Bath time....Boo Boo

I don't always get everything I make right! When I make a boo boo it is normally an EPIC one. This is a post about an is about one of my many boo boo's. I also feel that it is important that you all know that I don't always get everything right.

So here is my story. All the trendy magazines and shop are currently showing big crocheted bath matts. They seem to be really trendy all of a sudden. (As a matter of fact crochet seems to be getting bigger and a bigger as a trend. I am not being told - you look like a granny sitting there crocheting anymore, now its more like Oh, PLEASE can you teach me!)  They are made with t-shirt fabric, in the most beautiful colours. I have trawled pintrest on how to make T-shirt yarn, however I don't really cut very straight and I am certainly not buying T-shirts to cut up.  

I came across some balls of T-shirt yarn a few weeks ago and although the colour was somewhat dull grey, I bought it, thinking that I would never pay the exorbitant price the shops wanted for bath matt, I would simply make one, I mean how hard can it be, I crochet! I dug through my piles of Mollie Makes Magazine, I had seen a bath matt pattern in one of the issues, and got down to business.  

Round 1 - Not too bad although my fingers were struggling with the thick and not so easy to use T-shirt fabric and the super thick crochet hook.......



Round 2- A little easier, and it was growing by the stitch.....

Round 3 - My fingers were tired, the yarn was heavy and hard to work with....

Round 4 - sorry about the upside down picture. as you can see it was growing nicely, about the size of my magazine now.....sore fingerssssss

Round 5 - was an easy round, just chains thank Heavens...
Round 6 - was a difficult one, adding 9 stitches into that little space was rough and because by now my fingers were at breaking point....

But the end was in sight....... However it looked small
Thank Heavens the last round, I knew that if I put it down now it would NEVER get finished....
Round 7 - just chains again.....

It was not quiet that Ta Dah moment I had hoped for, it was way to small, it looked really out of proportion in my bath room. It look ridiculous to say the least. 

My options were  not many, I was NOT going to pull it out and I was certainly NOT going to try it again. To be fair, it would look great in a miniscule bathroom, just not mine! Also I must say that the picture you are seeing were taken after I had fought the feisty little matt into submission. It kept curling up, trying to roll itself back into a tiny little ball of T-shirt again. I stretched it,  pulled it, had my toes hooked into the bottom, pulling the top up to my chin. I think the fabric was not happy that it was a mat and not a shirt. It honestly has a life of its own. It was a EPIC boo boo!

So this little mat has no home, it has been rolled up - like it wants to be, and is now living a lonely life in my linen cupboard. To be honest I feel really bad that it is not on display or being used but am I wrong? maybe there is a person out there with a small bathroom who wants to give a lonely mat a loving home? Let me know.......xxx

That WIP......

I am just going to start this post off like this.......I am embarrassed. I started the Granny Sunburst Blanket  two,  yes 2 years ago and it is no where near close to being finished. I really cant seem to get round to it. Every time I haul it out, life happens....... does that happen to you too?

My beautiful Cath Kidson bag is still full of the yarn........

The colours still appeal to me........

The pattern is AWESOME...... ( and really easy) However, I think it is the thought of still making another 60 blocks - eeekkk! Yes 60 is what I still need if I am going to make a huge warm comfy blanket! Now I do have options, I can take the 45 that I have, put then together and  then crochet around the edges to make it big enough but I always feel that the beautiful squares and the pattern seem to get lost this way. 

Decisions, decisions....... No real decisions here, I WANT and NEED a BIG blanket! So I have taken the existing squares out and put them in the sun lounge by my chair. So that I can be guilted(is that even a word? My clever laptop says it is not, but I am going to ignore it!)) into getting them done. I am one of those people - out of sight out of mind..... I am going to production line them..... make 60 inners, 60 popcorn stitches..... I am sure you get the picture. I am going to get this blanket done, but first I am just quickly going to tidy my wardrobe ......Life happens....xxx  

Life's a Beach.....

I had a beautiful morning...... a good friend asked me to go for a walk with her on the beach.....She is a keen photographer and wanted to walk slowly and take pictures. The scenery was incredible. We walked and walked down the beach, stopping to take  pictures and pick up sea glass. We live in a beautiful part of the world -  Judge for yourselves, no words are necessary......

 

 

 

 

 

After our walk we had coffee. We told each other long tales of life, we laughed a lot, we cried a little, we poured our hearts out to each other......We stopped talking every now and again to point out beautiful waves, sunlight catching the beach sand perfectly, a tiny bird bathing in a puddle, an old married couple with long boards making their way down to surf. My beautiful friend is moving away soon, I will miss the epic-funny-heartwarming conversations we have. I will miss  her because she is real, I will miss her spur of the moment fun.......I know however we are life long friends and where ever she goes we will remain close.....Honestly, there is no better friend than that....xxx

PS:: Love you B!

American Girl

It's story time peeps.......

Once upon a time (three years ago to be precise) we traversed to continents to visit the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave - the good ole USA. It was a holiday that was to start in New York(for me) go upstate to the mountains and forests(for LSO) and end in Disney World(for little Madame) Something for all of us!

Before we embarked on this epic trip we sat Little Madame down and showed her the hotel we would be staying at in New York. It was a 4 star hotel that LSO had found and managed to get ridiculously good rates on because they were renovating. While we were looking at the hotel Little Madame saw a side bar with the picture of a beautiful doll on it. An America Girl Doll. The hotel could arrange a tea at the store that sold the dolls. The child would be picked up in a limo and taken to the store where she could get a doll, chose an outfit and have tea and cake.  Big green eyes turned to me  and asked if she could PLEASE do this? Well at $300.00,  this outing was just not an option. I gently explained to her that we were also going to Disney World and she needed to be careful as there was not an endless amount of money...... Not another word was mentioned about this doll

Until we arrived at the Hotel...... On seeing we had a little girl the concierge asked whether we would be visiting the AMERICAN GIRL store? The answer from our 5 year old was a very simple - NO thank you very much! Long days of sight seeing, blocks and block and BLOCKS of walking were the order of the day. On one of these days we happened upon - yes you guessed it, the American Girl store. We asked if she wanted to go in and she reluctantly said yes. Now I kid you not when I say she walked around the store with her hands behind her back.

We asked again would you like one? No thank you was the reply, lets go..... Oh well I did try. The entire week I watched as she looked at every little girl who was carrying one. She looked with longing eyes but was adamant that she didn't want one. Our trip was amazing and Disney World was the HIGHLIGHT..... even if you are a grown up, it is fun, fun FUN!!!

And they came home and lived happily ever after..... NOT A CHANCE!!!

A few weeks after we got home, I found Little Madame sitting on her bedroom floor crying her little eyes out! I gathered her up and asked what the problem was?

"I have made a terrible, TERRIBLE mistake Mama" came the reply.

Take a deep breath - "What my angel?"

"I should have bought an American Girl Mama, I really wanted on but was so scared that if I bought one, I would not have had money to spend in Disney World" Was the tear filled reply.

Ah bless! my poor little angel. so operation Get-an-American-girl-before-Christmas went into full swing. It wasn't difficult, my sister was in Canada and she got one for us.... The joy on Little Madames face on Christmas morning was well worth it!

And they lived happily ever after..... Mmmmm NOT A CHANCE!

This is turning into a long post  peeps, so I am going to wrap it up with pictures....

This is Isabella she is Little Madame's BESTIE! The redhead is her friend Ava(she is Targets more affordable version)

Bella has a horse and a tent......

And beautiful shoes and really cute accessories.......

I have downloaded patterns and made them clothes, they have their own dogs and a handy travel bag

Because they go everywhere with us. Bella has been to England, Scotland and Dubai, they even goes camping when we do.....

You can not get American girl things in deepest darkest Africa  so LSO has made them a double bunk bed and I made the bedding.....

Which is what this post was supposed to be about ...... I bought 2 duvet covers that were on sale and cut the one to make the girls bedding and the other went onto Little Madame's bed, so they have the same!

When we purchased the $135.00 doll(which is ALOT of SA Rands) I thought she might play with it for a bit and lose intrest you know what children are like. But Wow, has she ever proved me wrong! 4 years on and Bella is still her constant companion, her best friend, her sleeping partner, her gymnastics buddy and confidant.

We are hoping to go to the USA again next year, we told Little Madame this news a few days ago, shortly after we told her, I heard her chatting to Bella - 'You are going to go home my girl, we can visit your sisters in the store where Father Christmas bought you, and buy you  lots of special things' Yikes, I never thought about that.... I had better start saving.....xxx