our week of firsts …

This week we have had few firsts.

My little girl had her first day of school this week.  Every day she comes home more excited than the last.

And even though she will be 5 in April, she seems like such a big girl now.

The biggest change for her is that she doesn’t have to have a sleep during the day, she says she only has to “rest her body”.

My little boy had his first day in day care.  Apparently he thought it was necessary to take my iphone with him.

We put his stuff away, he gave me a kiss and a cuddle and he never looked back.

And this week I also got my first brand new car.

Big week in our house this week.

one yard .. love it

Sheridan and I talked about this book over the holidays.  So I bought us both a copy.

It has SOOO many projects in it, 101 in fact.  Admittedly most of the projects (or a similar version of them) can be found on the net somewhere.  But having them all in one place at your finger tips is just awesome.  Great for when you want to browse and are away from the computer.

The directions are simple. The pictures are clear.  And the fabric choices for the projects are just spectacular.  Pattern sheets are also included in a pouch at the front.  And if I haven’t convinced you already –  it is spiral bound.

I have already made my first project from it.  A brand new ironing board cover.

The book, two thumbs up.  As I said, I love it.

fluffy felted slippers

One of my first projects for my 10 for 21010 list is French Press Slippers.

These were very easy to make and very quick to knit.  They use 10mm needles and knit with the wool double or tripled stranded.  I used cascade 220.

They knit up huge and they only need basic seaming.  Then,  chuck them in the washing machine.

Now that chuck them in the washing machine would normally be quite simple.  Susie came over to my house to felt hers as well.  We set some toys up for the kids and headed to the machine.  Unfortunately it wasn’t until we started this process we found out that the hot water cycle doesn’t work on my machine.

So we had to bucket hot water into the machine until we got it to the right level, to trick the machine to start.  Then if we weren’t paying enough attention the cycle would click over and start draining the water.  So of course more buckets of water to fill it up.  It was a little bit of a hassle but it did make the morning fun.

Love the end result.  Can’t wait until it gets cool enough to wear them.

Tangled shawlette

I have joined the latest knitting craze – making small shawls or shawlettes.

Last year I made a couple of cardigans, and although they get worn, Brisbane really doesn’t get cold enough.  I thought that a small shawl would be nice to wear just around your shoulders, over a tshirt.  Warm, but not hot.

I fell in love with a store display at Tangled yarns.  It was made out of malabrigo sock yarn and the pattern was in the last issue of Creative Knitting Magazine – noosa sunset shawl. I had to have it and it took no time at all to make.

I have already worn it a couple of times – I was even game enough to wear it to work, in spite of the ridicule I might recieve.

I wear it with a beautiful shawl pin that was a gift for my last birthday.

I have plans to make a few more of these type of shawls.  There are three in my 10 for 2010 list and two of them are already on the needles and halfway complete.

Saroyan

and Ishbel.

Susie (yarnplanner) also made be a beautiful shawlette for christmas. How lucky am I!!  It is the bottom up birch pattern, in Dawn, a brown merino silk (that I actually bought …. long story).

Isn’t it beautiful.

Though it will look better with my denim jacket than my new summer dress, but you get the idea.

10 in 2010

I have a lot of projects waiting to be made.  Over the last couple of years I have collected the supplies, patterns and notions and then promptly found something better to make.  In particular I have lots of quilts and knitting/crochet projects that are waiting patiently for me.

There are a lot of “2010 goal” groups starting to pop up on ravelry.

• 10 shawls in 2010 – at least 2 must be big ones and they other other yardarge requirements
• Knitting Everest – sort of a support group to help with your own personal knitting challenge for 2010, like a big project or a new technique
• 10 in 2010 – knit 10 projects, or use 10 yarns in 2010, must be started and completed in 2010
• knit a sweater a month (OMG!!!)

I was going to join the 10 in 2010 group but don’t really fit within the rules.  I have 10 projects that I want to complete in 2010.  But I have already started 2 of them.  I have the supplies for the other  7 and plans to go shopping with susie for the last one.

I thought that if I publicly announce my intentions it might make me more accountable.  I really want to use what I have and not buy any more supplies for awhile.  And if I stick to my list then this shouldn’t be a hassle.  My main problem is that I find something new and interesting to make and then, what was on my list doesn’t tend to go away, the list just gets longer.

Here are my 10 projects

1. Sarayon Shawl – malabrigo worsted (KAL with Susie)
2. French Press Slippers – cascade 220 (KAL with Susie)
3. Owlishly Mermaid
4. Ishbel Shawl (started oct 09))
5. Hamper – corchet motif afghan (started Oct 08)
6. Two socks on two circular needles at once – Patonyle
7. Slanting Gretel Tee – BWM brown 5ply
8. Simple jumper with cable details – BWM ceder fleck
9. Chartres or Rusted Root - navy soy cotton
10. Daybreak shawl (probably a KAL with Susie – yet to buy yarn)

Oh …. and I have 5 quilts that I want to complete too

1. Jennys birthday quilt
2. vintage sheet zig zag top
3. joint stars quilt
4. my around the block quilt
5. My version of Jennys birthday quilt

and if I get all of them done, then I can start

6. Navy Ballarat beauties quilt

I think this is all achievable.  If I try and work on a few things each month to completion then they will be done in no time.

(then I can look at new projects and buy more supplies HAHAHAHA)

January Around the Block

This month we had to make “around the block“s for Sheirdan.

These were lots of fun and because she gave us so much fabric it was really easy!!  The green and grey combination is just beautiful.   I can’t wait to see them all together in her quilt.

Now next month is my turn.  All the fabric is cut and packed into envelopes. I have sent one already to the US and the rest will be in the mail next week.  I  am very excited.

Makin’ Christmas Presents

I didn’t have any intentions of making any christmas presents this year.  But I guess I couldn’t help myself.

I made the kids (and cousins, and friends) some story blocks.  I found a set on etsy and after doing a little google search, found a few other blogs with similar themes.  Basically they are a wooden block with pictures on the sides.  The kids roll the blocks and make up a story about the pictures that they see.

The blocks that I found online used lots of different ideas for the pictures.Some had used scrapbook stamps, hand drawn or painted pictures or pictures cut from thrifted books.

I took the easy route and downloaded clipart from the Microsoft site.  This was so easy and I was spoiled for choice about what to put on the blocks.  I made a huge table of 1 inch sqaures in a Microsoft word document and inserted a picture into each cell.  Then when I printed the page out the lines were already there to cut the pictures to the right size.

The blocks were plain wooden 1in blocks and I got them from Eton Press (NZ).  I painted them white with some craft paint I had lying around.

To attach the pictures to the blocks I used modge podge.  I found lots of good instructions and ideas from the blog modge podge rocks.  I used the gloss which may not have been the best idea, because the blocks stick together even after they are dry.

To package them all up I made simple drawstring bags. On the front I appliqued some fabric which I had printed some instructions on.

It was a really easy project but it took me forever to make them all.  I mean weeks.  I could only do bits at a time, then had to wait for each coat to dry.  And I made about 6 sets and I did them in batches.  They turned out really good, but I don’t think they are going to last because if they keep sticking together the pictures will eventually pull off.

I also made the kids some playmats.  My sister asked me to make one for her boy (the same as I made her first son last year). So when I was searching for the same panels I came across some other really cool ones. I got them from bugfabric and they were $10USD each. My boy has the railroad on one side and the construction site on the other.  He crawled into bed with me the other morning and was using it as a blanket – very cute.

For my little girl there was a pretty pink panel that had shops and pink paved roads.

I used some cotton that I had put aside to make a dress out of as the back and made a simple quillow for her.

She loves quilts and pillows (how lucky am I!!) and my sister bought her a pack of tinkerbell fairies for Christmas. They have a great time in the pink town.

Emmeline’s double doll

If you read Chaletgirls blog, which I am sure you all do, you would know that little Emmeline recently turned one.  I normally buy her kids presents but I really wanted to make this little girl something special.

I wanted to make a topsy turvey doll.  You know the ones that have a head at each end with a skirt in the middle.  They are normally fairy tale characters, like red riding hood and the wolf; or cinderalla as a maid and a princess.

I wanted to crochet it and after having a quick look on ravelry I found the gourmet crochet pattern.

I ordered it from crochet australia and received it pretty much the next day.

I used wool from Yarnplanners’s stash (thanks susie).  I was really quite surprised with how much wool this pattern uses.  I quickly ran out in a few colours so had to be a little bit creative with my colour choices.

The skirts are separated by about an inch in the middle, so you will always see the other skirt underneath.

If I made it again I would stick with two colours like the pattern has – pink and white, white and pink. Then it wouldn’t look so odd seeing the other skirt.

I got it done and I love it. This is probably the best toy that I have made so far.

I was a little late getting it to her but by all accounts she loves it too.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Another Christmas is over and a new Year has begun.

We had a very simple christmas.  We went out on christmas eve and looked at some christmas lights.

Some people have spent a lot of money on these displays and they do look spectacular.

Quite different from our pititful light display.  This is our front window.

I had to work on Christmas day in the afternoon.  It was a good time to start because I still got to be with the kids in the morning, and then have lunch together.  My mum and mother in law were here for lunch.  We really didn’t make a big deal out of it and just had a selction of cheeses and cold meats with croisants.  Even though it was simple it was still a special meal.

The kids were totally spoilt and got way too many toys.  They had a great day – presents and chocolate galore.

New years eve was a non event. I had to work over the night.  But to be honest if I didn’t have the night off i don’t think my night would have been any more exciting.

Anyway, I have lots of crafty things to share.  So I will be trying to post about them over the next couple of days.

I hope that you and your families had a great time over Christmas and New Year too.

Jane market bags

I came across this pattern browsing fabric photos on flickr one day.

It is by Alicia Paulison from posy gets cosy.  It is a really simple bag, and I probably could have created a simple pattern myself, but I really couldn’t be bothered and I knew this pattern worked.  There is a group on flickr with dozens of them, and they all look good.

I wanted to make two for my little girls kindy teachers.  But when I was going through my stash auditioning fabrics, I came up with 8 different combinations.  So I made them all.  It was a real production line.  I didn’t make them all at once, I just did one step at a time on all 8 bags, just a little bit each sewing session.

I wish I had taken a photo of all of them together. I have already given the rest away.  They went to friends and family and a select few who helped out my addiction and suffered my recent tupperware party.