Swap show and tell

Last Sunday the Craftroom put on a Sunday craft day.  Cass organised one of her famous swaps, which involved making four items for fellow Craftroom gals.  On the day we were randomly divided into groups of five, where we each swapped our little goodies - therefore receiving four fantastic, handmade gifts to take home.

What did I receive you ask??

This too beautiful to be used linen teatowel.  It has now taken pride of place on the table as a table runner (and yes I have ironed it since taking the photo!!) made by Cass, said swap organiser

 

and because Cass is a Very Good  and experienced swap organiser, she made an extra lot of swap goodies, just in case of any late cancellations due to unforseen circumstances.....................  Lucky for me there was,  because I scored this super cute snap purse!!  Miss A has already tried to claim it as her own but I've squirrelled it away in the hope she'll forget about it.  I actually think Miss B should get this one.  Being second in line she usually misses out!

This very lovely and perfectly sized for on the go crafting pin cushion came from Jen who obviously is not only a keen knitter and crocheter but also an expert sewer!!

And just in the nick of time, to save me from making one (inferior, I'm sure) for myself, Fiona contributed this perfect little needle book.

Look inside.........................

Fiona went to the trouble of sourcing pure wool felt, as it is easier to push needles through than synthetic felt.  I can truly attest to that, as this little beauty is now full of all my needles which have been floating around looking for a home for some time now!

Thank you so much lovely ladies - I love each gift and really appreciate the time and effort that went into each one xxxxxxx

And what did I make for my fellow swappers?

Upcycled wool scarflettes.  This one has barely been off my neck since I made it as a prototype for the swap.

I only remembered to snap a picture when I was all set to gift wrap them, so this is the best shot I got.

Hope they keep my lovely swap partners warm and snuggly during this bitterly cold snap we are currently enjoying enduring.

some hexegon love

Not of the quilting kind but of the crochet kind.

Well I jumped on the bandwagon a couple of weeks ago and decided I just had to make myself one of Kirsty's to die for Granny Shrug's.

 

I couldn't wait to get started so ducked out to my nearest Lincraft, hoping that they might stock Patons Wilderness.  No such luck, so I bought six 100g balls of Lincraft Premium Luxe, which is a 100% wool yarn, mostly because I really liked the maroon colour - and the price was right, at around $6.50 a ball. 

Unfortunately I was less than impressed by the fact that each ball of yarn had several joins in it; that is a knot where lengths of wool had been joined together to make up the 100g ball. 

I suppose the old adage "you get what you pay for" comes to mind.........

I used  an 11.5mm hook, 'cause thats what I already had.

It would have taken me only afew nights to make the whole shrug, but, I originally made nine rounds thinking it would be too small with only the suggested eight rounds due to the smaller hook I used.  Then of course, after figuring out how to crochet the two hexegons together (I slip stitched the seams) to make the shrug, I realised it was too big so had to frog some of it and then crochet it back together again.  I then did a row of slip stitch around all the edges, including the sleeves to give it some stability and then decided to finish it with a row of fan (shell) stitch, which formed a lovely sort of collar. So add a couple more nights for that little hiccup.

I am overall quite pleased with the end result, barring the fact that I seriously need some help with weaving in my ends, because they keep unweaving - not a good look!

Miss A snapped these pictures of me the other day at the park.  I was, as usual, trying to kill too many birds with one stone - take the kids to the park, walk the in-laws dog and get some photo's for the blog. 

The dog was doing it's darndest to drag me away, Miss A almost stepped off the timber deck in the background there into the river and Miss B nagged me alternately for a go at walking the dog and taking some photo's.

Feeling a little stressed me thinks..............

At least I had my two most favourite at the moment made by me items on to keep me warm!!!  The scarflette was a prototype for the fantastic Craftroom sampleswap which took place yesterday at the Sunday get together. 

I had a lovely couple of hours chatting and receiving four fantastic swap items from fellow craftroom girls.  Unfortunately I couldn't stay the whole day but was most pleased I at least got to pop my head in for a bit and do abit of catching up with all the lovely ladies who came along.  So much beautiful work going on, I truly love it. 

I will do a show and tell of my gifts received tomorrow. 

Until then I bid you a cheery goodnight xo

Bits and baubles

Last Sunday I got together with some of the Craft Room girls for our last meet up of the year.  The temperature reached well over 40C and what did I take to work on?  A crochet scarf........hmmmmm.  As a result I did not get as much done as I envisioned I would - it was just too darn HOT. 

The very lovely Ingrid (and her oh so lovely dolly baby Kitty) stopped by for a while and she brought with her a box full of vintage patterns.  I managed to score these five. 

I'm not sure they will ever become garments in my wardrobe but I do love just looking at their beautiful vintage goodness.

We did a gift swap again and I was lucky enough to pick Marina's (Wink Designs) swap item.  I just love the Matryoshka print tree ornaments - I couldn't wait for my Christmas tree to go up (not before December in my house, it's a thing I have) so I've hung them from the door knobs of my entertainment unit for the time being.  Every time I see them they make me smile :)

My swap item went to the very sweet Fiona whose sewing machine raised it's objections to being put through it's paces on such a sweltering day by  letting out a loud crackle and catching fire (it was just a bit of smoke really but that doesn't sound nearly as exciting)!

I have to be honest and say I had forgotten to prepare an item for the swap before I went away so I spent Saturday night in front of the tele making crochet and beaded christmas baubles.  This was just one of the many ideas I constantly have floating around in my head.  So many ideas and yet so few actually come to fruition.  I really am very creatively frustrated.  There just never seems to be enough time to get to the things I want to be doing (as opposed to the things I should be doing). 

I also included a 'Versatile Shopper' tote bag in my swap package, which I had made back here.  After a great response from some lovely reader's I was inspired to make more!  And two more I did before I was incredibly 'over it'.  Hence I learnt two valuable lessons 1 - I have a great aversion to making the same thing more then once, as I mentioned in my last post, and 2 - I will never make things to sell as I once dreamed of doing. 

Every time I go shopping I use my Versatile Shopper, I keep it in my handbag permanently. 

Every time I buy something from a shop which charges for plastic bags (as is become more common these days, and rightly so too) I think of the Versatile Shopper and wish I had it in me to make more as I am so proud and pleased with the few I did make - but alas it is not to be........  I have been wanting to post about the death of my little idea for a while now but kept holding on to the hope that I might be inspired to continue on, but if truth be told I know I wont.  So there you have it!  Enough rambling on about this.  Ahhhh, what a relief to have that off my chest :)

Anyway, back to my Craft Room post.  I did manage to finish the crochet scarf I was working on earlier this week but no pictures to show you yet, it's just been too hot to even think of wrapping a scarf around my neck. 

I want to say a big thank you to Corrie for starting up and organising the Craft Room throughout this year.  It has been such a pleasure to meet and chat with all the very lovely, talented and inspiring crafty women I have met because of it.

Crafty goodness

I've been feeling a little uninspired and despondent about my crafting of late, with several projects on the go and none of them going right.

BUT after a lovely day spent on the northern beaches with a group of talented and lovely crafters, getting a few more squares for my quilt done,

and after receiving this lovely gift from Sophie I do feel much better.

My swap item seemed well received and has found a new home here, where I hope a lovely little girl will grow to love her.

Thank you Craftroom (of course I mean you Corrie!)

a bit of this and a bit of that

This week I've finished off a couple of things I hadn't posted about before.

modelled by a very reluctant miss A

I made a bag for my clarinet playing nephew, to carry around his instrument and all the associated bits and pieces. I was instructed to use up some left over green fabric from some placemats I had made for mum last year, but I couldn't bear to make such a plain bag so I ducked out and bought the only musically themed fabric I could find (trumpets), just to jazz it up abit!

I also made the swap item I will be taking to this month's Sunday session at the craftroom. Here is a sneak peek.


I've been thinking alot about this upcoming event. I don't think I have had five straight hours alone to sew, crochet or whatever since I had my first baby.

To say I am excited is a major understatement!



So, what to do with the time? I pretty much think I've decided to finally get on with making the quilts I've been dreaming of for my girls. I went to Spotlight and got a few more pieces of fabric for them today.


I hope to cut all the fabric beforehand so that on the day I can just sew, sew, sew.

I am hoping to be the lucky recipient of a very lovely owl made by Rachel, who is also a craftroom girl. The giveaway is still open for afew more days so pop over to The Two Windmills for your chance to win.

crafty goodness and cooking

Well a splendid evening was had by all the craftroom ladies last night. Everyone's WIP's looked great with projects ranging from crochet and knitting to embroidery and hand pieced hexagons, to the dearest little owl I've ever seen and even a doggy sock softy. We were all so busy chatting, laughing and creating that I believe not a single photo was taken!


There is always room for more crafty ladies, so if your able and willing to travel to the northern beaches once a month with a few Sundays thrown in for good measure pop on over to the craftroom for more info.


I really do enjoy cooking, the only setback is I am not very good at it as witnessed last night with my attempt at Caramel slice. When I tried to cut it, it was like cutting through rock. I then heated the knife with hot water to aid the cutting which then melted the layer of caramel :(

Needless to say it ended up as a totally unappetising mess (which I have to say tastes divine!)

This leads me to the previously mentioned topic of allergy friendly cooking.

Both my daughters have food allergies. They both have an allergy to nuts, my younger daughter is also allergic to dairy and eggs. This, as you can imagine somewhat restricts my choice of meal's to prepare for my family. And as any time poor mother will attest, quick and simple is best!

I like to prepare one meal which we can all share, and as my husband, oldest daughter and I do not share little miss B's fondness for soy milk I need to plan carefully. This has become second nature to me by now, and I have to say we have a very varied, rounded and tasty variety of meals.

So from time to time, I will share with you some of the recipes I use to cook food that is suitable and tasty for the whole family.

This pizza is a real winner. Quick, simple and tasty. I just use soy cheese on top for miss B, which you can buy from most supermarket's.

Easy Pizza Dough!

1 package dry yeast

3 cups sifted plain flour

1 cup of luke warm water (too hot or too cold will kill yeast)

3 tablespoons olive oil

pinch of salt

Dissolve yeast in water, add salt and olive oil. Mix in flour. When dough forms knead by hand and form into a large round ball. Place in a large bowl covered lightly and allow to rise for 2 hours in a warm place. Punch down and allow to rise again. Separate into two pieces. Roll out to form pizza bases, cover with favourite toppings and bake at 180C for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden.

Voila!