I chat about life, craft when I'm well enough to do it, and other things!
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| Still busy working on my Beatrix Potter sampler |
So 2025 is here...and I'm closing this blog. Most of my craft projects are very long at the moment, and if I do post updates its easier to upload to social media (Instagram and Blue Sky you can find me under Nayuleska for both). I may reopen it in the future, but it will be easier to focus just on my main blog. I will keep everything up, but no updates for many months. Thank you for sticking with me and might you see you here in the future.
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Craft wise not done loads recently but when I last had a day for craft I decided to get working on my sock knitting.
I've been quiet the last few months as I kept getting ill, more than usual. It was very annoying and I still have an ongoing situation I can't talk about that affects everything too. I haven't done much craft, I'm slowly doing a little more although on a few project I can't show in public for a long time, but I am doing some craft which helps distract me. I'm gaming a fair bit too! Needed to take life slower than normal but truly hoping I'm over the worst for now.
I recently got a Hobby Craft kit for a guinea pig, which is super cute and very appropriate since I have two, Tulip and Snow. This one looks more like Tulilp, and with a plastic needle was definitely for a younger age group but was fun to make over a few hours. The stuffing puffed up so much from the vacuum packed bag. The felt was easy to work with and I'm hoping to maybe create one for Snow one day. The back was just plain orange (for some reason the photo file was huge, no idea why so not including it). The front orange stripes were meant to be black but that looked too much like their droppings (and therefore odd) so I switched it to orange and almost ran out of orange thread as a result but had just enough to finish up. It's so cute! Hope you've all had a healther autumn/winter season than me.
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| cooked vs raw |
It's been a week and a bit of stuff going on, some I can't share but I'm about to share what I can. So I managed to make naan bread! I'd wanted to try it, and found a bread friendly recipe. Unfortunately mine ended up drier than it should be and overkneaded (4 times...) due to not realising it was meant to be a wet dough. I used some shredded coconut as a flavour, to make it a little like peshwari naan. I managed to get the shapes how I buy them in the supermarket which I was pleased about.
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| These caused a few tears |
Next up in the baking department was the easiest dish. I got my family to chop a load of onions, I coated them in a tiny bit of olive and vegetable oil (price of pure olive oil is a little eye watering), popped them in the slow cooker and cooked on a mix of medium then high heat for around 11 hours. They t
20.urned out as wonderful caramalised onions that I'm slowly dividing and freezing in large and small chunks so I can throw them in curries and stirfries.
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| So tasty!!! |
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| Plushies and clothes ready to get wet! |
I'm busy with a review game so not done much craft but the next post will be an update on my current projects, so stay tuned!
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| Drying time! |
Hop on over to Nayu's Reading Corner see the full design of this embroidered planets and cup that I put onto a headscarf as part of an embroidery book review!
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| I have done much more of this Attic24 Cupcake blanket! Will share updated pic soon |
I'm sorry for not posting for so long! Life keeps happening, and it's irritating to me, trust me! But I've been busy working on various projects including a babIy blanket.
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Yesterday two fun new kits arrived. I found some sweet Hello Kitty cross stitch hand towels, and as I need more than one guest towel (I have Winx Club hand towel and thankfully don't have guests often so can easily wash it but I've wanted to have more cute ones) I took the offer which was 40% off. I think you can agree they are adorable! Unfortunately the adorable matching toilet roll holder is unavailable except for a hideously high price but I reckon I can figure out the design from the picture with graph paper so can still have that cuteness in my life as it's so adorable.
Anyway....the other kit I got was what I call embroidery. I know cross stitch is embroidery too, but I mean all the other embroidery stitches. I wanted something nice, and saw this beautiful cushion. I adore African Violet flowers, and the colours really spoke to me. Felt so overwhelmed when I opened the kit as I've never done a large scale project, it looked quite complex and has stitches I've never done (long and short) and another I can't recall. The long and short is simple and effective way to create realistic looking petals, I hate not being uniform so I will copy the long and short from the picture so that I'm still working to something as I can see where they do the long and short stitches (If you do embroidery you'll understand what I'm talking about, if you don't, well, it's hard to explain). The other new stitch is absolutely gorgeous and makes up the white scroll effect. So this is a daunting project and it will take take me absolutely ages to finish but will be totally worth it and is exactly what I've wanted.
I will keep you updated on these and other projects very soon!
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| Previous progress |
It's been a long week and a bit of me still recovering from the cold that started 2 weekends ago. I haven't fully got rid of it, i cough throughout the day and I can tell the germs haven't left yet. So I am resting lots, mostly gaming but I have done some cross stitch and the polar bear now has an outline!
Check out my latest book review which is about a frustrated girl and her emotions being a dragon in Rita Wants A Dragon
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| Mikuru from Aikatsu! anime |
Feeling sleepy today(nothing new) so not quite in the mood to take pics of my latest craft projects so I will do that in the next post but wanted to do a little catch up.
The other week I had a routine hospital appointment for my contact lenses. Upon arrival I was a bit a anxious as the waiting area for the covid screening was busy and almost everyone in front of me was given a pager to wait. Thankfully I wasn't. I was instructed to go to the purple waiting area. Usually it's the green area, so I double checked in green and yes they were full so it was purple. Off I went to the pretty coloured chairs in purple. I waited a while, nothing new there. My phone rang, I felt bad I had turned it off but it turned out that was a good thing: the caller was the hospital reception asking where I was as they were searching everyone for me. I had become a missing person!!!
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| Madoka from Aikatsu looking horrified |
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| Mizuki collapsed in Aikatsu | |
The second medical drama was far less pleasant and partly my fault. I'm not naming the provider who I get my medication from, but the short version is due to the app not having an automated system to catch double orders I was without my opiate medication for almost a week. It was extremely unpleasant and I felt awful. I thought the situation was sorted, until the Saturday I got a message and of course it was a bank holiday weekend so I had to wait until the Tuesday to sort it out. I thankfully had a few tablets spare so simply halved them as half was better than nothing, although a quarter of my usual dose made an unpleasant few days. I have been recovering from that drama, medication arrived safely, and life is back to what counts as normal for me. Going to be playing a lot of the new Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom once it releases tomorrow but plan another post next week with craft updates so be sure to tune in then!
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| Sora from Aikatsu |
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| Tiffany, Sakura's friend from Cardcaptor Sakura (French ver) |
Head over to my other blog to find out where I've been the past few months. I am doing a lot of craft, will have some posts soon!
Happy Friday! Today is Friday, a day of the week I try to take off from gaming and focus on craft. I like a quieter day because in Islam Friday is the holiest day of the week, and I like to relax on it. I usually game every day, but Friday is the one day I choose not to game (unless there is a new release which I've realised there is today (Harvestella, a farming RPG) so I won't be doing as much craft but will still do a little ^u^)
Years and years ago I followed a crocheter called Attic24 - well her name is Lucy and her site is Attic24. At the time I did not really do much crochet, I just liked her style. She had one or two patterns for sale but was mostly a blogger. Fast forward a few years and a family member has recently learnt to crochet due to arthritis making knitting harder. They bought one of Attic 24's blanket kits which includes all the yarn plus the pattern for around £34 which seems a good bargain given how much yarn there is (around 15 balls I think). I had a look at the site and wow there are so many beautiful blankets! I was tempted to go for a granny square based blanket, maybe like the Aria blanket
but because I'm working on a Disney crochet square blanket (more on that in another post), I was feeling adventurous so decided to try a row blanket (with counting and turning rather than lots of little squares joined together. I went for the Cupcake blanket which uses these colours
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And looks like this
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| Original blanket colour scheme (photo from WW) |
I rewind my yarn to make sure there are no knots in and I find a ball easier to use, there is no drag when pulling on the yarn which can happen if the yarn is used as initially provided. I was a bit concerned about what I had taken on, but I realised the pattern was on the Attic24 site so I looked at it and it's just treble crochet which is what I use in my granny squares. The first few rows I did a lot of counting to make sure I had the correct number, but now I can't be bothered to count.
The 15 colours are repeated at least 6 times, and Lucy does list the order the colours should go which is sort of random within the colour repeats. I, however, like order, so I spent over an hour looking at the different colour ways (by moving the yarn balls into the order written) and picked the one I liked the most. I did change where the cream yarn went as I wanted the muted lilac to have a brighter colour by it, and I will just repeat the order 6 or so times. I like how mine is turning out so far! It's a super easy pattern that apart from the start and end of the row I can zone out. I like doing it in the evening before bed while listening to an audiobook.
I already know which blanket I want to make next after this Cupcake one, I want to do Dune which has a beautiful seashell pattern. That won't be until sometime next year, but it's something to look forward to! The blanket is big enough to cover a single bed, which I have, so that's perfect for me. I will update you on progress in due course, although the quickest way to see any is to follow me on Twitter.
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| Dune blanket |
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| It's been how long????? (Madoka surprised in the anime Aikatsu!) |
Massive apologies as I thought I had posted sooner than April this year. Life is happening, albeit it slowly. I mostly chat on my Twitter feed. I will be back here with craft posts hopefully soon. There's life stuff ongong that I can't talk about which does affect my daily life a lot. I hope one day I can talk about it, and it's why I'm sporadic with blog posts. While technically I am anonymous here I could say what's going on but I feel until the issue is resolved (no clue when that will be) I don't mention it online.
However, I do have some upcoming posts I hope to share soon. I have started a new weekly (if the next issues turn up soon) crochet project, it's a Disney Crochet magazine with weekly magazines providing yarn and pattern for squares in a crochet blanket. I also finished a cross stitch project of an old fashioned looking girl (think sepia tones) and started a cute hamster which reminds me of a guinea pigs.
My girls Tulip and Snow are doing wonderfully. We survived the heatwaves this summer much better than I expected. My flat stays relatively cool, I only used my fan twice to keep the temp down. I did wrap ice blocks in fleece and pop them in the cage but they mostly ignored them. Snow kept having haircuts since she is long-fur, she looked rather funny at times! My two zebra finch males, Tomoya and Hibiki are both doing great too.
I am gaming as much as ever, trying to read more, and relaxing as much as possible.
Unfortunately due to the Queen dying, my intended ketamine infusion on 19th September couldn't happen. My next one is in a few weeks, it is much needed now and dealing with extra pain is not fun but I'm managing.
Hopefully the next update will be really soon! Take care until then.
I love Ramadan ever so much! Mine is a bit different as I'm the only Muslim in my family and don't really have many Muslim friends. It's my first Ramadan in my own flat which is super exciting. I have several Ramadan goals, which are personal, and do include reading the Quran, but one I can share is I want to hand sew a Ramadan banner as a decoration.
I may not fast in terms of food and water, but I do change what I watch and read during Ramadan to be romance free and focusing on good qualities. I have started my annual rewatch of the anime Princess Sarah, I have the French version as it was what was available and yes I understand French really well. I prefer the anime version to the original book which was published early 1900s because Sarah is sweet and gentle, whereas in the book she is a bit selfish sometimes. The anime Sarah is treated like a princess at a boarding school as her father is rich, she never is bossy or overbearing. Things change when she learns her father is dead (her mother died when she was a baby) and that the diamond mine that he had had, had indeed never existed.
The headmistress of the boarding school wants to put her on the streets (it is Victorian England) but she is persuaded to keep Sarah on as a servant. Sarah is treated poorly, but is already friendly with the other young maid, Becky, as well as other friends in and out of the school. Due to a chance happening slowly Sarah's life as a maid begins to improve, until eventually her wealth is restored because the diamond mind did really exist, and her benefactor never stopped searching for her but didn't realise she was living right next door to him. It is a beautiful tale, with the headmistress being the antagonist as well as a snooty boarder whose personality is ugly. The series is 42 episodes long, and I'm at the part where her father is dead.
I would love to hear how you celebrate Ramadan if you participate in it.
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| Mimi Citron from the French version of Strawberry Shortcake series |
Hello! Part of my not new year resolutions is to blog a bit more. I realise we are halfway through February and this is the 2nd post of the year - sorry for that. Life was a little busy, but then recently I haven't been well. A mix of it being winter, and, sadly, me needing my next ketamine infusion. It was due on 7th February, then for reasons I do know but am not explaining here it got rescheduled to 11th March, and as of Friday pushed back to March 21st. The rescheduling is for an understandable reason, I am just thankful the clinic is fitting me in vaguely soon as if I'd waited for my usual consultant clinic I'd be waiting until at least May.
I'm not looking forward to a whole month and bit before getting that important pain relief, as the wait after a few months makes matters worse and me feel rubbish. I can't do anything though, I have gone through a similar wait last year so I know can survive. Just might be quieter than planned.
Not today, but soon I will post as I have some fun craft things I'm making and stuff will be happening in my garden too! I'm loving living in my own little flat ^u^
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| Ichigo (left) and Akari from Aikatsu! in their new year kimono (Ichigo almost never has her hair up) Happy 2022!! |
A new year, a new location! Well, sort of. Half of 2021 was on the awful side due to previously mentioned events that I will not elaborate on again. I thank God all that is in the past. Then in the later half I got to move to a beautiful new flat and that's where I'm starting my year!
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| Tulip and Snow having floor time |
I can trust Snow to take a whole bit of bell pepper or lettuce, run away with it as they tend to do even though they then both choose the same spot in the cage to eat it. Snow doesn't gobble her food! She is extremely nervous though. She has gained confidence in the cage, and happily takes food from me in the mornings when I hand feed. Laptime in the evenings when I give evening veggies is a different matter. Neither like being picked up - guinea pigs are herd animals after all, but Snow does not like being in the cuddle cup. I like hand feeding the veggies as it means I know they both get the correct amount and that Tulip won't steal it all, plus it will help with bonding. As they much away I gently stroke them. I think Snow tolerates this - if she were truly scared she wouldn't eat - initially it would take a few minutes on my lap before she would start eating, now she eats almost straight away. But when the veggies run out she likes to do her ostrich impression, burying her head in the cuddlecup and hiding from me. I stroke her for a little bit longer then put her back. She quickly goes to munching hay so is not traumatised from it.
I think Snow's nervousness dates to why they ended up at the rescue. They are around 2 years old and were together, but whoever had them couldn't care for them: Snow is long-haired, and her hair/fur was double the length it should have been, horrendously matted and they both had mites plus their nails were never clipped. So when they entered the rescue Snow would have had a lot of work done to her by people. I think she associates being picked up with awful things. Now I do brush her regularly - I have to as part of her care. My family helped me cut her fur. While it's winter I'm happy for it to be long, but come summer to keep her cool and safe from summer hazards she will get a very short haircut! Until then I will cut a little here and there as I can. Nail clipping will happen by the end of the month, trying to build up more trust before I start and I will undoubtedly have to do a paw a day to reduce the stress for them.
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| Tulip up to no good! |
Today I'm setting up a run beside their cage - I will be making it bigger soon, I just got 1 packet of supplies in case the quality was poor. I think it's ok, It's a similar style grid cage system like the C&C cage I have for them which is the biggest that Kavee Cages provide (6x2) 6 grids long and 2 grids wide. I did let them run around most of the kitchen, but setting that up takes a lot of energy from me, so having a slightly smaller permanently in place run will mean they get time outside the cage so I can clean up the poop - they poop an insane amountn - and also air their beddiing to help the fleece liners last longer. I use pee pads on the most used areas to lengthen the main fleece liner's life even longer before it has to be washed. Not having to set up a run means they can be put out their cage no matter how rough I feel, and I know they will be safer: with the boxes method Tulip managed to escape 3 times! Where there's a hole she would find it and Snow would try to follow her. While funny after the event, at the time it was nerve wracking as I didn't want her to get near wires or pee on the carpet.
I don't make new year resolutions anymore. I am trying to read a bit more, and working on jigsaw puzzles too. I try to make Friday's my quiet craft days where I sew as I rewatch Little House On the Prairie dvds. Anyway, that's it for now, I will try to blog at least once a week here or/and on Nayu's Reading Corner where my book reviews go. Time to go make a guinea pig run!
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| Ichigo from Aikatsu! in casual gear |
