fun

Weeks That Fly…

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This last fortnight seems to have disappeared on me. I feel that ever since christmas someone has set my clock on fast forward and I could stand it to slow down just a little! I think being pregnant is not helping this, everything is counted by week so I am more aware than ever of the passing days. I am pretty sure I just turned 23 weeks and then I blinked and was 26+… doesn’t the third trimester ‘officially’ start at 27 weeks?? That is Monday. Gulp.

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I can scarcely figure out what I have been so busy doing the last two weeks that I couldn’t stop by here, I think it is largely down to the evening being my blogging time by which point I haven’t the energy. But our days have been pretty full too, happily they are mostly full of all the good stuff!

Although Emma and I have both been battling off our second cold since christmas, (which somehow Vince has avoided again and I wish he would share his secret!) we have still had plenty of fun with friends, time out in the fresh air and lots of creativity at home.

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So my personal highlights of just recently are the things you see pictured here. A lovely but unbelievably muddy walk in a local area that is brand new to us in search of some horses. We made it through the woods to a field where Emma discovered tracks and droppings but it was really far too cold for them to be out. Also when I say muddy… I mean it was plastered up my trousers to my knees by the time we got back to the car… and I had decided not to wear my wellies??!! I didn’t take any pictures of the main stretch of crazy mud as both hands were occupied with clinging on to trees to stay upright and as clean as possible…. very good fun though!

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Emma has spent large amounts of time recently dedicated to arts and crafts – drawing, colouring, cutting, sticking, glittering, and painting. We have done some more directed pieces of work like tactile numbers to use later, but mostly she has had free reign just to have fun 🙂 I haven’t put a picture up but she made my most favourite picture to date this week of a face/torso using feathers/foam shapes/pompoms/glitter you name it. It is not immediately obvious what you are looking at but her explanation makes my day and you suddenly see it just as she does. <3

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I have also been having some creative fun of my own designing and crocheting a valentines inspired something for the mantel, you may have already seen if you follow me on Instagram (@ourlovelylittlelife). I’ll share it here as soon as I’ve finished! I never did settle on an interim mantelpiece so it has been looking sooo bare this month… but it has triggered lots of February themed ideas in my mind I am hoping to whip up some of in the next week or two. After that it will be time to get started on this baby boys first blanket before he arrives!!!

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Well that is us caught up for now then, hopefully I will have some more crochet filled posts for you soon 🙂

Naomi x2

 

blackberry fun

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blackberry-landscapeJust in case I haven’t mentioned it before, I love where we live. I love that this view is a 5 minute walk from my house in one direction, and 5 minutes in the opposite direction we have a gorgeous sea view.

Both country & coast. I love it. We are so blessed to have found ourselves settling here.

Yesterday we headed to this little clearing just down the road because it is simply overflowing with blackberries at the moment. Also we had some unexpected sunshine that coincided with a little play date we had arranged.

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I remember loving blackberry picking as a child so I was hopeful my little Miss and her friends would enjoy it too. We had a very quick lesson on what was ready for picking and what was not… and they were off!

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They did brilliantly, for only being 2 and 4 years old I was so impressed. Very clever girls! Naturally around 50% of what was picked went straight into little tummies instead of their boxes, but who can blame them!

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After we had picked (eaten) enough it was time to play. This involved making use of the little woodland area in the best way we could… a Gruffalo hunt of course! With it being one of Emma’s favourite books, between Vince and myself we can recite the entire story from memory. So off we went for a walk… through the deep, dark woods….

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The girls (and Vince) took it in turns to be the gruffalo and much growling, running, shrieking and laughing ensued… and fun was had by all!

This was followed by games of hide & seek, rolling down the hill (still including Vince, I didn’t think he was going to stop before the brambles!) and a little more berry picking. I am so glad I have such a fun husband!

Then it was time for a little sit down and little more blackberry eating before heading home again.

blackberry-trioIt was such a gorgeous morning, fresh air, fruit, friends and fun!

Naomi x2

 

 

 

 

my ideal night out!

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For months now there has been some conversation between myself and some friends at church about getting together for some yarn play. On Thursday night we finally got organised and four of us spent the evening together chatting, eating and more importantly crocheting!

The lovely B who hosted us had set the scene for the evening so perfectly, I don’t think I could have dreamed it up any better. It was the first time I had visited her house, which is a beautiful old farm house. I so wish I’d thought to take photos on the way in but when we left it was far too dark 🙁

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We walked into her sitting room, full of exposed beams and a huge open fire place, and found a coffee table set with piles of knitting and crochet magazines and pattern books, some vintage and some modern.

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At the end of the room B had baked up a storm and laid on a gorgeous spread of evening snacks across the sideboard. On top of that the music playing in the background included Doris Day – retro wonderfulness!

So we had been at B’s for roughly 10 minutes and I was already pretty ecstatic and we hadn’t even got out our hooks 🙂

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I also wanted to share with you this quick snap (oh I should mention that it was late and all these photos are taken with my phone…) B presented me with a box file full of patterns that had been saved by her grandma dating back some years. There were sewing, knitting, crochet and embroidery patterns which I loved looking through…. but I’m always drawn to the old printed adverts for things like ‘Beechams Powders’…. which I completely failed to take photos of!

Right, on with the hooky stuff!

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This is lovely F, who is expecting a beautiful, bouncing baby quite honestly any day now! Exciting! She hadn’t picked up a crochet hook until this week I believe. The natural starting point was of course a trusty granny square, and she is planning to make a large granny square baby blanket. There was some frogging but it was going really well 🙂

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This is the lovely R, she has been teaching herself to crochet for a little while and wanted to move on from granny squares to something new. Specifically a chunky flower scarf pattern by Debbie Stoller from her book The Happy Hooker. I’m glad to say that R thought it was going to be more difficult than she actually found it to be 🙂

You can also see B’s project on the sofa, the red granny squares… she disappeared out of the room as I took a few photos though!

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This was my little crochet corner… it definitely confirms that I’m a bit of a colour addict! Bright colours make me happy! You can see a bit of my mood blanket that I am woefully behind with – I actually think I am going to have to let the mood aspect go and just finish it off at random intervals. There are also some little african flowers for a new project I’m working on – as if I needed a new one – but it’s a surprise so I’ll share all in a couple of weeks 🙂

It was such a wonderful evening. I have been wishing for so long to find a knit & natter type group, and now we’ve formed one I am totally thrilled. Crochet, and craft in general, is so much better when it is accompanied by other people crocheting or crafting too. It is great to be able to provide and receive support, learn from each other and be inspired by other people’s projects and ideas.

The time absolutely whizzed by though and I think our husbands may have expected to see us a bit before half past 11 when we rolled in!!! I genuinely can’t remember the last time I was out of the house that late – especially without Vince. Ha! I lead such a wild life – and I love every minute 🙂

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This is R’s two finished and joined flower motifs. She was so in love with her flowers and I was so so happy to see another person totally fall for crochet! A gorgeous scarf is under way and another crochet addict is born!

Naomi x2