Autumn is for tea and granny squares...

It has been a delightful weekend here in my little cottage, the fire is on, it has been raining for two days and I have spent the weekend merrily playing in my studio, watching films, sipping tea and crocheting granny squares.

I'm very happy fill my shop with some new 'I heart' brooches, I have lists full of lovely new things to heart so there will be many more to come. This little collection of eight was inspired by my love for rainy days, beautiful gardens and the cinema. I was very excited to use some of my beautiful fabrics from Tinniegirl and twopinkpossums in this little bunch.

They are available in my Etsy shop now and get in quick as a few have already skipped out the door.

As the cooler weather sets in I can't help but pick up my crochet hook and dream up beautiful blankets for my bed and throws for my couch. It's a shame I never quite realise just how long it will take but I'm a dreamer so I don't mind. At the moment I'm working my way though my friend's white baby blanket and warming a little more to the classic colour as my pile of square continues to go.

Yesterday's little stash of lovely white squares.

This morning however I woke up with a plan, I decided I would multitask and back two blankets at the same time. I have never crocheted a large bed size blanket before but I'm coming up to my one year crocheting anniversary so I thought I would take the plunge. So I took a trip to Lincraft with my fingers crossed to find some lovely soft, well priced, beautifully coloured acrylic yarn. After wandering the isles it was my hubby who finally found what I had been searching for...

I ended up with Panda magnum soft 8ply in brown, cream, eggplant and teal. As soon as I got home I set my new hook to work, I'm delighted with the colours together and am now totally obsessed with my new project.

The first square of many... stay tuned.

Well I'm off to finish some preparation for work tomorrow and hopefully get in a few more squares whilst watching the finale of 'So you think you can dance' tonight. But before I go I must share with you a little photo I captured with morning.

We often see these beautiful little green birds around the backyard but they are usually to fast to catch on camera. This morning I got very lucky when I managed to capture one enjoying my lavender.

Much love and happy Sunday!
xxx

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Treasures found...

And the week went so quickly but that's alright because I have really been looking forward to a quite weekend. After receiving a spotlight voucher for my birthday on Wednesday I couldn't wait to get down there on Saturday and was on the search for a mannequin head to display my hats on. Lucky me I found one! I also found some other lovely bits and pieces and had a great time searching the isles.

Here is my lovely mannequin 'Molly'. I also got a great sewing companion for my work bench, some very cute buttons and some beautiful cotton yarn.

I was so excited to see what the yarn would look like I have got straight into a beret pattern to sell in the shop.

I'm loving the colour blend and can't wait to see how it will turn out.

So other than my spotlight adventure we had a lovely quite weekend and I spent some time catching up on some writing and some exams I had to mark for Monday. Here is the lovely big mess I made by the fire on Saturday night.

Thank goodness I've got a big lounge room.

Well back to work tomorrow and I'm counting down the days until Breaking Dawn comes out, its all getting very exciting just need to keep myself occupied for another two weeks.

I will leave you with a photo of my sister and I on the City Cat in Brisbane showing off our new sunglasses. Missing everyone lots, also missing the warm weather! Bring on Spring..

Much love xx

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Crochet is the new cool...

Well its report writing week and my brain has become a little numb after writing 50 comments over the weekend, now I only have 80 to go! At least it will be all over after next week and I will be able to finally relax a little, then bring on the holidays!

I received a lovely little package from by bestie Courtney on Friday. We are doing our very first swap and I received these absolutely adorable mittens. I heart them so much. She is so talented! Check out her latest adventures at her blog.

My very cute mittens, handmade by Courtney

As a method of procrastination and just because I love it , I have been crocheting like crazy in between marking and report writing. I finally finished two hats, a lovely beret for Courtney for our swap and a crazy little one for me.

This is my retro little beret from a pattern in a 1973 Woman's Day magazine
(thanks to Creative Yarn for the pattern)

This is Courtney's beret all finished
(I'm so happy with the way it turned out!)

The back all nice and holey that way a good beret should be!
This pattern was also from Creative Yarn.

In other news we finally bought a dyer on Saturday, so we now have lovely dry clothes! Its been really hard in the cold to dry them on the line!

So on the day I had a quick trip to Cotton on and Spotlight to catch a few bargains!

Got this very cute knitted vest and a two cotton tops
and some wild bangles that were only $1 each.

This is my current favourite spot in the house and I found this perfect box at Spotlight for $10. I think it looks lovely filled with wool with yummy wool.

Here is a peak at my current stash. I love the mustard yarn which I'm using to make my sister a beret.

Oh and before I forget I just have to show you this little impulse purchase I got on Friday from The Black Apple Etsy site. This sketchbook was so adorable with her own artwork on the front I just couldn't resist. Now I just have to wait patiently for it to arrive!

My Lovely Purchase

(Photo courtesy of Pinball Publishing) via Inside the Black Apple

Well I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and I will be posting more goodness during the week. I have loads of inspirational bits and pieces I must post very soon.

In the meantime I must be off to mark more essays, spend some time on my moleskine, crochet little Declan's blanket and be inspired to write some poetry. Courtney and I have set out on an adventure to write a poem a day. It will be interesting indeed.

So I shall leave you with this by Walter de la Mare.

In dreams a dark chateau
Stands ever open to me
In far ravines dream-waters flow
Descending soundlessly...

xxx

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Hooked on Hooks!

Happy first of the month, how fast the time is flying by! Only a month until school holidays and I just can't wait. Well I have had a very productive week, especially in the crochet department. All of sudden it all made sense and now I must say I am a little obsessed (in a good way!) I just love it and had to take two trips to spotlight over the weekend to stock up on lovely supplies. And just look at my stash!

This is just yesterday's lot, I just love the green and purple bamboo cotton!

And how could I resist the 80's inspired hooks that Courtney found for me!

On the way back from Spotlight i got a little sidetracked and ended up in Target, which was lucky because they had 15% off everything. So I also stocked up on a few winter essentials.

A cute little top and lovely knitted vest and I couldn't resist these crazy coloured knee-highs! So adorable..

So when I got home, I was like a child in a candy store, I didn't know where to start with all my beautiful yarn! I have been working on a few things, I really wanted to try a really sweet flower pattern from Creative Yarn. Her website has been such an inspiration, I think she brings crochet into the modern day. So here is my result..

It's a bit big for my hair so I'm going to sew it onto a cute black and mustard tote.

One of my other projects is the perfect bed beret for my bestie Courtney, we are doing a craft swap, she is knitting me mittens and in return I'm crocheting her a sweet little red beret also from a Creative Yarn pattern. I was almost finished yesterday but ran out of wool, so hopefully I will have it looking all lovely in the next few days. Here is the work in progress.

All red and lovely like Kirsten Dunst's in Elizabethtown... see!

In other news I got a little creative in the kitchen this afternoon, I made scones! Thanks in part to dad's old recipe which he told me over the phone (with no measurements) which is where Margret Fulton came in handy. Amazingly their recipes are identical! And may I say the results went down very well, as my hubby and I sat down to high tea on our first winter's afternoon.

The recipe and the results..

The crumbs..

I will finish my post with a new photo of Mallee, he was settled in very nicely and is now singing every time a song comes on the radio or the TV. His favourite is the 20th Century Fox theme!

'Cheep Cheep'

Oh I can't forget this photo. It was a bit of a fluke, as we were outside having afternoon tea a amazing little green bird landed on our crazy Narnia Lamppost..

Look carefully.. Isn't he lovely?

I hope everyone has had a lovely relaxed weekend and is ready for a wonderful new week. Our Book Club is still reading Chocolat and I am just adoring it, lovely to go to bed with a good book.

So rug up, crank up the heater, get a glass of red and a beautiful book and enjoy..

xxx

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