My Creative Year of 2014

 

I thought I would gather together all of the creative crochet (plus a few cross stitch pieces) that I have done this year. I haven't done as many things as I did last year-I think selling our house and moving from Yorkshire to Scotland has got in the way of my crochet projects a bit this year! However I did manage to do some things which turned out to be very pretty. Hope you enjoy looking at them!

 

I started the year doing some cross stitch projects that I had had sitting in a drawer for some years and never quite started them. They were actually very quick projects once I got started and I'm hoping to do more cross stitch this year, interspersed with my crochet projects.

 

This first cross stich was a little Celtic Knot Coaster.

 

 

I then did a lovely bookmark of a lighthouse. This project was really enjoyable as there was less counting and more cross stitch!

 

Inspired by these 2 projects I had manage to complete I then purchased this beautiful cross stitch compact mirror to do. I just love the colours in this.

 

I then returned to my crochet and began a Ripple Cushion for my sons bed. This project I did while we were on holiday in Glen Lyon. That was just such a lovely relaxing time and every time I look at this cushion I remember the holiday. 

 

 

I then decided to do a cushion for my own bed, this time a very pink girly one. At one time I would have hated such girly colours but now I seem to be drawn to them-must be my age!!! So pleased with this cushion, although it was very labour intensive, much more so than the simple ripple of the cushion above.

 

 

I then did a little throw to match the cushion. By this time we had put our house up for sale and I made this pink throw with the cottage in my mind that we hoped to buy in Scotland-I pictured these on a chair in my bedroom in a little traditional stone cottage-lets hope I can achieve this vision very soon.

 

 

Carrying on with this theme I then decided to make some cushions for my living room. Firstly I made the two square cushions. I used a direct pattern and colour combination from the blog Attic 24. I don't usually follow colour schemes from other people but they were too beautiful to resist. I then made the circular one using my own mandala type design but I kept the same colours to make them into a set of cushions.

 

I then slightly changed the design and made a Lotus Flower inspired design, but again I kept to the same colours to keep a theme and a continuity with the various designs.

 

 

I seem to have gone a bit cushion crazy at this point in the year as I made another circular one to match the original circular one I made. I must admit I love that design I made up-very pleased with it.

 

Another Attic 24 inspired project I did was this table centre piece based on a Star Flower mandala. It's so colour on any table.

 

 

I then did a few things for my niece who was expecting her 2nd baby (a little girl). I started by making a nursing cushion using the Rainbow Raindrop stitch and colours I used for my first living room cushion. These rainbow colours are so bright and cheerful, I love them. And they adapt to many different projects too. 

 

I then made a little matinee jacket for my great niece, I was delighted with how this turned out-I kind of fell in love with it a little!

 

I then made a little cot blanket using the same stitch as the matinee jacket.

 

 

This heart was a tiny little project I completed one evening on a whim. Again I had in mind the little stone cottage in Scotland I wanted to live in and thought little cosy hearts like this would look good in that setting.

 

 

I liked the look of these little hearts so much that I made two more, as Christmas presents for two friends of mine. They are filled with dried lavender so smell lovely next to your bed.

 

 

Scrolling through Pinterest one evening I came across some coat hangers that had little crocheted covers on them. I just loved the idea, so I began making lots and lots of them. These projects only take an evening to do so are great projects to do. I made each design up myself, some I decorated with crocheted spots, some with flowers and some with buttons-loads and loads of ideas you can make-I still have 30 wooden coat hangers waiting for little covers-must get started on those in the New Year.

 

The final project I did in 2014 is still on going, it's a poncho using the rainbow colours I seem to be addicted to. The design was taken from Simply Crochet magazine (issue 25) and is designed by Simone Francis. This should make a great warm poncho for all of those cold winter nights we experience up here in Fife in the winter months-can't wait to complete it!

 

 

 

 

 

Our Fife Life Continues

We are continuing to settle in to life in Fife. We've been to a few more places for the first time, there's just so much to do within a 10 mile radius. One of the best things we have done was to go to a Mozart Requiem concert organised by The University of St Andrews. It only cost £10 to go and lasted 3 hours, such good value. There was a Bach Magnificat in the first half then Mozart Requiem in the second half. I adore Mozart so seeing and hearing Requiem performed was a great treat. 

We visited Crail for the first time a couple of weekends ago. We went around the harbour and beach in the morning and then visited an estate called Cambo Estate in the afternoon to go to a Christmas Fair there. I got chatting to a lady who makes felt Christmas Tree decorations and she invited me to go to a workshop she was running to show people how to make them-I went last week and made a Rudolf decoration and a bauble decoration, it was great fun!

Woodland Walk at Cambo

Beautiful colours from this Acer tree

 

 I am also still trying to get a bit fitter and lose a bit of weight so last Sunday we went to a National Trust for Scotland place called Hill of Tarvit and climbed the hill, before we looked around the house and gardens. It wasn't as high as Largo Law we climbed recently but the views were lovely from the top, and it was a clear day so we could see for miles.  The cottage we are hoping to buy is only 10 minute drive to this place, so it will literally be on our doorstep.

 

Hill of Tarvit summit

View towards cottage from Hill of Tarvit

 

 Last Sunday was such a bright and breezy day we decided to visit Tentsmuir forest, we had a lovely walk along Tentsmuir sands and then walked back through the forest. The beach seemed to stretch for miles. I was saying to my OH that on Christmas Day this year we should have breakfast and then go for a long walk along this beach to blow away the cobwebs-lets hope for good weather then!!

 

Someone's dog was having a great splash in the sea!

You can see me and my OH waving to you on this photograph!!

The forest seemed so gloomy after the wide open space of the beach

 



The dew drops on the tree looked almost like jewels



 

I haven't had much time for crochet recently but did manage to do this little bird, it was a kit in Simply Crochet magazine and I thought it was cute so I made it for my Christmas Tree. I've just started a crocheted poncho that is from the same magazine, I'm going to keep it as an indoor poncho as I don't think it will be fit for people to see, but hopefully it will keep me warm in the Scottish winter.

So we are settling in and getting to know the area but I must admit I'm missing my friends a lot from where we previously lived. I guess this will get better as I make new friends but it can feel very isolated here at times. However next week I'm meeting two of my old friends in Edinburgh for the day to do some Christmas shopping-so looking forward to seeing them again!

First weeks of Fife Life

 

Well the first two weeks of our new life in Fife have been really busy. The day after we moved into our rented house was my birthday. I didn't have time to bake a cake like I usually do, so I bought a little one from the local Tesco's, it was really tasty too! One of my friends in Yorkshire sent me a bouquet of yellow roses for my birthday, I must admit it brought a tear to my eyes :-(

 

 

 

 My 4 cats (Poppy, Lizzie, Tilly and Chester) seem to have settled into life in Fife very well! Although they've had a few fights with the resident cat next door-Tilly and Chester both have war wounds on their noses from the encounters :-(

 

They seem to be spending a lot more time indoors than they would normally do, I'm hoping this will gradually change as they get used to the area. The youngest cat, Lizzie, has already caught her first mouse, she triumphantly brought it in to show us, then growled at us when we tried to prize the little creature from her jaws!! 

 

We had time to carve a little pumpkin for Halloween, my daughter did the carving while I made Pumpkin Soup. The pumpkin was a white skinned one, so beautiful to look at, that I almost decided to keep it whole as it was such a lovely shape. 

 We've also been trying to get to know the area a little bit. There are some beautiful beaches around this part of Fife. My daughter and I visited St Andrews one morning-there we are on the photo above, tiny little shadows against the sky, sea and sand. The architecture in St Andrews is just lovely, the stone work is creamy yellow and lots of buildings have turrets. The feeling of history there reminds me of my home town of Chester.

 

 

 

We visited a Farmers Market in St Andrews on Saturday morning with my husband and son, who was visiting. I got some vegetables and some gorgeous Crab Apple Jelly.

 

 

 

 

We visited the East Beach in St Andrews that day too. I'm just trying out my new camera, I got it for my birthday so I'm still getting used to it. I'm discovering a love of stonework, the pebbled pavement on this sea front was great with the moss growing in the cracks. We've been so lucky with the weather so far, these bright and breezy days are great for exploring.

 

 

 

 

 We also visited Elie and went on a short hike on part of the Fife Coastal Path. We climbed up the path to a disused bunker on the cliff top. It was really windy on the day we went there so it was a bit treacherous but the views of Elie were breath taking.  

 

 

 The sun was starting to set as we descended on to the beach after our short hike. I could look at this view all day!

 

 

On our second trip to Elie we parked in the town centre and walked to the beach closer to the town centre, which had been inaccessible on our first trip as the tide was in. This is a lovely beach too. We looked in rock pools and I took photos of more stone work on the beach, don't you just love the texture and colours of the stones!!

 

We also watched a murmuration of starlings over the church spire and then went for a hot chocolate to a great little café/shop called The Harbour House. 

 

 

 

Our final trip of these 2 weeks was taken one evening as the sun was setting. These two photographs were taken from Anstruther looking towards North Berwick and were taken just 10 minutes apart-it's amazing how quickly the sky darkens!

 

 

So that has been our first 2 weeks in Fife. We are only just starting to find our way around really but I think it's safe to say that we are going to love living here in Fife!