A very wet Saturday

Our spring weather lasted 2 days before the rain and cold set in again. I think this happens every year but I always get excited that the cold is over and then have to go through a bit more winter before spring weather becomes the norm.

We used this wet weather day to work inside and started the day by painting this wall in the kitchen. It's a colour that Porters calls White Clay, but the guy who mixed it at the store (a friend of Keiths) nicknamed it Sick Camel and it seems that it will only be known by this name now. . .

I also finished this rug that was started a long time ago in a slightly different way. When I didn't have any wool and was looking for something to do one night, I found the squares I'd started and undid them, then started again making a giant granny square.

I like the way it turned out, particularly the wide border and of course am feeling very pleased with myself for getting it finished quite quickly!

Keira's birthday is on Monday but the celebrating starts tomorrow so this Lemon Cake was made and decorated with her name. It's a bit bright for my liking but she loves it.

The kids amused themselves with some cardboard that came home from Ikea, first Keira started with a K for herself.


Then Caley had a go and made a D for Dad in honour of Fathers Day tomorrow.


A good day. Enjoy your weekend!

Knock, knock, who's there?

So, it looks like I've completely missed August . . .

Oh well, I do plan to record a bit more of what's happening around here. There's a lot going on in our lives at the moment and finding time to take pictures and jot down a few thoughts has been a bit tough. But I'm disappointed when I look back at this journal and see how little I've recorded so I've set myself a challenge to make more of an effort.

It seems like a good time for a new start, the first day of Spring and all. I have been looking forward to this season with a longing unlike anything I can ever remember before and today really delivered! A beautiful warm day that allowed for the house to be opened up and gave me a much needed energy boost.

We put this door knocker on the front door yesterday and it feels like this is a home now instead of a building site!

I finished Keira's Big Round rug a little while back and it's been busy keeping her warm in bed ever since.

This is the border that I added after sewing the blocks together.


Happy Spring!

They're ready

All 64 squares are finished (including threading the ends in!) and are ready to be sewn together. I think I'll try out the different methods for joining the squares and see which effect I like the best. I also plan to crochet a border around the outside of the rug, using up the left over yarn, not that there's much of that really. I'm quite surprised by how much yarn a rug takes! But hopefully it will be with us for a long time and I know Keira is looking forward to snuggling up with it.

This will be my first finished crothet project and I'm feeling quite proud of myself for getting this far!

Also, I came home from visiting a good friend today with a little gift.


The photo isn't very good, but the scarf is in the most lovely green, blue and grey shades. It's very warm and soft and I love it - thank you!

Big Round

With my sewing projects mostly on hold these days, having some crotchet to do in the evenings has been great. I bought some lovely silk/merino wool from The Knittery and am making a block rug for Keira.

It features her favourite colour - aqua. Although she has long grown out of the pink phase, I've added a few touches of pink to break up all the blue.

The block, the Big Round, is from Jan Eaton's Book 200 Crotchet Blocks. It took me quite a few goes to get the clusters working right. Then joining the second colour also took a while to be sure I was doing it correctly, but I'm pleased with the way they're turning out.

Baby Blue & Aqua

Peony & Aqua

Mountain Berry & Aqua

The only thing is, I've just estimated that it'll take 64 blocks to make a decent size rug. 64! So far I have 22 finished and 12 inner circles done. So quite a bit to go!! I think that will be enough crotchet for me for a while. Of course in my usual way I'm already thinking about the next rug I'd like to make . . . this time with knitted blocks.

I finally got the hang of it

Just when I thought I must be the only person in the world not to be able to crotchet a granny square I finally got it to work! A great book helped and also a patient teacher (!). I'm using the wool that I wound back here to practice on. I'm sorry I know how great they look in different colours, but I'm really enjoying not having to worry about changing every row and just letting the colour of the wool do its thing.

My plan is to make squares like this but probably about double normal size and then join them together with another wool from The Knittery called latte. In Erika Knights simple knits for easy living, she has a grey knitted blanket on a bed that I've always had in the back of my mind to make one day. It's just big squares sewn together and I love the simplicity of it. I also love this blanket from flea market style (I saw it originally at Pozy gets Cozy). That's where the idea of the wide border comes from.


So anyway that's the plan. I can see what everyone means about it being addictive, just hope it lasts long enough to finish a blanket.

This is my last post for a week as the family and I are off to Thredbo for a week of skiing. We are all really looking forward to it, as last year we had a great time and the kids really took to skiing and of course are now much better than me! Never mind, I also enjoy staying in the lovely village, oh and of course having a break from cooking and cleaning!! See you in a week.

Beautiful wool

We spent a great day at Mary's yesterday. The kids were kept busy with journal making, cupcake eating, watching movies and generally having a good time mucking around together.

These school holidays (it's our 3 week winter holiday) can sometimes prove the most difficult for activities if you stay home and brave the weather. Today we've had a high of 4 degrees Celsius, huge winds and a smattering of snow. So it was great to be able to get out of the house for the day and for me to check out Mary's beautiful wool stash!

While the kids were entertained we sorted, untangled and wound wool and I had my first crotchet lesson. I aspire to crotchet a rug of some sort, either granny or babette or maybe even both if I get carried away . . . (I mean it has happened before when I've learnt a new craft.) Especially when I see the beautiful colours of the wool and start picturing the finished product. But for now I better keep practicing my granny squares.