One of my wetbags, amongst a veritable treasure trove of other wahm items, is currently up for auction to raise funds for a special little girl :) The auctions are here and you can read about it here . It's really heart warming to see everyone digging deep for such a great cause.
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Wow! Great to be back blogging, after such a long absence. To say that my life has been utterly crazy for the last 6 weeks or so would be a HUGE understatement ;) Perhaps a little more Jerry Springer crazy, than Days of our Lives crazy *giggle* Hey, if you don't laugh, you cry, right? In amongst all the bad bits, however - there have been some very good bits :) More on that later. Things do seem to be getting back onto a more even keel, which is a relief. And......I've been working on some 'stuff'. The very last of my hand dyed wool blanketing is being made into.......well, you'll have to wait and see. I've also been working on carding some alpaca fleece by hand (oh, what I wouldn't give for a drum carder, or even some decent hand carders. It's darn hard work, with slicker brushes) My spinning is currently on hold, while I get my wheel into a condition where I can spin with it lol. The screws holding the maidens? are threaded, and the maide
Another prolonged absence from my blog, this time with good reason. I' m currently going through an incredibly difficult time in my life and my blogging has taken a back seat, I'm afraid. I have been surprisingly productive, however, and have much to blog about, but the motivation is lacking at the moment :( I'm hoping to find some inner reserve of blogging motivation soon - stay tuned for pics of some recent wips.
Very exciting - I'm a guest on the Gossamer Dreams store this month, as part of their 'Animalia' theme! My 'Out of Africa' wetbag is previewing today and will go live this evening, along with of some of my applique, on Bek's MM fleece AI2 nappies. There's many other gorgeous items available at Gossamer Dreams this month also, of course - what a talented group of wahms!
She arrived today, delivered by my mum :) Yes, I am in fact referring to my new baby - the spinning wheel! I had a fair idea what she was when I saw her, but a little googling has convinced me that she's an Ashford traditional, circa 1975. Beautiful condition, but missing a few bits and pieces - can anyone point me in the right direction for spares? I think I need someone to help me put the bits on, once I get them *blush* Although, after having a look at the Ashford catalogue, the parts that are missing are relatively inexpensive *yay* Can't wait to get spinning!!
:S Oops! With the beginning of spring, life seems to have become even more hectic than usual. I've had many things to blog about, but have been too busy doing them to blog about them LOL! I think a combination of J working a minimum of 50 hours a week and my rapidly growing crafty 'to do' pile (aka the mess on my sewing table) has combined to make my life absolutely crazy :P I've picked up old, forgotten projects, am finding pleasure in working in my sorely neglected vege and herb garden and have been preparing for a new obsession. Yes. A spinning wheel is coming to live with me....woot! We' ll just pretend that the many projects sitting neglected on my table aren't there, m'kay? In super exciting family news, I went with my sister T to her ultrasound and she found out that she's having a little girl!! Yay, I get to make pink newbie nappies hehe. More projects....because you can never have too many WIPs...can you? I have another project about to hit my d
Yay! Now that all swaps are in their respective homes, I can reveal that The Little Parcel that Could was for the lovely Tikki ! So, that's it - all done. For now...... And because I do love to post pics, here is a pic of the shorties that I decided to go a little 'freehand' on. To do this, you grab your shorties, your needle and wool.....and go nuts! These are pear tree merino and are looking for a new home. The short rows are hideous, but I think that my embellishing did a pretty good job of hiding them :P What do you think?
I have been neglecting you, I know. I do have an excuse though - I've been very busy, preparing and sending off packages :P Tracy, yours is on it's way, absolutely bursting at the seams lol, Donna - yours is coming too. There is another parcel on it's way - it will probably be a bit of a surprise for the recipient, as she isn't aware that it's coming - I've come to think of it as The Little Parcel That Could. It was only a small parcel, but it wanted to be a Great Big Parcel. So it grew, and grew, and GREW! I've had some other bits and pieces happening, also. Operation 'No sheep for you' is well underway - I've been attempting to get rid of all sheepiness from my home. This has been moderately successful so far - although to assist in the timely removal of knitted woolies from my vicinity, I've been embellishing them (while wearing thick gloves!) to hopefully make them more appealing (and hide my hideous short rows). In super excitin
I received an absolutely fabulous parcel today - the lovely Tracy sent me this pile of yarny/smocky goodness as her part of a couple of swaps - once she's back from holidays, I'll be sending her a pile of wooly fun - the second part of my end of the swap! And here is Lily's dress - complete! It's fuschia linen, made from a 60's 'jumper' pattern and I decided to design a stencil and do a little painting. I'm very happy with the way the stencilling worked out. Expect to see more fabric painting here soonish ;)
just a quickie, no pictures tonight. I've been having quite a productive week, with a little bit of everything going on :) I've finally finished the sewing portion of the pinnie/smock for Lily that has been languishing in my project bar forever :P It's a lovely fuschia linen, sewn from a vintage pattern - so simple, I love the lines of it. I'm planning on doing a little stencilling on it, so hopefully that works out. Just have to design and paint now! I've also sent Karen's package off to her - I hope that she likes it. An applique and a little something extra. I've been having a few woe is me moments lately, because I've discovered (finally!) that the ongoing and very painful skin problems on my hands are caused by an allergic reaction to lanolin. Very upsetting, as I love to work with wool. No more sheep for me, I'm afraid. Which in turn means that my woolen wet bags are going to be a 'very' limited edition item lol. Speaking of w
Yep - it's been one of those fortnights....sigh. I've had a terrible flu, as have most of the family. However, I'm recovering (finally), so thought I'd do a post about some more dyeing I've been doing and the longies that Sharyn knitted for me (no action shots yet - elastic has to be put in). Here's a peek! I'm really happy with the way the colours knitted up (look ma - no pooling!). Here is some dyeing I've been doing - from back to front they are wool, wool, rayon/cotton/silk blend, 100% cotton and wool. The wool was kettle dyed with food colouring and the cotton and cotton blend was dyed with procion, using the low water immersion technique (I find it almost as enjoyable as kettle dyeing!). I just love the way that the different fibres took different colours in this yarn - my girls dubbed it 'Seaweed'. This one has been called 'Jaffa' - I've now balled it up and will be teaching myself to crochet with it (washcloths, anyone? :P) Th
Now that I know it has been received, I can post pics of Carmens new laptop sleeve :) She approached me a little while ago about making this for her, to which I replied 'sure!'. Then realised that I had no clue what I was doing, lol! Thus ensued some creative thinking on my part and with the help of some dimensions from Carmen, I created a pretend laptop, from a breadboard and towel, to help me envisage what it was I needed to do. Here is the results of my efforts.
It was a great day - first a stop off at the post office to post some swaps off (not yours Carmen, but that will happen soon!) then a jaunt to the local op shops. I picked up some great material - red with white polka dots and a green batik. I also found a great pattern for a cheongsam style dress, or top and skirt. So, into the queue goes that pattern - Nadine wants a skirt :P Nothing much else happened today.....hoping to get a little knitting time in tonight and make the longies progress bar look a little more respectable.
Yes! That special project for Carmen - done! :) An executive decision on closures was reached, with a little input from the lovely Carmen herself. So, it's all done, ready to be packed up and sent. Now, I've got a terrible case of the what ifs. What if the size is wrong? What if she despises it and is too polite to say so? What if, what if, what if? Ack. I think it's pretty special - hopefully she will think so too! No surprise spoiling here either - pictures will be posted once I know it has been received.
Well, as you can see in my project bar, my special project for Carmen has been receiving my undivided attention....hence, it is ever so close to being done! A little hand embroidery to go now....and the closures. Herein lies my dilemma. Do I use buttons, or snaps? Snaps would probably be more practical, but hunting for just the right vintage buttons would be ever so much more fun and if the placement isn't quite right, buttons are far easier to move than snaps. Plus, with buttons there won't be any hard snap caps on the inside. Ahhh, the drama :P Must think about this some more.......
Yep - kettle dyeing again! This time, 200g of treliske organic merino - the wonderful Sharyn of Virgo Knits is knitting this up for Princess Lily. I must admit, I was thinking 'argh, what have I done!' when I looked at my wool in the pot. I still wasn't feeling terribly happy when I took it out of the pot to rinse and dry. However, once I'd balled it up I was pleasantly surprised with the results :) Quite a soft and girly colourway I think, just right for some longies for my little girl. Now, a special project update - my custom for the lovely Carmen is still moving along - the creative work is done! Just need to hit the machine and get it all together now. I must admit, I'm having moments of self-doubt. It's quite nerve-wracking really, doing a custom. I take my hat off to all the wahms who primarily do custom work - you must have nerves of steel! I'm also currently working on a (late!) gift for my sister Amy, who is celebrating her birthday today :) Happy
A bit of a mixed bag, this week. I had my first go at kettle dyeing and I must say...I'm hooked! It was so much fun :) Here are the results! Brianna has a friends birthday party to go to tomorrow, so I thought I'd whip her up a skirt - but what's a skirt without a matching top? So, it was applique time again. She's quite thrilled with the results and I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, also. Finally, a little dyeing I've been doing for a special project ;)
Well, I've been working on them for a very long time, but they're finally done....well, almost. A couple of snaps to go on one still, but otherwise - complete! I'm not entirely sure where these bags will end up yet....will post some pics later on.
I've been hellbent on getting my swap with Amy done in a timely fashion and...success! It's ready to post, bar a few little finishing touches :) I've even taken photos...which I won't be posting until the parcel arrives at it's new home *giggle*. I hope that she likes it, and that it fits her little man!
if you can believe it? I dyed a cut of hemp velour a little while ago and have had it sitting in the fabric pile, just waiting to be made into something special. So, here it is! A nappy with hand dyed and appliqued hemp velour outer and 100% organic cotton sherpa inner. The absorbency is a combination of bamboo terry and organic cotton sherpa. Super squishy and lush. The applique is 'goddess' in Chinese lettering (at least, that's what it's supposed to be - hope I haven't stuffed it up lol). In other news, I received a couple of lovely parcels today - one was a rather large package full of fabric from Amy (thanks Amy!) who will be receiving a quite turtle-ish swap from me in return :) The other was a bit of a surprise package from Kelly - a nice piece of wool interlock for me to play with - thanks Kelly!
this pretty little exercise has been doing the blog rounds :P I've seen it on loads of blogs now, so not really sure who to attribute it to lol. Anyway, here's mine! Here are the rules if you want to play too: a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. b. Using only the first page, pick an image. c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker). The Questions: 1. What is your first name? 2. What is your favorite food? 3. What high school did you go to 4. What is your favorite color? 5. Who is your celebrity crush? 6. Favorite drink? 7. Dream vacation? 8. Favorite dessert? 9. What you want to be when you grow up? 10. What do you love most in life? 11. One Word to describe you. 12. Your flickr name
Decide you need embellishment, before sewing the pants! I made these little pants for Lily, then decided they needed a little jazzing up - so I designed an applique to match Lily's lovely Pint tee. Trying to applique minky via machine, onto an already assembled pair of pants is horribly fiddly, but I think it turned out ok in the end :) Lily seems quite pleased also. Further note to self - take better pictures later, in the daytime :P