Pretty in Pink

Our local school has some lovely raised beds which have been left untouched for quite some time.  To be honest, every time I walked past them to collect little Sweetpea I had to fight the urge to go and weed them.  So , rather than be annoyed by this I decided to take action, after chatting to the teachers I was given the go ahead to do a little make over.  Little Sweetpea, Middle Sweetpea and I dived into two of the raised beds, weeded them and planted them up with things like Cosmos, Sunflowers, Beetroot, Onions, Marigolds, Tomatoes etc.  

Here is a before shot for you, although the poppies looked lovely, it was nice to revert the beds to what they were made for.

This is after an hour or so of work, all planted up. I am hoping that the school keep watering everything after all our hard work.  I have had to remind them a couple of times already but we will have to wait and see.

Anyway, I digress from the original title and photo of this blog post, sorry about that.  I have never been one to keep exactly on track in conversation, I tend to spark off along different paths , but hey, that makes chatting all the more fun.

Whilst eyeing up the veggie patches and wanting to weed them, I noticed a nice large patch of chives in full flower.  Well this reminded me of a lovely photo I saw on Pinterest of some chive flowers that had been popped in distilled white vinegar.  I just HAD to give it ago ..... surely they couldn't turn the vinegar that pink???

So I got picking (with the school's permission of course :-) ).  I filled the jar with chive flowers after checking them all over for bugs etc, then poured in some distilled white vinegar.  Liteally in one day I could see it turning pink, a lovely shade of bright megenta pink!    It looks stunning, so so pretty.  You then need to remove the flowers after roughly 7 days and you are left with a lovely pink, onion tasting vinegar which can be used for salad dressings etc.  I think it needs to be kept is a shady area to keep the colour.  

Wow , isn't nature just wonderful !

The Winner ...

Thanks for all your entries to this fab giveaway, a winner has been chosen and there were over 60 entries in the end (here and over on my facebook page ScentedSweetpeas).  I popped all the names into an excel spreadsheet and then used a random number generator thingy to pick a number.  The number chosen was number 15 ....... that number had the name Andrea Harding next to it.   So Andrea, could you please e-mail me via my contact page on Scented Sweetpeas .  Thank you .

For all those who didn't win, do not be sad, www.schoolbagstation.com currently has the offer of 10% off your first order plus free delivery too - yipppeee.

All this chat about bags got me in the mood to create a bag for little Sweetpea, her PE bag has been looking a bit worse for wear for a while now so I set about sewing her a new one.

Obviously being super girly as she is she wanted the bag to have some sparkles on it and flowers.

Luckily she loved her new bag , I must say I rather love it too.  Who wouldn't want a sparkly, flowery, blinged up PE bag!  I am going to be popping some custom slots for these on my website soon so if your little one (or you) would like one just give me a shout. 

I will be back soon with beekeeping news ..... x

Bag Giveaway

Middle Sweetpea recently decided she NEEDED a new school bag, you know what it is like when they are in their teens, all of a sudden they need to feel part of the pack and follow the style that others have.  Well the bag I bought her hadn't fallen apart yet so I said that if she wanted a new one she would have to spend her own money.  Does that make me sound like a horrid, stingy Mum?  

She agreed and off we went to search online for a bag.  After an hour or so of online searching for a bag from a company that had good reviews we came across www.schoolbagstation.com . We placed the order and the bag arrived within a few days, they even popped a little packet of sweets in the parcel too, such a lovely touch.  Middle Sweetpea was over the moon.

With this fab customer service in mind I contacted the company and asked if they would be happy to give away a bag to one of my blog /facebook/instagram readers?  They said yes !  

So that means, one of you lucky people may get to have a bag delivered to your house for free!  All you have to do is pop a comment below telling me which bag which is priced under £30 you would like to win.  Pop to www.schoolbagstation.com and have a nose, then pop back here and let me know.  

I will pick one winner on 13 June 1015 at 6pm GMT (sorry this is only open to uk residents :-().

And so here it is .....

In my past life, before children, does  anyone else have problems remembering that far back, oh my goodness, where did the time go ???  Sorry, I digress, well I used to be a PA to a few Directors , I used to love my job, all the organising, office banter, learning new things.

Then after having my second child I had to give that up due to childcare issues and I decided to create a big website which had hundreds of rental properties on it for Spain.  I loved creating it even if the guilt of working around two toddlers did get to me.  I did a fab online course to learn how to create my own little website and it spiralled from there.  People used to ring my 'office' wondering why they could hear childrens voices in the background, little did they know my 'office' was in fact my front room, littered with toys lol.   It was such a wonderful learning curve, I learnt about promotion, SEO (search engine optimisation), google adwords  etc etc.  Years later I wound that site down due to having a third child and the rental market in that particular part of Spain changing.  I then fell into creating .

After sewing and creating lots of things I thought it was about time I created a website for my makes.  I used a fab site called Wix, they have some wonderful templates which you can play with and it has been so easy to use.    I would highly recommend it if you want to build a little site.  I have also been able to link the blog to it which is fab.  I just searched for Scented Sweetpeas Sewn Creations and it came up on page one of google which is pretty good for a site which is only a few weeks old.

Why not pop over and have a look, please do let me know what you think or if you have any more ideas for the site, I would love to hear from you .

http://scentedsweetpeas.wix.com/scentedsweetpeas

I will be back soon with news on bee-keeping, baby Quails and my creative antics.

Mental Health ...

A few months ago I was sat looking through all the lovely instagram photos, I must confess I was feeling rather sorry for myself due to my broken toe which decided it wouldn't heal for a long, long time.  Then up popped an image of the wonderful Do You Mind if I Knit and my heart sank further.  Reading Bobo Buns words that went with the image it transpired that Vanessa (from Do You Mind if I Knit), who was a super talented artist had died, she had suffered from depression for some time and she must have reached an all time low :-(

I couldn't even imagine how low she must have felt , I thought of her poor family who had had her taken from them in such a sad way.  It took me back to a family incident a few years ago which made me realise the wider effect these things have on a family.  I like so many others have had dark moments in life, sometimes for no reason at all, you know, like a black cloud just comes down and you can't see the light until it finally lifts.  Thankfully it has always lifted, thankfully the cloud hasn't stayed for too long.

It is when it lifts that you realise just how precious life is, how important family is and how to embrace those tiny things that make you smile deep in your heart.

Creativity is one of those things that has helped me through those cloudy days so when Lisa (from Bobo Bun) decided to create a community crochet blanket in memory of Vanessa I jumped at the chance to join in.  What a wonderful idea that lovely creative souls from around the country join together to create something to remember a fellow creative soul.  The colours were chosen from a selection that Vanessa herself used a lot so the blanket really would have her personality shining through it, bright, vibrant, fun.  It was then decided to raffle off the finished blanket to raise money for charity that meant a lot to Vanessa's family , the Mental Health Foundation.  

Needing help with the admin side of things Lisa asked if anyone could help out with the Just Giving page.  Thinking this is something I could help out with and wanting to get further involved with this fab event I popped my hand up .  The Just Giving page is all ready and waiting to take donations and I am busily beavering away in the background with the admin side of it (excel is my best friend at the moment lol).

So if you fancy having a chance of winning this wonderful creation (which will be completed very soon), created by so many kind hearted souls then why not pop to:

 https://www.justgiving.com/Do-You-Mind-if-I-Knit-Blanket

Each £2 gives you a chance to win and it can be posted worldwide.  It has only been live for a couple of days and has already raised over £200 ..... lets hope this goes towards helping others to find their way out of that dark place and enjoy all the little, wonderful things in life again. x

Friends

As you may have read in my previous posts I have been having a bit of a bumpy ride health wise for the last few months.  To tell you the truth is has got me quite down on quite a few occassions.    Being stuck in gives you far too much time to think and worry so when some friends came forward to help it really did make me feel a little better about everything.

Silly little things , like doing the school run, turned into big things.  I remember one morning sitting and sobbing in the car as it was an icy day , little Sweetpea and I had already attempted to 'walk' from the car with my crutches but it was just too dangerous with the black ice.  We had to abort that idea and wait until everyone had left so I could drive her right outside the school and take her in that way.

A few precious friends have been so so helpful in taking my little one into school if they have seen me struggling , they have helped with school pick ups so I haven't had to worry about children running into me and knocking me over (which did happen one day).  It is these simple acts by true friends that make all the difference.

Although I had said thank you I really wanted to create them a little thank you gift, just to show how much their help had meant to me.   When I came across this wonderful flower pattern by Pink Milk I thought it would be perfect for such a gift.  I am glad to say they loved it.  They were so taken back by their gift I am really not sure they know what angels they have been.  In fact one friend said she should be thanking me as she had so enjoyed picking little Sweetpea up and having her cute little hand held tightly in hers .... heart melting.

Everyone needs friends like that :-)

I hope you are all well out there in bloggy land, see you again soon x

PS the scarf was created with a wonderful pattern by Little Doolally 

Crochet Clothes / Coat Hanger - Tutorial

I love crochet and I love giving old objects a new lease of life so this project is perfect for me, it makes my soul happy.  I was given some old fabric covered coat hangers years ago, my great Auntie had covered them in fabric but the padding was started to break down so I decided to pimp them up.   

The wooden coat hangers hidden underneath are lovely but the clothes just keep sliding off them, this project stops that issue whilst looking oh so pretty.  I thought I would type up a little tutorial for you all , so here we go.

Take one wooden coat hanger, some yarn of your choice, a crochet hook (I used my favourite 4 mm Tulip hook) and a yarn needle.  Now chain enough stitches to go around the hanger.   Not too few as you don't want loads of gaps showing if you have to pull it to go round and not many as you don't want a saggy coat hanger, no one wants to look at a saggy coat hanger lol.  I chained 12 stitches here.

Now add one turning chain and then single crochet all the way back to the beginning.

Keep added new rows of single crochet ....... now is the time you can mix it up a bit, why not add some new colours for fun?

To do this pull in the new colour just before you finish the last stitch on your previous row as shown above.  You can then either cut the old colour leaving a few inches tail to thread into the hanger cover at the end or leave it and pick it back up later in the pattern if you are using the colour again.

As you go along keep checking if you have made it long enough, it is easy to get carried away on the creative wave.  You need it to be a couple of rows longer than the hanger each end.  When you have finished pull your yarn through to lock the stiches off.  Then sew in any loose ends.

Fold your creation over so the top touches the bottom length ways.

Then fold it again so the start touches the finish.  This will show you where the centre of your creation is, I have marked it above with my wool needle.  

Feed your creation over your clothes hook so that the hook is where you marked the centre. 

 

Now you need to cut a long length of yarn that matches you creation best.  Make sure it is at least twice the length of your coat hanger.  Thread your yarn onto a yarn needle and then run a running stitch along the end of your clothes hanger cover, pull the yarn all the way through leaving enough tail to knot off when you have finished.

I then run a satin stitch (I think that is the name of it) along the length of the hanger to close the cover over the hanger.  Make sure you pull the yarn all the way through as you go along.  When you get to the end knot off both ends and feed the tails into the inside of of the hanger cover.

You can add some pretty flowers, pom poms or what ever your heart desires to your creation to finish it off.

Now run off, find a lovely old vintage dress and hang it on your new hanger ........ it will make your heart skip a little beat in joy.

PS Before you run off pop over to www.lemonadeyarns.co.uk where the owner is offering 25% off all her cotton yarn until mid March 2015.  Cotton yarn is perfect for this project !

Creative Therapy

I have a lot to thank for finding my creativity again a few years ago.  I am not sure what it is about creating things, whether it is the rhythm whilst creating a crochet blanket, the satisfaction of having something to show for your time or the beautiful distraction that wonderful coloured wool is but crochet, sewing, knitting etc is certainly a wonderful thing indeed.

This last few months has seen me being pulled towards my creative side even more than ever.  Crochet has been my main go to craft but sewing and cross-stitch have had their moments too.

On 1 December whilst waiting in for a delivery that was late a big glass jar full of sewing threads fell onto my big toe.  I nearly leapt through the roof due to the pain that followed but was pottering (well hobbling around a week later).  Fast forward a doctors appointment that I had to wait a week for and an xray that was a further 2 days wait and I am sat in a minor injuries unit feeling rather shell shocked after being told that I had, in fact, managed to break my big toe all the way through and crush it a bit too for good measure.

The following days saw me using crutches as if I had had a few swigs of vodka before I set off (the joys of having ligaments that don't work properly).  I must confess I had to laugh at what I must have looked like on the school run that first day ...... I was literally bouncing off peoples garden fences trying to get to grips with how to use these things.

I got rather good on them in the end thank goodness and did contemplate doing some break dancing moves whilst using them ...... I didn't feel it wise to follow this idea through in the end.

Christmas and New Year passed by in a bit of a blur of guilt, pain and a lot of feeling fed up.  The poor kids were stuck in with me as I couldn't drive (hence the feeling of guilt).  We snuggled up in front of the fire most days watching films whilst I crocheted the time away.

On a brighter note the time at home did mean I found some hidden treasure, just look at this lovely wool stash I found hidden away !

This of course had to be turned into a scarf from me and I also created some sparkly, jingle jangly (they have some cute little bells on them) wrist warmers for my little one.

The days turned into weeks and another xray showed that my toe had done nothing, zilch, nada mending ...... maybe a teensy bit of mending but nothing that really showed up on the xray.

I was then told to come off the crutches and walk on my foot. This meant me having to try and erase the image I had seen on the xray, putting my trust in the consultant and as he told me.  I have another xray lined up in a few weeks time ...... I am hoping above all hopes that this will show that my toe has been behaving and doing some mending.  I am missing pottering around, I am missing work and my work mates, I am also concerned with my sanity, I have crocheted scarfs, wrist warmers, beards, red noses ........... what on earth will be created next if it isn't mending !?!

Now I am wondering, do they give yarn out on prescription???