Attempting to crochet Christmas ornaments!

Now that I've mastered...well perhaps not mastered, a very simple granny square I thought it would be interesting to try something else.  Something small, not too difficult with basic stitches.  Well I have to laugh at my attempts as you will when see what I tried to do.  Beginners shambles.  This is supposed to be a Christmas bell ornament in a  bright colour.  Looks more like a gum nut to me.  :-)

I had a little more success with a wreath which is supposed to have beads in it to liven it up a bit.  I think I can manage that after I find a needle small enough to fit the beads and with the eye big enough to have the wool go through it.  Patterns for these were found here and here.

So why am I thinking about Christmas already?  I was inspired by a lovely book I borrowed from the local library.  Isn't this the best bauble ever?  Love those loud colours!  It got me thinking of bright coloured ornaments.

I love this project to make lace votives for candles. 

Although I think I might use bright coloured paint instead of traditional white.  Do you think it would work?  It would be a bit loud I suppose, but what fun eh?  Well back to crocheting Christmas bells.  I might try hot pink or bright orange next.  Maybe the colours will be so exciting any mistakes will be overlooked.

I have another idea for bright decorations to hang from the Christmas tree which I'll share with you soon.  Very simple, very easy and very inexpensive.

Bye for now.

Dressing for the ballet

Friday I went shopping and came home empty handed.  No it wasn't grocery shopping or craft shopping, it was dress shopping.  All ladies clothing stores in the shopping centre were visited, budget and a bit more expensive.  But no dresses.  I'm not looking for anything super fancy, just a nice dress.  Where have all the dresses gone.  You can buy oodles of separates, but no dresses. 

We are very fortunate to be going to the ballet The Nutcracker in a couple of weeks, an evening performance and I would like to wear a dress.  I do have black trousers and some nice blouses but I would really like a dress.  Something that would suit someone who has bit of a blobby tummy and saddlebag thighs

Silly me talking of dresses really when there are so many more important things going on in the world, people in desperate situations.  It's good to put things in perspective. 

The ballet will be wonderful and beautiful.  And the best part will be seeing the joy on my daughter's faces as this will be their first experience of a live ballet performance.  As I saw this particular production two years ago I know we are in for a treat.  The costumes are stunning, the choreography and sets beautiful.  I'm so glad all those beautiful costumes will be seen again.  Oh, do you think they might have a spare dress back stage?  :-)

Enjoy your day,

Anne

Granny squares, blanket or cushion cover?

One older type sofa in style and colour but in good condition.  A little cheering up needed?

Add some cushions.

These cushions have been around for a while too.  The colours looks washed out in this photo, the blue is brighter.  Something else is needed I think.

What about something in these colours?

Or these, only four of the above colours.

Limited pallete of colours or original? Blanket or cushion cover?

Any thoughts?

Anne

Brag time

This past Saturday night hubbie and I were privileged to attend a cabaret put on by Miss G's school.  There were dance performances, singing and acting skits with much of the music provided by the school band and delicious food provided by the hospitality department.  Rehearsals have been going on for months and have caused moments of extreme stress and much laughter.  

The culmination of months of work by all involved came to fruition in three performances held on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening.  Miss G participated in the chorus (back up vocals) and a singing and dancing act "Join the Circus" with her good friend.  Miss G is on the left in the yellow curly wig with her friend sitting on her lap.  I can't quite work out which legs belong to who.

  

They made their costumes themselves.  They visited op. shops (with mum in tow), cut up and resewed chosen items to make into ridiculously funny outfits.  There are times when our children delight and amaze us.  This was one of them.

New painting - a mosaic of flowers?

Monday afternoons are bliss!  It's time for oil painting classes and today I started a new painting.  After the brooding "Storm clouds" I was in the mood to paint something bright and fun.  

I found these photos of flowers in a magazine, cut them out and arranged them in a way I liked and stuck them on two sheets of A4 paper with the idea of painting a mosaic of flowers.  It is my goal to paint in a less detailed way than I normally do with this painting, but old habbits die hard so we'll see.  Anyway I might use this blog as a visual diary of my progress.

Todays progress was partial blocking in of the canvas.  I love this stage of painting because it's just colours and basic shapes, nothing is too precise.

There's oodles of work to be done yet but man, did I have fun!  

Happy creating and crafting everyone.

Anne  :-)

Flowery owl

Last week I had fun making a soft owl from felt and fabric in rather loud colours.  I've since made a second owl in felt and fabric but I've given him very different eyes for a bit of a laugh.

Resting in the hellebores

What a cute tail!

I think I'll have to expand this owl family.  Time to raid the cupboard again for felt and fabric.

Sunshine and walking

Today I woke up to sunshine, beautiful bright sunshine.  This was a day I didn't want to be inside all day so I persuaded hubbie to go for a walk.  About four kilometers from where we live is a wildlife reserve, the perfect place for a walk. Despite there being a cold wind it was invigorating being out in sunshine and fresh air.  Here are a few photos of where we went.

Some of the local wildlife enjoying the water.

Wishing everyone a lovely week.

Anne  :-)

Flowery crochet things

During one of the many tea or coffee breaks I take during the day, I either pick up a crochet hook and some wool to make a granny square or two or a needle and thread to work on some other crafty thing I'm doing.  A couple days ago (actually about two weeks ago, time flies),  I thought to play around a bit with some wool and a crochet hook and this is what happened.

 I really don't know what this is, maybe some sort of flower?  It's kind of wonky looking in places but I guess that's what happens when you muck around.  Heartened by this little experiment I went on and made this 

and this.

 I have no idea how what to do with these flowery crochet things but I sure had fun playing.  I did make a purply coloured one and put it on my niece's birthday present as decoration, so perhaps I could use them to pretty up gifts. Maybe I can make Christmas coloured/themed ones to use on Christmas pressies.  Sorry, thinking out loud here.  Anyone else do that?  :-)

Happy crocheting.

Anne

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The trouble with knitting a beanie. Part 1

Before I discovered the wonderful world of crochet which I attribute to Lucy over at Attic24, I dabbled in knitting.  I’ve made a few rather motley scarves

 

  with two more unfinished.  

  I’ve even tried making fingerless gloves and yoga socks which also remain unfinished.

 At the onset of winter I decided I needed a nice woolly hat to keep my ears warm on those early morning walks with my stubborn Labrador.  I faced a number of dilemmas; the business of making a knitted hat as you know is not one to be taken lightly, especially when you have limited knitting skills like me. 

So what type of hat should I knit?  A beanie or a beret?  Circular needles, double pointed or plain straight ones?  Plain seemed simpler to me and my chosen style was a beanie sort of thing, (a bit like this one without all the ribbing), a lovely pattern off the internet with clear instructions.  Did the ply of the wool I chose and the size of the needles I had match the pattern instructions?  Well just a teeny, weenie bit out but as I was anxious to get started (alright impatient), beanie making production was undertaken.

I merrily knitted away whenever an opportunity presented itself and it seemed as if I was making marvelous progress.  Miss G asked me very politely one evening if perhaps my beanie was indeed going to be rather big.  I had secretly been wondering that myself but not wanting to admit I had been rather cavalier in my attitude to wool ply and needle size matching the pattern, determinedly kept knitting.

Excitement is such an understated word especially when a project is actually finished and excited I was when it came time to sew up my beanie.  With each little sewing up stitch the excitement started to fade and my heart sank a little lower, this beanie was HUGE!!!! 


 When it was time to proudly don my beanie, it was SOOOO big it fell over my face down to my chin.  Of course the size of my beanie provided oodles of entertainment for my family.

Being the stubborn sort of person I am, I was determined to salvage my beanie. Perhaps I could cut it to size and machine stitch?  No.  Perhaps I could roll the edge up multiple times? Definitely not as then I’d look like I had a sausage around my head. 

 What to do?  I delved into the deep recesses of my limited creative ability and decided to roll the edge up and under once (o.k. twice) and stitch into place.  So now my beanie didn’t fall down to my neck but it was slipping off my head.  Perhaps if I sewed long running stitches just above the brim and gathered them in, my hat would be perfect.  Seemed like a great idea.  The final reveal….urghhhhhh, SHOWER CAP BEANIE THINGY!!!

  Oh I was disheartened.  But oh how I love Miss G, (she is so good for my failing creative ego) she was hopping around excitedly pronouncing my beanie/hat/shower cap thingy as AWESOME!  To me it wasn’t and intended consigning my hard work to the bin which in my opinion was where it belonged.  Miss G pleaded with me to let her try it on and well….. it looked perfect on her sweet little head.  She has a petite little head and lovely long hair whereas I have a large flat head with a square shaped face and short hair.  On me a shower cap,
on her slouchy sophistication all the way.

Obviously this isn't a photo of my beanie/beret but this is what it looks like on Miss G's head.

Here is my final result.

Let that be a lesson to me.  Follow knitting patterns to the letter, ply, needles size, pattern instructions, everything.   Have I learnt my lesson…. ummm no.  The trouble with making a beanie part 2 coming soon!

Blue and green should always be seen with autumn leaves

When my girls were just little things they loved to go out into the garden in autumn and catch the leaves falling from the trees.  One day when Miss C was about 7, she came inside with a leaf that looked to me like it had been around for more than one autumn.  She wanted to keep this special leaf so this is what we did.

We found an inexpensive raw timber photo frame and painted it blue.  Then I drew on the leaf design in black pen and we painted green inside the leaf shapes.  We cut out green paper to the size of the frame to use as a backing for the leaf.  The leaf was then carefully placed on top of the paper and enclosed in the glassed frame.  And there you have it, an autumn leaf to remind us of happy leaf collecting days from many years ago.

Anne  :-)

Stormy clouds

I've been fiddling around with the paint brush recently and this is my most recent attempt.  

I've really enjoyed painting a dramatic skyline, really got into it didn't I? :-) This was painted from a photo on a calender, so nothing like this has been going on in my imagination. The painting has photographed darker than it actually is so try and imagine the dark bits being a tad lighter. I might go back and rework a few areas, but for the moment I'm just going to leave it and see how I feel later.  Nothing worse than over working a painting.

If the weatherman is to be believed, we are in for some of this weather tonight.  Unfortunately I don't live by the sea.

Have a good evening or day wherever you are.

Anne

Felt and fabric owl

Look whoooo landed in my garden last night.  I saw how to make this cute owl in a magazine, "Sew a baby felt owl" and my created juices started flowing.  Of course it does help that I love owls.

My little owl is made from outrageous colours, nothing sombre about him at all.  I didn't have felt and fabric in lovely soft colours like in the magazine and as I was impatient to get started, used what was in my cupboard.  I've another owl cut out ready to sew and he is a bit loud too.  I'm thinking to do something different with his eyes but you'll have to wait and see.  :-)

It seems we have owl themes running hot on blogs today.  If you love owls, check out this blog.

Wishing everyone a lovely day.

Anne  :-)

Containing the mess

Mess is something that drives me nuts.  Considering I'm lousy at housework, a bit of an obsessive hoarder as well, it's not a great combination.  What is even weirder is I love compartments, putting things in containers so that they are all together and have a lovely home.   Yet despite this, the accumulation of things of a crafty nature has got way out of hand and I've started tackling this terrible mess I'm in.

One of the many crafts I enjoy is card making.  My goodies include papers, card stock, pens, water colour pencils, stamps, tools, embellishments, ribbons, stamp pads, tape, scissors, cutters, punches, you get the picture.   Most things are stuffed in a plastic container, all higgeldy piggeldy which leads to a very frustrating card making experience.   I can never find anything and have to tip everything out on the table.  My paper and card stock has ended up lying flat on the floor in a bag which is not good. 

So you can imagine how excited I was when I discovered this storage item to house my card stock and papers in.  The pretty coloured drawers are a definate bonus.

O.k. I know it's only plastic but it does have wheels which I put on after this photo was taken.  How cool is this storage unit?  I thought I would have oodles of room for storing things other than papers and card stock but by the time I'd sorted them into colours and textures, it was full.

  So what was I going to do with these bits and pieces?

  

Check out these two gorgeous vibrant pencil cases which I found on sale with a 75% discount? Yes, 75%!!  :-)  Don't you love a bargain?

 

Problem solved.

There's a long way to go before the card making goodies are in order but it's a start.

 As I'm on a bit of a roll here when it comes to storage and containment, here are two more things I've done recently in a bid to become a bit more organised.  I saw this lovely idea for storing crochet hooks and knitting needles in a magazine, book or blog somewhere, I can't remember.  SORRY.  All the credit for this idea goes to an unknown person.  

Find a nice glass vase or even a big jam jar and some colourful glass stones.  Marbles or pebbles would work just as well.  Put the stones carefully in the base of the vase/jar and shove your knitting needles and crochet hooks in among the stones.  And there you have it, you've not only solved a storage problem but created a decorative item for your craft room/area too.

When working on a crochet or knitting project, I always manage to lose either the crochet hook, scissors, wool needle or stitch counter.  This pretty little zippered bag is perfect for these small items.  All I have to do now is remember to put the items back in the bag when I'm finished for the day. 

 

There's a long way to go before all is organised, contained, clutter and mess free but it's a start.  I'd love to hear your ideas for storage solutions that are functional and gorgeous.

Thanks for reading this rather long post.

Have a great day.

Anne :-)

Fridge magnets

Fridge magnets, you either love them or hate them.  There was a time when I hated them as they were used to cover up the ugly spots on the front of our old fridge.  A couple of years ago we purchased a new fridge.  Ohhh the glory of a clean white sparkling fridge door with no rust spots or ugly stains.  Sad looking magnets, notices and rubbish on the old fridge were duly tossed in the bin.  This new fridge was going to stay magnet free...... or so I thought.  Then I made the big mistake of browsing in a little gift shop.  What was I to do?  There were fridge magnets calling out to me.  They said things I felt, things I had never been able to put into words before.  They made me laugh too, what a bonus.  Now don't panic I didn't buy all these magnets in one hit.  What you see below were bought over a period of time.  Just click on the photo for a better view.

These magnets tell a bit of a story about me, my extreme dislike of housework is a big theme here.  I especially love the one about being into art.  I paint in oils and love all sorts of crafty arty things, a very good reason to be lousy at housework! I also love the magnets about stress.  I'd like to carry a little less weight and I love dessert.  There's one there that validates all the hard work we do and don't get paid for and one to cheer me up when I get overly hot every 20 minutes or so.  The one magnet on there that doesn't really apply to me and I wish it did is the one by Eleanor Roosevelt.  I don't do one thing everyday that scares me because, well.....I'm just too scared.  It's there to remind me to take a risk occasionally which I did when I started this blog.  So a big thank you to the lovely people who visit my site and are following me.  You've given me a big confidence boost.

I'd love to hear about the magnets you have on your fridge and what they mean to you.

Have a wonderful day,

Anne :-)  xx

Homemade laundry powder

While looking at Sue's lovely blog The Quince Tree and seeing the mountains of laundry she had to do, I was reminded how glad I am that I make my own laundry powder.  I dislike commercial laundry powders which are usually over scented, very harsh and in my opinion over priced.  I had the idea of making my own laundry powder, something that would be a little bit kinder to the environment and the pocket.  After looking at some ideas at Green Living Australia, I came up with a variation of their recipe which works for me.                                                                                    

 Homemade Laundry Powder

1 x 1kg bag of Lectric Washing Soda

1 x 1kg bag of Lectric Soda Crystals

2 x 500g boxes of McKenzie's Bi-carb Soda

1 x 100g bar of Velvet Pure Soap grated

Place some newspaper down on the laundry bench or table (it gets messy) and grate soap into a bowl.  Place all ingredients into a large bowl and mix thoroughly.  

 It will look something look like this.

Store in an air tight plastic container. 

Makes 3kg of laundry powder. 

I use less than a tablespoon of powder per wash (I have a front load washing machine) and instead of a commercial fabric softener which just puts a coating on your clothes and towels, I put about 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and a few drops of water soluble lavender oil in the rinse compartment.  The clothes come out clean and smelling beautiful.

Click on the above photos to read about the benefits of using Lectric Soda Crystals (I use for water softening properties) and Lectric Washing Soda.

As I make quite a few of my own cleaning products and facial/body moisturisers, I've bought inexpensive separate equipment to use for these purposes.  In the laundry cupboard are:

2 plastic measuring jugs, small and large

wooden spoons, a selection

spatulas, a selection

plastic measuring cups

plastic measuring spoons

a grater

1 glass pyrex measuring jug

1 medium plastic bowl

1 large stainless steel bowl

If you are doing laundry today, I hope the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing so you can hang your clothes out in the fresh air to dry.

Have a great day,

Anne  :-)