Colour Fest!

This past couple of weeks has all been about colour, in the flowers around me and the handicraft I have been working on.
First the flowers

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 This is the riot of colour I am basking in.... yellow freesias, ostespermum dasies, cyclamen and wisteria
and the rest are all from this gorgeous bouquet that arrived from my lovely childen for Mother's Day!

Two of my prized hibiscus were caught very badly by the frost this winter and i had almost given up hope that they had survived, but I was insanely happy to find this tiny little green shoot on the double peach plant! Its alive! Now I am holding my breath for the other one to show some signs of life too.

On the crochet front I have been working my way through a ball of Kauni rainbow yarn that has been in my stash for years, the fun of watching the colours change is amazing, especially in the crocodile stitch........another bag in the making

And some cute little bunny egg cozies soon to be on their way to Peckham for Easter

The pattern for these is from Little Cotton Rabbits, as I'm using oddments of  yarn that I have (not the 4ply cotton recommened) the head come out to large for the body of this one, so this will be Daddy Bunny!

This one is much better and will be Noah's I think, but he will no doubt decide which is his favourite without any help from me. Mummy bunny still to come!

Cards, cards, cards!

We tried our skills at stamping with corner stamps the Barbara Gray way at club this week and were quite successful. The Mens' cards were from a few weeks ago and have only just come back to me.

This week we are doing 3D flowers, some from My Craft Studio Paper Flower Expert CD's and some from a new book I have aquired on making flowers with punches, the cherry blossom abouve is done this way and I am tickled pink (sorry!) and how they came out!

I realised this week that since I started blogging, my Project folder has been sadly neglected so I have been printing off lots of pics of projects I've completed over the past few months. I write in all the pattern details, yarn etc, in case I want to do it again, and its also lovely to look back on (and show off of course!)

Well that's it this week folks, lots of medical appointments to look forward to in the coming days, the colour fest will keep my spirits up, I hope it does yours too.
Handy hugs till next time!

Fun, fun ,fun!

The past two weeks I have been suffering badly from the pine tree pollen that is hanging in the air and leaving yellow dust over every conceivable surface, BUT I have been surfing a lot and found some very interesting stitch pattern to play with that have kept my mind off my wheezy chest and dripping nose.....

First fun project, the crocodile stitch, (video tutorial here)I so enjoyed doing this in the Lion Brand colour shifting yarn called Amazing, that I kept going and made a little purse, trying out another stitch for the handle (this video is in Spanish, but it's easy to follow the pics). Thought it would make a lovely little hand bag for a little girl I know, but on reflection I will take the handle off, put a zip in the top and use it for all my pills and potions to be transferred from one handbag to another as I love it so much I can't bear to give it away!

I found some Kauni rainbow yarn in my stash that was going to be a Fairisle sweater for me, but has never been knitted as I had second thoughts about it. I bought it on impluse when the Yarn Harlot was knitting it and got swept away by the excitement! (The pattern now looks dated, and the fabric was going to knit up very stiff) Soooo. I have started a larger bag, the round, in this pattern and am loving the way the colours gradually change, pics to come soon!

The next fun thing was trying the Catherine wheel stitch alternatively known as Bavarian crochet, I need this video tutorial to get the hang of it, but it is easy enough once you get going. Makes a lovely thick fabric for a throw or a rug,

 Here is the Tadah! for my Lucy cushion, very bright and cheerful, i know EXACTLY who is going to receive this beauty!












This is the back of the cushion, just 2 rows of trebles all round, increasing every other row, slip stitched to the front, awaiting a circular cushion that
seems impossible to buy here in Spain.....sigh










Definitely NOT FUN, the never ending sleeve! All garter stitch takes FOREVER to grow! I felt justified in working 'off piste' for a while on other fun things, but at last the first sleeve of the Diagonal Jacket is done and I have cast on for the second. This is mindless TV knitting until you get to the tricky shaping at the top. I know I'm going to love this when its done, but it is certainly a labour of love!

My Crochet and knitting group encouraged me to try a lace stole pattern with various yarns including mohair, I've cast on and ripped out at least three times so I've abandoned it until I can get more help at the next meeting

In the meantime I have been making very pretty girly cards

And Spring is bursting out all over!

the Wisteria

The second batch of narcissi

The mauve freesias

and a pretty little cactus

In keeping with the season we make quilled daffodil cards at club this week, but I will have to photograph them tomorrow, the sun is setting as I write...

Happy Mothering Sunday to all the UK Mums, hope you've been spoilt rotten!