Meet Peppa pig.

Small cheer and great welcome

makes a merry feast.

-William Shakespeare.

Buongiorno my friends! Give me the slightest sniff of Christmas and I’m in the mood!! Loving the colours of red, green and white.....for several reasons, one being it’s time to get the fabrics out and start sewing Chrissy things.

Just in the mood of Christmas, I have started to make Christmas decorations and gifts. My first gift is for my niece Shae.....who adores Peppa pig! (Oh lord, even her slippers have got Peppa pig on them! Lol)

 Don’t you love Peppa pig?

And here are two little country styled Santa’s that I’m almost finished making. I found a basic pattern from a fabulous Homespun magazine and just adapted the clothing to what I wanted. Oh dear I’m sounding more and more like Heather the feather (frightening!!)

I’ve gone back to my original plan of doing other crafts than knitting. Though it is a struggle, I think you gals will be proud of me this week. lol

Below are two gorgeous crocheted cushion covers, both ready for market. The first one is done in the original granny squares, inspiration via Attic 24.

Ever looked at some crochet patterns and wondered how on earth did they start with a round shape and manage to turn the shape into a square block? The same as this next cushion cover is? 

Well now I know and if you would like to have a go at this incredibly easy pattern click here for the flower and here for the edging.

Come with me on a nature walk.....

A few pics of how our little chicks are getting on.....the first four are getting to that kinda ugly stage....Ma is still protecting them like a guard dog.

Here are the newer bundles of joy, still with their cute fluffy feathers. There are 7 in this crew.

.......and here we have Mr. Pray mantis. He was a whopper!

Some one call the RSPCA!! Look at that poor dog!!! Oh no.....wait.....we all know who that is!!!! It;s Milo

Sometimes it’s fun to pay him back for the stuff he does to us. This was quite funny to see his reaction to a shirt being put on  him. 

But he rips it to bits in true Milo form.

Well groovy gals, things to do around here. There’s some ironing, sewing and pool fixing to do, so I best be off. Have a fantastic Sunday and a lovely week ahead. I’m counting down the weeks until I have a lovely long holiday so I’m as eager as a beaver for that to happen.

Ciao, Anita.
P.S. On my knitting needles I have something in blue, white and gold....for my little nephew Hamish. Can you guess what I might be making? Tee hee hee. The joy of having little nieces and nephews.

Lest we forget

This week many of us around the world honoured in silence and with respect, those who fought for our freedom.

 Well I know the morning has almost finished, and I haven’t blogged earlier, but I’ve been wrestling with my computer!! Lol Do you think the photo’s would load from the stick to computer?.........nope.

It’s working now so all is good. My knitted Christmas puddings........

 Have exploded into many! Do you love the funky coloured ones? I’m pretty impressed with them myself. I will be selling them at the markets and to anyone that would like them.

 I also went for a wonder down to the local library and found some very cute and creative Christmas craft books.

             The wonder of Mother nature.....

 9 eggs are under these two girls and they’re hatching all over the place. I can’t wait to show you a nice picture of one of the chicks when she/he is fluffy.....
                                       so cute!!!

 I had a little wonder through my garden this morning before the sun came beating down......

 How beautiful

 Do you have a favourite part of your yard? Yes? I do too, actually I have several. The side of our house is a relaxing little place I often visit, even though I’ve had to block it off from a certain someone (the four legged variety). I let Milo come with me so I can keep an eye on him...

 Why don’t I trust you again boy?

Yesterday Heather the feather and I went to the markets in York and boy it was hot, hot, hot. It was fairly quiet too in the way of customers 

because apparently there was a lot going on in the town this weekend. I was pretty quiet with my sales but I was over the moon for Heather, she did real well! Great stuff Moo cow!!! Lol

This afternoon I’m heading off to the lounge room for some serious knitting. I have a project on the go that I’m so, so, sew eager to get on with. It’s great fun having nieces and nephews because you can make all these great toys and stuff.......and have a home for it too. Thanks Lisa, Louise and Sam for the tribe of kids I can spoil.....I’m so lucky to have all this fun with them!!!!!  

Ciao for now!

                    Anita.

St. Marco square in Venice. Magnificent.

Arrivederci Ishma

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are

and then wait to hear the answer.

Awww....hi guys. I’m a little bit blue this week....one of my gym buddies has moved over to Melbourne with her family and I’m so gonna miss her! Lovely Ishma, pictured bottom right hand corner has been part of my early morning circuit gang since I started at the gym.  

This beautiful dark haired, natural beauty has the most incredible mind, wildest sense of humour and a stunning body!! It’s been a long time since I felt the lose of a friend like this and it feels weird. Thanks for all the laughs and your friendship Ishma. I will remember all your tricks to get out of doing Wall sits : stop to put a bun in my hair; get a drink ; take my shoe off to get the stone out (that's not really there) and go to the toilet. lol

Arrivederci Ishma and all the best sweetness

I’ve been knitting some funky coloured Christmas puddings. I usually knit the traditional brown coloured puddings but it was suggest to me by one of the kids at school to  make some bright coloured ones. Kids are cool hey? What do you think?

Let me tell you about some chickens I know. There are so many chicken boxes to choose from and they all want to sit in the same darn box! Here I have two clucky hens sitting on 9 eggs, and every other chook has to squeeze in this one box to lay her daily egg. What the....? lol

I have written numbers on the nine eggs so I know which ones to take out every day when I check for eggs. It’s crazy. Lol

Here is Mother hen with her 4 little fluff balls sitting with and under her. Cory loves holding the little chicks but he’s none too keen on the protective mother eye balling him. lol

 This was our sky at about 5pm yesterday, all grey and brown. Even though it looked like it was going to pour down, nothing happened....oh....except for the rather cute rainbow in the sky.

 It’s time to get cracking now, house work to do, have to check the chooks, do the last of the ironing and finish off the weeding around the swimming pool.

I’m hoping to get into the sewing shed to get something done in there today. Fingers crossed.

Ciao, Anita.

Happy Birthday Milo

In seed time, learn; in harvest,

teach; in winter, enjoy.

William Blake

A wonderful good morning to you all! And a special.......

Happy Birthday Milo

Born 31^st October......Halloween!!!! (Typical!!!) Just in Milo’s defence he is starting to ease up on his path of terror and slowly turning from the dark side to the light. lol

I’m so precious! Blink blink

Does he want to go outside??? Not a chance. 

I am still chipping away on the baby blanket that is taking a very long time and is now almost complete.

It is knitted in 3ply white, with 248 stitches on my needles. I am now on the homeward stretch with just 60 inches of lace to knit.

 A close up for you, of the lace work. It is a beautiful lace but one I have to keep the pattern in the ready. The complete size when finished will be 122cm x 132 cm. So as you can see, it is a good size blanket. 
I had to go and beg to Heather to sewing around the corners. She's such a friend and you will notice that I never bag off at her ever! lol

 I just adore the pattern

 What is this strange thing you’re asking? Well, most of the Aussie bloggers have likely seen these. This my dear friend is to repell snakes. Not wanting to see snakes in our yard anymore and now that Milo is here, we thought we’d give these a try. Many people we know have these in their yards and say now they aren’t seeing snakes during the hot season. We have 5 of them spread around the yard and they set up a barrier against snakes...oh, and they make a ticking and beeping sound. We’ll give it a go.

Oh! We have chicks. Mother hen has been missing and has now returned from her hiding spot. 

4 fluffy little chicks.

Well gals, fingers crossed that next time I blog I will have a new project on the go. I’m itching to start on some Christmas projects. See how I go then shall we? I hope you are all having a wonderful time with your own projects and life is treating you well.

Ciao, Anita.                        Viva italia