Pretty As

Finally! I have finished this bag; it was inspired by the Big Fat Bottom Bag on Winks A Creative Being.  I didn't want a big bag, just a bag that I could carry small works in progress when I am on the go.  I loved the flowers which came from Eclectic Gypsy tutorial.  These are what slowed me down.  I could not get them right so gave up and the project went into the UFO Bag!!

This week I dragged it out and was determined to get on top of these puff flowers.  I changed the method slightly and there is a definite knack in pulling tight and getting the loops right.  By the end I could do them with my eyes shut. The old motto - if you fail, try and try again.

I got lucky and found the lining and old lace in a local op (charity) shop.  The handles came from an old bag I brought at the car boot sale a month or so back.  And the beads from an old necklace.  So, all in all a good frugal project.  The wool was from my stash as well.

I am very pleased with it and it is sitting waiting to be fill with yarn yumminess.

We are in the middle of a nasty storm that is creating havoc around the country.  Wind gusts up to 140 km in our area.

I took these earlier before the wind and rain took hold.

Across the road from me, I love rainbows, you can see the bad weather coming

A lovely bit of colour  by my back door on grey days.

I can’t get over this Rhododendron flowering in Autumn!  We even have jonquils flowering, the weather seasons are all to pot, poor plants don't know if they are Arthur or Martha!  Back inside and I see that Lucy has the right idea!

Oops sorry Lucy, didn't mean to disturb you!

I think I will follow her example and hunker down and let the storm ride over.

Have a great creative week and thanks for visiting.

Linking to Linda's May Stash Party.

http://lindacraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/stash-buster-link-party.html

Sunshine at last!

Yay!

Sunshine Today!

We have had a dull damp week here in Kiwiland.  

Grey on grey.

I have craved colour, so last Monday pulled out an UFO – little birdies, a variation of Bunny Mummies and Attics 24 birds.  They were originally going to decorate my plum tree, but looking out the window and seeing the ugly grey washing line that the birds loved to poop over, I just had to yarn bomb it!

You can see own murky it has been.

I intend to add more birds and flowers and maybe even some butterflies!

Also I noticed that the birds are no longer sitting and pooping on it, no need to wash it down every time I use it, win, win all around.

This week I also have been toning down the colour bursts with a new project or two.

A few weeks back I talked about doing a white and red and green cotton bedspread, abandoning my lifelong desire for a crochet white one.  I have decided the materials and pattern would make it too heavy, so I gone down a size in cotton to No 3.  I am trying to make up my mind whether to do all white or ivory and ecru.  Or maybe both!!!!!  I love both so much.

Anyways, I had an idea; the popcorn stitch squares are designs that I have cobbled together myself.  (No doubt you will find these somewhere on the net, as crochet has been around for so long and so many people practice it I am sure someone has thought of these variations also.)  I thought that I could make it a CAL project and I could make a page with the patterns to the squares as I go. I found that Jules of Little Woollie did that for her CAL blanket and it was so much easier to go to the page than trawl through her posts.  What do you think?

I am so pleased that our weather has improved and looks set to stay way till next week.  There is still heaps of work to do in the garden before winter sets in for real.

See I will be able to view clearly these cute birdies from the house on horrible grey days.

Here are a few pics of my little slice of paradise.

I got a surprise when I saw this, it is a miniature rose that has forced its way up through the ferns.

Ambrose got stir crazy with the rain and took quick little strolls between showers, definitely a fair weather cat.

I can’t believe this one, I was tidying up by the greenhouse and amongst the weeds this orchid was in flower!  It usually flowers in spring.

Have a great week every one  and thanks for visiting.

A Ta-dah, Figs and Feijoas

A ta-dah today. 

I have finally finished the bunny I started 3 months ago.  

Well I had finished it but hadn't decided how to dress it. Poor thing has been sitting around in various places waiting and waiting…. Today, I got stuck in and hey presto!

It is a very happy little bunny now, she is so pleased not to be an UFO any longer!

She loves her flowers and sundress.

Especially her hat.

Now she has to pack her suitcase and fly to her new forever home in WA, Australia.  A little girl called Kendal, is eagerly awaiting her arrival and has promised her a special name and some new friends!

I enjoyed dressing the bunny and I have actually started another little critter, she will have her reveal very soon.  Another addiction?

It is a bit of a lean time in the garden produce wise, the summer crops finished and winter ones just getting under-way.  However, I am enjoying some fruits -apples of course, luscious figs and tangy feijoas.

The figs I have been eating as a snack as I past the tree.  Must try grilling some with honey drizzled over with yoghurt for breakfast.

I am rather pleased this year as it is the first time my feijoas have fruited.  They are one of my favourite fruit.  I don’t think you can get them outside of NZ, but they are a similar fruit to guavas from South Africa.

The flower of the bush is rather lovely.

They are ready when they fall into your hand when you touch the fruit.

My favourite way of eating them is to cut in half and eat with a teaspoon, I like them on the slightly under ripe as I find fully ripe is rather rich.  Also. they are lovely combined with apple in crumbles or cut up and used in muffins.

Well that’s it for today, I hope to be back with some other crochet bits and pieces this weekend.

Have a lovely day.

Mandalas and Shortbread

I haven’t had much time to crochet this week, but all my plans for what time I had went out the window when I saw Zooty Owls new mandala- starflower.  Oh my word it is glorious, of course I had to get going…..straight away!  She is so generous with her designs.

Perhaps it is fortunate that I didn’t have enough colours in cotton to do the pattern as I was forced to use what I had.  In doing so I have a wonderful new use for a Mandala – yep the mandala shawl!

left to right
firebird, rhapsody,  and magic

I went to my trusty variegated 4 ply wool (Patons Fantasias range) and used 3 colour ways – magic, firebird and rhapsody).

To create this beautiful mandala!  (I did have to break off the wool in places to avoid some colours I didn't want creeping in.)  I haven’t done the last few rows as I am not yet sure I want them in the shawl.

While I was crocheting away I kept thinking this would make a wonderful centre point for a shawl, thus the idea was born.

So out came the colour pencils and I have sketched out I want it to look.  2 – 4 more mandalas, two probably up to row 6 or 7 and 2 up to row 4.  With the surrounds a lacy stitch in the ‘magic’ colour way.  I don't know how to do the joining and lacy bits, but I am sure I will figure it out!

I am linking this post to Cosmos and Cottons Monthly Mand-a-Long  I will probably link the finished shawl to next month’s Mand- a- Long.

I have just realized that I have been blogging for 3 months and crocheting for 6 months, doesn’t time fly.   I had started this blog to talk about my crochet and crafts along with my other passions cooking and gardening.  Um… crochet seems to be taking the upper hand, and the cooking and gardening have been neglected.

So without further ado here is a recipe for yummy lemon shortbread.

Lemon Shortbread

Ingredients

200 gm (7oz) butter,

½ cup (4oz) castor sugar,

grated rind of 1 lemon (NB lime is nice too, or a mix.)

2 cups (8oz) plain flour sifted,

½ cup desiccated coconut.

Method

Beat butter and castor sugar and rind till light, Work in flour and coconut, but not over work!  Roll out to 1cm (¼ inch) thick and cut into shapes of your fancy.  Bake 20 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius , cool on tray. (the coconut gives it a lovely taste and is not quite the same without it)

I love Shortbread, in all its forms.  I started to bake it when  I was about 13 for my father as he loved it so much, then it was plain shortbread, now I have a tendency to add other flavours, such as this lemon  one or sometimes in summer I like to add English lavender flower seeds, or sometimes I like to add ground coffee.

The gardening bit, Lemons are one of my favourite flavours and would choose it over chocolate any day!  So of course I have to have lemon trees, I have two a Meyer and a Lemonade which you can eat as is!  They are starting to ripen up nicely and this year I planted a lime and I noticed that it has a dozen limes, Yay!

To finish this rather long post (I must try and blog twice a week so posts are not so long!)I have a photo of a flower that is by my front door, it has been blooming all summer and autumn, I have no idea of its name but I just love the green and wine colour of the flowers.

Thanks for visiting and I wish you all a wonderful week!

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

The Anzacs

This is a gouache sketch of poppies from a photograph I took in the summer. The poppy is a symbol of an important day of remembrance here in NZ and Australia.

Today is Anzac Day a sacred national holiday in New Zealand and Australia. Everything is closed by law. Both countries commemorate the battle of Gallipoli in Turkey during the 1^st World War.  Both countries lost so many young men that there was a generation of women who never married or were left widows with young children.  In modern times it has come to represent the futility of all wars.  Every town in New Zealand land has a dawn ceremony where the last post is played at the war memorial.  It is also a rite of passage for New Zealanders and Australians to go to Anzac Cove in Turkey and take part in the dawn ceremony there.  I have done it and it wasn’t really until then standing in the place where so many young men were slaughtered that it hit me how wasteful war is.

So, this post and collage of old photos is is commemorate those young men, and a generation that never happened.  In particular, my grandfather (he was fortunate that he was too young to go to war) lost four brothers and my grandmother lost all of her brothers – five.

You are never forgotten.

On a lighter note,  Gallipoli produced a national icon, Anzac biscuits! The soldiers were sent tins of these biscuits from their families during the war.

Here is the recipe:

(Feel free to download the pictures)

Today is a National holiday so I will be baking a couple of batches of these biscuits to supply a couple of confined to barracks elderly souls in in my neighbourhood.  Maybe I will get some crochet in, I have a long to do list of scarfs that my family are waiting for!

The Story of Gallipoli

For nine months in 1915, British and French forces battled the Ottoman Empire - modern Turkey - for control of the Gallipoli peninsula, a small finger of Europe jutting into the Aegean Sea that dominates a strategic waterway, the Dardanelles. By opening the Dardanelles to their fleets, the Allies hoped to threaten the Ottoman capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul) and knock the Turks out of the war.

Among the British forces were the Anzacs - the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps - who landed on the peninsula on 25 April. The landing, like the Gallipoli campaign itself, was ambitious and ultimately unsuccessful: the peninsula remained in its defenders' hands.

The campaign was a costly failure for the Allies: 44,000 British and French soldiers died, including over 8700 Australians. Among the dead were 2721 New Zealanders nearly 5000 wounded out of a force of approx. 8500 – while that may not sound a lot compared to other nations, NZ pop was less than a million.  Victory came at a high price for the Turks: 87,000 men died in the campaign which became a defining moment in Turkish history.

It was also a defining moment in New Zealand’s and Australian history, we started to draw away from Britain and become nations in our own right.  For the three nations Anzac Cove where the Anzacs landed has been made a Peace Park by the Turks and the three Nations every year send government members to the remembrance service at the cove.

Enjoy they are scrummy and healthy!  Great for lunch boxes.

Forgotten Treasures

First of all I want to welcome new followers Joy, Sue and Anna.

This week has been a wash out as far as weather goes.  One fine day on Tuesday, the rest we suffered the tail end of a cyclone!  Rain and more rain.  Perfect for lots of hooky stuff.

It was also a perfect opportunity to get into the cupboards and sort through stuff that has been in boxes and suitcases for years.  Four years ago I downsized and I am guilty of stuffing things away – out of sight out of mind!  Well anyway I found some treasures and I will share two of them today.

First was some chunky wool left over from a jumper I knitted about 15 years ago.  I don’t know what happened to the jumper, there was a whole skein of the wool, umm great for a chunky beanie a friend wants me to crochet for her. 

This afternoon after mowing the lawns, at last it was fine.  I set to and crocheted this lovely.

Only took an hour, the embellishment I had lying around. It was a trial I did from Karen’s P.S.I Crochet, the flower was for her almond blossom bag, which is on my want to do list.  However for the hat I did the final round as picot edging( 1 double crochet in one stitch, and then a half treble, a treble and a half treble all in the next stitch then a double in the next stitch, all the way round- eng. terms) instead of making it into an hexagon shape.  I quite like this look and I am thinking of making a small bag in the same wool with the same embellishment on it.  (I think I have enough wool!)

The next treasure was a Kaffe Kassett needlepoint canvas I did 10 years ago when I was in hospital after a car crash; I was there for 9 weeks and managed to complete it.  I didn't have the right size canvas and it went to the edges and it was terribly distorted, so it got shoved in a case and forgotten. 

 Looking at it I thought it is too beautiful to be hidden away, I wonder… Yes it is more or less the same size as the chair seats that I want to recover as the calico that is on them has got grubby.  Also as it will be stapled on to the chair so it can be pulled back into shape.  Er... that means I got to do 3 more, well never mind I have heaps of tapestry wool and a couple of Kaffe’s books for ideas.  I will stick to the floral designs of course.  Thank goodness winter is coming!  Just have to buy the canvas it was done on Penelope canvas which I think is 10 holes to the inch.

Now for one of my other treasures, not forgotten of course!  One of my fur babies Ambrose is fascinated with wool and loves to watch and snug down,  These photos tell the story!

I am being good Mum!

I am just helping!

Haw heck, do you really expect me to not tame this ball!

I am tired after helping think I will take a nap!

Well that is it for today; I have visitors for the rest of the Easter holidays so I imagine I won’t get much hooky stuff done.  But I shall enjoy their company.

Best Wishes to you all and a wonderful Easter what’s left of it if you celebrate it!

Linking to Annemaries Haakblog Link Your Stuff

and Natasha's in Oz  Say G'Day