little booties....

I loved using booties on my children when they were babies,

I had some gorgeous pairs that Andrew's mum made

and some from Aunties and others by ladies in the church.

I remember seeing these lovely ladies smile with joy and satisfaction

when they saw a pair of booties they had made

keeping my babies little feet warm.

Having had such a beautiful collection of booties

from the hands very experienced knitters and crocheters

I have always felt a little daunted by the thought of making them.

Until I spotted this pattern on Ravelry

it is a really simple 'first time booties' pattern.

I made this pair as per the pattern

but it could be easily modified with different edgings or cuffs.

The best thing about making this pattern is that it has given me the confidence

to attempt some of the more complex patterns for booties

I have been wanting to try.

The pattern can be found by clicking on the following links

On Ravelry & SLK Designs

Thank you to Susan L. Kraus for this great pattern :)

Have a delightful week!

~ Gillian ♥

Pacific Koel

One of the things I love about our garden at this time of the year

is the arrival of the

Pacific or Indian Koel

When the fruit ripens on our Palm trees we are always

visited by these fabulous looking birds.

The four photos above are of two different females,

I haven't managed to photograph the male as yet,

although we do see him everyday is very flighty

and as soon as I walk through the back door he flies away.

He is a spectacular glossy black bird with vibrant red eyes.

If you click on the link above the wiki page has images of the male

and you can also hear his fabulous call,

which wakes us up most mornings at the moment.

I managed to take these photos from our back deck,

which is two storey making me level with the height

of our palm trees where they were busy enjoy their meal.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend

~ Gillian ♥

Block no.7.....

Block no.7 in my

Block of the Week Project

I made block #2 Tiny Textures

from the book

200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

This is a wonderful pattern, simple and quick to work up.

I also love this gorgeous soft blue

Cleckheaton Country wool.

It's been a fun week here,

with our kids final week of school holidays drawing to a close

and Australia Day yesterday...

and I have even managed to crochet 26 squares already for

Crochet a Rainbow

with more to come over the next couple of weeks :)

I hope you are having a lovely week,

Thanks so much for visiting!

~ Gillian ♥

I'm really excited to be crocheting for this Beautiful Project

The lovely Sarah London has made a call for

Crocheters from all around the world to

crochet granny squares & donate them

so that they can be joined together to make

Blankets for those affected by the floods here in Australia.

If you would like to know more

all the information can be found here

My Nanna's Date & Walnut Loaf....

I wanted to share a little recipe with you today.

If you are a regular reader of my blog

you may remember My dear Nanna

passed away in November.

This afternoon I baked her

Date & Walnut Loaf

using two of her nutloaf tins.

As a child I spent a lot of time baking with her

so it felt so good to bake this recipe today

the smells of it baking and the taste of it again

warmed my heart xxx

................................................

I'd love to share the recipe with you

it's very easy and so yummy!

Nanna's Date & Walnut Loaf

Place in a bowl

1 1/2 cups chopped dates

1/2 cup walnuts (or other nuts)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

1 tablespoon butter

Pour Over

1 cup of boiling water

Mix Well

then Add

1 Cup Self Raising Flour

1 Cup Plain Flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix only until well blended.

Place in 2 greased nutloaf tins, Place lids on

Stand Upright on bottom shelf in oven

Bake for 50mins in Mod oven.

Eat while warm and serve with butter - yum!!!

If you don't have nutloaf tins with lids,

You can use a normal breadmaking loaf tin,

but the proper nutloaf tins make it taste just like my Nanna's :)

~ Gillian ♥

Block no.6......

Block no.6 in my

Block of the Week Project
I made block #61 Nine Patch Granny
from the book
200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

this was fun, the finished block measures

14 x 14cm

Wouldn't this block make the cutest dolls quilt for a baby doll,

But I think 5 x 7 little granny squares joined together

and of course in little girl friendly colours :)

.................................................

Thank you so much for visiting I hope you have a great day!

~ Gillian ♥

Places to Go......

It's been a little while since I shared some of my cards...
This set of Three Travel Cards
were recently published in
Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft
Vol 16 No 5

I love the way they photographed the cards,
so have included a scan of the magazine above.
and some close ups for you :)May Your day be Blessed
~ Gillian ♥

Tawny Frogmouth

This little feathered friend landed in one of our Grevillea Trees

this afternoon and I just had to share him with you,

we are often visited by Tawny Frogmouths usually in a family of three.

But this afternoon this chap was on his own.

Perched about shoulder high in the tree, he sat so still.

He wasn't as well Camouflaged as they usually

are when they come into our backyard.

I was able to get within 30cm of him with my camera

and he obliged by opening his eyes a little wider and

even turned his head to watch me as

I walked around to the other side of him.

I wonder if the other two who usually accompany him were sitting

close by watching me take photos of this one - probably!

As a matter of interest it is now after 9:40pm

and he is still perched in the same spot.

~ Gillian ♥

new project.....

Now that Jacob's cushion is all finished

I felt I needed to make a smallish project that was just for fun,

not following a pattern, not worrying about if it will work or not......

So the other day I was in Lincraft and came across some

packs of yarn from Australian Country Spinners,

obviously discontinued yarn, but this blue bulky yarn was familiar to me

as I had knitted Georgia a scarf out of this yarn a couple of years ago in pink.

I knew I loved the feel of it....

The pack had 4 balls (approx 250gms)

so I thought I might make a bag out of them.

Once I started I realised I probably should get some more,

but of course when I went back the next day there was none the same left.

So I had to improvise, I used 3 strands of Sullivans Cotton-a together

in this lovely Natural colour,

the three strands together seemed to be a very similar size to the bulky yarn

and once crocheted it has a similar feel also.

We travelled to Sydney on Thursdays just for one night

and then back home on Friday.

That was 4/12 hours each way in the car and as Andrew was

driving I decided I might see if I could crochet successfully in the car,

and I could! So it is almost finished.

I hope to share it with you very soon.

..........................................

Our family continues to pray for all those surrounded by flood waters

and those working hard to clean up after the flooding here in Australia.

May you be blessed with enough strength to carry on in the hard weeks ahead

and may you feel the support from those close at hand

when you need a shoulder to lean on.

~ Gillian ♥

Finished.....

Jacob's cushion is all finished!
Such a great sense of achievement!
I know it's just a cushion, but it seemed to take forever...
all those little dc (or sc for those who use US terms)
Jacob's cushion measures approx 48cm square
and is the same front and back, as you can see in the picture below.
this was the first time I have made button holes and quickly
learnt that they are much easier than I thought they would be ;)

The two squares were joined on three sides using two rounds of dc.

each square started with a chain of 75

with 102 rows of dc (sc US terms) this made each side square.

I used Panda Machinewash 8 ply Crepe Wool

4.5mm hook.

I'm already working on my next project

and also planning an afghan for Lachlan.

Take care

~ Gillian ♥

.................................................................................................

I just want to take this opportunity to express my sorrow

to all those experiencing the heartbreaking flooding

in the Eastern & Southern States of Australia.

and for those in Western Australia

who have had bush fires rage around them.

For those who have lost their loved ones

our nation grieves with you.

For those who have lost their homes,

pets, crops, livestock & businesses

take care, stay strong and

know that we are praying for you x

Block no.5.....

Block no.5 in my
Block of the Week Project

I made block #3 Square Target

from the book

200 Crochet Blocks
by Jan Eaton

I know this will be a block I will use block again in future projects,

as it was very simple and quick.

.....................................
And now for some new Book Love

My Brother & Sister in law
recently gave me this scrumptious book

there are some truly gorgeous afghans in it
like this one.....
oh and this!
so much to crochet, so little time :D

I hope you are having a lovely day

however you choose to spend it

~ Gillian ♥

pretty washcloths.....

I recently made some more lovely soft washcloths

it was a very basic pattern using tr (uk terms)

that evolved as I crocheted the first one.

I love that about crochet......

once you learn a few stitches,

and you have tried a variety of patterns your confidence grows

and you feel more at ease to experiment and play :) I hope you can find some time this week to

Experiment & Play

~ Gillian ♥

Block no.4.....

Block no.4 in my

Block of the Week ProjectI made block #129 Anemone
from the book
200 Crochet Blocks

by Jan Eaton

This one was quite bumpy I have blocked it but it still remains a little bumpy,
I'm sure when it is joined into the blanket with the other squares it be fine :)
I really love the way the Green round works on this square
and found it quite simple to crochet.

.....................................................................................................
I do want to thank all who expressed sympathy

after the passing of my dear Nanna,
She was a tremendous loss to our family

and it warmed my heart greatly to read the lovely comments

by those who read my blog, love to you all x

Thank You so much for visiting
I hope you all have a
Very Happy New Year
~ Gillian ♥