Crafty in the Med

I am here to enjoy meeting other bloggers and to share my love of craft ,mostly crochet, my thoughts and my daily happenings here in Alicante,Spain, my adopted country. I belong to a local choir because singing and music makes me happy. Flea markets and book shops are two of my favourite places to be. I read lots......sci´fi/fantasy,buried treasure, and off world adventures. I have a passion for history! I walk and walk and walk for about 10 months per year during the hot months I swim.

Sunday 29 July 2012

Two down ...... three to go


 W.I.Ps    Work in progress

I suffer as many of you do from the W.I.P syndrome...correct me if I am wrong please ...we love to start them....enjoy making them .......but keen to finish them!

But first of all before I go into the W.I.P rant let me introduce you to Pepe:

Pepe the Guitarist

 ...Pepe's vocation is strumming the guitar and most particularly serenading beautiful señoritas...but Pepe has now emigrated from his Spanish homeland to Australasia and to be precise to, as the locals themselves call it, Magical,Marvelous Melbourne where he will live the rest of his days serenading his devout love to SANDI who has finally received the jar of love I sent her for the Jar of Love Swap,hosted by Katie at Booty-ful things.
 ENJOY Sandi! 

Back to my W.I.Ps...... and now there is one less:

 I did actually manage to finish this mug cozy and matching coaster in time to send to Sandi in her jar of Love but I couldn't show it to you before now. I had to wait until she received her parcel.
I have never made a mug cosy before nor a coaster and can't think why because its a quick straight forward project and you can very easily adapt it to the different sizes of mugs. It is also a very practical type of gift. I was very pleased how this turned out taken from a pattern I found on Marion's blog . As usual I had to tweak it somewhat as I wanted to send Sandi a cozy for a standard size mug. I was quite chuffed as well that I manged to use up some stray bits of yarn...and an odd button from my stash.
Although the yarn was DK I thought the coaster was a bit flimsy and I was going to sew on a felt square but I then remembered the squares I had cut from an old Vinyl coated tablecloth. Those were the  parts of which I had saved from going in the dustbin thinking I could make use of those bits sometime in the future. Well this was the future.

W.I.P and now there are two less:


My first heat pack cushion!  
This came about from inspiration produced on reading Penelope's post at L is for Love about the pretty heat pack cushion she made and I also followed her tutorial. Which incidentally was really easy to follow...the only BUT I have to add is a BUT produced by yours truly as I think I put much too much lavender in the pack. It heated up nicely and retained the heat for quite sometime but the aroma of Lavender essence was overwhelming and I had complaints from Sr P and some rather peculiar antics from Willie S the cat (is Lavender like catnit I wonder?). In fact he couldn't leave the pack alone!   I had to rip it open and pour out some of the rice and lavender.
That seems to have done the trick.

I used flannelette fabric from here to make the pack :

This is an old dressing gown that was much too small for my grand-daughter and had a rather unsightly bleach stain on the back but all the rest of the garment was fine. Do you see the floral pattern?  I just couldn't cover that with a crochet doily so I decided to mix crochet with embroidery...a heart here,a flower there!
Actually the finished product reminds me of a flan...something sweet!
What do you think???
I also crocheted the edging and extended the edging a little to make up a hook to hang up the pouch in the wardrobe...yes wardrobe ...its smells lovely in there now.


and there you are so I'm down to 3 W.I.Ps ....phew!

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If you haven't entered already please remember I have a giveaway on the go (here )and it is open to everyone,
you are welcome to participate .
 
My goal was 80 followers and I'm there 
so I happily present to you my very First Giveaway

WHY DO WE PREFER CERTAIN COLOURS?

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A very big hello to all my new followers: AeAoinki.Sunset, Kashi at Kashi's Corner, Marie-Anne at L'Atelier de Marie-Anne, Victoria, Dimi, Gill Watson,(sorry can't find your blog link Gill)  Sally at Lavender Attic,Rachel at RachelRadiostar,Rajeswari at Diaper Mum,thank you so much for visiting and do call in whenever you can. I look forward to hearing from you.:-)

Amanda :-) 




Saturday 28 July 2012

FIRST Giveaway !

2012 Olympics LONDON
Very quickly adding a brief comment about the IMPRESSIVE opening ceremony which I have just watched on Spanish TV.  
Do you know billions of people all over the world were watching the opening ceremony this evening?  The Spanish TV commentators have said that they have never seen anything like it before and they have done nothing but praise the fabulous choreography,the 15,000 volunteers and London itself.
London the host of the 2012 games has done Britain proud this evening!
 Amanda :-)
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My goal was 80 followers and I'm there 
so I happily present to you my very First Giveaway


WHY DO WE PREFER CERTAIN COLOURS?

Psychology today states that Color preferences are deeply rooted emotional responses that seem to lack any rational basis, yet the powerful influence of color rules our choices in everything from the food we eat and the clothes we wear to the cars we buy.  For some people, owning a green car is unthinkable.  These shoppers will gladly pay hundreds of dollars more to obtain the vehicle in a different color, or they will reject the green car and select an entirely different automobile in a color they favor.  We all do this even though the color has absolutely no influence on the performance of the automobile.  Yet oddly, someone else will feel exactly the opposite about buying a green car.  These individuals will gladly pay a premium to purchase a vehicle in the shade of green they adore. 


and....colour preferences and the choice of colour is vital to crafters!


I'm inclined to believe this when I look around me ..in my home...the decoration,the colour scheme, the colours I instinctively turn to when buying clothes or jewellery and of course when choosing yarn and fabrics.


In my case I am always drawn to green and orange

According to Viewzone , people who are drawn to green do so because it stimulates a restful, secure and balanced feeling. Green is regarded as a great harmonizer, capable of creating a balance between positive and negative emotions. People who prefer green almost always are capable of seeing both sides of an issue, have a strong moral sense of right and wrong, and tend to be idealistic.
The Colour Wheel indicates that orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

By now you may very well be asking yourselves what has all this got to do with my first giveaway well its all involved with one of the conditions to participate in this giveaway...nothing complicated I assure you.
The following are the conditions to participate in this giveaway:
  •  for one entry you must describe why you are drawn to or prefer certain colours and be a follower on my blog;that means I need to see you on my Google Friends connect list and likewise I shall connect to your blog as a follower if I have not already done so.
  • for a second entry you should copy and paste my Giveaway image (at the top of this post) and link to my blog on the sidebar of your blog  OR give my giveaway a mention on one of your posts. If you decide to do this please comment on this a second time.
and thats it ...not so difficult is it? :-)

This giveaway is open to all bloggers where ever you are. 
THE DRAW WILL BE HELD ON MONDAY 6TH AUGUST

And now the goodies 







Fartons...and what are these you may ask......yummy sweet sponge sticks that are dunked in hot chocolate,coffee , milk shakes,ice-cream and in my case tea....a warning .....they can be addictive! 
(for those of you whom I cannot send food stuffs to due to postal and custom restrictions I shall add what I hope will be a suitable alternative)





AND
Sorry its a bit dark will try to get another snapshot midday when I'm back from work


which consists of a fridge magnet , spruced up a little by yours truly,crochet cotton Nº 8 in white and beige and a suitable crochet hook. A wad of 100 Euro notes( tissues :-)  ). A hand painted Spanish fan ;made in Spain and not made elsewhere. A vintage doily from my treasured stash of vintage crochet,the centre is damask linen. A little bowl from Agost ,the pottery village,an hours drive away from here and a few other bits and bobs.
I have made the crochet cushion you can see here specially for the winner of this giveaway. The centre motif is crocheted in Nº 10 crochet cotton and there are 6 river pearl beads sewn in on each side of the main body of the square. It is all my own pattern and that is hand sewn onto the Broderie Anglaise frill and all that on to the cushion cover. The cushion cover is not anything special I'm afraid, I could not find what I wanted and that was a heavy ivory damask linen cushion cover. Its all hand sewn because I do not possess a sewing machine as yet.Never the less it is easy to transfer this square with the frill to a cushion cover of your choice and if you do I would love to see the finished item.The cushion filling is not included.


That's it dear bloggers ...just one more thing this giveaway is not really about how many followers I have got but a thank you...a very big thank you for your presence, albeit a virtual presence but very much there. Its to thank you for your comments,your ideas,your inspiration,your humor , your very interesting blogs and all you are giving me and most particularly those moments of interaction between reciprocal followers. THANK YOU!!!!


Amanda :-)







Monday 23 July 2012

All about LOVELY!

How lovely!!! I'd like to thank Angeliki  who nominated me for the Cool Blog award and Kate who nominated me for the One Lovely Blog award.  Thank you so much!
If you haven't visited their blogs before, do make sure you pop in and say hello.

The rules for the One Lovely Blog award are as follows:
Thank the person/persons who nominated you
Share 7 things about yourself
Nominate some blogs that you admire.
so...here we go....
1.I love singing! I feel so much better after a good sing song which I usually do while I clean the house,or prepare a meal or drive my car.
2. I'm a tea addict I cannot do without tea.
3. I love to read fantasy and science fiction novels or films and anything to do with treasure found...an arqueological dig...historical mysteries.
4.I want an intelligent dog but Willie the cat won't allow it.
5. I would love to visit Myanmar,my father told me so much about it. 
6.I don't like underground parking lots.  
7.I miss blackberry picking!


I wish to nominate these young blogs for the Lovely Blog award not because they are any better than any of the other blogs I follow or read but because they are mostly under 100 followers  and of course they also have LOVELY blogs:
Please do not worry should you not like to follow this on and nominate other blogs for this award. I shall not be offended at all as it is totally up to you should you wish to do so.

Hello and welcome to my new follower Sharon Braxton please send me your blog link as I can't follow it through.

Friday 20 July 2012

I LOVE MY POSTWOMAN!!!!




When she rings the door bell its like a celestial "ting".

I am beginning to see my postwoman in a different light!   I see this soft pink hue around her as she comes towards me while I wait in the doorway...she knows me now too ....she calls me Amanda and she says good morning to me. I've noticed recently her intonation has changed as she says the countries my parcels are from ...there is a questioning tone as she says from the UK? or USA? and the other morning a very clear query as she said another from Australia.... a big one this time!!!




For those of you who do not know what the the jar of love swap is pop over to Katie at Booty-ful things  she is the instigator (in the nicest sense of course ) and the hostess of this swap.
My Swap partner is  Sandi who lives in Melbourne Australia....yes..... just a little way away..... over the pond!!! LOL!

and I received my jar of Love from Sandi on Wednesday morning 17th July!!!!!!


 and I've been dying to get in here to tell you about it.

I am amazed at how Sandi got so much in this medium sized jar and just look at the presentation.....you just know there has got to be something special inside......and there was!!!

Isn't it great!!! Sandi had this wonderful idea of winding crochet cotton around the jar and there is lots of it ...and I'm going to use it of course. That isn't all ,a lovely Navy blue ribbon too!

and here you are ALL the things that were in the jar...hard to believe that all this fitted in that jar but they did and also a bar of dark chocolate butttt that disppeared very very quickly I'm afraid...it was just too nice!

Where to start:

There were 25 items in all!!!.....
  • a lovely lacy bookmarker and crochet dish cloth that Sandi made herself.
  • a felt rose
  • a crochet heart...of course..why didn't I think of that!!!(which Sandi made)
  • a bar of dark chocolate (ancient history now!!!)
  • Lychee flower Body butter and skin conditioning oil......uuuuu I'm going to pamper myself!!!
  • a little pink book with lots of flowers,glittery bits and lace to decorate it myself
  • an emery board in its own box (brill! that's gone in my handbag already)
  • nice smelly candle "dusk Parisan" ........oh lá lá ... best keep that for the right moment
  • beautiful lace in a creamy beige colour with 4 fantasy pins
  • Embroidery floss
  • fancy tape measure...rather a nice one actually
  • a filet crochet pattern
  • and....hold on to your chairs.......TREASURE...diamonds,pearls,sapphires, exotic jewellery and the Kohinoor  of the whole treasure trove was this beauty!


and its all MINE!!!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!THANK YOU SANDI at this moment you are my favourite person!

I'm convinced that Sandi is a SURE candidate to win Katie's competition connected to the swap....Sandi don't forget to enter I think you stand a very good chance of winning it! :-)

Welcome welcome to my new followers Fiona at KnitKnatKnotUK, Barbina at Little things made with Love , Alessandra at Homemade at my place and Melissa at Lazy Daisy Crochet ....thank you for joining me here and don't be a stranger, I love to hear from you :-)

Happy weekend folks

Amanda :-)


Tuesday 17 July 2012

Hippity hop off it goes off to OZ


and there it was gone!!!!

Finally got my jar of love filled and sent to my swap partner Sandi...over there across the pond.....crossing my fingers it arrives safe and sound!!!

image from www not my one!!!!


 BUT surprise surprise I received my giveaway prize yesterday from Sally at Lavender Attic .....how exciting I couldn't get the package open quick enough:::
and this is what was inside :
and it smelt absolutely wondeful!!!!

Jingle Bells Jingle Bells....oh! sorry a bit early 'aint it!!!!


and this was what was inside:

 including my fridge KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON magnet which is already on my fridge door.


THANK YOU SO MUCH SALLY IT IS ALL WONDERFUL....and now to hide the tealight candles before my daughter calls in.


       
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                                             MERLUZA A LA VASCA 
                                                                 (Basque Hake)

Sr P always deals with the seafood side of cooking in our house and last Saturday he made Basque Hake served with clams which was really delicious which we ate accompanied by a  very but very cold (the frosty type) glass or glasses of Jose Pariente white wine....lovely to come home to after work and all set out and ready. Bless him! Mind you he is still finding it rather difficult that I hover with a camera when he is cooking and I have tried to explained to him why but blog and bloggers just hasn't sunk in yet.

INGREDIENTS
80 ml extra virgin olive oil


8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced


clams, scrubbed


6 small fresh hake steaks


 dry white wine


8 Tbsp chopped parsley 
and the personal touch which Sr P found on rummaging among my tubs of herbs. One bouquet garni sachet which my sister sends to me form the UK. You can't get them here.


shrimps


half glass of water


tinned asparagus


2 tablespoons of flour to thicken the sauce
salt and pepper


1 low-sided casserole dish with lid


METHOD
Heat the oil

Pour the oil into the casserole dish and place it over medium heat.
Cook the garlic
Add the garlic and cook until it turns slightly brown.
Add the shrimps and white wine
Add the hake, clams ,bouquet garni sachet and the white wine and continue cooking with a lid on.
Cook for 8-10 minutes
Leave it to cook for about 8-10 minutes or until the clams have fully opened. Season with black pepper.
After this time, also check the texture of the hake. It should be "flaky" rather than bouncy.
add parsley
Season and serve
(some people slice up a hard boiled egg add before serving with the tinned asparagus.)


don't forget the glass of cold cold white wine :-) enjoy!!!! 




Hello to my new follower Susan at My mother's apron strings welcome and glad you could join me here 


Amanda :-)



Sunday 15 July 2012

Very Naughty bloggers!!

Today is Saturday 14th July 2012  and being under the throes of a rather wicked humor and also being as you may have noticed I am a rather outspoken person.  I have to comment that there are some VERY NAUGHTY BLOGGERS out there who have been tempting me to lay down the THREE MAKES I should be finishing and try my hand at some of the tempting ideas they are flashing at me as I discreetly flitter through their blogs .....just checking that they are well you know no more.! The CULPRITS are to name but a few:
  • Linda at craftycorner.....who has been trying her hand at amiguriumi with her  Kokeshi girl and very successful so!
  • Shari asharicrochet  and those gorgeous bunnies in their school colours who are so unbelievably cute.
  • Karen at my4lilgirls inventing new patterns with great success I'd say and with a colour combination that goes so well together.
  • Poppy at Poppyview....who inspires me to turn my house around or at least the living room and COPY (yes Poppy I said copy) some of the ways she has to enhance and decorate her home.
  • Lucy at inthesky ,who makes me drool as I look at the colour of the yarn she is spinning ,yes I said spinning as in spinning wheel spinning!
  • Missy at  Edith Florence diary   who is starting some patchwork which I have been thinking I really must try my hand at..... but........yes groan,......yes I have three makes on the go.

and there are so many many more temptations out there on the blogs I follow and I visit so if you feel like you hear a slight huff,or tut or stifled groan it is me lurking on your blog,perhaps not commenting but looking and suffering.....oh so much!
As ethics must be respected should anyone here dislike having being cited please do comment and I'll delete in a jiffy and do sincerely apologize in advance.


After all this stress I felt I needed a gentle soothing from this bout of temptation and turned to a floral remedy which I had spied at the Benalua street market this morning. There she was the most perfect Moth Orchid  in all her glory and I couldn't resist buying her at the price of 11€...personally I don't think that is expensive,do you?  In fact I bought one for daugher nº 1 too.

On returning home I hummed and harrd quite a bit, wondering where to put my new acquisition as I considered this exquisite lady needed a special place. All this was being observed by Sr P who found it all very funny (as in funny looney) who agreed that she was lovely but couldn't see what the fuss was about where she should be placed...why not by the draining board I hear....easier to water, so he says ...tch!!! ...men!!!!)

The girl at the stall said, (one I have been to for many years and I constantly return to when I am in that area. The girl who is now a married woman with children certainly knows her subject and guided by her I have rarely gone wrong where interior plant care is concerned) she had to be in plenty of light but out of the direct sunlight (remember we are talking about Mediterranean sunlight) and out of draughts of course.

I finally decided to place her here
Inside ....sun-blinds are down so light is not so good. I don't like using a flash.


to keep her in my living room where I can see her in all her glory as I put my feet up on the settee.  Then there was the little problem of the correct pot to place her in . I had nothing her size nor of what I would consider of sufficient elegance so meanwhile I put her in an old glass ice bucket that I had in the back of my sideboard and I rather like it.
I've also put a strip of filet crochet that I had it my samples tin (those samples are my patterns not the written type) and I like the effect too so I think I might do a piece of filet crochet in white instead of the yellow to take its place ...what do you think?


A big welcome to my new followers Claire at Sweet Birdy, Patty at Poppycock & other creative nonsense, Brenda at Cosy Little House, Lucy at Inthesky , Effie at Sweet Home Designs and Xristina who I would be delighted to follow too but I do not have a link to your blog. The only blog I could see was in Greek and there was no Google translator on that page to be able to translate to English or Spanish so I'm not sure if that was your blog.
I do hope you'll all visit frequently and find time to comment....when you can :-)

Well now my lovies.....as my old Aunty May down in Zummerset would have said....I ope ee have a gut day!


Amanda :-)

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Better to see you with!

Better...now that I've taken some photos in the sun so it brings out all the colours and the shine of the precious gems !

I've given up on the keyring for my students....just not happy with it,however I was delighted to receive so much encouragement from you all.
Meanwhile.....I'll have to think of something else for the men but I've done this which I think will be better for the girls/ladies:

A BROOCH
Better pic!



..a khaki gold background...in fact the whole brooch gleams as I have used Anchor Freccia Cotton Nº 6 in Kaki Gold,red and lilac and its a very shiny perle thread. That's glass in the biggest pod with the pearls and beads and that gleams too.
I am very pleased to say I have been able to use some buttons I found in my buttons jar so I am feeling utterly thrifty. I've sewn some lilac felt on the back and I have to put the brooch pin on as yet and I have also padded it a little to give it a bit of body. This cotton is a bit flimsy so the padding will stop it from curling up. It is 2,5 x 2,5 inches in size.

I started to make a crochet flower brooch and got bored with it because although there are some beautiful crochet flower brooches out there I wanted something different. I decided to continue with a floral context I wanted an off world look so I choose some wild flowers from Pandora (Avatar!!!!).


I've made up a collage here using PicMonkey (which makes it so easy to do) of different views of the brooch and I'd greatly value your comments.


 Incidentally I'm not afraid to receive constructive criticism in fact I'd appreciate it.
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Hello to Heather at Hoot Cove and Fiona at Raindrops and Daisies...welcome to my blog and thank you for joining me here

Sunday 8 July 2012

A little bit of foolishness!



Bit of Nonsense!!!

I wanted to make a couple of little gifts for four of my students who have passed their LCCI 2 London Chamber of Commerce examinations with distinction.
After giving it considerable thought and  messing around with this and that crochet wise I came up wit the following.
All a bit of nonsense really....a key-ring with a difference:-



The front ....but on the other side :
Hidden treasure!!!!

Its a time capsule and holds a 1941 10 cents Spanish coin.

A little bit of history!
What was happening in Spain in 1941 when the rest of the World was trying to get to grips with the fact that a Second World War was underway. At that time Spain was under the oppressive power of a military dictatorship ruled by the Generalissimo Francisco Franco, on ending victoriously the Spanish Civil War which had lasted from 1936 to 1939.

 I collect coins of all sorts and I use them as merit prizes in class...they are very popular.


 This key ring was made with No 5 Perle cotton in Tangerine and I used a No 2,50 crochet hook,a small amount of embroidery silk,some tiny beads and a swivel lobster clasp. Its really simple to make.

I will have to make a couple more key rings but two must have a more masculine note to them as I don't think orange with beads will go down so well with men. I don't think I'll make it so fussy as this one either.Personally I think its a bit fussy and I shall not make the twirl with so many Trebles a few less will loosen up the twirl a little.
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My giveaway is looming near ! I've 67 followers and I need to reach 80. That is my objective 80 followers on my Followers Google connect list for my first giveaway and it has to be nowish because it is when I have the time.
I just do some private tuition throughout the summer months as most of my students have left the city to go to their apartments or villas by the beach or up to their homes in the mountains. Lucky them..... me like a twit down here in the hot hot city....well at least I have the beaches and the swimming pool....tch!...... one will survive I suppose!


As it is I am preparing already (got to get the maximum fun out of the prep  too) I have decided I will put a little of this and little of that and perhaps one of these and one of those ....oh yes I'd best add a couple of those too just in case ...after all its my first giveaway so its got to be good.
It will of course be open to the world and any off world bloggers who may be lurking, peeking into my blog too shy to follow but who are prepared to come forth and take the plunge! LOL!





Welcome and hello to my new followers ,Shirley at The White House, Lena at Frugal and Thankful and Rae at Felt by Rae. Thank you for joining me here and I hope you'll visit often.



Amanda :-)
PS: 9th July this morning ! Whether its the Monday morning feeling or not I keep looking at this keyring thingy and the more I look at it the more I hate it!!!!  Its a mess and too fussy! 
Back to the drawing board!!!






Friday 6 July 2012

You must be joking soup on a hot sunny day ...



Hello to everyone on this hot hot Friday and practically the weekend ....and on a day like today I think there's nothing better than a chilled soup like Andalusian Gazpacho,a refreshing starter to a meal.



Gazpacho is a traditional dish from Andalusia. Real gazpacho must be super fresh;prepared and eaten the same day.

 Ingredients:
1 kg of tomatoes
½ small onion ( you can add more onion but onions don't like me so I always add a small amount and that way I find I don't get the gripes the next day)
1 small green pepper
1 cucumber
Half small tea cup of olive oil
3 teaspoons of vinegar
150 grams of day-old breadcrumbs soaked in water.
 1 clove of Garlic ( if you like it stronger add more Garlic)
pinch of salt
Separate a small amount of diced tomato, pepper, cucumber and croutons as an individual topping.

Method:
Chop up all the vegetables nice and small.
Liquidize the tomatoes, onions, peppers, vinegar, garlic, oil and the bread.  .You can add water if you want to thin out the mixture or extra bread if you like it thicker.
Pour the Gazpacho into a glass jug or container and place in the fridge straight away.

All ready to go in the fridge

It’s important that you serve the soup very cold, and I mean very cold in fact some people even put a few ice cubes in it when they serve it up. Gazpacho at room temperature is rubbish but Gazpacho very cold is wonderful! 

Fridge with a view
I serve it in prawn cocktail glasses but I leave the glasses, after having being swilled under the cold water tap, in the freezer for about 30 mins beforehand, until they are nicely frosted and then pour in the Gazapacho and sprinkle it with the diced veg and croutons.   
Delicious!!!!


and a very warm welcome to two new followers Deborah at Simply Miss Luelle and Peli at Lovely Mess,thank you for joining me here.

Amanda :-)




Sunday 1 July 2012

Lollipop dress

Busy Busy Busy 
was my theme this last week but work busy which is not so exciting as being craft busy. Companies so like tailor made courses for their in-company training programmes now, which means a lot more work for me. I have to create the syllabus and teacher design the course material. This had to be done before Friday of last week as the course was to start Saturday morning. Its been a lot of work in hardly sufficient time,but its done now!.

Nevertheless I wasn't going to be without my stress therapy and found precious moments to finally finish off the outfit I've made for a little girl who will be arriving very soon..a July baby. My old school mate (and C if you read this .. I use old as in we have know each other for ages ...you baint be old my luvver as you be the zame age as I !!! ) down in Somerset will be a grandmother for the fourth time on the arrival of this baby (lucky thing!) so it was a perfect opportunity for me to enjoy making this dinky baby's outfit.


The Mary Jane booties are my own pattern....the Lollipop pinafore dress (the name I've given it) was taken from a free pattern I downloaded from the www sometime ago when I was not a blogger and was not aware I should cite these things.
 I have tweaked the pattern quite a bit. The pattern indicated DK yarn but I felt the bodice would be too heavy for a newborn babe so I changed it to Soft Baby yarn , Nano C/7 Soft Lilac which has a light soft caress to it and the contrast of the use of DK and Soft Baby 4 ply yarn through out the skirt has turned out better than what I had expected. The heaviness of the DK yarn, I used Coats SMC Bravo Red , stops the 4 ply yarn from curling up as it is very light and this makes the skirt part hang better.The headband is also my own pattern based on a really simple chain & treble band and a repeat of the rosettes I made for the booties.



 This will be sent off to the UK tomorrow.


 However I have of course snatched moments here and there to keep up to date with my lovely followers as well as visiting some of the other blogs I thoroughly enjoy following.
This is such a thriving creative community and there is such a variety of interesting and inspiring things going on. I am never bored!!!!
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An Award




Many many thanks to Angeliki at My Hobbies Place  for this award. That is really sweet of you!

I am told The Liebster award has a few rules attached:

The person who receives it is to acknowledge the giver,done :-)
and 
then pass the award on to 3-5 other blogs by leaving a comment or emailing the blogger.
As the chosen blogs must have less than 200 followers 
I wish to send this award to the following blogs.
You must also paste the award button onto your blog, so others will know you have already received it.  

However I do realise that some bloggers are not awards people so if you do not wish to accept this award please do not think I will be offended, I will not be. It's your choice. :-)
I do think this type of award is wonderful to help new bloggers like myself (I've only been blogging since April) to meet up with other bloggers and who may eventually become reciprocal followers. 

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 Finished one make & next one on the go....   and my next  is some sewing. I am going  to try and make a heat pack cushion which Penelope shows us how to make on her blog at L is for Love. Her tutorial looks super easy to follow so I am giving it a try and I hope it will turn out as nice as hers.


Hello and a big welcome to a new follower Hawthorn at 11am. Thank you for following my blog. 

Monday tomorrow bloggers..so heres hoping this new week ahead of us treats you well

Amanda :-) 




PS: I found my jar!!!!