2012 in review

craft wise.......

Here's a snap shot of a lot of the things I have made this year.  I'm surprised by how much I got done....

and .......

So thats 18 laundry bags, 7 quilt flimys, 4 finished quilts, 1 xmas wall hanging, 12 mini quilt (it has abcking now), 2 crochet dishcloths, 1 paid of socks, 4 single socks, 2 seahorses, 5 flower blocks, 16 dresden blocks, 8 out of 9 blocks for 'thoughts in thread' quilt, 1 apron and 1 teatowel.  Oops forgot the 6 beanies and 24 pairs of slippers.  PHEW!

That doesn't include any cosumes I made during the year either.  I think there were at least 5 of those.

With all this going on is it any wonder that the garden is a mess and the floors constantly need swept and/or washed - haha....................

Have a merry Christmas everyone.  See you in the new year.....

Laundry Bags

I have just sent off 10 laundry bags to a gentleman somewhere in world.  He's a Major in the Australian Defence Force - I don't even know if he's army, navy or air.

Here they are...

and.....

 I hope the men in his unit don't think the ones with the flowers on them to be too girly.

Flotsam take 2

So I finished the second seahorse the other day......

He's a bit crooked and I managed to sew on his back frill at an angle too.  But I like him anyway.

Here's the two of them together..

 

Just chilling on the couch....

Flotsam the Seahorse

I saw a seahorse that Sharon from Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs had done and she was calling for 'pattern testers'.  So I joined in and this what I made......

Isn't he just the cutest......................

Youngest thought he was a dragon at first.....  That could work - add in some legs....

I liked it so much I thought I would make another one in the the patterns called for 8ply......

Not as cute - but I ran out of yarn and had to incorporate the plain blue.  I have yet to sew on the fins or the back frill - that will get done tonight.  They are a light purple I had lying around.  One of the kids suggested a bright pink - but I didn't have any....

Thanks Sharon for a fantastic pattern.......

Jump over to Ravelry if you want to get yourself a copy of the pattern.  It goes on sale at the end of the month (I think).


I also finished off a Xmas Wall hanging - my own quilting and all.

I am going to send this to one of hubby's cousins.  She apparently loves all things xmas and I thought I would surprise her....

A bit of Xmas Decorating

and it really is only a little bit.....

Our mantle...

at the computer....

We also have lights in the front yard over 2 shrubs - can't show a pic of those just yet....

I love lights and xmassy decorations.  In fact I tend to leave out santa ornaments all year round.

Do you love xmas too?  What xmassy things are on display all year at your place?

Oh yay, oh yay

look what I found.

No, not a quilt top, silly.

My camera that I used today to take the pic of the quilt top.  Yay!!!

To celebrate I took pics of all the quilts I put together yesterday.  The one above I did this morning.

So here's my woven logs quilt top....

and here's the one I did with the left overs from the woven logs.....

This one's my favorite......

And here's FLAME....

with it's matching laundry bag.....

and some other laundry bags too......

The one on the left is the reverse of FLAME's bag...

FLAME has 332 3" squares, including lots of half square triangles, rectrangles, bars and 1 6" square.  It took me a few weeks to get together.  I had to mark of each row as I did it.  The pattern is inspired by one from QuiltBlockOfTheMonthClub, but is my own pattern.  The Woven Logs pattern I got from them too.

My Fave - the one with the semi circles on it - is from a Sweetwater book, I think.  Their's is a table runner, but I enarged it all to be 42" x 72".  Works really well, don't you think?  It was so quick to put together too.  Probably only 2 hours from cutting to sewing the last seam.

All the laundry bags and these quilts are destined for Aussie Hero Quilts.  I was wanting to quilt FLAME myself - after all I really should use the frame hubby biult me.  But now seieing it whole like this I may just send it off to them.  They have professional duo that help out and I'm sure they would do a better job than me. 

Although, AHQ might not get the semi circle one......



UPDATE - Dec 7:
They did not get the semi circle one, but the other flimsys got sent today.

UPDATE - Dec 11:
Quilt tops arrived safe and sound to AHQ headquaters - yay

Joy Day, oh Joy Day

Today has been the best Joy Day in a long while.

If you don't know what Joy Day is - it's any whole day that I get to myself to do what ever I like.  Most often they are Sundays, but not always.

After I did the obligatory load of hubby's washing I shut myself in my craft room and sewed up a storm.  And what a storm it was!

Three (yes 3) quilt flimsy's done - one from blocks previously put together, 1 from blocks partially together, and the last one from scratch.

I feel so proud of myself.

I finished the last one just before the household got too noisy about being fed dinner....

When I find my camera - it's still AWOL - I'll show them to you....

Photos

Would love to post some pics of the blocks I have recently put together but I can't find my camera!!!

There are 28 Woven Logs blocks, each measuring 10.5" square in yellows and blacks with a red center.  You will have to imagine these since there is not pic....  They are going in a 4 x 7 configuration.

With the left over fabrics I managed to get 5 split rail type blocks which I have bordered in red; 2 Woven Log blocks; and 4 strip sets.  To these I am adding a plain Grey fabric to make up another quilt top. I hope the Grey I already have is suitable once it is all cut up and put together.

If I had my camera I could also show you the 5 laundry bags I have made......

I could also show you some embroidery I have done recently.  In cleaning up the craft room a bit, I found (or is that re-found??) some simple embroidry kits I had purchased ages ago.  There were 7 of some bears in tutus doing something balletic and 3 softie toys to stitch.  So, I am working my way thru them. 

I have 4 of the bears embroidery finished and 1.5 of the softies embroidery finished.  The bears will go into a quilt that I will donate to to the local cali club to raffle.  The softies I'm not too sure what I'll do with yet.

I'm off to have breakky and then look for that elusive camera......

Quilt flimsy

yay - I finished off the Flaming Night quilt top 2 days ago.  I have made a matching laundry bag and yesterday I was busy piecing the left over fabrics into larger sections to put together for the backing.  This quilt is destined for Aussie Hero Quilts.  I want to quilt this one myself.  I ahve ideas blooming in myhead for more quilts for them.  Those I will just do the tops and send them off to Jan-Maree to be finished off.  I might even see if they can be sent back to me after being quilted for binding, labelling and subsequent send off to their new owers.

I also have set aside some fabrics for more laundry bags for Aussie Heroes.  Some are an 'old' single bed flat sheet, some are fabric that I bought for a specific purpose that no longer exists.

I did a bit more sorting and labelling of the tubs in the craft room yesterday.  Boy do I have a lot of pink and blue fabric!!  They take up half a 55 litre tub each.  Oh and there is a heap of white fabrics too - plain white, white on white print, soft prints on white background - nearly enough to make a whole tub just by themelves.

I have yet to find a home for the purple fabrics - they are still in a bag on the floor.  And the desk is a mess.  I really need to fix that.  As it is I have very little space to work at.  Boy do I envy those who have large studios with a place for everything.  No stacks of books on the floor piled up with bags of fabric.  I have even oozed into my son's room since he is not using at the moment.  His room wasn't neat and tidy before that to start with - now it's just that bit worse.

I found a couple of 'old' plain white sheets too.  I would love to have a go at dyeing them.  Spotlight has a tie dye kit on sale - guess where I'm going later today....

Soul Slipper Tutorial

Ok, so here's my very first ever turotial on how to knit the slippers I made for the youngest's cali team members.  It is not my pattern - but I repeat it here for those interested enough to try and make their own.  I hope it makes sense.

What you need:

8ply yarn - any will do whether it be wool, a blend or acrylic.  Cottons tend to not have much give in them, so if you are going to use cotton yarn I suggest you be prepared for some unravelling.  I have not used bamboo yarn so can't comment on the amount of give it has.
1 pair of 4mm or 4.5mm needles
yarn sewing needle
scissors.

Cast on 7 stitches.  Use any method you like - I prefer the cable method.  I'm not going to explain it here - so go look it up.
Knit every stitch for 7 rows.  (This is called garter stitch.)
Next row: Knit into the front and the back of the 1st stitch without taking the stitch off the needle; knit the rest of the row.  (That first stitch is called 'increase'.  It is different to 'make 1' - with this you pick up the loop that lies between 2 stitches and knit into the back of the loop.  Make 1 leaves a hole - we don't want that here.)
Repeat the last row until you have 22 stitches.

At this point if the receipient has a very long foot you may like to keep increasing until you have more stitches.  Not always necessary as these will stretch quite a bit.

Now you need to increase in every stitch - thus doubling the number of stitches on your needles to 44.
Next row: *Knit 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches. Repeat from * to the end. (This is a double rib.)
Repeat this row 43 more times.

At this point you may like to work more rows if the recipient has a very wide foot - again not always necessary due to the stretch.

It is within this rib that I did the colour changes to make up the stripes of the ones I made.

So, continuing on.......

Knit 2 together across the row - thus halving the number of stitches back to 22.
Next row:  Knit 1 stitch, Knit 2 together, knit to end of row.
Repeat this row until you have 7 stitches.
Work 7 more rows of garter stitch and then cast off.

Now you will have a very odd shape of knitting - that's ok.

Sew the cast on and cast off edges together - making sure you do this with the right sides together - if you can figure that out.  It is easy on some stripe patterns, not so easy if there are no stripes.

Sew the sides together.  It will now resemble a small knitted handbag - and could be used as such for a doll.  Turn it right side out and there you have 1 soul slipper.

Now make another one - unless you have 1 foot, then in that case you are done.

You slide your foot into it so you have the 7 sts wide strips go across the top of the foot - kind of like a mary jane shoe - and the sewn together side bits up the back of your heel and down the top of your foot to your toes.  Make sense - yeah I didn't think so......

Needy Stitches

are getting the following sent to them by me.  I have done knitting for them in the past and, in going thru my craft room, found some  more items they can have.

First up we have a knitted babies hat - with ears.

Then there's a jacket and matcing hat.  This yarn is really soft.

Then we have a couple of knitted bags.  These are the same pattern and yarn, just done on different sized needles.

Now there's a bunch of beanies.  I used a circle loom for these.  Really easy to do, but hard on the hands.

This is a knitted shrug.  It was supposed t be for me, but it turned out to be too small.  Oh well....

These things are Soul Slippers - a really easy pattern to knit and quite comfy to wear.  One size fits most.

A toddlers jumper, hat and mitts this time.  Nice and bright self strip yarn.

And finally a triangle shawl - another easy peasy pattern.  Great for using up odd bits of yarn.  Just add in the new colour when needed.  I must admit I got a bit sick of making this one.  It probably should be a lot bigger, but I got bored with it.

And it could do with being blocked......

Flimsy and 3 bags

I have another flimsy - or finished quilt top to be precise.

It's about 50" square and has at least 51 different fabrics in it. Each butterfly is different - I finally got around to using up a scrap bag of bright fabrics I bought aaagges ago.  Now to add it to the list of things to be quilted.  If I can get really organised I might even throw this on the quilt frame hubby made me and quilt it there.  Though I will have to keep it covered when not working on it so the cats don't use it as a hammock!!

I also ironed the laundry bags for Aussie Hero Quilts that I had in the wash.  Looks like no dye ran.  This is them.....

 

They look black/cream but are really navy blue and cream.

On another note - I had 1 mum from cali come over this morning for her first patchwork lesson.  She went home with 1 block made and another one the same as homework.


UPDATE 13.11.2012: Got word from the coordinator of Aussie Hero Quilts that my bags have arrived in Khandahar.  I got rather excited over that news.

And another finish

This morning I finished of making the 7th laundry bag for Aussie Hero Quilts (and Laundry Bags).  I have 3 in the wash to check for dye runs - they are dark blue print and I'm not sure the blue will run - I hope not.  Would hate to have a soldier use the bag and have their wash turn grey!

 



There's a blue on with duck on it....

A yellow check on with a rust label area....

Another yellow check with a blue label area....

and a final yellow check one with a yellow check label area....

Once the blue ones are dry, it's off to the post office I go.

A Finish !!!

I finally finished off knitting 24 pairs of slippers for yougest cali team.

There are aound 3 or 4 of each stripe pattern.

A very easy pattern to knit and remember.

Some have more black in them, some more green, some more yellow - these are the club's colours.

I hope the girls all like them.

Update - they seemed to love them!  The noise in the room when tehy were handed out was incredible.  no-one had much of an idea as to what they were, but 1 worked it out.  Most of the girls tried them on - some even did a bit of practice in them.

A very sad looking Giraffe

My youngest brought down one very sad looking Giraffe the other week and asked if I could fix him.

All the stuffing had somehow disappeared from his neck.

So I performed some surgery and found a most disgusting mess internally.

Goodness knows what the brown stuff is.  I know this Giraffe is rather old and came from China but this stuff was horrible.  Whilst it didn't smell it was sticky.

So I stuffed a bit here and there.  Then I stuffed some more, and a bit more, and then some more still until the Giraffe looked like this.

I added some thin dowel to his neck too. He could do with some surgey on 3 of his legs (I did one but run out of stuffing), but otherwise he is now a very happy looking chap.

New Page

I have just added another page to the blog. 

It lists all the kits and projects that I have yet to start and yet still would like to complete 'one day'. 

It is a long list.

If there is something there that you would like, I am up for a dialogue.

Clean Out

I actually got to cleaning out the craft room properly.  It has been ages since it was started and I have yet to actually finish it.

But I did manage to empty 8 large bags of things - 5 bags of rubbish / throw out stuff;  2.5 bags of fabrics went to a friend for her craft group; another 2 bags will go to a kinder / preschool group.

I moved some drawers in next to the shelves and have started to put things in them.  I also ordered another set of drawers - hopefully they won't take too long to turn up and will arrive when hubby is not home.

Each tub I went through now has a large label on the front so I can tell what is in them.  I even went as far as itemising the things in the tub rather than just having a generic label (like odd bits and pieces).

I found lots of projects I had sort of forgotten about.  I found half of a project - not sure where the rest of it is, possibly in the wardrobe.  Also found part of a BOM I had managed to 'lose' - it is now with the rest of the coordinating BOM packs.  I have lots and lots of projects not yet started.  Things from magazines, BOM's, full kits for quilts / wall hangings / dolls.  I do believe that if I only worked on those kits / projects that I have already I just might get them all finished before I croak.  Scary thought.

Wedding Dress

Or rather a new dress for a wedding.

Decided I needed a new dress for a wedding we have been invited to.  The daughter of one of hubby's cousins is getting married in 3 weeks.

Found a pattern I really like and some fabric.  In my head the two go really well together.

Yesterday I cut it out and sewed up the bodice.  Since I bought a pattern that was a size too small I have had to add in extra bits here and there - nothing out side my sewing skills.  Or so you'd think.

Tried on the top of the dress to check if it would do up in the back.  According to my eldest it won't!

Bummer....  Now it's back to the shop for more fabric and to see if they have the larger sized pattern.

So this will end up in the bin.  What a WOTEM...

Thoughts In Thread

This arvo I got around to finishing off the next 3 blocks in my Thoughts in Thread quilt by Val Laird.  The embroidered parts had been sitting around for a few weeks now.

Block # 6

Block #7

Block #8

And Blocks 1 to 8 all together...

Can't wait for the final part.  I have really enjoyed the whole process with this quilt.  I may have to make another one......

Aussie Hero Quilts

Is a blog spot that I just found.  What an inspiration and such a great way to let our armed services personnel overseas know that we here appreciate their efforts.

Looks like I know have another reason to go thru my stash and start making laundry bags and quilts.

If any of you readers care to help, please check out the blog and make some bags or quilts to be sent.

New quilts, etc.

Did I mention that I had bought some Tana Lawn to make into quilts for each of the cali clubs we are associated with??

Well here they are:

They are not very big - just lap size - and each has different quilting on it.  Hopefully they will be well received by the clubs and by the winners of the raffles.


I also started to crochet a cotton wash cloth too.  It really hurt my hand / base of my thumb that holds the work in progress.

And I finished 2 of the crocheted cotton wash cloths.  They went to a friend of the family who is getting married in November as part of her Kitchen Tea Party - eldest daughter is part of the bridal party. I hope she likes them.

Today I cut out and sewed up an apron and 1 matching teatowel.  They are made from a cotton linen blend.  The pattern can be found here - another great site for things to make.

The apron is adjustable - the neck strap is the tie and runs thru a channel down the side - very clever.