February Christmas item and crochet

Polar Bear, Snow Day designed by Alicia Paulson

Polar Bear, I think I saw him watching me ... That's what it says on the pattern, isn't that cute?  Polar Bear is my ornament made for February's Christmas item hosted by Narelle.  He comes complete with his own hand knitted neckwarmer and the instructions were to wrap it snuggly around Polar Bear's neck and give him a little kiss on the nose.  So I did.
Last week I saw that Lisa from Cubby House Crafts was offering a crochet-a-long here.  I had bought wool over two years ago to make a crochet cushion so I decided to make the most of this opportunity and crochet-a-long.  Thanks Lisa for the encouragement!
And look at that for size difference in eggs.  I found them in the nesting box on the same day. The middle egg is about the normal size we get, about a size 7, the largest egg was like a goose egg!  Well, I actually don't know that because I don't know how big a goose egg is, but it was big.  It was a double yolker, and we are starting to wonder if some hens are more prone to laying these as we have had a few double-yolkers this year?  Josh enjoyed his extra special boiled egg, Wendy xx

Little finishes

February is always a busy month here.  Everything starts up again and it feels like a rush to catch up with things that have been left to lie in January.  Sometimes I feel the need to stop and catch my breath, write my list and then get going again.  Little projects appeal to me, I can work on them in the evenings and finish reasonably quickly.  I loved making the owl wrist warmers and have got much quicker at knitting them as I need to read the pattern less.  One pair is winging it's way to my niece in Canada and the other is for Charlie.  The Always and Forever cross stitch is complete and I am on the hunt for an appropriate frame otherwise I will take it to a framer.  And the last couple of days I made Charlie a phone pouch from Anni Downs 'In the Life of a Bag' book, to carry her MP4 player around.
Outside things are still quite dry and I am sure I can feel the promise of autumn in the air.  Paul's cactus has flowered more this year than ever, I think we have had ten flowers already and there are more to come.  Paul captured these photos in the early morning sun and I think they look beautiful.  Wendy xx

Holiday treasures

I love to collect new treasures on holiday and this is what I found this year:  seashells collected at Mount Maunganui; new plates from a gorgeous vintage shop - one to hold the shells in the bathroom and one to go in the master bedroom; and a new painting which will eventually hang in the lounge.  We were pretty excited about this painting, it was discounted from $500 to $50 and is the first original art we own.  We love the soft grey we painted our bedroom so much that we intend to paint our lounge and living areas the same colour and the painting looks beautiful against it.  I'm joining Melody at The House on the Side of the Hill for Tuesday's Treasures.
Another new to me treasure is the lovely thread catcher sent to me by Fiona.  Thanks so much Fiona, it is in position at my favourite seat on the couch ready for when I get a chance to stitch.  Thank you for the yummy chocolate too!  Wendy xx

My week and FNWF

 It's Sunday afternoon already here and I am only just posting about Friday Night With Friends!  The weekend is whizzing by.  On Friday I decided to keep stitching away at my Vignette blocks, only four more red flowers to stitch then I can change thread colour.  Thank you to Cheryll for hosting us all.
The rest of the week was mostly taken up with Charlie and Josh returning to school, Josh has now joined Charlie at high school, and me getting back into routines and work.  Aside from my Vignette stitching I have made progress on my cross stitch and am now up to the border.  And for something new, I am knitting owl wrist warmers from the Mollie Makes magazine, issue 21.  This is the first time I have knitted with double-pointed needles 'in the round' and it certainly takes some dexterity juggling four needles then adding in a fifth to do the all the cables!  Today I made a batch of old fashioned biscuits called 'Kisses', sandwiched together with blueberry jam.  A yummy afternoon treat as I sit on the deck in the shade of our bottle brush tree and catch up on blogging, Wendy xx