Bullet Journal - Books I've read Layout

I finally finished drawing the rest of my books on my bookshelf.

There's room for over 40 books. I usually manage to read around 30 books per year.

Maybe I might manage to fill this up by the end of the year.

I saw the layout for this style on instagram although I can't remember the name of the person who shared it. Oops. It looked great so I had to make my own.

Books I've Read So Far This Year

Sometimes I wish I was a speed reader.

I have so many books on my to read list that I keep adding too. I just don't think I will ever read them all ...

These are the ones I have read so far this year.

I set myself a challenge to read 30 books by the end of the year .. I am slowly getting there.

You can find the blurb on all of these on Goodreads

Book: 200 Stitch Patterns for Baby Blankets by Jan Eaton

I love it when the postie brings you parcels!
I bought this book on ebay, 200 Stitch Patterns for Baby Blankets by Jan Eaton (although I got mine for half the price of a new book because it was used).

I have only briefly looked though it but there are lots of great knitting and crochet stitches for blankets. I don't know which one to choose first!

E Books via BookBub

I have been using a website called BookBub where you can search for e-books for your kindle from Amazon (Apple, Google and Kobo are available also). They send daily emails with books that you might find interesting depending on the genres you have chosen when you sign up with them.

You won't believe how many books I have snagged this way and the bonus is that a lot of them are freebies. In fact I have so many books to read on my kindle now I don't think I will ever get through them all.

I also use Goodreads to find great books to add to my already large To Read list. If you use Goodreads and wish to add a friend you can find my profile HERE.

New Book: Corner-to-Corner Lap Throws

I pre-ordered this book back in October. It was meant to be ready for delivery in November.

It finally arrived on Saturday.

I am a little disappointed that there are only 5 designs in the book. I was hoping that there would be a few more patterns. Although, that being said I do like three of the five designs. The one on the cover is a favourite as is the sheep rug and snowman throw.

I guess I know what I shall be making in the near future but it wont be until I have completed another baby blanket that I have already begun.

I purchased the book HERE from Booktopia.

My New (But Old) Crochet Pattern Book Arrived Today

via IFTTT

Knitting Book - One-Skein Wonders for Babies

I saw a review for this book on Facebook by Retro Mummy 2 weeks ago.

I liked the look of it and considering it's for babies I thought why not get a copy myself. 

I ordered it from Angus and Robertson on ebay. It arrived last week while Brodz and I were in the city. I've finally gotten around to looking at it properly.

No that I have completed The Midwife blanket that I began crocheting last week I plan of making some of the cute little patterns in this book.

How cute does this little set look?

I quite like these blankets as well.

I'm not sure what I will start with but I plan on using my Bendigo Woollen Mill 4 ply cotton that I have had in my stash for ages.

Books I Have Read So Far This Year

I joined a website called Goodreads a while ago. I use it to keep track of the books I have read. I also use it to fine new books that I would like to read and to find new friends who love to read too. My lists for all three things are growing quite nicely. 

Anyway, I thought I would share the titles and covers of the books I have read so far this year. Not as many books as some other friends but I have already read more than I did in total for last year ☺ 

As you can see there are quite a few there. 

If you are interested in checking any of them out here's the list and the authors. BTW I got most of the books from Amazon Kindle and the majority of them were free at the time.

A Cat Out of Egypt: The Prequel to Yeshua's Cat (C.L. Francisco) 

A Rare Benedictine (Ellis Peters) 

All About Crochet (Jean Leinhauser) 

Anne of Cleves: Henry's Luckiest Wife (D. Lawrence-Young) 

Catherine the Inquisitor (The Six Lives of Henry VIII #1) (Leigh Jenkins) 

Diabetes Diet Plan: A Perfect Guide on Diabetes Diet to Prevent, Control, and Reverse the Effect (Jack Maple) 

Gnome Wars (Barbra Annimo) 

Godmachine (Jack Thompson) 

How to Crochet: 16 quick and easy granny square patterns If Only I had (Jacqueline Garlick) 

Just Kidding (Diane Vallere) 

Kiatana's Journey (Natalie Erin) 

Low Carb Slow Cooker Recipes 

New England Witch Chronicles (Chelsea Luna Bellingeri) 

Orona (Adam James) 

Practical Magic (Alice Hoffman) 

The Children of Men (P.D. James) 

The First (Jason Mott) 

The Grimm Diaries Prequels #1 - 6 (Cameron Jace) 

The Grimm Legacy (Polly Shulman) 

The Last Day on Earth (R.M. Allinson) 

The Legacy of the Key (S.L. Morgan) 

The Lost Scrolls (Alex Archer) 

The Shroud Codex (Jerome R. Corsi) 

The Solomon Key (Shawn Hopkins) 

The Sword of Agrippa: Antioch (Gregory Lloyd) 

The Wronged Wife (Margaret Brazear)

You Are What You Read

Right now I am and Egyptian Princess named Nefertari.
I am currently reading The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

Knitting & Crochet Magazine

I saw this advertised on TV on Friday night so when I saw it in the shops on Saturday morning I had to buy it. It was calling my name, honest ☺

Sadly the hooks don't have any sizes marked on them (the packaging said they are 4 mm & 4.5 mm) but the knitting needles are 7 mm. Projects range from tea cosies and cushion covers to cowls, hats, scarves and jumpers. 

I look forward to trying some of these projects once I finish making the baby blanket for my niece, Allie, and the beanies for another niece, Kylie. The hardest part will be choosing which one to start first ☺

Good Books and Cleaning Fairies

I wish there were such things as fairies who would cook and clean. That would really be lovely.
I think I will just settle for some really good books to read.

What are you reading at the moment?

I have almost finished reading The Atlantis Plague by A.G. Riddle it's the sequel to The Atlantis Gene.

I have so many books on my kindle right now I have no idea which one to choose next. Maybe an historical fiction...

My New Crochet Pattern Book

I bought a new pattern book on ebay last month and it finally arrived last Friday. I've been looking forward to receiving this book. I would LOVE to make some of the blankets in it. Wouldn't you? I mean look at the blankets in the pictures below?! Just beautiful! Of course this will have to wait until I have completed my zoo blanket.

I've Been Shopping Online

I just bought myself a new crochet pattern book from ebay. The reason I chose this book because one of the crochet pages that I follow on Facebook shared a wonderful photo of a crocheted fair isle item that someone had made and won a blue ribbon. They mentioned that the pattern came from this book. It's coming from the U.S. so I may be waiting for a while to get it, estimated delivery isn't until at least Dec 24th but that's okay. I'm not in a rush. 

Fair Isle for Crochet from Leisure Arts

Crochet Borders

My new crochet book arrived this morning. To be honest I didn't think I would receive it so quickly considering the time of year and how busy Australia Post gets.

I think any blanket that I make in future will have some amazing looking borders when they are complete. I'm wondering if I should start making another blanket soon or practise on a face washer/tea towel/hand towel...

Crochet Magazine

I finally bought myself a crochet magazine the other day. 

It came with a calender for next year. 

I'm not sure what happened with the picture below (o_0) but there's a pattern for Kokeshi dolls. 

I had been searching for a pattern online. I had found a couple but I do love the look of these ☺

They are on my to do list .. that I may get around to eventually.

Five Favourite Books

Image snagged from Facebook.

This says it all really ... 

although I could give it a try but these are in no particular order

The Witches of Eileannan Series (there's 6 books in this set) by Kate Forsyth

The Harry Potter Series (all 7 of them) by JK Rowling

The Celestial Triad (3 books in this set) and The Ancient Future (another set of 3) by Traci Harding

The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville

That's 20 books in my list so far.

I am sure there are a lot more that I could add to my list but I can't think of them at the moment.
I just knew I would have problems choosing only 5.

I Love A Good Read

Do you love reading a good book? I've always read a lot, even as a kid. I love to read in bed at night before I go to sleep, it helps me unwind.

A few months ago one of my favourite Australian authors, Kate Forsyth, whom I am friends with on Facebook (and who I got to meet in person a few months ago) invited me to a website called goodreads. Basically it's a social networking site for readers.

Goodreads is built around books. You can join groups and discussions on your favourite genres, authors or just talk about books you love. You can even keep track of the books you have read or want to read. Once you've reviewed a few books (and it doesn't need to be a written review you only need to give a book a star rating out of 5) goodreads will begin to recommend books for you to read based on your literary tastes.

If you're into books and want to join a social network based on books you should sign up. Even my boys have joined. If you want to find me here's my profile page although I'm not sure if you are able to see it without joining.

New Book: Crochet-opedia

I love it when our parcel postie, Luke, brings stuff to our place. Yesterday he brought my new Crochet-opedia - The only crochet reference you'll ever need book by Julie Oparka. I picked up my copy from fishpond.com.au. when it was on special a few weeks back. It had to come from overseas so it took a while to get here.

It has tips on how to substitute yarn, how to tell the difference for all the different yarn weights/plys, a stitch guide, how to block and lots of different patterns. All the patterns are in US terminology but I think I can get my head around all of that.

I'm off to go look at the book some more.

Food Glorious Food

I mentioned last month that I got a new subscription to a food magazine. Well my Super Food Magazine arrived yesterday and I have been drooling over reading the recipes trying to work out which ones would be the best ones to try and which ones I could modify to make more diabetic friendly. I have to admit that they all look fantastic if the photos in the magazine are anything to go by.

Super food ideas

You should see the big selection of recipes. With all the yummy foods that my family loves. Rice, noodles, chorizos, pasta, eggs ... I could go on. There really isn't much that we don't like eating. Well there is more on Mark & the boys list of NO GO food like offal (although they eat pate) but I don't mind that. The only thing I definitely wont eat is tripe ewwww gross! The rest I would pretty much have a taste of to see if I like it.

How amazing do those dishes look?

Irish Cream Mousse

Stir-fry ~ YUM!

Spanish Chorizo and prawn rice.

I'm going to drool some more flick through the recipes to see what I might try cooking for tea tonight.

Magazines

Look at what my postie delivered the other day! My magazine subscriptions :D I've been getting the Diabetic Living magazine for a while now but the Super Food Ideas mag is a new one. I 'paid' for this subscription using my Fly-Buys points.

Doesn't the food on the covers just make your mouth water??

Diabetic Living

How amazing do these chocolate items look? What's even better is that all of this yummy chocolate goodness is in the Diabetic Living magazine! So I know that they are more carb friendly than 'regular' chocolate recipes I have. Guess who might be making some of these in the near future? :D

Diabetic Living

Death by chocolate or what? *wipes chin* Yum!

Diabetic Living

Even this moussaka looks fantastic. I haven't made this in ages either. Hmm looks like another trip to the supermarket soon to buy mince and eggplant. I may have to send the kids in though or I will spend way too much money (again). It seems that every time I go into a supermarket I am always buying more than what's written on the shopping list. Do you have that problem too?

Super Food Ideas

Yummy vanilla slice! I went to the bakery the other day (I was very well behaved in there too) I bought a vanilla slice each for the boys and an apple strudel for Mark. The only thing I allowed for myself was a fresh roll. No sweets for me that day. Keeping my diabetes under control is a big priority but there are days where I would like to splurge and say why not! Sometimes I just have a taste though. At least that way I am not totally deprived of all that yummy stuff out there.

Super Food Ideas

Look at these little pineapple upside down cakes. Don't they look good? I don't think Angus will eat them though. He isn't that keen on pineapple.

Super Food Ideas

I just love asian foods. Stir-frys are the best but I have to watch the sauces they are cooked in and I need to be careful on how much of the noodles I can eat :-/ At least it isn't totally off the menu.

Super Food Ideas

These things are called pides. I guess they're like cross between a pastie and a pie. Not too sure. I didn't completely read the recipe I just looked at the photo. It certainly looks like something the boys would eat though.