Little Houses

I just love them in all their various guises. So when I found the above pattern for a knitted dishcloth on Pinterest, I was delighted. I am not the world's best knitter though and not one of mine ended up like the pattern, but who cares, I still have the prettiest dishcloths ever. You can find the pattern here.

I used two different cottons and preferred the one that was a bit thicker as it made a slightly larger and chunkier cloth. It was very easy and quick to do.

I also rather admired the first picture of little red houses that I also found on Pinterest, and decided to have a little go at making some tags. Here's my efforts.........

They are very crude and simple but remind me of German or Swiss houses, and would do rather well for adorning Christmas presents. I used one or two on some food gifts for a friend.

I made some Apricot and Almond Macaroons, which are quite soft and sticky, but quite delicious. I also made Amaretti biscuits, which are flavoured with lemon and cinnamon and don't have that marzipan taste which I am not mad about. I am extremely pleased with these, as they taste and smell really good and are just the thing to serve with coffee. If anyone would like the recipes, just let me know.

I received in the post this week a most gorgeous giveaway from my friend Zuzu at A Cottage In The Woods. These little tags are copies of her original art printed unto tags that are only about an inch in size. They came in a little lacy envelope that Zuzu had made herself. They are so delightful and so special I shall have to think long and hard about how I can best use them. On her latest post Zuzu has found a very clever way to display hers, click on the link to see. I made an enlargement of the bee, so that you can see how adorable he is. Thankyou Zuzu!

Zuzu's lovely envelope gave me an idea for making a little pocket to put my tissue hearts in for Valentine's day.

I filled the hears with love hearts, with suitable messages for each of us. I will probably slip in some chocolate, as there is a bit of room in the pocket.

I do apologise for my very blurry pics of the other hearts I made. I stained some with coffee and I am not too sure if I prefer them clean and bright. The toile tissue paper looks like old toile fabric now though. Which do you prefer? I am not sure yet how I will use these. I might just scatter them over the table, or put them in a jar 'jar of hearts!' Or sew them into a garland. We don't really go in for Valentine's day in a big red  rosey way, but we shall have a cosy little romantic dinner at home (for three!) I think it is good to make a little space for some romance, without going O.T.T. What do you think about it?

Hoping you all have a lovely weekend, love Linda x (p.s. my larder cupboard isn't finished yet!)

The photographs are from Pinterest or my own.