Purple and Peacock Blanket

 I wanted to show you this rug I made for my beautiful sister-in-law last year. I really wanted her to have something nice, as she has missed out in the past. So I picked these colours and did another Whatchamacallit from Hooked on Sunshine! I worked on it nearly every day for over 2 months. It was a hard slog but I wasn't doing anything else at the time, I had stopped playing computer games so had the time! She really loved it when I gave it to her in August, even though I finished it in April, as I didn't see her until then as she works and is very busy. The rug isn't very big, its not big enough to go on a Queen bed because I was running out of yarn. Every round takes longer than the last as it gets slightly bigger as you go, as you can see from the progress pictures, the first few rounds can be done in a day! The next time I buy yarn for one of these, I think I will use 200g balls all one colour and see how big I can go. It took over 3 hours to weave in all the ends!

This finished rug took over 2 months to finish.

This is what was completed in the first day.

Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 ply cotton.

What the rug looked like after working on it for a week.

Progress on the rug looked like this after one month.

Homegrown Lemon Curd

 We have an over-abundance of lemons from the tree we planted in 2013, so much so that the tree's branches were falling down, so we picked a bunch! David made lemon curd for Christmas lunch using this recipe and it was a sure-fire hit! So I wanted to have another go at making it again to use up some more of these lemons, David helped me and it turned out great! Happy New Year 2026!

An overabundance of homegrown lemons!

There was enough to fill 2 recycled jars.

Dairy-free margarine and lemon zest go into the pot!

David squeezed the homegrown lemons

The lemon curd gets whisked in the pot at the stove

Straining the lemon curd into the recycled jars, Yum!

Beginner's Flower - FREE PATTERN

 I'm going to be teaching my niece how to crochet so I came up with this beginner's pattern, in case we get past doing chains and slip stitches!

Beginner's Flower with 6 Petals in 2 Rounds

Beginner's 6 Petal Flower in 2 Rounds

chain 4, slip stitch into 1st chain to form loop

chain 1, single crochet into center of loop 6 times, slip stitch into 1st single crochet

chain 5, slip stitch into next stitch to form 1st petal, repeat for 6 petals in total

Rustic Square Drink Coaster - FREE pattern

 I really enjoy working with this 4 ply cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills in the shade of latte. I've had trouble deciding what to do with it, I have frogged about 4 different projects using this yarn until I finally decided to make some square drink coasters. I hope the intended recipient likes them!

Rustic Square Crochet Drink Coaster - FREE pattern

using 4ply cotton in neutral tones and a 3mm hook

round 1. 3 ch, sl st into 1st ch to form loop, 2 ch (counts as 1st st), dc into loop, 3 ch (2 dc into loop, 3 ch) 3 more times to form 4 corners, sl st into 2nd ch of 1st st

rounds 2-4. 2 ch (counts as 1st st), dc into every dc of previous round, (2 dc 3 ch 2 dc into each corner), sl st into 2nd ch of 1st st, repeat this round 2 more times

round 5. ch 1 sc into same st (counts as 1st st), sc into every st around, (4 sc into each corner), cont. sc in every st, sl st into 1st st

round 6. crab stitch in every st around, cast off and weave in ends (to learn how to do the crab stitch, watch this video on youtube by Bella Coco)

Stars and Snowflakes

 Merry Christmas for 2024! Here are some Christmas tree ornaments I made for our family tree! I used my star pattern, as well as a snowflake pattern from Draiguna. I used a 3.5mm hook for the stars and a 3mm hook for the snowflakes! Enjoy!

my stars pattern with 8ply cotton and a 3.5mm hook

a snowflake with 4 ply cotton and a 3mm hook

snowflake with 4 ply cotton and a 3mm hook

Crochet Vests for a Small Dog

 Now its spring, but during the winter just gone, I made 3 crochet vests for our maltese/shitzhu dog named Duke. I used 8 ply cotton, wool or acrylic yarn and a 4mm hook. I worked it out to be simply a tube with 2 holes for his front legs. I think he liked wearing them!

the first vest I made was in blue cotton

the 2nd vest I made was in this dark purple wool

the 3rd vest I made was in acrylic yarn

Flowering Spring Onions

 
Now winter is over and Spring is here, our potted spring onions are flowering! We just bought some spring onions from the supermarket and planted the roots, and they have been growing ever since! I think we must have done that last year. Now they are flowering so I'm hoping to get some seeds which I will plant for more spring onions! Its best to snip of a leaf or two when needed in your cooking, its a very handy herb to have!

potted spring onions are now flowering in Spring!

Aurora inspired coaster with alternative ending

Last weekend we had a wonderful Aurora Australis due to a solar storm. I couldn't see it from here because we had lots of cloud cover and we don't have a clear view to the south, but there were many pictures posted online. They have inspired me to mix these colours, orange, red, bright pink and purple. For this coaster I used my simple hexagon flower pattern but with an alternative ending. For the 4th round, just do 5 dc into the 6 corners, 2 dc into each 2 ch space, and also 1 dc into the top of each cluster stitch. There is no 5th round.

Simple hexagon flower in 4 rounds

Garden Update Autumn 2024

Here are some select images from our garden at the end of Autumn 2024. I just planted out 4 cuttings of all-year round basil, I had them in a glass jar on my kitchen window sill for a week. I cut open a chamomile tea bag and scattered them in a pot because I saw a video that you can do that, and now they are sprouting! Our 15 year old lime tree has stopped flowering the last 2 years since we have removed an infestation of stink bugs. We think we've removed them but the lime tree still isn't flowering.

our 15 year old lime tree isn't flowering

aloe vera still grows abundantly in our garden

some all-year-round basil cuttings I planted out today

a Ned Kelly grevillea we planted out last year

chamomile seedlings from a tea bag

thriving bromeliads are in many places in our garden

a random tiny flower in our lawn

a new tumbler has been added to our composting system

Homegrown Pumpkin Soup and Homemade Bread

One of the best things we ever did for our house is to keep a compost. Its great to not have anything wet in the trash, all the left over food goes in the compost, especially seeing as we are vegetarians. From our compost has sprouted a huge pumpkin vine, and like last year, we have grown several large organic pumpkins! We cut open the 1st one the other day, and my husband made most of it into a pumpkin soup, and I want to remember how beautiful and sweet it is! As an accompaniment, I made some more homemade bread, this time without oats but just flour instead. A lovely lunch to remember!

homegrown pumpkin soup and homemade bread

this homegrown pumpkin is very sweet and delicious!

a self-sown pumpkin growing in our backyard