5-star Crochet Blanket means I’m a Happy Hooker!

Yes, it’s true! After more than two years I have picked up my crochet hooks again. It seems crazy to have left it that long, but life happens.

What is even crazier, I actually finished the project within 10 days! Talk about rekindling an old love. What did I make you ask? I won’t make you wait any longer:

Isn’t it lovely! It’s a rather large 5-point star baby blanket in olive green 8 ply wool, mixed with a green and black 2 ply yarn to give the side of each star point a different shade. Its turned out so lovely I almost think I’ll keep it…

But I won’t! I owe the inspiration to pick up my hooks again to a dear friend. She requested this blanket when she was pregnant with her first baby, and I was happy to oblige! Now the baby is 6 months old and preparing for his first winter, with woolly blanket at the ready 🙂

The buttons came from a designer outlet store in Melbourne, they fit through the loops in the seams so it can be adjusts to be worn around my friend when she is wearing her baby. No button holes necessary, so it can still be used with toddlers!

The pompom tells you which was is up so you don’t get to swearing levels trying to find the buttons. The point also acts as a hood for baby!

Find more details on the project and pattern over on my Ravelry profile!

So, first crafty project in two years completed. What’s next? Well, I already started two more and might dig out a UFO…

Stay happy!
xx

A creativity flare brings new projects – and products!

It’s a wonderful feeling to be getting creative again! That means I pulled out my old beading tools… it has been a while indeed!

I find myself with a lot of time on my hands these days to heal and reflect, which is bittersweet as I’m often not one to have a lot of time on my hands on account of I like being busy. Call me a creature of habit, but I did just that – got myself busy.

That means I’ve finally got something to show you after months and months of silence! Oh how fickle life can be. Anyways, there’s a bonus this time… I’ve decided to actually sell some of my creations! Yep, every thing I’m showing off in this post: I made it and I’m selling it in my brand new Etsy store!

Enough of that, here’s the juicy bits: click on the pic to see the listing on Etsy.

I fell in love with these blue glass crystals and had to make something a bit fancy with them and some Swarovski crystals I already had…

Glass bead and crystal necklace with pearl Swarovski crystals

And then was obliged to make some coordinating earrings:

I realised I hadn’t made much using gold yet, so I gave it a go and was quite pleased:

And this one I just wanted some matchy-matchy fun with copper findings and the copper sparkle in the glass beads. I made matching earrings for this one too! I will list those soon…

Then I got stuck into the feathers. But the feathers, thankfully, did not get stuck on me.

Lilac diamante and feather brooch or hair clip

Feather and Filigree Hair Barrette Clip Turquoise and Blue

Crystal beaded feather hair barrette clip with seashells

And lastly I made a gorgeous hair barrette from some New Zealand paua seashells I bought on our holiday there some time ago:

New Zealand Pāua Shell Hair Barrettes Clip with 4 shell chips

So after all this time, I’ve finally made a crafty post instead of just talking about it! How does it feel? Feels like I’m needing to write quite a few more… but first, a nap! Like my cats.

Yeah, I still got it. Stay happy!
Xx

Cross Stitch for the Guests Room Update

Hooray! A frame has been found!

Sleek, black and techno-nerdy.

Again, thanks to izacless for sharing 😀

See my progress post here for more details on how I made it.

Now we await the first guest…

Lovely Lamp for my Dresser

This lamp belonged to my great grandmother. Then it hung around in our house I grew up in. Then it came into my possession…

Through all this I never remember this special class of kitsch ever having a lampshade, so I began regularly including the lampshade section whenever I wandered around opshops.

Eventually I found one that would suffice.

Now you might think we’re done here. That looks like a mighty fine match.

No. Nice lampshade made the base look respectable and that’s not what we want. We want over the top kitsch that not even a mother could love.

Queue hot glue and my fabric rose collection.

I’m not sure if we’ve improved this here but we’re certainly on a path. Never mind that I almost set it on fire.

Once it was in place and turned on I sat gawking at the girly-ness of my dresser for a good 15 minutes.

It’s fun being a girl 😀

Cross Stitch for the Guest Room

And now for something else rather different!

I was into cross stitch as a kid. Not so much as a teen and certainly not in the last 10 years, but when I saw this little number floating around on the interwebs it had to be done!

Source: izacless.tumblr.com

In all honesty, I actually first saw this design at work. As the only female in an IT department, there’s not a lot girly-ness going on in my workday. One Friday one of the guys thought it would be a larf to replace the web stats screen with the above pic and LO!

I went home, found the pic online and started it that night, with one rather large modification:

I added our WIFI password mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Trying to find the right alphabet style was a little tricky. After a few attempts on a scrap I settled on a slightly modified version of this:

Source: craftdesigns4you.com

I didn’t think it was right for us to have the password in blue or black, so a added a third colour to my design just for the password. In my stash of embroidery threads I had a ton of colours but settled on a neutral similar to #3864 or #841 on this chart:

Source: dmc-ap.com

No, I’m not publishing my WIFI password on the interwebs.

Now I have this wonderful piece awaiting the right frame where after it will hang happily on the guest room wall. The question is, who of our guests will work out that it is indeed our WIFI password..?

Thanks to izacless for sharing 🙂

Update: Check out the finished piece framed and on the wall »

😀

Mug Shots of Pencil Skirts #09: Perfect Sitting

One craft I remember my mother doing was reupholstering my desk chair in my bedroom.

The original was a lovely cream textured cover but you could just imagine how long that would stay looking nice in a grubby teenage bedroom.

The fabric she chose was this nice black tapestry style. The offcuts followed us around for years and I’d always wanted to do something with it.

Around the same time she covered the chair I made myself a needle book which I still use today. But there remained a sizable scrap.

This is where the joys of spending hours on Pinterest proves itself useful. Inspiration struck and BAM skirt.

Mug Shots of Pencil Skirts #08: Nick Swing

Here’s one of my favourites! However I’m not sure if I’ll ever wear it…

This one gets its name from the swingin sixties design of the fabric combined with the putrid smell of cigarette smoke (NICotine!!!) and old man that terrorised my nostrils when steam pressing it.

Other than that, this skirt is awesome. After I finished making it an before its final press, I tried the following:

washed it normally.
washed it with eucalyptus.
soaked it.
dried it.
soaked it in vinegar.
hung it out in the sun.
forgot about it.
left it in the rain for three days.

I’ve yet to steam pressed it again to see if my efforts worked, but in the meantime I’m enjoying the illusion of having a larger wardrobe.

Mug Shots of Pencil Skirts #07: Clyde

Clyde Pencil Skirt. So named after the photo filter effect on my photo editing app on my phone.

Mug Shots of Pencil Skirts #06: Clydette

Clydette is the more feminine of two skirts cut from the same length of wool I found in an opshop.

I’m pretty much nailing all my pencil skirt dreams so I figured it was time to shake it up a bit. Having tried a few portrait blouses from Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing, I decided to try one of the pencil skirt modifications.

I couldn’t tell you how I managed to pull that peak off. It mystified me.

Look at the ruffles!

Mug Shots of Pencil Skirts #05: Cause for Trouble

I knew when I made this into a pencil skirt it would have to be named with a reference to hot librarian teachers who don’t take silliness from students.

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It’s a wonderful feeling to be getting creative again! That means I pulled out my old beading tools… it has been a while indeed!

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