Weekend in review

I had such a great weekend filled with lots of different things on Saturday, and then a quiet day at home on Sunday with my beloved darling angel Ruby....

 

On Saturday morning, I had breakfast with my friend Pat at Paputzi's in Linden.  She's battling to recover after a partial knee replacement

 

I then headed over the road to Arthur Bales - they sell gorgeous fabric and wool.  The fabric in the window is drool-worthy (I sometimes wish I was interested in sewing!)

 

I've crocheted 100 (yes - one hundred!) tiny granny squares in Vinnis cotton to make a shawl, but I can't understand the pattern on how to put it together.  Natalie is a Romanian lady at Arthur Bales who teaches monkeys like me to crochet and knit.  She said "come, you sit" in a thick accent.  I obeyed.  Turns out the pattern was wrong, so she showed me an 'easy' way to put the shawl together.  It will take me a while to finish the shawl, but I think I know what to do now

 

I spent Saturday afternoon at my cousin Owen's home visiting with family (we've clearly had far too much sugar in this photo!), and then on Saturday night, I attended a wonderful Passover supper at Honeyridge Baptist Church.  I'll share more in my next post

Scrapbooking weekend

3 of the Scrap Addicts got together last weekend to scrap  - we do this every quarter.  A whole weekend of scrapbooking is bliss!  Lynette was away at a wedding and Linda was still in Australia so it was just Lynn, Leonie and I.  And the 6th Scrap Addict member of course - princess Ruby.

 

Lynn spoilt Leonie and I with these gorgeous crocheted Easter baskets filled with treats - thanks my friend!!

 

 

 We each design a scrap kit for the group every quarter, here is Lynn's gorgeous page

Leonie is holding Lynette's completed page which even has photos on it!  Well done Lynette for sending along your scrap kit even though you couldn't be with us for the weekend.  We were  soooo impressed (ok, maybe 'shocked' is a better description :-)

This is Leonie's beautiful page - she really is the queen of embellishments and is sooo good at matching patterned papers 

 

princess Ruby really does have FOMO - fear of missing out!  And she loves being around her mom so she regularly inspected everything on the scrap table and then curled up in her basket for her beauty sleep.  Love you baby!!

 

tired but happy after another great scrapbooking weekend

Crochet project - winter shawl

Our new office is very cold in the mornings so I can imagine it will be freezing in winter.  I can't concentrate when I'm freezing cold, so I have a WIP (work in progress) to crochet a shawl for the office. 

 

I'm not sure that the shawl should be a diamond shape, methinks it should be straight at the top, but what do I know - I'm a beginner and still learning about hooky.  I love the colours and as long as it's warm in winter, then I'm happy.  I better get a move on, it's officially autumn in South Africa!

March scrapbooking kit

Here is the quarterly scrap kit which I created for the Scrap Addicts group for March.  Simple and easy with space for lots of photos, and the kit can be used for any theme, gender and age.  Lynn and Leonie often scrap boy pages, Lynette and I scrap pages about little girls, and Linda, Leonie and I often do travel pages, so the challenge is to design a layout that everyone in the group can use.  I hope the Scrap Addicts like it!

  

Documented Faith Project

I've been participating in Stephanie Ackerman's Documented Faith Project.  I'm not getting bent out of shape about doing every weeks' challenge.  I usually focus on this once a month, and only do what's meaningful for me. 

 

To me, it's not about making pretty pages.  I've been journaling about the monthly focus words (truth, believe and love) and the weekly verses, and digging deep to see what this really means for me.  Here are some of my pages...

 

 

  

a blank page ready for a future documented faith challenge 

Turning 4

For someone who doesn't have children, I've become an 'expert' on gifts and birthday parties for little girls.  My niece Jamie turned 4 this past weekend, so I bravely spent 3 hours at a party with LOTS of screaming shouting noisy little people.  It was great but I was also happy to leave when I did...

 

My youngest niece, Anna 

the birthday girl with granny Brenda (my step mother)

my brother Shaun and his gorgeous wife Leanne 

with my beautiful baby sister, Caron 

my oldest niece, Melissa with her granny 

oh wow!  Jamie loves her aunty Caron's jewellery,

so she got some of her own bling as a birthday prezzie 

after all the partying, it was time to cool off in the pool

 

Lifestyle Garden Show

I visited the Lifestyle Garden show in Johannesburg last weekend.  The gardens are of a high standard and there are lots of inspiring ideas.  I loved the waterwise gardens, and the interesting use of metal....

 

I don't like this artificial lawn

such a cool bench!

I'm undecided - not sure if the painted metal sticks look great or tacky...

not sure about the blue but it's certainly interesting...

this was my favourite garden - the mosaic star in the ground and the concrete blocks filled with bamboo are sensational