Oh happy days

I still have the best comforts in life –

books and friendships – and I trust

never to lose my relish for either.

-Mary Russell Mitford, Letters of Mary Russell Mitford

Hello there!! Had a glorious day out yesterday with Heather and boy did we have fun!! The aim of the trip was to visit Spotlight and we did......we hit that place big time!! My mission was to buy baby material and baby wool/cotton to make baby stuff before the stork lands around this neck of the woods. I was also on the hunt for Christmas material and in Spotlight you find everything. Here are some of the things I found...

I’m over the moon!!

Baby yarn

I have used the Big baby yarn before and I'm very pleased with the results it gives. There are no nasty little surprise knots in the skein and it knits up very soft indeed. It is a lovely 4 ply yarn and made in Australia.

I don't recall having knitted with the Minka cotton but I will try my hand at it. As two of the babies I am knitting for are due in the hot months I thought I would do some cotton knitting, a bit different to what I'm used to. Actually there was a big range of cottons so Heather and I cruised around the isles having a good look......of course Heather played up so I made her hold on to the trolly and walk around until she decided to behave!!

On a recent trip to the local library I found a book called 'Cucumber sheep' . Strange title? yes I know, but what a great read it is. Two city ladies are called to look after a farm out in the Kellerberrin area in the 1950's and what a job they do. They go through all sorts of experiences. I can't put the book down. 

Fantastic read!

I'm having fun knitting and sewing for the little dolls living in the doll's house and I'm starting to get a little collection happening now. It's funny watching what the kids do with the doll's house in the library. In true year 7 form, they stuck one of the dolls in the oven, a couple of the year 4's stuck a doll down the toilet and for the rest of the kids, well....they're pretty normal with the dolls. lol.

Dolly fun

Today is rest day around here, that's after I've done the ironing. I hope to get some baby patterns cut out ready for sewing. I have nice material to make some summer pants for baby. I'm going to try and have a balanced day today.....chocolate in both hands!!!
Cheers,Anita

Little owl

Don’t get mad

get even!!

I found the cutest little owl to crochet, here he is!! Don't you just love him?

 

Sweet little owl

 I must admit I didn't follow the instructions because I have never followed a crochet pattern before so I did my own thing. You can click here if you want the real instructions though.

Little owl is about 2 inches across, uses hardly much yarn and is a great way to use up those bits. I had some scrap felt and a couple of spare buttons so I used those for the eyes and nose.

From the boxes of craft stuff given to me, I have been using the cotton to knit up baby bootees as a good way to use it up. As the babies around here are due in the hot months I couldn't resist knitting up bootees in cotton, it's nice to knit with.

Green and white

Now I want to share with you something that made me so cross. The photo's that will follow was damage done by 5 young children aged between 7 years and 15 years old.....because it was school holidays and they were bored. Follow with me .....

 This is what is left of the kitchen.

 Meeting room with so much glass smashed and stuff thrown everywhere.

 The white cupboard weighed a tonne!! How they moved it is beyond me. And the top right hand corner shows the pin up board all torn off the wall.

 Another cabinet that took 4 big blokes to put up on the bench in the first place...all smashed and on the floor.

 The last picture is one of the most unbelievable things. All those exposed beams were covered with white pin up boards that are laying on the ground and they are really heavy. That damage was right throughout the pavilion

 

Can't believe it? No nor can the Agricultural Society whose pavilion was savagely destroyed by these little thugs. 8 rooms in total were destroyed, every bit of glass except for 1 cake cabinet and 1 light globe were untouched. Perhaps the darlings were all tired out from destroying everything else. The thugs have been caught and are due in court on the 5th November. To top it all off, the parents were invited to come and see the damage their children had done......how many of them rolled up?? The answer is none.

I had to share that with you because I still can't believe all that damage. I have been with the society for about 4 years and it upset me, can you imagine how the other members who have been their for 40 years + feel?

All I can say is I hope things change in communities and this sort of thing is not tolerated.

See you next time without my cross eyes.

Cheers, Anita.

 

 

 

Back to work

Vision is the art of

seeing things invisible.

-Jonathan Swift.

 One more sleep and it's back to work for me. My special box I'm taking

back to work is laden with new treasures for the library. I have made a

wonderful start on my Christmas items and here is a cute little

Christmas bag that I enjoyed working on. '

Small Christmas bag 

I have realised that with some

things you don't need a pattern just have a go at creating something

from your own thoughts. There is no particular steps to this bag,

just a simple shape and a strap of no particular size.

I have also made a start on a baby blanket done in candlewicking. 

 

Candlewicking

I had made a similar blanket for Brandon and Cory when they

were babies (and I still have it) and decided it would be fun to

make again for a baby due in February. With February being

one of our hot months the baby parcel I am making will

include sewn gifts as well as knitted things.

I made a funny little thing-a-me-thing too. Just made out of

scraps sewn together. Old fleece material for the ears and

a crocheted edge.

A thing-a-me-jig!

I have recently heard of a craft called Tunisian crochet or trichot.

I had quite a job to find anything as I wasn't

sure how to spell it and what do you know....I

looked up good old faithful and found some info.

I was curious when I saw what looked like a long knitting needle

with a crochet hook end on it. What is this? It is a real in between

 of knitting and crochet. You don't have to turn your work while

you go. You have to see it to get it.

Well time is ticking on and there is much I need to do today, being

the last day of holidays. I'm going to spend it doing all the things

I love.

Cheers to you all,

Anita

The morning is wiser

than the evening.

-Russian proverb.

It's 9am and I'm still slouching around in my PJ's...something

I don't usually do. I thought Imay as well share a few photo's with

you before I start my day.

Darling Heather has put me onto these cute little

knitted Christmas puddings.

Christmas pudding

They are all over her house and they caught my eye. I made the

first pudding and though hmmm....there's lots of bits I'm going to have to
sew in. The pudding is knitted in 8ply and I had loads of brown yarn

 but when it came to the custard topping I onlyhad 4 ply. I doubled the

 yarn and kept knitting. I have since found some 8 ply in the custard

colour and have used that instead of the doubled 4 ply yarn. I am now
 hooked (thank you very much Heather) and can't stop making them.

The pattern can be found in an old edition of

One of my favourite magazines!!

Handmade Volume 24 Number 12.

True to my word I have continued to spring clean whilst on holidays.

More cleaning

 I am very proud of myself as I can usually find a stack of other

things to do instead of housework!!! Still in the Christmas mood I have
made a little Christmas holder to put sweets in and this will be a gift for
someone.

 

 

A Christmas gift

I have no pattern I'm afraid, I just made a cone shape

and went for it. Influenced from a recent trip to a craft shop

 I made this little journal-come-paper holder. I don't know about

you but I have a million photocopied projects that are

 scattered allover the place. I have made this holder to keep all

 my copied patterns together.

Just love Debbie Mumm material

I will probably make another one for sewing patterns too. I had this
fantastic piece of Debbie Mumm material given to me and just the

right amount I needed to make my project. A pic of my most favourite dessert
at this time. I've added mixed berries with the most yummiest yoghurt around.

The yoghurt

comes in a big container and we buy it in a big container with the

intention that I share it with my hubby. Poor thing.....never gets

to have any, I eat it all. Oopps!

Have the best day without a care in the world.

Cheers, Anita.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Christmas mood strikes!!

I have learned,

in whatsoever state I am,

therewith to be content.

-St. Paul.

 

Hello, I have just dragged myself out of

my sewing shed, and boy it was hard to

do!! I made an early start on....supposedly

cleaning my sewing shed up, I did start to

but then I laid eyes on some Christmas material.

 

This is what I’ve made this morning, a

Christmas present bag and a small gusset

Christmas box. Great ideas to jazz up

the joy of giving at Christmas.

 Getting in the Christmas mood....already!!

I am rather pleased with this little stitchery

that I enjoyed making.

 

A couple of days ago after I’d painted the

furniture for the dolls house, I made some

cute bed linen for the dolls bed. I rather

like the ric rac, it is nice and bright.

Funky bedding for the doll house

 

My rascal friend Heather and I went for a

trip to a quaint little town about 20

minutes away from home. We had heard of

a fantastic craft shop there and had to

investigate for ourselves. Of course

Heather finds the best things!

The hand of a precious soul

 

We also went

for a walk to the op-shop and it was

typical of a small country town. Everyone

we met said hello, smiled and seemed

cheery. It was such a peaceful place.

I promised myself while I was on holidays

that I would do one spring clean job a day,

That hasn’t happened yet today, but it will.

I attacked my antique tea trolley yesterday

replacing all the doilies and runners with

fresh ones.

 

 Clean up day

Some of my treasures

 

 I just love the look of sparkling

China and dishes. I’m weird, I know.

Well, I can hear the sewing shed calling my

name, so I must go.

Cheers,Anita

 

Brekky anyone?

There are only two lasting

bequests we can hope to give

our children. One of these

is roots; the other is wings.

-Hodding Carter

Hi everyone, today I did something that I

haven't done in my entire married life...

I went to the city and did some shopping

by myself!!! I did go to some shops that

I wouldn't usually bother to stop in

and I hadn't been missing anything.

I did find some nice shoes and tops for

myself and made a start on my

Christmas shopping.

 

Since starting holidays I have had that

extra bit of time to surf the net and look

what I have found.......

 

Yummy! bacon and eggs.

Fancy some breakfast? Or perhaps a

hamburger?

 

 

I thought it might be fun

for the kids at school to 'play with

their food'. Eekkk! Better not let any

parents hear me saying that. There are

patterns around for you to make

some yourself. I actually just stuck

some stitches on my crochet hook and

away I went. I haven't followed a pattern

for any of this stuff, just made it up as I

went.

 

'

 

Lettuce and carrot rings!!!

I also found these gorgeous little bootees

and I have made a trial pair to see how

they knitted up.

 

 

Cute little bootees

Click here for the

pattern. The price is $3.99 US to

buy the pattern.

I'm hoping to get a bit more done on the

garden as the weather is starting to be

all silly again. I'm having to take

preventative measures against

hay fever this year as the wind is

really kicking up its heals.

 

Some of my garden. Below is a favourite garden statue of

mine. Notice all the straw around her!!

 

A most pleasant day to you all

and to everyone at home with small kids,

really enjoy the pleasures that your

children bring.

Catch you all another time.

 

Cheers, Anita.