more crochet

I was quietly devastated when mr A broke one of my favourite thrifted saucers (luckily I had thrifted two of them). I put the pieces into a box for mosaics and that was that. Then when a mosaic project came along I felt a new idea coming to me (after making these). So instead of using the broken pieces for mosaics, I made a necklace. I crocheted a cord to go around my neck and sewed on a vintage mother of pearl button for the clasp. I'm really happy with how it turned out, now I'm looking at the box of broken china in a new light.

for colouring

I have a girl who loves to colour in. The problem is the lack of cool colouring in books in the shops, they all seem to have big huge pictures and miss E really likes to colour in teeny tiny pictures. Then I had a thought while cutting up some vintage books to make cards, why not some proper books? Well as it turns out proper books are great for colouring in! I had a vintage children's book with lots of line drawings and it's perfect. Now she can colour and learn at the same time.

It's quite a funny book too, I didn't know there were "Queer fish" I'm not sure if that is a term that is used today either.

Happy weekend to you!

rainy weekend

Rainy weekends are good for crochet, not so good for drying cloth nappies.

pressed

We were filling in a little bit of time on a very rainy Saturday by browsing at our local Salvation Army Store. Miss E picked up this tiny little flower press and declared that she wanted it, followed quickly by "what is it?". I explained what it was for, so she decided it would be a good thing to have. She's not wrong, for a girl who likes to flop down "in the weeds" as she puts it, to pick flowers having a little flower press is a good thing. We found a few tiny flowers to pop in it and we are waiting patiently for the results, which I tell you can be a long time for a four year old. Hopefully we'll have some pressed flower images to share soon.

some help please

I need some help on a couple of matters. First of all, does anyone here in New Zealand know where to buy Aniseeds? and I don't mean star anise. I've tried my local health food shops and they put me on to a Mini mart in my town that I didn't know existed that has a huge range of exotic bulk food but alas no aniseeds. I'm happy to buy online from NZ too so let me know if you can help.

The second thing is this really cool bag that I thrifted, it smelly musty after lots of sunshine and days hanging outside on the line, in the rain and sunshine. I've soaked it in baking soda which normally works but I think because it's made of a water resistant kind of fabric the smell isn't coming out very easily. Any thoughts or suggestions? It's super cute, in the picture above it's at it's full length, it's got s zippered section so you can make it shorted.

So I'd love to hear any suggestions on these matters! Hope your Friday is going well.

ruffle

I made this little ruffle scarf a few days ago. It's made from a thrifted skirt that I cut into long strips, then joined them all together. Then to create the ruffle I cut some thin elastic 2/3 of the total length. I pinned the elastic at either end and then stretched it and pinned in in the middle. While the elastic was stretched out I sewed it down the middle of the scarf with a zigzag stitch to create the ruffle. It seemed a bit thin once I was finished and a little longer than I anticipated so I folded it in half (wrong sides together) and stitched it together down the middle, perfect with it doubled over it adds another layer of ruffle. I like that it's nice and light weight, not too snug. Ideal for the warmer days of spring ahead or on cooler summer nights.

bloom

I was inspired by all the early spring blooms around on the weekend and made some little crepe paper string crochet flowers. I tied (with sewing cotton) them on to some bare fallen branches that I had (yes that is the sort of thing I have to hand, um yes, you never know when you might need a stick for something). You can read how I made the crepe paper string here if you want to make some. It was a basic little four petal flower with the ends bought to the middle to create the long stamens, but any little flower pattern would work. If I had some yellow crepe paper I might have made the stamens yellow for a bit of contrast.

I tried a new recipe on the weekend, rosemary and walnut biscuits and I'm warming to them. They turned out sweeter than I imagined as they were suggested to be served with cheese and I thought they would be more savory. But after a few I've decided that they go with a cuppa quite nicely.

weekend

-Signs of Spring already, who else has noticed all the blooms that seem to be opening out everywhere?

-Finding the perfect spot to hang a thrift store find, beautiful watercolour painting done by a school art teacher in 1955. Isn't it beautiful? I love it especially as I have a love for magnolia trees and don't have the room on our section for one so this is the next best thing.

-Trying to decide what to make with this fabric that was also a thrift store find, maybe a small picnic blanket or a dress for miss E.

Hope you had a great weekend.

passing the test

When I read over at Tiny Happy about this recipe I realised that it was about time that I tried it. A couple of friends had mentioned it to me and I had looked at my local library for the book (and not found it) but had never found the time, or the container to make it in.

Now in order for me to keep using this recipe it needed to pass a few tests, it couldn't just be good for making a loaf it needed to be versatile and luckily it seems to have passed the test! In the few short days since I've started making it, it has taken many forms. Rolled thin and coated with garlic, butter, olive oil and flaky sea salt for garlic pizza bread, used as a pizza base, made some smallish rolls and a couple of loaves. OK all that wasn't made from one batch but a few over a number of days.

So yep the recipe is a winner and so handy to have at hand in the fridge to whip up some bread for a weekend lunch, which is what I plan to do this weekend. I'd love to hear what is on your weekend menu in whatever season you are living in.

Happy weekend to you.