Happy Birthday to Me!

These presents are from my boys.
I feel very spoiled.

I bought this notebook for myself ♥

The flowers are from Jillian. A friend from Church. 

We travel to the Temple together & work in the office. 

Gifts From My Boys

Angus cooked the most amazing roast pork dinner for us last night. It was absolutely delicious. He also made the most scrumptious ice cream made from frozen banana, peanut butter, cocoa powder and milk.
I was also fortunate enough to receive season seven of Call the Midwife. 

Brodie bought me some watercolour paints & paper. These paints are much nicer than the palette paint that I already had. In fact I must give the palette ones away.

I played around with the paints on Sunday afternoon.

I was practising my galaxy painting. I love how these turned out.

WIP - Crochet - Bookmarks

I have temporarily put aside the blanket I have been making to make some cotton bookmarks.

I am going to be giving these away to the newer sisters to our ward at Church and perhaps to the less active ones as well.

I have quite a few more to go ...

TARDIS Condiment Set

Mark bought me some TARDIS salt and pepper shakers for my birthday. He ordered them online, on eBay, and they arrived yesterday (not bad considering my birthday was almost two weeks ago! My guess is they never had them in stock and had to wait for them to come from overseas) Better late than never & at least they arrived safely.

Of course I had to get my miniature Doctor Who figures out and take photos of them with my new TARDIS shakers. I think they look pretty good (~_o) 

Crochet Bookmarks

When Brodie and I were at the Austin Hospital last week for his tests and specialist appointments I knew I had to take some crocheting with me. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to make initially but then I thought about how nice it would be to try and make bookmarks for all of the sisters in our ward at Church. I had made some previously and handed them out to some of the sisters but I thought it would be nice for those I hadn't had the chance to give them to.

I didn't have a lot of cotton but I began working with what I had.

Thankfully there was a 25% off yarn sale at Spotlight this week. I bought some more blue, two different greens and a purple ball of cotton.

I made 23 bookmarks during the time I was there. Mostly in the evenings when we weren't at the hospital itself. We stayed at the Lions House in Heidelberg. It's a lovely place. Definitely a home away from home.

Angus asked me how long it took to make one bookmark. Funnily enough I had timed myself. It took 18 minutes but I have gotten the time down to 15 minutes per bookmark. Not bad if I say so myself.

I have added to this collection of bookmarks since I got home. I have around 30 now. I'm not sure I have enough for everyone though. But since they don't take too long to make I will whip up some more before tomorrow morning.

The pattern is called Easy Shell Bookmark, It's the same pattern I used before but sadly it isn't available online anymore and I didn't have it printed *sigh* so I went from the picture.

Gifts From Lakes

Mark's sister-in-law posted some gifts for us yesterday afternoon and they arrived this morning.
Granted that they live just three or so hours drive away but Australia Post you surprised us! we didn't expect them until tomorrow.

Have a look at that AWESOME candle! It looks just like a ball of yarn! I LOVE it.

I shall never, ever burn it though. It looks too good to do that.
There's also a Doctor Who scarf under that. How amazing will I look when I wear that!
Thank you so much S&S! I LOVE them!

The boys received some Star Wars items. Of course they love them.
Mark received some salty plums. I tried them they weren't as salty as I thought they would be. They are popular in the Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea.

Finished Crochet Baby Items

I finally managed to finish off the pink cardigan I was making for my niece, Kylie.

I also whipped up a pink beanie to match.

I thought I would use the same pattern considering twins are expected. You don't think it's too corny do you? I hope the expectant Mum doesn't think so.

All I need to do now is work out what I am making next ...

It's My Day

Happy Birthday to ME! 

Angus and I even made my "cake" for tonight. We made a lemon cheesecake. It looks SO good. I haven't made this particular recipe for years. It's one I got from my Auntie Jean, the one who passed away last month. Anyway it's going to be delicious! 

Even Google knows it is my birthday

My gift from Brodie

My gift from Angus

Anyway, time to go watch Call the midwife and do some crocheting.
               

I Am One Spoiled Hooker

Look at all the wonderful Christmas presents I received from Mark and the boys. I am a very happy hooker ☺☺ 

My new tote bag from Everything Mary. It's such a pretty colour!

It has plenty of room for hooks, needles, yarn and patterns.

Now I can try my hand at making lace. Although I am not entirely sure what to make.

A girl can never have too much yarn or thread (~_o) 

I am so proud of the fact that Brodie, who bought the yarn, remembered to look at the dye lot and colour to make sure they matched! Awesome job Brodz!

New hooks in a lovely purple pouch. The pouch is from yazzii.com 

Here's a close up of the new hooks.

Some tealight candles AND of course I just LOVE my Jimmy Barnes CD.
I always tell the boys that he is my Jimmy.

♥♥ Thank you ♥♥

What A Lovely Gift To Receive

A few weeks ago when Angus and I were in Traralgon organising his Proof of Age card. Angus spotted a gorgeous candle in a glass jar at the chemist we were in. The verse on the glass jar (with a slight change in the wording) is from one of our Church hymns called "I Am A Child Of God".
It just happens to be my favourite hymn too.
Anyway I took a photo of the candle and shared it on Facebook.

Imagine my surprise when I received a gift last Sunday from a sister at Church. I don't know who left the gift for me. I was going to open it on Christmas day but I opened it this morning.

Thank you so much to the anonymous sister who left me my beautiful candle. It was a wonderful surprise and I feel very loved and appreciated.

New Boye Crochet Hooks

I feel loved. Mark surprised me on Wednesday with a present. Some new teeny tiny crochet hooks by Boye. I had never heard of this brand before but after doing some research I found out that they are a pretty popular brand. Just not here I guess.

You know what that means now? I need to go shopping for some fine thread so that I can actually use the hooks. Trouble is I have no idea about what type of thread to use. Time to ask clever crochet people and to do some more googling.

Finished Items - Crochet Bookmarks

I thought that with Christmas coming up that I would whip up a couple of quick projects and decided to make somebookmarks to give as gifts to family in Adelaide but then I realised that not all of them read. In fact I could only think of three people that I knew who even read. 

I really wanted to make these shell patterned bookmarks that I found on ravelry and I wondered who I could give them to. Then I thought of my visiting teachers. I know that they read so the bookmarks would be a perfect gift for them. I wont be seeing them until next Sunday so I will give them to them then. I am sure that they will love them.  

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easy-shell-bookmark

My Hubby

Finished Item - Tablet Cover

I finished the Tablet cover for Ron on Tuesday afternoon. 

Mark was very helpful and got the over-locker out and made up the lining for me. He is so much better at sewing than I am. It was made from microfibre & it was a lovely shade of light blue.

the flash made this look a bit washed out :( 

Silly me, I forgot to take photos of the cover with the lining inside. 

You will need to take my word for it but it looked great (~_~) Ron loved it which is all that matters really.

I've already started my next project. It's a blanket like the one I made with all the farm things but it's for a girl. The pattern calls for squares made with half treble (half double crochet) stitches but I decided that I liked what I did with the tablet cover better so I am making the squares using that stitch instead. 

I haven't taken any photos of it yet since I am only making the background squares at the moment. Maybe when I get a few more done I'll share what it looks like. 

Out For Dinner & A Limo Ride

My wonderful sister-in-law, Sally, along with my MIL organised and paid for a dinner and limo ride for Mark and I as a wedding gift. Last night we were picked up at 7 pm and taken to a fancy restaurant called In 2 Food. It's not the usual type of restaurant we would go to so that made our night extra special.

  

I had never been in a limo before so I didn't know what to expect. It was exciting not to have to drive ourselves. What was even better was the fact that some of our neighbours were outside having a sticky beak to see what on earth was going on! It was fun seeing their reactions. Especially the kids that were out playing in the street when the limo turned up.

The restaurant was fantastic. I'd never been there before either. The service as well as the food was impeccable. In fact Mark was so impressed that he wanted to book a table for next year on our anniversary. They weren't able to do that as yet. Something to do with the diary and being very busy for the rest of the month but they recommended we phone in January next year.

the upstairs dining area

Mark ordered Spring rolls with chilli sauce and a cucumber salad for his entree. There were three spring rolls and they were massive, as big as chicko rolls, about an inch round and three to four inches long.

I chose calamari which was lightly fried and came with a lovely salad. 

the stairs to go downstairs are through the doors

Mark's main dish was an eye fillet cooked medium rare with a red wine & mushroom sauce on a potato rosti topped with onion rings. It looked amazing and the steak melted in your mouth. YUM!

My main was a pan fried salmon on a bed of locally grown asparagus with a butter sauce. Talk about delicious. I think my taste-buds have been spoiled because I don't think I ever want to eat tinned salmon again.

I had a cup of tea at the end of the evening and the milk was brought out in a cow! Too cute!

We didn't have a desert although they did have a Mars Bar chocolate cake that looked amazing. I did the right thing, being the (mostly) well behaved diabetic that I am, and didn't order any sweets. We did however share a cheese and fruit platter. The cheese, which for the life of me I can't remember all of their names, was from local producers. Mark and I were unable to eat the whole platter so they let us take the leftovers home.

Mark & I are definitely going to spoil ourselves more often. Maybe not with a limousine ride but at least with dinner out in a more upmarket restaurant than we usually go to. If last night was anything to go by I can't wait to try this again!