A lovely day with my niece

My lovely little niece Rachel came to spend the day with me today and she brought a HUGE bag of things to do from her Christmas present stash. First of all we made some of these giant paper flowers, which were fun but a bit fiddly. While Rachel had a rest from supervising and lounged about on the settee, wrapped in a blanket and watching a film, I decided to make her a little crochet bunny.
Bunny then had to have a scarf, a football, a basket and finally a blanket (cobbled together from some old flower squares I had lying about). Then we made some little pipecleaner puppies but we're not brilliant at them as you can see. Rachel reckons the green one is a bit more like a sheep.

Not a bad day's work though, eh?

Grumpy

Despite treacherous conditions since Friday, I've done my bit and traipsed, slid and skidded my way to and from work. Last night I spent a good hour with my neighbour chipping off the thick ice from the pavement outside our houses - our local newspaper is printing stories about how badly Brighton & Hove council have coped with this weather, and I'm inclined to agree given that main roads and pavements are still icy in places. Brighton is very hilly in places and it's downright dangerous - I'm lucky I'm able-bodied but it must be very frightening for those unsteady on their feet.

Anyway, that's not why I'm grumpy! I've done my best not to be, honest (despite the fact there is no way on this earth I'm going to be ready for Christmas this year).

Here are a couple of pictures and you can see I've tried to find nice things to think about instead of grumpiness.


This was about 8am on Friday morning and the snow was about 10cm deep. Looks quite pretty if you don't have to go anywhere particular.

I happened to mention buttons in a conversation with one of my neighbours and she said "oh, I've got loads you can have". Lizzie, eat your heart out.

See, it's nothing to be grumpy about.

After work today, I braved the supermarket and spotted this spud shaped like a heart. I bought it purely because I thought it was sweet (I'm going a bit soft in my old age I think). Still not grumpworthy, and you have to agree I've been trying not to be....

So, what has made me VERY grumpy? Well, standing staring into space at the supermarket checkout, I eventually noticed a large red display in front of me (I tune out when I'm in supermarkets as I find that's the best way to cope with them). Ooh, I thought, choccie! and the little choccie alert in my brain tuned me back in to reality. I did have to ask the lady behind me to confirm that I wasn't hallucinating though. She had a look at the object of my major grumpiness and agreed I was perfectly sane and not seeing things. (She also left the shop grumpy).

So, what was it that finished me off so that I've finally succumbed to a major grumpfest?

EASTER CHOCOLATE ON DISPLAY ON THE 22ND OF DECEMBER.

Nestlé, producers of Kit Kat, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Hmph.

With no idea what to do, this is what happened!

Today was the day for sorting out my Christmas cake. I marzipanned it and put the white icing on (yes, I know I should have waited 24 hours but I don't have the time this week). Then I had a coffee and stood in the kitchen gawping at a bald cake. I had absolutely no idea what to do this year, and I was limited as I'd forgotten to buy a block of white icing which only left me with a pack of coloured (and the roads & pavements are literally sheet ice here today so there was no way I was risking nipping to the shop).

So, a few coffees and 6 hours later, this is what I ended up with.

So.........is Santa blushing and looking shocked because he's woken up late, or is he wondering where Rudolph's other arm is? :-)) I'll let you decide.

More crochet, and sore fingers

This is the second oversized cushion I was asked to make. It's more of a large pillow size and I did it with an envelope style flap. Hope she likes it!

As well as finishing off the little lap blanket for my Mum this week, I also made a little stuffed cushion for my OH who has a problem with his elbow. He finds it really uncomfortable resting his elbow on the desk while he's using the computer so I whipped up this little thing for him to see if it helps. He says it's great because it moves with him as he uses the mouse so he doesn't have to keep repositioning his arm on a folded up old cushion.

I knocked up a quick scarf while I was having a break from those granny squares, and there's another half done sitting here next to me..

Oh, and I've also made 5 robins but they're still lying about waiting to be stuffed and sewn up.
I've got beady stuff to do now for presents - good job I've ordered some new specs or I think my eyes may start complaining again. Must admit too that my fingers were a bit stiff and sore this morning. I'm hoping it's just the freezing weather here today and not crochet overload :-)

Grrrrrrrrranny squares

Well, finally the oversized cushions I've been asked to make are finished. Yipee! Here's the first one, made with 50 granny squares which I made in 2 days. Those vile little ends took me 3 hours, yes 3 hours to sew in, and that's WITH a lot of them being caught in as I crocheted! Just looking at the pic brings back nasty memories and makes me shudder.

Just look at them, taunting me..

Here they are, still lurking in front of all the nice neat squares..

Squares minus those ends (well and truly stuffed at the bottom of the bin)..

Finally crocheted together and made into a huge cushion.

I hope she's happy with the finished effect!