GOOD MORNING BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE.....

I am slowly finding a new rhythmn in my life....are you kidding, there is NO rhythmn just organised chaos?!?!
Yep just when you think there is order, life has a way of showing you otherwise. Lol. The only order in my life is the end of the day when I make a date with myself to sit in my chair and stop and sew. Thank the Lord for my hobby, it is a gift and so are the people I have met with the understanding of why I do this "stuff".

So although I dont get here too often I still create along the way, now is the time to share my deeds. (Thank you Joy, your gentle way is my muse) 

Now a little errrr long time ago I bought this gorgeous kit at a craft show. Dont know what I was thinking as that stage could not really crochet. But what the heck I was assured it was quite simple, so off I headed.
It was simple but teeny tiny and did I mention didnt really know how to crochet? 2.25mm hook and 8ply DMC perle cotton.

Yes folks I am the one who skips the basics, gets bored with simple stages and goes directly to the back of the book to attempt the advanced. Strangely not a huge risk taker in life but when it comes to craft I loose my head. One never learns if one doesnt make mistakes and for some strange reason when it comes to creativity I am a little fearless. I did have an awesome art teacher in my early years at high school and I was often left to my own devises by my parents, so didnt suffer anyone telling me it was wrong.

Ta dah...... I do love it. It has taken years of stop start to achieve this. I did set it aside and learnt how to crochet a little better. I may attempt difficult stuff but not too stupid to realise that going back to learn the basics would be beneficial.

Realised that I had also made up my own stitch and this caused a bit of angst as the later little teeny tiny squares had a different tension and look. 
So unpicked the sewing, discarded a few really wonky pieces and reassembled the whole thing. The older wonky made up stitch squares I placed in the centre and used the newer better tensioned squares at each end. 

  I think I got away with it.

Ohhh look at me getting all arty now. The little bird was an opshop treasure that just had to come home. Love my little opshop treasures, so inexpensive, so much fun. My mother disdains all this frippery...just "dust collectors" in her eyes...dont know where I get my love of little treasures from.....sorry drifted off there...

 Now the other thing I purchased lately was this amazing piece of fabric at the latest craft show. It was a limited hand printed design, directly from artists in our aboriginal community.
I was drawn by its simple graphics and simpy fell in love with it. A lot of "Australiana" is an interpretation of indigioneous art by Europeans and down in southern states of Australia we do not find a lot of this art being affordable. Often the art is purchased cheaply from the artists and sold at huge margins by art galleries. This is changing in these modern times.

 This is the artist who created this design and it is a traditional one, depicting fishing nets.

This is the centre that protects these artists and their work ensuring a fair trade.

This is the distributor and the lovely lady I met at the craft show. In case you were interested there are many more fabrics to see.

And I purchased this pattern and will use the abovementioned fabric to sew a skirt. 
The skirt design is pure genius, it uses basically two squares of fabric that when sewn according to the instructions gives you a wrap skirt that DOES NOT gape and expose you. Love it!!
I can see a few more summer skirts using a great feature fabric coming my way.




So that dear friends is a little of what I have been up to in life.

Will be back in the chair tonight...pure bliss.

PHEW!!!!!!!!!  
It has been an AGE since I was last here and finally I have made it back.
I have several stories as to why I have been absent, but I would bore you with what is essentially LIFE. We all have it and we all juggle and manage it so in that way I am just the same.

However will say I would have been back a little sooner but as I just sat down to post a story a couple of weeks ago, the computer stopped, blank screen.....and now its fixed, all good.

I lost my confidence a little in my photographic skills, I have struggled and struggled to take a good shot of this quilt.

It was one I also struggled to finish! The original recipe called for strips of old tablecloth needleworks with a strip of light organza and raw silk and satin ribbon. I blithely carried on and sewed these various materials together, laid it on the bed and everything shredded! Yeah like who didn't see that one coming!.....me obviously.

Lesson 1: silk will shred, hmmm maybe I can stabilise it...which I did and it worked a treat. 
Lesson 2: organza will shred too, replace with good old cotton.

Then I tried and tried and tried to find the main material in which to highlight the green silk, tres difficult....no really......white was a shocker, which I only realised AFTER I had sewn it up.

Lesson 3: don't assume white goes with everything, sometime it just doesn't!

Finally to my surprise I found a pale lilac which made the green silk work well. "Great" I said now we are getting somewhere.

Then I tried to quilt it with a cross hatch.....

Lesson 4: cross hatch requires accuracy, don't free hand it.......lots of unpicking.......and lots of accurate 45deg marking and sewing its finally done!

 The backing was a vintage sheet which picks up the pink in the front, did well there.

I knew that the needlework would look great but I was really surprised as to how much better sad, tired and worn out pieces can look when chopped up into smaller pieces. No new and wonderful cloths were destroyed to make this, it was all old and torn pieces where I could salvage the stitchery.

So there you have it folks. The quilt of dramas, I must have made, unpicked and made this quilt three times over, and then I just couldn't get a decent photo of it!!

I sorta gave up then, packed the camera away and went and did some other things to clear my head a little.

                         One of which was this little beauty. 

It is a DMC kit by Isabelle Baird, the most magnificent painter of flowers I have come across in cross stitch. This is the second one I have done of her roses and can I just put this out there......if anyone has the anemone kit....can we talk? These kits sold out and I would just love it if someone wanted to sell it on, or any other arrangement we could come to.

And this, 2 ply wool is perfect for a soft dense pom pom.

Bit of this, work in progress, odd balls of 8 ply wool, every now and then when I feel the urge.

And this, large 2 inch sided hexagons for my ongoing Brigette Giblin creation.

So life is ongoing, it may stop me talking to the blog now and then but not forever. I mean who else can I share my exploits with than other bloggers who get the craft thing.

Well its good to be back, hope the next break isn't so long and my camera will sing to me again.

A Little Trip to Town

During the week number one daughter and I took a little trip to town, mixing a little chore with some pleasure.

We have done this on a regular basis over the years and we have a real girly time together, usually with me paying....but this time as she is a working girl, she got to spend her own money. I did pay for lunch!

As we sat down in the food hall for said meal, I looked up and saw this.

So I whipped out the trusty mobile phone, and snapped away, and so did a few others I noticed.

Tis lovely and cheery.

Then I persuaded number one daughter to shop upstairs in Morris and Co, a cute little wool shop, where I saw this.

This bicycle is being lovingly yarned, I got permission to snap these, and the artist responsible told me she still has things to further do. I think I should pop back later and witness the progress. 

This shop is a gem for wool lovers, and it is arty as well.

Not hugely practical but I dont think that was the point, so pretty.

I apologise for the blur, it was my mobile phone, and I was giddy with excitement. 

This is the back view, I forgot to get shots from the front as daughter was very embarrassed by her mum at that stage.

I just love the thought and work that has gone into this.

We continued the day with me turning my focus on number one daughter and her needs. 

She was persuaded by me to finally buy the shoes she had been talking about for a long time now. 

 

Pretty cool huh?

Sadly I remember Doc Martins the first time around, but they only came in black.......do you think a woman of a certain age could revisit her lost youth? 

Somehow, I think I will stick to my more appropriate orthotic friendly sensible shoes......for now.........maybe.

CROCHET

This is my current work in progress. I have caught the bug from various places and people. One cannot deny the pleasure of something that is not too taxing and can be done in front of the TV.

It was inspired by this rug my daughter saw and bought from my local op shop. A big hello to the folks at St. Augustines! I scoffed when my daughter asked me to look out for such a piece, I said, You will never find them easily they are very "in" right now and would be snapped up very quickly. Well she found it very much the next day.....lucky her.

It is very seventies in its colour, I quite like it and so does my daughter, but I felt compelled to update the colour palette and do one in wool, this one is soft acrylic.

This was my very first attempt at granny squares, it came from a Cath Kidston kit that I saw in the local bookshop in an adorable tin. I love tins, so it was mine.

The instructions were wonderful, and the hook a pretty red, after it took me a whole day to work the first granny square, I haven't looked back. 

I keep my wools in this adorable felt tub, purchased a few years ago at AK Traditions, they were made in some exotic .....ekstan type province. They are lovely works of art.

These are the motifs that run around the tub.

Well thats it for now, off to the craft show on Friday, a quick visit and a workshop in purse making is on the horizon. I will keep you all posted on what I must purchase and bring into my already overflowing works to do list.