African flowers

I'm loving doing my hexagons and posting a pic on instagram each day. 

37 hexagons done, maybe around 15 more to go. The challenge will be joining them all into a square pillow shape. I've sort of worked out in my head how to go about it, hopefully it's as easy as I think it will be!

I'm linking in with Gingerbread Girls one-a-day meme and the lovely one-a-day projects. Cheerio!



Vintage crewel embroidery

I first posted about this vintage embroidery kit I bought on Ebay back in August and I've finally finished the last little puff flower. The orange is as bright and orangey colour (garishly retro?!) as it looks in this photo. It's quite small, and was mostly done in a couple of weeks. But I sort of forgot about it for a while and it sat unloved in my sewing basket.

It's now sitting on my bookcase, between The Godfather and Groundhog Day.

It can happily sit there until I find a permanent home on a wall somewhere. I've got a nice little pile of other vintage crewel kits to work on ...  stuffed away in a drawer. I'm off to investigate and select one. Fun fun.

Vintage finds

My weekend has been so much fun. With no uni studies to occupy my time, I have felt very spoilt and free. This was compounded by my five year old going off to see the football with her grandma, and hubby going off to do his footy umpiring, leaving me HOME ALONE for most of Saturday. I cannot remember the last time this happened. I pulled out the sewing machine and set myself up on the kitchen table and had some great fun with vintage fabric and ric rac. This is what I'm working on.

A tote bag for my new lap top - my first project where I'm using some lovely vintage fabric.

But no vintage fabric to be found op shopping this week. I did have some lovely johnson and pyrex finds.

Some adorable piecrust edge blue johnson tea cups and saucers, side plates, dessert bowls, and dinner plates.

A johnson milk jug and cake plate.

And some pyrex baking dishes, both that match others I have in my cupboards. The top one is a butterfly gold pyrex  and the bottom dish is a homestead brown with cobalt blue floral design.

I'm linking in with Sophie at Her Library Adventures. Go and have a look at all the other thrify finds.

I so wanted to grab this little beauty (?) for $10 at my local op shop....a granny trolley.

I could just image it re-crafted with a vintage patchwork cover, or maybe with a crocheted granny squares cover. But I resisted the temptation. I didn't get it, to the great relief of hubby.

What do you think....was I mad to have liked it?

Are there crazy (ugly) things that you like, that no one else does?

I'd love to hear of them...

One a day crochet

I'm going to play along with the One-A-Day meme at Gingerbread Girl. I'm so pleased Carole is back hosting this linkup, as I've really missed it. I've missed having something to give me a bit of focus and motivation, and I've missed catching up with all the lovely bloggers on their one-a-day projects.

The idea of one-a-day is to do one piece of the project each day - so that by the end of the week you will have seven componants done - 7 granny squares or 7 stripes.  I've gone through my craft basket and pulled out an unfinished project - one of my previous one-a-day projects that was never finished. Ravelry very unkindly remined me that I started it in April 2011 - which is a bit tragic!

It's my African Flower Hexagon pillow. Since my last post on this project it's grown by three hexagons. 

21 Hexagons

Pattern from here.

Ravelled here.

Yarn is mostly acrylic 8ply.

Joining method from here.

Pop on over to Gingerbread Girls blog and have a look see at all the other lovely projects going on. I'm off there now. Cheerio.

New wool and vintage fabric

I've been feeling stretched and squeezed by all my committments - family, work and my uni study - and have felt unable to do as much crafting as I would like. But that's now changing...at least for a few months. Yesterday involved doing my last exam for the semester, and a quick trip to my favourite yarn shop (Morris & Sons). I can now embark on a new project, clear of any study guilt (or not studying guilt!).

I deserved a little treat, and bought two balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerio yarn and some new circular knitting needles. The yarn is the most scrumptious thing - so soft, and knits beautifully. It's just unfortunate that it's so pricey.

My new project is from Molliemakes, a cowl pattern by Quince and Co.

I've been quite happy knitting away with lovely yarn and lovely needles.

I've also been planning my next sewing project. I've been sooo wanting to do a project with my slowly growing stash of vintage fabrics.

And my new lap top is really needing its own little home. A little tote bag. I'm still tossing up about which fabric to go with - and whether to make the whole thing with vintage retro colours, or have a neutral colour with only parts of it with the vintage fabric.

The tote bag is from this book...

It has some cute projects - none of which I've done yet. It is one of the many craft books that I have that give me inspiration, but I don't actually make anything from them! Well, for this little book, that's about to change.

What about you - do you have craft books sitting on your shelves unused?

Op shopping buzz

There is something about hunting in op-shops that gives me a buzz. And I've been getting that buzz a lot lately.

What I love about op-shopping...that heart stopping feeling when I spot an object I've been looking for, getting to share with my fellow instagrammers my lucky find, or showing my daughter a vintage object from my childhood that evokes lovely memories. My latest passion is for Johnson crockery, retro linen or vintage embroidery kits. And for vintage board games. 

My finds this week include some gorgeous salt and pepper shakers,

and some lovely tableclothes.

This last tablecloth is handstitched and my favourite find of the week. Apologies for taking a photo of it unironed, but I have yet to give it a wash.

Do you love visiting op-shops and thrift stores? And what objects are you hunting for?

I'm linking in with Flea Market Finds, be sure to go and have a look at some other thrify finds.



A little bit closer

I love that every completed knitting project takes me a little bit closer to being an expert knitter. My speed is improving, and my knowledge of techniques is growing (I've found google to be of great assistance here).

My favourite knitting projects are those by Claire Montgomery, and I've now finished two projects from her book Easy Kids Knits.

Winter has called for some serious scarf knitting. First scarf to be done is for my daughter...

A very simple scarf - just garter stitch with some crochet edging to hold the pockets together. Bendigo Woolen Mills yarn - 12ply. Raveled here. The maroon colour (not my normal colour choice!) is to match her school colours so she can happily wear it at school. And I love the orange contrast colour edging. It's nice and stretchy and wraps quite happily around her neck. She's been very diligent about taking it to and from school. Melbourne weather has gone very very cold, so a warm, loved scarf is timely.

My other project - a v-neck sweater - is also from Easy Kids Knits. It's my first ever knitted sweater - and the first time I've joined together knitted pieces. Its a 'boys' sweater, but I've just made it purple.

I used moda vera 8ply wool. It's very warm, but a bit scratchy. So I don't think I'll use this wool for clothing again. Raveled here.

My next quick knit project is a scarf for Hubby - another simple garter stitch scarf with Bendigo Woollen Mills yarn.

Are you crafting up any winter type clothes? Or maybe you have warmer weather coming? Lucky duck!

Cheerio.

Block a month

My pile of blocks is slowly growing - for the the ravelry Block-A-Month-Crochet-A-Long (BAMCAL). I'm using 8ply yarn, a 4mm hook, and odd balls of yarn from my stash.

Raveled here.

My original plan was to make an afghan blanket, but now I'll most likley use them as trivets and under pot plants around the house.