Patchwork January

Hello........... Here's a little Summerhouse round up from January, seems like an age ago now.

I'm afraid January here at the Summerhouse was mostly viewed from my comfy bed, I've been really poorly since Christmas with a relapse, the lurgy and then a horrible new symptom affecting the nerves in my face and head, so painful.  I did try and keep crafting, it's my escape after all !! and managed to leave the house only three time the entire month.  So I'm hoping things will start improving soon.

Over on Instagram the month of January looked like this......

As for the Summerhouse garden I didn't really make it out there much, but not a lot was going on as it's been so cold it was lovely to see the visiting woodpecker though. Everything is behind not even a crocus to be seen, one of the very few times I ventured outside I managed to have a fall oops, slipping on route to the summerhouse, one muddy Clare my own fault as I was really to poorly to be out there.

This year I've decide to add a new mosaic to each of the patchwork posts, it's going to be all about WIP's (works in progress) that I hope to finish or get back to in the next month, here we have my Angel wings shawl, Rainbow drops blanket, Seaside pebble blanket and my Purple leave cushion which has recently had it's ta-dah moment

Well that just about sums up January, the sun is shining here today at the summerhouse and I ever hopeful for Spring being on the way.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Twinkle little Star trinket box

Hello............ A few weeks ago, some friends and I went for another fun afternoon of ceramics painting.

  This was our second visit to the Ceramics Cafe, on the first visit I painted the above yarn bowl, which you can read more about it.here

So the big question was what to paint this time, I've been doing lots of meditation lately and I asked the question what should I paint ? and this was image I received in my minds eye, not really sure what it is???  maybe a planet, but I loved the gentles colours and tones.

When we got to the cafe I fell in love with this little star trinket box and set about painting my image onto it, stars, planets there seemed to be a bit of a theme.  

I then had to choose how to decorate the inside of my little star and opted for some yellow to tie it all together. Then the patient bit comes where you have to wait a few days for the ceramics to be glazed and fired, wondering how thing are going to turn out ???????

Ta-Dah 

Here it is.........

 

 

and here's a little peak inside the star.

Yay I'm looking forward to using my little star pot.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Patchwork August

Hello....... Here's a quick look back at August...........

A month of holidays, sunshine and star gazing here at the Summerhouse, some crafting too and as always lots of yarn.

Out in the garden the lazy days of summer were just perfect for enjoying the flowers, a mix of summer favourites and a few signs of autumn on the way with the viola's and cyclamen starting to flower again.

Well that's about it, each month I plan to post these patchworks at the beginning of the month but some how it never seems to happen, oh well better late than never.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Crocheted Heart Card

Hello....... A couple of weeks ago, two of my good friends got married, so I decided to make them a wedding card.

After a bit of pondering I decided that yarny hearts were the only way to go, I wanted to make a little charm that could be removed from the card and then perhaps used as a Christmas decoration, to remember the day.  

So off I went to cyberspace in search of the perfect heart, I found the pattern for the above heart 'here' and as it turned out it was the perfect size for my card.

I also made this little cutie, using Lucy over at Attic24 tweeny tiny heart pattern, at first my plan was to used both hearts on the card, but in the end it just looked a little bulky, as you can see I crocheted both my hearts in twinkle sparkly yarn, in silver and a silver/blue.

and you know what I'm like for a bit of sparkle !!! I just couldn't resist blinging them up a bit.

For the larger silver heart I made a little charm, threading beads, sequins, and gems onto a piece of crochet cotton, before securing it by

stitching it in place on the heart, I also threaded a couple of beads onto the hanging thread.

I then found this pretty silver doily in my stash and went about blinging that up too, with pearls and sparkles

As I mentioned earlier I wanted the heart to be detachable, so it could be used as a decoration, so I simply attached it to the card with a sticky spot.

I wanted to make my card look a little rustic, so I used a plain cardboard blank and added some larger pearl to the corner, before adding a greeting to help hold the hanging threads in place.

Ta-dah

One handmade yarny wedding card with added sparkle.

Sorry I've not been around much recently I've been struggling with my energy levels again,  I did however have a wonderful time celebrating at the wedding party.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Patchwork February

Hello.......... As ever I'm running behind with my patchwork post here's February in review.

A month mostly spent getting things finished off for the Craft Club exhibition, I did finally get to grips with my sewing machine, only two years on from when I bought it. !!! A little bit of art too, plus lots of pacing and resting up, I also finished a course of antivirals, which fingers crossed helped my energy levels improve a little until I finished them and crashed back down,  so we're going to try them for another month, thankfully with time the nasty side effects seem to be easing.

Out in the garden the bulbs were waking up and until the frost got them last summers geraniums were still going strong, we even still have strawberries growing.

After a year of planning and making our local crafts clubs exhibition went up in the local library, as you can see, there are a wide variety of crafts on display, crochet, sewing, painting and jewellery to name a few.

Here's a closer look at our group project that represents the seasons.

Well that about sums up February, crafting, resting up, eating clean with a bit of art thrown into the mix, some new crafts too in the form of paper cutting and machine sewing.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Patchwork September and a blog award

Hello........... Each month I seem to run a little bit later with this post, but better late than never !! so here's the summerhouse roundup for September

A month spent hobbling around on crutches, with a broken ankle, while the seasons changed over from Summer to Autumn, (from flip flops to boots in a month) it is amazing to see how the colours change each month in these patchworks as we go through the year.  So a month of resting and lots of hospital appointments, crochet, music, eating clean and hunkering down as the nights started to draw in.

Out in the garden I'm sure there was lots going on, but with my energy levels and ankle it was a bit of a struggle to get out there, so only a few pics, I was skippy happy to see the anemones I planted just a few weeks back, flowering, so very beautiful.  Low energy gardening is all I can manage these days, so it was wonderful to see the corns I planted in a pot on the patio flowering.

Over on 'Instagram' September looked something like this, oh yes the summerhouse now has it's very own instagram page which you can find 'here'

Now to the award.......

Last week I was skippy happy when the lovely Sharon from Creativity and Family left a comment saying she had nominated my little blog for a 'Encouraging Thunder' award, now to be honest with you I didn't really know what the award was all about until I popped over to Sharon wonderful blog to learn a little more...........

'So the Encouraging Thunder Award is meant to recognise blogs that are inspiring and encouraging to their readers'

It is so lovely to think that me crafting away here at the Summerhouse is helping, inspire others.  As to tell the truth the reason I started the blog was in many way to try and help myself, as many of you know I suffer with some chronic health problems and at the time I started this blog things were a bit scary for me.

I was struggling very much with new cognitive symptoms, that were effecting my ability to read, spell and word find, best described I guess as a late onset dyslexia, so worrying to my GP that I was sent off for a urgent brain scan.  In the mean time, I thought well use it or lose it, so I started the blog to try and stop my cognitive symptoms from getting any worse, that's why sometimes you may find errors in my posts.  I read and reread them, check and check again each post before sharing it with the world but I'm sure sometime mistakes are still made.

So it's wonderful that, my blog is maybe helping other too, I do try and make it a positive space, full of colour and creativity.

Here's what Sharon had to say about the Summerhouse.

'You are inspirational, your cheerfulness through your illness is amazing and I love to see what you are making.'

I was really touched by Sharon's kind words which really cheered me on, in what has been a bit of a tough time here at the Summerhouse.

 

So here are the rules for this award...........

When you get this award, you can:

• Post it and the logo on your blog
• Pay it forward by nominating others

You cannot:

• Abuse or misuse the logo
• Claim the logo is your own

If you receive the award you should:

• Give thanks via comments and likes in the blog of the person nominating you
• Mention the person who nominated you in your award blog
• Discuss your purpose in blogging in your award blog

So as for my nomination's I'm going to do them in a separate post, in a few days, because as of late I've not been very good at keeping up to date with my blog reading, so I'm going to do some catching up and then get my nomination on, I hope that's OK

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

 

Patchwork July

Hello........... Here are my July Mosaics, yes I know it's towards the end of August eek.

July was a month for Summer,  well at least it was supposed to be hot and sunny !! but never mind with holidays, crochet and a little stitchy project, there was plenty to distract from the not so great weather.  The Summerhouse was looking very pretty too with it's summer planting, I spent the month hooking away on my Cosy blanket and finally got around to a WIP from last summer.

Out in the Summerhouse garden things were blooming great, with summer bedding, Roses, giant daises, while the wonderful scent of orange blossom filled the air.

So that was July, here are the projects I plan to be getting on with in August.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Grow your Blog..........

Hello and Welcome to the Summerhouse by the Sea.

This is the first time I've taken part in the 'Grown your blog 'party held by  2 Bags Full and to be totally honest with you I only remembered in the nick of time that it's running today, oops never mind.

 

So my names Clare and I've been blogging for a couple of years now at the Summerhouse by the Sea here in the UK.  Above is a picture of my lovely Old  I mean vintage Summerhouse which is home to my crafting and is affectionately know around these parts as the shed.

Where I love to create all sorts of things from crochet to arts and crafts, there is always something going on here and a ever growing pile of WIP's

Since I've been blogging and crocheting I've been making seasonal wreaths and last year saw me complete the set with my Summer and Autumn Wreaths and I was lucky enough to have a picture of my Summertime wreath published in Crafts Beautiful magazine, (such a wonderful surprise)

I'm in blanket making mode at the moment, working on a couple of Attic 24 Cosy Blankets and also a granny blanket. I'm a bit of a one for starting new projects.

As well as working on getting things finished for a local craft exhibition due to start at the end of February with themes of The Owl and the Pussycat, Fantasia, Egypt and Masks (still in the planning stage eek).

So what else goes on here at the Summerhouse, well a lots of resting too as I suffer with quite severe ME/Lyme disease and spend most of my time stuck in bed, but a positive of this is it's led me to discover my creative side, as regular readers will know I had a bit of a tough time with my health over the last twelve months and my blog and all the other lovely like minded people you meet in blogland have helped cheer me on through the tough times so I very grateful for that.

 One last thing you all should know about the Summerhouse is that it stands in a garden full of beautiful flowers and I quite often like to share mosaic's of what's going on out in the garden.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed you're visit. I've recently set up a Facebook page for the blog which you can find 'here'  feel free to have a look around the blog archive too.

You can also follow me on Bloglovin or Google if you'd like to

Happy Crafting

Clare xx