A bit of this and that!

As promised, a little bit of what was on the go in my life towards the end of 2011.

 Tea Cosies ... always my favourite.  Planning on making some cute baby blankets this year.

 Knitting a tea cosy while my parents were visiting us at the end of September/October 2011.  I gave the tea cosy to my mom to take home in the end.

Had an order for 6 tea cosies, made a whole lot of cup cake cosies.

 Tried my hand at crocheting toys.  Love the way the little ballerina turned out.

 Coat hangers, such a beautiful luxury to hang ones clothes onto, compared to the "gorgeous" plastic hangers we use these day!!

Just something fun, a jumble of colours and styles all in one!

Lillydew Updates - I'm here!!!

♥ Hello all you dear and wonderful bloggers out there.  I am pleased to announce that I am back and was never reported missing but just got caught up in the end of year business of 2011.  I have much to blog and many photos to paste.

I have not stopped crocheting; in fact I gave a lot of tea cosies as Christmas presents.  I also gave homemade jam and peanut brittle.  I am just a week back from my glorious 2 week holiday on the Natal coastline of South Africa.  It is tropical and exquisite in Scottborough, a little coastal town with cute and quaint shops. We (my husband and 3 children) spent most days on the beach, swimming, picking up shells, reading books and just sitting in the little rock pools staring out to sea.  A definite place to holiday away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

So, look out for an update of what I have been up to from my last blog, I will bring you up to speed in the next week or so but definitely before the end of January 2012.

I hope that 2012 will be a blessed year for you and your families.   

A Joyful Collection of Things to Do!

♥ I just don’t know where to find the time for everything I enjoy doing, and there are quite a few things I enjoy doing!

Top of the list is my crocheting then baking, blogging, reading all of your blogs, gathering inspiration, printing out some patterns(I have on my list of things to do) and gardening. 



I have tried everything to rotate this picture the right way and it just WONT, so on its side it goes... sorry!



It is spring here in Johannesburg so the garden is a wonderful place to potter around and enjoy.

I enjoy baking, of that my 15 year old son is making sure as he is eating everything in sight.  I actually have to hide the biscuits so that the rest of the family can have some too.

Crocheting:  I have joined the “one a day” group on http://www.ravelry.com/ and am actually doing 2 a day.  I am making blocks for my daughters blanket for next year.  I am also busy knitting another tea cosy, it’s not going too quickly as I am doing the whole tea cosy in knit 2, pearl 2, every row.  It will be rather pretty when I’m done though.

Blogging:  I have so much I want to post and say, photos I want to take but when my day begins at 5am in the morning and I have to be at work by 7.30am, leaving home by 6.40am, I do not always have the time.  I do get time though, to read all the lovely blogs I follow.

My parents are visiting from Port Elizabeth at the moment and I am really enjoying my time with them.  I feel super blessed that they could come to visit and that I still have them around. 

Have a super week whatever it is that you are doing!

Project Blanket Finale`

I had a wonderful birthday and got super spoilt with most of the goodies from my wish list.  I did finish my blanket and here are the photies!

♥ It is wonderfully warm to cuddle under this blanket in front of the TV at night as the evenings are still a bit chilly.  I am very reluctant to share it with anyone else besides my husband on our bed!  The dogs try their luck to sneak onto the blanket but promptly get booted off.

My veggie garden is coming along and the seeds you see in the photo above still need to be sown.

I have been pretty busy crocheting tea cosies for the coffee shop I supply so haven't had too much time to blog.  This past weekend was my eldest daughters 19th birthday on Saturday as well as her matric dance.  I am rather exhausted this morning and do not really know why, think it's just been the high of it all!  My parents arrive this Friday for a 4 week visit, so it's going to be a busy month.

I will post photos of the tea cosies this week sometime for you to see!

                               ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~

Birthday Wish List

™ I love this time of the year when the weather warms up and spring is in the air.  Thursday is my birthday and here is the wish list for my family ˜

♥ A crochet book/magazine to inspire me and keep the creative juices flowing!

♥ Some different colours of the Elle Pure New Wool. 

           Love the feel of it, love the colours!

♥ Tray of seedlings, maybe Petunias.

♥ A Woollies potted rose!

♥ Chocolate, especially love Lindt.

♥ A pretty new Maxwell and Williams mug or any other fine bone china mug will do. I know I’m pushing it, but a tea cup and saucer would be nice!

♥ To have my crocheted blanket complete! - I'm working my fingers off on this one!

Orange Roses and Strawberry Jam

What a lovely respite from crocheting my blanket!  Yesterday I crocheted some roses for a tea cosy I must finish for someone special.  I am calling it my “marmalade” tea cosy as I am making the roses with shades of oranges that you would find in marmalade.  I have this lovely soft wool that I was given that has nice changing tones of orangey colours in it.  There is even a little bit of blue in it, wonder what little blue rose buds will look like between the orange roses, mmmm a thought!  I have also received two more orders for other tea cosies from the coffee shop where I display the cosies for sale; so between Sophie and me we are getting these special little orders ready!  It gets me very excited and inspires more exciting pretty projects.

After reading a blog post on yarnroundhook.blogspot.com, I was instantly inspired to go out and buy some strawberries for jam making; hence these lovely photographs of the process! 

I have an Iphone and one of the photographic applications I have downloaded is called “Hipstamatic”, it takes these lovely “aged” photos I have displayed here.  It is such a nice “camera” that I have been snapping away at all kinds of things, look how lovely this lavender looks.  

I love making chalk board hearts.  My husband cuts the wood out for me and I paint them with chalk board paint.  “All things Nice” has magnets glued to the back of it and sits on my fridge! J. 

Look at this lovely photograph of my daughters cat Chloe, she is a very photogenic cat and of course Hipstamatic makes it even more HDR.  (High definition resolution- fancy photographic terms)

I will post the marmalade tea cosy as soon as I have finished it and not to mention, the baby I have been working on since the 1^st of July – THE BLANKET, it is close, very close.

A Pretty Crochet Corner

I am dying to get my blanket done as I am desperate to move on to some other projects.  I want to make some pretty cushion covers and am desperate to get working with some other wools and colours.   It’s been more than four weeks of Rustica chunky.  Make no mistake, I love it and I am delighted with how my blanket is turning out in looks and feel but GIVE ME ANOTHER PROJECT NOW PLEEEASE!  I will not stop though until I have conquered this Kilimanjaro of a project!!

With spring just around the corner, the weather is warming up beautifully here in Johannesburg.  As a result, I have found a nice little corner on my patio to sit and crochet.  Here I can enjoy the view of my “winter garden” soon to be a blooming “spring garden”!  I worked quite considerably in the garden over the past weekend so I am looking forward to reaping the fruit of my labour!  I was busy crocheting with the mauve colour of the Rustica wool and couldn’t help noticing how beautiful it looked against the Pansies I had planted in pots on the patio.  PRETTY!  Flowers do give us nice colour combinations; mm I think a crocheted Pansy cushion cover next!! Ok, let me just get finished with this blanket already, work hands work!

A HAPPY WEEKEND TO YOU ALL!!

Some pretty little Primulas flowering at the school where I work!