Fun Cardie

Sometimes I think it would be fun to be a little girl again - the clothes are so pretty...  ahhh... sigh...

I had a lot of fun knitting this particular little number.  Using a Sirdar pattern and Patons London 8ply variegated yarn with some fun changes in pattern along the way made this project irresistable to put down.  Although next time, I would knit the bands around the bottom in rib rather than garter stitch as it didn't want to sit flat.

Knitted at size 3-4yrs, it's perfect for an adorable little miss!

Front of Cardigan

Detail

More Detail



Back of Cardigan

This particular pattern is a definite knit again project.  Watch this space for one day when I find the perfect wool.

Guinea Flower

I love Australian Native Flowers, they seem to hide away until the weather conditions are perfect and then they surprise with gorgeous colour and intricate detail when you look at them in detail.

When I found out DHs aunty was turning 70, I decided to dig out a bookmark kit and stitch it for her.  She is a lover of Australian Natives and so this Guinea Flower design was perfect for her.  Did I mention that she is also an avid reader?

When finished, it was wrapped in gorgeous native flower paper and put inside a card from an Aussie artist, then posted.

Obviously she liked it as I received a lovely e-mail from her thanking me.

Cabled Ribs?

Not real ribs, but the ribbing on a jumper!  Variegated yarn makes a plain pattern very interesting and then, when used in a cable pattern, the intrigue for how it was knitted increases.  This jumper has been knitted from Creative Fibres pure wool (colour Spring) which was overdyed to give the glorious colour.  So soft to knit with using Patons Classics Pattern baby/toddler book.  Size 2 child.

The jumper

Detail of cabled band

When I was knitting the bands for this jumper, I kept on thinking of fariy floss on a sunny summer day with butterflies flitting to and fro - hopefully the little girl that this has been gifted to will be a fairy in her imaginary play.  :)

Spaced Out Alphabet

Have a go at a mystery quilt which a friend is running and just have fun!    Then you get what I think is a fantastic quilt - I so love it. 

I altered the oringal pattern slightly to make the quilt a bit larger and changed the borders to make it 3 for the extra frame efffect.  The red, orange and yellow squares are made up of flannel fabrics and the rest is cottons, so there is a textural element to this particular quilt.

Spaced Out Alphabet Quilt

In the detail photo below, you can see the little space ships flying around in the green fabric.  Some of them even have little friendly aliens waving at us.

I quilted Spaced Out Alphabet  on my domestic machine with interlocking circles, alien stars and stippling.

Now, this quilt just needs a child to drag it around the house and make 'cubbies' in the lounge-room, then to have happy dreams under it at night.

PS:  another one off the UFO list!

Foundations

My most recent quilt finish is the first quilt made from a swap.  A few years ago now, a Yahoo group had a "Cobblestone Block Swap".  I took part in two months out of the twelve - Got The Blues and Japanese.  This is the quilt which started my sort of obessession with cobblestone and brick quilt blocks and the combinations which can be made from them.



Foundations - my first ever 'cobblestone' quilt.

The top for this quilt was made back in 2007 and then took a while to finish because I ran out of border fabric.  A lovely Australian lady had some of the fabric in her stash and she very kindly shared with me, therefore I was able to complete the quilt.  I still think of her kindness now some five years later.

A perfect lap size quilt, I have only quilted it during this past April, and now, in May, I have gifted it to my husbands' aunt who turned 90 recently.  The colours in the quilt when you look closely remind me of the wonderful colours in dimensional embellished china vases.

Unfortunately the photo was taken at night as a last minute thought before wrapping it up for gifting, hence the darkness.  A favourite quilt finish to be sure.

Ribbit.... Boing.... Ribbit..........

Oh Hello!

Good morning!

Look at what greeted me when I opened a surprise container from Lorraine at our sewing day earlier this week - a frog chorus!

These gorgeous little creatures are just ready to hop on out of the container, I'm surprised they were so well behaved from her house to mine as they look ready for a bit of mischief.....

After some chatting, sewing and lunch, Rosie and I discovered the delicious chocolate cake which was lurking under the green.  Mmmmmm... Yummmm....

Thank you Lorraine and Rosie for a wonderful birthday treat - sewing, lunch, girlfriends and laughter - nothing else needed.

It's a Girls Bag!

Some little girls are very girly, more so than others - therefore, when you get a birthday invitation for a little miss who is turning 3 what do you do?  Why, make a handbag of course!

Some floral fabric, spotty buttons and a bit of stiffening, gives you a very pretty bag with dimensional flower on the front.

Front of bag

 I have adapted the Evening Bag pattern from Nicole Mallalieu Design to make this fashionable little number.  So easy and so much fun to make - I want one too!

All Wrapped Up

Before Christmas 2011 - digging into my memory bank here - I wanted to make some gifts that were effective and best reflected the ladies I was making them for.  In the Moda book "Fresh Baked Treats"  I found the perfect gift to make - Jewellery Wraps.

They are beautiful.  A little bit of a fiddle, but oh so worth the effort.  I made one for my good friend Judy first...

Folded Up



Opened Out

The Outside

... then I got carried away and made them for my Mother In Law and both Sisters In Law.  I just fell in love with the colour combinations and it didn't matter what fabric choices I made, I felt that they were all fantastic.

Folded Up - Wraps for MIL, SIL1 and SIL2



The Insides



The Outsides

The best thing about these gifts, is that all four ladies are using them.  I think I hit the jackpot in gift choice - wonder what I'll make for next Christmas?

Snuggly Jumper

When you use pure wool, you can't help but get a really snuggly jumper that was a joy to knit.  Using TeAwa Wool (from New Zealand) - colour Barrier Reef, I knitted up this basic child jumper, size 5, with Patons Classic Kids pattern.

The Jumper!

I gave this particular jumper to a friend for her son.  I had the wool for so long that my children grew too much for me to knit anything for them with the quantity that I had!  oops! 

Off to look at what else I have to knit now.......

Busy with "Just Takes 2"

Since the beginning of the year, I've been following the fun over on the blog Just Takes 2 .  A new venture from Brenda at Dear Jane and Gay at Sentimental Stitches, this new project is turning out to be quite a bit of fun, well, actually, I'm loving every little part of it!  The philosophy is simple - 2 Friends and 2 Fabrics will make 2 Quilts.  The full history is on the Just Takes 2 Blog.

Here are my efforts so far this year.

Blocks 1 - 6 

 

Blocks 7 - 11




Blocks 12 - 13

I'm about a month behind at the moment, not having completed all of the March blocks due to my slowness at completing the optional Stitcheries.

Within one of the local quilt groups, there are approximately half a dozen ladies also working on 'Just Takes 2' and the variety of colours is fantastic.  You simply cannot choose a bad combination it seems when you add a cream or white to another colour.  It's so lovely to suddenly have a little group within a group to be sharing our quilt blocks - and the rest of the group is enjoying the eye candy I'm sure  :)