"Happy Hat, Food Throw,Christmas Bauble,Cross Stitch and Crochet Bunting."

Hello,

I do hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas. Ours was just perfect, all the children at home this year. Thankfully Ainsley and Julian put on the Christmas lunch this year. I only had to supply some rather delicious cupcakes. .

I have crocheted this hat twice before, once for me and a blue one for someone little. This one is the child's version and was made especially for Jacob, our Grandson. He did look rather cute in it. I used a 5 ply Pellicano cotton and a 3 mm hook.

I made this  food throw for a gift for Debbie for Christmas. I machine embroidered some bees, ladybirds, pansies and a piece of cake on some pink netting. I found some curtain weights to hand sew on each corner to hold the net down.

Hooray, I even made up this  Christmas patchwork bauble, it was given by a fellow blogger just before last Christmas. Lots of folding and pinning involved.

The cross stitch is finished. I changed a few of the thread colours and are happy with the colour choices I made. This will have to wait until Summer is over before I drop it into the framers. Hot weather and travelling in a car are not good for framed items.

My last finish for the year is another crochet bunting. This time I used up some size 10 DMC  Cebelia crochet cotton.I could have kept crocheting these little motifs.

As I finish typing this my 600th post I want to wish everyone a Happy and Safe New Year. All the best for 2015. I wonder what 2015 will bring , I have been looking through my sewing room and de-cluttering and have found a few projects from pre-blogging days that need finishing. Hopefully January will see me finish one or two of them.

Happy days
Bev C

"Friday Night Sew in for December."

Hello,

Having the opportunity to take part in Friday Night Sew in saw me working on "Because it's Spring"  cross stitch.

Last night I stitched the letters K L M R Y Z and some of the pink flowers and stems on the right hand side. Only the birds nest to stitch now. Thanks to Wendy who kindly hosts Friday Night Sew In each month.

Earlier on in the week I machine embroidered several lengths of organza which will be table runners. The hardest part of this was hemming the organza. The over locker was needed for this. The embroidery designs are from a Brother card using Robison Anton thread.

Now is the time to I would like to  wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Take care if you are on the roads and be kind to one another.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Christmas Bunting, Decorations and New Cross Stitch Books and Chart."

Hello,

The Christmas crochet bunting is done.

4 red and 4 white designs were made up and a couple of rows of double crochet across the top to join them all together.

I think Santa will see this when he visits next week.

It only took just over an hour to complete these three cross stitch designs for the hanging decorations last week. These have been in my stash for more years than I can remember.

Back in October I ordered some books and charts on-line from a shop. Not Happy Jan is all I can say. They finally came last week  I especially liked the stories and history in the Schoolroom book.

I have made a start on the chart. I will be changing a few colours in the design. The chosen colour for the stitching of the alphabet doesn't show up on the fabric that I chose at all. I will finish stitching the birds nest and flowers and decide on the colour then.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Important Christmas Warning."

Hello,

Just thought you needed to know this.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Occupied"

Hello,

Happy Monday.

The yearly end of year lunch for our sewing group has been and gone. The Garden Club Christmas gathering has been done for the year. This year I decided to ask a local Eco nursery owner to come along and give a talk on herbs and seed saving. A most enjoyable morning was had. I purchased a couple of packets of seeds. Among them was some American Upland Cress (Barbarea vulgaris) which was featured on Gardening Australia a few weeks ago. I also found out that there is a local seed saving network for a low cost to join for the year.

The Graham Thomas rose is in bloom again so decided to use this photo as my new header photo.

 The ironwork is by a welder who resides in Mundaring.

 I finished the filet crochet. As I was using a ball that was already started I had to shorten the pattern. Kainga means home so I thought this was rather appropriate.

 I am presently working on this crochet pattern, I have 11 of the squares joined together. I decided to do ten across and see how many I get out of a ball to see how long it will be. This project will most likely take a very long time! This one is being done in size 20 cotton and a 1.25 mm hook.

 Wendy  had a bunting that she crocheted on her blog. I downloaded the pattern but it was written in gobblygoog. I crocheted up one but it was such hard work so went back on-line and found that Cheryl a lovely blogger had written up the pattern and included the graph. I was overjoyed. No reading just counting. I am using a 8 ply cheapy and a 3.5 mm hook. The plan is to make a few more and use it at Christmas. I also did a few in size 10 cotton and a 1.5mm hook. Still deciding what to do with those ones.

 I planted some Amish Paste Tomato seeds and was very pleased to see the first tomato forming the other day. If it warms up we may have our first tomato at Christmas.

The other weekend we had a news helicopter hovering just above us. In the background was a plane creating a jet stream. It was interesting watching it across the sky.

After a rather busy couple of weeks it will be good to be back into a more normal routine, I might even get into the sewing room.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"She believed she could, so she did."

Hello,

I have been busy sewing while the main computer was in for  its annual check up. We now have a start button that works! No more pushing the re-start button on the hard drive.

I love the designs put out by Urban Threads. They have regular freebies of both machine embroidery and hand sewing designs. Here are some I stitched out on some lovely white cotton tea towels.

 I think this design  would be great on a t-shirt or stretched on one of those artist boards.

 This design just reminds me of Summer.

 Now I know this is a Easter based design but the tea cups won me over.

 This is the latest design from Urban Threads, a rather cute Christmas design.
I have stitched out the largest design of each one, their are usually three sizes to choose from.

 These serviettes have been waiting for rather a long time to be finished. I originally stitched out the names on my old sewing machine, you can see where I unpicked it. I added the names in bigger lettering and stitched out the Holly design from one of Mary Engelbreit's Holidays designs.

I have had this coaster/paperweight in my stash for many years. I have taken it out to look at it and try to decide what to do with it. Well the other day I stitched out a design from the Brother Roses card and had it stitched in ten minutes. A row of hand stitching to help tuck it in behind the backing and it was finished.

 This design for the Apple Mug Mat came from the San Franciso Stitch Company. It was done in four hooping's. A bit of cutting of some of the designs then stitched together. I used some apple fabric for the binding. It was interesting to read some of the same apples are available here in WA.

Tonight I will be joining in Friday Night Sew In  with others from around the globe. I will be working on some filet crochet. I will post an update on the crochet later on when more of it has been completed. Thanks Wendy for hosting Friday Night Sew In.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Owls in the Hoop made by the Mad Lady and some dressmaking."

Hello,

I joined in Friday Night with Friends kindly hosted by Cheryll. I sewed during the day making up a couple of owls that were done in the hoop on the embroidery machine.

 I will be keeping the red spotted owl and the others will be gifts. The mad lady refers to where I got the embroidery design.These are available from the site
The Mad Woman of Locke Street.

There were 45 ladies keeping themselves busy with some crafty goodness, make sure you have a look at the link up on Cheryll's blog.

During the week I decided to make two pairs of pants with fabric from my stash. I used this pattern many many years ago. The only thing I changed with these is it had two rows of elastic around the waistline. Decided that one row would be sufficient.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Tis the Season"

Hello,

I finished the "Tis the Season" stitcheries and quilt yesterday. I did plan to do a brickwork pattern with the fabric. Why then did I cut the stitcheries 4.5 inches as I read in the book instead of the 5 inches which I should have. I even woke up the morning that I was working on the quilt thinking I must remember to cut them 5 inches! So of course the layout changed somewhat.

 I made up just six of the stitcheries, changing them to suit. eg. the Father Christmas is holding a present not a Goose. I know no one here would eat a Goose let alone kill one for the dinner plate.

 I added some gold beads to the Christmas Trees. The stars were stitched in silver with some Kreinik Metallics thread.

I used quilting designs from a Brother Embroidery Card to machine embroider the designs amongst the stitcheries. The charm squares are from Moda a range called "Lilac Hill". I used cream homespun for the backing and found a lovely floral brown/red fabric for the border from my stash. The table topper is 27 inches square.

Onto some different sort of sewing now, a change is as good as a holiday. Can you guess what I will be making?

Happy days.
Bev C

"Quaker Cross Stitch Pouch, Aster Doily and some stunning blooms."

Hello,

Hasn't this month just flown by. I finally decided what I wanted to do with the Quaker Cross Stitch. I turned it into a stitching Pouch.

 I added lots of buttons around the stitching and some lovely cotton lace.

The other side of the pouch...

 I tea dyed a doily added some buttons which matched the doily. It is all finished off with ribbon that was dyed with Parisian Essence threaded through the doily.

 I was given some Crochet Monthly books last week to look through for patterns. Decided to make this one called "Aster" in DMC Cebelia in size 20 using a 1.25 hook. The roses in the vase are "Charles Rennie Macintosh."

Pierre de Ronsard Standard Rose

 This is the rose I see when I look out the back door at the moment. I love pink roses.

Surprise, surprise the Hippieastrum has decided to bloom this year. It has been asleep for the past two years at least. Lots of lovely blooms on it. These come in a great range of colours.

Yesterday I soaked some evenweave in a bath of tea leaves. The design called for a more grungy look rather than the cream evenweave. It is a design that only uses black thread but I may add a bit of silver.

What have you been up to, starting another project like me. I would love to hear.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Soap making for Christmas and adding that third bathroom."

Hello,

I keep on seeing and hearing that Christmas is coming. We can't stop it can we. I decided to make lots of soap over the past few weeks. Personalising them a little makes them a great addition to Christmas presents.  I have used plants from the garden to flavour the olive oil that is used in the making of soap.

Calendula Soap

I wanted to use up some of the items from the re-cycling bin to make the soap in. I found the long life milk that is for coffee machines that is a square shape to be perfect for holding the soap. I have used the rectangular shaped cartons as well but they seem to splay at the top. I also used a tray that a prepared Indian meal came in.  I have a set of scrap booking letters that stamped out people's names perfectly.

Rosemary Soap

 These ones had Rosemary in them, everything from the plant gets blended together at the final stage. Of course you could take the plant out if you wanted a clearer soap.

Rose Scented Geranium

 Rose scented Geranium would have to be one of the most lovely of the scented Geraniums. I can't help sniffing and squishing this plant as I walk past. Once again I left all of the plant in the mix. I just cut up this lot of soap this morning so I am breathing in the perfume as I type.

We recently added a third bathroom of sorts.

 We moved this bath from another part of the garden to create a little oasis under the Graham Thomas rose bush. It is now in a rather private, well more private than before spot in the garden. It is a old bath, lovely to sit in to keep cool. Not that comfortable though for sitting too long.

There is a purpose to moving the bath to this part of the garden. With all the garden re-modelling we moved one of our smaller water tanks and wanted to have something to catch the overflow. With all the rain on the weekend it is nearly full. Of course there was a rush to find a plug. Ian found a sprinkler fitted perfectly. It hasn't leaked at all yet.Yes that is dirt in the bottom of the bath, we previously used it to grow potato's.

Thanks to Anthea  for hosting Christmas through the year. I will be linking this post. Make sure you check out what everyone else has done.You will get some wonderful ideas.
How is your present stash coming along?



Happy days.
Bev C

"Tending the Garden and Spring Chickens."

Hello,

Spring is certainly here, lovely one day and the next it is cold and windy. Glad to have the rain that we received on the weekend. The state had a once in a year storm. It is sad though listening to the radio this morning hearing of the farmers who have lost crops due to the hail damage.Yesterday we measured 36 mls of rain and this morning there was another 19.5 mls. These sort of falls are very rare around here. Lucky to measure about 10 mls as a good rainfall. We have been doing lots of gardening and alterations to parts of the garden this month.

Lots of plants in bloom at the moment. I wasn't able to prune the roses this year, it certainly hasn't affected them at all.

Tough plants are the order of the day here or ones that self seed. Salvia's are great plants for our Mediterranean climate. I have been adding lots of them amongst the roses.

The other things that have taken up our time is some little chickens.

We purchased these three little ones a fortnight ago. The first day or so they stayed inside in there box, the weather was just too cold for them to be outside. After a couple of days they spent time out in there new home. We decided to purchase a coop for them. This way they are more protected from Mr Fox. Over the weekend we let them stay in the coop during the night. There is a compartment which we can shut up so they were cosy and warm. We have given them names. Unusual ones considering they are females. The white one is named Woody because she pecked the cardboard box when she arrived here. Plus we love Woody from the Toy Story movie. The yellow headed one in the middle  is called Mrs Potato Head, once again from the Toy Story Movie and the other one is called Dougal because we love watching Million Dollar Minute and Dougal was the contestant that was winning the show every day when we first got them Dougal went onto win over $500 000 so we think it is a lucky name.

Sewing on the hexie quilt has come to a standstill. I ran out of the YLI Silk thread I am using to join the hexies and blocks together. I ordered some more from the Thimblelady last week. Hopefully it won't take long for them to come.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"How to make a Ladies Tea/Sewing Tray."

Hello,

Want to make a ladies tray, they are so useful.
First you need some of Nana's doilies and lace.

 Everyone has a photo frame that holds a picture that you have tired of. Turn the print over to put the doilies and lace on. You could also use up an orphan patchwork block, cross stitch or stitchery. The op shops have heaps of photo frames for only a dollar or two if you haven't got any around the home.

 Purchase some kitchen drawer handles from a hardware store.Just make sure you can fit your fingers underneath the handles.

 While at the hardware store pick up a packet or two of small round wooden handles for the underside of the tray. These come with screws, discard the screws. You need to glue the handles on, we used Tarzan's Grip.

A quick easy project and perfect for a tray for your morning tea or to rest your scissors and threads on whilst stitching. Please let me know if you make one.

Happy days.

Bev C