A Winner

Sunday 19th August 2012

Well I have a winner for one of my bags and that is Jodie from jellywares.  I hope you like which ever bag you choose Jodie!

I had a great birthday and was very spoilt by my family and friends and the best part was I had lovely weather.  My birthday is always during the Brisbane show week and is well know for grey, cold and windy weather, but this year it was lovely and warm and sunny!

Bags and bags

Monday 13th August 2012

Back to the bag making again!  I found a lovely free pattern on line for a Japanese Knot Bag and just had to have a go.  This bag was relatively easy to make and while I adjusted the pattern slightly, next time I will make the handle longer and the actual bag slightly bigger.  This would make a lovely gift for a little girl, with a few items put inside (ie. hairbrush, hair ties or even a little handmade hat)!

This bag is made from furnishing fabrics so it is very durable and completely machine washable.  I especially love the lining fabric.  It is so bright and cheery!

I finally managed to reverse sew (unpick) the shopping tote I posted about awhile back.  I cut down the sides and remade it again.  This was gifted to a friend for her birthday and she is going to use it to put her folders in for college.  I love the way this turned out and will try and make more.  What a lovely bag to take shopping and put groceries in!

I also managed to find the time to cut down a top I had made myself last summer.  I had originally made it way too long and as a consequence I never wore it, so now that has been rectified I just need the weather to warm up so I can wear it.

I love the soft colours of this top and of course I have to wear a cami under it.  One thing I didn't like though was sewing with this material.  I hate slippery material to sew with and because I don't have an overlocker I have to zig-zag each edge so it doesn't fray.  Does anyone have any tips for sewing slippery fabric?

I also managed to make this cute key keeper for a girlfriend's daughter.  It is her birthday next month and she will be 17.  This little guy will fit into a standard envelope easily so it won't cost me a fortune to post.

This little guy doesn't take too long to make either!  Another free pattern if anyone wants to have a go at this guy.
I was able to harvest a colander full of greens this morning.  This will be placed into the refrigerator for dinner one night this week.

I also picked some marigolds that I will dry and then plant.  I love these cheery yellow flowers.  I doesn't help that yellow is my favourite colour.  What is your favourite colour?

On the crochet front.  The start of another ripple blanket saw me make a trip to Spotlight this morning to purchase some more wool.  Luckily they are having a 30% off sale at the moment as I walked out with 14 balls.  Stay tuned for a sneak peak at this project.  (I need another project like I need a hole in the head - what am I thinking?)

Take care
Andrea

Traditions

Tuesday 7th August 2012

We have a family tradition, if you could call it that.  When my mother was expecting me and then later my sister shoe crocheted a blanket for each of us.  I still have mine and I'm almost certain my sister still has hers.

The above photo is of my blanket.  This is barely cot size and was made using any scraps of wool that my mother had at the time.  The squares were surrounded by cream wool and a few years ago I had to crochet around the entire blanket to help keep it together.  This blanket is 41 years old.  I love that she made it out of what she had.

When I was expecting both of my children I again made them a blanket each.  Bec's was quite a good size, but Emily's was only a small square one.  I think I was just tired after chasing around a toddler all day that I didn't have the energy to make Emily's bigger.

My sister doesn't crochet, so my mother made each of her children (five) a blanket each, all except the youngest.  She had made the granny squares but still wanted to go around them each one more time and then put them together.  She asked me if I would mind assisting her with this task, so I was given all the granny squares and bought some black wool to tie them all in together.  This was something I worked on while visiting Emily last week and last night I finished it!

I haven't hidden all the ends, but thought Mum could do that part, as I really hate it!  At least all of the grandchildren have their own blankets now!

Sunday night for dinner I made a spinach and ricotta pie.  I made the ricotta and the spinach was from my garden.  While I will never be able to grow enough food for us to be self sufficient I love being able to put something I have grown on the table each night.

There was enough pie left over for Ron's and my lunch yesterday, so I thought I would take a photo before it was all gone.

Yesterday afternoon I managed to make some more lemon cordial.  We are still trying to work our way through the glut of lemons.  Hopefully we will be using our own lemons next year as my tree has flowers on it!  The orange tree is showing signs of flowering also, while the lime is a bit slow.  I can't wait to pick my own fruit!

Take care
Andrea

Quality Time

Monday 6th August 2012

I have just spent three days last week staying with my daughter while her partner was away.  We had a lovely time together and had time to explore her local area.  Unfortunately while I was there we had some REALLY cold weather!  I don't cope with the cold at all.  Thursday morning was -3.5 C, not cold for some but definitely too cold for me.

Frost on my car!

One of Emily's requests while I was there was to teach her how to crochet.  She had already bought some yarn so I took out one of my crochet hooks for her to get started with.  To date she has learnt how to chain and do double crochet (USA single).  After four attempts at trying to keep it neat she is well and truly on her way to making her first item, a scarf.

Love the look of complete concentration.

On Wednesday, I made the 40 minute drive in Dalby to meet her for lunch at the coffee club.  While I was there I had a look at a fabric shop and bought some more fabric for my bags and a pattern for a dress.  I have a wedding to attend in March next year and will need something to wear.  I will need to make some adjustments to the pattern as I am only a size ten but have a large bust so hopefully a friend of mine will be able to help with this task.  It is hard to believe with the cold weather we have been having that soon we will be looking for nice cool dresses to wear.

Dalby was established in the early 1840's and some of the buildings reflect this.  I really enjoyed my stroll around the town in the lovely sunshine.  You can see the lovely blue of the sky in the photo below.  The cars for the variety bash were in town.  This is a charity that raises funds each year through an unusual car rally to help sick children.

The back of an old hotel

I brought Emily home here with me on Thursday night and we made a trip to the other side of Brisbane to Ikea on Friday.  We had a lovely time together with lots of laughter.

We had lovely weather here on the weekend with Sunday getting to 25 C.  I spent some time in the vegetable garden, removing the lettuce that had gone to seed.  As the weather is starting to warm up I have put in seeds for more lettuce, chard and silver beet, cucumber and rosella.

Rosella is a plant that is related to the hibiscus and you use the calyx from the plant once you have removed it from the green seed pod.  It makes lovely jam, tea and cordial.  The rosella originated from Africa and I have had no trouble growing it in my area.  I can't wait to harvest them!

How are things going in your garden?

Take care
Andrea

Slow Going

Wednesday 11th July 2012

Things on the home front have been mightily slow going of late.  I did manage to get some work done in the garden last week with fertilizing and a general tidy up.  I even managed to spray the zucchini with some milk and water to help with the sooty mould.  So far it seems to be working, but with the wet weather we are having at the moment it is hard to tell.  The sooty mould has certainly slowed the plants down but then again the cooler spell we are having at the moment doesn't help either.  I am getting plenty of snow peas at the moment so we have been having them cooked and raw in salads.  I love the crunch of fresh peas.

The grey cloth you can see is fly wire that is covering my cabbages.  I am trying this to keep the cabbage moths at bay instead of pesticides.  Hope it works!
Last Friday I made the trip out to the country to visit Emily.  She has now moved into a lovely house and her and Dave are making their own personal touches to it.  It was a long journey as I made the trip there and back in one day. 

The is a photo of their dining room.  Please excuse the blurry photo.  Emily took this with her phone and sent it to me.
I took our little dog with me as she loves going out and by the end of the day she was completely worn out.  I don't think she slept the entire time I was visiting but she certainly slept in the car on the way home.

While I was out there, Emily and I picked a bag full of lemons.  On the weekend I turned some into lemon butter.  I have been having it on my toast each morning and Ron has been having it on pikelets for morning tea at work.  My lemon butter recipe is super easy and made in the microwave.  I have been making it this way for years and it always turns out nicely.  When I get some more eggs I shall make some more to give away.

Another reason things have been slow going around here lately is I have had an infected finger!  Somehow I got an infection between my nail and the skin on one of the fingers on my right hand.  I has swelled up enormously and been extremely painful, so much so that it has been keeping me awake at night.  I headed off to the doctor on Monday and was prescribed some antibiotics.  The infection has made it extremely difficult to do most things as I am right handed and therefore any craft has been next to impossible.  I did however, get a start on a crochet project last week.

It is this cardigan shawl I found the pattern for.  I bought the magazine in a thrift shop and have been anxious to make it!  I decided to go outside my comfort zone with this and make it up in a green yarn.  This is only the back and I am on my third ball of wool.  I have bought 18 balls so hopefully I will have enough as I should only need 16.  I think this is going to lovely and warm but probably won't get it finished this winter.

The thing I love about this garment is the variety of ways it can be worn.  Very versatile.

Take care
Andrea

Changes in the air

Wednesday 4th July 2012

We are having some major life changes in our family at the moment.  Our eldest daughter got engaged to her partner on the weekend.  I can't believe she is old enough even though I was engaged at 18!  She is extremely happy and her fiance gave her a lovely ring.

Our youngest daughter and her partner are moving into a house this weekend and that is extremely exciting for them too as they had been living in a caravan.

Things have been rather quiet on the home front as I have been helping hubby quote a house.  I did however start another garden yesterday.  I love the excitement of productive plants growing and we have an area along our garage wall that wasn't being put to use.  This is an awkward area as it is north facing and gets quite hot during the summer.  I did some research and found that herbs are best suited to this type of area, so I have planted oregano, thyme, lemon grass and sage.  I also moved my rosemary from its pot along with my capsicum and a self seeded tomato, so we'll see how they all go.  I did intersperse the herbs with some everlasting daisies and sweet peas to climb over the old gate.

This area is only small but hopefully I can turn it into a productive area!

I received a present in the post last week from Emily.  She had kindly thought of me and my love of crochet so purchased a magazine for me and sent it in the mail.  There are some lovely items in this I would love to make, and I think the suggestion from Emily that she likes the milky way blanket could be taken as a hint?

The days are lovely and mild at the moment but the nights and mornings have been really chilly.  I am not a fan of winter and hate to feel cold.  I try and spend as much time as possible outside in the sunshine to try and combat the cold.  Our little dog has struggled to get out of bed too.  She curled up under the blankets yesterday morning and when I tried to pick up her she flopped back down.  I think she thought that if she couldn't walk she would get to stay there all day!

I believe she is hoping I won't notice her.

Due to the fact that I have been working in the office doing a quote I have been inclined to put surplus items in my sewing room.

This was the scene that greeted me Monday morning.  Hubby's shirts hanging up needing repairing - done.  Fabric not put away - done. Wool not put away - done.  General mess and untidiness - mostly done.

Ron is going to make a cutting table for me one day with shelves underneath.  At the moment I am using an old camping table but this is a bit low and as I am reasonably tall I have to bend to use it.  The new table is going to be around bench height so cutting out will be a lot easier for me.

Do you have a room where everything seems to land?

Take care
Andrea

Busy, busy, busy!

Where do I start?  Just when you think you're going to have a quiet weekend mayhem erupts!

Emily's smart new uniforms!

It all started when this beautiful person came home Friday night.  She bought her partner, two Queensland Blue pumpkins and two loads of washing!  She was very excited as she had gotten her uniform for work.  Emily is working for the Western Downs Regional Council and loves it!  I must say the uniforms are lovely!

I did manage to complete the dog coat I had mentioned in a previous post and it really was quite easy.  The hard part came trying to take the photo.  You know how the saying goes.  Never work with animals or children!

It does look cute though and seems to help to keep her warm.  Our house has timber floors throughout and always seems really cold in winter.  Cindy's fur isn't very thick so she really feels the cold.

I bought a mushroom box awhile ago (4 weeks) and am just starting to get some mushrooms that are ready to be picked now.  I can see plenty more coming through and hopefully we will get a good harvest from them.  We love mushrooms and hopefully this will work out cheaper than buying them from the supermarket.  I have been told that the mushroom compost is great on the garden, so when it has finished that will be going there.  I also have plans for the poly box they come in, so stay tuned to see that!

Some mushrooms ready for picking

Sunday saw an early rise to the markets.  Bec collected me on her way to the markets and I showed her where the best produce was and hopefully the best prices.  She said that so far it has cost less than previously.  She just has to see how long the produce lasts for before they need to go again. 

Emily wanted some bread to take home and as we had to put the oven on for that, I suggested that she made some muffins to take for lunches also.  She made some chocolate ones!

Emily had already taken her portion of muffins before this photo was taken, but the peanut butter biscuits were all for us.  I made these to go in my hubby's lunchbox over the next couple of weeks.  It would be so much cheaper if we didn't need to eat!

In the afternoon, after Emily and Dave had left, I was exhausted, so I put the TV on to watch Gardening Australia and work on some crochet roses from Attic24.  These are to go with another project I have been working on since last year.

I just have to keep this.......

away from this little face, as she thinks it is a play toy for her. 

I had all sorts of images of this project being strewn all over the floor when I got up this morning, but so far she seems to have forgotten about it.

Take care
Andrea

Mother's Day 2012

I hope everyone had a lovely mothers day yesterday.  I certainly did!

It all started with our daughter and her partner coming to visit for the weekend.  Boy did they have me busy though!

Special order for dinner Friday night which was curried chicken pie.  Because I had the oven on I thought I would cook a few goodies for them and us.

This was bread, savoury biscuits, jam drops and an orange and poppy seed cake.  That certainly kept me busy.

 I picked these carrotts for dinner Saturday night which was another special order of roast chicken.

 Op shopping Saturday with them both in one I found this crochet magazine.  It is only fall last year (American) so not very old and has some terrific projects in it.  I just hope I get to do some of them. :(

 Then Mother's Day!  An early trip to the local markets to buy our fresh produce.  I found Maleny Milk was there with a stall so I had to buy some beautiful Camembert and Feta! 

Our eldest daugher, R and her partner came for morning tea, and gave me a wonderful home made cake and Jamie Oliver cookbook.

R and her partner

 Our youngest daugher E, and her partner came with us to the markets.  E gave me a CD by Eliza Dolittle.  I love her song Pack Up.  It is so bright and cheery just like E.

E and her partner

She's an alien!  Watch out D!

Cake made by R and iced in my favourite colour with a love heart!

Love heart shaped leaf given by E!  Too cute.

E kept me busy Saturday night with cushion cover making. (We'd made a trip to Spotlight.)  Shortening PJ pants and repairing one of her partners pair of pants.  Don't know how he got such a large rip in them, but they are his favourite pair of pants apparently!

Cushion cover we made

This week I'm off to the job site with hubby to help with framing a house!  Yeah!  I hope everyone else has a lovely week.

Take care
Andrea

......Ta Dah!!!

As mentioned in my previous post I have finished the hot water bottle covers E asked for.  They are coming to visit this weekend so will be able to take them home with them.

The blue, white and grey is for E's partner and of course the purple and pink one is for E!  The purple and pink one has a crochet flower you thread the ties through just for that extra girly touch.  I didn't think E's partner woud appreciate a flower.

Now I am back to finishing off the bunny rug for the upcoming arrival of a baby.  I hope to have that finished tonight and washed and pinned into shape tomorrow.  I am trying to make the most of the lovely warmish days we are having at the moment.

Our visitors left this morning.  They are making their way back home to Victoria.  I hope they have a safe journey and lovely weather for the rest of their holiday.

Later this afternoon I will be getting out into my teeny tiny vegie patch and planting some more seeds.  I hope this will allow us to have continuing produce throughout winter.  It looks like some of my potato have sprouted so when they are showing a bit more I will post a picture of those.  Can't wait to have home grown potato for dinner.  I just need to find a sweet potato that is sprouting and plant that!  The pumpkin seeds went in last week but they are going to take awhile.  They got planted along the driveway as they will have plenty of room there and hopefully keep the weeds at bay at the same time.  I'm not sure how much longer this mild weather is going to last so I have to make the most of it!

Take care
Andrea

Crochet

I love to crochet and while I am only a novice at it, crochet keeps my hands busy at night and my eyes open.  Without something to do they seem to have a habit of closing!  The blanket I have crocheted above is from instructions found here Attic24.  Lucy's instructions for the ripple blanket are really easy to follow and the result is just brilliant.  This blanket is for someone special whose birthday is yet to come.  I hope they like it.

I have yet to crochet a blanket for our youngest daughter.  I must have been slack while pregnant with her as our eldest daughter had one made for her but not the youngest.  I promised her that the next one I would make would be hers and her instructions were bright and granny squares.  While I have no problems with the bright request I just couldn't bring myself to do Granny Squares so decided on Granny Hexagons again over at Attic24.  This is the result so far, but I have worked out I need at least another 90!  I do believe there is just over 30 here now!  It is amazing how hard it is to keep coming up with different colour combinations.  To date I don't think I have done two the same, not too bad considering I am only using 8 colours.  No doubt that will change as I increase the quantity of hexagons.

To me crochet is one of the easiest crafts (obviously depending on the item you are working on).  I can't remember who taught me to crochet, it may have been my Grandmother who is now 90, but I can't be sure.  I know it is something I have always done and it never seems to matter how long in between crocheting it is something I never seem to have trouble picking up, kind of like remembering how to ride a bike I suppose, which is another whole post for another day (bike riding that is).  If crocheting is something you would like to have a go at there are plenty of videos on YouTube to look at that explain the method really well.  Once you have mastered the basics I would suggest choosing a pattern that is repetitive, blankets are really good, and as your skills increase you can work on more complicated items.

My next crochet project after these and after finished a bunny rug for a girlfriends grandchild, is a light summer cardigan.  This will be something that will really work my brain so should be a good challenge.  I will be using this wool purchased from Jodie at Jellywares.  She was extremely helpful with my yarn choice and an absolute dream to deal with.  I would highly recommend her for your next yarn purchase.

Good luck and take care
Andrea