My creative space #7

I've been doing a bit of hooky recently, as you can see, not really into tidying up as I go. I just bring out the next thing I need or something I want to look at and day dream about. I don't mean to be so messy, it just seems to evolve that way (and who am I to stand in the way of evolution.)

Started working on this pattern for a lacyish tablecloth, I'm supposed to make 80 of these babies, we'll see how we go. I bought all this cotton at Bendigo and the colours look lovely together so I think it will be a nice tablecloth for summer soirees in the garden with a chilled voddy and lime to sip on! ( Mental note - must try and complete this one!)

I've signed up for Blogtoberfest over here, never done anything like this before, committing to a post a a day for October. Hope I can keep up and find something interesting to post, it will be fun! ( I think/hope!)

Ta da.....! Theblanket is finished YAY!!!

Ta da.......
It has taken me a while to complete, but here it is finished, all done, tied off and woven in - the sunburst granny blankie!! I have to admit I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, I have only been crocheting for about 4 months and I would never have believed I could complete something like this so soon after learning to crochet. I know the colours won't be to everyones taste but I LOVE them so bright and cheery! Soooooooo..... here come some photos........

Here is the whole thing laid out. ( surprisingly hard to photo!)

Soooooo much glorious colour!





Granny blankie as fashionable day wear!


Granny blankie gadding about, catching some rays!


I think we have seen just about enough of the blankie now, so here are a few facts - I used Heritage Colourworks 8ply pure wool for this blankie and the pattern came from here - thanks for such a lovely pattern!
Onward! Time for a new project - maybe the beautiful tablecloth ?

Have a great day !

At my house....

..... I've just noticed that the garden is going bonkers! (and needs a good mow again! doh!) We have had heaps of rain recently and everything has just taken off. We have been away this weekend to Shepparton, and when we got home I had a wander around our lush garden, and the vegie garden in particular.



There are plenty of snowpeas quietly flowering and making pods.



I have these beautiful crimson broadbeans in several spots in my garden, they are looking lovely now, we should get plenty of broadys from them too.



Red cabbages nearly big enough to pick.



Green cabbage ready now. I've also grown collards this year but I'm not really sure what to do with them. (I heard the chooks like them, mine don't seem too impressed)



Beetroot bed, I am growing several differnt varieties of beetroot this year - chiogia(stripey), golden,bulls blood, and cylindra. Also put in some white ones but I don't think they came up.
The idea was to have all of these lovely coloured baby beets ready to go, so I can make a really nice roast beetroot salad. We should be able to do that soon!



The Tuscan Kale has been ace this year, and is still going strong.



This is my little adventure chook, she is the only one of our chooks who likes to fly over their fence and have a wander about the garden. I've recently found her hidden nest where she likes to lay her eggs in peace. She's a funny little thing!



All this nice weather has made me think about planting out some things for summer. I used to grow vegie and herb seedlings for a market stall, so I was always on top of what should go in for the season; but I'm not doing the market this year and I have got behind in my sowing as the pressure has been off. Very slack of me! Time to get these seeds in!




Just thought I'd end with a photo of some lovely cotton yarn I picked up in Bendigo yesterday. Can't wait to turn it into some great stuff! Lots of ideas for all of this.
And I have just spent an hour and a half weaving in all of the threads on my blankie and it is now COMPLETELY FINISHED! Yay! Photos to come soon!
I hope you all have had lovely weekends!

my creative space #6....

We have been having quite a creative school holidays so far, with a girl in the house who likes to make things we have been making some felt softies. This is Lily's bunny, she is very pleased with herself! I think she has done a great job with only a little help from me.
I also started teaching Lily how to crochet, she has mastered chaining and made a nice little necklace with a flower pendant hanging from it. Next time she is staying we might try some other stitches.

All this creativity has been rubbing off on my boys, Andre was inspired to make a fish. He decided he wanted to do it on the sewing machine, I attempted to teach him how to use it, he had a few issues with my Elna, I ended up doing most of the sewing , so I guess it's a bit of a collaboration. He still said it was 'Awesome', high praise from my son! I am still impressed he stayed interested enough to finish the project, and now he wants to make more and sell them on etsy! The little entrepreneur! ( Although I think he might need a bit more time with Elna before we get to that stage!!)

Not bad for a first attempt!


I have nearly finished my colourful crochet rug, it is all joined together (a process I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would), and I am just doing a little edge a few dc rows to finish it off. I was going to try a nice scalloped edge, but decided to go with the simple rows as Max has put his name on it and I don't want it to be too girly, also the colours are pretty in your face so it probably doesn't need too much more fuss. Hope to finish it off over the weekend and have a
"TA DA" post next week with photos! YaY!


Have a great day!

Spring swap arrival!

Look what arrived in the post today! My parcel from the Spring Washer Swap! Kate from Foxs Lane ( she has an amazing blog!) knitted the most gorgeous greeny leafy lacey washer for me, it's such an intricate pattern, she's a very talented lass! I also received some lovely soap that smells divine, and some great purple oak leaf lettuce seeds which will be delicious this summer. It all came wrapped in a lovely piece of wrapping fabric that was edged and all! I'm going to use it for a nice table runner! My boys were fighting over who was going to use mum's new washer first, so it got the thumbs up from them!
So there you go, thank you so much Kate for all your nifty knitting and for swapping! Thanks to Jodie at Jellywares for organising this swap, it's been a lot of fun. I highly recommend trying a swap if you never have, it's a different type of creativity!

Lucky me!!

( I would have posted links to Kates blog , but the boys have been O.D ing on the Xbox live and World of Warcraft and we have used up all our downloads so everything is sooooooo slow, Gary is not a happy camper! Posting is a tricky exercise at the minute!)
Have a great day!

at my house.....

..... I'm loving our beautiful flowering peach that bursts into blossom at this time of the year, It is outside our bedroom and is such a nice thing to see first thing in the morning.......
...... First day of school holidays and the boys are off to work with Gary as I'm working today as well, it's hard to juggle children and work on holidays , I'm hoping to be home for most of these ones...
......My niece Lily is coming to stay for the week, as my sister is also working fulltime, it will be nice to catch up with Lil, she is a real character already at 9 yrs old!.....

....... I'm hoping to clean up these ace vintage baskets that I found at a market on the weekend, perfect to hold crochet works in progress........

... Also hoping to fit a bit more joining of the rug later today - it's nearly finished!

What's happening at your house today? find out more Lou's place here.

Hand made Christmas Challenge......

I was checking out a few other blogs the other day and found some cute little drawstring coin pouches in Jellywares banner, she said a tutorial was coming, but being the impatient crafter, I thought I would make my own version. I thought they would be a nice little addition to my nieces presents or with a nice chunk of soap in them they could become a 'soap on a rope' type thing and hang in the shower. You could even do a bobbly stitch on the base and turn it into a soft scrubby soapy type thing. I made this in cotton and just used a bit of ribbon that I found in a drawer, but I might crochet a little cord if it is going to get wet. What do you think?

Have a look at what other people are up to in the challenge at Knicky knacks.

My creative space #5.....

..... Nearly finished!!!!!! Today there is a lot of creating on the agenda. I want to finish blocking the rest of my granny squares (48 of them) and start sewing them together. I am going to crochet one more round on each square and join them together as I go, never used this technique but hope it goes ok.

Also going to make a few more of these flower squares, I think they are cute and might make a nice little cushion for my niece.

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My 10 year old son Max was sitting concentrating for quite a long time and this is the drawing he was working on. I was impressed with the level of detail he drew, it looks like quite an epic battle between the dragons and people, only disturbing thing is all the red pen blood! Do love the 'Deathinator' airplane, such a boy thing to draw. My nieces draw fairies and flowers and rainbows, my boys draw battles and weapons. Go figure.

vintage crochet....

We visited my father in law recently and my crochet radar went off when I spotted this lovely blankie on the back of his couch. He told me it was made by an aunt of his in the late 1950's for my father and mother in laws' wedding . So this blankie has been around for over 50 years, in a home that raised 3 children and all the comings and goings that having a family entails, and still looks in very good nick. (I only spotted 1 tiny hole).
It's nice to think that all the work and love that goes into a hand made crochet project is not wasted and can still be appreciated and admired and used for many years to come! I guess a lot of the things we make for our families and ourselves become true family heirlooms, informing our children and grand children about the care and love we have for them. They become even more special as time passes and create a physical link from us to our future generations. I really find thinking about these things quite comforting. Do you think the things you make now will become part of your families history? Do you take something from this idea when you are working on a big project?
Anyway, just something to think about I guess, I hope you all have a great day!

Awesomeness!

Just had to share a couple of dodgy photos of the incredible Powderfinger!
WHAT A GREAT NIGHT !
It was a fantastic concert and my sister and I had a ball . Those boys really know how to make awesome music and put on a show!

at my house.....

....... today I had a nice day at home and did a bit of baking for the boys, It should last a day or two! ( there was a full batch of muffins about 10 minutes before I took this photo, these last 3 won't last long!)
What else is happening at other peoples houses, have a look here.

Hand made Christmas Challenge......

I noticed this challenge on Knicky Knacks blog recently, and thought I'd by up for a bit of handmade Christmas action, so I'm joining in this week, I have made presents before for people, with mixed results ( I made a bag for someone once,(who shall remain nameless), only to have the same bag regifted back to me 2 years later! There was a nice bottle of wine in it, so I guess I did alright out of it, but I don't think she thought much of my bag pressie!! boo hoo.)
Having said that... I'm going to have another go this year and try and make a few pressies and support other handmakers.

I made these little washers for a swap I'm taking part in, and thought they might make a nice little pressie with a bit of interesting soap or something along those lines. Maybe for the kids teachers.
Please tell me if I'm deluding myself and they scream hokey homemade crap! I think they are cute and a little bit retro, and I have a few other gorgeous colours to try them in, I like the little granny inspired edge the best I think.
Anyway, I found the pattern by googling "washer patterns crochet'' ( I think), sorry can't remember the exact site, but the pattern is called 'Crochet Dandy Dishcloths' (cool name don't you think).
I hope my swap partner likes them.

Check out what other people are up to in the Homemade Christmas Challenge here

my creative space #4....

This is where I'm at today - extra rounds on the grannies.........

....enjoying all the colour combos...... changing the pattern order .......generally having a play.

Oh, and also serious crochet business happening for the Spring washer swap, colours chosen and pattern started, time for a cute little colourful border, I hope it works out!
Also a question - do you need to block cotton crochet, does it look better if you do, and if so, what is the best method? Still learning, quite obvious I'm sure!

Thanks for dropping by, there are plenty of inspiring creative places to be found at Kirsty's place!

Spring swap!

I have signed up for Jellywares Spring Washer Swap, and have recently received my partners details, so I had better get cracking on a couple of washers! I made an attempt last night, but somehow my 31 stitches grew to 42 by the time I had done the required number of rows! I am still pretty new to crochet, and crocheting a piece of fabric is quite different to doing a granny square.
Soooooo.... I started again, and I'm keeping a close eye on the stitch count this time! Seems to be going ok so far. Maybe I'll knit a couple instead, I'm much more confident in my knitting ability!!

It should be fun to post off my little parcel, I haven't been in a swap before so I hope It works out alright! I'll try and have a photo tomorrow.

Have a great day!

at my house....

We had a great weekend, went to a great party (thanks Nikki!) on Saturday night ( child free) and ate, drank and made merry!!!!( plenty of bad disco dancing and what I like to call"social singing"!!) Woke up Sunday morning, after a VERY windy, rainy night to find this tree has been uprooted from our nature strip and fallen through the fence. Made a bit of a hole in the fence , but luckily didn't take out the power or phone lines.

We went down to Geelong to see Gary's dad for fathers day, so I managed to get a heap of crocheting done in the car and while we were chatting after lunch. Jack showed us some great home movies of when the boys were babies and toddlers, I had forgotten how cute they were!
Andre thought my hair looked like a boys (it was very short, and I have to agree, not very attractive!) and thought I should travel back in time and change it! If only it was that easy!!

This week looks pretty standard - lots of busy kids activites, ortho appointments, sport, work and other stuff. We have a bye in tennis tonight so I've invited mum and dad for dinner, I am roasting a shoulder of pork that I got from Fernleigh Farm a while ago. They grow and sell rare breed free range pork, so I'll be interested to see if it tastes different to conventional pork.

One special thing this week - Friday night I'm off to the city to see one of my fav bands, Powderfinger, on their goodbye tour (boo hoo!) I Can't Wait!!!! Great live music and a night out, it doesn't get much better than that!

Have a great week!