Random Things

I haven’t done much crochet this week as I have visitors from Aussie.  However in the odd quiet moment I have been playing around with the op shop cottons I have brought over the past few weeks.

I have become quite keen on the traditional doilies.  While I was roaming through Pinterest, I have discovered some cool ways of using them.  Two I want to try, lampshades and curtains.  This morning I pinned some doilies I had to the net curtain at the front door, Wow!

The big doilies were my great aunts the small ones are mine.

Doilies here I come, i like the idea of doing them myself, rather than buying vintage ones then I can use colours to suit me.

I have received a Liebster Award from Amy of Amjayloublogspot.co.uk.  I received one a few months back, but still decided to take part as it was an opportunity to share a few things about me a in the second part share some blogs that I love.

We are to share 11 random things about ourselves (today) and answer 11 questions set by the giver, nominate 11 blogs to receive the award  and set them 11 questions.  I like the idea of spreading it over 2 posts, doesn't seem so much work!

Here goes - 11 random things about me

1.    I like to  see what is on the other side of the hill

2.   I collect seashells, stones, cacti, vintage china, art materials………

Shells on my bathroom windowsill

3.   George Clooney makes me sigh…..

4.   I love to photograph close ups of flowers.

My favourite rose its a climber, don't know its name it runs alongside the drive and is awesome in early summer.

5.   I am a children’s illustrator by trade and a wannabe children’s writer, (tired of illustrating other peoples stories)

Design for a card

6.   I grew up on a dairy farm in Taranaki.

7.   I spent 20 years overseas mainly Britain and France.  Been back in NZ just over 10 years.  (A rather long OE!!!)

8.   I love to paint flowers from my garden.  I did the below yesterday in gouache (a type of watercolour paint) for my sister to take back to Aussie as she loves Daphne and cant grow it, my bush is scenting the house and garden out.

 9.   Gardening is a passion along with crochet, and my art.  These are photos from last summer (January 2014)

My back garden looking at the house from the start of the veggie patch.

The veggie patch, my quiet spot under the plum tree

10.  I adore then sea, but live an hour’s drive away from the nearest beach.

Riversdale Beach, my favourite local beach.

  

11.   I give thanks every day to God for the blessings in my life.

Well that's it for today, I will post the rest next week.  I  leave this thought for you from a page in my art journal.

Reach out for the stars, our imagination is real!

Have  a good week and thanks for your visit.

Mandala Love - in the pink!

Woohoo, I have created a mandala entirely of my own design.  I have been toying with the idea of making a mandala wall-hanging and thought that a sculptural effect would be great.

So I leaved through a book on classical motifs and thought I would try one, I made a mess of it as I didn't really understand the instructions. 

However I thought I would go with it and decided to make the petals stand out.

I used the idea of the African flower and made a short chain between the spokes I had to do the chain in front of the petal and then push it through so that the chain was at the back.

That worked so then I used the chain to do 2 rounds of trebles.

At this stage I toyed with turning it into a square but in the end decided to carry on.  So I did a row of double V's and a cluster in the V.  Then I did a scalloped round and gave it the treatment used for the African flower.

However it was getting very full and I needed to undo and do less stitches, but being lazy I learnt the lesson of the central flower and decided to try and tighten the last few rounds by using a chain to pull it all together.

Yay It worked.

I think I might do a few more rounds and turn it in to a cushion cover as I have some lovely textured linen.  I don’t really want a lot of pink in my wall-hanging.  I have a few areas where it needs refining which I will do for one in the wall hanging.  Maybe I will post my first tutorial!!!

This week I have been playing a lot with circles and have made heaps of coasters in different cottons.

This one is my favourite so far.

The weather this week has been dry but windy and grey, but we had a bit of sun and Ambrose took advantage to watch me mow the lawns.

It has been very mild this winter and usually all lawn mowing has stopped some of the trees still have their leaves, such as this tree I saw on a walk earlier in the week.

Beautiful!

Well that’s it for now have a wonderful week every body and thank you for visiting.

Linking to Annemaries Link Your Stuff

A Legacy

I have been brooding over what I said in my last post about my great aunts, I called them ‘batty’, it has been bothering me and I want to redress the situation, I should have used the word eccentric.  I have decided to dedicate a post to them as I am beginning to realize that I owe them a lot.

Berta and Magda emigrated to NZ from Germany/Poland with their parents in the late 1890’s; they were the youngest of 13 children.  They helped their parents’ clear bush to create the family farm in Taranaki.   They looked after them when they were elderly as they never married.  They were allocated some land when their parents died and had a cottage and about 2 acres of land on which they had a house cow, pigs, chooks (hens), goats and a couple of sheep.  They lived to great age Berta 103 and Magda 102!

I first met them when I was 9.  My Grandparents decided that my brother and I were to be taken on a tiki tour around the family.  I still remember going down a mossy path to a little house with trees crowded around and being sternly by my grandfather to behave and not fidget.  I thought that they were the oldest people I had ever seen, I realize now that they must have been in their late 70s.

We were told to sit down on a hard sofa and they bustled about getting tea and cake.  The cups were of fine china and the cake was apple cake. I was petrified about breaking the cups they were so thin.  The room was crowded with furniture and knickknacks. After the tea the aunts told my brother he could be excused and look at the animals.  However, I was to stay and was cross examined about my life, then they smiled and offered me a jar with chunks of white stuff, it was foul.  I learnt later that it was nougat; to this day I can’t eat it!

The round crystal jar was the same one that the nougat came in.

I met them again when I was 12 when my sister and I were summoned to spend the summer holidays with them.  I didn’t want to go, but they were the most magical weeks of my childhood.  I learnt to milk the house cow, about herbs and vegetable growing, roses, they taught my sister and me to crochet and do needlework.  I see now that how they lived set a standard for me to follow.  I don’t know if it is genes or personality, but I find myself now living like they lived.  Being self-reliant, industrious, and eccentric!  I did marry but was not blessed with children and now that I am on my own, even though I am nowhere near their age, I am wondering if my nieces and nephews consider me batty!

When I married the crystal and silver bowl were wedding presents.  The doilies I was sent on my 21^st birthday.  All these years I have kept them, they have travelled the world with me.  Even though I never crocheted again after that holiday, I think that what they taught me stayed with me and that is why I was able to start with ease when I took it up again after 40 or so years.

To celebrate their legacy to me I have started a centre piece for my dining table in n. 20 cotton that I found in an op shop.

I was going to try my hand at a table cloth, but thought it was too ambitious for my first attempt at this fine work.  I found the motif in a book on classic blocks I got out of the library.

Berta and Magda Buhr I salute you, you rocked.  You now live on in cyber land.

P.S If you are interested in the recipe for the apple cake I have posted it on my new cooking blog, Zana’s Kitchen.   I have decided to have my cooking separate as I want the recipes all together as my sister and I want to compile a book on family recipes and self-publish so that future generations don’t miss out on our heritage.  I will make a button for my sidebar and have the latest recipe listed for those who are interested.

A Girl Needs a Bit of Bling!

It has been a bitty itty kind of week.  Lots of fiddly things, finishing off projects and playing with some yummy blingy wool. 

This is what my work table aka dining table has looked like this week.

It started with my dear sister, she is coming for a visit next month, and as she lives in WA she will notice the cold, so I decided to crochet her a warm scarf and hand warmers.  This is how our telephone conversation went:

Me: Do you want me to crochet you a scarf?

Sis: Crochet?

Me: Yeah I have taken up crochet; I am a bit obsessed with it!

Sis: Oh ……… What do you make?

Me: All sorts, blankets, doilies, bags toys anything!

Sis: Oh…..

Me: Well do you want a scarf?

Sis: Ohaayyy…

Me:  What colour?

Sis: Khaki.

Me:  Oh….

I knew what she was thinking, granny blankets in awful colours and beige doilies, our adored great aunts adorned their house with such things.

So up town I go and look for some khaki wool, I didn't have any in my stash, now I know why.  I hate it with a passion.  I have been struggling with this scarf for weeks; normally I can whistle one up in a day or two.  So back to the wool shop to see if I can find something more to my liking that will fit with khaki.  The shop owner said she can’t work with pink, and one of the ladies in her knitting group can work with green, she cuts out any green in the variegated sock wool she uses! 

Is there a colour you can’t work with?

The answer to my problem some soft white wool with matching white wool with sequins! See above

I did the hand warmers first and they are lovely, the sequins don’t itch or scratch at all!

I had some of the sequin wool left so decided to make a classy brooch to show my dear sister that crochet is not just for batty old aunts, but can be sophisticated as well!

I think I am going to make quite a few of these brooches for my Christmas craft fair table at the end of the year.

I still had a bit of the wool left so I decided to use it in the dress of the bear I have had on the go for a while.

The pink wool also has some sparkle.  While I was at it I decided to crochet her a poncho and a few accessories.

At the moment I am trying to decide whether she needs an ankle adornment  or some pink tulle under her skirt to balance the top, maybe both after all she is going out on the town!!

I so loved working with the sequin wool, I just might buy some for me….a vest a clutch bag ummm….. 

YES, a girl does need some sparkle in her life!

Thanks for visiting and may you have a wonderful week.

Wrapped Up and Cozy

Monday morning, shivering in  front of the computer catching up with my favourite blogs, I espied Zooty Owls Crafty Blog Road Trip Scarf and I was hooked!  Thank you Zelna you are a star!

I didn't have any variegated wool in double knit, but I had a few skeins of 4 ply.  Immediately I set to and by the time I had to get on with the days activities a was a good way through.  (I used Zelna’s measurements  of 106 cm to adjust the number of rows)

By Wednesday it was finished bar the embellishments!  I had decided to do the final row in white to give it pop, and then added some white flowers to balance.

I so love it, I will be buying some double knit wool to make another. 

I do love variegated wool, to the extent I made another scarf from my stash, a cowl this time.  I am also in love with lacy stitches and found this one from a vintage knitting magazine.

It is 4 ply again, I find I prefer the lighter feel around my neck (might be a different story once the winter really sets in.

In the garden this week it is looking very green, so today I brought some pansies the small flower variety as I find that the big flower once don’t hold up to all the rain we have.

I have also started to collect polyanthus to have in pots by my back door which is a sun trap in winter, I like to sit and crochet on the back porch while I have my cuppa. Their colours are inspiring these days, they make you think of mandalas !  Oh dear mandalitis still rules!!

Once again I wish to thank Zelna at Zooty Owl, she is so generous with her designs and I have just noticed she has just published the pattern for the dahlia mandala! 

Today I am linking to Annemaries Link your Stuff

Have a wonderful week every one and thanks for visiting!

Shawl and a Blast from the Past

Woo hoo!  I have finished Shawl no 1.  It has been on the go for AGES!  It’s the pattern South Bay Shawlette from Lions Brand, except as per usual I changed things, I used 4 ply and did some extra rows.

It has come out paler in the photo, so took it outside and let Lucy inspect it; I don’t think she is that impressed.  Could be I disturbed her with her late afternoon nap in the sun.  The top corner is about the colour it actually is.

That’s one down 2 to go.  Next week I hope to work on the mandala shawl, I've done all the mandalas I just got to work out the way to join them.

Any way I love it, so romantic!  This is the first shawl I have ever worn or had and I love it.  Age must mellow us in our opinions.

Here is a blast from the past.  I love to poke about in op shops looking for vintage china I collect and lately vintage table ware.  Recently I have scored lot of crochet cottons etc.   For example, I got 10 balls of ecru cotton no 3 for $5!  One ball cost about $9 here.

However this week I found this magazine and boy did it bring back  memories, both my grandmothers and Mum used to get this magazine.  This copy is a bit earlier than my memories but near enough.

The patterns were still inside.

Didn't they have slim waists then!  No wonder there were lots of ads for weight loss fixes!

Nothing has changed since 1957!  People were still worried about weight, nerves, depression, sleeplessness, etc.

I loved the ads but mainly I brought it for this little pattern of the girl’s cardigan, I love the hearts and I know a little girl who would love it – pink of course!

Anyway that’s it for today; hope you all have a good week and thanks for visiting.