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 

How a blanket turned into a shawl!

Last July I started a blanket (see here ).  It sat on the back of my small sofa for the whole winter.  It looked nice there and I had serious doubts about its suitability as a blanket.  The was very soft a bit like mohair, the cats adored it, and would work their little paws on it and snag it! 

Well, this week I needed a little relief from a big project for a certain young lady who has a 9^th birthday at the end of November.  It is very bright as you will see.

She chose the colours, big pink squares in the middle and a border of aqua colours, an artist in the making?  She so wants it for her first sleepover she is hosting on her birthday.  So muggins promised! 30 squares, 10 completed, 10 next week and the10 the week after and the last week sewing up and the border, whew!

Anyway I have been making bracelets (last post) as a change, and finally the Japanese flower blanket screamed at me to do something with it!

It was so lovely and soft, it had to be a shawl, so a shawl it became, I only had to do another 6 flowers, and a lot of sewing the ends this morning.

Excuse the quality of the photos, the light was very bright and I think I had the camera on the wrong setting.

I had to show it with some bright geraniums!  It will be perfect for those cool evenings that we sometimes get in summer.  It will go back to the sofa as I really like it there too.

I wonder what other UFO I can finish next week for relief from the bright blanket.  Actually I really love the colours, warms the soul.  Great for playing around with the camera.

Hope you all have a colourful week, I know I shall!  

Oh and thanks for visiting.

I do so appreciate your comments and visits.

My Crochet Week

I have wanted to redecorate my house, especially my bedroom for a while, it is decidedly getting shabby, I can’t even say it is shabby chic!  Over the last few weeks I have been delighting in Pinterest, oh my gosh isn't it addictive!  I have gone from bohemian to gypsy chic to shabby chic to romantic, there is just so much wonderful stuff out there.  I had come to no decision until I was in the local fabric shop and spotted the fabric I want for the curtains.  I just fell in love with it.  So now I had the colours.  Of course my head immediately went to what hooky stuff I could have in there.

For years I have wanted a cotton lacy crochet bedspread in white.  So I picked up some white cotton and of course I had to pick out a green and the rusty red colour.

Getting home I thought I could get started on a small cushion to see how the colours work.  I am very fascinated with the popcorn stitch at the moment so I went scouring the net for ideas.  First idea was from  AnaZard Atelier.

I was not convinced and when I saw this square I knew I had found the answer. It is Primavera Grannie Square from Dada's Place.

I decided to even abandon the completely white bedspread in favour of a mix of the three above.  I am not sure at this stage whether I will add a blue or pale yellow. 

Of course, being addicted to mandalas at the moment I had to try one in these colours.

Think it will OK, nice on the bedside table, the pattern was from  Lizzie Bella.

While I was at it I had to try the pattern adapted slightly with some cotton I had found in the local hospice op shop..  12 balls of Twilleys no 3 in pampas, goodness how old it was as it had the price labels from James Smith a big department store in Wellington that closed about 15 or more years ago!  I only paid $4!  I picked up some other crochet bargains, but will blog about it later.

I think I would call this a doily rather than a mandala.  You can see it in the photo but it has a nice sheen to it.

This week I have also been working on my shawl, scarves for family and granny squares for a baby blanket.

Are you like me and have numerous projects on the go? However, sometimes I wish I could just work on one project at a time and get it finished faster!

Linking to Annmarie's Link your Stuff

First of all I want to welcome my new followers, Anna, Gaby, Amy, Daisy Jones and Lindevrouw.

Here, the trees are starting to turn into glorious colours, as the days get colder.  I took this photo on my walk this morning – wonderful!  I can’t wait for the reds to appear. 

With such colour around me I can not but help create crochet and art in these tones.

I have been making a cushion cover out of the variegated wool that I used for the Mandalas last week.  I was thinking of having a pretty flowery cotton backing with a frill.

While I was doing the edging last night,  I realised I had a wonderful use for a mandala.  Do you remember the circular cushions that used to have tapestry or embroidered centres.  The material was gathered at the edge of the embroidery.   I have no idea how to make one, is the material cut into a large circle and gathered?  Will have to research it.

Anyways, this morning – murky damp day – I got stuck in and crocheted this simple mandala in grannie stitch, I think it will look nice with some flowery cotton.  Actually I might undo the shell edging and crochet a few more rounds,  but will wait till I find the right material. 

Oh I nearly forgot, early in the week I did this pink mandala for a friend’s daughter who is crazy about pink and purple, what little girl isn't!  This is for you Samantha.

Autumn inspiration!

I love lace and I love playing around with photos in Photoshop. So this afternoon I have been playing with the autumn photos and two vintage Victorian ladies I have downloaded from http://thegraphicsfairy.com/

Original photos

Have a great weekend and week.

Linking my crochet to Chrissies Mand-a-Long

Serendipity

I have just had one of those days where everything goes perfectly.  It didn’t look as if it would go that way as there was a heavy mist/fog and made me almost change my plans of going to the local car boot market.

As I really needed some eggs and other bits and pieces I girded my loinss and set off, (shanks pony style!) along the drive against the fence I have a grape vine and in the four years I have been here it hasn’t done very well.  However I had high hopes this year as it was heavily laden with pump fruit.  I just had to have a peek and a taste, bliss, lovely and sweet, Yay!  Enough for eating, giving away and grape cordial!

First I decided to go to the supermarket and pick up a back of kitty dry food as it was on special $7 as opposed to the normal $11/12.  While there I glanced in the meat section think of buying a small chicken for dinner as a treat.  But hey there was some rump steak on special – about $8 a kilo normally it is about $18!  Well my dinner was decided and the cats could have the trimmings as a treat.  Enough to freeze for another day also. 

 On to the market.  While I was buying my eggs from the egg lady I noticed that she had packets of Ernest Adams slices on her table, and my favourite ‘gooey caramel’!   They were only$2 or 3 for $5, normally they are about $5 a pack.  So guess what, yeah they were near their best before date.  But I am sure they will be scoffed well before that.  I have a few elderly shut-in neighbours, who love cake!

Then on to the nursery man to buy some purple sprouting broccoli seedlings (I forgot to sow the seeds).  He had some lovely begonias for $1.50...Isn’t it beautiful!

I was about to wend my way home when I espied a stall selling handbags etc.  Now I have been looking for a circular bamboo handles for a project for ages and no such luck.  Well my luck had changed, there was a hag with exactly the handles I wanted and only for $2.  This project will no longer be an UFO!

Later on in the morning I was tidying the dining room that acts as my craft/art room I saw my stack of fat quarters for a quilting project.  I wonder I thought ….. Yes!  There was matching material for the handle project.  Isn’t that a great match?

What is the project you may ask.  It is a carry bag for my Mum.  She is in a rest home in Perth Australia,(she has Alzheimer’s) my sister works at the Rest Home and tells me that she gives everything away, so it is difficult to find things to send her.  However she has one thing she will not give away her handbags or totes.  She will carry several on her wrist everywhere. 

When I was browsing the crochet sites a while ago I saw a wonderful pattern for a handbag at  colour in a simple life this one was made with waterlily flowers, absolutely beautiful!  It had bamboo handles and I thought that would be great for Mum!  The flowers were puff stitch and I thought it would be too bulky for Mum so I decided to do the African Flower pattern from Heidi Bears, which is hexagon shaped like the lily flowers.  

So I spent a pleasant hour or so getting the crochet side finished – mainly tidying all the ends, tomorrow I will cut the lining out and start on fitting it. 

Now I am as waste not want not person and I was looking at my pile of trimmings, um, they would make great stuffing for toys etc.  So out comes a bag to collect all future ends.  While on this bent I had a great idea for the scraps that are starting to build up with my crochet obsession.  I had really wanted to crochet my Mum a lap blanket, but my sister said she would only give it away!  I will crochet her a lap blanket, out of scraps and if she gives it away, it is no big deal, it probably would adorn some other souls lap. So I did a few, just tiny plain grannie squares.

The rest of the afternoon I finished reading David Baldacci’s novel, One Summer.  You need a hanky for it is a real tear jerker.  Totally different from his usual style, that man can write.

Just before I sat down to do this post I went out to pick some beans for my dinner, and thought I had better check up on the strawberries.

They have been cropping all summer – just enough for dessert or to have with cereal for breakfast.  I thought they surely would be finished now with cold nights.  But no, a bowl full for my dessert, with cream of course!

Well that has been my day, very pleasant with lots of savings to be had to boot.  Now I am off to cook my dinner, steak with mustard cream sauce ( deglaze the fry pan while the steak is resting, with seeded mustard and when the seeds start to pop add cream and cook till the cream is thick, pour over the steak) it is to die for. With potatoes and pumpkin and beans from the garden and strawberries after.  Now, isn’t that heaven!

Hooked on Crochet!

Last September I took early retirement because of a disability from a car accident several years ago.  Yay, now I have time to do all the projects I have wanted to do over the years!  I am afraid to say I drifted for a couple of months, adjusting I suppose to not having a tight time schedule.  One blog that I follow is Down to Earth and there was a lot of talk about homemade dishcloths, I thought how hard is that.   I ventured into a wool shop to buy some cotton.  Well to a colour junkie like me it was heaven!

Needless to say I made a dishcloth using crochet as I thought it would be quicker.  I search out some U-Tube videos and I was away.

Well, I started to research crochet sites and discovered heaven!  I used to have a tapestry business in a past life (making up my own designs and painting them on canvas and selling them as kits at craft fairs).  I had a trunk of hanks of wool.  I promised myself that if I could use some of that stash, then I was allowed to go and buy some new wool.

My first project was a small lap rug in grannie squares and matching cushion.

 I am afraid to say that two of my fur babies commandeered them!

 So I had to make another for myself, this was a throw size cover and adorns my sofa in the lounge.

Well you can guess I was fully hooked so to speak.  I am now a well-known customer of the two wool shops in town!

I think I have blankie fever as I have few more on the go and will blog about them at a later date.  I am also managing to get a few little items done as well, such as tea cozies.  Well a girl who has tea in her veins can’t have too many cozies. Here is my first tea cozy.  I made it up as I went along, I haven’t got the shaping technique right yet, so I used some flower patterns from attic 24 to hide the faults!

So proud of those flowers!  Well, as you can see this crochet lark is no flash in the pan.  I don’t think there is a day without a crochet hook in my hand!

        Bye for now.