Thai Garden Collar

Another little project finished! I bought this pattern and Noro Wool from Jenny King way back in May and as the pattern instructions were wrong I had to wait and do a workshop with her. I then put the project away as I had many other things on the go and forgot about it really.

The weather has been so hot and humid and the embroidery project that I am doing is not good to work on in the humidity. I was looking for something else to do and rediscovered this crochet project.

It only took 2 nights once I got going. All the flowers were done in one evening and then sewn together the next. I really love it and can't wait to wear it in the winter!








Thai Flower Garden Collar

Alpacalicious!

Finally I have finished my Alpacalicious crochet blanket! I had to put it on hold for awhile as all the crocheting gave me such a sore hand that I thought that I had tendinitis. After a few weeks rest it wasn't and I began again only to put on hold again while I made birthday and Christmas presents.

I am so happy with the way the blanket turned out and have another 16 balls to make another one sometime in pastel colours. I can't believe that I have another project finished for this year and while I still have many still unfinished it is very satisfying to have completed at least 7 projects this year.

Looking forward to the Christmas break where I will be able to do some more embroidery.

My Grecian Goddess!

I have just finished making this teacosy for my sister Kerry's birthday next week. The pattern is from Loani Priors' book Really Wild Teacosies! I know that she is going to love it!

A Shawl for Mum

Christmas is almost here and I have made a shawl for my mum's present. I made it from 2 skeins of Alchemy Haiku yarn on 7mm needles and it is delicious! A mohair/silk blend and just exquisitely soft and fine she will get the warmth plus you can just squish it into nothing to fit in your handbag. The pattern was very simple just 3 rows knit and one row YON and knit 2tog. It created a beautiful fine lacey look and looks much harder than it is!

Today I need to begin knitting my sister another teacosy for her birthday in less than 3 weeks. I made her the Carmen Miranda tea cosy last year from Loani Priors book Really Wild Tea Cosies. The photo is on my profile. She loved it and has requested another this year.

After that if I have time I will knit my son Tom's girlfriend Kirstyn a scarf from another skein of Alchemy Haiku. Same pattern but narrower. I guess I had better get cracking!

Beneath the Sea

I have just completed the Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket for 2010 called Beneath the Sea! So proud of myself for finishing another project and have been working on this every day to finish it.
We are going to the holiday house in Northern NSW tonight and I want to put the blanket down there as we are near the beach.
Well I have finished with knitting for this year and now have to concentrate on the crochet afghan as I have almost completed that too. Sewing that one together will be a major headache as there are 150 squares and they have to be slip stitched together. really want to try and get that one finished by Christmas.

Mystery Blanket Almost Complete

After a very busy October doing embroidery workshops with Margaret Light, I have finally completed the squares for the Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket. I have sewn them all together and now just have to knit the beaded borders. Hopefully that won't take me too long and I will have another project completed by the end of the year. I have really enjoyed making this blanket and have signed up to do another next year.

The two workshops that I did with Margaret Light were the 18th Century Jacobean Jewellery Roll and Part 2 of the Tree of Life. Really enjoyable as she is such a terrific teacher. I am looking forward to working on both projects over the next few months.

I have begun knitting a shawl for mum for Christmas in the Alchemy Haiku silk and mohair yarn that I bought from Prudence Mapstone. It is soft like gossamer and I know that mum will love it.

I had a fabulous week in October working at the Brisbane Craft Fair for Prudence Mapstone. I spent almost as much as I made but that's OK as I got 50% of all of her yarn. I hope she asks me to work for her again. I was tired but loved it!

Freeforming!

At last I have finished this beautiful necklace which I began at Koala Conventions in July. I did the workshop with Prudence Mapstone and finished all the flowers, buds, pods, and leaves soon after but it has taken me ages to get the motivation to block the necklace base and stitch on the shapes. I think because I have had a sore wrist and hand and James has told me to give the crochet and embroidery a rest to let my hand heal. I don't want to end up with RSI as 4 of my friends have done recently. Anyway that has been great in a way because it has encouraged me to finish some projects that just needed a bit of time spent on them. This is the first. I have finished 6 projects this year!

This necklace was crochet in a Japanese fibre called Gear Linen made by Habu. It is slightly stiff and so the shapes can be moulded and shaped. It is really nice to work with and goes with the broach which I finished at Koala.

This weekend I am doing a workshop at the embroiderers guild with Margaret Light. It is the Jacobean Crewel Jewellery Roll on black linen in fine wools.

Next week I am working at the Craft Expo for Prudence Mapstone so I have a busy time coming up.

Tree of Life Part 1

I can't believe that I have finally finished this crewel embroidery. I took the class with Margaret Light last October and just put it aside until about June this year. I worked on it a bit in July and then put it down again. In August I finally decided that I had to finish it as I have booked in for Part 2 and I didn't want this to be another expensive unfinished project! I worked on it every day and it it took so much longer than I thought it would. You look at a flower and think "I'll get this one done tonight and it takes 3-4 days. Also the light during the day was by far easier to work in than the evening where all the colours look different and even with the magnifying glass the stitches are harder to see. Anyway I am so proud of myself to have finally finished!! Part 2 starts at the end of October and if I can I will try and finish it straight away as I want to have the 2 pieces framed as two panels.

Good Golly Miss Molly!!

What a week! We have a new staffy pup. Her name is Molly and she is 9 weeks old. We brought her home a week ago and it was love at first sight for her and Harry our 18 month old staffy. They are so funny together and it is a joy to see. Chloe is keeping out of the way but is not as stressed as when we brought Harry home as a puppy.
Because I am settling in a new puppy I haven't been out much this week so am ploughing ahead with my Treee of Life Part 1 and have booked in to do part 2 at the end of October. I think that I will be finished before then.
I am also crocheting in the evening in front of television Prudence Mapstones "not your grannys blanket". Made in 16 different colours in Frog Tree from Bolivia. Gorgeous soft alpaca wool which hardly sheds. The nicest alpaca wool I have ever knitted or croched in!

A Gorgeous New Cushion!

After a crappy week where I didn't really want to see anyone or do anything I indulged in some retail therapy on the internet to cheer me up. I logged on to Etsy and found Renate Kirkpatricks' shop. Renate is a fabulous freeform artist and whist her pieces are similar to Prudence Mapstones, they are different in that she uses some felting techniques as well. Renate is another Queenslander, like Prudence, who lives on the Sunshine Coast. I am thrilled with the cushion cover and keep changing it around from room to room as it looks good in so many different places!

I have finished this months Debbie Abrahams Mystery Quilt and as I'm only 2 months from the end will begin blocking the pieces this week.

Rest in Peace my Ginger Boy Basil

I have had a horrible week. I had to have my darling boy Basil put to sleep on Monday evening. He was nearly 14 and such a faithful loving affectionate boy he was. Always near by either on my lap or on a chair in the same room and on the bed at night. He had lost so much weight and had not eaten for 4 days. The vet had given him some medication to try and stimulate his appetite but his poor kidneys just didn't want to work properly anymore. I always though that Chloe my other cat would go first as she has had kidney problems in the past. She misses him and Harry, my staffy keeps looking for him in his basket. A sad week and when his ashes come home next week he will sit next to Poppy ashes. I hope they are together in heaven.

I Think My Yarn Is Breeding!

Yes that's right! I bought some beautiful Tilli Thomas yarn the other week in luxurious purple chenille. Was a bit slow as I only bought one skein and the lady had 4. She sold the rest pretty quickly and I was kicking myself! I went back to her yesterday and bought 2 beautiful skeins of pink silk chenille with a silver fleck through it. They were the only 2 she had and another white silk with some sequins dotted through. I also bought some green ribbony yarn for freeforming.

So much for paying off my Visa card. I sold 2 pairs of jeans on ebay and spent half the funds on yarn. Not too bad really coz I did pay off some of the card with the other half.

Last week was spent doing my crewel embroidery of Margaret Light's Tree of Life. It's coming along well and it is another project which I am determined to have finished before the end of the year.

Also this week I have continued on with Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket and I am almost up to date. She has said that August' parcel will be a week late so that suits me as I only have 2 squares of July to finish. When I am up to date I can't wait to get back to some freforming!

Had time on my hands this week as I had planned to spend the week with mum and dad as dad was to have had an operation but it has been postponed. Love a quiet week as I don't have to make up excuses to do my crafts!!

James Birthday

Last Wednesday 21st July it was James 26th birthday. We usually go out for dinner but because James doesn't live at home now he just wanted to have a home cooked meal and was definate about lasagne and pavlova for desert. That suited me just fine. We had a lovely evening at home just the 5 of us.

My Yarn Addiction!

When I finished Prudence Mapstones' workshop at Koala I realized that I have a serious addiction to yarn. Not the usual yarn to construct garments, although they are lovely too, but the different and unusual yarn used for freeforming. I had a browse on ebay and found some really yummy yarns and bought them. The lady selling them only lived 20 minutes away at Ashgrove. She has a serious stash and is selling it off to buy more yarn. I don't know if she ever makes anything with the yarn that she buys but is is gorgeous and I will buy some more when I have some cash. I also bought some yarn at Threads and More. The new owners aren't really into freeform work and are selling off most of Danielles' beautiful yarns which she sold at the shop, before she sold the shop. It's a shame because the yarn that they sell now is lovely but a bit boring!

I have been catching up on the Debbie Abrahams Myster Blanket this week as I was 3 months behind since my trip to Hong Kong. I am now only 2 months behind so will keep knitting until I catch up!

So much to do and so little time!!

Another Project Finished!

Before Koala Conventions I was madly trying to finish a couple of projects and dada! I did.
This is the Helan Pearce Christmas Stocking which I began last October and finally finished last month. It compliments the Woodland Santa which I made several years ago and is in the same gorgeous creams and greens and swathed in gold beads and pearls. I love it!

Koala Conventions

I have just spent another truly fantastic week at the Koala Conventions in Brisbane. It began on Saturday 3rd of July and finished yesterday the 11th. Four 2 day workshops with only Wednesday off. Lots of wonderful tallented and funny ladies. Too much food to eat and too many gorgeous things to buy in the Koala shop! With my credit card maxed out and my bank account empty I have plenty of projects to keep me going until the next century at least!
I began on Saturday with Robyn Alexander from Mullumbimby, NSW. Robyn is a textile artist and this year we made a gorgeous bag which we needle felted and then beaded and embroidered. I am happy to say that I have nearly finished and given a couple of quiet days at home I will complete this bag and maybe last years wet felted bag as well.
Monday and Tuesday I did a class with the fabulous Prudence Mapstone and began a freeform knitted and crocheted shawl. This will be an ongoing project and I have ordered some more yarn for my stash over ebay. I met a couple of lovely ladies in this class and we had an hilarious time with Prudence. Prudence offered me a job too at the next Craft expo which I am pretty excited about!
Day off on Wednesday to catch up on all chores and the back into the classes on Thursday and Friday again with Prudence. This time a freeform necklace in Japanese linen fibre yarn. Great to work with and I actually completed a broach as well as 3/4 of the necklace. I hope to finish that one as well next week.
Saturday and Sunday was quite an intense class with Annie Huntley. Intense because I didn't realise that her project "Wishful Thinking" had so much needlelace in it. It is a gorgeous art work of 2 children on the beach looking out to the horizon and so detailed! I did enjoy it though but by the time we did this class I was feeling tired and it would have been better done as a 4 day class. Thank goodness I can go to Annies on the Gold Coast to keep going on with the project. It is going to take awhile to complete this one.
I caught up with most of my lovely friends that I went on the Textile Tour to Hong Kong with and also caught up with Nikki and her mum Lesley who were tutoring again. I love Koala and have booked in for 3 workshops next year. The amazing Di Van Neikerk is coming over from Cape Town, South Africa next year. Can't wait!!