My Creative Space

I cannot believe it - My Rainbow Crochet Blanket is finished.  

Just in time too - as it's being used today to keep little Minnie warm while he is home feeling *ugg* on the lounge.  

He didn't want to be in any photos, which is a sure sign he really is quite *ugg*, so I asked if I could borrow it for a few quick photos to share.  

I just love it, I just love that I finished it and it's being used right now to snuggle my darling boy.  I love that I can share this with you.  I love that he loves the colours, I love that I have enough yarn left over to do a cushion cover, I love that this room in our house is going to be a rainbow room through all of winter, I love that I am about to curl up with my boy under this very blanket while he gets better and I make notes for my next assignment and prep playgroup craft sessions.  I love that my Grandma, my Nanna, and my Mum took the time to pass on their love of craft to me.  

 To my Mum, my Grandma and my Nanna - thank you.  xx

For more creative spaces, pop on over to kootoyoo.

Thank you so much for stopping by my place today.

Have a wonderful day at your place.

My Creative Space

The weather is cooling, I am seeking a change of crafting.

Do you follow the seasons of craft too?

Crochet Rainbow Blanket. . . . progressing ever closer to completion.

My first square from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet blocks.

Shell Lace - block 30.

This square will be sent to SIBOL

 Requested scarf for hubbie completed.  I am so happy with it, so much so that I was wearing it whilst studying this week.  Yes, our temps have dropped just enough that a little warmth around my neck is just right.  

 Pumpkin scones

 oh and a batch in car shapes too, because apparently they taste better when they are car shaped!  


Thanks so much for stopping by my place today.


Pop on over to kootoyoo to see what others are making and add your link to show us what you are making too.  


Have a lovely day at your place.  

The one about the sac dress, a little party, and hooky progress.

Joyce is in da house!

I have just had a weekend of home alone. Yep, my three boys went away for the weekend in the caravan. The school each year has a Mother/Daughter camp and a Father/Son camp. Held different weekends, its just a casual weekend, you book a cabin, take your tent, camper/caravan and hang out for the weekend.

Because I don't have a daughter, well it was just me at home, and I loved it. I played music, I cleaned, I sorted through things, I sewed, I hooked, I cooked. I did start to get a bit 'boy sick' Sunday mid-morning tho and was pining for them to return home.

They had a wonderful time, and I love that the three of them spent that time together. Hubbie works hard and most nights the boys are in bed when he gets home. As the boys get older, they love that time with their Dad, they need that time with him as much as he needs that time with them.

So here are some of the things 'Joyce did'.

#1 sac dress. It's ok you can laugh, cause I certainly did.

It was huge, it was bigger than huge, it was mammoth - but I adjusted it as best as I could and the above is the finished result. It's lovely and comfy, and will be perfecto over my bikini this summer.

#2 sac dress. Yep, I went back for seconds. Still a little boatie-floatie, but comfy all the same. These fabrics were from spotlight from the quilting department. 100% cotton and so soft and summery. They have actually grown on me and I do quite like them now, however, they will just be caravany-beachy type clothing. With our school break up for the year just around the corner, and long long days of the beach, they are certainly going to get a work out between mid December to the first week of February. Not sure you can see my 'belt' but it's my crochet bead strand from Here. I do love an item that has many talents.

A little stitchery experimentation that didn't quite work like I imagined. I envisioned a dreamy, floaty, summer scarf, but it hasn't come together quite right.

If these motifs look familiar, then yes, you are correct. They are op-shop goodies from Here. Oh well, back to the plans for this lot, I have a few more options of use available that I will play with later on.

Party preps for my now turned 8 years of age darling boy. They got home late Sunday and we had a little celebration that night. The bunting I cut from scrapping papers in my stash and dotted little sequins on them randomly for a little sparkle.

Cup cakes to take to school for his class. Iced in his fave colours of orange and blue.

The Cake!

Oh gosh, how fast those 8 years have gone by, and as he blew out his candles, I made myself a little wish that the next 8 years don't speed by me quite so quickly. I know, I know, it's the birthday person that makes the wish, but I did so all the same as I watched that little face blow out his candles. I also know that you are not supposed to reveal the wish either. *sigh* Silly Joyce!

It's a rainbow crochet-fall, not a water-fall. This is what has been spilling from my lap of an evening as I do my edging. It's lovely, it's more than lovely, it's totally dreamy, it's real and touchable now. Something that has been inside my head, is now cascading down my comfy lounge spilling onto the floor in all it's lush, rainbow-y real-ness.

I hope you had a lovely weekend at your place.

I am coming to visit you all and see what you have been making lately too.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

My Creative Space

The creative juices have certainly been flowing. Tomorrow is our little school fete, and last minute donations and some cooking have been going on at my house. I also managed to squeeze in a bit of hooking between trays of biscuits cooling, cooking and wrapping.

Sultana biscuits all wrapped up for the fete cake stall.

I painted up these little glasses to donate to the fete as well.

Oh it's getting exciting now, my little rainbow blanket squares are now being joined in their rows. Thanks so much to Lucy at Attic24 for explaining in my language just how to join them so that when they are folded out, they look so pretty and sit lovely and flat. Gosh I love this blog, there is a lovely, lovely bag that I have on my list to make very soon too.

Pop on over to kootoyoo to see what everyone else has been making.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a lovely weekend at your place.

My Creative Space

Painted, baked and filled frangapani jars for the school fete.

Crochet Rainbow Blanket - An Update.

I can't believe it looks just like the picture in my head.

I can't believe it's coming together so sweetly.

Soon we will have a snuggle under its lovely soft warmth.

I am still hooking little blue grannies, and am loving the gentle blue that will become the sky to surround our rainbow.

What is in your creative space this week?

Pop on over to kootoyoo to see what everyone else is being crafty with.

It's study day for me today now that the bathrooms have been cleaned and the house vacuumed, oh and an spot of washing to be done as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a lovely day at your place.

Hook Happy!

Do you read back over what you have just written or typed, out loud? I do, and thank goodness for that - seeing as my title was going to be 'Happy Hooker'. Oops! When I heard it out loud, I decided Hook Happy was much more appropriate! *phew!*

So here above are my progressing very nicely thank you, granny squares for our rainbow blanket journey. I am loving this soft blue colour too, I carry the one ball with me and there is no thinking going on, I just hook my 4 rounds and finish off and move to the next one.

Here is one of my little gardenia flowers with a rain drop clinging so delicately to the petal. I have four of these in a row at our front door garden, and they are all in bloom. Oh the sweet perfume drifting through our house is rather intoxicating with the rain we have had these last few days as well as the bit of sun that tries to steam its way through the grey clouds. I love this scent and this year would be my biggest crop of flowers *sigh* oh such little pleasures.

I hope you find some little pleasures in your day today that bring a sweet smile to your face and uplift you from the inside.

Why is my studio getting smaller? Oh yeah, 'cause I collect 'stuff'!!

The above is what I pulled out of my studio, lay on the floor, counted up and took this photo of. I then found three more bags of yarn when I packed this lot away. It's now all sorted and I left a bag of scraps out determined to make stuff, so that I didn't have to find a new home for it.

Above I have 20 sets of crochet flower hairbands paired up to donate to the school fete, from the 'scraps' bag. This little flower is so cute, you can do a different colour in the middle if you like. Click here for this super simple tawashi flower pattern, and make sure you check out Marte's blog. Thanks Marte for sharing.

Girlfriend - don't even go there with the scrapbook papers I own. There will never, ever, be enough clicks on my camera to pull out the papercrafts stash and take a photo. I will just share with you the 105 bookmarks I have made for the school fete. Basically I glued two pieces of pretty cardstock together, punched a hole in the top and threaded with DMC cotton and beads. You can laminate them, round the corners of them, thread with buttons, the list goes on.

*sigh* ok, so here it is, I am so nervous showing this. Here above is progress of my very special project that brings a huge smile to my face every time I pick it up. All my rainbow circles now have their little border attached. I have begun my plain 'sky' squares. To have a single border of sky around the blanket, I need to make 144 grannies. To have a double border of sky around the blanket, I need to make 212 grannies. I have not yet decided what it will be, however, I do know that I want to do a single crochet border around that again in each of the six rainbow colours, finished with a picot sky edging.

I feel rather nervous sharing this rainbow photo, I was only going to put the first photo on. It's rather quite personal to me, and I am a little worried, that well, you know, it's 'daggy' or 'not right' or well, not liked at all by anyone, when really that shouldn't matter at all, because it doesn't represent anyone else, it's straight from the beautiful sky that I have taken my inspiration, it's a rainbow blanket after all, and so to me, should be in it's true form. It's my family, it's all the heart and soul of me, hooked into this blanket, what can I say - I had a picture in my little head, and I sort of can't believe it's real, I can touch it, I can see it - I so like what I see, I love hooking the sky that will grow around it.

So thank you for taking a look at my little project.

Thank you for not laughing too loudly.

Do you become nervous about sharing a project that is close to your heart, that you weave yourself into, that used to just be a whim or a dream?

Rainbow Blanket - progress

Slowly and sweetly my blanket is coming alive with every hook.

Don't you just love the journey of a project close to your heart.

What's On Your Table - Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday Morning To You!

This is going to be my last Tuesday Table for a while. We have school holidays around the corner and I need to dedicate more time to my studies.

Today is an update of my Crochet Rainbow Blanket.

I am leaving this on the table for the whole day. I can't bring myself to remove it just yet, and I am thinking I should just do this heart in the middle of a blanket instead of the rainbow. There are just sooooo many options in my head with this right now.

What is on your table this Tuesday?

Crochet Rainbow Blanket - The Beginning

Circles on white.

Circles on pale blue.

I love these beautiful colours. These are the chosen colours for my granny rainbow blanket to match the chair covers. I know, it's spring, who in their right mind would be thinking of blankets on a day like today - well me, of course. These are the perfect little project to make on the go as the weather warms. There is no heavy weight of blanket to lug around, they are tiny they are quick and they are in such fun bright colours, I cannot resist.

I have been at soccer this morning helping out in canteen for a gala day. My ears are still blocked and those poor customers that I served must have thought I was rather strange, especially the kids that come up with their .5c and .10c pieces in their tiny voices asking for a bag of lollies and I struggled to hear a thing and had to keep asking them to repeat themselves. I come home to my boys, we had a quiet lunch for Fathers Day and have been relaxing the afternoon away. Dinner is a lovely Moroccan Chicken Casserole.

Ok back to my blanket. I want to create something that resembles our family, something that I could hook thoughts of each of my little family into with each round. Something that, no matter who snuggled under it's warmth, would always feel my love for them, feel how much they mean to me each and every single day, feel just a little better when they are unwell. I want it to be big enough for all of us to snuggle under, I want it to be big enough to hide and giggle under, I want it to be big enough to welcome friends to play, I want it big enough to hold their dreams, dry their tears, big enough to keep safe their secrets, warm their toes and make their tummy better. Even one day, when I am no longer physically 'here', I want this rug to keep loving and protecting my little family.

I was going to choose pale blue to join them together to resemble the sky in which our beautiful rainbows live, but the white really seems to bring out those fabulous colours.

My requirements for these squares after much thought:

❤ Three 'rounds' in one colour - my three boys

❤ Last round, the square round, in main colour - my love/protection

❤ First ring 12dc - 12 months of the year, always and forever, every day, every moment.

Inspiration come from the following blogs. I say thank you to these ultra-mega-talented people for their beautiful work and sharing. There were a lot of images as well, but I can't post them all here.

✎ iCrochet

✎Crochet with Raymond Blog

✎The Yvestown Blog

✎Lillabilly

✎'SIBOL' - Sunshine International Blankets of Love

✎Coffee 'n' crochet

✎Attic24

✎thornberry

This blanket will be a journey, it will take time, the rounds will be hooked in the car, at the beach, waiting for the bus/doctor/hairdresser, they will be hooked on the train, in the caravan, at the park, in the kitchen, with my darlings snuggled on my lap. There is no rush to complete this blanket, I will keep a little log of progress, I want to journal the progress of this little project, I don't care if it takes a year to finish, it's the journey of the blanket that will make the blanket. I am so looking forward to this project and where it will take me and my family. It's the future, it's all in front of us, each and every single day, before us to make with as we will.

*Sigh* I wish I could use words well. The big dag that I am.

Have you ever made anything that you sew, hook, or weave your blessings, love, thoughts into? I understand if it is too private to share, but if you are feeling brave - I would love to know.