Berries, cherries and crochet

Hello Everyone!
We're in the thick of summer and we're still breaking the records for not having rain in 30+ days!  I would greatly appreciate a good downpour to wash down the summer dust.  Motel business is absolutely and insanely busy and not a break in site.  Logger's Weekend festival, along with seafood cookery competitions coming up this weekend, so we will have guests every which way.
 
Picked up my winter stock of blueberries from a local grower.  They are soooo yummy...nothing like fresh blueberries. Besides eating them by the handful the first day we got them, I made a blueberry crisp (recipe here).  It turned out really nice.

These blueberries are very good for you, antioxidants and all that.

 

Here is my blueberry crisp.

 
That gooey goodness in the corner...yummy stuff.

With a dollop of vanilla ice cream.... The taste of summertime.  Great thing is, I will make this in the dead of winter too....O joy! :)

Picked up some BC Cherries, too...we just gobbled these up lickity-split.  These dark cherries are so sweet and juicy.  One could taste the sunshine almost!

Well, couldn't get by the week without some 'happy hookiness' as Lucy might say. Very simple slipper pattern which you can crochet up in an evening.

These blues ones are double strand with a I/9  5.5 mm hook, using just an ordinary worsted 4 ply.
You can find the pattern here by Emy on Youtube.  Simple yet very satisfying to crochet.  I added a pompom for fun.

So made a second pair.  This time using a very soft chunky yarn with the same I/9 5.5 mm hook. Instead of a pompom you could use a button, a crocheted flower, or anything you'd like to personalize your slippers.

 
These are so soft and comfy, altho' a little warm for this time of year.

I haven't been on an outing or walk-about recently and really must do that soon.  We've been so busy here this last week that we both just flop down in the evenings.  Even so, in the motel business you have people checking-in in the evenings and sometimes in the middle of the night.  Travellers coming to the Island sometimes misjudge the time the ferry trip takes from the mainland or the length of the drive up island, so we've had the doorbell ring at 2:30 a.m. and as early as 5:00 a.m. "Your turn", I groggily say...stumble, stumble, groan and moan, R gets up and gets it done.  He always handles these ones.                                   Until next time my lovelies, MO

Biscuits & Jam & Crochet

Thought I would stray from my normal oatmeal flavored with maple syrup breakfast that I have EVERY morning rain or shine.  So I made some biscuits to have with fresh strawberry jam and they were delish!  Here's my never fail, flakey biscuit recipe.

Biscuit Recipe:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 TB butter (or use margarine)
3/4 cup whole milk  (or use 2%)

Add sifted dry ingredients to the butter and mix evenly.  Add milk all at once, stir just until it is  puffy-moist. Turn out onto lightly floured surface, kneed just enough to keep it together.  Do not overwork the dough or it will not be flaky.  Pat dough into a 1 inch thick square, cut into squares or rounds as desired.  Place 1 inch apart on greased (or foil sprayed with Pam) cookie sheet.  Bake in 425 oven for 12 minutes or until golden.  Makes 10-12 biscuits.  (What I do sometimes is to roll out the dough until it's about 1/4 inch and then use a round cookie cutter to punch out little biscuits.  Then I put one round atop another to bake.  This makes a removable top to the biscuit.  Weird I know, but that's the way I like 'em.)

 

Notice that the rounds are stacked one atop another.

 

O Yum!  A dollop of real butter, with fresh strawberry jam!  And add a cuppa with frothy skim milk topped  with finely grated chocolate. 

 

 

 

A treat from my normal everyday breakfast...even tho' I luv my oatmeal!

 

Did some crochet this last weekend as well.  I made these mandala flowers, inspired by some of my favorite bloggers  (see those listed on my side bar).  I am still enamored by the mandala and did a small blog on the subject awhile back.  There is something very satisfying for me doing a colorful mandala...just going with the flow and choosing the colors that appeal to me at the moment.  No planning, just color and crochet. :)   And the colorful leaves are a bit of fun as well.  And added a few buttons to the centers for a little dimension.  I took these pictures outdoors on my patio table...these are kissed by the sun's brightness!

 

 

 This one I did up last night, but not sure what it will become as yet or how big it will get. 

 

Well, that was my weekend.  Nothing too exciting or earth-shattering...just some quiet summertime moments.  The sun is bright, skies are blue and 'summertime' is in full swing.  We are fortunate here on Vancouver Island, BC Canada in that the sea breezes cool off the evenings quite nicely.  I love the smell of summer...that mixture of everything warmed by the sun, the salty sea, and the fragrance of summer blooms.  LUV IT!!!

Until next time, MO

Baby's Room Garland

Hello
I mentioned in a previous post that I was using some pastel colors and so I crocheted up some simple little flowers and a few leafs.  After I crocheted them into a garland I thought it could use a little something else and so I did up a couple of hearts as well.  I think it would be really cute on the wall in a baby's room or hung around a crib.  Now I just need to know someone who is having or just had a little babe.

Started with these colors...

 

Crocheted some little flowers and leafs.

 

 Added some crocheted hearts to my garland.

  

So hung the garland outside on my gate just to see how it looked fully hanging up.

 

 I think it's really cute and happy.

 

 

 

  

 

 

I think it looks rather cheerful hanging up on the gate, but I'll not let it stay there. 

 

Until next time, MO

Granny Bunting

Hello Everyone
I've had some difficulty with the 'comments' section of my blog...the comments disappeared! Thank you all tho' for your encouraging comments...I believe my blog is back on track.  Keep your fingers crossed! :)
 

 

I've been crocheting granny bunting for Lucy's Yarndale event.  I really enjoyed making them and it was fun to do a triangle shape.  Here's a few pix of those.

 

 

 I thought I would do one that was a bit different so added an owl applique.  Check this site for the little owl pattern http://www.petalstopicots.com

 

 

 LIKE A STACK OF PANCAKES OR A BUNTING SANDWICH!  They are ready to go!

 So until next time, MO

The Mandala

Crochet Mandala

Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, polygon, community and connection. The circle concept exists in nature, is found in many religious symbols and represents wholeness. Mandalas are intricate designs that can be a part of the meditating experience. When you color a mandala, your goal is to focus on the process of coloring, and being mindful of how the colors make you feel. It is very relaxing and calming.

The psychoanalyst Carl Jung, saw the mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self" and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality. Jung suggests the mandala is a form of expression often found in dreams.  In his writings on mandala symbolism, Carl Jung refers to the mandala as "the psychological expression of the totality of the self."  [C.J. Jung, Mandala Symbolism, Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press, 1972].  http://mandalazone.com/wordpress/archetype-of-wholeness-jung-and-the-mandala/

After all that is said and done...here are a couple of crochet mandala I have done. 

Here are a couple I have done recently, inspired by http://made-in-k-town.blogspot.de/2012/05/little-spring-mandala.html

  I'm not the only one crocheting mandala's.  Check these out as well.

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2013/05/mandala-flowers.html

http://thepatchworkheartuk.blogspot.ca/

Mandala Sand Painting   http://www.mysticalartsoftibet.org/mandala.htm  This is incredible and always has been a fascination to me!!!

I have crocheted doilies for many years...all sizes with assorted colored threads used, "so it has been a psychological expression of the totality of the self" for me for many years. lol  As a young adult, Jung's writings helped 'open my mind' to loftier thoughts.  That lead me to some evening courses at a local college in Calgary, AB where I did some study and experimentation with mandalas.  Here I am now 60+ and still involved in mandala's...making them with yarn, paint, quilling (paper strips), and when nothing else was at hand, jiffy markers and felt pens or whatever.  Mandala's are eternal and I will most likely create them all my days in one medium or another.  Color is good for the soul, color warms my heart, and color soothes and/or invigorates my mind.                             Until next time, MO

Cute Lil' Owl Applique

Hello Crochet-ers
I found the cutest little owl applique pattern to put onto a granny square or whatever.  I just used some beads for the eyes, or you could use black buttons or whatever you like.   Any color you would like...I used a DK yarn, in turquoise and a rusty color and a 4 mm hook. Another great way to use up bits of yarn.

  Isn't this little guy just the cutest!

 

Very easy to make:

Abbreviations:

SC = Single Crochet

DC = Double Crochet

HDC = Half Double Crochet

TC = Triple Crochet

Click here for Magic Circle (By Emi)
Magic Ring, Chain 1, 8 HDC in magic ring, join to first HDC, chain 1
Round 2: 2 HDC in each around, join to first HDC, change color  (16 HDC)
Round 3: Chain 2, 2 DC in each around, join to first DC, chain 1 (32 DC)
Round 4: HDC, in next stitch: DC – TC – DC, SC in next 5, in next stitch: DC – TC – DC, HDC in next, slip stitch to join.
Fasten off, weave in ends.
Eyes: Magic Ring, Chain 1, 8HDC in magic ring, join to first HDC, fasten off leaving a long tail to sew on. Sew on no larger than 1/2″ black buttons in the middle for eyes or use beads.
Beak and Feet:
Sew on yellow yarn with tapestry needle. Loop the yarn through 3 times to make both the feet and beak.

You could add this little owl to scarfs, pillows...endless possibilities.

Enjoy, MO