about Gleam and a swap

Distraction Nº 2

Here we go again another distraction!!!!

My Puff cover is still a W.I.P, it is taking a bit longer than I thought it would. Its for me of course so it would,wouldn't it!
My daughter commented on the progress of the puff cover the other day and she mentioned something I had to laugh at ......at this rate Mama you'll be filling your home with crochet!!!" to which I replied " have you looked around my home lately and how many bits of crochet can you see?" .... and she counted....... two ...... the large patchwork cushion with crochet rosettes I posted about here and the granny cushion cover I posted about here .
 I just keep making things for others and not for myself or my home!!!! tch! and tch! 

Getting back to my Distraction Nº 2 well this came about because my niece in Brisbane saw Lalia the Turtle on my facebook page and she liked it sooooo much. However in her case as she is a passionate horse lover I decided to make a pony for her and therefore here you have Gleam the pony. Gleam will be travelling to Brisbane in the very near future, he is just waiting for his future Mum to move into their new home.

Gleam was made from leftovers of DK Coats SMC Brava Yarn and I used a 3.00 hook. His rosette was made with Nº 8 crochet cottons and I used a 2.00 hook . The centre is adorned with a tiny heart face button. Eyes and nose with Anchor embroidery cotton.

The pattern comes from Janet McMahon on Yellow Pink and Sparkly. It was a pattern of a cute unicorn but I tweaked it a bit because I wanted a pony not a unicorn.

 

 What's next other than my puff cover ......   its time to catch up on the swap I am participating in!
I am taking part in the Grand Tea Swap hosted by Lucy at Lucy in the Sky. Thanks goodness Lucy mentioned the following in the Swap rules, and I quote:
  The Rules are…there are no rules.  Just choose as many recipients as you like whenever you like and send some tea.  We will all be delighted to receive tea in the post at any time.  
 I have taken to heart the bit where it says whenever you like as its several months since this swap started....... but I am a great one to abide by the rules or rather the no rules!!!
I have already started my first make to include in my swap because I am not just going to send tea but something to do with tea too.....and who to ahhhhhhhha not telling as yet.

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Hello and welcome to my new follower Daphne on Ivy,Phyllis and Me. Many thanks for visiting my blog. Do pop in again when you can :-)

and 

I feel a new weekend coming on!!!!

Amanda :-)

 

Late but not forgotten!

And from a far

New Zealand...such an incredibly beautiful country

over there across the seas

 my swap partner Kimberley at Creative chaos has sent me a swap parcel which I received last week.

A smashing swap parcel all the way from New Zealand does not deserve a middling few lines in a post added in a hurry ,therefore I have had to wait as usual to the weekend to be able to write up a decent post to present the contents of Kimberly's swap parcel.
We are participating in  the Four happy things swap hosted by Mrs Bobobun at Bobo Bun
Ahhhh but its exciting to receive a parcel full of happy things.

What caught my eye straight away of course is that the parcel's contents arrived in a light chevron striped beach bag,which will be ideal for our beach trips.I like to travel light when we go to the beach  and this bag will be perfect.

The chocolate was demolished in a question of seconds and hubby,Sr P,liked the pineapple one best.

I have now got two more bits to add to my Winnie pooh bear hoard and its great because these are the first erasers I've received.
 Kimberley has sent me a cross-stitch kit. Lovely dark linen which will make a perfect backdrop for the cross-stitch initials on the enclosed chart.

And just look at this gorgeous yarn.....Its pure wool too and a beautiful shade of green. It will be used for something special.

I am so lucky Kimberley has also sent me some crochet hooks. I never have enough of these.

Thats not all either a handknitted dishcloth and some vintage napkins completes the very generous contents of  a very happily received parcel.

Thank You so much Kimberley!

Kimberley has finally received my swap parcel ...... I can now breathe easy as it has not gone astray. I did the silliest thing , I forgot to take photos of the contents of my parcel ...tch!
This means I shall have to wait until Kimberley posts about the parcel on her blog and with her permission pinch a couple of her photos to show off what I made for her on my blog too.

The Med

I've had a surprise visitor from someone who lives in the Med.
This little chappie popped in for a visit. He says his name is ITTLE,quite a nosey lad!

He,s been bopping about here and there throughout my place and he doesn't like having his photo taken very much! Anyhow he says he won't be here for long as he misses his Mum.

Crocheted using Nº 5 Perle cotton & Nº 2.50 hook. Pattern from here

Have a great weekend!

Amanda :-)

I meant to show you......

I meant to show you......

 Jorgie's Mum has given me permission to show you a photograph she posted on her facebook page of little Jorgie wearing the Lollipop dress I sent her in July and I posted about here.
It was too big for Jorgie at first but it fits now!
Isn't she a cutie!!!

and I also meant to show you....

A few of the autumn makes I sent to Sharon at From my front porch in the USA as part of the Blueberry Hearts Cosy Autumn Swap.

Not a great photo...bit blurry tch!

 

Autumn Pebble from Urbanova beach,Alicante

You can't see it in this photo but the sea petals are lying on a bed of pearls and other bits of sparkly treasure.

The Autumn Leaves Beanie.....I went a bit crazy with the buttons.

Autumn sea blossom brooch

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Today it is another fiesta day, a three in one fiesta day. It is the Hispanidad day and the Patron Saint of Spain, La Virgen del Pilar Day.
There are military processions throughout the city and throughout Spain because it is also the Armed Forces Day.

Madrid this morning

 We don't enjoy military processions so much so we went to one of our usual haunts this morning,the castle, but we didn't stay long it was much too hot and packed with people. However I did take a few photographs as always.

SANTA BARBARA CASTLE

We thought TAPAS would go down very well being as it is a fiesta day so we went back to one of our favourite restaurants, El Varadero, which I have already posted about here 

Have a great weekend

Amanda :-)

How much will go in a jar and blog change.

A SWAP

Now when was the last time I did a swap....I used to swap conkers,stamps and comics at school but that was trizilions of years ago.....and for a few seconds here I am having to think how do I do this...how do you do a cyberswap? This is a totally different type of swap something I have never done before...well never mind though...its different...it's interesting and I have this bubbly feeling ,a get up and go feeling of excitement which I'd say is motivation..... !

I have been hovering over Katie's blog http://booty-fullthings.blogspot.com.es/the last few days wondering who I would get as my swap partner and NOW I KNOW I've been teamed with Sandi http://sandiart.wordpress.com/ who lives over the pond in Oz...brilliant.....
I am so looking forward to getting to know my new blog swap partner and to start filling my jar for her.

Our host on this first Jar of Love Swap is Katie at http://booty-fullthings.blogspot.com.es/
and these are the rules and regulations that we should abide by:

THE JAR  the size, shape, colour, material as we like. There must also be a minimum of 5 items inside the jar and one has to be handmade.
THE GOODIES to be sent to your swap partner must fit and be inside your chosen jar and should be items we think our partner will like this means of course that one has to undergo a bit of a research of the other blogger (or have a nosey as Katie describes it ...he! he! ) .  So better grease my dormant strategy skills folks to find out what makes my blog swap partner trill !!!   :-)

THE SENDING

Parcels must be posted by 1st August

Just one more thing ....my thanks to Katie who came up with this brilliant idea! Thank you.

and so the prep begins .....

I went into two Eurostetcher shops today to look for a jar. There were plenty of glass jars but I don't think its a very good idea sending a glass jar by post and weight has to be considered as well. I did find some plastic jars but....I hesitated because they looked very "nothing" sort of jars so I am going to look some more and also look in the house to see what I've got. I want something different! I might find something at the Sunday craft market too.

This IS NOT the JAR !!!! If I find one of these its for me...sorry Sandi :-)

 Blog Changes                 


I have been tweaking my blog design a little bit....I'm a bit of a tidy freak ,my blog included. Now I have 60 reciprocal followers I find it difficult to remember who is who among the icons on my long list of blogs on the sidebar and I do like to keep up with your posts and send in comments regularly if I can. Therefore to make this easier for me and also to save time I have two Blog lists now. I have separated the Blogs of reciprocal followers(the RFs) from the Blogs which are read only (ROs). The reciprocal followers  blog list speaks for itself but the read only one includes the blogs where a reciprocal follower relationship has not been established as yet or they are blogs I just read and drool over. I have placed this list on the right sidebar of my blog.
Please do tell me if I have placed you in the wrong list. I feel better now that's tidier :-)



Hello to my new followers Katie at  Grannytaughtmetocrochet  and Sangeetha at  Crochetkari              a very warm welcome and thanks for your comments and for following my blog .   

Amanda :-)