So Pretty - Blogtoberfest Day 20

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Isn't this pillow so beautiful? I found it on my travels the other night. I love the crochet edge, It really has me inspired. Cassie over at You Go Girl! has a wonderful tutorial so that you can do this for yourself. Cassie's tutorial looks really well explained, I cant wait to start making some myself.

Have you found any great tutorials lately?

Eenie Meenie - Blogtoberfest Day 12

I want to make a beautiful afghan for someone special for Christmas but I just can decide which one.

My first choice was pic 1 but then I love the different size squares in pic 2, I also love the fact that the afghan in pic 3 is a circle. Oh decisions decisions.

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It might be better to ask the person I want to make it for but I really want to make it a surprise. I had better make up my mind soon if I want to have it finished in time for Christmas.

Which one would you choose?

Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along Part 2

So here it is Clue 1 made, a little late but as the saying goes better late than never. So This week we made a little trip to Lincraft to pick up the yarn, I decided to buy all the same multicolour balls in the pic below.

Still have one more of these to make, hehehe.

Stop by and pick up Clue 2, Bernat blog also shows how to do the new stitches that were not used in the clue before so it is very helpful.

Its not too late to join in just stop by the Bernat Blog and pick up the clues and details. And you can Crochet-Along too 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway, it closes tomorrow. You could win a $25 gift voucher and free postage. 

Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along

(Pic from here)       

I don't know how this happened but some how I missed the announcement about the Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along. Luckily enough I didn't miss the 1st clue. You too can join in the Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along too. Check out the announcement where it has all the details on yarn and hooks. Then head over and download the 1st clue so you too can have a afghan finished by Christmas. They say that the patterns will be beginner to easy level so if you have a little bit of crochet experience join in.

(Pic from here)

So after printing out the 1st clue I rummaged through all my yarn but I don't have enough of the right type of yarn for this project so I will have pics of my first squares with next weeks post. 

Will you be Crochet-Along? 

Weekly Handmade Christmas Pledge Update

Well it has been a an enjoyable second week of the school holidays. My son is spending a long weekend down on my mums property, so I was hoping to get lots of projects finished. So far I haven't finished a thing and I am late working on my weekly post but it wasn't all in vain. I spend the day with my Gran going to the movies. While I was out I was able to pick up a large stretched canvas, which I hope to share with you after the weekend.

This week I wanted to talk about the size/cost of gifts. I know for myself its great to know that a friend has thought about me enough to add me to their list of people to give presents too. Even if the present is only a box of chocolates that person took the time to think of you and spend hard earned cash.
Now family is a little different but I think of it this way, I set myself a budget of the amount I would like to spend on that person/couple but if I find a present that is perfect for that person/couple (ie necklace for an aunt who likes chunky jewelery) for less it does not mean that I need to find other presents to make up that budgeted amount. Really doesn't matter how much you spend on someone as long as you have really thought about what the person likes.

I have a really close friend who I share a love of Coke with (I think the word is obsessive). I came across this cute coke cow magnet and knew it was perfect as a Christmas present for her. I will also be getting one of their cute little dog magnets for her, including postage it will only cost $8.50USD.

Recycled Coke Can Cow Magnet by FunkyRecycling 

In one of my earlier post I was able to show you all the Bath mitt and spa cloth that I made for a special person in our family, well to add to this special gift I got some beautiful soap, it smells divine and the fact that it arrived so quick was wonderful. Now all I have left for this present is to make a bath mat. 

Woodstock Handmade Soap by Celestial Scents

Every year we have both a star and an angel on the top of our Christmas tree. While I love the star,  but the angel was just a cheap one we got at the $2 shop. Cute but not special. I spotted this adorable angel and fell in love. So this week I bit the bullet so to speak and purchased the pattern and even thought I haven't crocheted anything like this I am going to give it my best shot.

Crochet Pattern- Paz the little angel amigurumi doll by Owlishly

Over the next week I hopefully I can find the time to work on some more presents for you all to see.

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Blog News.......

With all the talk of Christmas, my son and I have started thinking about what foods we want to have on the day. In the past we always went to family for Christmas day but last year we decided to spend the day at home and to only eat our favourite Christmas food. And I have to say it was so good that we are going to be doing the same thing again this year.

So you will find in the side bar a list of the foods we really want to have this year and under it you will find a comment box where you can tell us about your favourite Christmas foods. Some of your favourites might just make it onto our list to try out this year.

GIVEAWAY

Our giveaway is still running so if you havent already done so, click on the follow button on the sidebar.

I hope to bring you at least one extra post this week, in a couple of days so stop back again then.

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Last but not least I want to share a story with you.

Last Wednesday my son spend the night at my grandmothers, when he was dropped home my gran spotted 3 very adorable chicks sitting on a low branch in my font yard. After watching them for a while and taking a quite a few photos, we went inside and thought nothing more of them.

Just after dusk my son was taking the garbage down to the big and thought to check on the chicks and found that the mother and two of the chicks were gone. But they had left one of the chicks behind.  After calling my Gran, Uncle and Aunt we decided to put in a box with some shredded paper in the bottom and bring it inside.

After keeping it warm all night my son woke to find the mother and two chicks were back on the branch. So my son got the chick out and put it back on the branch. Much to our amazement the mother started feeding it and that night the it went with its mother and two other chicks.

(The chick in the middle is the chick that spent the night with us)

Handmade Christmas Pledge Weekly Update

So last week my camera died before I was able to take a photo of the Crocheted Cupcake that I made as one of the presents for our handmade Christmas. So here it is,

So this week I wanted to share my progress on making our handmade Decorations.

I found a really easy pattern for Snowflakes somewhere on the net. It's a really great place to find patterns that are free to use for personal use. The easiest way to find these patterns is to use google, eg "Free Christmas Crochet Patterns". I am going to be making strings of snowflakes to hang around the top of my living room.

These wonderful Crochet Light Bulbs will also be strung up around the top of my living room.  I got this great pattern from jeanherman and only for $3.00USD.

My son in the past made Decorations for the family as his Christmas Present to the family, well this year he will be reviving this tradition and to help him out I found a great pattern from CrochetSal for Elf bags, after I have finished making these up my son is going to use them to put his handmade decorations in. Photos will be loaded up next weekly update when I have completed a full set.

As I have mentioned before we will also be using handmade gift wrapping. When I spotted the pattern for Reindeer Gift Bags from carriesclutter. With all the presents, decorations and products for the shop I have been making I have not had time to start making this one up but I really look forward to it as I haven't tried felting before.

So I have found a number of patterns on Etsy using the search "Patterns, Crochet, Christmas", as seen below in a screen capture there are some great ideas out there. Even if what you like to do is not crochet there is patterns out there for all types of craft and for only a small cost.  

For my followers I wanted to share a online craft shop that I love, Clever Patch . They have a great range of craft items and also a large collection of Christmas Craft Activities. So even if you dont need to order anything, stop by and look through the activities. I cant wait to make my order soon.

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Next post I will update everyone on the progress we have made so far, and the new and exciting projects we have found.

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Little bit of news on the shop,

We have a new product line that will be loaded up to the shop over the weekend. Something for the kids this time, so stay tuned for the pics.

Crochet Cushions

Inspired by the Daybed that we will be buying shortly I wanted to try out making cushions. I am very happy with the results. My Slate Blue cushion with the star pattern in it has turned out wonderful, it took a long time to make but I feel it was worth it (Think I might have to make myself one of these). Find all of these cushions at ImaginationInFlight.etsy.com , look out for a Chunky Green 45cm square cushion and a Multi Purple Squares 41cm square cushion coming soon.