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*WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING*

If you are Brett – STOP RIGHT NOW. This is about your birthday present, so go away. Now. Go sit in the corner and wait. Okay. Good.

So, those of you who aren’t Brett…

For those of you who don’t know Brett, his birthday is coming up in November and I thought that I’d make him a lapblanket. His computer is low to the ground and he sits with a cushion to use it and so I figured that a blanket was in order.

I originally intended to make him a star-shaped blanket, but the pattern wasn’t behaving, and so I resorted to a plain old granny-square afghan, but in a rainbow pattern. And no, it will not be a repeat of my own never-ending rainbow ‘lapblanket’; I learnt my lesson, it will not happen again.

I’ve been crocheting up squares this week (I have also done some yellow since this photo was taken) and am sitting on about 34 done.

It’s the most relaxing kind of crafting – requiring little concentration (meaning I can continue while chatting away/watching tv/checking email) and is small enough to chuck in my bag so I can do a bit here and there. Because of this, it’s getting made up far quicker than I had anticipated – Amy needs a blanket for her house, I guess I know what she’s getting for Christmas now!

On a bit of a sidenote: I went into the backyard to take these pictures this morning, only to discover that I had a very curious audience. The builders next door have demolished the old garage, so they can see right into our yard (only a temporary wire fence!). I suppose I looked rather ridiculous waltzing out of the house in my purple flannel pjs, and plopping down on the grass to take photos of a bag full of wool… Next time I’ll check if they’re there first!

I’ve been trying to improve my photography skills, with very little actual success of course. I have finally realised, however, that taking pictures outside, with actual light, usually results in better photos.

Unless it’s windy of course.

Isn’t the grass pretty? Every time I’d line up the shot, the card would go flying!

I did eventually get it to stay put however, just in time to attach it to Hannah’s birthday present as we ran out the door.

I made the card on a luggage tag folded in half, partly because I wanted to slip it onto the ribbon, but mostly because I saw someone else do the same on a blog Renae sent me (don’t remember which one). Pink and purple are, naturally, the only colours appropriate for Princess Hannah – and of course a princess needs all the bling they can get, even if it is only on their birthday cards.

Beth and I had some fun stamping some wrapping paper too…

Brett, Vicky, Alex and I have a little side project going over at Coloured Scribbles. Every fortnight we get a topic to interpret and draw however we like. This week’s topic (our inaugural topic) was X-Men.

I decided to go for a variant, however, so here’s the X-Kids. From left to right: Storm, Xavier, Cyclops, Jean, Rogue and Wolverine.

(click for larger)

We recently received news that the daughter of one of my mother’s best friends is having a baby – very happy news! Last night, mum came in and, quite enthusiastically, said “We should make something for Katherine’s baby.”

I just looked at her and waited. Finally I had to prompt her, “…we?”

“Yes,” she said. “I had the idea, now you make it.” Well it’s kind of hard to argue with that kind of frankness.

In light of my already crazy wip list, I decided to go for a simple patchwork cot quilt. Since we don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy, I tried to go with pastels, but soon learnt that I don’t have a whole lot of pastel in my stash. In fact, I have a whole heap of blue, a whole heap of pink and very little in the way of green or yellow. I think I made it work, however. What do you think?

It’s all from my stash except for the lime dots that I picked up from Spotlight this morning for the backing.

So this is my WiP for this week – completed photos to follow!

One of the many (really, many) things I like about Wendy’s craft room is the collection of handmade cards she has on hand ready to use. I’ve been meaning to start up a stockpile of my own for some time now – I love to give and make cards, but usually forget until the day of and then it’s always a rush.

And so! The first for my pile.

Of course, there are few people who I would actually give this one too – so Renae, Wendy, this card is probably in your future.

I also made up a gift-certificate-holder/card for my cousin, Leah’s kitchen tea this weekend. I didn’t quite make it there, but I sent along the card with those lucky enough not to be working.

Every Thursday night, I go over to Brett’s house and we have our ‘friends night’. We watch TV and cook dinner… or rather, Brett cooks dinner while I flit around and make sarcastic comment, usually at his expense. No, I don’t really know why he puts up with me either.

In any case, after about three months of these nights, with my complete non-contribution to dinner (we both pay, he just does the slave labour, er, I mean, cooking) I decided that I had better prove that I have SOME domestic abilities.

Well. I don’t really like to cook, I will if the mood strikes, but for the most part, I’m not a huge fan. Baking however, that is something I can understand. At least then when you have to do all the cleaning you get something worthwhile out of the deal.

Which is why I decided my contribution would be one of my apple pies, apple and caramel, to be exact.

Of course, everyone in the house whinged when said I was making a pie only to take it out of the house, so one pie quickly turned into two.

The pies were received pretty well, so to my way of thinking, I’ve made my contribution and now I don’t have to lift a finger for another three months. What do you say, Brett?

Remember my super secret mystery project? Well it has now been handed over to the recipient, so I can reveal it’s true identity… a NintendoDS case.

(Please excuse the crinkly background, I really should have ironed the backdrop)

I noticed that Renae needed a case for her DS and thought the only thing to do would be to make her one myself – besides, I love little mini projects. It seemed to be a big hit – she seemed very excited to get a handmade gift, which made me think if I’ve ever actually made her a gift before (Renae?). And, then, what I was going to be making next… (and no, Renae, you can’t make suggestions).

The case isn’t quite green (which I know is her favourite), but it’s such a pretty aqua colour, and I’ve been hoarding the fabric for a while now – I’ve used a small amount on something else, but can’t remember what.

It seems to fit my DS okay… maybe I’ll have to make another one for myself.

So what do you think? Did anyone guess something like this from the clues?