Cushion Update

Well I know that this isn't quite the big reveal that I had promised but I thought that I would instead show you a bit more of the progress that I'm making with the cushion. I guess it also shows you just what I've been up to lately!

Well, I've had a good couple of days to work on the cushion which has been lovely and as you can see,  there's been quite development from the last photos I showed you. 

Yep! All the squares have now been created and stitched together, yay! 

But hang on a minute?! What is that rogue little light blue patch doing in the middle there? Well yes, I thought you would notice that! Slight hiccup there. I literally got to the last patch and found that I had no more dark blue for the border. After some much hopeful rummaging in the box to see if there wasn't any scraps that would save me, I resigned myself to that fact that I would have do adjust my pattern.

By the way, just incase you were thinking it, I couldn't buy a new ball as it wasn't available in the shops anymore and the closest I could find was to me, not good enough. Besides, I was quite open with the idea of creatively getting round the idea then and there! 

I decided that I would redo the middle patch in a lighter blue. Easy to say but as it was all sewn up, it was a bit of a problem getting there and a few times, I cut the wrong yarn which unravelled the crochet on the surrounding patches. Still, I got there in the end and with a few knots tied here and there, I don't think you can see the trail of destruction. 

I quite like the different patch in the middle. Admittedly it wasn't what I had in mind originally but I think it works. I'm planning to do a border around the patches in this light blue along with the backing of the cushion too so I think that this will tie it all together and make it look like less of an accident!

It's funny, it's turning into a bigger project than I thought it would be. I thought that as it's just a cushion, it wouldn't take that long but still, I have the time now!

A puppy visiter

The other day I had a lovely surprise when one of the new owners of a puppy popped in to say hello. It was Koura (now called Molly) who came and showed us how much she had grown in the few weeks since we had last seen her.

Jenna and Molly continued where they left off and played the whole time they were there. For this reason, it made it fairly hard to get a good photo. But, just to show you how much she had grown, I'll show you this:

A blurry action shot I know but to me it really shows how much bigger she is now! I would say that she's about half the size of Jenna now! 

And here's the cheeky little double act together. No I'm not talking about the image below but the one above! She really is exactly like Jenna when she was a puppy in both looks and personality. Oh and you know that she and another little puppy had what was called an innocent heart murmur? Well, they've both been checked out and are totally fine and no murmur is there now.

It was so great to see them all and see how close they had all become with Molly and vice versa. 

We also get lovely updates from a couple of the other new owners too. One had to give us a bit of bad news though in saying that Tilly who is now called Mary Poppins has broken her leg! A rough and tumble play with the other puppy they took ended in the sand pit lid falling on her front leg. She's fine though and is sporting a cute little blue cast till next week when it's being taken off.

Bless her! 

Well, I think that's about it on the puppy front. It's so nice getting the little updates from people. I just can't believe that we actually managed to raise 8 puppies! But, here is the proof. 

Iced hearts

Last weekend, I went back to Durham to have one last visit with my sister before she came back for the summer. Being a guest, I couldn't just turn up empty handed so of course, some baking was in order. 

Mulling over the numerous baking books that we have in the cupboard, I eventually settled on a simple but always appreciated option, biscuits. 

Ah the good old biscuit. Quick to make and sure to be a safe option when you know that there are people who have certain dietary requirements (well, safe for most people anyway). As I was travelling on the train, something that wasn't too delicate and would travel well I knew was a big factor too.

So yes, here they are as you can see, taken late at night before my journey hence the bad photo quality. Simply decorated, I think that they don't look to bad at all considering that I made them the night before almost on the spur of the moment.

I'll make a confession. The icing is actually an icing mix but this was only purchased due to the lack of icing sugar in the shop. Still, I'm not ashamed and the mix actually produced some nice icing that didn't taste funny (as it can sometimes do) at all.

Along with the stars, my younger sister and I spent a nice evening together pasting on either the chocolate or lemon icing whilst watching a film on Netflix which is a service that I'm testing out with one of those free trials at the moment. Just quickly, I'll say that I'm not really that impressed with it as it is definitely a case of watching what is there rather than you just popping something up on demand. I think I'll try the free trial on Lovefilm next!

Leaving a few biscuits with the family here, the remaining biscuits went down a storm in Durham. They tasted pretty good even if I say so myself and by the end of my visit, had been almost entirely consumed.

I have to say, I'm really enjoying being a more constant blogger on Bekah's Corner again. Even if no one really reads this, it has and is giving me great satisfaction to see all the little achievements of my life gathered in such a way as this.

I think the other reason why I'm blogging now so much on here is due to the fact that my college blog has now finished. I blogged so much there and now I think the withdrawal symptoms of that are displaying themselves in the transfer of writing on this blog instead. It seems that I just have to blog!

And so the crocheting obsession grows...

Oh I don't have find crocheting addicting sometimes! I don't crochet all the time but when I do, I get hooked! Ok so that was a pretty bad joke but it kind of had to be said!

As mentioned in my last post, I was in the process of making a crochet cushion. Well, here is a peek of how it's looking at the moment:

Well as you can see, I'm making a granny square cushion!

Rummaging through my wool hamper, I picked random colours and gradually built up enough squares to form what is looking more like the beginnings of a cushion. As I have accumulated a reasonable collection of wool throughout the years, I thought that this would be the perfect chance to use up the supplies a bit and those colours that for some reason never really get used too much.

I also chose the main colour scheme as blue as this is the colour that I'm hoping to paint my room with. I'm in the process at the moment of collecting blue pillows to bulk up my sofa/bed 'thing'.

As I have now finished college for the year (where did that time go!) I now have a full summer to get on with those little projects that have been put on the back burner for the crazy time that was puppy breeding and of course college in itself. Decorating my room in a nice tone of blue and generally updating the look to something that fits where I am now, I think making this cushion is a nice way to start!

To keep you in the know how, I'll create a big reveal post when the cushion is finished which hopefully won't be too long. Up next though, stay tuned for a post of the baking kind!

Crochet Bird

Ok, so I know that I was going to put up a sneaky peak of the crocheted gift I had made but as it's taken me so long to write this post, the receiver of the present has now had the little bird for so long now that this post is now just a straight up, plain and simple reveal. 

First things first though, I feel I should give credit for the creation to a lady who has a blog called Attic 24. This is a lovely blog that is full of lovely crocheted items where she often puts the patterns for them on her blog for free! 

As I'm on one of my crochet rampages where I can't seem to get enough of it at the moment, I searched through some ideas on what to crochet my friend. 

I find it funny how I switch to preferring knitting and then  switching again to crochet. I never tend to have a knitting project and crochet project running at the same time either. I guess it's because it's craft offers different things. Crochet is generally faster so is great to do on the side with college work. 

But anyway, I went of one a little natter there. Back on track now. I saw this pattern for the bird a while back and for some reason thought that this gift would be something that would suit her. Choosing colours not to dissimilar to the tutorial, I ended up with this cute little thing!

Do you like it? I think it's got quite a quirky cute look about it which was something I thought my friend would enjoy. It ended up travelling in the post although not flying there but rather squashed up in the only size jiffy bag I could find. It's made of strong stuff though so I'm sure it survived the journey!

As well as crocheting this, I'm also busy crocheting a pillow for myself. This seems a fairly simple project considering that it's me but as funny as it sounds, I've actually wanted to make one for a long time but been distracted with all the amazing knitted toys I realised you could make! 

I'll show you some photos of this as soon as I've put them on my computer so expect a post coming shortly. This should be a guarantee as I have now finished college! I'm all done and dusted for the year which seems pretty crazy as it didn't feel long ago that I started the course! 

Still, it's been a great year and now looms ahead the exciting prospect of a whole summer to catch up on those projects that have been put on the back burner. This should mean some more frequent blog posts and although I know, it's something I always say but I'm determined to keep a better record of the things that I do now that I'm not run over with my college blog now. 

Honestly, I've got so many things to tell you already that I think will make pretty juicy posts so please do join me in my reminiscing of the recent past!

Koura

Well as I said in the last post, Koura went on Saturday! To complete the whole process of the puppies going, here is her official leaving photo to prove it:

After having a lovely morning playing in the garden with Jenna, her new owners came and took her away! I've since heard from them which is lovely and she's doing really well and apart from crying a bit, she's been really good apparently!

At ten weeks old, she was definitely ready to go and although it has felt a little funny for the first couple of days without any puppies, it's amazing how quickly life goes back to how it was before. With the half term week this week, I've spent my time chilling with the lovely prospect that I can actually go out without worrying who will be in for the puppies and on Monday, have actually gone on a great day out with my friend to Manchester. FREEDOM!!

Ok, so I speak maybe too soon. With this half term week falling slap bang in the middle of my final major piece at college, it has meant that I have been tied down to a certain extent with college work. But hey ho, apart from the mini evaluations that I have to do everything time I create something, it isn't actually too taxing. I won't reveal anything about my final piece yet, but I promise to show you it when it's completed!

Well, I think that's about it from me for now. Stay tuned for some crafty creations that I've been up to including a little sneak peak of a gift that I've made for someone. As they have not received it yet, I'll not ruin the surprise and put all of it on for now just in case they read this blog before their little parcel reaches them!

Hope your all having a lovely half term despite the bad weather! 

Going, going, gone!

Ok, so it's a bit of a corny title but there you go!

Well, I can't believe it. It's all nearly over! We are left with just one puppy in the house and even then, she's leaving tomorrow. It's been such a great experience raising the puppies. Hard work, I'll admit and the business side of things dealing with the people has been a bit stressful at times but definitely well worth it.

As you know, I've been taking photos of each puppy on the day that they leave. As I haven't gotten round to regularly posting on this blog, I'm posting them all at once but they've been steadily going in these past couple of weeks.

Tilly now named Mary Poppins!

Lola, now called Zula. Mary Poppins and Zula are currently living together with a lovely family till they meet up with the family's Mum where Zula will live with her in Scotland.

Milo is now called Bertie!

Clover, now called Bella.

Barney who is still has that name now!

All now with lovely people and homes! The great thing about it too is that some have been keeping in touch and sending update emails and photos. This has just been so great and hopefully, we'll even get to meet up again with some of them so Jenna can have a play with her ever growing puppies.

Speaking of Jenna and playing, this is what Jenna and Koura have been doing non stop all week. It's been such a joy to watch and I think has definitely been a big part of having just Koura with us so special. 

I think these photos sum up perfectly the relationship that these two have developed. Koura is so much like Jenna in personality and is so chilled out but does have her little cheeky side. When I say that Peppa will probably be pleased of Kouras permanent departure tomorrow, I think you get what I mean. Despite Peppa's warning growls, Koura has shown that though not quite pouncing on her, has certainly enjoyed winding Peppa up from a distance! This was exactly what Jenna used to do as a puppy.

It's actually been quite odd having Koura here which by the way is now to be called Molly. It feels like I've been warped back in time to when Jenna was little. It's certainly going to be harder saying goodbye to her than the others but I know that she'll have a great home and that in the long run, three dogs just simply wouldn't be feasible.

So there we have it! By this time tomorrow, we will be without puppies but in need of a rest. A bit downhearted but contented. The experiences of raising a litter was certainly not without it's lows but the highs have definitely been all I was hoping for. And you know what, with the amazing help of my family, I don't think that we did a bad job at all!

Would I do it again? Probably not. But I can say that I've achieved one of my dreams that helped get me through my illness and loved it at the same time!