Tiddly pom-pom

It must be the decluttering time of year - either that or I'm finally fed up with the amount of useless tat I hoard in far flung places around the home.  Last weekend it was the turn of our sideboard in the hall to be sorted, and amongst the debris I found a half-wound pom-pom hiding in one of the drawers.  It was started by our youngest when he was in pre-primary (a fair few years ago; to think we were at a high school open day for him yesterday ...)  I'm not completely sure if I was looking for a distraction from tidying (surely not) but I had the sudden urge to finish it off.  Making pom-poms was a craze for a while when I was a little girl, whether just in our house or at school is irrelevant, I had memories of it being very therapeutic and lots of fun.  So, off I hurried to find some fat, fluffy, soft yarn, that was lovely to the touch but more  importantly would make a speedy finish for the job.  It turned out really well, and it's obvious where the old and the new, as it were, meet on the finished article.

By the time I'd finished it and proudly shown it to the original creator I was in the mood for making more, but seeing as together we had ruined the pom-pom circles I rummaged in my knitting stash for an as yet unused pom-pom maker I'd been wanting to trial.  I shouldn't have bothered!  Just look at the sorry excuse for a pom-pom - it's weedy and not at all 'succulent' and plumpfy as a real pom-pom ought to be!  

The main problem was that it was very difficult to actually keep the yarn on the darn thing without it all falling off.   And the diagram for starting and finishing was so unclear, that although I followed them 'correctly' the whole thing unravelled before I could tie the knot!  My advice is to bin them as I did - the one here was only kept for the purpose of the photo then joined his companions medium and large in the wheelie bin.

Old-fashioned cardboard circles are far superior and work every time :)

Trying something new

Life has been hectic and I have let a lot of things slip, not just my blogging.  I've not even been creating that much, just doing my chores, seeing lots of people and eventually wearing myself out!  Then I read a blog last night whose author said she is only going to blog once a week, on the same evening each week, as she is so busy; she also said she was telling her readers what to expect so there were no surprises.  I thought this was a pretty good idea and began thinking about when my ideal blogging day would be to make sure I get it done.  So I have decided to give it a go at the weekends for now.  My excuse for not blogging before was that I'm too tired from work but as I have the weekends free it would seem sensible to try then.  And here we are.

At the moment I am determined to finish some projects before moving onto new ones - I'm just amazed at how many works in progress I have lying around!  This is one that's been in the making for several years - back when I was doing my 'granny a day' which if I'm not mistaken was back in 2009!  Bit of a shocker when you can put dates on projects :)

 

Going around in circles

Sometimes my work includes working at a respite day where I'm in charge of the craft activity.  I need to find something fairly simple but interesting as we don't have oodles of time.  This month I've chosen circular weaving.  All you need is a paper plate (or 2 together if they're feeble and flimsy like mine were!), acrylic yarn in different colours, scissors and maybe a plastic needle if you find it difficult to weave using your fingers.

Of course I had to have a go myself :)

I found a really good resource too.  Mr E is my new art hero :)  I did have some idea of what to do, but when I started off on my own, things didn't look quite right!  This blog helped me realize I hadn't made the right numbers of spokes on my wheel - odd numbers are what you need - doh!  Then you'll get that beautiful 'under, over, under, over' pattern.  I'll leave Mr E to give you the instructions as he does it so well.  (Follow link above).

Lovely.  I'm wondering now what else I can create with my circles, I'm also thinking they could be quite addictive ...

Blogtoberfest days 27 and 28 - The Duct Tape Corset!

Ho hum – I’m now in Mandurah – without internet service!  So I’m having to write my posts in Word to save for later, and they’ll all appear on the same day.  At least Blogtober is still happening, even if at a delayed rate!

So here are the photos I took on 27^th, blogging about on the 28^th and possibly not being published until after the 29^th!  They’re pics of the brilliant duct tape corset I made as part of the costume for the wedding anniversary/Halloween party we went to on Saturday.

Tools of the trade – having fun making holes and putting in eyelets ...

Starting on the skirt, which is made from a black sheet – here I’m trying to create the Gothic look ...

Lots of fun with tulle and organza ...

The finished outfit, minus my pointy hat ...

Front of the corset (sorry for fuzziness, bad lighting!)

Edited later:  The corset pattern/idea was taken from the brilliant book 'Anticraft - Knitting, beading, and stitching for the Slightly Sinister' by Renee Rigdon and Zabet Stewart.

I so enjoyed making the costume up as I went along ... I can feel a new career as a costume/dressmaker forming itself in my mind ... J
 

Autumn looming

Oh the sheer joy!  My walk this morning was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l - it was so cool that I actually felt cold - and I loved every minute of it.  Even if it did warm up to 35 degrees later on - nothing was going to spoil my day of cool.  Not even the fact that I turned up to school this morning in my scruffy dog walking gear and I realized that my day as helper was today and not tomorrow as I'd thought!

Cooler weather in the evenings means different crafts are happening:

I can bare to sit with my quilt on my lap now to do the stitching ...

and I can continue with my lovely winter hoodie...

Oh happy, happy!

Diagonal weaving - at last I understand it!

I made my small hand weaving loom well over a year ago, looked up instructions for weaving on it, couldn't understand said instructions, lacked confidence in my ability and put the loom away in a box.

Today I took it out of its box because I felt like a meditative craft activity; usually knitting fits the bill but it's too hot to have part of a jumper sitting on my lap so I wondered if I could possibly work out the instructions.  After a bit of searching on the web I found my reference site and had another go at weaving, this time armed with pictures as well.

Yay!  I got it!  Well, let's put it this way, I've got it enough to be able to produce a square (just look at it, isn't it beautiful?) but not enough at this point to be able to write a tutorial.  I'll have to let you have the link instead to Spinning Down Under - it's a great site to explore.  And the weaving did the trick - very meditative and relaxing.  Maybe you should give it a go too?  There are instructions on how to make a small loom on the site mentioned above.  Hopefully there will be more weaving adventures throughout 2011!

A day of art and craft - wins against the X-box!

Today I was determined that Little Man would not be a 'screen slave' to the Xbox or computer, so I disturbed him whilst playing his game and asked if he wanted to do some clay work with mum.  Without looking up he said 'later' and carried on playing.  I walked off.  A minute later he came running up to me and said "I'd like to do clay now", and so we did.  And some fantastic little models we made too.  They've got to dry now, before we have another day of painting (yay, more distraction from the dreaded games console!)   I did try to make a whimsical monster, but somehow ended up with an angel like creature with one eye on its face and an eye on each wing - Little Man made them for me and asked me to use them.  That's the thing I love about clay - you may have an idea of what you want to make, but the clay usually has other intentions - it could become anything!

So that was the quick craft - here's a pic of my cross-stitch pin cushion I finally finished yesterday.  My friend in New Zealand gave it to me as a birthday gift back in 2003 and I've been working on it on and off since then!  It's too nice to use as a pin cushion though, I don't want to wreck the stitching, so I've tied it to a lovely gold ribbon and I'll hang it from a door, then everyone can admire it.  And whenever I see it, I can remember my NZ friend and our Monday afternoons spent together crafting.  Sweet memories indeed ....

Reflections on 2010

Teeny tiny squares that helped me complete the challenge

It’s the end of 2010 and I’ve finished my 365th granny square! Yippee! As of the 4th December I still had 100 squares to crochet to reach my target of 365 squares for the year of the Granny a Day Challenge 2010. A friend suggested I make smaller squares and that’s exactly what I did! It’s a project I’m going to carry on into 2011 and end up making a huge and very colourful afghan of teeny tiny squares. Now, where do I sign up for the 2011 challenge?


2010 has been a year of stepping forward for me:

• My 40th birthday was back in February – feel I’ve become a grown up!

My first completed project for the challenge - a 40th birthday pressie to myself!

• I took part in Blogtoberfest 2010 and grew my readership and also found some other great blogs and made new friends.

• I met a blogging friend for the first time this year, we sat, drank coffee and chatted about craft, family – lots and lots really!

72 more squares for the challenge - still to be sewn into an afghan

• I now have my own Cafepress Shop and Made-it shop finally after pontificating about it for nearly 2 years!  (See sidebar if you want to visit!)

• My blog has nurtured my creativity, I’m constantly getting new ideas some of which I’m hoping will come to fruition in the New Year.

Yummy colours in my crochet cookie jar ...

What will 2011 bring? Stay with me and join me on my creative journey – let’s see where it takes us!!

Happy New Year to you all xxxxx

November Sewing Challenge complete - Christmas Bunting

Inspiration hit in the form of bunting for this sewing challenge, which was to make something for Christmas - I'd read about bunting on a couple of blogs and in a craft book and decided I'd make some too - nothing says 'carnivale' quite like bunting.  And it does look good:

Also it's very easy to make ... this little lot took me just under 2 hours ...

1.  Gather up as much Christmas material as you fancy using.  For my larger bunting I used 4 different fabrics, at a length of 30 cm each.  This bunting was 12 triangles in length (smaller bunting was 7 triangles).

2.  Make a template - I made a triangle 25 cm across the bottom and 25 cm high for the larger bunting, and 15 cm across the bottom and 15 cm high for the smaller bunting.

3.  Cut out 12 triangles in patterned fabric and 12 triangles in calico.

Sew the triangles - if you place pins in the centre of the triangle you stop the fabric slipping and you can sew around the triangle without stopping.  After sewing up all the triangles, turn the right side out and iron carefully.

tip:  trim the ends of the triangles like this to make a flat and fairly pointy point.

4.  Take some bias binding and fold in half, sandwiching triangles in the fold - you will have to trim along the top of your triangle first to get rid of any excess fabric and stray threads.  Start in the middle of your binding and work outwards, in two halves.  I left about 6 cm between the small triangles, and 7 cm between the large triangles.  For the large bunting I used 4 m of binding, but 5 m would give you nice long ends to tie up the bunting, and for the smaller bunting I used 2 m of binding (and 7 triangles), but again add extra length if you want nice long ties!

5.  I tacked the triangles to the bunting; this is the most tedious part of the project, but it is well worth doing as then you can whizz down the whole length of binding with your sewing machine afterwards!  Careful though as the binding sometimes twists round in between the triangles and you don't want twisted bunting!

6.   Hang bunting in a place where it will be noticed and admired!!

Divine Didi Dolls

What a lovely surprise arrived for me in the post on Friday - a gift of a Didi doll from Claire at Felt Like Stitchin' (who I met when we were both taking part in Blogtober 2010).  Isn't Flossi just gorgeous? 

Beautiful stitching - take a look:

And it even has a teeny tiny pocket on the back with her name tag in it!

It's so gorgeous - pop over to the Felt Like Stitchin website so you can purchase your own delightful Didi doll!

A sea of crochet

OK - so my Granny a Day Challenge has changed into more of a Granny Every Few Days Challenge!  I've been catching up with my granny squares over the past couple of days - my next project to be finished is a black and coloured little number.  Crochet is a fantastic crafty activity as the weather gets warmer, especially when you're working with small squares, as there's no weight as such to make you feel stifled.  I really don't need anything else to make me grumpy when it's hot!  It makes my family a lot happier too :)

Spring giveaway! ...

'Spring is sprung - the grass is riz,
I wonder where them birdies is ...'

(passed on from my mum xx)

Completed gift bag (smocking detail in yesterday's post)

A cute Kokeshi doll - could she be yours?

It's the first of September and officially the start of spring in my part of the world.  To celebrate the first day of my favourite season I'm giving away the delightful Kokeshi doll I made for the August sewing challenge as a gift to you.  She's small but perfectly formed, approx 15 cms high, and the embroidery is handstitched on hemp fabric.  As with all my creations she has been made with lots of love and care.  All you have to do to have a chance to win is sign up as a follower of my blog - automatically giving you entry into the draw and making my day!  If you leave a comment on this post as well, you get two chances to win!  Simply leave the comment by noon on Tuesday, 21st September - I'll draw the name the same afternoon.

Back of the Kokeshi doll - a lovey batik fabric

I promised links as well for the projects - the Kokeshi doll is from a pattern from Melly & Me - it's free to use, they just ask that you don't sell the pattern or the products you make from it.  They have such lovely designs - check out their site.  The smocking comes in two parts - instructions on basic smocking techniques with a link to the gift bag smocking project. 

So, now to think over the September sewing challenge!

It doesn't matter where in the world you live - I'm happy to post anywhere.  Good luck! 

Just one more look ...

p.s. If you're a follower already you have 2 entries into the draw. xx

August sewing challenge nearly sewn up

Here are my two offerings for this month's challenge which was embroidery/smocking.

I didn't know if smocking included the embroidery so thought I'd make two tiny projects.  Feeling very pleased with myself that I have finished the stitching for the projects, although both pieces are to be made into something else - which I will probably do tomorrow, show pics and maybe have a giveaway ...

First time I've ever, ever, ever done smocking and I am just a teeny bit proud of myself.  The photo shows the guiding threads still in there - are you suppposed to take them out?  Hey, who cares - I've smocked!!!  Yippee!

Oh and I'll post links tomorrow too, as these projects are quick and fairly easy if everybody leaves you alone to concentrate :)

Creativity carries on despite it all!

Sorry for the long break - last week was not one of my greatest - I had a few health issues to deal with.  Women's stuff.  I'm booked in for a laparoscopy next month, so I'm trying not to think about it until then (which is hard as it HURTS!)

BUT ... my creativity is still in working order.  Here's a pic of what I was working on before I was incapacitated!

Since then, I've been stitching, crocheting and starting to smock - it's all creative :)

Beginnings ...

Here's the beginning of my quilting!  The traditional method for grandmother's garden quilts is to quilt every single hexagon - there are over 1000 in my small quilt - but I am determined to complete them all.  I've finished 7.  Shouldn't take long then ...

Talking of new beginnings, one of my children, who's old enough to work now, got her first job today in a local cafe.  I could take a leaf or two out of her book - she walked around the village by herself, presented a little card with her name and details and basically 'cold called' on some of the businesses.  I am so very proud of her as she had the nerve to go out into the big world and ask for what she wanted.  It's the first big step of her adult life - one she will probably never forget.

Also spring is in the air, although it doesn't start until September 1st officially.  I love, love, love the spring - the time of new beginnings.  Already some daffodils are beginning to bloom - I tell you the weather has gone a little bit mad!  Even at 10 o'clock in the evening we can still hear happy, courting magpies. All day, they've been pinching the fibres from last year's hanging baskets in our gardens to make their nests.  Everything feels like it's all waking up, energized for the time ahead.  It feels good!

Overwhelmed ... but still creating!

For the past few days (weeks if I'm honest) life has been terribly overwhelming.  There's been a lot to do with the kids, planning for their futures at school, scary that they are growing up so quickly.  Plus my starting work - I have to ask again - how do working mums do it?  I'm just forgetting so much, feeling flustered, rushing everywhere, and twice this week I was late for school pick-up.  Hats off to women who work full-time and have a family that's all I can say!

I have been crafting with avengence in the evenings though, it's one of the activities that keeps me sane!  That and eating chocolate.  :)  My afghan squares are all sewn together and I'm working on the border, it's been a pleasant activity these chilly winter evenings to have a chunky blankie on my lap whilst I've been working on the edging.  As you can see from the photo I'm also working on my hexagon quilt.  I call it my 'hanging on in there' quilt.  I've been working on it since Feb 2005, shortly after my arrival in Australia.  It's not been an easy journey starting a new life here and at times all that has kept me going is the quilting - the thought that I can finish something and have complete control of it.  Even my husband has commented that the quilt has been a great help in keeping my spirits up.  So when I finally finish it, it will truly have been a labour of love.  Thought I would take a photo of the back of the patchwork as you rarely see that side in all the quilting books and it will be permanently covered soon enough - it has a beauty all of its own don't you think?

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are the gorgeous pressies my little man made, as well as the flower and necklace we made together at school on Friday.  I was going to get a picture taken of myself wearing my beautiful jewellery, but I have the most amazingly massive spot on my chin and you wouldn't know whether to look at my face or my spot because they are both the same size :)

I've spent the day, which began with tea and brekkie in bed followed by Tim Tams, sewing my hexagons for my quilt and crocheting squares for my afghan.  I've been left alone to craft all day which has been lovely and even dinner was cooked for me.  Later on when I was lying on the lounge floor, my head on a beanbag, my little man put another cushion under my head, lay a blankie over me and I promptly fell asleep for half an hour.  I tell you I can sleep anywhere and through anything - my hubby was playing AC/DC in the same room and I was totally oblivious!

What a lovely day, filled with hugs and kisses.  I feel very special!  I hope all you mums out there had a great day too - where would we be without you?  I know I want to say a big thank you to my mum for everything - you're the best!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Busy bee me ...

Spent my day working on a website for my paintings.  Having such a lot of fun.  I'm only using a ready made site-building template, but it looks quite good.  I'll let you know when it's fully up and running.

Tomorrow is my last day being a full-time at home mum :(  I'm going in to help my husband with some admin work as from Wednesday as everyone is feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work and I'm quite happy to sit and do the routine, labour intensive tasks.   Just don't ask me to answer the phones and do the sales routine - I'm pants at that!  We tried before and it was a disaster, so I'm going back on the condition that I don't touch the phone (my husband's work condition, not mine!) 

So, I'll be rushing into Spotlight tomorrow to pick up a few things for my crochet and knitting projects currently on the go, as well as a pair of suede sole for some slippers.  Then off to the shopping centre for some props for my website.

As you can see, I managed to fit in some time for some craft this evening.  Still going strong on the afghan - finished 74 out of 120 squares.  Determined we will be warm this winter!

Inspired to crochet ...

Ooops - I meant to write this blog yesterday, but it was my husband's birthday and we ended up going out for the evening with the kids (stayed in a hotel near the sea, beautiful).   Well, here I am posting now.  As you can see, my crochet is still going well.  Actually I have to thank Sally at Virtu for inspiring me to carry on to get to my 120 square goal to finish one of the afghans.  I also spent a few minutes today planning another afghan that up until now was going to be completely random - but I didn't really like the idea, it felt like something was missing.  After a day at the seaside to clear my head I drew up a plan this evening that allows my elements of randomness to be tied up in an orderly fashion.  My teenage son came in to have a look at what I was doing, and even he got hooked up in the mathematics of planning my squares, he was really quite enthusiastic and didn't look at all bored!  See, crochet is exciting for everyone! 

I also have another project simmering away in the back recesses of my brain - today at Hillary's Boat Harbour I saw some genuine Ugg boots, which were a little pricey but totally gorgeous.  I so love having toasty feet in the winter, and I've been hankering after a pair of Uggs for a while.  But now I am thinking of ways I can make my own pair of especially warm boots and have a few ideas; making some felt and cutting out pieces to sew into a boot, knitting then felting some boots and finally making some boots out of a sweater and some cheap shoe soles!!  I do have some links but they are on my laptop which has decided it doesn't want to play the internet game tonight. :(  If I remember I will post them tomorrow as there are some brilliant sites out there with ideas for making your own shoes.  I'll give anything a go if it gives me an excuse to be creative!

Oooh - and it's day 114 of 2010 and I've done 105 squares, nearly caught up!!

My Kalamunda Show ... and the 300th post!

What a lovely way to celebrate my 300th post!  These pictures show my prize winning doll Immogen (you saw her bloomers the other day!) who got first prize in her category.  I made her hair from embroidery floss - the ringlets are simply 15cm lengths of the floss twisted tightly, then folded in half - the threads then twist around each other.  I usually feel a bit anxious when making doll's hair, and come to think of it when creating the face.  Bad hair and a hard face can ruin a doll!  So much so that I'd hoped to make this doll for the last show I entered back in 2007, but I chickened out and only completed her on the morning I had to take my exhibits to the village hall last week!

But that's not all!  I also got 3 x second prizes and a third prize - quite a respective prize haul.  (The dress I made for my 40th party won second prize in its category - I was so pleased!).  All so unexpected, but I'm proud of my achievements as I worked really hard to complete everything on time plus it's a real confidence boost.  Also a lesson to us all not to hide our gifts/talents - if you introduce them to the world you  never know what might happen.  Go on and unearth that hidden creativity ... get out of your comfort zone.  Because yes, even on the way to the hall I was feeling nervous and could hear that voice of self-doubt saying 'what makes you think you're good enough to enter any competition?'  It's sobering to think that voice can stop you from doing something you love.  Don't let it!  ;)