A Few Of My Favourite Things

"Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things"

...especially when they come in the mail from a friend far away!  

& so it did! Arrive I mean.  A brown paper package hiding inside an Aussie post plastic bag address to me!  From Sal .  A brown paper package tied up with string!  Not to mention a little granny square on the string & a tag with a lovely message on it to tell me that the gift inside was something for DJ.  

Can you believe, dear Sal has spent her summer in the stifling heat over there, hooking up this gorgeous blanket for my baby boy!  

Yes, this blanket you see right here, that DJ is obviously very happy with.  He knew it was his.  He grabbed his rusk & went over to it & rolled right over & lay there.  He just knew.  He is very excited about it too.

You know what I did after sitting in shock at such a gift?  I rang Sal up!  Yep, her number was on the Aussie post bag.  Hmmm... that would be so much cooler to surprise her back.   How do you thank someone for such a gift?  The least I could do was surprise her back with a phone call!  So I did.  Right that minute.  (I didn't even consider so much what time it would be there!  Phew it wasn't early morning!)  We talked for about 5 minutes.  I think we could have talked for about 5 hours.  It was like talking to an old friend!  Very special.  

Thanks so much Sal.  My family thanks you!  

Oh & Sal, by the time I got off the phone, BJ was sitting there with his atlas waiting for me to show him where you lived.  :-) 

Not The End Of The Squares

Well I thought this would be the last square of the CAL but we are going to keep it up in a month or so.
Yay!  I do plan to finish up the blanket in this time though & start some new colours on the one.  This square is Kata & was actually OK, considering it was by the same designer as the one that proved to be hellish a few weeks back.  There were a lot of instructions on the special stitches - more than the pattern itself!  That is a bit off putting but it was OK to make up.  So next I will have to make up a couple others to make this blanket a little bigger & then join it.  Hopefully I will get that all done fairly soon!  Crazy week here so it probably won't be this week!  Have a good one!

Bits Of This And That

Well I am still going along with the Mystery crochet along on Ravelry.  We had a little break from the whatchamacallit for St Pat's Day yesterday.  So I got the clue up in the evening.  I did get it done before bed even though I had a brain fade & it was not making sense.  Lesson learnt once more to just do what patterns say & don't over think them!  

So this morning we had Tad the Leapfrog sporting our little leprechaun hat!  Cute!  

Then with everything else I should be doing, (like ironing!) I decided to sew this morning for a bit.  It was naughty really but it's done.  lol  It is a Rosalie Quinlan designed bag pattern.  The fabric is Heartstrings  by Red Rooster fabrics which just arrived instore at work this week.  It's not usually appealing to me the Red Rooster stuff but the colours in this lot were a bit brighter.  Since we needed this bag pattern done in some updated fabric I did one in this new fabric.  I only used 2 fabrics for the main part instead of 4 like it says.  But I did use the large square design as pockets with its little cute pictures on it to feature that instead of as the pattern has with embroidery & stuff done on it.  I quite like the size of this bag so may use this as my go to bag pattern for a bit.  It's easy as anything.  I am sure I could come up with a few variations just from stash instead of gorgeous new stuff at work!  I think it would be fun out of strips too all sewn up & then cut to size!  Lots of potential here!  

Happy Sunday to You!

Thought For Food Friday

It was a fairly boring food week this week!  We had some of my favourites again, like last weeks stuffed tomatoes & the potato & onion frittatta.  So good!

We were given a pile of celery from someone & then a stack of silverbeet from someone else, all on the same day.  So just like magic, there appears ...

Celery & Silverbeet Pie 

Who would have thought it hey?  It was OK.  I wasn't over keen on it but Stu liked it.  I think I would have preferred it without the capsicum in it.  I just find that can be too overpowering at times.

We are still powering our way through zucchini too.  It will be nearly finished in the garden though so I'd better make the most of it.

This one was good.

Lemon, Zucchini & Chicken pasta

So simple but quite tasty.  A great quick meal in a hurry & being pasta, quite filling.  All good!  Hopefully we come up with something more interesting next week though!

Happy Friday!

My Creative Space

What a mad crazy week it's been with a teething baby & a sick & miserable big boy!  Exhausting to say the least.  Somewhere in between all the misery & sleeplessness I have managed to play a little with this.  Last Thursday evening I had this crazy urge to start knitting with this yarn.  It's Paton's Stretchy Socks colour Fruit Slices.  I got it last year from Bubs2GrubsKnitting.  I really liked the look of it!  I had the crazy urge to knit a sock right that minute.  So I started the cuff.  Got the cuff & some of the leg started & this was my Sunday project when my Ravelry group of ladies met up at the chocolate factory for coffee & cake again.  I need mindless stuff to work on there as the conversation & show & tell sessions is very distracting.  (especially when we all have to model a new cardi that one had knitted & said cardi suited everyone!  Very surprising to see but it really did suit everyone - style & colourwise!)  Anyway, I got quite a bit knitted on Sunday.  I have finally got that jolly heel turned yesterday!  I had to consult the MIL on that as I couldn't remember that bit on the pattern. No wonder as my pattern is written wrong.  She had the updated correct version.  Phew.  So I have adjusted mine!   Hopefully today, since the big boy is acting like his usual self, I will be able to finish this one off.  I am working my way along the foot section & with a bit of luck I will get to the toe before too long.  It's great watching the stripes appear.  When you look at it & think that each stripe is only about 3 or 4 rows it doesn't seem to take long to knit up!  

Hopefully I also can catch up on my mystery crochet along on Ravelry too.  I'm 4 days behind on that!  The green blob from the other day is stuffed & sewn up.  Now I think we are doing arms & legs.  Who knows! Stay tuned for that soon!  

Do yourself a favour & visit some of these other creative spaces won't you!  

Second Last Square

Finally I am getting a turn on the computer!  & even that is with a boy sitting right behind me waiting to play a game!  So I have to do this really fast!  I don't like this having to share it so much!  lol

Anyway, yesterday I was able to do this latest square in our crochet along.  It's Thankful Stitches.  Not my favourite but it's OK.  It does blend in well with the other designs I have done so far.  This is our second last square!  How sad.  Then I guess it is going to be picking out some others to fill up my blanket & make it a decent size.  I don't know how big or anything.  I will keep going as long as I feel like it.   There are a few squares that I still would really like to try, but having said that there were also some that I deleted out of my queue now as they won't suit.

OK, times up.  It's going to be a long day I think.  Happy Tuesday everyone!

Thought For Food Friday

Having a husband that likes to cook is a blessing!  It seems I am very lucky!  A lot of people comment on that fact & others wonder where they can get one like him!  Cloned maybe?  Maybe not!

He was doing quite a bit of cooking already but having injured his back at this time last year, he couldn't do much else.  There has to be something good about having him at home so much doesn't there?  I wasn't complaining really when I would get up at 8am & find a baked & iced cake sitting on the counter that he had cooked during the night!  (Yes, during the night!  He couldn't lay down much so sleep was rare, & he couldn't sit so walking around was it even in the middle of the night!)  I also wasn't complaining when he was home all the time after DJ was born.  It meant we could split night shift often so I could get back to bed & sleep more.  That made a lot of difference that is for sure!

The best thing about his cooking is that it was always different. Everyday he would go online & search for new things.  I would have cooked, but I just didn't have the be-botheredness for anything other than something that took no thought like meat & veggies!  If someone just told me what to make I would be right!  Boring I know & Stu obviously thinks so too.

He does enjoy doing it though.  Still now, he is doing the majority of our cooking.  Not the baking anymore, but he does cook dinner.  Even if I have been home all day, he will usually come home & cook.  Just recently we have started menu planning again.  It's been so it does help with the decision making especially for me when he is late home, also to stop so much food waste, plus to save some money.  I don't think at this stage I could jump in at Food Waste Friday on Frugal Girls blog.  I would be too embarrassed!  I am certainly becoming very conscious of what is wasted!  I am trying to teach BJ about waste!  Or not wasting rather!  We have such a lot of waste from the boys at the moment though.  It either ends up in the dog or the cows!

Our meals aren't wasted though!  I don't think we have had a bad meal or left overs for ages!  What can I say, but Stu's choices & cooking has been delicious!  I thought I would share a few of my favourites from recently!

Potato & Caramelised Onion Frittata

Zucchini & Bacon Spaghetti

Herb Couscous Stuff Tomatoes

Currently we are using home grown onions we were given, tomatoes we were given & a load of zucchini that we just can't stop growing!  It's all very in-season cooking right now!

I'm looking forward to the surprises in the coming week that is for sure!