A little pootle . . .

I've been going to visit my family in the pretty little town of West Kilbride, in Ayrshire on the beautiful west coast of Scotland for years, but it's been ages since I'd had the chance for a wee wander around.

So a couple of weeks ago, my lovely cuzzies & I took ourselves off for a little pootle and I got a peek into some of the fab shops that contribute towards the Craft Town of Scotland accolade that West Kilbride holds.

Our first stop was Old Maiden Aunt Yarns - what a great wee shop, filled to the brim with oh-so-lovely hand-dyed yarns in all sorts of yummy colours.

I spied the dye pots simmering away in the back, and was lucky enough to have my curiosity satified by an explanation of the whole process that they use to achieve all the pretty colours.  

It was at this stage that I mentally cursed having a restricted baggage allowance for my return flight, so whilst I did make a little purchase, I had to be suitably restrained.  But I'll be back.... with more available space in my suitcase next time!  

A little further down the main street, we popped our heads around the door of McHattie - a yarn boutique that at that moment was full of a big group of nattering, knitting ladies, and no space for us & my littlest cuzzie's stroller. So we carried on along the road, and will hopefully stop in next time I'm in town.

Just a few doors along, we discovered another exciting little shop - Weft Blown.  Now I don't think I've had a chance to tell you this yet, but the Hubby gave me an Ashford Knitters Loom for my birthday - so stepping into Weft Blown was a delight. Friendly, helpful and happy to chat, with soooo many pretty things on display that have really inspired me to get weaving :-)

So lovely peeps, if you ever find yourself pootling around the west of Scotland, don't skip a visit to this crafty town - it's well worth a wander.

Oh and of course if you're in need of a holiday, I can highly recommend THE Best Travel Agent in the World . . . LAH Travel, right there in the main street too - tell them I sent you ;-)

'til next time,

xoxo

ps. West Kilbride has also been nominated in the Great British High Street Awards 2015.  I think they deserved to win!

pps. Also linking up today with Small Things weekly Yarn Along - so do pop over and see what everyone else has been up to.

On my travels . . . Part 3 : Ottawa, Canada

Well here it is at last.... Part 3 - and today I'm joining in with Amy at Love Made My Home,  for Five on Friday too.

We spent the last week of our fab holiday in Ottawa, a city I'd not visited before so it was fun to explore,  as well as enjoy a catch up with lovely friends : - )

So whilst our significant others attended the IPP conference, we crafty gals had a fab time doing what we love best - nattering, eating, shopping, knitting, crocheting, and just generally hanging out together and enjoying each other's company.

My oh-so-talented friend Lesley, being the closest (well Toronto's not that far from Ottawa, really. . . by Canadian standards that is) was tasked with organizing our annual Fun & Fabulous Fabric & Fibre trip and may I say that aided and abetted by Helene, they did a sterling job.

We spent a whole day visiting five of Ottawa's most fabulous stores, all of whom gave us such a lovely welcome, treated us to yummy snacks and put up with 24 very happy crafters as we ooh-ed and aah-ed over the array of delightful fabrics and yarns.

We did lots of sightseeing too, and our wanders around the city inevitably included a spot of tea and something delicious to go with it . . .

So there it is . . . the holiday that was . . .

Time to plan the next one, methinks  : - )

Have a lovely weekend, one & all.

'til next time,

xoxo

Another wee break . . .

Back from London, just long enough to unpack & re-pack my suitcase as it's holiday

 time here again . . . 

yes, the Big Birthday celebrations continue  : - )

This time we're off on a cruise with my lovely family - can't wait . . .

So see you all in a week or so, and I'll look forward to catching up again.

'til next time,

xoxo

ps.  Had a fab time at The Knitting & Stitching Show at the beautiful Ally Pally - and I promise to tell you all about that when I get back too.

Karen, Jules & moi

A very British invasion . . .

You may recall that a wee while ago, the Hubby commissioned me to sew 150 little bags in some fab Brit fabrics (read about it here if you'd like).

  So whilst these would all contain a mechanical puzzle gift for his fellow metagrobologists attending the IPP in London this year, I thought I'd make something for the girls too and set about sewing a whole bunch of zippy make-up bags as a little reminder of their trip to sunny ol' England.

all cut out & ready to sew. . .

Don't you just love these sweet fabrics?

And we girls had a great time . . .  

 a river cruise & a yummy lunch in Stratford upon Avon,

a trip on the Severn Valley Railway from Kidderminster to beautiful Bridgnorth,

 a lovely wander around London, taking in the sights and the shops,

 and a visit to the beautiful Kew Gardens,

complete with a spot of yarn bombing . . .

We also managed to squeeze in some fun crafty things too - some beading, some needle-felting, and a wee bit of crochet . . . but that's a whole other blog post  : - )

Now our friends have all returned to their little corners of the world, but I hope, with lovely memories of their English summer of '14.

"Haste ye back . . ."

'til next time,
xoxo

Back to reality . . .

Back to earth with a bump after a truly lovely holiday . . .

Thanks for all your kind bon voyage wishes and lovely comments on my last post - our prayers were answered and much to my delight (and I must add, great relief), we enjoyed calm seas & beautiful weather throughout our voyage  : - )  {extremely happy face}

As usual, we took hundreds (literally) of pics so I've just selected a few highlights to share with you :

Beautiful sunsets at sea, sailing under the Great Belt Bridge at midnight, and exploring the city streets of Copenhagen, Stockholm & Helsinki . . .

. . . the ornate palaces & buildings of St Petersburg and hours spent in the Hermitage museum . . .

. . . the beautiful old town of Tallinn in Estonia . . .

. . . and the pretty fishing villages on the west coast of Sweden.

Now it's back to reality : loads of laundry and a garden that seems to have been taken over by weeds in our absence.

But it's always good to be home again . . .

AND 

the sun is shining.

Hope all's well with you too, and I'm looking forward to catching up.

See you in the week,

xoxo

We're all going on a summer holiday . . . *

. . . and hoping that summer will actually come along too : - )

We're heading for the high seas** again, but a bit further north this time to Scandinavia & the Baltic, and looking forward to exploring some lovely places.

So I've packed my current crochet project, a whole pile of mags and a fully-loaded Kindle to help while away several days at sea in between.

But before I go - thought I'd show you what I made yesterday . . .

I popped into Hobbycraft, and just couldn't resist this charm pack of lovely Tilda fabrics. I sooo love these soft, pretty pastel aquas, don't you?

It's not quite finished yet as I still want to put ribbon ties on the end (couldn't resist the pretty Tilda ribbon either), so it's been added to the WIP pile waiting for me when I get home again.

Oh, and I should mention that I couldn't resist buying the pink pack too . . .

 So that's on the WIP pile too - all pieced together, ready to be quilted and made into a cushion as well.

Bye-bye for now,

see you when I get back.

'Til then, take care and be happy,

xoxo

* with thanks to Cliff Richard & the Shadows

** Actually, literally praying for calm, low seas . . .

ps. if you missed the invitation to our Midlands Blogger's Get-together, you can see it here.

Catching up . . .

It's catch up time here at GMHQ . . .

I have a long "To Do" list for today - all those mundane things like laundry & housework etc etc, which I'd usually do on a Monday, but then the small (and annoyingly expensive) matter of me (accidently, I feel I should add) dropping my iPhone into the water and the resulting trip to the Genius Bar at the Apple shop yesterday kind of scuppered my day.

Anyhooo . . . 'nuff about my clumsiness and back to my holiday . . .

We sailed from Venice,  down the Dalmation coast to Split and the pretty town of Trogir in Croatia . . .

. . . then onward to Kusadasi & Ephesus in Turkey . . .

and the beautiful Greek island of Mykonos . . .

. . . back into the Ionian Sea to Argostoli on Kefalonia . . 

and back to Venice.

I do so love travelling and exploring new places . . .  wanderlust is in my genes. 

And the upside to that, is that we're off again next week . . . YAY . . . so best I get that load of laundry done ; - )

Hope you're having a terrific Tuesday,

xoxo

I love Paris . . .

. . . in the Spring time.

                                                     - Cole Porter

The Surprise . . . 

Yay, we're going to Disneyland - a hug for Mom

the Trip . . .

it was cold, but oh-so-much-fun

 . . . and the Homecoming

even colder, but nonetheless very exciting for South Africans who are more used to sunshine :-)

We didn't get any knitting or crocheting done, but we did manage to make Mr Bumpy, the Snowman.

Have a happy day, and if it's snowy where you are too, 

stay warm and have fun.

xoxo

hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to ?? we go . . .

I'm off early tomorrow morning for a little trip away with the girls {sshhh . . . it's a surprise, but I promise to tell you all about it when we get back} - so I'm humm-ing and haa-ing as to what crafty project to take along.

Not that I think we're going to have that much time for crafting, but you know it's always nice to have something to do with our hands on the plane / train / bus / rollercoaster (??),  whilst we natter away.

So, with Easter coming up, I've narrowed it down to two options.  Both involve a crochet hook and some oh-so-pretty cotton yarn.

Will it be this sweet little Easter bunny (from Issue 65 of Let's Knit)

or

the Knickerbockerglory Bunting from Nikki Trench's lovely book: Cute & Easy Crochet (which, just by the way, is full of fabulous little projects) ?

Hmmm . . .

Haaaa . . .

oh the decision

; - )

And of course, there's also a pile of lovely mags and my current Book Club read to be popped in the bag too.

A bientot 

(ah oui, that's a petite clue)

 See you next week,

xoxo

{Linking up with Small Things Yarn Along Wednesday - do hop over and have a wee peek}