Friday Night Sew in

Friday Night Sew In

Hello to you all! I have joined in with the gals from all over blog land to enjoy a Friday Night Sew in. I decided to do some catch up with some stitching and managed to complete this cute cushion done in purple tones.

     

I found this stitchery pattern ages ago and hadn’t got around to starting it.....now I have and I’m very happy with the result.

I also had enough time to finish painting the shoes on my cloth doll. I really enjoyed stitching this girl and her shoes are rather fun!! Love her hair too. Looks like mine in the morning.

She’s so cute

This is the great magazine I got the pattern out of.

Beaut magazine!!

A little bit of fun was had here. What do you make out of old beer cans?  A hat, that’s what! I am entering it into the show as a novelty entry. The most difficult part was crocheting through the drilled holes in the cans, after that it was all smooth sailing.

I’m off to buzz around and see what everyone else got up to for Friday Night Sew in. Why not come with me? Just click here to join me. You will have to scroll down a bit to see the list of gals who have joined in. Do visit, you will get some great ideas and inspiration of your own to try some different crafts.

                    Cheers, Anita.

 

 

 

 

 

Patchwork across the universe

Hello, I am on holidays for two weeks and have decided to use my time wisely. My first project was to make a backdrop for this years Children’s Book week and the theme is “Read across the universe”. 

 Made with love

What better way to use up those scraps of material that I can’t possibly throw away? I have used strips of blue tones and thrown in a few other colours to make the universe and then I will add paper stars, planets, comets etc when the backdrop is pinned up. What do you think?

I am on my second backdrop right now and hope to get that finished some time today. Yes, another day in the sewing shed. In the meantime, I have been hammering away at my knitting....

A cute set consisting of a jacket, bonnet and bootees...

Baby knitting

A fab little blue pair of bootees...

Cute bootees

Just for something different, the start of a Christmas tree. See the little beads?

 

And for a big project.....a knitted baby jacket...in....gulp....2 ply!!

 I love knitting in 2 ply, the results are fantastic. The pattern is out of an old, old book. When I was given the book it didn’t even have the front cover anymore, but the instructions were all there. I have cast on 313 sts and will be making a good start on it while I sit selling raffles tickets for 2 days. Should get good progress made on this little beauty. Oh yes, did I mention there were babies on the way again? Just gives me another excuse to keep knitting. Lol.

Well, I’m outta here to keep sewing my backdrops and doing fun stuff all day. Beaming you guys lots of happiness today and always.

Cheers,  Anita

Friday Night with Friends.

Friday Night with Friends

 

A warm hello to you all. Tonight I wanted to use my craft time wisely so I decided to plan a good game of catch up. Last time I posted, I was struggling with my UFO’s that had appeared out of nowhere!!Finished my  doll I was working on during my 'Muddled Up' time. She now has a face, shoes and hair on her head. 

 

 I went to the library today and found a fantastic book and made this.....

Tilda doll

The pattern is a Tone Finnanger design and the book is called Tilda’s winter ideas. A great book for other interesting ideas too. She is only a small gal, all of about 6 inches high, but very sweet.

I also finished stitching up a knitted dog coat for Max, who is going on 13 years old this year and winter is really rough on him. His kennel has a big cushion, blankets and carpet, but he was still feeling the cold. Now with his coat, he should feel extra warm. It was a free pattern from the net, click here if you would like to make one. It is for an 8ply yarn but I used chunky and it fits him just right.

Max’s knitted coat

 

 

Another couple of excellent finds at the library, these two knitting books. Very lovely patterns indeed.

 

Fantastic books

 Our library is pretty well stocked with quilting and knitting books, we are lucky. What’s happening at your house for Friday Night with Friends? I can’t wait to visit the other gals, to see what they’ve made. We are a group of crazy crafters all getting together in our own homes and take comfort in knowing we are all doing the same thing on the same night. Why not come with me and check out everyone else...click here!

Cheers, .Anita.

 

 

 

 

 

My muddled up day!!

 

Hello, I’m having a muddled up day today. I have just stopped for a minute and realised I have so many UFO’s happening around here.....how did this happen? I decided to leave my knitting alone during the day because nothing else in the way of craft work will get done. So I started making some other things....

Thanks to the gals over at Knitted Minestrone, I spotted this fantastic project to use up some scraps of yarn. They are crocheted squares stuffed with toy filling inside an old stocking.

If you want to make some of these fun little gifts, click here. Thanks for the inspiration girls.

 

Made a doll, but not finished.....

Made a doll dress, but not finished...

Started a stitchery, but not finished.

A teddy appliqué wall hanging....not even one stitch.

This is a secret project, but not really started yet!!

Tonight I am going to do my knitting and I know I won’t finish that either!! lol It is the baby jacket that is part of a set. Well I will have to get cracking this weekend to at least finish some thing.

Well anyway, I hope you guys manage to get something finished. I’m sure you will. Have a fun weekend.

Cheers, Anita.

1 Xmas item a month

 

 

Hope melts the frost from the tiniest leaf, allowing it to grow stronger in the healing light of the sun.

 

Hello to you all! For this month’s 1 Xmas item per month I managed to make a Christmas bag, one of many for the festive season. I really love making and giving handmade Christmas bags to those I love at Christmas time. I had some Christmas panel leftover and also some glittery star print material that matched well with the outside print. The bag is about 12in x 7in, just a good size to pop in a special gift.

I have made a start on another Christmas item but have not finished it yet and want to show it when it is completed. I will enjoy popping in to see what everyone else has made for the 1 Xmas item per month. They all make such different and wonderful things. If you want to check it out, click here to visit Cheryll’s blog. Thanks Cheryll for hosting this fun challenge.

I am in the middle of reading a wonderful book called My Amalfi Coast by Amanda Tabberer. I’m just drooling at the photo’s of Positano, my most favourite place on earth.

Enjoy this lovely week, no matter how cold or hot it may be. Be happy and smile.

See you.

Cheers, Anita.

 

A house is no home unless it contains food

And fire for the mind as well as for the body.

-Margaret Fuller, Woman in the nineteenth century.

 

Good morning all.....It’s really cold!!! Apparently it’s 5 C this morning and all week we’ve had 2 C in the mornings. Oh well it is winter! Lol. This week was a wow of a week craft wise.  I’ve been doing.....

Some knitting....

 

I found a super great knitting pattern for a scarf that only took the night to knit up. Click here for the pattern.

More knitting......

I am into knitting cowls at the moment and after seeing many different designs, I decided to make my own design from scraps of pink tones. I cast on 100 stitches in pink 8 ply, using 4mm needles. About 8 rows of moss stitch, then changed colours and went for it. It turned out pretty nice actually and will be worn on Monday morning for work.

Making an owl mobile.....

 

I finished making the owl mobile that is now happily housed in the library and causing all sorts of funny comments from the kids. I’ve even named a couple of the owls after some rather ‘chatty’ girls.

Some garden inspecting....

This succulent started off as a snippet from someone’s yard. Look at it now!! It has

exploded in size. It really loves were it is situated in the garden.

Some dreaming..

Vatican museum

 couldn't help but touch these ruins laying everywhere in the Forum

 

Planning......

My next up and coming projects to keep me out of mischief. I’ve got some stitches on the old knitting needles, plugging away at some baby bootees which I will show and tell next time. Today is meant to be a lovely sunny 20C....hopefully some rain will be around the corner somewhere. Our farmers are needing some rain...fingers crossed. Hey, have a terrific weekend gals, I’ll be zipping around blog land to see what everyone is up to.

See you next time.

Cheers, Anita.

Beautiful Sunday

There is much wisdom that

may be learned before a peat fire.

-Ellen Thompson,  A  Book of Hours

Good morning to you all.  We have woken up to a very chilly morning but I want to be happy and  happiness is....

A delicious breakfast

Knowing the spinach quiche are ready 10 minutes before everyone else does

Axel Munthe’s villa (Italy)

 

Who Who....I can see some owls around here!!

I was given some cute felt blocks from Fiona and I knew they’d turn into something fantastic. Perhaps an owl mobile would be just the trick. I have made six cute little owls measuring about 8in x 6in each and I will be adding some wooden stars and flowers to the project. Today I will be looking for some long sticks to hang them from. You will see it when it is finished. Many thanks Fiona, the felt was much appreciated...oh....and loved!

Thinking the library walls needed a little bit of help, I thought a nice Welcome banner would help brighten the place up.....

It turned out about 5ft long and 12 in wide. It is hanging not far from my desk. I used bits of leftover material from other projects and just appliquéd the letters and flowers on.

More knitting?  Absolutely. An old vintage pattern for a cute cardigan was the go. The great thing about this was that there was hardly any stitching up, only around the armholes. Great.

I’m off now to keep being happy. What is making you happy today? Have a great Sunday.

Cheers, Anita.