Holidays and making days

Term one is over and with Easter the holidays have started…

We spent Easter Sunday with family and a trip to the beach. In between eating chocolate that is.

After the second tropical cyclone in as many weeks, the weather was superb, and the beach laden with treasures for the finding.

The children and my brothers made a beach hut over three days. It was a architectural feat and a sight to behold!

It was ALMOST warm enough for swimming. For me it was perfectly warm enough for photography 🙂

There’s been plenty of making taking place now school’s out. The children have been making some very nice mice... these are much tidier than the slime they spent yesterday concocting!

This is a lovely free sewing pattern from Ann Wood, lots of fun and suitably small and cute!

They look pleased with their efforts don’t they?

Billy doesn’t look so happy with his new make… Maia lovingly crafted this finger knitted scarf just for him (matches the mice!).

In other projects at our house, my Hygge is coming along well:

I really enjoy making the cross stitch on crochet. I’ve never cross stitched before, but its very relaxing (once you get the stitches in the right place that is). The single crochet is getting a little mind numbing, but easy to work on in front of the TV after work in the evenings 🙂

What are you working on, any good holiday projects for kids you can recommend?

Mini cats and dogs

I love small things, Ive never been able to resist a tiny… anything.

Im drawn to  miniatures, especially little toys and such, tiny enough to fit comfortably in your hand. In fact I have a whole shelf dedicated to tiny knick knacks – a number of which date back to my childhood.

This weekend I’ve been making tiny crochet pets by Lucy Collin. Ive made many of her mini animals over the last few years, I love them all. The vast majority are free patterns and they are quick and easy to make, all in one, minimal yarn changes and almost no sewing of ends. Always adored, firstly by me and eagerly by my children who always beg and plead for me to make just one more…

No surprises, then that we’ve had 5 new cats and dogs join the family this weekend!

A pug named Petunia, two cats – Shadow and Paws, a Jack Russell named Jackie and a Dachshund (with a green jacket) by the name of Dash…

Perfect little pets, so well behaved and suitably tiny 🙂

Small enough to fit one, or three, in your hand.

And perfect for cuddling up with in bed at night (or slipping into your pj pocket):

Don’t you love that angelic sleeping pose Carter has for the photo?

That’s more like it…

Both he and Maia love them, and even though they are quite un-eastery, Maia has made an Easter movie about them! I can’t upload it onto the blog, but Ill do my best to load it onto the Green Dragonfly Facebook page shortly edited: when someone tech savvy enough helps me do it – I can’t seem to share with the page only my (personal) friends, fb is not in my good books!

The weather has been a bit dire of late, so I’ve also made good progress on my Hygge. Ill pop back in a day or two and share some update photos with you all.

What are you doing for the long weekend? What projects are you working on? ~ J xox

 

Distractions…

I’m feeling a little lonesome tonight, my daughter Maia is away at a school camp. She will be there for three nights, coming home Friday. I am worrying about all manner of (unlikely) things that could happen to my precious nine year old while she is away and so thought a blog post was in order – to distract me from my overactive imagination.

Here’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to…In between sock knitting, yes, still on that knitting jag! I’ve been crocheting small woodland creatures;

A squirrel for Carter, pictured here with much loved lion…
And a fox for Maia…
And since its autumn, today is in fact the last day, I’ve also made a few of these cute crochet acorns…Which make lovely little necklacesAll of these patterns come from Genuine Mudpie, if you’ve been visiting for a while you will know I’ve made a number of Trish’s patterns, always with great success.

What have you been up to? What’s your favorite distraction pastime? J xox

Some coloring and lavender crochet mittens

Mixing up the weekend crafting…

First a little coloring in and then finishing off these crochet mittens, which I think Ill give to one of the children’s teachers for an end of year gift. You can find the free crochet pattern here.

What are you working on? Jxox

Green Doily Ta Da

I managed to get some shots of my newly completed doily in the  sun this morning…

I think it turned out well, the pattern is good (a few very minor mistakes, but obvious enough if you have been crocheting a while), I’d definitely still recommend it! It’s a free pattern (my favourite kind) and you can find it here.

I was particularly pleased with how the green contrasts with our rimu table and the lovely Cherise of this orchid which I have managed to coax into a second year of flowering…

I’m now working on some fingerless mitts for a Christmas present. What are you working on? Any nice doily patterns to recommend – I’d like make more 🙂 Jxx

The green hornet

Hello and happy Saturday!So I found a new project to work on, and since I spent most of the first 15 rounds of it watching the Green Hornet (ludicrous – although in fairness I’m guessing a doily crocheting 40 year old mother of two is hardly the target audience!), I’ve decided that’s a good name for it 🙂

It was a bit dull here (late) this afternoon so I wandered around the garden snipping here and there in a bid to brighten my photos up a bit. There were a surprising number of flowers in bloom. Not much I can do about the shadows though.

The doily pattern is called Summer Splendor, its working up easy enough (read not too much concentration required – perfect for trashy tv and and the rugby world cup!). I’m using Milford satin in 2 ply and a 2mm hook. I just hope there is enough cotton left in the ball – I think I’ve got 8 rounds to go. It’s looking like its going to need some serious blocking to get the fans to stand out.Thank you to everyone who left such lovely comments about my sketchbook. I find sharing crochet generally very easy (maybe because its the yarn and stitches that are really on show), but sharing what I have drawn is strangely more intimate and I was very nervous about it. I would never show my doodlings to someone who visited me at home for instance. Anyway, thank you for being so sweet – you made me very happy 🙂

J xox