I've been busy

My crafty mojo is back, but I've lost my sense of humour. My body can't cope with craft and humour at the same time it seems. No incredibly witty slightly funny comments today, just some photos of what I have been up to in the last 24 hours.

Firstly, a whole lot more has been tackled on the Noro stole.  I had to drive 35 mins to the shop to buy an extra ball of wool, as when I finished using the required amount of wool, the stole wasn't long enough. I took it to the shop with me for "show and tell", they said I crocheted tighter than the original pattern and that is why the stole wasn't long enough. I think they were being polite and my money is on - "the girls" are bigger than average and I need extra to cover my ample bosom!!
It is longer than this I just forgot to take a photo later.

Next up, finally finished the binding on this baby this afternoon.  The sewing of the binding took longer than normal as the fabric was quite heavy and took a lot of effort to push the needle through each and every stitch.

It has the Lulu stamp of approval.

The Bar Harbor charm squares for the table runner were laid out again, and again, and again, until I was happy with the result. You can see from the two photos I changed it again before I sewed them together.

All sewn together in rows. They are still not ironed yet as I had to stop to cook dinner. I am hoping I have the rows sewn together tomorrow, and possibly almost finished.  Cross fingers.

Note: No snowball blocks have been tortured this week.

Tuesday tidbits

Look what I found in my grocery shopping.

Here's me wearing the scarf that I crocheted last week. It is so soft and I adore the colours.

Some more purchases.

Some Ta Dot, Hope Valley and Beyond the Sea.

More Hope Valley

Michael Miller Bird Swing in grey and multi, I love these but have no idea what I'm going to do with them. In the meantime I can look at them.

I started to tidy up a cupboard, so I could have some of my more recent purchases to hand. 

Still have to fit this in. I love these Ikea boxes, unfortunately they don't have them any more.

My Xmas fabrics, ready for a project.

This is not all my fabric stash, I have quite a bit more in the studio.

Crochet

This is what I have been working on today.

Unfortunately, giving me plenty of time to wonder why teenage daughters can be so uncaring, selfish, self-centred, lazy, ungrateful, rude........the list goes on. The positive in all this.... I know I am not alone, or the first and only mother in the world who has had to deal with it.  I am grateful that she is not into drugs, smoking and binge drinking.  It would be nice if I was actually appreciated for a millisecond.

Textile Art Festival Brisbane

This weekend the Textile Art Festival was on in Brisbane.  We drove down yesterday to have a look.  I was very surprised at how small it was, roughly half the size of previous quilt and crafting shows that I have seen. Although it was small, there was still lots to see, and as always, I came away with a few goodies.


The most amazing thing that I discovered, is that there is a fabulous yarn shop not far from me on the coast. Now when I say not far, it's not exactly around the corner, more like a 30 min drive, but that is not far compared to most things around here. Jenny King Designs has beautiful wool and is run by a woman who loves crochet, woo hoo. I can't believe I had not heard of this place before. I had to buy some balls of deliciousness as penance for my ignorance.

Yummy luscious colours of Noro yarn, to make some scarves to ward off the cold down south.


I also forked out big bucks for a Jelly Monster.

It's purpose is to help with cutting out hexagons, triangles  and circles on jelly rolls.  I thought it was a fabulous idea when I bought it but after reading the instructions, hmmm. I forgot that if you have circles and hexagons, you have to sew them onto something or together, and I don't like the sound of that, especially as I can't even sew snowball blocks. At least I can still cut out triangles and squares with it, and I will use them.  I will let you know how it goes......eventually.

Look what I bought too, I have been searching for one of these little beauties for a while now , as I really don't want to shorten my fingers accidentally.  (For the non quilters, it is a handle that attaches by vacuum seal to rulers, so that you don't accidentally cut your fingers off when you are using a rotary blade to cut fabric.)

It goes very nicely with my ball of wool!!!

Below are a few photos I took of one of the displays. They are from Dairing, an amazing company with brilliant ideas for textiles and some fabulous products that I had never seen before.

There were also some of Loani Prior's teapots  on display and a beautiful wall hanging by Prudence Mapstone, which were fabulous to look at and it would have been nice if I had remembered to take photos. 

There is more than a tail.....

You remember these pictures of Lulu, well part of Lulu? Some of you one of you doubts that Lulu has a head, you know who you are!

Here is Lulu, posing for the camera, to prove that she is more than just a pretty tail.

Proof reading helps!

San Choy Bau

A really lovely meal, low fat and healthy. I just tried this for the first time this week. It was so quick and easy, once the mushrooms had been soaked and everything cut up.  A definite winner, nice fresh flavours. The following quantities will serve 4 but it would need to be served with something else, or would be great as an entree.




SAN CHOY BAU

serves 4

2 dried Chinese mushrooms
1tblpn oil
300g pork mince
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3cm piece fresh ginger, grated
50g green beans, chopped finely
1/4 red pepper, finely chopped
1/3 cup water chestnuts, finely chopped
handful of bean shoots, reserve some for garnish
3 spring onions, sliced, reserve some for garnish
2 tblspns oyster sauce
1 tblspn soy sauce
1 tspn sesame oil
1/4 tspn sugar
squeeze of lime juice
iceberg lettuce leaves carefully removed from the lettuce to form cups

Soak the mushrooms in hot water for 20 mins.
Drain and finely chop, discard the stems.
Heat oil in wok and stir fry the pork with the garlic and ginger, until the meat changes colour.
Add the beans, red pepper, mushrooms,  cook for 3 mins.

Add water chestnuts, bean shoots, spring onions, oyster and soy sauce, sugar and lime to taste. Stir for a minute or so until combined and heated through.

Serve heaped in lettuce cups.
Scatter reserved bean shoots and spring onions on top.
You can roll up the lettuce cups enclosing the filling and eat with your fingers.

P.S.  I did a Nigella and ate the left overs straight out of the fridge for lunch today. 

Sunshine? No. Paradise? Maybe, but not today.

FOR THE BENEFIT OF MRS P.

Proof!!!  You didn't believe me when I said the weather wasn't nice here.

12mm (1/2 inch) of rain today so far.

This is what sunshine looks like, and what I should be able to see.

 And hello from Lulu.

No snowball blocks this week

I've been busy today, I started and finished this scarf.

I found the yarn in Spotlight it is Moda Vera, Noemi an acrylic/polyamide mix. Not the warmest but it is nice and soft. It will be handy for visiting Melbourne.  It is crocheted in treble (UK) double crochet (US), it is approx an 8ply yarn and I used a 6.00mm hook. 

I love crochet it is so quick.

No snowball blocks this week, surprise surprise.

What can I say about the following photos?

Actually, there is lots I can say about these, where do I start?

Tuesday tidbits

More purchases.  I love fabric.

Some Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry and Timber by Windham.

Nicey Jane fat quarters.

I have no idea what I am going to do with any of these, but I love looking at them.

A random photo from a program on TV that I saved ages ago, so have no idea where it is, or anything about it, but it is gorgeous. Look at all those beautiful plates on the wall.