Crafty in the Med

I am here to enjoy meeting other bloggers and to share my love of craft ,mostly crochet, my thoughts and my daily happenings here in Alicante,Spain, my adopted country. I belong to a local choir because singing and music makes me happy. Flea markets and book shops are two of my favourite places to be. I read lots......sci´fi/fantasy,buried treasure, and off world adventures. I have a passion for history! I walk and walk and walk for about 10 months per year during the hot months I swim.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

FELIZ Aร‘O NUEVO

as always I am in a rush!!!!! 

 I have to host a dinner for 6 this evening ....all last minute prep.
I thought we would be going out but the city is heaving with people and everything was left to the very last minute. My nephew and his wife are visiting from Dubai and it was difficult to make plans until we could sort it with them on arrival ....no matter it is going to be a fun,fun,fun dinner and then a race down to the Town Hall to eat the grapes (that is what they do here...1 grape for each chime) to the chimes of the Town Hall clock!


I hope you all have a wonderful evening and I wish you all dear friends out there in bloggy world a happy and healthy 2014. 
Thank you most of all for your patience when I haven't always been able to reply to your comments and off I go ...... fly, fly ,fly to cook some quick and easy but yummy things to eat this evening.


oh!!!!    yes please!!!


Amanda :-)

Tuesday 24 December 2013

I have treasure I have!!!

I do!! I do !!

 And indeed that is true I have treasure two fold!   However first things first !!!



MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS  
 and for those of you who do not hold these same beliefs.... no matter ......because I believe to wish someone Merry Christmas is synonymous of wishing you peace and happiness. 
May this be so dear bloggers ,
PEACE AND HAPPINESS,MERRY CHRISTMAS,
Feliz Navidad
 Bon Nadal, , Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar, Joyeux Noรซl, Froehliche Weihnachten, Shub Naya Baras,  Nollaig Shona Dhuit, Buone Feste Natalizie, Feliz Natal, Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun and Nadolig Llawen.

 *******************************************************

I have treasure in the form of the wonderful swap parcel contents I have received from
Louise my Christmas Cracker swap partner at ButtonsandBebes.
She has sent me some lovely choccy treasure among other beautiful things:

Just look at how much you can get in a homemade Christmas cracker:

Beautifully neat presentation:
photo sent to me by Louise









It is all so smashing,buttons galore and vintage buttons at that,a beautiful brooch which is made by Louise herself,go here to see more and Louise's shop. There are little charms,sparkly bits,little silver hearts and a Christmas pud charm,ribbons too.

Can you see the Christmas pud?  I love it!!!! The fabric is amazing too! There's a postage stamps piece and a nautical piece. I am already thinking what I can do with that fabric. Louise also sent me a charming letter and a christmas card with  Frightfully British Let's brew up fridge magnet ....I so like to receive typical Brit things like that.

As I forgot to take photos of what I sent to Louise she was kind enough to send me a pic of the contents of the Christmas cracker I sent to her.


 I tried to add as much variety as possible as Louise makes brooches and kiddies hair accessories.
  • some herbal tea and a crocheted mug cosy
  • embroidery silk
  • three different pieces of fabric ,two Christmassy and the other chiffon
  • buttons of course
  • fantasy clips and pins
  • ribbons
  • a mini christmas crochet sock with bells
  • a little lace fan brooch I brought off a friend's stall
  • flowers
  • and I think I put in an Alicantina fridge magnet but I don't see it here...did I forget it???  Yikes!!!....tch!!!

 and now I must fly as I have a lunch class to teach


  Amanda :-)











Sunday 15 December 2013

How I do love thee!



How I do love thee!!!

I have to admit my yarn addiction is getting worse!!!
It doesn't help of course when this madam hovers near by so frequently!!!!

Yarn Fairy

The title of my post today is more than apt as I have indeed recognized the emotions.....the excitement,the feverish feeling,the sweaty brow and twitching damp sticky fingers as I lunge out and grab new yarn that has just come in .....and once in my grasp I hug it to me with a stealthily gesture as if someone would steal it from me. At the same time I seem to hear the words "its mineeeee.....my precious" tingling in my mind!!!!   In love with yarn!!!!


OH! JOY!!! dear peeps I just have to tell you the good news....a new yarn shop has opened up a few streets down from where I live. A KATIA yarns shop.


 I saw it yesterday lunchtime and of course it was closed and I won't be able to get in to see it and contemplate the wonders until next Saturday as I have a new intensive course at Cruz Roja (Red Cross Alicante) and most shops will be closed when I get out....so it is going to be a long arduous wait....tch!!!

Here's the update on my latest swaps:
My Autumn Glory Swap hosted by Blueberry Heart is on its last leg now and my busy busy swap partner Helen from Moonstruckcreations  over in the UK has been able to get her swap parcel on its way to me the end of November ....so exciting .......I should be receiving it very very soon.
My Christmas Cracker swap hosted by Tracy at Mad about Bags parcel has been received by Louise from ButtonandBabes in the UK and her swap parcel is also winging its way to me so that means another scrumptious parcel to look forward to.    It is so the right time of the year to receive parcels....I do wonder if the postman doesn't just feel really abundantly loved over these christmassy weeks too.


I am sending you the following message from Kerrie from Spanish Strays. Do you remember I sent out an appeal to craft bloggers here? Well she says a big big thank you for the generous donations of craft goodies which she has received for the Spanish Strays Christmas stall.  Here you have some pics of some of the goodies but there are more which you can see on the Spanish strays facebook page here.


 A splendid display and generous donation from Penny at Violet White .
More beautiful craft goodies from Chrissie at Chrissie's blog

Their first Christmas fair was yesterday and Kerrie will also be posting photos on the SS facebook page of the stall and information on how well they did.


My W.I.P are slowly getting done but not fast enough for me when I look at this lovely new yarn that I have brought and I am dying to get my hands on!!!
I am just going to show you peeks of what I am doing at the moment.







 They would , of course, get done much quicker if I concentrated on one thing at a time but I just can't as I get so easily distracted by all the Christmass crafts loveliness I keep seeing on everyones blogs.


I've posted this Sleeping with Cats chart because


  it immediately brought to mind a post from Mouse on her blog  A View from the teapot ,where Mouse comments about the problems caused by her cat sleeping on her pillow every night. The pillow takeover as indicated on the above chart.
 It also coincides with our own problem. Now that it is quite chilly at night our cat tries to wheedle his way into Sr P's side of the bed. I see that is called the spoon on this chart. His maneuvers to wake Sr P up result from the most gentle of taps on Sr Ps head to a frightening horrendous yowl right in his ear which literally makes him jump out of the bed .....Sr P that is not the cat.
Sounds funny doesn't it but not when it is night after night!!!. 

I feel there was something else I had to tell you but it has quite slipped my mind!!!    It will have to keep until my next post which I hope will be in within a week and not two weeks as is the case at present.

Have a wonderful Sunday rest!!!


Amanda :-)





Sunday 1 December 2013

Nice things among the mire


It has been a shitty week and perhaps I could even say a full two weeks of mire!!   However after reading Chrissie's blog on giving thanks here I'm trying to do the same. I'm taking a leaf out of Chrissie on Chrissie's crafts book and trying to be thankful by thinking about the good things that have also happened to me over that time.  
In fact there are more good things than I would have originally thought! It is strange how the negative thoughts seem to takeover and suffocate the good things and there are always some good things you know....you just have to sit down relax a little and search for them with a positive mind,so I tell myself anyhow!

One of my ESL in-company students went to the UK for a week to visit the Birmingham International Cake and sugar-craft show and he brought this book back for me


He has been extra considerate as he has remembered just how much I like history.
This book quite brings history to life and makes you realize just how historical facts can be twisted and puffed up to something quite different from what is the real truth.
It is a bit like Chinese whispers in comparison! Have you ever played Chinese whispers?
At present I am reading about the Carta Magda .... and what it really was!

My grand-daughter Cookie was 13 on the Friday 22nd November so we had a little family lunch,just the four of us and a giving out of our gifts to her. Cookie has become quite interested in baking so I bought her some baking goodies:fancy silicone moulds to make pretty cakes,some to make chocolates and pens with edible ink to write on icing. She also got a black pair of jeans which I think is a boring present but it is what she wanted!


My Red Cross A1-1 course finished last Thursday and my lovely students brought me this as a thank you gift!

Pure silk,very light and warm too.

Aren't they smashing ........so nice of them!
 Can you guess who's me ??????  LOL!


I also had some good news as Red Cross want me to continue with them in December teaching the English Module in the Lifeguards Course ....goodie ,goodie as December is usually a slack month for me and I don't have much work (yes!!! for those who don't know I am self-employed!).  I also like working there at Red Cross and I like my job!!!


I have managed to finish my niece's request which is this other Bear Beanie for another little great niece who is nine months old and lives in Torquay.
I feel particularly pleased at how this Beanie has turned out. I find using an empty olive jar for a stand keeps the hat steady and helps me line up the little ears much better. They are nearly straight this time. :-)   The pattern is from  Janet Carrillo "damn it Janet, let’s crochet!" found here
Really easy to follow and this was also a stash buster as I used up leftovers of Red Heart Baby super soft yarn in lilac and purple.








Once again...I've done it once again! I could kick myself ...I finally managed to get my swap parcel off to Louise my Christmas Cracker swap partner from Buttonsandbebes    and I have forgotten to take photos of the contents....tch!!!  ....double tch!!!





It is wonderful to see I have two new followers ....but I don't know who you are so please visit and comment when you have a moment. I would love to hear from you.

Have a relaxing Sunday

Amanda :-)