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Sunday, 13 January 2013

I'm going to be on Woolhogs!

I am so pleased that I have been invited by http://www.woolhogs.co.za/ to be one of their designers, and soon my goodies will be on their website offered for sale.
Here is a preview of some of the things I have made:

Crochet African Violet
 
Crochet Heart Keyring    
 

 Crochet Hair clip   
 
 Pony tail holder,
                                                                                      flower bead trim
 
 Crochet-trimmed hairband.
 
 

Saturday, 12 January 2013

Daily bread

As a child, I never ate shop bread, always home made. In fact, the butter was home made as well, and it was my job to churn it on a Saturday. I no longer make my own butter, although I have done so on the odd occasion, but I do make my own bread.
It is so easy to do, especially as I now have a Kenwood to do the heavy kneading! I bake once a week, and cut the big loaves in half, and freeze. Then I take out what I need.

Here's what I made this morning:

 
 
The loaf on the right is a cheese loaf; after I had filled the tins (I line with baking paper, makes it so easy to get the out of the tin) I still had a bit of dough left, so I flattened it a bit with my fingers, grated some cheese on, then sprinkled with chilli and garlic seasoning. I rolled it into a ball, and baked in a small, square tin. We ate most of it for lunch today with some homemade mushroom soup. Today is quite a bit cooler, and soup was just right for lunch.
 

Friday, 11 January 2013

Cross Stich Crazy

I go through all sorts of creative phases; at one time it was cross stitch. Here are a few things I made:
 
 
 
 
I loved this project; I like zebras. It hangs on my bedroom wall.
 
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I made this for my mother's 90th birthday. It was her philosophy of life. When she died, it was returned to me. It also hangs on my bedroom wall.
 
 
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This knot garden embroidery is only about 18cm square, but has dozens of colours as well as gold thread. This one is in my sitting room.
 
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This means "A Hundred Thousand Welcomes" and is in Irish. We lived in Ireland for six years. It hangs in my dining room, and was a talking point among my guests when I ran a B&B.
 
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Finally, not something I did, but a surprise in my flower garden: something that came up from the compost, a golden tomato plant. If you haven't tried these, do grow them,  they have a lovely flavour.
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Garden Arch

This is what we bought as a Christmas present for one another, don't you think it looks great? It was made by a very talented local man, Johan Bothma. The wheelbarrow was one that I bought very cheaply at an auction, as it was full of holes - just perfect for filling with flowers!
 
 

Sunday, 6 January 2013

Picture at last!


This is the cardi with the purple buttons!


New Year, new idea

Yesterday I finished a cardigan that I was crocheting from yarn in my stash. Well, it started out as a cardigan, but ended up sleeveless, and I didn't have enough yarn!
It needed buttons, but I couldn't find any suitable ones in my button tin. What I did find, however, was some covered buttons that I had 'inherited'. They weren't covered very well, and the colours were all wrong.
Using six strands of crochet cotton, I made covers to go over the covers. I started with a 'magic ring', crocheted in rounds, then laid it over the button, cut off a long tail, and gathered to fit. The result is stunning!

For some reason I cannot, at the moment load pictures on the blog, but I am working on it!

Thursday, 3 January 2013

Hippo go Lucky

Have you heard of this wonderful website? http://www.hippogolucky.com/
It's full of wonderful things made by crafters in South Africa. And, yes, you've guessed, I am selling on this site.
So far I have only loaded a few items, it all takes time, what with taking the photos, editing them, sorting them, and so on and so on, then you have to put in a description, upload the pics, and put in the price and method of despatch.

The latest thing I have made from the wonderful Woolhogs Bamboo yarn is pony-tail holders. They are elasticated, so that they stretch and hold.  I put a ruler in the photo so that you can see the size of them.


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