walk

We went for a walk in the local botanic gardens today. It's the last day of the school holidays and it was nice to get the kids out for a walk. There were many signs that spring is really on it's way, daffodils budding (flowering in places) magnolias in bloom and a slight change in the light. We saw a peacock and lots of ducks were spotted too. I found these seeds from a Titoki tree, a NZ native to show the children, when I was little our house had a small Titoki tree by the letterbox many years later when I went back to have a look at our old house I was stunned by how tall it had grown over the years. I remember as a small child being fascinated by the seeds, seems that the fascination doesn't end in childhood, aren't they just amazing?


Have a safe and happy weekend.

holidays

Rainy holidays at home, can be fun with just some coloured rice I've discovered! Miss E and I coloured the rice by shaking it in a bottle until the rice absorbed all the colour - the fun and noisy part. Once we made a few batches of different coloured rice, we layered some (briefly) in a jar, if I had been quicker off the mark I probably would have set aside a jar to fill with the layers that we could have put on the windowsill. But the layers were quickly shaken up! We also made some pictures by "drawing" with glue and then sprinkling the rice over the glue. Lots of fun on a rainy day and with things you've probably got on hand, always a bonus.

crack

I found this plate the other day, very pretty but cracked unfortunately. So over the weekend I plan on transforming it into some crochet covered pendants for an up coming market. I hope the weather is rainy otherwise I might just have to sort out my garden instead.

with thanks

My lovely neighbour Kerstin delivered a large lot of homespun wool to me last week. It's a mixture of Angora (from the rabbits that she breeds) and merino with silk. It's so lovely to crochet with and I feel VERY spoilt. I made some beanie style hats for the kids first from an improvised design. Luckily they were very quick to make, as soon as I had finished one, there was a request for another matching one. To stop arguments I crocheted a flower for miss E's one and a circle to put on mr A's one. They love them to bits, thanks again Kerstin! She has a website and a blog that you can find here: www.vivelly-stud.com ( I still can't get the linky thing to work! is it just me?) She sells her lovely Angora fibre too, I must say that it's so soft and warm and spins beautifully with the added bonus of it needing no carding.

I've still got quite a bit left, I'm just trying to decide what to make next.....

friday finds

The weather continues to keep us tucked up indoors, rain, rain and more rain. There was a little break in the weather today and mr A and I took a trip around the local thrift stores, something that he isn't that excited about. He stood in the door way of the first one and flatly refused to enter much to the amusement of everyone except me. But he softened after a while and we actually had quite a nice outing (the bribe of a fluffy at the end seemed to work wonders). I was quite excited to find this tablecloth, I thought it was quite unusual. It's large and has a bouquet on each corner. I love it, but it's got a few stains and some other issues so it's destined to be re purposed in some way, just not sure what I'll make yet.


Happy weekend friends!

and the winner is......

Congratulations Clare! Miss E drew your name out of the hat! Let me know your address and I'll get the prize off to you. Thanks for all your kind comments on my two years of blogging.

pin it

I've been working on a couple of things for a local showcase. The first one that I've completed is this doily inspired rug. I was inspired by this one:http://pinterest.com/pin/42019818/ (I can't seem to get the link thingy to work today, grrrrr computers) , but instead of using a thick rope I used a continuous strip of fabric that I cut from a tube of knit fabric. I love how fast crochet grows when working with a large hook ( I used a size 10mm), I'm hoping to make some to add to my etsy shop over the coming months. I might make another for me too, I think it would make a great bathmat.

spoonflower

I've really wanted to have a try of Spoonflower's services for quite a while. I really felt nervous about using anything I designed myself, I was worried that I wouldn't be happy with it. So when they recently had a special with free shipping I decided I'd have a try but I asked miss E if she would draw something for me to use. She got busy drawing all sorts of little pictures for me. I thought if it was something she designed that we could use the fabric to make Christmas presents for relatives, think little zip purses and notebook covers.

I was really impressed how easy the Spoonflower website was to use (using a very simple design) and I was able to lay it up how I wanted quite quickly. I think I might actually have a go and order some with my own design! Scary.

The reaction to the arrival was precious, " I just love it!" with the biggest widest eyes possible for the longest time " I just don't know what to say!" This from my five year old who just doesn't stop talking. So yes, I think the result is perfect.

2 years

Hard to believe that I've been blogging for two years now, it seems both a very short and a long time simultaneously. I'd like to thank you for stopping by for all those posts some 300+ of them. So I've got a little giveaway organised. There are a couple of my "stitch in time" cards, a stitched notebook with a botanical cover and a little patch that I made by crocheting around the edge of some fabric by Tiny Happy. You could sew the patch on a bag or to cover a stain, it's backed with vilene to make it a bit sturdier.

All you have to do is leave a comment in this post and I'll draw a name out sometime on Friday. This giveaway is open to any blog readers worldwide!

Thanks again for stopping by!

weekending

A snapshot of our weekend, collecting pine needles from a nearby park to mulch our strawberry patch, baking some pretzels and something sweet for afternoon tea. There was a birthday party to go to, a cafe visit, lots of rain (and heaps of wind) and a small amount of cleaning too.

Pop back later for the giveaway post that I promised.

house shoes

I went on a two month student exchange to Germany when I was 17. It was over Christmas time and it was the coldest winter there in around 20 years. While I was there my host family gave me the use of some red felt "house shoes", I loved them! While I was there I was looking out for a similar pair to buy to take home with me, but I didn't find any. I was thinking about them just the other day (as you do!) and I thought about having a go at making something similar.

I picked up a thickly felted woollen red jumper at the local Salvation army recently and I thought I'd have a go with that. I am quite pleased with how they turned out (although nothing like the house shoes I was loaned), they certainly keep my feet warm. If I made a second pair I'd make them quite a bit smaller, due to the slight stretch of the felted wool they are a tiny bit loose. I crocheted around the edge of them with some matching crochet cotton to finish them off.

I've just realised that I've past my two year blogging anniversary so to celebrate I'll do a little giveaway on Monday, so do check back.

Have a happy weekend! I'm hoping for a little less rain.

splash

I sometimes forget to slow down. I sometimes seem to jam so much into each day, always thinking about what I need to do next that I forget to just stop and live in the moment. But this morning after mr A and I had dropped of miss E to school we discovered a big puddle. He spent a good 15 minutes jumping and playing in it and I didn't mind a bit. I wasn't thinking of all the washing at home to do, or what I was going to cook for dinner or anything else other than how happy he was splashing about. I was so taken about all the smiles he was getting as cars drove past, young and old seemed to enjoy watching him splash about. I think it was a timely reminder to stop, slow down and enjoy the puddles in life.

prints

I was very flattered when Melissa asked if she could use one of my photos on her blog, um yes! It's the one above where I used some of her lovely "Vita" fabric in black to make a cushion with. You can read her post here and if you are a fan of her fabrics you can find her new Flickr group here.

Blog posts have been few and far between lately - but hopefully that will change next week.
Happy weekend!