Howling at the Moon

Don't you love it when birds visit your garden? I do!  At our former house we had a very small garden, but lots of birds, bats and bees, but although we have a much larger garden at our new house now, there isn't a single tree in it. Lots of bushes that attract bees and other insects, but not one tree for birds to take shelter. A couple of weeks ago I asked a landscaper to design a garden for us and when she asked me about must haves, I asked for a couple of trees: a couple of fruit trees for a small orchard, two or tree pollard willows (my favorite tree!) and a couple of trees to effectuate more privacy.  Last week the landscaper came with her design and I absolutely love it. It's green and lush, it gives a lot of privacy, it has enough places for relaxing alone and with friends, and the best: I think it has lots of possibilities for birds, insects and small animals like hedgehogs to find food and shelter. I think we will start building the garden in springtime, so for now...

  Stash Buster 4   While searching for small Valentine's Day crochet projects to reduce my yarn stash with, I came along these cute cup cozies. Excellent to use on my favorite drink (latte). I love the tiny hearts!   Pattern : Tiny Hearts Cup Cozies by Janet Pippin on Ravelry Yarn : various colors by Katia    ~*~   My Old Fashion Granny Squares Pillow is featured by Creative Jewish Mom , JENnerally Informed , White Arrows Home and The Ponds Farmhouse !      The Horse Shawl that I made for my daughter was featured by Ginx Craft ! 

 Here in The Netherlands we're in the middle of our second lock down since corona entered the world's stage. My daughters follow online classes and my husband worked at home since march anyway, so it's busy in our house. Fortunately everyone has his and her own workspace and own laptop, so no problems for that matter. The problem is boredom (a luxury, first world problem of course), so every now and then I have to come up with 'something to do'. This week I ordered beads, memory wire, charms and such, so we could make bracelets. I made this one, for Valentine's Day.    ~*~   My Valentine Hot Chocolate Bombs were featured by Ginger Snap Crafts , My Girlish Whims , My Thrift Store Addiction , Simply Sweet Home , The House on Silverado and Life and Linda !  

  Stash Buster 3 Stash buster again (although not as much as would like). I have a lot cotton yarn in about every color, a mountain that seems to grow every year. Some weeks ago I found a couple of Delfts Blue tiles in an unpacked moving box. I inherited them from my grandmother and because I really love the tiles I want to hang them somewhere in my living room. Matching with the tiles I made the Canal House Cushions, but after finding another small cushion I thought of making another cushion in old fashioned granny squares, in the same colors. Yarn enough, so after some digging in the stash I found the right colors.   This is the result. Matches perfectly with my other cushions. The mountain of yarn hasn't dwindled very much after this project, but it's a start.    Pattern: Granny Square Yarn: different shades of blue by Katia     ~*~   The Horse Shawl that I made for my daughter's Birthday was featured by Annemaries Haakblog , Creative Jewish Mom ,...

  Both of my daughters (11 and 13) are fervent followers of TikTok and I have to say: sometimes they come up with really great ideas, that they found on this app. One of this ideas is the Chocolate Bomb. And just when they told me about the chocolate bombs I saw them pop up everywhere in blog land. The bombs look so beautiful, that I wanted it try them out for Valentines Day, together with my daughters of course. We used Red Velvet Chocolate for a pink color and filled the bombs with little marshmallows, sprinkles and sugar confetti and of course cocoa.