A quiet day...

Hello, how is your day going?

My day here has been fairly productive, with a crafty flavour throughout.

Since my little life restructure earlier in the year where I freed up a lot of time, I have been able to be a lot more creative and put more ideas into reality.  The down side of this is I find I am starting lots of different things at the same time, so have now got about  9 projects at various stages of completion!

  And I still have a heap of new things I want to start !  

No! I must finish some of the stuff I am working on, I seem to have lots of 'works in progress' type posts, and not so many finished 'tadah' moments!

The other thing I am finding with all this daytime, peaceful crafting, is that I have lots of time to think about things in my life, and that is not always a great thing!  

We have a great extended family, and we spend lots of good times together, but over the last couple of years one relationship in particular has become quite dysfunctional, and is taking up a lot of emotional energy from the rest of the family.  

I am really a pacifist, confrontation is just not my thing, so there is a lot of head shaking and wondering what can be done to improve the situation. 

 I am thinking a lot about how easy it is for relationships that seem like they will always be there to change into something else entirely. 

 About how people can change, how actions can be misread and twisted to fit an agenda, how what looks like a molehill to me can look like a mountain to someone else. 

 How do I comfort other members of the family who are especially 

hurt by this relationship breakdown?  

How do you explain your views when there is no want to listen?  

How do you stay strong in the face of self righteousness and blame?  

What would I even say to this person if I did have a face to face? 

Do I push on giving the benefit of the doubt, or just call a spade a spade and face the reality that you can't maintain a relationship when it is only wanted by one side.  Cut your loses and move on.  Easier said than done in a family that used to be tight.

Crochet time gives me plenty of time to mull over this stuff, but it hasn't really given me any answers other than you can never really know what makes other people tick!  

I'm sure if I think long enough about this I will come up with a happy ending for all of us, but I am just not sure if the feeling will be reciprocated!  

Anyhoo, you don't really want to hear about my family dramas, but sometimes it is good to write things down just to get them out of your head.  You know what I mean? 

Please feel free to ignore the babble above! I won't go on about this anymore, but it is just something that is on my mind a fair bit at the moment!

Back to the crochet, I have to say I am loving the diamond pattern!  I think I have found my quick, user upper of left over yarn pattern,  and I have visions of a beautiful harlequin blanket at the end.  I tried the hexipuffs for a quick make, but I found the double pointed needles really fiddly and gave up after a few.  These diamonds are really easy and quick and are turning out quite lovely. I will post more about these I am sure!

 We have started the school holidays today, so I am hoping to get a lot of crafting done over the next couple of weeks and knock a few of my half done projects over.  

We are having a quite Easter this year, just mooching around here, so it will be nice to have a bit of chilled out family time.

Have you got plans for the holidays?

Are you making anything fun at the moment?

Anyway, that's probably enough from me tonight!

Have a great Easter break!  Don't eat too much chocolate! (is there even such a thing?) :)

xxxxxxxxxxx

colour play crochet

What I've been playing with today.

Have a colourful day where you are too!

xxxxxxxxx

12/52 year of happy

Four things from my week that made me happy:

1. Spending some time (ok, a lot of time!) weaving in the ends of my little granny squares. I am making sure I have a darning session whenever I get about thirty squares made. So far so good!

2. Seeing all the piles of squares growing and looking nice and tidy without their loose threads! 

3. Still picking tomatoes. Yay! 

Summer lingers on, and with a warm week predicted, 

I think we may get one last swim before the cool weather begins.

4. Easter egg time. I buy the little solid eggs because I like to have a big bowlful of eggs in the middle of the coffee table as a treat for the boys, but who am I kidding? 

 I buy them for me!  I love the bowl of gorgeous colour and

 I am partial to a chocolate hit every now and again :)

Hope you have had a happy week too!

Yarn Along : new crochet book

Hello, how's your week going? 

I thought I'd show you a book I picked up on the weekend for Yarn Along today, it is called 

'500 Crochet Blocks'  by Hannah Elgie and Kath Webber.  I am enjoying looking through the patterns for crochet blocks and different crochet stitches, and have found a few that I'd like to try. 

I think it is a great crochet reference type book.

A cute flower type motif, this is the lay out for each pattern, a good photo and then the pattern in written and diagram form.....

.......crocodile stitch, I have seen this on Pinterest, so it's good to have a pattern to try out, I think it could work as part of a softie, there is an idea brewing here!

......on each pattern page there is a reference to a variations page where several different versions of the patterns are explored, a nice idea, and a good way to see how creative crochet can be, the main patterns are used as a starting point and then you can see how you can change bits and pieces for different effects.

.......I like this diamond pattern.  I have been fiddling around trying to make a nice diamond shape for a while, so I am very happy to find one all figured out for me already!

This is only a small book, but it packs a lot into it's pages!

Which leads me to what I have been working on this week,  granny squares and stripy diamonds! 

 I have a few ideas for these diamonds, I'll have to see how I feel when I've made a few more.

( Oh, and I also bought the 'new' Country Living this week, Feb edition, we are so behind out here! Lots of nice eye candy in this one, some beautiful shades of green in the decorating, right up my alley!)

So what have you been reading and making this week?

I'm joining in with Ginny and her Yarn Along today.

11/52 Year of Happy

Four things from my week that made me happy.

1. I had a visit to CERES in Brunswick with our community garden group, it was a lovely day out, and I saw some interesting food gardens.  It was also the start of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, and Matt Preston (of Master Chef fame) was wandering around too, so a bit of celebrity spotting went on as well! (I think they were having some foodie event there that he was hosting)

2. I got a couple of new crochet books, will do another post on them later. (but lots of good stuff in them I'll tell you right now!)

3. Working my way through my scrap box of wool, nice to use up odds and ends.

4. Some lovely creative time spent working on my little grannies, I pretend that I have a studio and that making stuff is my job, so I just have to sit there and hook away!

How has your week been?

PS. Thanks for all the nice comments regarding my new granny project, you are all so lovely, and I have already fallen off the wagon of replying to comments in the posts, shame on me! Sorry!

I'll try harder I promise :)

little granny squares (love)

 Hello!

I have a lot of colourful pictures for you today.

My little granny squares are multiplying rapidly and I think they look so gorgeous I went a bit mad with the camera. 

This project is turning into something pretty awesome if I do say so myself, 

it is making me very, very happy.  A simple 2 round granny square with a round of 

single crochet to edge each square, what could be easier?  

The joy in these square comes with the endless colour combinations, each new square adds something different to the mix.  Sooooo much fun! ( I'm easily pleased I think! :) )

I took these pictures when I had made a couple of dozen squares, I have made more since then, so it is looking more interesting all ready.  I am also trying to be very disciplined and sew in the ends as I go, so far so good.

.......here they are laid out nice and neat.......

I thought it might be nice to see the different colour combinations that make up the whole picture....

 it might be good to see how they can work together in one project, I know it's not rocket science, and totally frivolous, but it's still nice to see I think.

 ......there are blues / aqua / green /white ......

............pinks / reds / pale blue/ pale aqua.........

........red / blue / aqua / pale pink / white....

.......pastels......

 ........cool blues /pinks / reds / white ............

.........mixed in with some limey greens......

and when you put them all together you get a lovely combination of colour that looks great !

( I think anyway!)

.....and here the Brady Bunch photo shot of some of the whole lot!

....new ones waiting to join in......

...and so the pile grows......

...I think a bit of blocking will make a big difference to their 'squareness'....

Well, I apologise for the granny love overkill, but you do know how I love a bit of colour!

Anyway, I think I will make these into a baby blanket, so not too big and daunting.  And then I think I will make some more because I think they would make pretty cool pillow slips for my bed.

I'll show you my progress next week, hopefully I might be sewing some together by then.

I hope you have a great colourful weekend!

Bye! 

PS.  The yarns I am using for these grannies is a mixture of Colorworks 8ply, Babywool 8ply and Merino Magic 8ply, all the ones I am selling in my shop :)

PPS. Do you think 'inspiration packs' of wool with different colour combinations

 would be a good thing?

My creative space : granny love

Hello.

How has your week been going?

It has been very cruisey around here, the weather has cooled off, and we are getting back to normal, I haven't had much work on this week, so I've had time to do some daytime crochet.

 What a luxury!

I have started a new granny blanket, and I am very happy with how it is coming up.

So today I have been sitting at my little red table hooking away, with a bit of choice music on, and watching the chooks play around out the window, a very pleasant afternoon !

I think I'll do a proper big post tomorrow and show you all my new granny love, I have taken a heap of lovely colourful photos, so must share!! :)

I'm joining in over at my creative space today, so have a look over here at what the creative people over there are getting up to!

Have a great day!

10/52 Year of Happy

Four things from my week that made me happy:

1.  Working on a new bit of hooky, and finishing off as I go!

2.  Many icy cold drinks have been consumed this week, the heat has been relentless, but sipping on a long cold drink makes it so much better!

3. New seedlings for the vegie patch, waiting out the heat inside, but I'm loving a bit of Autumn garden dreaming.

4. The lovely bright colours of these pencils have been very handy for a bit of blanket designing, who doesn't love a bit of colouring in!

What's been making you smile this week?

Have a happy day! 

Hot Sunday and a couple of winners

Hello!

How are you going in your bit of this big old world?

Around here Summer has done a bit of an encore, and we are in the middle of a heat wave that is supposed to last for 4 more days, it is seriously hot!

We are spending a lot of time in water, either at the beach or at my parents place in their lovely pool, or if we are at home a cool shower is the order of the day.  

We spent today having a dip in the sea at Point Leo and then walking up to my parents and jumping in the pool.  The beach was crowded with like minded people, cooling off in the beautiful clear water.

I think it has been one of the best years for swimming at Point Leo in a long time, the water has been like a tropical island and snorkelling has had really excellent visibility,  and although it is technically a surf beach, the waves have been tiny so you can just float around all day if you like!

Nights are a different story, restless and wakeful.  We don't have air con, so I just leave the windows open at night to try and cool the house down, which is less effective as the heatwave continues. 

But never mind, we are not doing much on these hot days, so it doesn't matter if I am going around half awake. ( It is also a long weekend here, so an extra day of lounging around for everyone, although my boys are going to a music festival tomorrow in the city that I am sure will be boiling!)

As you can imagine, not a lot of crafty action has been going on, it has been too hot to hook!

I am sure I'll remedy that soon though.

Pt Leo beach, umbrellas and tents galore!

There were plenty of bodies on the beach today, lucky it is a lovely wide sandy beach so you don't feel crowded.

Straight into the water for us!  Blissful

Yarny Giveaway Winners!

Ok, onto other matters, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who entered my yarny giveaway and left me such lovely encouraging comments about my new adventure in shop keeping, you are all truly wonderful!  You all deserve a prize I think, and I wish I could send you all a little something in thanks, but there ended up being quite a lot of comments, who would have thought!

So anyway, the ladies who won the yarn packs are :

Claire, who wins the pack of 7 balls with the pinks and blues

and Kate, who wins the pack of 6 balls with the greens, blues and mustard.

So congratulations ladies, and sorry to everyone else, but I am so glad you all entered, I think I will be holding more yarny giveaways in the future, I think they are a nice way to share the yarn love and thank this little community of crafters for popping in here and saying hello!

Claire and Kate, if you could drop me an email with your postal details, 

I'll get the wool to you quick smart.

Once again, thanks for joining in this giveaway and I hope you all have lovely crafty day!

(And stay cool if you are in Victoria!)

Talk soon!

xxxxx

9/52 Year of Happy

I'm a bit late this week with my happy post this week, but whatever, here it is .

Four things from my week that made me happy.

1. I found the first blue eggs from my young grey auracana (not sure on the spelling) chooks, the girls are growing up!  They are such a nice contrast to the other brown eggs. 

2. Sad to say, but my freshly washed windows actually made me really happy, I'm pathetic I know. It's a bit weird how I never really notice how dirty the windows are until they are clean again, so shiny and sparkly! Nice.  My life is just so exciting! :)

3. Tomatoes are on!  Bring on a sauce making session!

4. A lovely box of gifted quinces, I am going to have a go at quince paste this year, hope it turns out ok.

Extra happy stuff this week : The great warm weather is also making me happy and I had a nice leisurely bike ride with a friend, soaking up the sun, having a bit of a chat, thinking life is good!

Hope you had lots of happy moments in your week too!

Slow Living February 2013

Hello!

Well we have said goodbye to Summer in Australia and a big hello to Autumn, although I think the lovely weather is going to stay around for a few more weeks, Yay!

It ha been a really beautiful summer this year, the weather has been truly 'summery' and warm and sunny and perfect for outdoor stuff.  We have had a few ordinary summers in recent years , so it was nice to have a 'proper' Summer.

February has just flown along at a million miles an hour!  School and all the regular things have started up and we are back in the swing of 'normal' life.  It has been a lovely month, and it has felt like the holidays have continued as we have been able to do lots of relaxing fun things, with the weather being so good.  We had a couple of days of rain at the end to give the garden a good soak, just when everything was really dry, so very welcome.

Anyway, here is my Slow Living report for the month.....

Nourish - Well it has been another month of typical Summer eating around here.  Lots of barbecues,

 salads, and fresh veg from the garden.  I still threw a few roast chickens into the mix, just because they are so easy and it's a meal that everyone will eat.  I also made a few treat dinners with the deep fryer, a highlight being Chinese style lemon chicken - very delicious!  (thing I will post the recipe for the lemon sauce, easy and so yum!)

Prepare - I made a couple of batches of apricot jam while apricots were still plentiful, on batch is more like apricot sauce as I had a hard time figuring out when to take it off the heat and took it off a bit early. The other batch has set better and is like 'real' jam! So I have about 18 jars of apricot yumminess!

Green - Umm, not a lot doing for this one, we have sweltered through the heat without air-conditioning, so I hope our electricity use is down a bit,  and stayed cool by spending lots of time at the beach and my parents' place, who have a pool.

Grow - The garden has been producing well, even though it has been very dry.  We have been harvesting tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans, capsicums, lettuce, onions, carrots and a few baby potatoes plus various herbs.  I also have bed of cantaloupes ripening nicely as I hope they will be ready soon.  We have had very little rain so I have been relying on my tank and some mains water to keep everything going. There were some sizzling days where I lost a few things in the garden, but overall it has survived the summer fairly well.  My dahlias have also been putting on a beautiful display and giving my cut flowers for the house.

Reduce - I have been on a bit of a clutter reducing drive this month and have started giving our house a good clean up, I can see the surface of my gypsy dresser for the first time in a long while!  I have had quite a few boxes for the op shop, and there are more to come.  It feels great to have things in more order,  I hope I can get through the whole house with my new ruthless declutter frame of mind!

Create - Still working on my star stitch blanket and a few rows of the crochet along blanket, it has been pretty hot though for crochet!

Discover - I have spent a fair bit of time discovering how to set up an online store through Storenvy, and then setting it up, ordering stock, photographing everything, setting prices, etc !  Quite a big learning curve!  But lots of fun and very interesting and exciting!

Enhance - I have spent time at the Community garden and am trying to be a better blog community member up responding to comments left on my blog, something I am sporadic at, at best, even though I really like getting comments and appreciate everyone of them!    I also started a give away for my blog readers that has had a good response.  (there is still time to enter if you'd like !!) :)

Enjoy - February has been quite a social month, with a nice afternoon/evening spent with friends dining outdoors, many afternoons on the beach and a few evening beach walks.  I have also kicked my get fit plan into action and have walked over 150 km in the month, with a modest weight lose resulting  (3kg for the month) I am telling myself slow and steady wins the weight lose race! I am enjoying my walks and am finding the nike app very motivating!  

Joining in with Christine and the other Slow Living guys over at Slow Living Essentials.

How was your last month of Summer/Winter ? 

Are you looking forward to a new season too?