are you ready..

i sure am ...
look what arrived today all the way from the uk via ebay ..
thank goodness for ebay as i was wanting a substitute yarn for the design called lotusby marie wallin from rowan book no 45.[i have every one ] ..
it is not often that i knit for myself as i never really wear knitted things over here..
now that i have climatised [after 12 yrs]i find the winters can be a little cool..
we still have a Mediterranean climate and i find that it can be a little chilly on a morning but honestly i love this design and i do love a knitting challenge as i cut my knitting teeth on patricia roberts patterns in the late 60's .
patricia roberts patterns are the type that you definately cannot talk or watch tv or listen to music while you are knitting..
so if ever you find yourself in solitary confinement somewhere these patterns will be great help.
well i'm off to find my bamboo[favorite ]needles and a quite corner to cast on and as i am meeting the girlfriends at barbs tomorrow this will be a lovely little project..
you can watch the progress but i shall warn you rowan patterns are definately not a quick knit fix...

whose been sleeping in my bed?....

whose been sleeping in my bed??

last night i was busy sewing my granny squares and i left the blanket neatly folded in the crochet basket on the sofa..

i awoke this morning to a rumpled up blanket still warm from some little body having spent the night there..

i wonder who it could be ?...

did dolly do it? no it was i said portia and a lovely bed it was too !!

oops ....

oops ..
sorry about the photo lying on it's side but i just couldn't get it all in so i aplogise , just be careful of the neck position ..
well the baby cashmerino granny square coverlet [blanket] is nearly finished except for the border ..
i think i will flounce the border so that it has a bit of weight to it and if you knew me i can't really do anything easy and ordinary ,can i???
hmmn this is not going to be as straightforward as i thought hmmnn i think i will go and consult the oracle .....

finding old friends

waterlogged what can i say??....

iwent over to pat's place yesterday to make some more liberty square log cabiny things and as i was getting out of the car the bottle of water i was drinking on the way fell over and went everywhere..

there was only 600ml in the thing but it soaked every single piece of the strips i had cut in preparation to sew ..

so dear pat carefully laid out each strip over a chair on her balcony and the gentle breeze from the indian ocean wafted them dry..

but too late , my mood had changed and i didn't feel like sewing anymore , but i did ..

then when i got home i decided that i have to sort out my stashes.. yarn and fabric.. [this could be bigger than ben hur]..

so i started on my first [i have 4] box of liberty tana lawn [another addiction] and after sorting and carefully folding i found some old friends..

looking back thro these little pieces i reconnected the times of who i was with when i bought them and piece after piece this box not only holds the precious liberty but it also holds a lot of memories in their gentle folds...

two to go...

only two to go ..the granny blanket is nearing completion minus the border ..

then a lovely surprise all the way from the uk over 12000 miles away...

the latest caff kidsome catalogue and i LOVE IT ALL bye off to drool ...

our first fruity fig...

l picked our very first homegrown fig today ..

it is a 'brown fig' type ..it was absolutely delicious and we shared it 4 ways ..

memories came flooding back of a holiday we had in primosten yugoslavia many moons ago..

we would get up on a morning and pick these luscious fruits from our balcony window and feast on them for breakfast.. the poor old fig tree was hanging on for dear life as it was growing on a really steep craggy hillside and i couldn't believe the size and the quality of the figs that were coming off this neglected tree!

i think i may be pampering my fig tree too much when i think about it ..
when the grankiddles came home from school they had cool ginger beer with homemade choc chip cookies.....

going dotty..

i love dots ...

as you can see we are lucky enough to eat from cath kidston china everyday..

and as you all know i am looking after my grankiddles a lot lately while their mum is busy getting her nursing degree..

so my heart goes in my mouth every time they carry their plates to and from the table and i want to include them with the grown ups as much as i can and not to leave them out.

so then i bought these melamine plates and beakers [they bounce better than queens china] and now they have their own little plates awww...

it's not that i am precious about breaking things but as my grandaughter says to her little brother' be careful of the caff kidsome' so there...

i think it's mainly that each plate costs around 80.00 but so does the bloomin postage from the uk...

i'm off now to have my tea [dinner] from my lovely caff kidsome plates tooroo...

one man's junk....

one man's junk is another man's treasure .. as the saying goes...

at the moment in our neighbourhood is what the aussies call a vergeside collection..

i spotted the blue cane chair and promptly put it into the car ..i rescue complete..

at the same time my hubby was picking up the grankiddles from school and rescue no 2 happened ...

so i thought i would make a pair of cushions to welcome them ..

i chose a center from kaffe fasset and borders from phillip jacobson in a larkspur design.

i love phillip jacobson fabrics, they bring out the englishness[is there such a word] in me ...sigh..

5 to go ...

only 5 more squares to go ..
i am so over this blanket now and so near the end .
i fall in and out of love with my projects all the time and at the moment i am out of love with this one... but it won't last...
i am in love with the design on the front cover of the latest rowan book..
i am off to check out THE STASH to seeif i can find a substitute yarn as i didn't like the colors in the yarn it was knitted in ...
so i am off to fall in love ....

friday the 13th

today i feel a bit overwhelmed by the whole bushfire thing.

i went online to donate to the redcross and the rspca and i am amazed at the magnitude of the whole thing..

the media circus is milking it for all it's worth and i am not going to watch the news as i do not like the way it is being portrayed .

we have to deal with these global tradgedies in our way and try to make sense of it all 'but i think the older you the more of a mark it leaves on you .

so i didn't feel like blogging but i know i have friends out there who check in so i blogged just for you guys.

i put in a photo from pat's balcony looking out to the indian ocean and the little dredger that sails back and forth to take away the sand that clogs up the shipping lane ..

happy birthday to dear julia - your a star with a heart of gold xxxxx

i hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend and the world starts to heal..

we passed...

today [in 40 degree heat ] my hubby ,son and i took off to perth to sit the citizenship test and we all passed ...
my daughter had already become a citizen 8 yrs ago and we thought it was about time we took the plunge..
it is not as easy as one might think as you have to make an appointment to prove your identity and then sit the test which is made up of all sorts of questions from the history ,sport and political questions and it also took us two months to wait for an opening so we could all go together..
we now have to apply for citizenship and pay the fee and then the ceremony after that...then we can apply for an australian passport as well as keeping our british passport.
one of the reasons that we thought about, when we approached the 40 yr itch ,was that our children had a chance at dual citizenship and now we will all have it...
it takes about 9 months altogether from star to finish but it is a huge relief and quite satisfying and we all will be able to leave and return without the need for reentry visas and such ..
so after a huge day i amgoing to have a cuppa tea and congratulate myself....

in love with liberty...

i have always had a love affair with liberty tana lawn ...
i don't know whether it's because it epitomises english fabrics at it's best or the nostalgic memories it evokes or it could be that i have collected it all my life...
so i decided to work on the principle of square within a square and loosely base it on a wonky log cabin...
i must also add that my thoughts go out to all the other parts of australia that are suffering the most extreme and horrendous condititions that the universe is sending at the moment... god bless you all and thank god for the dedicated firemen and emergency services that are working so hard to save and rescue ..you are heroes...

13 to go...

13 to go ....squares that is and granny squares at that.
i just wish that 'granny squares 'had a nicer title.
i am crocheting in debbie bliss baby cashmerino which is such a dream to work with ...of course i have to have all the colors in order for this blanket to work but the colors are all vintagey looking so it's not hard.
i figure if i do one a day then i can stitch it all together ... then of course there is the border!!!
really when you look at it ,i am doing in wool what the quilters do in fabric .aren't i ??...

birthday puffs and a little nostalgia...

it wa smy birthday yesterday and we all met at my son's home for a barbie..

i took a tray of the infamous pat's powder puffs that my dear friend pat had made for me [check previous post] as always they go down a treat yumm...

another dear friend kim who is in canberra sent me a memorial book for my dear little pud.

the little handmade book is covered in fabric and inside are little pockets to put in a photo [of which i still can't look at without crying] and a little lock of her fur..

i will treasure this little gift from the heart and i thank all of my friends who made my day ...i love you all...

koigu heaven...

i could roll around naked on this wool..thats how much i love it but i wouldnt fit in the bag!!
alex broght me back TEN whole skeins to play and cuddle and drool over ...lucky, lucky me

hot...hot..hot...

another scorcher today ... in the high 30's again and storms brewing so the humidity is climbing and makes everything pretty uncomfortable and as we dont have air conditioning [which i don't want anyway] life is a bit sticky..

still we are in australia and here in wa we still have seasons and feb is the hottest month ...

in south australia they are having it hard with temps over 44 and bush fires are raging at the moment...

here in oz we have a total fire ban at the moment as everything is tinderbox dry but can you believe it that the majority of fires are started on purpose!

we purchased the big green egg at xmas and have only just started to cook on it.

it is a ceramic type grill or barbeque and you can control the temp- which is why i love it.

you use charcoal and it is ready to use in 6 mins .i have never really been comfortable in using the gas barbeque ,i know that it is easy but to me thats not the point..

cooking [ for me anyway] is a way to relax and appreciate really good ingredients and cooking outdoors is wonderful to me as for the first 40 yrs i was stuck in a kitchen in the uk and all i did was cook inside ...so when we came here i had the chance to cook outside which i love as the climate so permits it..

last night we had pork t bones[free range of course] and roasted summer vegetables [ all organic] yumm...

well of to buy alpaca muesli and some chewy chews for elsa have a great weekend...