blog reading but hope to catch up soon. xx