And number 3 - it's orange

Today I am working on our practice manual. It is hard yakka! So having a break decided to write on my blog

I am so inspired by my beautiful home in winter. It is a rainy day today but all so very orange! I've had rainbows and rain and the sun is really trying to peak through. I love the photo of the early morning spider web and I actuallly managed to capture the rainbow on my trusty lumix. We have had hundreds of oranges which Greg juices each morning. Sadly I can't eat them due to allergies, but they sure do look amazing!











Every time I see a rainbow it reminds me of my dear granddaughter, Gwenhwyfar. I used to ring her every time I saw one, "can you see it Gwenhwy?" Poor kid she's 2 hours away, so how could that ever happen? smile!

So here it is Gwenhwy. I can't resist!

Enjoy!

beautiful irish crochet

My friend Erica, fondly referred to as Madame Google, shared a link to this amazing site.

Here is an amazing garment by Elena Statkevich on the Irish Crochet Lab Website




I just want to sit and do this for the rest of my life. thanks Erica

have fun crocheting hugs Ann

A new doll

It has been an exciting time for our doll club. We are helping Gloria prepare for our 20th anniversary retreat in August at Coffs Harbour. This is so exciting. 5 days of dolls with some very talented US doll makers. Can't get better than that! smile!

At our last doll club meeting last Saturday we had the unveiling of our challenge dolls inspired by the santos cage dolls.

You can see the dolls here on our Hello Dollies Blog

And here is my doll. My shrine to crochet. I love crochet and really enjoyed making her. She is all cloth with crocheted motifs. The base was a light casing I bought at a nursery. I hope you like her.



have a lovely day Annie

My jacket shawl if finally finished

I love this time of year, today we had a gentle wind and beautiful sunny sky. It was really magic watching the knee long grass gently blowing in the wind. A gentle undulation and most meditative to watch. How magic. I wish I had taken a photo. The colour of my day was a gentle orange of the grasses, the new oranges on our citrus trees and new bird of paradise stems standing tall. The orange against the green is a beautiful contrast.

I have finally finished my shawl jacket from Nicky Epstien's book block by block and love it.

it is worn off the shoulder and hangs quite low at the sides and off the arms.

Here are some photos of front, back and the complete jacket. I'm not sure if I'll sew up the sides but it sure does look fabulous. The pattern has knitted in sleeves but being a woman of a certain age, I think I'll make some arm hugs instead which are easily removed.



This is the front



This is the back,



and this is the complete jacket. Buttons just need to be sewn on and it's ready to wear.

It's great to snuggle into.

Otherwise I'm madly working on producing my rpl for my diploma of practice management. I'm reallly enjoying this.

The other thing I really want to do is make some crocheted flowers for my new meditation buddah. He holds a large flat dish in which they would sit beautifully.

Until next time. have fun and enjoy Ann

A beautiful weekend

I had a lovely mothers' day weekend. My sisters and I took mum to see Eurobeat at the Joan Sutherland performing arts centre in Penrith. It was a fun, funny musical comeday, a takeoff of the eurovision competition. We all really enjoyed it and it was a first for mum, she hadn't seen anything like that before.



Mothers' day breaky was at Magenta Shores, then catching up briefly with my sister Lorna. This gal is an amazing inspiration to me.



I did make her a bracelet for her 50th birthday. It was fun watching her trying to work out how it was made. It is made from buttons with shanks removed, then glued onto a bracelet using the strong E6000 glue. And thanks to Gloria at Annes Glory Box for these wonderful buttons. I made myself one too.


Then we drove up to Allworth for afternoon tea. Isn't this a lovely pic of me Gwenhwy, Griff and Olive.



Sadly Chris and family couldn't make it as Chris was working but we'll catch up soon. He hadn't seen daylight for a week as working underground. I don't mind, I am so lucky. It's like mothers' day for me every day when I see my kids and grandies.

The green jacket is coming along wonderfully, I'm up to the front bands. I've decided not to knit in the sleeves but to make some arm warmers instead which will look like sleeves and are able to be taken off when I only need warmth around my chest. Pics next time.

I've been enjoying The Voice. Gosh there are some amazing singers this season. My favourites have to be Luke, Harrison, Celia and Miss Murphy. Let's see how they go! smile!

I've also started to upgrade some qualifications and am madly working on my RPL for Diploma of Practice Management. Wish me luck!

Have fun and enjoy every moment

hugs Ann

What a week, we are so lucky

It has been an up and down week.

Yesterday Chris and his children were in a car accident and luckily everyone is ok. It was a real wakeup call. We truly are so lucky and blessed. He rolled the car in thick fog and noone had any injuries at all. It is surely a miracle.

It really helps to talk about it. I guess that is an important part of dealing with trauma. Seeing the car upside down with stuff everywhere was such a shock. But they're ok. I'm not religious but at times like this I really think there must be someone who looks after us. thank you, thank you, thank you.

On a creative note, on Wednesday mum and I went to see War Horse at the theatre. The puppetry and puppeteers were amazing. The whole show was wonderful. The set was so simple and amazing. Mostly drawings computer projected onto an undulation of fabric across the back of the stage. I loved it.

I'm knitting again and it is my meditation. Greg says if I'm not knitting I'm asleep, how true!

Here is my neck warmer just finished using a 50:50 wool acrylic called Splendour. It is so soft and knitted up lovely. I did undo it 4 times to get it out of one ball. Pattern, yarn and needles were a lovely birthday present from Lesley last year. what a wonderful present.




When in Sydney I bought a passionfruit macaron kit from Andriano Zumbo at Star City. I made them up and they worked. woohoo! they were so delicious.



And finally, yes I am so very luckly. Here's my view from my breakfast area this morning. A beautiful crisp slightly foggy Autumn morning in Broke. We don't get any colour change sadly, but it is still beautiful. Yes I am very lucky indeed.



have fun Ann

January and February babies

We had lovely birthday lunches for Zac, Ashleigh and Harper in January and February. I love it that my grandkids all love each other and are having so much fun growing up together.

Here's Zac now a very grown up 14

And Ash a beautiful 12 year old

And Harper turning 6 with her cousins

and having fun with the camera

Gwenhy, Ash, Olive, and Griff in back row

and Brooklen, Zac and Harper in the front row

 

I am truly blessed