crochet hats

I have found my new passion.  Crochet.
The hats are so much fun, and wonderful to see the faces light up when seeing them and trying them on.
Here are some of the patterns I have.
This week I'm going to crochet a baby cocoon for a Purdue little fan, I'll attach the picture later.

A quick and very cute project.
Halloween bottles for center piece.
The white gost is a wine bottle.

The cat is a sparkling water, and the pupkin is a liquer bottle.
Spray paint and paint for eyes and mouth, and leaves

Growth charts

Back to the States.
I've started to make some growth charts for the upcoming Christmas Fairs.
Here are some samples.
They are made out of poplar 6"x4'.

Painted rocks

Being back in Wales again, I've had some time to do some crafting.  I collected some rocks and painted them for paperweights, and I glued magnets on the smaller ones.

One of Wales national symbols is sheep.  

I used acrylic paint and acrylic ink to paint and at the end I coated with varnish a several times.  

What am I going to do with them?  They are too have to take them home.

Trashcan

We needed a trashcan.  You can't find anything under $10.00.
For us it is enough to have a temporary thing, because we'll have to leave most of the things behind. We can't take too many thing back to the States, so it must be something very budget friendly.
I picked up a cardboard box in a store.

The future trashcan

Marked the length of the trash bag on the box and cut it under approx. 3" of the mark to leave room to turn it over.

I inserted the cut off piece into the box to make it sturdier.  Ta-daaa.

Done

and functional

The Kitchen

The kitchen is not too big, but for six month, it is perfect and very practical.
After getting the barstools, we can even sit down while eating.

There is hardly any storage in the lower cabinets, because most of the appliances are "hiding" there.

Look at the lower cabinets.  What's hiding here?

Washing machine /dryer.  One appliance, dual purpose.

Let's see what's hiding here beside the stove.

Yes, the refrigerator.

The last hiding place.

This is the freezer.

Storage is mostly in the upper cabinets.  Not optimal for me, but it's okay.

St Patrick's Day / Rugby

St Patrick's Day was overshadowed by the Six Nations Rugby tournament.  This time it was the Wales v. France match and Wales was the favorite to win the tournament and Grand Slam, the third time in eight years.  The stake and the anticipation  was very high for them so St Patrick's Day was not in the focus though there are a lot of Irish pubs ready to celebrate.  There were no lack of celebrations, but not St Patrick's.
The French rugby fans started to arrive on Thursday afternoon.  By Friday the town and city center was flooded.  They wore traditional French hats, the beret and walked around the city.

Yep, that's what I meant.

The population of Cardiff is 300,000; add an additional 250,000 people to this.  On Saturday the fun began.
Wales' national colors are red, white and green, so the Welsh wore mostly red since they have a red dragon in their flag.  The French national symbol is the rooster, and their colors are blue, white and red.  Knowing this you'll be able to distinguish between the fans on the pictures.

It may look like a hen but it's a rooster.

Guess what the French national colors are.

Street concert before the game.

The view from our building.

Friendly French fans.

 

The French national anthem is perfect to heat up the atmosphere before the game.

They are not late from work, they are Welsh rugby fans.

And the result: Wales beat France 16:9.
Let the best team win...