Blowing Off The Cobwebs

Yes, it has been a while. I just can't seem to get into a regular pattern with my blogging and before I know it once again months have gone by.
I have been thoroughly enjoying my SFI app on my iPad and love how I can pick it up and read it wherever I am . It has some great quick dinner ideas and is fantastic for a busy mum like myself who realises at 2.30 in the afternoon while sitting at work "goodness, what am I going to do for dinner tonight?". Speaking about my iPad, I have realised that it has become one of those gadgets that I can't get by without, it is sooo useful. I took it away with me to craft camp last weekend and had loaded my craft project instructions onto it as well as all my scraplifts for card making. The only downside was that when I got there I realised that it only had 20% battery time left and I had forgotten to pack my charger. Fortunately, I found someone who had an iPhone and had brought there charger with them and they were happy to lend it to me so it could charge overnight. My iPad was then happy for the rest of the weekend with constant use. You've got to love how Apple have made there devices with the ability to share chargers, it sure helped me out of a sticky situation.
Yes, once again Craft Camp has come and gone. I managed to have quite a productive weekend.
I made these accordion style card holders....

(tutorial found here).

This lovely Stationery Box including A6 size cards, note cards, gift tags and sticky note holder......

(tutorial found here).

Matching birthday card.......

and two other birthday cards........

I did actually have a list of birthday cards to make but ran out of time (and appropriate paper).

Lastly I made these gorgeous little booties for my sister who is expecting her first baby in August.

The pattern for these is called "Newborn Baby Converse Booties"and was found on Ravelry. I couldn't believe how quick they were to make and will probably make a couple more pairs in a bit bigger size for him as he grows. The black back stitching actually looks a lot straighter in real life.

Next time I post I should have finished the "Wooleater" blanket and will show a photo. I really do enjoy crochet and have been teaching the "Wooleater" blanket at my Friday Craft group and I think the ladies have been having a lot of fun learning how to make it. It really is a challenging pattern to do, especially for those who have not done crochet before or not picked up a hook in a while.
I am now in the process of deciding on the next crochet project and am leaning towards either this pattern or this pattern. I am going to purchase some "Red Heart Supersaver" yarn by Coats & Clark as I love the vibrant colours and it is real value as the balls are 200g. Where do you purchase your yarn from? I have found it quite difficult to get yarn at an affordable price in a large range of colours. The best place I have found so far is Yarn Over (formerly American Yarns).

Until next time :o)

Creative Spaces

Well, Craft camp was a success as I managed to finish not one but two projects.

The first being the Cinderberry Stitches "Paris Collection" bag....

And the second, turning this.....

into "Kirsty's Granny Shrug". I never liked the first cardigan that I made so frogged it and made this instead. This shrug was so quick and quite simple, even if I did end up having to do it 1 1/2 times. Some things that I would probably do next time is use a drapier (is that even a word) yarn as I used two strands of 8ply Carnival Acrylic which I feel has come out a little stiff. I would also like to apologise for the photo quality.

Well that's it for this week. To see more creativity, visit Creative Spaces at Kirsty's place.

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Creative Spaces

I have been busy on the crafting front of late.

And this is what my Creative space looked like the other day. I loved the way it looked so had to take a photo.

I have finally finished sewing up my samples for the craft camp that is coming up in May and have finally posted them on the blog.

I decided to do a Sewing accessories set that can be made over a weekend, and this is how it turned out.

As you can see I actually made two of everything with different contrasting fabrics so that there will be a choice of either pink or blue.

I am very excited about the whole thing and eager to see what kind of response I get.

Also in the middle of all of this I joined the "On the Edge - Pillowcase Crochet Along" and ended up with this

I love the colours and the textured edge. This will be coming along with me to craft camp in May with my Hexagon blanket.

I am looking forward to seeing what the next little while brings craft wise, and I wonder what will be posted here next. Maybe now I may have some time to play with that new toy that I posted about last time.

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Busy Bee..

Look what I received a couple of weeks ago........

from one of my favourite designers - Leanne Beasley, and it has some Rosalie Quinlin fabric included to make the table runner. I can't wait to get started on this.

I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks making all of this.........

to sell at craft camp which is now only two weeks away, I still have a few things to add and I am hoping that I will not be all crafted out before I get there. I am planning on taking a few different things to do this time as I am not decided on any particular project.

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Hello There!! Missed Me??

Well it has been a while, a whole month in fact since my last post. I know I say this every time, but where has the month gone? And I was informed last night that there is now less than 100 days till Christmas. Christmas! Already!! We are heading into the last week of school for term 3 and gearing up for the last and most hectic term of the year, the one that goes the fastest (if that is possible). I am totally behind in my Stitchery of the Month as this one arrived a couple of weeks ago...

I'm not so sure about this one. It is definitely more country and not necessarily my style. It may end up being a gift for someone special who's birthday is coming up soon.

I have been busy crocheting another bag which is going to fulfill one of my PIF promises I am thinking of doing another one for my other PIF as well but in colours I know that she likes the best. This patterns is really great for using up those left over balls that aren't quite big enough for a project on their own. Just a few more rows to go and some handles.

Craft camp is coming up again at the end of next month and I posted my form off today. Am totally looking forward to a whole weekend dedicated to crafting and hopefully will come home with something to show for it.

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Some Progress was Made

Here I am at craft camp hard at work making my Melly & Me pincushion.

I must admit that I had a lot of frustration making this pattern as there wasn't enough fabric, ricrac or ribbon in the kit so I had to improvise and therefore it took a lot longer to make than planned, but I think that it turned out alright in the end.

As the actual kit didn't have the printed ribbon as was on the original Melly and me items I stamped mine as plain ribbon didn't look quite right to me.

Next I went onto the Leanne Beasley Pincushions and achieved two out of the five. These were really fun to make and I especially enjoyed doing the stitchery.

I also spent some of my time teaching my sister. She actually achieved more than me which was very exciting considering that this was her very first crafting project. She used a pattern that I had written for a s

ewing set and finished all of them with fantastic results. I think that she is a natural and am looking forward to what she will do in the future. 

She also managed to finish one of these thread catchers and it looks great.
I was very impressed with her skills. She managed also to design and make a pouch and would have finished that as well except that she didn't have any fabric for binding, so I will spend some time with her in the near future showing her how to do that. I am so excited that she has found out how much fun craft can be. I think that there may be more crafting days in the future.

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Two more Sleeps

I am getting excited about the upcoming weekend away at Craft Camp. I have spent the week getting organised and putting my projects together, it is so much fun. Maybe I will finally catch up on my crafting things. I have honestly felt as though I have been running backwards on that front.

A weekend away without having to worry about answering the ongoing question of "what's for lunch? What's for tea? I'm hungry, what's there to eat?" is one of the best things about it. Even though my sweetheart does organise the food most of the time on weekends, I still feel the pressure of it, not to mention all the little jobs that need doing and therefore interrupt any time that may otherwise be used for crafting or doing something else that I might like. Don't get me wrong I will miss them all a lot, but it is a good kind of missing, one that makes me appreciate and love them all even more when I come back home. I think every wife and mum needs to have a little getaway time every now and then. It can really help put life back into perspective.

Well I had better not forget to pack the camera and hope to post some good photos showing a productive weekend. Part of the time will be spent teaching my sister a thing or two as she is coming along for the very first time. I am hoping that she will love it as much as I do.
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Craft Camp Projects Complete

Another week since my last post. I do think in my head that I want to post more regularly than just once a week but the days just seem to go too fast.

Well I am back safely from Craft Camp (which I can't believe was a week ago) and managed to complete all of the projects that I took with me except for the Size 1 pyjamas as the pattern that I was using started at size 2. I think that they turned out really well.

The pincushion was quite fun to make. I did however have a few issues with the pattern as it wasn't really clear as to which embroidery stitches to use or give any directions on how to do them. Fortunately I was sitting next to a wonderful lady who is a whizz with a needle and she clearly explained to me how to do the stitches I wasn't too sure about. I wasn't going to do the beading but I think it just finishes it off. I am now ready and looking forward to next months Pin cushion.

I finished another Pencil Roll but I ended up giving it to my 11 yo son to use in his Shoe Box of Love and to be given to Samaritans Purse for Operation Christmas Child. I will make another one for my nephew for his birthday. I am actually thinking of making him one of these as he is going to be a full time kindy boy next year and he might find this more useful.

I am so sorry that this post took so long to put up but I was having a few problems with blogger not loading my photos and realised that I had saved them in the wrong format (won't do that again!).

I am now in the process of putting together a few items for 'Dorcas Day' which is what we call our craft stall day at Friday craft group. It is being held next Friday morning and I am hoping to get a few things together for it this week. As we have to man our own stall I will have to try and juggle myself between my stall and the cafe, I may have to combine them. It is named after a woman in the bible who was known for her fine dressmaking skills. Her story is found here.

Well that is all for now. I am hoping to get a bit done this week and hopefully have something to post later on.

8o)