Strawberry love

Ah, strawberries, there's nothing like them, is there?

They're a favourite dessert in our house - fresh strawberries with strawberry yoghurt and vanilla icecream. Sounds like a lot of strawberries at once, but it's not, it's good.

These strawberries came out of our garden.

We had a good crop for a couple of years and it all started from one plant. They just took off and we were eating strawberries for yonks. Then it all went pear-shaped and we, and the garden, have never been the same again.

Might chat to Andrew and see if we can plant another plant and see how it goes. Nothing like fresh produce from the garden.

And this 'crop' came from my desk.

Strawberries are fun to make - you just take a long shape (mine's a Sakura-A from Carl), trim it slightly (so it's not as pointy at the end), add your leaf (Carl Momiji) and a little cream flower and you're done. Easy.

I've also made strawberries from hearts with green daisies for the leaves...they look nice too.

And now, get a load of these strawberries my mother made for me...

They're crocheted!

It's a strawberry cake made from washers with crocheted strawberries on top!

Have you ever seen anything like it? I haven't and my mother's been making me stuff all my life!

She made three actually - one for sister-in-law, one for my sister and one for me (gotta keep it all even, you know). She was on a long trip and needed something to do, so she crocheted strawberries.

That's so my mother -"I need something to do, so I'll crochet strawberries."

Here's a couple of things that you need to know about my mother.

1. She makes stuff all the time.

2. She's made stuff her whole life.

3. It's no surprise I'm an artist. I got my creativeness from her.

4. It's no surprise that she's creative, she got it from her mother and father.

5. It's no surprise that creativeness is in our family because we all make stuff (including my dad's side).

6. Back to Mum...she makes a lot of stuff. I received many, many handmade things from her growing up - some were essentials, like clothes. Some were decorative, like curtains. Some were gifts, like crocheted strawberries. Creativeness was a huge part of my life, because it was a huge part of my mum's. I think I took it for granted actually.

7. She makes a lot of good stuff. No dodgy projects here (except for maybe the gold books!).

8. She has a lot of skill. Like, a lot. She is not only deft with a crochet hook, but she can wallpaper a house like nobody's business. She's wallpapered her last wall, I can tell you that, but she wallpapered the majority of three of our houses growing up. And by herself too. Dad smashed his finger when she was doing the first house and I remember him looking on while Mum was up the ladder in the kitchen. I am still in awe that she did all that.

9. Honestly, she's a very skilled woman.

10. She's self-taught too. I don't think she's ever been to a class in anything, except maybe ceramics to get her started. Grandma (her mother) taught her how to sew and crochet, I think. Grandma is the crochet queen in the family, so I reckon that'd be right. Mothers pass these things to their daughters and hope their daughters pick them up. This daughter didn't pick up everything her mother tried to teach her...

Back to the strawberries - they're looking good enough to eat, except for the fur ball issues.

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic after writing that list. I guess it's because I don't just see a little fun project my mother did to keep her busy...I see a lot of my family history and I see a lot of love.

You see, she had some free time and she used it to make something for me. The process was for her (to keep her busy), but the end product was for me. Story of my life and that's what I see in the strawberries.

Love you, Mum!