Year of projects blog a long....

I've always been a bit of a list writer, and the thought of having a list of knitting and crochet projects I want to finish this year really appeals to me.

I'm joining in with the Come-Blog-a-long ravelry group - where we commit to our projects and share our progress (or lack of) and challenges. I've decided to compile a list mainly from my knitting/crochet books, and supplemented by some of the projects in my ravelry queue.  I have sooo make crochet and knitting books that it's about time I used them.

So here we go....

Covered clothes hangers from The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket

Why? I'd love to have them in my wardrobe and use up scraps of yarn. And I've yet to knit any of the lovely projects in this book.

Patchwork Bag from Cute & Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench.

Why? When I bought this book 6 months ago this was my favourite in the book. The thought of carrying around a bag like this fills me with awesomeness.

Floral Curtain Tiebacks from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench.

Why? Quick and easy, and a must for my daughters curtains that are waiting to be put up!

Metallic Tunic Top from Plus Size Crochet by Margaret Hubert.

Why? This is the only one in the book that I like, most of the others are not quite my style. And its about time I crocheted something wearable other than a scarf.

 Cassia dress by Georgie Hallam.

Why? I've been wanting to knit one of her designs for ages...and she lives not far from me.

Sakasuma Jacket by Olga Buraya-Kefelian

Why?  It uses 2ply /lace yarn which would be a first to knit for me, and I'm almost finished knitting my first jumper/sweater for myself, and this would be a perfect next project. And I love wrap knits.

Chunky Roll Neck Sweater from Easy Kids Knits by Clare Montgomery

Why? I want to knit a new jumper for my daughter every year and this one has a nice chunky yarn.

That's 8 projects in total...5 from books and 2 from Ravelry. I've tried to keep my list reasonable, with a bit of room to do other stuff that grabs my crafty imagination.

Now I just need to decide which project to start first. Maybe the floral tie backs - this may get me moving on putting up the new curtains in my daughter's room. Do you have a favourite?

School holiday highlights

School holidays have been all about new experiences for my little one.

We had a day trip to Lake Mountain - the closest snow resort to Melbourne, where we could happily ride our toboggans, have snowball fights and build a snowman.  Her first visit to the snow.

The area was burnt out by bushfires only two years ago, the damage still evident in the tree scape. The trees in the resort area are a type of eucalypt that re-grows from their bases, so the burnt trunks stay bare of any leaves.

We had a lovely picnic in the snow with wares from the most fantastic french cheese shop in Healesville. Sooo much better than the greasy junk food available at the resort cafe.

The weekend was finished with some Pho Bo from Footscray and some kiddie yarn craft. The yarn weaving is now swinging in the breeze, providing a bit of colour in my vegie garden. I got the idea of this project from Linda at Natural Suburbia. I've made these things  many times as a child, but it has been over 20 years since I last did one! It was nice being reminded how. God's Eye is one name for them, do you know of any others?

Cheerio...am currently watching Pride and Prejudice with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson and will now get back to it, it's quite a fun version.

Right now

Right now I'm...

:: loving being on leave from work for school holidays

:: planning activities and adventures with my daughter (think rollerskating, circus workshop and craft)

:: missing chocolate and sweet tea (as I'm challenging myself to eat no sugar in July)

:: watching Whip It for the first time, an awesome chick flick

:: flagging patterns in my many knitting and crochet books for A 2nd Year of Projects

:: packing snow clothes for our day trip to the snow (and little one's first EVER snow experience), think snowmen making, snowball fights and tobogganing.

:: mapping out my planned jaunt to Bendigo, to include op-shopping and a visit to Bendigo Woollen Mills factory...and some serious yarn buying

:: joining up my 43 african flowers into a pillow like this

What are you doing right now?

I'm linking in with gingerbread girl.

Johnson and vintage embroidery

My week of visiting op shops was not too fortuitous, but I did find some lovely johnson cups and saucers. I'm loving the orange saucers especially. My collection has really reached a point where I'm going to have to show some discretion about what I grab. A hard ask as I find it very hard to leave behind any johnson crockery, especially the beautiful retro ones. I do have the excuse that I'm on the look out for johnson plates for an instagram friend so am grabbing some stuff for her too.

My weekend has been busy with the usual stuff - housecleaning, kiddie games and a bit of dog walking. As well as the usual crafting. I've continued to do my one-a-day crochet project of african hexagon flowers.

Today I pulled out one of my vintage embroidery kits and stiched away while snuggled on the couch  watching this movie.

Yes, it's radishes. I've always had a thing for botanical prints.

I found this on ebay quite a while ago (there's plenty more of these type of kits on ebay now if you're on the lookout for one).

What about you...did you spend your weekend out of the rain and cold? What sort of things kept you busy? Or maybe you has some lovely sunshine enticing you outdoors.

I'm linking in with Her Library Adventure's flea market finds. Cheerio!

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...