Spring Handwork and the Garden

We are in the full swing of Spring here in the south at the moment, such wonderful and happy days. I watch as the garden turns into a beautiful wonderland of blossoms with fruit emerging after the blossoms have fallen from the trees. Oh, I have such hopes for this garden this season, our quinces are blossoming for the first time, beautiful large white flowers... Our new fruit trees are also starting to fruit too and we are having a bumper crop of asparagus this year!

Jen has been enjoying some needle felting and has created a beautiful Lady Spring and a gnome for our nature table...

Jenna's Lady Spring and gnome... 

I have been knitting these little pumpkins this week, they make me smile:) Here's the free pattern.

I have always admired orchids and my Richard gifted me with one out of the blue the other day, don't you just LOVE thoughtful surprises like this? I do:)...

Aaaaah and my Tasha Tudor books have been taken down from the shelves again, I am going to be reading through them, I find them so inspiring and precious, I definitely consider them to be treasures in my home...

Caiden has been building a wall outside under his tree house. He is waiting for the mud to set and then he will remove the planks, so sweet...

Our Petria is flowering near our water storage tank, the colour is so vibrant...

Lavender by our front door...

Irises are flowering all over the garden, once they are finished, we are going to dig them up and divide them. We usually do this every two years.

Quince blossoms, oh, how I wish for quinces this year!!! Need to look for some recipes...

My Heart Swap has arrived from lovely Lanie. Oh my goodness, I have been so blessed with kindness! I received 3 beautiful crocheted bowls, a flower brooch, button bracelet, sweets and I love the card! Everything was wrapped in a silk scarf. I love my gifts Lanie and thank you so much for taking part. I will email you soon :)

Our first Calendulas are flowering... and guess what..... the chickens don't like eating them! So we will have some flowers in the front garden after all:)
xo
Linda

Spring Nature Table

Kye has been enjoying playing with his tree house table so I thought it would be a good time to set up our Spring nature table. I have moved it into our library, this is the busiest room in our home... Now we will be able to see this sweet little scene each day and if we go on nature walks we can add small treasures to it too:)

We made this tree house stand a few years ago with some pruned branches and thick ply wood, it really is easy to put together. Just cut three bases for your levels, the lowest being the biggest and make them smaller as you go up. Cut with a scroll saw or a jig saw, nail the little branches through the levels and that is that...

Wishing everyone a lovely week ahead...
xo
Linda

Happy Spring and Sending Love International Heart Swap Photos

Happy Spring to everyone in the southern hemisphere and happy Autumn to all in the north!

What a glorious time of year this is, the weather is warm, plants are flowering, the grass is turning green again, so refreshing, a time of renewal... We danced around our colourful Maypole yesterday to welcome in the new season...

Now for some Sending Love Heart Swap photos...



This Heart Swap has been such a wonderful and special time, I have connected with lovely people all over the world in Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, USA, Italy, Greece and Russia to mention just a few of the countries...

I have been receiving photos of the swap items that have been so lovingly created and sent off and I would like to share them here in this space... If you have any photos of your swap items that you made, please feel free to send them through for me to blog about with your blog link.

I would like to make this 'Sending Love Heart Swap' a yearly swap, this year there were 86 participants, just amazing!
Thank you so much to everyone:)

Here are some of the wonderful treasures that have been made:

Aleta's wonderful swap item.

Marie sent this gorgeous piece of jewellery to her swap partner.

Linda's elegant swap items.

Judith's lovely swap.

Kelly's beautiful swap.

Melissa's  amazing swap items.

Sheryl's lovely swap.

Valery's beautiful swap

Meg's beautiful Two Hearts Mug Rug.



Melissa's gorgeous creations.

Thank you so much to everyone who sent photos to me:)

Have a peaceful weekend

Love

Linda 

Easter Rabbit Egg Cozy Knitting Pattern Tutorial

Easter will soon be here, I still have so many treasures to make for my little ones, I thought I would share this Easter rabbit egg cozy knitting pattern with you. He knits up so quickly:) I have knitted this one in a bamboo yarn, so soft, but any leftover yarn will be perfect for this small project. You could even add a little nose and eyes with fleece and a felting needle, I just decided to leave this one plain:) He took about half an hour to make this morning while I was busy preparing lunch. When I had a moment, I would quickly pick up my knitting and add a few more rows. I have been looking for an easy crochet pattern for slippers, if anyone knows of one, won't you please point me in that direction, thank you so much.

What Easter projects are you busy with at the moment?
Enjoy!

Knitted Easter Rabbit Egg Cozy Pattern / Tutorial:

Materials:

DK or any left over yarn
4mm circular needles
Wool needle for sewing up

Cast on 9 stitches on circular needles. I have used the Magic Loop Method of knitting.
Knit 1 round
Knit into the front and back of each stitch in next round increasing your stitches to 18.
Knit 1 round
Knit into front and back of each stitch in next round increasing your stitches to 36.
Knit garter stitch for 12 rounds.
Knit 4 rounds of purl stitch and then cast off :)

Sew in all ends. Sew around the opening where you began knitting, just thread through the stitches and pull tight.

Ears:
Cast on 5 stitches.
Knit 8 rows in garter stitch.
Knit the first 2 stitches together on each row until there is 1 stitch left.
Cast off.

Attach to the top of the cozy.

Happy day to you:)
xo
Linda

Please note, this pattern is for personal use only, and not for resale, items knitted from this pattern may not be sold for commercial purposes, thank you.

Easter and Spring Knitting Patterns & Tutorials from This Year and Last Year

Hi everyone, I thought I would blog all of my Easter and Spring patterns and tutorials here, some are from last year and others are from this year with more to follow in the next few weeks:)
Enjoy crafting and knitting:)



Easter Rabbit Pattern.



Knitted Easter Egg Pattern.

Easter Nest with Eggs Pattern (these eggs are half the size of my other eggs).

Easter Chicken Pattern.

Easter/Spring Robin's Nest Tutorial

Bluebird Knitting Pattern.

Easter Gift Bag Tutorial.

Dandelion Knitting Pattern.

Easter / Spring Egg Cozy Pattern.

Ladybug Pattern.

Spring Mobile Tutorial.

Spring Knitted Snail Pattern.

Bluebird Knitting Pattern Tutorial

I have been wanting to add this knitting pattern to my blog for a while to share. It was featured over at the lovely, Rhythm of The Home and now I am adding it here:) This little Bluebird is wonderful for nature tables, a small stocking filler at Christmas time etc...

This Bluebird of Happiness pattern is knitted with The Magic Loop method of knitting with circular needles.

Materials:

Brushed Mohair

Circular Needles

Fleece

Wool needle

Brown yarn for beak

Felting needle, black fleece for eyes

Pattern:

With circular needles, cast on 9 stitches (knitting in garter stitch (plain)). Join for knitting in the round and place a stitch marker at the beginning of the round.

Round 1: Knit 1 round.

Round 2: Knit into the front and back of each stitch for 1 round (18 stitches).

Round 3: Knit 1 round.

Round 4: Knit into the front and back of each stitch for 1 round (36 stitches).

Knit seven rows.

Round 12: (Knit 1 stitch, knit 2 together) repeat across this round.

Round 13: Knit 1 round.

Round 14: (Knit 1 stitch, knit 2 together) repeat across this round.

Round 15: Knit 1 round.

Round 16: Knit into the front and the back of each stitch to increase.

Knit 4 rounds.

Round 21: (Knit 2 stitches together) repeat to the end of the round.

Break yarn and thread the yarn onto a wool needle and thread the remaining stitches through the wool needle and leave until you are finished filling your bird with stuffing.

Tail:

The tail is knit in garter stitch (plain).

Cast on 3 stitches

Knit 6 rows.

Cast on 1 stitch at the beginning and end of the row.

Knit 3 rows.

Cast off.

Wings:

Knit wings in garter stitch (plain)

Cast on 5 stitches.

Knit first and second row.

Row 3: Cast on 2 stitches at the beginning of the row and 1 stitch at the end of the row.

Row 4: Knit.

Row 5: Cast on 1 stitch at the beginning and knit 2 together at the end of the row.

Row 6: Knit.

Row 7: Knit 2 stitches together at the beginning of the row, knit to the end of the row.

Row 8: Knit.

Cast off.

 

Fill your bluebird with soft fleece and ensure he is wonderfully firm, shaping him as you go.  Take your needle and thread it through your stitches and pull firmly closed and finish off.

 Shape your bluebird gently, by pushing more fleece to the back as can be seen in the photo.

Sew on wings and tail.

To make the beak, sew a loop in brown wool and weave in and out through the loop and finish off.

Needle felt on two black eyes with fleece and a felting needle.

And here he is finished!

Enjoy:)

Please note, this pattern is for personal use only, and not for resale, items knitted from this pattern may not be sold for commercial purposes, thank you.