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

What a fabulous week!

I was absolutely beside myself with excitement when this parcel arrived in my letterbox during the week. In a post a wee while ago I'd mentioned that I'd treated myself to a subscription for Mollie Makes that took effect from Issue 3 - and how envious I was of folk who had been able to buy the earlier issues. So I was truly stunned when the fabulous Tracey from TopCat's Corner wrote and offered to send me a spare copy of Issue 2. Tracey - you are a total gem and I am so very, very grateful for your wonderful gift. I am constantly amazed at the generosity of lovely folk in blog land and this has really touched my heart. Thank you again!

So it was perfect timing that I had an evening alone to sit and read this gorgeous magazine! Every page had something stunning and interesting - I couldn't put it down. Many cups of tea later and I was still ooohing and aaahing over each page! I have heard that it is now on sale in Australia so I will do my best to track down Issue 1 - fingers crossed!!

Now I know I have about 4 projects on the go already so what better time to start something new! There are some gorgeous big granny blankets on lots of lovely blogs at the moment and I really love them. A few weeks back I showed you some of my dear Nana's blankets which my family adore. So I thought it was time that I made one to add to the collection. This one is going to be one quite large granny square, then I think I will edge it with many smaller grannies using the same colours. In my mind I think it will be lovely - so I will have to wait and see how it turns out!

I'm really getting into using white wool! It makes such a lovely contrast and everything looks so crisp and bright. The perfect way to use up that giant ball of white I bought recently!!

And amongst the granny rounds, I've also been making hats, hats and more hats. All different patterns, all difference sizes. I've decided that making crochet hats is a bit like in the cartoons, where they put a cake in the oven and it comes out iced and even with candles ... because when you crochet a hat from the top down you end up with a complete hat dangling from the end of your hook and somehow it doesn't actually look real! Does that make sense? I'm sure I'm not the only one to have had this thought!!

And to keep the energy levels up, it seemed only right to whip up some hot scones for lunch. A piping hot cuppa and far too much cream - perfect!!

Then it was a bit of pine nut bashing in the kitchen making pesto to go on our pasta for dinner. Boy do I love the smell of basil - delicious!

Mr 6 had an indoor picnic at school on Friday for the last day of term. His class was given the job of providing the sweet course so we made good old Chocolate Crackle. The kids go mad for this and it has to be the easiest thing in the world to make. Melted chocolate and Rice Bubble cereal. Mix it together and pop it into a cupcake papers to set. How easy is that?

And what a lovely way to end my week - Karen from 4 Lil' Girls has given me an award. Thank you Karen, it really made my day! You should check out Karen's gorgeous blog - especially to see the fabulous granny blanket she is currently making - I love it!

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and just wanted to say this without sounding all gushy. When I started my wee blog it was because my dear friend Kylie had moved to the other end of the country and it was a way for us to show each other what we had been making. I never thought that it would end up having anyone else looking at it - so I am beyond thrilled that I have 99 followers!! Thank you so very much for visiting me and for the lovely, positive comments you leave. At this stage in my life when being an at home mum is just sometimes plain tough, it's the nicest thing to see a lovely comment. Thank you again and see you soon!

Have a fabulous week!
Leah

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
x

Cough, cough, splutter, splutter

This is as close to any crochet as I have got during the last week. Looking at all this lovely bright wool, waiting to be whipped up into more hexagons, but I've been unable to do a thing. Last week it was my two small people who were unwell. And being the generous wee things that they are, they then gave their lovely bugs to us!!

It is seriously not fun when both parents are sick at the same time - and boy were we ill. I haven't had the flu for years and years, back then I could stay in bed all day and feel sorry for myself. That's the hardest part of parenting - no sick leave entitlement!! Thankfully we are on the road to recovery now. Time to think about dusting off my crochet hooks ...

I had to show you this hilarious ball of wool - it's a whopper! 400g in total so about 8 times what I usually use. The sheer size of it gave me the creeps so I have started rolling it into smaller balls. Not to mention that if I try to use it while it's this big, my cat Bella throws herself all over it and ends up trying to have a snooze on it - it's certainly big enough for her!

So there's no crochet, no baking, no crafting of any type to show you. Lots of things in my head to remember to post about next time. But for now I am going to sign off and have a wee rest.

I hope you are all managing to stay fit and well.

Thank you for all your lovely comments too - they really make my day.

See you next week - if not sooner!

Leah
x

Wrapped in love

I have been meaning to pop a pic of these blankets on for absolutely ages. My dear Nana made these lovely granny square blankets many, many years ago. I am 40 and I can remember them being around when I was very little. They have stood the test of time so well and I am really lucky to have them in my home now. Both of my small folk are unwell at the moment and as I type, they are both lying on the sofas, still in their pjs, and they each have one of these beautiful blankets over them. My Nana died before she got to meet my children, and I'm sure she would be so pleased to know that her lovely crochet is loved by yet another generation. In a previous post I had mentioned an article I had read which used the term 'wrapped in love' when it came to handmade gifts which were made with love. I think this is so true, especially when I look at my little poppets now all snuggly warm under their Great-Nana's blankets. It brings a tear to my eye. She was an amazing lady who was always making wonderful things. I have her to thank for my love of all things crafty.

So it was a fairly quiet weekend for all of us. Yesterday was wet and miserable so while the children watched The Princess Bride (such a lovely movie), I had a go at making a fabric rose. A friend had given me some gorgeous dark red velvet and as soon as I saw it, it reminded me of the rich red rose we have in our garden. So a velvet rose was what I made. I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted, so I grabbed my needle and had a go. I think it turned out well for a first attempt. I will make a few more now that I've worked out what to do. They will make lovely wee pressies.

It looks sweet on my new purple cardi. I'm going through a bit of a purple/red stage at the moment. The colour combo lifts my spirits. Just what is needed today when I'm a bit jaded!

A few other things managed to get achieved this week... I have made another scarf for a girlfriend and it looks fab. It's the same pattern I seem to make over and over as it gets lots of compliments, which often results in requests to make more for friends. I also bought some more wool (not that I really needed any!), but I thought it might get me more motivated to keep going with the hexagons - which it did! A gorgeous dark pink and a lovely purple. I whipped up several more hexagons over the week. So while we are housebound today, I will start to join them to see what they all look like. There are still millions to go before it is the right size though!

One good thing about being at home means more time to bake too! Good old chocolate chip cookies and mini gingerbread loaves. Delish! Time to have a nice big cup of tea.
Have a fabulous week!

Colourful things this week

Over the last week I have made time to sort through some of my craft bits and pieces which are currently tucked away in boxes throughout the house. I'm hoping that I can transform a corner of my spare room into a creative space with some fab shelving to put lots of colourful things on to get me inspired. So I started with something easy ... buttons. Lots of lovely buttons! I knew it was worth saving all those coffee jars - they are the perfect size to house this wee collection. The small folk have been having a great time playing with them too. One jar at a time mind you, it took long enough to sort them out the first time around - I don't want to do that again in a hurry!
Next up will be wool then fabric. Yikes - I think I might scare myself by how much of both things I have hidden away!

There have been quite a few more hexagons made, here are just a few of them as I was trying to see what they will look like joined. I was umming and aahing about whether to join them as I go - but decided against it as I like to play around with the colours once they are all complete. With my granny square blanket the whole family had their say about which square should go where - I think this will be the same! I'm still not entirely in love with these but I know the finished look will be fab. I did however spot an amazing granny square bed cover during the week (on Pixie's blog) which I think is out of the latest Mollie Makes magazine. Now I want to make one like that instead. For the first time in a long while I am experiencing project commitment issues. Time to make a decision. Aargh!

So to take my mind off crochet for a second, I turned to baking. Delicious vanilla cupcakes with very, very pink icing - yummo! I had found these cute cupcake papers while out shopping earlier that day and just had to make some as soon as I got home. They are circus themed and oh so adorable.

They made two small folk very happy when they got one for an afternoon tea treat.
And speaking of afternoon tea treats ...

I joined some fabulous girlfriends for a high tea treat on Saturday afternoon. A wonderful opportunity to dress up and get the heels out from the back of the wardrobe! We went to Hippopotamus restaurant which is part of the Museum Hotel here in Wellington. It was my first time there and it was truly gorgeous. The surroundings are colourful and playful and the food is amazing. All the waiting staff were French and the accents made the food sound even better when they talked us through the tiers of the cake stand.

Delicious!

The Museum Hotel is known as the art hotel and it blew me away. Every wall had something amazing on it and the darkened surroundings meant the art stood out even more. This chandelier was incredible. It's hard to see in the pic but all the strands are made of tiny glass beads/shapes. Gorgeous.

This was one of my favourite pieces - beautiful native New Zealand flora. Oh to be wealthy enough to own such gorgeous art.

I am off to visit my favourite op shop tomorrow in the hunt for treasures. So no second hand bargains to show you so far this week. However I did spot these lovely beads at a local shop a few days ago. They were only $2.50 - incredible and they look fab. The green is quite bright but didn't photograph so well. I love them! Now if I could find some red ones I would be over the moon!

I did have one naughty splurge this week. I have subscribed to Mollie Makes so that I can get a copy direct from the UK as there is no guarantee it will be stocked here in New Zealand. From what I have seen on other blogs recently - it is a fabulous mag and I absolutely can't wait to see it in real life! I just wish I'd been able to see the first two issues, oh well, I'm sure the future ones will be just as wonderful.

Thank you so much to Grateful 4 Crochet for giving me this award. It was so lovely to receive this and has made my day! If you haven't seen this lovely blog already, you should definitely take a look. I really love the way we find our way to different blogs - always fun and more than a little addictive.
Have a fabulous week!

Stripey and Spotty Goodness!

Wow this last week has absolutely flown by! I don't feel as if I've achieved very much this week, but when I started to pop the photos on this post there were lots of lovely little things that have made me smile along the way. I made two more jar covers to join one I made a few weeks ago. I wanted to have all three sitting together for maximum cheerfulness! These lovely camellias appeared in my garden over the weekend so I had to grab these three before the wind gets to them. They are just so pretty.

I really love the rainbow gorgeousness of these little covers. Such a super simple thing to make and a brilliant way to use up little bits and pieces of wool.

And now for some spots ...

I am absolutely in love with this fabulous vintage style spotty shirt/blouse that I found at my local op shop last week for the bargain price of $6! It looks so so nice with my rolled up jeans and big sunglasses. It's just a shame that I need to cover it up with a cardi until summer gets here again.

About an hour before I bought the shirt, I had popped in to another store and found these lovely mugs. Talk about red and white spot overload! I had previously bought these mugs in pink and blue but they have just done them in red so I had to grab them. Loving the spots!

And back to the stripes ... I just realised that even my kitchen efforts today fitted into the stripey or spotty scheme of this post. Mmmm coconut ice! It's for a bake sale at Mr 6's school but I think I may need to make another batch as I have 'taste tested' more than I really needed to - ooops!

And because he is stripey too, I have to pop a progress shot of my sock monkey on too. I am only a padded nose/mouth and eyes away from being finished. Cute huh.

I was just about to end the post when I remembered that Miss 4 and I (and some lovely friends) went out for morning tea during the last week to Martha's Pantry here in Wellington. It is such a sweet little cafe and I love going there for a cup of tea and a scone. Miss 4 had a heart shaped shortbread cookie full of pink icing and the cutest fluffy which came in a tiny flowery tea cup - adorable.

Some of the lovely tea cup trios they have. All the teapots come with a knitted tea cosy too which I love. So much more exciting than a plain old silver tea pot that usually gets plonked down in front of me at other cafes.

Loads of sunhats on the wall for customers to use in the outdoor area. Pretty embroidered table cloths and lovely fresh flowers on the tables. I want to live here!!!

The counter is amazing - a huge big solid wooden bench which looks like it may have come from a haberdashery counter in a previous life. Gorgeous cakes and savouries and all the lovely cake stands up the top waiting to be used for high tea. All the ladies who work there wear gorgeous vintage looking aprons too - which seems so right in the surroundings.

Well that has been my week. I hope you've all had a fab week too and that this coming week is just as brilliant.
Leah