Picnic in the Botanics (CAUTION - Lots of photos)

This post isn't about craft stuff I've made, it's a whole bunch of photos I took. So I KIND of created something right?

Last week was a pretty rough week for me. On Monday I fell over and really hurt my shoulder, and then once that had been sorted out and stopped hurting it seemed every joint wanted to go out in sympathy so I had to take Friday off because I was too sore. By Sunday I was able to leave the house, and after some encouragement from my Marvellous Moogi I headed off to the Botanics for a picnic.

Note for future reference. I really shouldn't leave the house without a map! I ended up hopping off at the wrong bus stop, turning right instead of left, and walking all over the place before I finally got to the gates of the garden. But it ended up OK, and I got into the Gardens and had a lovely picnic, with lots of photos.

My food

I made a big salad with lots of yummy things and no dressing, so it was probably even healthy! Go me.


I had raspberries for dessert and they were delicious! Sooooo scrummy.



I made a thermos of tea and brought a proper mug to drink it from. Tea tastes better when it's not in a plastic cup.

The view

I was lying in the grass, surrounded by little daisies. This is a view from eye level.

And this was the view looking up.

I briefly had a dining companion, but he only stuck around long enough for a photo and then left. There was also a squirrel but it was camera shy and I didn't get a shot.

The Gardens
After I ate and did some puzzles I'd brought with me (I'm getting better at Code Words! My parents will be so proud I'm sure), and eaten a bag of sweets (oops), I decided to have a bit of a wander around.

























The Gate
One of my favourite places in the Botanics though is the gate. It's just amazing, and looked so beautiful in the sunlight.


While I was taking those photos I got chatting to this Kiwi lady from Gisborne on the East Coast. That was fun. Then I headed off, and decided not to bother waiting for my bus, and headed for another bus. Sitting at the bus stop I got to chatting to two women from Bavaria (didn't practice any German. I couldn't remember anything!). We chatted for about twenty minutes before we realised that the bus we were waiting for wasn't actually running. I looked at the wrong time table. Oops! So they headed off another way and I decided to walk home.

After all that exercise I was quite happy to sit at home and just do nothing, so I did! I was going to go to the closing event at Leith Festival, but once I was home I didn't want to go out again. But it was good to get out, so the weekend wasn't a complete waste.

I just wish I could have done some knitting!

Oh, and Daniel, the baby I knitted the daisy toy for, seems to like his present. His mother, Kathryn, certainly likes it. And after Mass yesterday I was given LOTS of lovely cuddles from Daniel. Such a cutie.

Now if only he hadn't decided my breast was a great place to wipe his face, but oh well.

What have I been doing lately?

I was thinking that I didn't really have much to blog about because I'd not really finished anything lately, but then I was looking through photos and I realised that wasn't quite true. I've done a few things here and there, and I figured it was time to share them.

Knitting

There is a lovely lady, Katherine, who I see at Church sometimes. She had a baby boy, Daniel, about 6 months ago. A couple of weeks ago I saw her again and she told me that she knitted (I was knitting at the time). When I got home I found this pattern and used some wool I had lying around to make up this toy for her son. I've not had a chance to give it to her yet (I really should phone her or something, we swapped numbers) and find out when she'll be at Mass again. I'm pretty chuffed with the way this came out though. It's meant to have eyes on it but I wasn't sure I could do them very well, so I gave up. He can be a blind flower right? I just hope his leafy limbs stay attached.

Sewing

After the success of my spotty bag, I decided to make another one. I made a couple of changes to this one, including curving the front flap and adding a zip.

I was going to also add a press stud to the front flap, and I had sewn it on before I sewed the lining to the front flap. I didn't want the stitches to show through you see. I was trying to be neat and tidy.

It wasn't until I'd finished everything and was ready to sew on the other half of the press stud that I realised I'd sewn the first side on upside down, and there was no way I could fix it without the stitches being visible. :( *insert lots of swearing here* So I removed the bit I'd sewn on and decided not to bother. I'd like there to be a clip though, so next time I will think more carefully about the way I sew things together. Also, I think I really should fold over a little seam or find an overlocker to finish the edges, because the fabric frays. I zigzag the edges, so they won't fall apart, but I still get the occasional thread threatening to jam the zipper. Still, I'm learning as I go.

Now I just need to find a fabric that can withstand knitting needles.


Bags aren't the only thing I've been sewing. I actually made myself a dress! OK so the photo might not be the best, but it was the clearest one I had.

This dress is actually a singlet top that I had already, and an A-line skirt that I drafted the pattern for and attached. I could have just made a skirt, I know that, but the singlet is too short. It's comfy around the arm holes, but not long enough to stay tucked in (and let's face it - asking ANYTHING to cover my stomach is probably a bit unfair!). So I made the skirt and attached it, and it's really comfy. Much chuffed! Now I just need to make myself a scrunchie to wear with it! (When I was a kid and my Marvellous Moogi made me clothes, she'd make me a scrunchie for my hair with left over fabric. It became a bit of a running joke if we ever had left over material. Of course, me being me I rarely managed to find both the scrunchie and the clothes that matched it at the same time but meh!)

Cooking
I also made cupcakes!

There they are ready to go into the oven. They're just plain vanilla but they were really scrummy.


Seher sent me the silicon cases. They're brilliant. I don't need a cake tin. I usually just cook them straight in the cases, but I decided to try and put paper liners in this time. Unfortunately I've not been able to find liners that are the same dimensions as the cases, so the cupcakes turned out a bit small. Oh well.


I had fun icing them. I made up some butter cream icing, and then some royal icing that went fairly runny because of all the red food colouring I added to them. But what's the point in cupcakes if you can't have bright toppings right? And yeah, my icing skills aren't really the best, but I'm only just beginning. You should have seen some of the things my mum has done in the past. She is amazing!


Anyway, they were yummy, so that was alllllll good! And yes, I may possibly have eaten them all myself. But not in one sitting!!

Wow this is a long post! I've done more than I thought.

Digiscrapping


I made this kit for a Deviant art colour challenge. I did heaps of papers and a bunch of elements as well.


It was good fun, and hopefully people will like it and use it.

I've made a couple of pages, to show how it can look. What do you think?


I'm not a big fan of Pink but my Marvellous Moogi (Mum) is so, since she's in this picture, I figured I'd use the pink stuff I made. Hopefully she likes it OK.


Angela (the pretty blond on the right) is a woman I know through work. She works in our London office, but I have a fair bit to do with her because she does a lot of the design and style stuff for the documents we produce. She's from South Africa and is awesome.

If you're interested in downloading this kit to play around with yourself, here it is. This link should take you to 4shared.com. You can download it there. You need to wait a bit, like 20 seconds, but meh. It's free, so what's 20 seconds right? If you do use it then please let me know. I'd love to see what other people do with it.

OK. I really should go do something more productive now. So I'll talk to you all soon. Hopefully I'll be able to talk about finishing some of the big projects I've had for ages. I am so close to finishing my grey Aran jumper. I'm pretty sure that even if it's 30 degrees (In Scotland? Yeah right!) I'm going to wear it when I'm done. And I'll probably get some champagne too. I've been working on that thing for YEARS!!

Ta ta for now. Have a good day.