Bunting Ta Dah!

Good morning, how are you today?  All is well here, the sun is shining, the garden is looking happy after rain and I've finished my bunting and it's hanging in it's new home.

Remember these little hearts, I made them to sew onto the bunting.

I'm very happy how the bunting turned out and elated to have finished a project so quickly.  The bunting pattern can be found at Heather's love blog Pink Milk.

Unfortunately my photos don't show the colours of the yarn I used very well, but it's vibrant and I love it.

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek.


Anne  xx

Portrait update and a little sewing project

Hi every one, how are you?  .  

During school holidays, I have a break from painting classes so I decided to do a little painting at home.  My poor lady has undergone about four facial reconstructions and the photo below is from my work at home.

This next photo is from art class yesterday and I worked a little more on the face and arms.  I'm finding it extremely difficult to get the skin tone right and there is much tweaking and painting to do yet.

I'm not sure if I like the changes I've made to her eyes as in the first photo she looks much softer.  I'll be so glad when the poor woman has more hair but before I do that, I need to paint the areas around her head some more.

I decided to make a travel jewellery roll this week.  I found some nice fabric and decided to use a pattern and tutorial  found on the internet.  Unfortunately, I was unable to follow the instructions, (I even asked hubby) so had to wing it.  It's not perfect, I will change a few things with the next one I make, but considering the mess I was in, it didn't turn out too bad.

The mess!!

I spy some sneaky threads that need snipping.

The next project is a travel sewing kit and I might have some Christmas star bunting to show too.

Have a lovely day,

Anne  xx

Granny square cushion cover

Last year I started teaching myself to crochet and I'm totally addicted.  I started making some granny squares with the idea of making a cushion cover.  Well I've FINISHED!!!!!  Finally.  This is my TAH DAH moment.

Front view of cushion.
I didn't have enough matching buttons in either of these two colours in my stash so I decided to alternate them.








 Back view.
Incidentally, this sofa is actually has a cream cover so you can see my camera doesn't have the colours right for either the sofa or the cushion.  The colours of the cushion are more aquamarine, teal, aqua, deep steely blue and bright deep pink.  I made a cover from fleece material to cover the cushion insert so that the white wouldn't show through.

This cushion is destined for hubby's dark brown leather chair in the family room.  After the morning sun has gone, this is a very dark corner of the room and I think a bright cushion is just what his chair needs.
 

I am so proud of my cushion.  I've actually learnt how to crochet and made something that is FINISHED!  I was dancing around the family room last night literally hugging my cushion I was so happy.  Yes, it's sad, I know.  :)  I love this so much I've already started making granny squares to make a cushion cover for my bedroom in colours to match the bunting.  Hopefully it won't take me as long to finish this one.

Have a lovely day everyone.

Anne  xx

Bunting reveal

Ta dah, the bunting is finally finished.  I finished it last night and am very happy how it turned out.  I've hung it around my bedroom window.

Here's a close up.

It's quite cheery hanging there and I'm hoping it will add some cheer to a room that gets very little light.

Have a lovely weekend,

Anne  xx

A bit ahead of myself

A very good morning to everyone.  I hope this day finds you all happy and healthy.  Last post I was crowing away about how my bunting triangles were coming along and since then have made what I thought was many more.  Figuring I had more than enough to complete my project, I started joining the triangles together and when I got to the last one, I thought it might be a good idea to see if I had enough.  Oh dear, I had just enough to hang half way along the area I wish to decorate.
 

So here is what I've done so far.  This display spot will not be their final resting place.

When I was trying to arrange these dratted triangles, a sudden though came to me.  Hadn't I read something about blocking crochet?  I think perhaps I need to with these triangles and will need to read up on it.  Any tips anyone?  Will I need to unpull the chain stitch joining the triangles together?

Changing the subject completely, I am in complete adoration of bags like this.  Sorry about the quality of the photo.

A better example of these types of bags can be found here on Jacquie's blog Bunny Mummy.  I didn't find a gorgeous multi-coloured bag but I did find this which is perfect for storing works in progress.

Green is one of my favourite colours so I am very happy with my op. shop find.

Look at all that delicious wool.  It's not going to be any hardship to crochet more of those triangles.  I love them.

I'll leave you with a photo of my little blogging companion Stripey who is doing something I'd like to be doing right now.  SLEEPING!  Unfortunatley the day has only just begun and I've got house---- to do.  I had fun yesterday, now I'm paying the price. :(

Have a great weekend.

Anne  xx

Progress, achievements and a little luxury

Hi everyone, I have  progress to report.  Firstly, my right hand that was stung by a European wasp on Sunday no longer looks like this.  It was red, swollen and hot to the touch, yucky.

After realising it was not going to improve without an antihistamine, I made a quick trip to the chemist Monday morning and came home with some non drowsy antihistamine tablets (I didn't want to fall asleep in art class that afternoon), and a cream to help with the itchiness and the heat the sting was generating.  Almost back to normal now with only a little itchiness.

The second area of progress is this.  More crochet triangles for bunting.

This seems like meagre amount to have made considering when I started.  How do you ladies who crochet get so much done?

My achievement today is gardening.  I now have one section of garden that resembles a garden rather than a scene from The Day of the Triffids. For those who are not familiar with triffids,  "a triffid is a tall, mobile, carnivorous, prolific and highly venomous fictional plant species—the titular antagonist in John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids."  I had plenty of triffids in the wheelbarrow and used almost every gardening tool I could find in the garage to attack them.

 In between carting barrow loads of weeds, leaves and overgrown plants to the big garden rubbish bag that gets collected once a month, I sustained myself with this.  Hard work gives me an appetite.

This may be considered a good breakfast for some,  but for me it was a good lunch.  An egg from our own chooks with a few cherry tomatoes I found just ripened in the vege garden, on toasted homemade bread.  With a full belly, I was ready to get stuck in again.

 The reward for my 5 hours of gardening is this.

An area of garden almost free of weeds where I can now see the plants that are supposed to be there.  I grubbed out plants that had overtaken others and trimmed back those a bit too greedy for the sun to make room for those plants not quite so pushy.  It is so much better than it was.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo before I got stuck in.  Just use your imagination.  JUNGLE!

Little lost garden fairy/angel has been found again.

And can now see what he/she is doing.

Mr frog has discovered there is a world beyond the periwinkle that was obscuring his view and now has clear, fresh water to admire his reflection.

Can you guess what my little luxury is going to be after a hard day working in the garden?

Yes.  A nice BIG cold iced coffee!

Miss C. made dinner tonight so I have had the luxury of a big sit down.  I think it might be time for a shower and then doing something fun like make more crochet triangles for bunting.

See you soon.

Anne  xx

Saturday indoors

Hello everyone.  Today has been a day for indoor activities as where I live the weather has not been kind, dumping 152mm of rain in the last 24 hours.  We have not suffered any damage or flooding although areas close to us have. 

I endeavoured to take Miss G. to swimming squad this morning but a large tree was over the forest road and the police turned traffic back.  The driving wasn't pleasant with heavy rain, water over streets in places, pouring down hilly streets and into driveways.  I was very glad to get off the road and back inside. 

So what's a girl to do?  Get out the crochet and learn how to make bunting.  My first port of call for a tutorial was to Jacquie's blog Bunny Mummy .  With clear instructions and fantastic photos, I soon got underway after figuring out the U.S. terminology.  I made three triangles this afternoon, only three because I kept making mistakes.  I'm in the process of learning to crochet so it was inevitable I suppose.  Anyway, here are a few photos of me lying on the sofa surrounded by wool and two of the triangles I made.

Look at all that wool and the lumpy bits under the throw are me.

See that really is me, big feet, long toes and all.

This is much more interesting.

What an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.  Even better, hubbie made scrumptious pizza for dinner.  What more could a girl ask for.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Anne   xx