Friends and Cupcakes

The girls have each had friends over after school in the last few days.

Something that we don't do often enough.

When a friend comes, I like to make cupcakes, if I have time.

Laura and I baked these before school on Friday, and I iced them before I hurried to work.

Afternoon tea with 4 girls was hilarious.

All good fun.

Plaintive Little Messages

... on the bookshelf ...

... on our bed ...

... in front of the computer ...

... above the dishwasher ...

... on the bathroom mirror ...

... on the front door ...

... and even in the fridge!

Do you think she's trying to tell me something?

Fed up with asking me in person, Laura is now trying a silent, written campaign.

And she knows exactly whereabouts in the house I will see them most.

A straight path

Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees;

then I will keep them to the end.

Give me understanding, and I will keep your law

and obey it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of your commands,

for there I find delight.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things;

preserve my life according to your word.

Psalm 119:33-37

Granny Square Scarf

This has been my latest crochet project.

Lovely little squares in rich blue and plum, in soft acrylic ...

Perfect for whipping up while I watch Band of Brothers, or sit in the sun, or feel a bit sick, or whenever I have a moment ...

This is the pattern I am using, from the Lincraft Crochet 2008-2009 collection, still available.

But I am making the squares smaller for a narrower scarf.

A Night at the Circus

Tonight we saw the Moscow Circus!

We loved every minute!

We were dazzled by incredible stunts, amazed by magic and illusion and amused by clowns.

Loved the miniature ponies, nodding their silky heads as they trotted around the ring ...

And then we walked home in the cold,

in the light of a lunar eclipse, shivering until we reached the warmth of home.

A great night!

(all photos from the Moscow Circus website)

Little White Urns and White Linen

Lately I've been so inspired by the lovely blogs with serene white interiors, classical gardens, and of course, always a touch of vintage. Some of the blogs that come to mind are:

Faded Charm Cottage

My Everyday Things (with a touch of red!)

and

Modern Country

So, when I headed to my local op shop on Friday ... and then again yesterday ... my eyes were blinded to any colour but white!

Here's what I found:

3 little white urns, priced from 50c to $2.00!

This one has a lovely sheen to it and an elegant shape, looks like it was a candlestick ...

this one is a lovely matte white, I love the details.

This is a sweet little rose-adorned basket ...

... but oh ...

... look what happened to it when I cleaned it!:

These urns will sit on a low white shelf in our study, above the sheet music.

Yesterday I also had to bring home this sweet vase ....

....not soooo white, but I love it.

And look, inside a beautiful soft green that goes with our walls!

This will sit I think in the white bookcase in the hall, always hard to photograph because it's the darkest part of the house.

I also found this cream Grindley plate for just $1.00! I love Grindley!

And a white cotton placemat and napkin.

I only realised just now when I unwrapped this that the napkin sits in its own pocket on the placemat.

And then ... as if all this whiteness was not enough loveliness, I received a parcel from the lovely Linda!

An absolutely gorgeous and huge white cotton and lace tablecloth!

I love everything about this cloth!

... but then, what's not to love about white cotton?

I'm linking to Vintage-Thingie-Thursday

and White Wednesday (a day late!)

Crochet Flower Brooch

This is a little thankyou gift I made for Helen, who taught me to crochet.

I used this pattern from Attic24 (my favourite crochet inspiration) and adapted it slightly to make the lower larger flower.

Cute and quick, I think the longest part was sewing it together and onto the brooch finding.

I'm just relieved to be able to make a flower, my first attempts, back in the first few days of My New Crocheting Life, were disasters!

Now I'm going to send the link to Helen, so she can learn to make them!

Don't you just love the cycle of craft learning, teaching and inspiring?

Knit 1, Crochet 1

I seem to always be knitting or crocheting these days!

I've just finished a scarf for Mum's birthday.

The yarn is Heritage Monte Carlo and it has two strands, one plum-coloured with mohair, and one acrylic, shiny with rich plum, purple, peacock and turquoise with little bumps on it. I tried so many different knitting and crocheting stitches with it, and finally gave up and knitted it in good old garter stitch on 9mm needles, which looked perfect, after all!

It looks better in the flesh than in the photos, too. When you hold it up to the light you can see the knitted pattern in a grid, a nice mixture of warm but a tiny bit lacy.

Once I'd finished experimenting it only took a couple of days to knit up.

I hope Mum likes it!

I'm also still crocheting the "jewel-coloured homeless man rug" and coming to the end of my wool supplies very rapidly! (Might be looking out for a very small homeless man soon?)

I'm happy with it up to now but with my original colours running out may have to compromise on design. The main thing is to provide a warm rug for someone!

The girls are both knitting 2 scarves each, so I've been casting on and helping them get started ..

And all the while I'm looking forward to returning to my favourite project ...

...my pretty spring-coloured granny square rug ...

...which makes me happy just to look at ....

... but crocheting it would be even better!

Small House Musings

Myshkin the cat has gone back home. Turns out we are not cat-people. Myshkin, on the other hand, seemed to be completely happy here.

I was swayed by all the photos of happy cat families in blogland to think that a cat would add to our life, but instead, three of us were unbelievably stressed by his presence and the other aspects of having an indoor cat in a small house.

The photo above was taken on Mothers Day, and I stood at the front door to take it. The door you can see with the glass window is the back door. That's how big our house is. (And that's the long side - from side to side is even shorter!) Laura is standing in the living room, near the dining table. Not much room for us, let alone animals of the living variety (we have zillions of cuddly toy animals, but that's another story).

So, just the four of us again.

Which is, really, just right.