My Creative Space....shadow boxing....

Hi there!

....my creative space today is all about doing a bit of papering and shadow boxing. My dad helped me make this shadow box the other day, so now I am going to wall paper the backs of each little box and then put my crochet jar collection in it.Well that's the plan anyway!.............

Just thought I'd show you the progress on my stripey granny blanket, a few rows every night or so, and it is starting to grow! What colour to use next hmmmmm......

Playing along over here today, so have a look at what else is going on today.

PS.Blogger seems to be having a few issues at the moment , so I hope this all works!Have a great day!

What I did with the flowers........

Just a quick post to show you what I've done with some of the pretty little flowers I made last week.......turned them into another dangley flower vine garland / bunting.


It was hard to photograph hanging as all my ceiling hooks were just too far apart. Sigh. Must get a few put up that are closer together for short spanning things like this! (or should of checked the length and chained the vine a bit longer.)


So that is why it is draped over the chair like a big ol chair necklace, looking nice and spring like, and giving me a little burst of colour whenever it catches my eye. I really like making these pretty things, even if they are a bit useless; maybe to decorate a little girls room? or a baby nursery? or to please my inner little girl? Do I really need a practical purpose?


I'm planning a bit of a bedroom update and going to replace our bed with a nice cast iron one, kind of like the old hospital beds, and I think something like this flower vine would look good twined around the bed ends.

Any hoo....have you got a fun weekend planned? The weekends roll around so quickly don't they?
I actually have a party to go to tomorrow night, quite a rare occasion, but very welcomed!!
Starting at a vineyard, then back to my cousins place for dinner and (more) drinks, should be lots of fun.
Happy 40th Sanny!

Hope you have a fun day over the weekend too!

My Creative Space....new stuff started....

Hi there!
It feels like ages since I've posted, the computer has been on a go-slow due to much heavy internet downloading eating up our access. Not happy.
But thankfully we begin a new month of down loading today so we should be sweet for a while, or until the next Xbox live battle marathon. Naughty boys!.

And Blogger is playing up and not letting me post my pretty pictures how I usually do it, taken me a long time to find another way, so I hope it is just a temporary turning- up- of -the -nose.
Sigh. ( sorry to be whingey)

Anyhoo..... on to happier things!
I have been a busy girl of late and have got quite a bit of stuff to chat about over the next few posts, so
my creative space today will be hopefully hooking a few more rows of my current love, this stripey, colourful, grannyish, lovely blankie.


Each row is taking quite some time, but I am very enthusiastic at the moment, with lots of colour combos and stitch variations to try, so I am getting cracking!


I can picture it on our bed looking very fine in deed, so I hope it keeps growing steadily.
What do you think, .....you like?
Too much colour?


While the computer has been so frustrating this week, I bought myself a new camera and have been having fun playing with all the interesting things it can do. So hope to see a marked improvement in the standard of photography around Little Woollie land!
Did have a heap of nice photos to show you all, but due to Bloggers iffyness, think I will keep them for another time.

Playing along with the Creative types over here today!

Have a good one.

My Creative Space....wonky slippers.....

Sooo...these are my wonky slippers that I made the other day.

I found the pattern recently over at Pips Meet me at Mikes, she is such a clever generous girl, thank you!! so I decided to make a pair as it is really getting cold here now.

It was a great tutorial, easy to follow and I was really pleased with my first ever slipper! I made the second one and somehow came out with a much bigger slipper, I don't think I increased to enough stitches in the first one, but anyhoo, I'm happy with the wonk element and as they are just for me it doesn't really matter.

They are super cosy and I notice as soon as I put them on how warm my feet feel, which is just as well as our tiled floors are freezing!!!
I used a thick 20 ply that I picked up in the back room at Bendigo Woolen Mills, nice and heavy duty for our hard floors, and extra warm.

Had requests from the youngest for a pair for him, so might give it another go and see if I can make 2 the same this time!

Hope you are having a great creative day, have a look at other creative spaces over here.

Long weekend and lots of lemons......

Hello!
How has your weekend been?

I know it is Monday already, but it feels like a weekend still here with everyone home for a long weekend. We have had some gorgeous weather over the little holiday, cold, foggy mornings that clear to bright blue skies with not a breath of wind. Just lovely. I love these crisp winter days!


I noticed how many busy spiders we have in our garden! Their webs are camouflaged in normal days, but completely revealed in the dewy mornings.

Lots of relaxing and enjoying the days of rest. We went down to Flinders for chips in the park and a basketball challenge, and then a great walk on the beach, fossicking amongst the rocks, it was low tide so the reef was exposed and we could walk right out and check out lots of interesting rock pools.It was a great afternoon. Also spent a fair amount of time taxiing the eldest around on a pretty social weekend for him!


On another front, I have lemons coming out my ears, so the boys and I decided to do something with some of them!
Andre did a bit of surfing and found a recipe for 'old fashion lemon cordial', I had all the things we needed and I have good memories of homemade cordial from when I was little, so we gave it a go........
and I have to say the results were delicious!
It was a big thumbs up from the kids, and easy peasy to make so I think we will be making our own cordial from now on. I have lots of limes ripe now too, so I think we might try lemon and lime next time!

I can't remember where Andre found the recipe, so I thought I'd share it here.

---------------------------------------------


OLD FASHION LEMON CORDIAL

juice of 6 large lemons (we used about 8 as one variety wasn't very juicy)
grated rind of 3 lemons
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon citric acid
2 teaspoons Epsom salts
900mls boiling water

Juice and grate zest of lemons.
Strain juice into a biggish pot, and add all other ingredients.
Stir until dissolved then allow to become cool before bottling.

We made about 1.5 litres of concentrate, it is very sweet and we diluted it a lot! I think this 1.5 litres will go a long way~!


(just found the site where this recipe came from link is here)


Of course, I did manage to fit in a bit of hooky action too, but I'll show you what I made tomorrow!

See ya!

My Creative Space....flower play..

So.....my creative space today has been playing with pretty flowers. I have to admit I am right into hooking these little things at the mo.


I think the colours look beautiful all playing around together......


.......flower clouds.....


.... they are actually a reasonable size, a bit smaller than my palm I think.


I really like the little stripe of colour bordering these flowers, I love a 3 colour combo any day!

So now to decide what to do with them. I'm thinking a few sets in my shop and a few turned into lovely flower vines. Yes? No? Maybe brooches, hair clips, added to blankets? So many possibilities!!

I am playing along with the others here today.

Hope your day holds lots of amazing doings in it!

Kitty Cat Tutorial/Pattern .....Part 2

This is the second part of my tutorial to make my granny square softie kitty Cat.
We have made the front and back body pieces in part 1, now is the relatively simple bit of making the arms, legs and face and putting it all together.

Face :
3.00mm hook, 8ply wool.
Make 2 round circles for eyes.
Ch 3, join with sl/st to create ring.
Rd 1 : ch2, 10 hdc into ring, join with sl/st to 2nd ch, bind off. (11 st)
Rd 2 :Join new colour, ch2, 1 hdc into same st, then 2 hdcs in each st, join with sl/st to 2nd ch. bind off. (22 st)
Rd 3 : Join new colour, ch 2,* 2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next st, * repeat around circle, join with sl/st to 2nd ch . Bind off.

Make 2 and these are the eyes.

To make a nose , do the same thing in one colour only and using 1 ch beginnings and scs around circle. It makes a smaller circle.

Pin the eyes and nose in place on front piece, and sew on. I use blanket stitch for the eyes, and just a straight stitch for the nose, but you can do what ever you like. I chain stitch some whiskers and a mouth, and voila! a face is done!


Legs :
Make 2 .
Ch 4, join with sl/st to form ring.
Rd 1 :ch1, 9sc into ring, join with sl/st to 1ch.
Rd 2 :ch1, 1sc in same place, then 2 sc in each st, join with sl/st to ch1.
Rd 3 :ch1, *2sc in next st, then 1sc in next st* continue in this pattern around, join with sl/st to ch1.
Rd 4 :ch1, 1scin each st around, join with sl/st to 1ch.
Continue for 6 more rounds, then change colour.
Continue till leg is desired length. bind off.


Arms :
Make 2.
Arms are made the same as legs, just starting with 8sc into the ring instead of 9sc, and made a bit shorter.


When you have your arms and legs done, and the face sewn on, it is time to sew it all together.

Pin the front and back piece together, right sides facing. Try and match up the stitches down the sides, as this gives a neater finish. Stitch around the cat, leaving an opening for stuffing at the bottom. Turn right side out, stuff and sew up opening.
Stuff each arm and leg, pin in position and sew into place. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this bit!)

And that, my friends, is how I made my granny square kitty cat!!

There is plenty of room for improvisation in this pattern, so have fun!

Family Matters....

Ok, this probably won't be of interest to all you crafty ladies, and I know I said I'd be posting part 2 of the tutorial ( it is still on it's way), but I had to have a litttle family interlude to celebrate my middley turning 13 today. The camouflage kid in the photo above, taken about 5 years ago ( haven't gone digital with the baby photos so this is as far back as I could find), is now officially a teenager! Yikes, now we have 2 wonderful teenagers under our roof!
Here he is, taken more recently, he still looks pretty much like this today (hair a bit longer and scruffier).
So happy birthday sweetheart, may all your dreams come true!