I started this wreath when I was off work with my foot. It was something “easy” to do though I’ll say it now, if I ever make one of these again, I’m using thicker wool! I used some Patons Bluebell 5ply that I found in my stash (originally from the Salvos store at Bundamba). I’ve been looking at the wreath the last few days deciding what it needs. Wanting to keep with a pretty clean and muted palette, I added a doily which is a few shades darker than the cream wool and an old Christmas decoration thing that I picked up in a mixed lot from the Juicy Junk Shop in Pomona at the start of the year. (Look at that I’ve just mentioned two of my favourite second hand stores in the one paragraph). Wrapped some gold thread round the rest of the wreath to carry on the gold from the decoration thing and there she is. It makes me smile.

Up Close

On my bedroom door
You can just see my Christmas apron peeking out from behind the back door, a early Christmas present from Mum – to wear when doing Christmas baking.

“Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.”
Joseph Addison

Sundays are nice days, out of Saturday and Sunday I think I like Sunday the most. Sundays are not so frantically filled as Saturdays. Sundays are about delighting in the littler things. Wiping the kitchen benches down and taking a moment to pause and smile at those clean surfaces. Ripping out 70% of the crochet you had done that day because you discovered a mistake which you know you could never ignore. Whipping up a very fast treat baked treat for Brown Owls. Sitting on your bed and just listening to James Morrison. Finding the basket for my bike that fits my criteria the most, now to get it painted white. This was my Sunday

This is my current wip, that I started this morning at Brown Owls. A granny square with larger than life dimensions, no idea yet as to how large it will get but thought is that it needs to be snuggable, so I’m thinking it will need at least 7 skeins. I am using Noro Taiyo in colour 11, which I just adore, it feels so lovely.

This arvo after I had done another row or two, I was looking at it closely and realised that on one side I had managed to get two extra clusters, gah. I thought about ways to reduce it but ended up ripping it apart till I had only three rounds completed…. I’ve done about seven rounds now and it looks much better than it did before.

Yesterday I made my book case curtains and today I borrowed the drill and put it up. It looks so pretty! I love the fabric. I had a fun time using the hemmer foot.

This is what I took for morno’s at Brown Owls, a pear and hazelnut torta which is a recipe by Belinda Jeffery in the May 2009 issue of Delicious. It took me about 10 minutes this morning to put it together and then it was in the oven for about 30 mins and ready to go. I am going to make it again in the near future but playing with different nuts and fruit.

The meeting was such a fantastic experience. Getting to meet a whole bunch of other crafty ladies, some whom I know a little bit through reading their blogs and others for whom I knew nothing and left knowing a little more. In addition to the crafting there was some fantastic baked treats that were on offer for snacks.

some photos
most of the collective squares

taking photos, Alischa from Bespoke Press, Steph from Bondville and Katie from Miss Kitty Boo Boo

A little snippet of Melanie with some of the other girls in the background

And here are my squares

and a closer view

Grandad is doing well, they did six skin grafts on his lower legs after removing the skin cancers and they removed another two which were just stitched up. He was moved to a different ward yesterday which is much nicer than his last one. It is soo handy living as close as I do to the Wesley, I can tuck out of home and less than five minutes later I am sitting beside Grandad in his room.

So yeah go pick up a $10 shirt at threadless, they make you happy In case you are wondering about sizes, I wear the girly XL, which is a little tight round the breast area but as long as I don’t wear a bra that enhances them it is all good. The next size up from the girly XL is the mens medium. Also if you use the coupon code SUPER TEES it will take a further $3 off your total and if you total is over $50 use the coupon code PARSONS-NYC and save $5 off your purchase

This is a scarf that I crocheted on the bus to and from uni a little while ago and on the weekend I finally got round to weaving in all the loose ends and packaging it up to be sent round the world to a friend who lives in a very cold place and I think could use some cheering up with the warm colours of the scarf when it is dark and cold in winter. Although I guess since it is coming into summer in the northern hemisphere she won’t get much use out of it for a while

It is all crocheted in half-double or half-treble depending on which country you come from and which crochet language you use.

I was searching round the garden as the best place to photograph the scarf and when I spotted the palm trees in the driveway I just knew it would just look cool tied round the trunk

Also for the fact that it is Australia Day, I have given my site a new change of clothes and adopted a Green and Gold theme, the cool tag template for the header image comes from Tracy Ann’s Cool Bits Kit at Scrapbook-Bytes.
I have spent the morning filing away bookmarks and updating my RSS feed subscriptions and clearing off my desk, so I can hopefully get some scrapbooking done this evening inbetween watching my favourite Australian TV show at the moment – RAN (Remote Area Nurse).

The other day I picked up this gorgeous little Ethos Poppy & Friends serving plate set from Robins Kitchen.

Earlier this week on Monday, Pabbi and I, like many other Brisbanites went to the LifeLine Bookfest (a 6 day pre-loved book sale held twice yearly, which is the largest in the world, yep’s that right Brisbane can claim to fame the world’s largest pre-loved book sale and we have had it for the last 16 years). I spent $6.50 and came away with a fistful of crochet, sewing and knitting leaflets/books. Here are a sample of them, click on the thumbnails to see them full size.

This is a leaflet from an iron-on embroidery pattern from Anchor, the iron-on transfer is long gone but cool are the flowers?
One of four little crochet booklets I picked up, just love the front photo on this one, reminds me of a polaroid portrait.

Loving the elephants
Who could go past some Rayon-Raffia accessories, which are still chic today and were used to make a hat in the recent Interweave Knits Crochet edition.

These three are from a Australian Women’s Weekly embroidery leaflet for the contemporary needlewoman. Which it promises are all quick to work in simple stem and chain stitch. The balloon oven mitts are billed as perfect for children to do for presents as they are easy and inexpensive to make.

Well to the right, you can see the completed bag, my first real functional piece of Crochet, done on a 3mm hook using Anchor Magicline Cotton, the pattern comes from Judith Swartz’s book Hip to Crochet. Mum is currently also making this bag again from Magicline but a different colourway and a 3.5mm hook.

This bag is going to the daughter of a family friend, well the main present are the dolls you see below (click on either picture to see them larger), which we purchased at the Salamanaca Markets and the bag is just serving as a tote for them. :)

Now I just have to decide what my next project will be…..

I think that is about all I picked up along the way, well other than all the gorgeous cherries that we were gorging on

Made Cranberry Muffins again last night, but this time I used whole meal flour and raw sugar instead of the plain and white it calls for, didn’t end up adding rolled oats though – next time

Over a week ago I made Amy Butler’s Nappy Bag, the fabric I used is Floral Song #2055 from Print Concepts. For the interfacing of the bag and one set of the pockets, I used iron-on wadding to give my camera extra protection when it is in the bag. I didn’t add the mobile phone or bottle pockets either.

When I make this bag again, which I will because I do like the style, the strap is going to be cut thinner as it is really wide on the pattern (10cmish) and longer as it doesn’t sit in the right place on my body. Also going to make the whole bag narrower and round the corners. Just a few changes

In the way of scrapbooking have done nothing for me in quite a while now, but did manage some layouts and cards for an upcoming thing. Speaking of that, my next challenge is up on the Scrapbook Creations website – the prize this month is great, go on and enter!

After seeing the Ramona Peep Dolls by Roxy at Etsy, I showed them to Mum and said I have to learn how to Crochet as I want to get the pattern and make one, yeah well I can make a standard chain all right and can do a couple of rows, but yeah going to take a while before I can attempt Ms Ramona

After seeing Hillary’s Shrinky pins on Wee Wonderfuls moons ago, I picked up a pack of Shrinky Dink Plastic whilst at a new scrap shop the other month. To make the shapes I used a spirograph (idea from Jodi) and the Owl Stamp from a ColorBox Stylus Moulding Mat, though most of the owls look more like cats to me.

But that is not all, I have started painting glass again in preparation for Christmas, all the ornaments I am working on at the moment are only partially completed so no photos yet.

The big thing is that I have discovered the wonderful joy of Needle or Dry Felting. It Rocks! I visited Gerry’s yesterday where I picked up some needles and two bags of wool tops in Grape Jelly and Bean Sprout, such yummy colours. On the Bus home, I made a die, which is about 1.25″ on the sides, it isn’t perfect but it gave me the hang of how to do it. I have made some more little things as well, one of which is a flower that I made based on a tutorial by Maitreya of Craftlog, I need to add a middle yet. After making and playing, I have ordered some more needles and a pack of primary bright wool from ebay. So many ideas, so much time

Eye-candy of the day – Rosy Little Things