Sailing away

29 July 

A quick on the hoof/sail post as Internet is not miss than hit at sea. Here are my 5 pics for the week...


Brimble is in the background.  Lovely agapanthus everywhere on the Scilly Isles 



Always important when sailing to get ashore and stretch ones legs. Sailing can be as short as a half hour hop round to the next bay or as is the case this week a 36 hour sail also...



But what it does mean is that we get to see lots of our country and our lovely safe boat has taken us to many foreign places too.  In the ten years we've had Brimble we have sailed over 15000 and visited in excess of 15 countries (one day I'll sit down and count how many)



So typical and colourful the south coast of the UK often hang out bunting. It's jolly and I love it. Seaside towns at their best...




Which takes us of course to sandy beaches, sailor style...


Wishing you all a continued happy summer. Joining in with Amy sharing my 5 with you all. 


Did we sleep on the beach or not?

Just a quick up date for those that have worried about me. 



The children and I travelled by foot, train and ferry to arrive to a cloudy but beautiful St Mary's on the Scilly Isles. Having followed Brimble, our boats progress on AIS tracker we could see it was touch and go whether she would make it in time for our bed time and having scoured the island for accommodation found there was none to be had. That's not true I found somewhere for the one night at just over £350 and was not relishing the thought of paying that much...
So luggage in hand we traipsed across the island to the visitors centre to find out how we should amuse ourselves. We found at 2030 there was a local wildlife film being shown in the town hall and thought if needs be that's where we could spend some of the evening. 

Learning there was a left luggage area back across the island where we came from we decided to hot foot it or more like luggage drag it back to the quayside   where we thought we would order our first ice cream and decide upon the many activities on offer which we should begin with. 

On arriving dockside what did I spy? But the unmistakable pink radar reflector of Brimble! She had arrived. Joy of joys, I nearly cried. 

Needless to say we are all reunited and Internet is very hit and miss with the emphasis on miss. You may not hear from me for some days. 

Wish us fair wind and sailing and I'll speak to you all soon

Selma x

Weekly round up of inspiration

22nd July    

Today I present a quick round up of things that have caught my eye, inspired me or kept me busy, hope you enjoy my eclectic choices...

Sending hugs from all around the world.  The crochet crowd are buzzing with making small crochet squares and sending them to Wiltshire in the UK, all to show support and love for a young women who is fighting cancer and with whom she and her mother have touched many hearts, to see a full blog round up and to possibly get involved follow the link:  Jenny's blanket of hugs

This was day 2 of the squares arriving
and Kate kindly added my crochet mouse
into the picture to.

OK, this has not inspired me but thrown me off balance somewhat:  CHRISTMAS IN JULY!!!! I hope to goodness Ms Twisted is not reading this post as she may have heart failure, she cannot even hear the 'C' word until December 1st at the earliest.  But I must admit, as those who have been here at the eclectic home for a while, I just adore Christmas and I may begin to think about making such things come September, but this is a tad organised and too soon for me too...although, it has set my mind in motion...oh no...

In case you have fallen for these crochet
aprons, the details can be seen above


The Norwegian Alice Haugen posted this beautiful baby blanket this week and I fell in love.  Just look at the colour combination, how calming and serene are they, colour perfection, just loving this palette.

Stunning colours in this crocheted baby blanket

Last summer I spied the trend of sewing ones own espadrilles and I was sorely tempted, as often the case time was not on my side and as soon as that northern wind and autumnal colours blew in the idea blew straight out of my mind, until this week when I spied not hand sewn espadrilles but crocheted ones along with a matching bag.  It was love at first sight for me.  How beautifully constructed as these makes by Deb Garretty.  I noticed that yesterday she also won Wool and the Gang photo competition for this shot too.  In case like me you are tempted you can purchase the kit here and no, I am not being paid for suggesting this, I just love them Crochet your own espadrilles


Crocheted by Deb Garretty


And finally the wonders of modern technology, my husband is kindly moving our boat this time from Ireland to the Scilly Isles where the children and I will jump on board but in the mean time we are able to track the progress of the boat on line.  How clever is that!  I do notice that progress is slower than expected and he has asked if perhaps we can find a B & B for the night on the islands, does he know how ridiculously hard that is?  All the websites suggest you do not purchase your flight or ferry to the islands until you have secured accommodation as it is so limited...I've told him in no uncertain terms that he best be there as the kids and I are NOT sleeping on the beach for the night...watch this space and I will let you know how it all pans out...  Thinking about it I bet progress is slow because of the Irish Guinness and not as he suggests because the engine was playing up or that they had to anchor unexpectedly one night as all the lights on the top of the mast had blown and he had to be winched up to replace them all...


Ireland to the left and England to the right.  All the
little dots are various vessels but only those that have the tracker,
there are many more out there too!

Can you spot where they made an unexpected stop one night,
presumably to change the bulbs, I'm sure it was the beer calling

As with Google Earth, you can change the view,
here they are heading into Cork

Joining in with  Amy   for the penultimate week before the break for the summer, sharing my 5 things with you, do pop along and see what others are sharing this week too


  Wishing you all fair wind for the rest of the summer  


Blanket of Hugs

July 19th

I have mentioned the  Little Box of Crochet   subscription before, many of you know I am a huge fan and have watched this grow from an idea on IG to become a growing business with such a warm hearted open woman called Amanda.  We have never met but somehow she and her daughter have crept into my heart and many other yarny lovers across the globe.

Amanda has been very open about the fight her daughter has against cancer, and after receiving the great news that there was no longer any signs of tumours by her heart a week later another new tumour was found again in Jenny's brain.  These two inspirational women are dealing with this news in the most admirable way.  We all deal with things differently and never know how we will deal with difficult news until such experiences touch us.  There is no right or wrong, but I do find Amanda and Jenny inspirational, have I used that word already about them?

Another person I have followed and admired for some time and who is a crochet designer extraordinaire and so generous with her work and patterns is the fun loving , or so I feel she is, as again we have not ever met either, is Kate from Just Pootling She took it upon herself to start a crochet blanket for Jenny to wrap her up with hugs from crocheters from all around the world and the response has been immense.  In fact today Kate is anticipating the first squares for the blanket to arrive on her door mat.  I am hoping that mine will arrive with her tomorrow, fingers crossed. 

Each square is a 11cm x 12cm and there are three designs.  Kate has asked for a maximum of 3 per person and it's looking like there will be a blanket for mum, Amanda too as well as enough squares to make one to be auctioned for a cancer charity.  Kate is happy to receive squares up to the middle of August, but please not after so there is plenty of time should you wish to get involved, all details can be found at the end of this post.



Deramores came up trumps this time
and my yarn arrived withIn 36 hours of ordering

Quick and easy designs, made in an evening

Practicing my flat lay shots,
this one did not cut the mustard

I found this to be the better flat lay photo


For full details on patterns, yarn colour and makes and where to send the squares to click on the link:

 
 
 
 
   ♥   As we approach the school summer holidays my hands could be tied up with children's activities, I will endeavour to blog a bit, but it could be few and far between,
please do keep popping back to say hello, would hate to miss you ;)
 
 
EDIT:  Kate has just confirmed that the first squares have indeed arrived today, want to see...
 
 
 

Crafty Photography

July 15th  

Many crafters are obsessive people in that once they begin something they cannot stop.  How many times have you heard yourself saying  'Just let me finish this row,' to find yourself still sitting there half an hour later.  My latest obsession is much like that only with a smartphone App called Prisma.  If you value your time, do not go and investigate this App, nor indeed should you down load it because if like me you can be obsessive you will loose hours of your time. 

I enjoy inviting you to join me for a cup of tea or more often than not a glass of wine and I kid you not you really may need that refreasment whilst scrolling through this post today.  ALERT:  This is an incredibly photo heavy post and little writing, scroll thorough quickly and just stop where your eye is caught by something, I really could not be selective and have shared with you 5 photos of my crochet that have been given the prisma treatment.


My latest creation, if you are curious there is a blog
post just about this!  Lampshade bling












My faithful painted bench and two outdoor crocheted cushions, these cushions are great as I have backed them in oilcloth, perfect for outdoors!  Outdoor cushions

Before the photo app was used
















 
The below blanket is called Stripy as we go and I love it, but be aware of the different stiches each row requires as the tension is different!  Mood blanket

Before the photo app was used



























Leaving my mandala crochet table cloth outside, as was the plan all along, one would be forgiven in believing we have had a sunny summer as the vivid colours have been bleached away in just a couple of months!

Before the photo app was used










And for the non crafters of you, below is a photo of sunflowers in my kitchen this morning, it works so well this app on people too but I thought I would spare you my morning not quite awake face...


Before the photo app was used







 
 
 
 
 
Hoping you are still here with me and have not 'switched' off from the colossal number of photographs I have shared, see I am obsessive! 
 
Sharing my 5 different photos with you and linking in with the lovely Amy
 
 
♥  Happy photographing to you all