Spanish Dancer

Our little monkey fell in love with a dress up outfit at a friend's house. Of course it was bought overseas and I don't have any plans to travel to Spain in the near future.

So I borrowed the outfit and copied it.

Here is the finished product in pink rather than the traditional red.

Our little monkey is very pleased and has worn it all day today.

A trip back home and the school holidays has been keeping us busy.

I just love this style of house but I always think how cold would they be in winter?

While I was away I saw some beautiful craft things and was surprised that most of the wool that I looked at was from NZ. It seemed funny to go all that way to see something from home.

I've been knitting several projects and sewing clothes too. Sorry no interesting pictures of these.

Quilt and Craft Show

On Sunday I was lucky to be able to go to the Quilt and Craft Show in Hamilton. I met my friend Julie and her sister in law and we spent over three hours there!

I was really impressed with this show. I have been to ones before and there was nothing that I loved. But this time I had a fantastic time. I saw things there that I haven't seen in NZ before and I saw a lot that was my style.

Here are the lovely things that I couldn't leave without.

Silken Straw from Alchemy Yarns. The colour is Voodoo (isn't that a great name for the colour).

Haiku Yarn from Alchemy Yarns. This has silk and mohair. I just loved the feel of this yarn and the colour (The night Air).

A wonderful book with really beautiful patterns for gifts by Rosalie Quinlan

A very interesting book about free form knitting and crochet bags by Prudence Mapstone.

And last but certainly not least some fabric. Lily Pond by Wendy Slotboom.

It was a great morning and very inspiring.

In the meantime , back to the lace knitting.

Lace Knitting

I have started my first lace knitting. I have not really been interested in lace knitting until I saw this pattern.

I had to have it and I had the perfect wool too. I bought the PDF and was able to start straight away. Fantastic. I had to frog the first attempt as I kept losing my place and mucking up the pattern. But I am well on the way now.

Here I am sitting in the spring sun enjoying lace knitting.

This pattern is for a chunky lace using 8 ply wool, much more my style.

Little Monkeys Quilt

I have finished my little monkey's quilt. I have been working on it for longer than I can remember but not longer than 5 years!! She will be starting school later in the year and I thought I should get it finished.

I loved quilting this one, I put loads of effort into the hand quilting. The colours are not as dull as the picture shows.

I have also been knitting baby socks. It seems that there are many babies arriving over the next few months and these are a wonderful gift. They only use a small amount of wool and they are quick to finish.

Weekend of craft

I have been busy around here with loads of crafting getting done.

I usually give away the things that I make and my own children sometimes miss out. So I made them a pencil roll. I fell in love with this material at the quilt shop on my last visit. I think the little birds are too cute.

I had a couple of little scraps left over and made a cover for my i phone too.

I'm also working on a quilt for myself. I have always made quilts for other people and this is the first one just for me.

The photos are not great, but I have now sewn it all together and will need to get some backing fabric.

I finished the needle holder as well.

New Bag

Here is a new bag that I have made for a little friend's birthday. She wanted art supplies and I hope she will like it.

I have put a little sketch pad inside the bag so she has all she needs to do some drawing out and about.

I also made this bag with my sister and friend Jo when I was on holiday.

I really loved the dragonfly fabric and had to use it for a part of the bag.

It is full of library books.

Needle holder

I have a terrible problem. I seem to be unable to keep my needles for more than a very short time before they disappear completely. I'm not sure what I do with them. They don't seem to lodge themselves in any feet or poke out from odd places.

I thought I better put an end to this phenomena and make myself a needle folder/holder. I got the idea from this fantastic book which I had to buy when I was in Borders on holiday.

Tonight I will be able to sew it all together with some wool pages inside to hold the runaway needles.

Still working on the giveaway!