I Made It Back!

Alan and I have been so busy these past few weeks, so today I had him take some pics of me when I was crocheting outside under the patio.

I don't think I have told you that we have our 2 granddaughters and their friend staying with us. They have all  moved up here to Brisbane from Young in ciountry New South Wales, and they are staying with us until they find a home to rent, early next year.

They all arrived in the beginning of June, and the house, and our lives, have not been the same!! It is lovely to have them all here, and they have all found jobs already, so they are going very well!
 We even have an apprentice hairdresser with us!
Two of the girls are flying home over Christmas, so we will have our Sarah, the apprentice, with us for the Christmas period, as she has to work.

So life has been quite hectic around here!

Apart from that, I am finally onto the border of the blanket for Christmas. It has taken me forever, as other things have interfered. I will be so very glad to have it finished!

So here I am:-

So the border is well under way here, almost there!

I have had a number of visits to the Skin Cancer Clinic over the past few weeks, and have a number of BCC's removed from my forehead, so the scars still are healing.  Tomorrow will be my final visit, I hope.

There is a big storm heading over here, we have battened down the hatches, and are just waiting now for it to hit. The humidity here has been really high, our temperatures have been high 30's, so it's time we had a monster storm to clear the air again.

The garden doesn't know if its Summer or Autumn, or maybe Spring! Some planys are flowering, when they shouldn't be until late Autumn, so our weather is all higglety piggildy!!

Well that's it for now, I hope that your weather is being kind to you, and your Christmas is arranging itself properly!!

Take care

Lest We Forget

On the eleventh hour
Of the eleventh day
Of the eleventh month
We Shall Remember Them

What I Am Working On

Hi everyone! Hope you are all well and happy with life!

I knew you would want to see what I have been up to, so here are some pics and stories for you!

So here is the Queen sized blanket  finally all joined together!  I can't believe how much it stretches!  

So, I left it at at 4 x 5 blocks, and have added a wide border.

By the time I finish the border all the way around the monster, it will have stretched to the floor, so I'm really not too worried about it.

I'm simply not doing it at the moment, because the weather is too hot and it smothers me! The only way to get it finished now is to take it outside onto the timber table and just turn it around on the table as I work. But that's for later because I'm busy with something else now.

So here is the border, of course I made it up as I went, and I am quite pleased with how it has turned out. It's a bit lacey so it looks ok by me!

This is what I am working on at the time. It is for a special person for Christmas. It will be a 60 hr job, by the time it is finished, but I am head over heels in love with it! It does look lovely against the white, doesn't it?

This is 4 rows of 10 to be done, each row is 6 squares that measure around 8 1/2 inches each.  

The pattern is from By Haafner HERE, and I am doing it in 8 ply acrylic yarn and a 4.50 mm hook.  Of course, my blanket will; not be as large as hers, as it looks like heavier yarn that she has used, with a 5.50 hook.

I just love love love this pattern, and I plan a border of popcorn stitches around it  in a slightly darker colour. and maybe a pillow, depends on how I feel by then!

So here is a close up of the square, isn't it just so pretty?  A little bit crooked in this picture, but truly, every single stitch is just like heaven to me!!

So that is where I am at .  My Sophie is just sitting and waiting patiently for me to get back to her. To think I was planning on doing more than 1 of her and gifting them! Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men... etc

When I finish this one, I am thinking about THIS' and it will be for me!! Maybe!! We'll see....

Thank you for dropping by, and I will be back soon!

Take care.

A Very Quick Update

 Sorry I haven't been around much, the old crochet hook has been flying and nothing else sort of happens!!

A few lttle pics of the garden today - I thought you may like to see:-

In the hut, the Hoya Carnosa has 10 bunches of flowers already, these are the closest to opening.

Hoya Hawaiian has 3 large bunches hanging under the roof. This is the largest.

Here are the other 2, hiding between the rafters.

The Lilliums are flowering well

They look so nice amongst all the other plants here.

A closer photograph.

I do love the colour of this bouganvillea!

The Lemon tree is doping well. My poor little monk needs a sunhat!

The double flowering frangipani has some flower buds 

The red frangipani has buds and leaves, you have to bend your nuck to look up to the top branches now!

Oh Horror of Horrors, our water pump for the fountain has turned up its toes, and we have yet to buy a new one.  Luckily the goldfish are only carp after all, so they can live without aeration for a while!!

That's the interesting bits in the garden for now, I will show you the crochet work when I take some photographs tomorrow!

Take Care

Blankets are Coming Along

Remember the  blanket that I showed you in my last post, the one where Jessica and Aaron had come to visit?

Well, here it is now:

So here it is on the Queen sized bed.  I decided to make all the squares 24" square, and so have been madly crocheting to get them all enlarged and crocheted together!

Remind me not to do that again, please!

It has tasken forever, and I am still not finished!! Everything else has been left while I got this done, and unfortunately, when the squares are this big, they stretch beyond belief!! They stretch more than 10%, which makes it really difficult to work out    how many I need for a given bed. So I am just winging it till it looks right.

It will stretch more anyhows!!

He re's all the blocks piled up that need to be attached.

Here's another view of the monster on the bed!!

 Here is a cute picture of Priscilla - she says "Hi"

Take Care

Some Garden Pics for You

I thought today that it has been so very long since I showed you what is happening in our back garden, I decided to take a few pics so you wouldn't feel left out!!

We shall start at the side of the garden, the site of massive pruning back and removal of one very naughty tree not long ago, as I showed you HERE. That was in April just passed, and here is how things are looking in that area now, after a long cold winter:

So, here we are, entering the garden from the side path, the cycads are doing very well, and the large one that you see here, has a cone beginning in the centre.

a step further along is a paved area, with geraniums, desert rose and some bulbs in pots. A draceana grows in a pot behind, and on the fence there is some wire, and a lovely variegated bouganvillea is planted there. It has white flowers edged in pink - very pretty.

The bromeliads growing up the tall palm are going really well!

Here we are, on the other side of the tall palm. This is the spot where the nuisance tree grew previously, Little red riding hood grows in the hanging basket, a native vine on the fence, and a little shrub that I have just planted in the front, it has pretty pink flowers, and doesn't grow too tall. The red frangipani is just beginning to grow its new leaves on the right. Hopefully it will be a lot happier now, without the tree over shadowing it!

To your right, here is the middle garden with my Eureka Lemon tree growing well.  The monk faces Buddha in the back corner.

The back left hand corner of the garden, bromeliads and palms, all very happy after a shower of rain last night.

The middle garden fromn the Bali Hut side. The triangle palm behind the bird bath is finally putting on some growth - it has been there for so many years, its about time!!

Here you can see the garden from the back opf the house.

Those two pics were the orchids behind the Bali Hut, all flowering madly. 

The Bat Plants have certainly put on some growth since flowering last - we are wondedring how many flowers they will comer up with this time!  Somef have self sown into the garden around their pots, which is lovely.

I have just potted up these two lovely frangipanis, at the back of the main bedroom. Hope they get enough sun here, I may have to move them later on when summer really hits, because they love the hot sun.

I hope you enjoyed that little look around the garden, everything is just waiting for the Summer so they can roar into life!

I'm Back Again!!

You just can't get rid of me, can you !?

Been so long, so now I will show you some things.

Our beautiful grand children came to visit us just last week - jessica drove, as she has finally got her license.

Here they are!

I think this is a lovely picture of both Jessica and Aaron

Here they are at Jessica's car - what a cutie!

Showing off

That big fat thing in the middle is someone impersonating me! (Note to self - GO ON THAT DIET FATTY!)

Here is how Sophie is going - I am adding extra rows onto two ends, to make her a rectangle now. You can see some of them up the top of this photo

I just have three extra rows on this end - still more to add, then we are on the final turn and heading for home!

This is another blanket I am working on at the moment - the squares measure around 12"

This square measures around 24". and will be one of the  corners for the 12" squares.

These little flowers will be another blanket - this is a join as you go 

So that is  about it for now, life goes on with it's usual haste, and I keep jumping between one thing and the other and never finish!!

Take care.