a (holiday) library collection

It's holiday planning central 'round here. I'm busily writing lists and I'm yet to cross anything off, so I thought I'd drop in quickly and do a holiday library collection. I popped into the library yesterday and picked up some holiday reads:

What's not to love about Jane Austin with added Sea Monsters? Possibly a lot, but I couldn't resist giving it a go. And the yawn book looks lovely for little-miss-e. I'm yet to show it to her, it'll be her holiday treat.  How 'bout you? Have you been to the library recently?

the coasters

My crafting mojo is definately back, and boy is she keeping me busy! I have a number of projects on the go at the moment, but first, here is my completed water jug and cup coasters for my desk at work.

I love the way they turned out, simple and sweet. My desk is usually so crowded with papers and books and things, these really bring a nice spot of peace.

Now those are done, I've got a set of finger puppets on the go for the flight for little-miss-e on our trip - we head to QLD and sunshine on Sat, so seeing I've got 2 and 2 halves of puppets to make tonight, let alone the planning/organising/packing for our trip (don't you love that I've put the crochet at the top of that list!) I'd best be off. It'll be a little quiet 'round here for the next few weeks while we're of hols, but I'll be back soon enough, hopefully with finger puppet fun to show you all...

wordless Wednesday

squashies

My lovely husband, as I've mentioned, is from South Africa. There are many things he misses, not just family and friends, but familiar tastes and smells and fruits and vegies and meats. So every now and then I make a trek across to the other side of town and buy him a few familiar things. The last time I did this, they had squashies in stock. I fell in love with gem squash when we've been visiting over there and my lovely husband loved that I bought him some. He cooked them up and we feasted on South African treats. We also cunningly saved the seeds, as I had a the grand idea of trying to grow some.

So few weeks or so ago I carefully filled an egg carton and gently planted the seeds. I lovingly watered them and left them outside on our table, under the cover of our little porch.

The next morning though, this:

It was one of those ridiculously windy nights, and the wind had blown them off the table. I sighed, scooped up the dirt and a few of the seeds, and tried again.

Check this out!

Yay for squashies!

mojo-ing

Hooray! It seems my crafting mojo has returned! I am currently brimming with ideas of things I want to make! I'm not sure where my mojo went, she seemed to be buried under a sea of work/home/life type tasks, but now she's back and I'm happy about it!

My first project hasn't gone all that smoothly - I've been trying to drink more water at work. So I took in a lovely water jug from home, which it turns out has a little bit of a continence issue after it pours. Given that I often work with actual paper, the wet jug rings are problematic. So I decided to crochet myself a little coaster to sit my water jug on. Something bright and cotton (to soak up the leaks). And something simple. A simple square dishcloth.

Then I got on ravely and got distracted. I found a cute star dishcloth and thought - that looks like fun. Well, 3 attempts later I was at this - not very stary and not very flat.

So I took a deep breath, got back onto ravelry and found what I was looking for. A flat square simple dishcloth. Perfect. I'll post it when it's done. Now I've decided to make a little coaster for my glass to match...

And I've decided I want to make some more of those finger puppets. We've got a plane flight coming up (HOLIDAYS!) and I thought they'd be a great toy for taking on the flights. And, and, and... My mojo and I - we've got such plans!

What about you? What do you do when your crafting mojo wanders off? And do you and your mojo have plans?

wordless wednesday