My Christmas Challenge list

Well I might be a little late, but better than never!

This is what I would like to complete before Christmas this year.

Some decorations ...

All from Fa la la Felt by Amanda Carestio.

And some gifts ...

From Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs.

And I would like to make some headbands with crochet flowers on them from here ...

Hopefully I can fit all this in!!

See other lists and participants here.

The Christmas Challenge

I'm joining Polka Dot Daze in her Christmas Challenge.

I think Christmas is a great time for crafting. I love making handmade gifts and decorations.

You should join us here to see what we get up to for Christmas.

Dolls Houses

On that last day of the school holidays, I bought the monkeys very cute dolls houses. They came in a little book like a magazine and you folded them out and stuck them together with little tabs.

Thank goodness I can put together Ikea furniture, read directions, and can work visually. It took almost an hour to get them up and I have to say I was thinking "What did I get myself into!!"

But we persevered and they are lovely. The monkeys were able to put together most of the furniture themselves with only a little help from me.

They are now living on the dining table, I'm not sure where they will live after that.

Don't you love the little clothes hanging up? Very cute.

Liberty

When I was in London in June, I was lucky to get time away from sightseeing to go the Liberty Shop. I have grown up with a love of Liberty and their beautiful fabric. It is always hard to find here and so to be there surrounded by Liberty things was wonderful. I also didn't know that the Liberty shop is four floors and sells all sorts of other things like rugs and cosmetics.

So I was also very lucky for my Mum to give me this wonderful book.

She said she saw it in the book shop and knew that I would love it and I do. It is filled with fabric and lovely projects to use their fabric.

I did buy some Liberty fabric when I was in their shop, I also bought some cards and a tray. I could have stayed in there for hours.

Thanks Mum for the lovely book.

I have also added to my books lately with these ones.

I saw this online and my monkeys made the little knitted owls from here. It has some other lovely projects that they want to make too, like the little doll.

This knitting technique looked so interesting I thought I better give it a try. Luckily it has great instructions!

I'm hoping to make some summer dresses out of this one. Loads of ideas and easy instructions.


I really love books and have quite a library of knitting, sewing, quilting and crafty books and I love them all.

Granny Stripe Blanket Finished

It is finished!!

I really enjoyed this project and love the finished product too. I completed 4 rows of each colour, so 68 rows altogether. I then added two single crochet rows in blue for the border.  It is a great lap blanket and the monkeys have already tried it out.

I ordered the Special double knit by Stylecraft here, all 17 balls of it. It even comes in a special pack with all the colours that Lucy from Attic 24 used.

Love it.



Treat for the Monkeys

On the last day of the long weekend, the monkeys were lucky and went to the local mall with Dad for sushi lunch.

The mall always has little stalls in the holidays to tempt kids. The painted plasterwork is there most holidays and I always say no, but not Dad. He was a sweety and let the monkeys paint one each.

They were over the moon!

I loved these when I was little too.

Granny Stripe cont.

I can't tell you how much I am enjoying making the granny stripe blanket.


We have had an extra day off today, as it is a long weekend and the weather has been less than pleasant! It has rained, blown a gale and we have had lightning and thunder.


Perfect weather for staying inside, keeping warm and working on your Granny Stripe Blanket (or if you are my hubby, watching sport!). The monkeys keep asking how big it is going to be, in other words, when will you be finished. I think that will be when the trouble starts. They both want it, but they will have to share it with me too.

Swimming

This is where we have been spending some of our school holidays. At a holiday swim programme.

The monkeys have been enjoying themselves and are very tired!

It's a nice place to shelter from all the rain we have been having here.

Granny Stripe Blanket

I always enjoy reading the Attic 24 blog and love the colourful creations that Lucy makes. So after an inspiring look at her blog I ordered some of the yarn from the UK to complete the Granny Stripe Blanket.

I am self taught with crochet and find it difficult to follow a pattern. But I found this one great to follow. I'm giving it a go with Stacey from Polka Dot Daze. We met today to work on it together (I had made a head start). I love meeting with other crafters and enjoy making stuff together, oh and also enjoying a cup of tea (or two) and a piece of chocolate cake!

I'm loving it.

Little Crochet Skirt

After a quick visit to Spotlight for some fabric, I made a skirt for my little monkey. I found the pattern in Octobre and it is the first pattern I have used from this magazine. After deciphering the pattern from a puzzle of about fifty others, I found it very simple to make.

However I felt it needed something a little extra. So after some browsing in this book I was able to develop a plan. This book has great instructions on how to crochet onto fabric and I found them easy to follow. I did a chain stitch along the edge of the hem and then used that to crochet onto. Simple. I used # 22 pattern for this skirt.

Here is the finished product and little monkey is happy with her new skirt.

I think this would also look great on a white skirt with white crochet on the edge.



Cardigans

A long time ago I decided that I would like to knit myself a cardigan that I could pop on at night when it got chilly. This was when we were living in New Zealand and it got pretty chilly at night. So I chose a pattern and some lovely wool and started. However, I love having more than one project on the go and pick up and put down my knitting for sometimes long periods.

Then I got stuck! I am an experienced knitter and can work out most things. But I got stuck on the collar and then got very frustrated. so I put down the cardigan and didn't pick it up again!

Of course I found it again and remembered why I wanted to knit it in the first place and we were on again. I thought about how I wanted it to look when I was finished and just knitted it that way. I have to knit the collar three times to get in right, but here it is.

I am happy with the final result. It just needs some buttons to be complete. Just in time for summer!

Pattern : Patons Book 1296 Textured Kimono Jacket

Yarn : Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 ply

Colour : 1813 Blue with a brown fleck

I have also finished my daughter's Kina cardigan as well. It was a really easy knit on one circular needle in one piece. I bought cotton yarn so she can wear it this summer.

 

I think I will have to knit one for my other daughter too. Thank you RetroMummy for showing me this lovely pattern.

Pattern : Kina - Kids Tricots

Yarn : Moda Vera Sombre

Colour : Purple

New Toy

I have been wanting to get something for a long time and finally last week I was able to get it!

I really enjoy making clothes and all sorts of little things for my girls and up till now I have been just using my machine. However, I wanted to get a more professional finish for their clothes and knew I had to get an overlocker to achieve this. I was so happy to get this one after talking to everyone I know who has an overlocker. I think people were getting a little sick of me asking loads of question!. I think this one will suit me just fine.

Lots of sewing ahead!

Little Owls

I always love reading the Attic 24 Blog and saw a great project in this book that they were completing.

Both of my girls have been learning to knit. I had resisted asking them and they finally came to me and asked that I teach them. I cast on for them and they completed a few rows and then lost interest. It is hard to keep going to complete a whole project. But after showing them the little owls, they were hooked again and both managed to finish one off in a day (with some help from Mum).

We added Some felt wings too so they can fly. Little monkey has already started another one to be a little friend to her Owl. There is a little cat too in the book, perhaps we should try that one too.  

After a quick trip to my local fabric shop, I pulled out a few of my Ottobre magazine and made a skirt for small monkey. I had a subscription to Ottobre for a while, but had not made anything from it before. I always love the designs, but struggle to find good fabric for the girls. Especially stretch fabric.

This is what faced me when I started:





Can you work out which one I should trace?? Crikey!! Luckily I managed to work it out and the very sparse directions to finish the skirt. I will take a photo of it tomorrow on the lucky girl.

Finished Quilt

I have finished the baby girl quilt ready for the baby shower this Sunday.

I am really happy with the machine quilting that I was able to do on it. I am usually a hand quilting girl, but I wanted this to be more robust and able to go through the washing machine. I have only machine quilted a couple of times and this is definitely the best result. I am getting to know how to achieve a good result on my machine more easily.

The back is the same pink gingham as the border. I bought two metres of it, as I know I will use it in another project.

I bought the fabric at a lovely quilt shop in Killara.  It was wonderful to find a shop with so much fabric that I would use and so close to where I live as well. The two ladies in the shop were so helpful and friendly too.

I am discovering lots of new shops close by. I went to a wool shop nearby this week to buy my favourite needles. I was happy to find them so close, as I had been buying them in Bowral and really needed to plan for those purchases!

I have started two new knitting projects (I get bored with just one on the go). One for myself and one for the bigger of my two monkeys.

Being new

Since we have moved to Sydney things have been up and down. With new friends for the kids and ourselves. Lots of new situations and always being the new person. New at school, pilates, finding new shops, new markets, new blogs, new home and cars. We have been very lucky and met some wonderful people and reconnected with old friends.

Some days it is nice to be new, people are friendly and invite you places and include you in activities.

Some days it is hard, really hard.

You just want to be yourself with people that know your idiosyncrasies. You want to moan about how hard things are and feel comfortable moaning. You want to share you hobbies, likes and dislikes.

Today I was invited to a sewing group and I am not going to go. Not because I don't want to join this group, but I just don't want to be the new person again today. I will sew at home and try next week perhaps, when I am ready to be the new person again then.

This is what I am working on at home.

A baby girl quilt for a mum at school. I hope she likes pink!

Mathilda's Market

I went off to Mathilda's Market yesterday with Bron. We had a great time and saw some lovely things that people had made.  I'm haven't been to the Fox studio area since they have redeveloped it from the showgrounds. There is so much to do there - eat, shop and a really fun playground for kids. I think I will have to go back with the whole family one weekend.

I bought some fabric for myself and some for a friend who couldn't make it herself.

I got lots of info about crafters and I am looking forward to looking them up online!

Isn't that swimsuit lovely, the owner of the stall was wearing one while she was selling them!

I also bought a really cute pad of sticky notes. Too cute.

I finished my bunting and am happy with how it turned out. I have enough fabric to make another set too.

I'm looking forward to the next birthday party to put it up.



I love this fabric. It is modern, but still floral. Pinks and greens together always appeal to me and I am lucky to have two girls to sew for.