A Treasure !!!!

I have found a treasure......I walked into a local shop and saw a few still life paintings on the shelves for sale....well to say I fell in love with this artist would be an understatement...so I came home and started to tell my best friend and she said " oh my friend Amber has some paintings in that shop...You know her..You met her here..."  Well...I had and I  had no idea she painted.....so I went to her web site....and  I saw this.........with any luck it will be in my home very soon.....  I found a real treasure in my own back yard!!!!!!

http://amberwaterhouse.fineartstudioonline.com/

Check out her site....she does all kinds of works.... and they are beautiful!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Dear wonderful friends.....Happy Valentines Day to you all!!!

 A few little projects...

 These were inspired by Lucy at " Attic24"

 Kitties ..warm and cozy...

 This is supposed to be a valentine to a gray kitties mum in New Zealand But....someone wants to work on the computer!!

 Basking in the sunshine!

Miss Pilgrim decides to give mum a wonderful picture!!

Oh...a little bunny I am working on....
                                                     I want you all to know.....How much I appreciate all the blog world friendship....it has been a wonderful journey and I hope it is just the beginning!!!!

                                                    Love you all!!!!!

Hope springs eternal!

I love living in a place where there are distinct seasons.....and this is the sign of something wonderful!!

 and believe it or not so it this!

 This is the little garage that is the original to the oldest part of our house...1912...this used to house a Model A Ford!   Now it houses ....hmmmmmm ....well....tools..flower pots...lawn mowers.... BUT!!!

 It is going to house......sewing machines and fabric and yarn and thread and ........well you know the rest!  Happy projects!!!

So...we are starting a make over!!!  and you will be following along!!  Mr. Miss Holly..is a very cleaver fellow indeed and he is starting on this as we speak!  So what do you think!  I am too excited to even believe it is true!!!!!!  We will be doing it all ourselves....to keep it affordable.....
Hard to imagine cloth on a table ready to be cut....but.....excitement!!!!!!  Yea!!

Bobble or raspberry stitch tutorial!! The bumpy Rainbow pattern...

 O.k. all ..here it is!!   My first tutorial....I hope it all makes sense...please let me know if I need to change anything to make it clearer....
For demonstration purposes I am going to show the basics to make a small square and you can adjust for a larger piece later...

This is in U.S. crochet terms... I am using 4ply worsted weight yarn....what I call regular old basic everyday yarn....  and for this I used a  ( I ) hook...
Chain 26.

The first row is a row of Half double crochet....(wrap once and pull through all 3 loops.)
So. Chain 26 then hdc in the third chain from the end.

Hdc:  wrap once put into chain

and pull through all three

finished stitch. one hdc made

first row of hdc.... 23 in all

chain 1 and turn...

crochet 5 single crochets in the next 5 stitches

Now your first bobble.  wrap as if you were going to do a double crochet

go in to the next stitch...( st.# 6) and pull through just the first 2 loops

two left on

wrap as if you were going to do another dc....insert back into stitch #6 and pull through two loops

now you will have 3 left on your hook

do this in the same stitch( #6) for a total of 5 times .  you will have now 6 loops on your hook

Wrap and pull through all 6 loops

first bobble made

now sc into stitch #7

now it pops! sc in the next two stitches for a total of  3 sc after the bobble...then do another bobble and sc 3  to the last 5 stitches...sc in the last 5

this is what you will have now...5 sc on one side ..4 bobbles and 5 sc on the other side with 3 sc between each bobble

on your last sc of the row you will add a new color if you want the rainbow effect.

leave the last sc incomplete with just two loops on

pull in your next color

and chain 1

then tie your new color on .....if your leave the hook in it makes it much easier to tie...
this method of color changes moves you into a new color evenly

after you have ch 1.... turn and sc in every stitch across

for a total of 23 sc's
ch 1 and turn

sc in first 3 sc's

on stitch #4 you will do your bobble stitch.....

wrap insert into the stitch and pull through 2 loops a total of 5 times

when you have 6 loops pull through all 6

bobble complete

sc in the next 3 sc's ( do not sc in the same stitch as the bobble..sc into the stitch after and then the next two for a total of 3 sc's )

then bobble .....3 sc.....bobble... 3 sc to the last 3 stitches...sc in the last 3 st.

change colors on your last sc... ch 1 and turn sc all the way across for 23....ch1 and turn

sc into the first 5 sts.....bobble st ..3sc bobble to the last 5 stitches....  you will repeat rows 1 - 4 until done..

In order to have a nice neat border on both sides....one bobble row starts and ends with 5 sc and the next bobble row starts and ends with 3 sc.

you can start your first bobble row with either the 5 row or the 3 row just make sure your next bobble row is the opposite.

I do hdc as my first row because it is firm but a little bigger that sc...you can do double crochet and use double crochet between the bobble rows....but your bobble rows must be sc sc sc bobble sc sc sc bobble to the last 5 or 3 which ever you chose as your first bobble row. 

well !  there you are!!!!  I hope it is clear....let me know I am happy to answer any questions!!!