Welcome 2022

 Goodbye 2021!

 

 Hello 2022!

My goodness, I haven't been here for well over a year! Where did 2021 go?  I can make all sorts of excuses,  but the reality of it was that I got lazy, first of all I was seduced by Instagram then got fed up with it and then sort of did nothing..... However, it is a new year, and full of good intentions I shall put my best foot forward and start blogging and reading blogs again. 

When I look back over the last year I have been just coasting, I suppose its the pandemic but I just hunkered down in my little world, quite happy, except for the loss of one of my cats, Zana, whom this blog was named after.

ZANA (2006 -2021)

 

I never talked about her much as she was quite a shy cat and didn't like her photo taken! I rescued her from a abusive home and she was timid throughout her 15 years.  I miss her a lot as she had a big personality and the house feels empty without her.  I still have Lucy, her daughter a gentle moggy and we muddle along together.

 

Lucy (in front) with Zana and Ambrose

As you can  see Lucy loves the camera! Despite being nearly 15 herself she is very fit and active and adores being the sole centre of attention, lol.

One thing that has been taking up a lot of my time is that I have decided to self publish a book of my art.  I love drawing and painting our native birds and was asked to do a series of cards for my church, I loved doing that and have decided to take it one step further and do a small book, Amazon have a great program  for self publishing. Below is the fantail (Piwakawaka), So far I have completed 6, another 12 or so to go!  I am finding the verse harder than the painting!
 

 I am still crocheting away, but not as obsessively as before, over the last week or two I have been doing washcloths as I had totally run out,  I would have had more to show but gave a couple away yesterday.  My crochet these days is quite simple as I tend to crochet in the evening when I am tired and don't want too much mental exercise haha. I have a huge stash of yarn and so am doing simple grannie blankets for the elderly in our community and children's beanies etc for a local charity.

 

The garden is a riot of colour at the moment, we have a lot of rain and it has kept everything very green and fresh, but now that summer has kicked in it will start to fade and dry out. 

 The vegetable garden is flourishing, and yesterday picked beetroot, lettuce, spring onions and the last of the broad beans, tomatoes are still green and the potatoes will be ready soon.

Plans for 2022?

More of the same but more focused.  This is where this blog will help, I am hoping by committing to blogging once a week, it will stop me procrastinating!  I am the biggest procrastinator ever.  I lose so much time and time is flying, I am still thinking where did 2021 go?!  Also I want this blog is be a tool for my family and friends to see what I am up to as I am the world's worst "stay in touch" person. Part of being a procrastinator I think - my head goes I'll phone tomorrow, next week comes, I think I'll phone tonight, I wake up in the middle of the night, oh I forgot to phone, oh well I'll definitely phone tomorrow............ (sorry Lynlee, Shelly, Julie et al!)

Every year I try and develop another skill or activity, stops then brain matter from dying! This year I want to concentrate on my cooking skills, I want to make the food I eat exciting and fresh and healthy.  More vegetables and less stodge (cheese sandwiches and pasta) There is nothing wrong with either, but when your diet consist mainly of these it is not good for the old waistline  and so on. 

 

 So.... I have all these cookbooks that adorn my bookshelves that I slaver over and then go and make a sandwich, lol! The dangers of living alone. So I have decided to devote a month to each of my favourite books and cook at least 2 dishes a week from them.  The cookbook for January is Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. He is my favourite cookbook writer ever, he cooks the food I like to eat and as it is summer his salads and vege dishes are just the thing.

 

 This Burger is not one of his recipes, but a recipe I have made for years.

Lentil Burgers

Lentil Burger

Tin of brown lentils

frozen spinach or fresh cooked about a tablespoon or two and chopped finely

grated sweet potato 1 cupish 

salt and pepper perhaps some smoked paprika or cumin whatever you fancy.

breadcrumbs to stiffen the mix

Mash the lentils leave some whole for texture,  add spinach (Make sure you have squeezed all the water out.) and sweet potato and seasonings, Mix add breadcrumbs to stiffen and form patties to fit your bun size. Fry them in olive oil for 10 minutes or so for each side.  Make the burger buns up with lettuce leaves, grated carrot and tomato and a dressing of your choice (a citrus one is very good), add burger and top with avocado or cheese.

Sorry, the  recipe is not more precise but really its more of a method than anything, but I assure you they are delish!  I love them made with black beans too.

While I have been writing this I realize what my theme for 2022 is!  I have plenty, I don't need more, I just need to use it! 

Well that's it for now, I will be back next Sunday 

Sharon and Lucy 

New Starts

I think I have a case of 'startitis'. Over the last week or so I have started  2 new projects.  It wouldn't really matter but, I started blogging again to help me get my pile of wip's down!  Instead it is growing rapidly, LOL. Being a ctive again on Ravelry has put a lot of temptations my way. So I have decided to go with the flow, they all will get finished one day.

New Start No 1

 For a long time I have admired the patterns of Jen Tyler, however as they looked very complex I shied away from taking part in her Cals.  She has a current Cal called Golden Tea Block, a part of a series of mix and match of 4 blocks and extensions.  I want to make 3 cushions (pillows) for my lounge, and decided that the Hibiscus Block would be a good start, it is the 2nd block in her series. The pattern is addictive and quite challenging, it is certainly keeping me on my toes.  Luckily she has videos for all her patterns, which is a great help.

New Start No 2 

This block is the central block for the B(lu)e Happy CAL by Ineke Mooijenkind.  It is in its 3rd week, so probably wont catch up.  However as it is for a birthday gift for a friend in early December, I wont be far behind. She adores pinks and purples and no she isnt a young girl but well into her 80's!

I have been plugging away on the Sacred Spice Afghan, and hopefully will have finished squaring it up by next week. 

This post is part of the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, head on over there to see what fellow yarnies have been up to.

 Have a great week and thank you for visiting.

FIRST DAY OF SPRING

Hello, it is the first day of Spring here, and the weather was a perfect Spring day, warm blue skies, a promise of the summer to come.

I haven't done a lot of crafting this week,  busy with 'spring cleaning' I am also doing a lot of decluttering as well and have manage to gift or throw out at least 4 big bags, yay!

On my work table, the Sacred Place only three rows done of Part 5, alas and half of one of the corner squares for Eves Sunflowers.

Going through my stash I discovered I gad lots of Paintbox double knit cottons and  somehow I found myself doing a hexagon from the Persian Tiles pattern that I had bought last year.  I had done 2 hexagons in Stylecraft Special double knit and did not like them, the colours were good but I thought that the whole afghan would be too flimsy. too many holes.  Well I decided to try the pattern in cotton and I have to say I like the result so I guess I have another project!  As if I need any more, lol. 

In the art field I have been drawing an apricot peony from a photo I took last year, I will post it next week and I finished a watercolour and ink painting of two owls.  I love owls.

 That's is all for this week, the good weather is meant to last till Wednesday, so probably will be in the garden tidying up and when the rain comes I will be crocheting trying to catch up on the Sacred Place Cal.

Ambrose having a nap, he has been a sick boy this week, he is 18 and every day he is with us is a blessing.  I know I am going to have to let him go soon, but while he is eating, washing and purring and having a little wander in the garden and in no pain I am going to give him all the love he deserves.

This post is part of the blog along Year of Projects group on Ravelry. 

A Finish

Lilliana

Woohoo! At long last I have finished Lilliana.  I started it October 2017, so almost 2 years. Admittedly, it had long periods in hibernation.

 The light is bad as it was a murky day and I was keen to take a photo. Will take a better one when the light is better. I am very pleased with it and it is adorning my bed.

 Sacred Space Cal

Just managed to finish Part 4 today, a day late. It is getting quite large now.

 Field of Flowers

My pile of motifs for the Field of Flowers Afghan  is growing 20 complete and 5  flower.  Yes I know those ends!

Eve's Sunflowers

Now that I have finished Lilliana, the next UFO is Eve's Sunflowers by  Catherine Bligh, I do like her designs!  Today I did one of the corner squares, it is so pretty. 
Here is the central square that is about 18 inches square.

 The central side motifs.

 The motifs above are complete so I just have the corner motifs which consist of 16 medium squares - not all the same thank goodness.
Here is the corner  square I did today:

 

 My aim with this UFO is to have it finished my the en d of September.

The other thing I did this week is to make a start on tidying my craft room, I pulled the sofa out and I am so embarrassed by all the yarn I have, I could open a shop.  A lot of it I know I will never use so next weeks job is to sort out what I dont want and give it to several charities in town, the pure wool to the library knitters group that knit for the newborns at the hospital, and the acrylic yarn to a local church group that knit squares for refugees via the Red Cross.

I am linking this post to YOP (Year of Projects group on Ravelry).  Head on  over there and see what fellow YOP'ers are up to.

 Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful crafty week.

A good week

Had a good week, first of all there was a yarn delivery! Now I have no excuse not to finish my WIP’s!

Liliana is coming on well, just started my final round yay! Will post pictures next week in all its glory.

I managed to finish part 3 in time for part 4 of the Sacred Place Cal.  She is getting quite large now.

Hanging head, I started another blanket, I was browsing patterns on Ravelry as you do, and found a pattern that sung out to me.  For ages I wanted to do a blanket on a flower theme but didn’t want it to be flowery?! Does that make sense? Well I have found it, and I couldn’t resist trying out the motifs. It is Field of Flowers by Catherine Bligh.

So pleased with them, also I discovered a way to beat the boredom of long rounds with stitches like back posts and puffs!  For some reason when the rounds of blankets are over 30 inches a side, I have great difficulty in getting them done.  Well, this week I would do about half a side and then half a motif of the Field of Flowers and then I could get back the long round with no difficulty!  It’s a win, win situation, I am getting ahead with the larger projects and I am getting motifs done, Yay.

I think that is about it for this week, I will leave you with a picture of one of my cats, Lucy.  I couldn’t find and she hadn’t come for her breakfast and she loves her food.  I went into my craft room and there she was peeping up at me!

 See you next week and thanks for visiting.

 I am joining the Ravelry group of bloggers YOP