Friday Smiles 2022: Week 7

Looking back on this week, I can't think of anything very significant that has happened! That said, the insignificant things have been good. I have completed two small projects and this is the first one.

I decided I would try to keep a photographic diary of the year, making one double page each month. I am using a set of page templates by Andrea Gold, and this is my pages for January. 

The photos will mostly be familiar because I used them on my blogs through the month, but they are presented differently. They are not in chronilogical order so there are no dates on them. I just grouped them as I thought they went together. The patterned papers and elements all come from my vast collection of digital scrapbook kits. I had the option of doing one double page or two half pages, and I realised I needed them separated so that I could print them as 12" x 12" pages and file them in an album bought years ago, (before I came here I think). It has been languishing in my top cupboard all this time. I was glad to see it still had enough large page protectors but I had 'borrowed' two out of the three posts for binding it, so I had to send for some from Amazon. I like my pages to go into an album so I can look at them from time to time. Just a digital file on the computer tends to get forgotten about.

My second finished project is the little extra piece of crochet I mentioned had side-tracked me last week. It is a wee dolly for my grand-daughter's first birthday on April first. She looked quite odd at first. Her stubby body and big head makes her look like a little alien.

She is made from a set of crocheted dolls by Laura Tegg called Weebie dolls. Her patterns are on Ravelry. There are three sizes of dolls, a wide range of outfits, plus teddies, rabbits etc. I kept mine fairly simple and went for the shortest hair curls, I embroidered the features rather than use safety eyes, and I sewed all her clothes on, including her undies and shoes! I thought that was the safest for her while she is only one year old.

When my grand-daughter gets bigger I may make one she can dress and undress. Of course I haven't posted this to her yet, but I feel quite safe writing about her on here as my son and his wife do not use social media except to message the family on WhatsApp or Signal.

And while on the subject of crochet I thought this little bit of news may have passed you by. I am not a devout follower of the Winter Olympics, though I have watched some events almost by accident, but I was interested to read that all the bouquets given at the flower presentations, were crocheted by a group of elderly ladies at an activity centre for the elderly in Shanghai. It took them three months to make 4,400 realistic red roses, plus many other flowers. Each flower has a significance such as joy, peace, understanding etc.I hope the winners keep them and treasure them after all that hard work. It was part of Japan's sustainability plan.

We have had some lovely weather this week and have eaten lunch outside most days. This afternoon it was so warm that I shed a layer of clothes, and sat for a couple of hours with just a teeshirt and trousers on. Our thermometer registered thirty degrees. Of course it is chilly now, and the layers are back on, but it certainly feels as though Spring is here.  The little birds are singing. I listened to a pair of collared doves cooing across the green zone at one another all afternoon. Then another one joined in, and one much further away could also be heard. But mainly it is the spotless starlings that have a wide variety of songs, and the little sparrows that fill the air with their chattering. They are getting ready to settle down for the night by the time I feed the dogs, and I saw this group all meeting up in the bougainvillea on the corner of our neighbour's house. The starlings go off to roost in the taller trees and I think the doves do too.

I lightened the image so I could see them better and make sure they really were sparrows, and they were. It is the little things that bring us joy!

Today there was not a cloud in the sky, but yesterday there were a few that all seem to come together at sun-down. I love this picture of the sun hiding behind the clouds, with rays shining up above it. 

Of course it doesn't stay like that for long, and soon the sun was peeking out at the bottom. 

It moved so quickly, and within minutes there was a blinding glare, and then it was gone behind the hills.

And that was the week that was! So now I am off to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles.