Colorful Crochet and Craft books

Thank you for reading my last post and being there for me in my happy and frustrated moments .

Here is what I completed recently , a colorful crochet cushion with the Heirloom cotton yarn that I purchased recently from Australia . This is the fastest ever use of my stash :)

The yarn was very very soft to work with and I used 4 mm hook . The stitch pattern is from here .
This is just the front part , I don't crochet the back and I sew fabric cushion (front -white and back - printed) to attach it onto . I also need to sew regular fabric cushions with some patchwork thrown in which I haven't done before . I am in dire need of good cushions in the drawing room and I am not purchasing new ones as it will deter me from making a new ones . The cushions at my home usually get tossed off to next empty sofa/chair and if made by me then they are given a little care and respect while tossing off . My family doesn't want cushions and I cannot do away with the things that have opportunities to showcase my creativity .

Now the last part of my shopping to envy you all.....the craft books :)

There is a shop named 'Can do Books ' in Melbourne which stocks only craft, cooking and gardening books , I guess all the hobbies. I came to know about it from a blogpost on Melbourne Craft shops that I shared earlier .

Books - I liked this display area :)

Books...

and lots of books 

Here is my loot :)

Designer Crochet by Shannon Mullett - Bowlsby

Blue print Crochet sweaters by Robin Chachula

Origami Master class by various artists and geometric origami papers for Anshita

Reversible color crochet by Laurinda Reddig

Crochet Pillows with Tunisian techniques by Sharon H Silverman

Crocheting on the edge by Nicky Epstein

Old fashioned doilies to crochet by Rita Weiss

Simply Adorable Crochet by Maki Oomaci

Macrame by Kat Hartmann

Pincushion Appeal by Cecile McPeak and Rachel Martin

Sardinian knotted embroidery by Yvette Stanton

I could have purchased these at a less price online but then I rarely get to feel so many craft books in hands and all at one place because we don't get needlework books in stores here . So I indulged myself  :)

I also got Cross stitch magazines from a magazine store (with only magazines on two floors) , they aren't available everywhere but the owner of the Can do books store told us when I asked for Australia's 'Inspirations' embroidery magazine .

Cross Stitch Crazy - June and July issues (I got in May)

The World of cross stitching - issue 240

Unfortunately , I could not find the embroidery magazine there but got some patchwork quilting magazine with offer 3 for 1.

On Sydney airport , I bought another magazine , 'Homespun,' published from Australia .

So this is the end of my vacation related stuff and Yay I did complete this time . Most of the time I lost track after two vacation posts .

I liked Australia trip very much . It was relaxed as at many places we went with my mother's speed and enjoyed places than rushing into to cover everything . People were helpful everywhere -  rangers in the wild life park and penguin parade, guides at the Opera house and lot of other places we visited . Most of our travel was with private cabs and we met two nice and friendly cab service owners who drove us to Blue mountain tour near Sydney and Great ocean road(12 Apostles) near Melbourne . I am telling specifically because we would usually have lot of queries pertaining to lifts , walking distance , special facilities for seniors because of my mother's knee problem and they patiently answered all . I loved the weather as well , it was the beginning of winters and not too cool . You must sure visit once :)

I have signed for Ravellenic games for a group I follow on Ravelry which will begin from 5th August . I need to complete five crochet cushion fronts , out of which , one is done and second is also almost nearing completion . On cross stitch front , I am learning to use the Cross Stitch DP software that I got on my Birthday .

Have a nice day!
Preeti

Back to my routine...

Hello all,

Thanks for your comments and wishes on my last post . I was away for some time because Anshita was down with chicken pox and was at home for more than two weeks :( She is fine now and since she was vaccinated earlier so she was moderately affected . She started going to school from today . But all this happened when Raj was on his US trip and I was alone to struggle with and she missed her school tests as well :(  When he was back , I got cold and fever so I took rest and read books . 

I  was working on crochet cushion which I will share in next blog post . Here are the remaining pictures of my family trip to Australia .

In Melbourne , we stayed in an apartment type hotel in a 2 bedroom apartment suite with all the facilities in kitchen . Although I did not cook but we could order Indian food online there .

Views from the sit out of the apartment and also from the bedroom window

Melbourne exhibition building

The Science Museum next to it was very nice and there was a Jurassic world exhibition at that time which had many giant dinosaur robots . If anyone is a dinosaur fan, I will share the videos .

Church 

We could not visit this church because of timings and most of our trips were Full day and outside Melbourne 

The apartment we stayed in

We visited Phillip island near Melbourne to see 'Penguin Parade' where every evening hundreds of  penguins return to their nests . We saw them from underground covered area which was the nearest you could see . Photography was not allowed there . These are the pics from their app . These penguins are the smallest of the species known as Little Penguin and are around 13 inches in height . It was nice seeing them walk into their nests in natural habitat .

They looked like Penguin babies , so cute :)

Melbourne cricket ground . A visit to cricket ground is always a part of an Indian's itinerary :)

We went on the Great ocean road trip to 12 apostles . We hired a private cab for the day .

Source : Internet

On the way we stopped over to see people surfing on the waves

and a light house

There was an area through the village where you can feed wild parrots .

12 apostles...not all can be captured together in a shot . The weather was nice and cool . Good for us as we were visiting after our hot summer in India.

I liked this place a lot !:)

There was a helicopter ride too but since we were running late we did not go for it .

I am done with the sight seeing pics from Australia although there are still lots of pics left unsorted . I have shared my yarn shopping and will share my craft books shopping along with my crochet project in the next post . 

Thanks for seeing !! Will soon visit your blogs .

Have a creative week ahead!

Preeti :)