Lovely but frosty Tuesday

Good morning bloggers :) It's a tea-Tuesday for some of you but I started the morning with hot lemon water and now having a cup of coffee with flavoured cream.  Not sure how that came about, I used to like my tea and coffee without anything in it!

Winter seems to turn me into a fibre and fabric crafter and not so much the paper crafter!  Here are a few of the things I've been doing.  If you would like to see more please visit my paper crafter page---you'll find the link on the sidebar :)   

The set of three crocheted baskets--the smallest one is a free pattern from The Slanted Life blog and the other two are my own design.   

The three toques below are pure wool.  These three aren't lined but I did make two others at Christmas, with lining.  I put the word out on our buy and sell face book page for White Buffalo yarn and was given and bought a bunch, so was busy all winter knitting!   

This doll--she's about 18"-- started years ago, just got finished.  There is a smaller version that was also started---I hope to have her done soon!     

A fleece jacket that I added lining to, except the hood.  I also added zippers to the two lower pockets and cuffs to the sleeves.

It's definitely Spring here.  The grass is green and the daffodils and tulips are up, but the trees are just getting buds. I'm hoping to get gardening soon.  This year I'm adding a little fairy garden and will be adding one indoors as well.  I'll be sure to add photos--hopefully in May :)   

Have a wonderful week :)

Please leave a comment so I can come visit your blog too :)  

A Bit of This and That....

I'm not really stuck in the house, but it sure isn't pleasant going outside (I did brave the weather on Tuesday).  There's plenty I should be doing.....but crafting is so much more fun than ironing  :)

I thought I'd share some of the things I'm working on.  I can't possibly start only one thing either!  Hope you have your coffee or tea.....long post  :)

This is where I sit to colour in the beautiful light.  Don't let the sun shining in deceive you, it's still -34!  And where I like to knit....should have had this done ages ago, could be using it now  :)

I think I had better quit colouring (with Copics) and get these onto cards  :)

I saw a heart journal on Patty's sight,  http://bitze.wordpress.com/ and thought I'd do one......or this might end up being a hanger or maybe two cards....depends which way the spirit moves me  :)  

I've traced this heart shaped box and painted the chipboard with gesso, stamped and embossed with clear ep, coloured with distressed inks and then a layer of clear, matt gel into which I put strips of crinkled, white wrapping tissue---the colour shows through nicely. Then I started adding some do-dads and some Iridescent Bronze acrylic all around the edges plus I painted some on the top and the 'creases'.  It's not finished yet....I'll be finished in a few days and show you the results  :)    

And of course, while paint dries on one project, I always start another (or two).  My first tissue roll mini book.  I used paper towel roll for the cover pieces, covered them all with printed paper--this is from CTMH.  Made tags to go in the five 'pages', the cover pieces I stuck together--not using them with pockets.    A couple more days to finish this one off too....

And of course, I have to bake when it's cold outside  :)
This is a sweet sticky rice, thai dessert. I did it the easy way, adding coconut milk right to the rice (and next time, I will only add 1/2 to 3/4 of a can) then, when I dished it up (warm), I added some lovely mango. 
I am trying to lose a bit of weight, what part of that includes dessert, lol.
If you only have 1/2 cup of this, it's about 125 calories. I would use 1/2 or 3/4 of a can of coconut milk with 3 cups cooked rice---just enough to make it hold it's shape if you were to put it in a roll, then add mango--I used frozen mango this time, it has a wee bit of juice when thawed.  This was enough for 7, 1/2 cup servings.
 

Then I made some good, healthy bread!  I tell you, it's delish!  I mean, what bread isn't???   This is a   recipe I use quite often, but instead of nine grain cereal, I used Red River cereal--it is so nice and full of grains, love it!  

Don't know and don't want to know, what the calories are in this  :)  Just have one slice at a time with a lovely bowl of soup and you'll keep warm  :)

If you stayed with me through this long post....Thank you  :)  and please check back in a few days, I'll have my projects finished!!

Knitting Project

This is an afghan I started a long time ago. I ran out of the blue yarn and, not being able to find the same brand/colour, put the whole thing away. Well, I decided it was time to either finish it off as a lap-ghan or find some yarn that would work. The blue that I found doesn't quite match, but it is close enough to finish the job!



The pattern is from Ladies' Home Journal, Spring/Summer 1976 :) the price os the magazine was $1.50. Lots of retro stuff, probably some of it is back in style--like the crocheted bikini.




I love the colours in this--black, blue, purple and sea green. It's done with double yarn throughout and as you can see, the rows are worked to blend in each new colour.


The finished size will be 41" by 65". It's beautiful and cushie feeling :)

Tea on Saturday

Well, I'm a bit late for tea on Tuesday! However, tea is good anyday :)










Today I'm having peppermint tea and some prune pyrogies. I made a rather large batch of pyrogies, some with potatoes, potatoes and cottage cheese, yams, and just had to do the prunes. Boil them up, melt some butter with brown sugar and cinnamon, and enjoy!












Going to relax and work on a dishcloth I've been making....I think the large ball makes about a dozen or so.

My craft room, the new green paint is called, The Loft. I am going to start putting shelves together and get some of the boxes unpacked....finally!

I actually found the materials in my stack of boxes, to make someone a card. This is called a screen door card and as you can see, has a piece of screen on it. The pattern is in Country Woman magazine. This is great for many occasions, including Christmas.

Tuesday Tea

I'm not very imaginative today--same tea :) Licorice! The pretty cup is a gift from a friend.

My snack is yummy and I took it outside on the deck. As you can see, my gardens have not been cleaned out! But it is barely Spring here--also quite visible by the lack of leaves :)

I did 28 rows on a little sweater for my Granddaughter and then it started to cloud over and got quite chilly.

Have a look at Kim's Tuesday Tea group at http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/