Fruit Tingles- A baby blanket.

So last year l made a few maybe 4 blankets for babies and for the nursing home where my M-I-L lives and l got tired so l said “2017 NO blankets!” 

And l started doing the crochet a square a day challenge and the temperature blanket (one row a day corresponding with the day’s highest temperature) 

But then one of my daughters tells me her friend was having a baby and l know this girl and l like her so l said “I’ll make the baby (a boy), a blanket” l used a new pattern a “Granny Ripple” it crochets up quickly and you don’t have to think too hard about it. So l chose shades of blue and cream. The Mother loved the blanket and so l’m glad l put the effort in. 

Baby A with his blanket! I called it “Blue Ripples”

This is “Fruit Tingles” my daughter named it. 

This is for another friend of hers. I had a bunch of baby yarn on its own too thin to be useful BUT put two or more colours together and use a larger hook, well its pretty! It’s creating its own stripes on the “corner to corner” blanket which is on its own a plain blanket but l usually zoosh it up with a fancier border. This is a WIP (Work in progress) l’ll share more photos when it’s done.

Next big project? Well l’ve decided l cannot escape blankets so l’m going to crochet “Blankets for the homeless” My daughter went into the local Facebook page and told people about my “Random Acts of Kindness” and how for my 50th Birthday l am going to make blankets and give them to homeless and she suggested if anyone wanted to get rid of any yarn she would take it for me to use! One lady came over with a bag of beautiful yarn and two more are waiting for Amber to go collect some yarn from them! 

I plan to mix these blankets up a bit so no yarn will be turned away. I don’t expect them to be pretty but they’ll be useful, l will have to let go of my “preciousness” and understand that nothing will nessecary match but hey, l’m not keeping them l am forwarding them on! Wish me luck!! 

This week in Crochet land…

Week 35- l got the whole week done but did not finish the final Square!

And here is week 8 of the second half of my Temperature blanket.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads and Grand Dads out there!  

This week in Crochet Land

Week 34- I only missed one square (I must be starting to feel better!) it looked like this….

I am constantly amazed that A- I’ve kept on going even while l’ve been so sick and B- I haven’t gotten bored yet! Tonight was number 239 wow! Only 117 to go!

This week in Crochet Land!

Week 33- despite being so sick l got all caught up and this is how it looked! One l didn’t complete to my sick head it sounded like Nadia was speaking some ancient forgotten language l just could not keep up. The small one in this bunch was also a reject. But it’s kinda cute so l kept it l’ll use it for something.

Anyways l am all up to date!

This week in crochetland…

This week in crochetland, I actually managed to get all seven squares done… so week 31 looks like this.

And then one row each day for my Temperature blanket. Here in Australia its winter and as you can see its been fairly mild.

Light blue represents temperatures 10-15c ( about 50-59F) the greenish colour represents 16-20c ( 60-68F) then we have the dark navy blue that was when it was under 10c and thats cold for me. One more month of winter left woo hoo!

I decided to do my tempertaure blanket in two sections because it would have ended up massive if I did the whole year in one, so this one started 1st July. If I were to do this again I would make a few tweeks but over all its been a fun challenge. I would also make the temperature increments smaller, to show the different temps.

Its folded in half here it actually measures 40 inches across. Each week I do one stitch for the whole week, this week I used double crochet. This coming week I’m back to single, then half double then double again.

Thats all this week from crochetland, next week I hope to have an “UFO” ( Un finished Object) finished to show you, stay tumed for that one its been YEARS in the making 😳

Sometimes l surprise myself!

I also under estimate myself as well. I always talk myself down and suggest “I can’t do that” when in fact if l try l usually can… well, hold on there was that one time with the zig zag granny blanket. I pulled it out and started again five times the sixth time l gave up!

So l’ve been having a spate of baby blankets, one for my niece, which in turn convinced my daughter that my newest grand daughter, Faery girl needed one, so l made her one, then l made one for my middle girl child that was nightmarish! Then l made one for a friend of my first daughter who was having a baby shower, it was a rainbow blanket and l fell in love with it! 

So enough blankets l needed some fast projects, so l decided to make a dress for my doll which has been made a replica of my first Grand baby Sweetpea! Then number one daughter and my niece both commented they would dress their daughters in that dress! So l decided to make then each one.

My niece is due mid November so l started one for her baby shower which was last week however l didn’t get it finished in time, luckily l had made a nappy cake to take, my two daughters and l pooled our money and made a three layer nappy (Diaper for our overseas friends) cake. So anyways l’m keeping it now until she’s born. So the rush was gone l decided to add a bonnet and some booties. All the time wondering if l could even do it! 

Well tonight l finished the set and l’m pleasantly surprised with how good it’s turned out. I always feel nervous making things for other people my mind questions..

“What if they don’t like it!”

“What if the colours are wrong?”

“Is it too old fashioned?”

When my daughter took the rainbow blanket l told her “if the pregnant friend didn’t like it, bring it back l’ll make her something else” from reports she loved it. 

So here it is… 

Tomorrow we leave!

For our trip to Moruya New South Wales, to collect our camper.

I promised to come back yesterday and tell you a bit more about Moruya, I’m sorry I missed out on coming back, I’ve been working flat out on a crochet project, I made a rainbow blanket for my daughter to give as a gift at her friends baby shower tomorrow. So I needed to finish that, so I could wash it and have it dried and wrapped ready for my daughter to collect. I must confess at the start I didn’t like the colour scheme I kept having this internal dialogue about the colours, but then I reminded myself this was “not for me it was a gift, I didn’t have to love it” needless to say by the time I’d come to the end of the blanket (which was 7:30am! This morning!!) l do love it and I will probably end up doing another one similar for my Grand Daughter Sweetpea, she was convinced “It’s mine Grandma” I kept telling her ” No its for a baby” she insisted it was for  “My bed now Grandma” so I guess I’ll be making her a rainbow blanket too! She’s such a funny little thing, she picked up my crochet hook before I could race back and rescue my crochet from her, and she tells me very seriously  “I do sticking” she meant of course my crochet hook, and she tried her best to poke the “stick” into the stitches. Maybe when she’s three I’ll start teaching her to crochet! My Aunt taught me when I was about ten, I started crocheting my own “granny squares” with the left over yarn that she was using to knit sweaters.

So thats why I missed yesterday’s post about “Moruya” 

Let me share some info about what I’ve found out about this little town, I’m so excited we are heading off tomorrow and will arrive mid afternoon Sunday!

Moruya

Town in New South Wales, Australia

Moruya is a town in New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Moruya River, on the far south coast situated on the Princes Highway 305 kilometres south of Sydney and 175 kilometres from Canberra. At the 2011 census, Moruya had a population of 2,531 people. The town relies predominantly on agriculture, aquaculture, and tourism. Moruya is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council and the shire chambers are located in the town. Wikipedia.

I know right! I’d never heard of it either. But I am excited to get there and explore. There’s a museum there showcasing the dairy industry in the area, but mostly its poular for its nature based places, Moruya Head and National Park  walks like the Bingi Walking Track.. 

Follow in the footsteps of the Brinja-Yuin people as you walk the Bingi Dreaming track. Traditionally, Dreaming tracks or Song Lines link the places visited by Aboriginal people, the Bingi Dreaming track links campsites, ceremonial and trade sites, fresh water and plentiful coastal food sources. Along the way, you might see stone artefacts or patches of shell middens. The … Visit website for more info

For more information: http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

I have a feeling that we won’t see all there is to do there, but thats Ok it just means we will have to go back again! 

So be sure to check back in the next few days where I’ll start posting my photos. 

I almost forgot to write a blog…

Its been a busy day!

6:50am- Studying the Book of James, today we did verses 2:14-17 and then we colour code and S.O.A.K it.. So that takes a while.

Then I read half a chapter of my book, checked my online things like my emails and Facebook etc.

8:00am time to get up and get the Star Son off to School, by the time he leaves I’ve usually started a load of laundry, made the bed and done the dishes. So by 8:45am the house is clean, the Galah Charlie has been fed and entertained.

Each morning I start a fresh journal page and put a check list of jobs or things I want to achieve. It looks like this…

• Bible Study- James 2:14-17 
• Art-
• Crochet-
• Book-

Then as I have done the thing I make a note and tick it off..

Art– Yesterday I did a Bible page from Rebekah R Jones series called “Heaven is Calling” I am really loving the way Rebekah breaks down each lesson and shows us how she did her page and also breaks down the scripture so that we understand it more, LOVE that! 

And today I finished the page I began preparing yesterday, we had to do two layers of base coat and allow to dry then go over it with water colour which absolutely soaks the page.. While still wet we had to lay some cling film on top and smoosh it all around and then leave it to dry. I will confess that I was nervous about that process because let’s be honest I am yet to find a bible that has thick pages, so I waited with baited breath to see how it would turn out.

Cling wrap over wet water colour, a few nervous moments…

This is the final result. This was lesson 5 in Rebekah R Jones series “Heaven is Calling” we discussed how an Angel came to Gabriel and spoke to him, but he doubted that it was a message from God because “Why would God talk to me?” Well, now OUR God as I am getting to know him, and knowing how much he loves us, my question for Gabriel is “Why NOT me?” 

Anyways.. As you can see the cling wrap came off nicely and I am totally in love with how this background turned out, in fact, so much so I will definately be using that technique again. In Rebekah’s instructional video, she used a rubber stamp with white ink to make the word “Healed” I didnt have either of those so I hand wrote it and used a white posca pen, not the best choice, Im not happy with the “whitenes” I really prefer Rebekah’s brilliant white, but hey, we work with what we have and so overall I love this page! Yesterday I also started prepping todays page, again, another two coats of sealer were required. 

Today’s “Heaven is calling” lesson was anout Mary and Martha. When they met Jesus, Mary dropped at his feet and listened intently to all he had to speak of, but Martha, poor, Martha was side tracked preparing the feast and looking after everyone and so she asked Jesus “Lord, dont you see what Mary is doing? Leaving all the work for me to do? Are you not going to tell her to come help me?” (side note… I can hear MY voice coming out Martha’s mouth!) Jesus gently rebuked Martha and told her that Mary was doing the right thing and that she was having doing a good thing and he would NOT rebuke her and that Martha should “Choose the good portion” hmmm, something to think about next time I am wanting to moan about having to do all the work. Here’s what my version looked like…

So my Bible art is well and truely back on track and I am loving it and realising I have been missing my small bite sized chunks of art!

I am also working on a FREE art journaling class with Allyson Bright, she also has us in a FB group, so we can add our work there and ask for feedback if we want it. So here are some of those pages… Today was lesson number 5- the prompt was to do a page about an animal we love, we we have plenty to chose from but I found this lovely photo of my poodle Ambrosia so I did a page on her.

Yesterday- I did day 3- “What is your Name?” Now since no one uses my name much, I chose to honor the other names I am called. Mum, Marley, Mumsy, Mumma from my children. Grandma and Me Maa from my Grand babies, amd my husband AKA “The Bloke” calls me “His Sheila” so this page represents all that. 

Also yesterday, because the boys were at late football training and I had some spare time I did another page, this was for day 4- a list of “Things that make me happy” .. I love lace, pearls, glitter, chocolate, coke a cola, roses, my Bible study lots of things! 

Next on the list is crochet, I am currently crocheting a blanket for my soon to be born Grand daughter, and I chose to do it in chunky wool so it’ll be nice and warm and quick to make. I am doing corner to corner again, since my daughter loved the last blanket I made for my niece’s baby due in November. 

Then we have reading.. Well I have to schedule that in as well or else it doesnt get done, so I am currently reading yet, another Di Morrissey book, this one is called “The winter sea” I love that most of her books are set all in Australia or at least partly Australia and partly another country. So I got a chapter and a half of that read.

So that brings me up to fate. i thought I would share my arty stuff only occasionally so you dont all get bored.

E is for…..

More info here: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/what-is-blogging-from-to-z.html

Today is brought to you by the Letter “E” ( I feel like the voice over on the Sesame Street TV show… blame the Grand-babies, we LOVE Sesame street!)

E… that could be considered one of the harder letters, but look at the date… its “Easter”

We’ve just gotten home from an amazing four-day weekend with family and my Bestest best friend and her family.. technically not “blood” family, I class her as more of a sister than anyone who shares my blood.

What’s that quote “Friends are the family you give yourself” I am so thankful to ME that I gave myself Deanne…. you’ll meet her later on it the Alphabet!!

So on Thursday my Cousin Lee (again, another one that classifies as a “sister” but with diluted blood,you’ll meet her at letter “L”) and her daughter and Star Son and I got into the car with Polly the dog and set off for our “Easter Escape at St Leonards” Lee was towing the camper trailer that my Bestie and her family were staying in because our Caravan ark doesn’t allow tents! weird I know!

And here we all are, although only half of Polly!

We got down there at about 2.00 pm and Lee’s partner (which sounds kind of clinical.. so I’m upgrading his to “Cousin-in-law” ) Craig arrived not long after so we three set up the Camper trailer and had it almost finished when Deanne and Steve and the boys 17 yr old B and 13 yr old J. Let the fun begin!!

That night marked the official opening season of “footy” (In Australian it’s AFL, and here’s a link to see what I’m on about: http://www.afl.com.au/ while you are there check out Richmond or Tigers… then in future posts you’ll know who I’m on about that’s the only team we all follow) So we sat around and watched TV and caught up on all the gossip, let the marathon crochet begin tomorrow!

“Good Friday”

Deanne was up early she didn’t sleep well and so we had an early start, Lee came over and did some art and Deanne and I started crocheting our “Hooded Scarf” Link… http://crochetncrafts.com/beginner-hooded-scarf/ needless to say mine was once again an utter failure… and I had to pull about 3/4’s of it out and re start it… I am not so good with the fancier stuff and I cannot read patterns but once I have the pattern in my head I’m totally fine!  Lunch was tuna sandwiches (it’s GOOD FRIDAY no meat!) for dinner that night we have prawn and scallops  skewers cooked on the BBQ with satay sauce and rice. Yummy!! and did more crochet… that was when Craig decided that tomorrow we should ALL get together and cook a huge meal (Last Supper??) and announced he was cooking Roast Lamb.. ok, anyone who has had Craig’s roast lamb never, ever, says no a second or subsequent times.. so we were in..

Easter Saturday

The Shops are open again, so we headed out to do the shopping for “The Last Supper” the people over the road were doing vegetables, the people next door to Craig were doing desert, so we got to supply little things like onions, foil trays, cutlery and crockery and they put Deanne in charge of the washing up… now being a Good Bestie, that I aim to be,  I wasn’t about to let her suffer in agony, so I brought plastic plates and cutlery and table cloths and at the end of the night we rolled the whole lot up and threw it in the bin! YAY!! While we were out shopping for that stuff we had to do a detour to all the second-hand/ charity shops in the area.. we have certain things we look for in certain shops, and so I was ale to get some more wool in one shop, some books for my Grand babies in another shop and the final shop is where you usually hit payload!!

 

And today was no different, all these wonderful learning books yay!

So once we got the shopping and got back to camp it was after noon, Lee decided that we needed to walk along the beach, so I started collecting shells for my “Ocean Memory garden” I’m going to need a lot more!

The Dinner was “OMGosh to die for” we all sat around I think there ended up being 18 of us.Lots of laughter, lots of chatting and we blocked off the whole row, so no cars coming or going. Roast lamb, baked potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli, carrots, home-made gravy and plenty for seconds. Then for dessert there was Pavlova and cheese cake and the children had ice cream in waffle cones.. I didn’t have any dessert I was full after the main meal. Here is the photo Craig took of our “Last Supper”

 That night I wrote the blog about my “Dad” for letter D and started researching my family tree, so my mind was wide awake and I slept badly.

Easter Sunday

Deanne and I were both awake early so we decided to go for an early morning beach walk and wear off some energy. We ended up walking to Edwards point reserve and then all the way back to the Foreshore caravan park to see where The Bloke’s Sister Leigh and her partner Andrew were camping, so we had a quick chat with Leigh and headed home again. Breakfast tie, we had done almost 10,000 steps our daily goal in one walk! Today at 9.30am there was an Easter Egg hunt on for the Children at the front of the Caravan Park and so they all loved that and then it was time to do the raffle, we had brought 5 tickets for $8.00 and all money raised goes to the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal we always support that hospital we’ve used it many times. We won a few little prizes and headed back to camp.

Steve and the boys had packed all Deanne’s camp up and so we sat around chatting, had lunch and Amber and Scarlett arrived for the night, they caught two trains and a bus! Then about 4.00 pm Daughter Number one and her partner Brett and Squishy arrived they were taking over Deanne and Steve’s camp site because over the Easter period you have to book a minimum of four nights, but Deanne had to go home for work so they could not stay, so Jasmin and Brett had their last night. Deanne and Steve and the boys went home at about 5.00 pm and we are meeting them again on Saturday to go and look at a camper trailer with them, if they buy it that means I’ll get to go camping with my Bestie more often!!

We cooked hamburgers and has browns for dinner and cleaned up and had a fairly early night.. in bed by 11.00 pm rare for us at St Leonards!

Besties forever.. 27 years so far, Deanne and I.

Star Son, J and Rachael

J and his Mum Deanne.

all the kids lined up for the Easter egg hunt.

waiting for the whistle

The Last Supper.. our boys!

The Bloke and I at the Last Supper.

Daughter number one with her God Parents and the boys!!

 Easter Monday

 Today was the big pack up and heading home, normally I would stay there longer but now I am baby sitting Squishy I need to be home, it’s school holidays for another week. We left our “home away from home” at about 11.00 am and headed to see my Mother in-law (you’ll meet her tomorrow for F) we had the “pugaliscious” painting that I did for her all wrapped and ready to go and an Easter egg.

I think she loved her Pug!!

“Pugaliscious” on Tanny’s wall!

So it’s been a great Easter weekend, it’s my first since I started learning about the Lord, and so I’ve been soaking as much about the actual events as I could, therefore, each day had a meaning and we even acknowledged Jesus at 3.00 pm when it says “his spirit left his body” I am currently reading a book called “24 hours that changed the world” by Adam Hamilton, which is really helpful also, and finished the Lent Bible study I was working on for the last 40 days. This is the first year that it’s been more than a “long weekend full of chocolate and nothingness”

So how was your Easter? did you have a nice time?

C is for….. (triple treat!)

More info here: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/what-is-blogging-from-to-z.html

Today is for letter “C” todays post is brought to you from our Easter holiday, we are at our “CARAVAN” (first C word), in the sleepy seas side town of St Leonards, I’m not going to tell you all about that you can read about it here: https://kimlhine.wordpress.com/?s=St+Leonards

So my “Cousin” (second C word) (I’ll talk more about her later in the A-Z challenge) is down here with her family, my star son and I drove down here yesterday with my Cousin and her daughter, we always have lots of fun! Have a look!

LeCuzz, Rachael, Star Son and Me with Polly the Dog.

Then Last night my Bestest Best Friend and her Husband and two of her sons came down for the weekend. I have been friends with Deanne for 27 years now, Oh!! Wow, that makes us sound old!  I will chat about Deanne later in the A-Z challenge, but I briefly introduced Deanne here : https://kimlhine.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/blogtoberfest-day-1/

We had preplanned that while we were down here on holiday, we would do some of our “Crochet” (third C word) so we are currently crocheting a hooded Scarf each, since we are “Football tragic Mums” and have to spend hours standing around in the winter weather, we need to keep warm!

I am doing mine in Navy Blue and Gold which is Star Son’s football team “Rupertswood” colours.

So today at our Caravan, with my Cousin and Bestie, we did lots of crochet, check back here to see the end result of our “Hooded Scarfe”

Oh!! I forgot to tell you how this ties in with my “family” theme… When I was a young girl maybe 10 or 11, I would spend the school holidays with my Aunt on her farm, and she taught me to crochet Granny Squares. Fast forward many years, Deanne and I were both pregnant with our first sons, so we crochet blankets for them both, and then my Cousin Lee got into crochet and she reads the patterns and then shows me. Then when daughter number one was pregnant and wanted to give up smoking she needed something to keep her hands busy, so I taught her to crochet, and this weekend, Star son and Deanne’s son, they are both 13 yrs old, want to learn to crochet, and so we teach another branch on our family trees! Yay for crochet, a bonding experiance!

Next comes “D” pre warning you, I’m writing about my Dad and so it might make me cry!