Ripple Picnic Blanket - Ta Da!

Yay - my ripple picnic blanket is all finished! I've been bursting to take it on our family fish and chip outing this week but the weather has just not been great. Warm and sunny - but unbelievably windy so not ideal. So when the sun came out today and the wind was minimal the small folk and I thought we should rush out and set up our pretend picnic in the back yard. I was allowed to use their flashest plastic tea set and we had to have flowers. Adorable.

It's a good size for the four of us to plonk down on when we're at the beach or at a picnic - 145cm x 125cm. It's going to look beyond cute folded up on the back seat of my wee car! I used acrylic to make this knowing full well that it was going to take a bit of a hammering with food spills and tomato sauce splodges. It can be thrown in the washing machine without too much fuss - hopefully.

Why not throw in another shot!

Oh look who turned up!! Good old Bella, always in amongst the photo session. My furry girl turned 13 this week so I now have a teenager in the house. This photo looks so strange because of the angle, Bella looks positively enormous!!! She is large, but not this large.

I am really keen to make another ripple in the future - it was such a relaxing pattern to work with. But in the meantime ...

Remember that Stylecraft yarn I treated myself to from the UK? It has been sitting, waiting to be used - so the other night I got it out and started my next project. Wow - I love working with this yarn! This is the first time I've worked on a join-as-you-go project and I'm loving it. More on this next time!

Did you see the lovely curry recipe over at Lucy's recently? I read it then had to dash to the supermarket immediately for one or two ingredients so I could make it for dinner. Delicious - I highly recommend it. I also made some gorgeous naan bread which was very hard to stop eating! I'm surprised any of it made it to the dinner table actually. Between me and the small folk having 'taste tests' - we got through quite a bit of it!!

Note to self - do not use brand new pastry brush to butter the frying pan! What a blonde. I wrecked the last brush doing the exact same thing. How did I forget that!! I'm thinking silicone is required in my next brush.

I couldn't pass up a sale at my local wool shop yesterday and treated myself to some lovely bright new wool. The tomato red colour hasn't been available for ages so I was so excited to see it again. I love using this colour in anything stripey - it goes to well with the pinks. And I had a $10 voucher to use so this little lot only cost $16 - that's less than $1.50 for pure wool - fabulous.

And when I was walking out of the shop I spotted these little sweeties. My oven glove had mysteriously disappeared so it was a good excuse to buy something pretty. Flowers and spots - what's not to like?

It is still the school holidays here until early February so we have been discovering lots of new playgrounds around town. I think hands down this has to be the most stunning view I've ever seen from a playground. It's our new favourite hangout and it's not too far from home. I can't believe we've never been here before - it's amazing.

There was an extra long slide which Miss 4 was a bit scared of but she managed it and then there was no stopping her. Mr 7 loved it because while he was playing, he could also see all the planes coming in over the harbour on their way to the airport nearby.

Now I have to apologise, I was meant to thank Barbina and Aurora Blythe for their lovely awards. But with all the Christmas/New Year things going on I completely left it off my last post. Thank you ladies - I was absolutely chuffed!!

Have a fabulous week - see you again soon.
Leah
xxxx

A winning week.

My gorgeous wee Miss 4 came home from kindy earlier in the week bursting with pride that she had made this all by herself! I think it's absolutely adorable and a pretty good first effort don't you think? She cracks me up though as she refers to anything crafty as 'knitting'. Anytime I have my crochet hooks out, she wants to help with my 'knitting'. And so it was with her kindy sewing - she corrected me and told me it was again 'knitting'!! Who am I to argue with the mind of a four year old?

I had some lovely news this week - I was the lucky winner of Pixie's 'slightly wonky if not a bit odd Dickie bird' giveaway!! Thank you so very much Pixie - your lovely wee bird will be right at home here amongst my other slightly wonky and odd things!

I haven't achieved very much in the way of crochet this week, but now that I'm starting to feel a bit better I will get back into the swing of things! My granny blanket is progressing slowly but surely. Each week I look at it and think I'm done but somehow I then change my mind and convince myself to do just another few rounds! So each week I take a picture, but because I'm using the same rotation of colours, it looks exactly like the previous week so I don't bother popping a pic on my post. I will wait until it's complete which shouldn't be too far away hopefully. So to keep me inspired and motivated to move on to the next project, I treated myself to some gorgeous wool this morning. I am planning on making a bed cover using an African flower motif and I am bursting to get it started. This Ashford Tekapo wool is a delight to work with - I've used it quite a bit before. I really have to finish the granny blanket first or it will linger in my basket forever. I am definitely not the most patient person in the world so this will drive me crazy!!! The African flower blanket is to replace the hexagon one I started. I will have another go at it in the future but I just couldn't get excited about it at the time.

I had a fabulous op shop find on Saturday which has completed my little mix and match set. I started with this fabulous teapot (which had no lid for some reason). It belonged to my Nana and I had always loved it. About a year after my lovely Nana died I managed to find a lid for sale on Trade Me which was the perfect partner to my teapot. Then I found the cup in an op shop about two years ago which I used quite happily on its own. But a quick pop in to my local op shop at the weekend completed my wee set. Sitting alone on the shelf for all of $1 was the saucer I needed! Well worth the wait!!!

We had the most crazy hail storm yesterday - completely out of the blue. With it was spectacular thunder and lightning, according to the newspaper we had 581 lightning strikes! The hail was so dense that our property was absolutely white in some parts - more so than when we had the freak snow storm last month! Here is a shot of our front garden/garage - it was so beautiful but so flippin' slippery. It happened about half an hour before school pick up so you can imagine the fun we had walking home. When we got home, all Mr 6 wanted to do was eat it - so instead of being the spoil sport I usually am - I said go for it. Just eat the white stuff on the top. If you get to the brown bits - stop! You really don't need to eat dirt for dinner. He then decided to collect it in bowls and try and sell it to passers-by! Strangely enough he had no takers.

I love this picture of Miss 4 in her very pretty Spring time dress and gumboots!!

It was the perfect afternoon to come home, light the fire, get cosy and do some baking. I kinda made up this recipe and it actually worked out. Anything with chocolate icing has to be good really. The kids loved them.

And just because everyone is Rugby World Cup mad here at the moment, we iced some biscuits with what is meant to be the Silver Fern and Rugby Balls. Again, the kids thought they were fabulous so that's all that matters! As a grown up - black icing doesn't seem so appealing.

I am still in catch up mode with visiting all my favourite blogs but am slowly getting back into my routine. Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to. I hope you're all having a wonderful week. Take care and see you again soon.

Leah
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My Crafty Corner!

The weather here has been really cold over the last week so it's been lovely working on a blanket which keeps me warm while I work! I'm not quite sure how big to make it but I think I will stop pretty soon. I love the white between the rows, it makes it look so bright and crisp.

The plan is to have one giant granny square then edge it in lots of smaller squares. I'm just starting to have a play with different designs before I decide which one to use. This is my fave so far. I will whip up a few more using different colours today to get more of a feel for how it will look.

I've always said that one day I'd love to make space to have all my crafty bits and pieces on display to keep me inspired, instead of tucked away in various boxes around the house. Well last week it all started to happen. So after some fun with flat packs and a screwdriver, my little crafty corner started to come to life! I have taken over part of our spare room and I love it! This room is desperate for a coat of paint, as we haven't done anything to it since we moved in a few years ago. I have bought the paint and can't wait to get it done, then I can change the curtains, put a new duvet cover on the bed etc. But in the meantime I have set up my wee area and I am so very pleased with it.

It's so nice to see all the colourful wool and other bits and bobs that I love so much. What you can't see is the other baskets behind the table that are full of more wool. Yikes! That's one thing about putting it all in one place - you realise you have quite a lot!! And yet I still found myself at a local store who had 30% off all wool on Saturday - so of course I had to buy more. The wool I used on my Queen Anne's Lace scarf was just so lovely to work with, I bought some more of it. I even bought the exact same colour because I loved it so much. This time, I am going to make a cowl with it. I figure it's not too much of a problem having two scarves in the same yarn - they'll look totally different as one is long and delicate and the other will be short and chunky.

It has been a fab week at the op shops too! I got this beautiful embroidered doily which is just so gorgeous and for only $2. I also bought two fabulous dresses and a pretty cardi - for just over $20 all up which is amazing. One of the dresses is a fabulous red/purple/orange coloured sundress which seems hilarious today when it's only about 3 degrees outside. But it will be just the thing for my holiday in the sun which is coming up soon. More about that later!

I had a phone call from a fabulous magazine store here in Wellington to say that they had got Mollie Makes in and that there was a copy waiting for me. When I called them months ago to see if they could get it in, they hadn't even heard of it. So it was brilliant that they were able to stock it. I was beside myself with excitement to get my hands on Issue 1!!!! It is truly beautiful - every page is just so colourful and inspiring. I am absolutely in love with it. Because I wasn't sure if we would get the magazine here in NZ, I had treated myself to a UK subscription. So it was with huge disappointment when Issue 3 arrived today and it didn't include the cover gift. Boo!!! Nowhere on their website did it say that subscribers wouldn't get the gift. Grrrrr. False advertising if you ask me. I will do my best to cancel the subscription as I hate feeling ripped off. Has anyone else had this problem?

So the perfect thing to have while curled up with my favourite magazine and a large cup of tea is something sweet and a little bit naughty. I made this recipe up a few years ago and friends always joked that in times of stress, out come the Moro Muffins. Moro is a popular choccie bar here in NZ. My small folk call them volcano muffins as the chocolate/caramel inside is like lava!

You could use any chocolate muffin recipe, and then just pop a piece of cut up chocolate bar on the top. I think the closest thing to a Moro bar is a Mars bar or even a Snickers. It will sink down during the baking and be gooey and gorgeous. They are delicious eaten warm out of the oven, or warmed in the microwave later on.

Although I have no problem eating them just as they are, because the caramel has gone hard and chewy. Divine!!

We also made an army of small gingerbread men. They look so hilarious all lined up on the cake rack. A little treat for all the playdates we've been having over the holiday break. Always a winner!

Well that's enough of my ramblings. It's been a great week even if it is freezing. We're in the last week of the school holidays and have lots planned to keep small people busy.

I hope you all have a fabulous week!
Leah
x

Reunited with my hooks!

It has been so nice this week, to be feeling better and to finally get my beloved crochet hooks out again! I was suffering withdrawal symptoms and now realise that my crochet addiction is pretty serious. So as a treat I went on a bit of a wool buying frenzy. I found this gorgeous yarn on Saturday and I just had to have it! I've been looking for a multi-coloured yarn for ages but could never quite find a colour combo that I really loved. This is it. Wintery goodness, with all my fave cosy tones - red, orange, brown, green and even purple. It looks beautiful from every side.

And I knew exactly what I was going to make with it. I've had this Queen Anne's lace pattern tucked away on Ravelry for absolutely ages because I thought it looked too tricky. I was wrong - it's a pretty easy, repetitive pattern that works up very quickly. I made a start last night and it grew much faster than I expected. That's the thing I love about crochet, the results are fast!

Aren't these colours just so toasty and warm looking? As soon as I finish this post I'm going to sit down and do a bit more of it in the hope I can finish it today while the small folk are at school and kindy. It's the last week of term before a two week holiday so it's my last chance to enjoy the peace and quiet for a while!! The housework will just have to wait ....

I love, love, love it so far.I also bought a whole lot of pure wool to make more beanies. Miss 4 has quite a collection of hats that I've made and lots of friends have been asking if I can make them for their children. Up until now I've been making them and giving them away but now I am starting to sell them which is fantastic. The money will be reinvested back into my wool addiction!! I can feel a bit less guilty about that ever growing stash that is currently hidden behind the door in my spare room!!

I hope you're all having a fab week so far. It's cold here this morning, only 7.5 degrees Celsius when I took the children to school - so perfect timing to finish off my scarf and be toasty warm.

Leah
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