In absentia....

Olivia the Pig fabric made into a sweet wee girly skirt.

Progress on my ripplealong rug started with a whole bunch of people over at One Crafty Mumma.

To much running equals plantar fasciitis.  Whoops.  Still running in Run for the Kids though in two weeks time.  I'm embracing the pain!  (And strapping it and having some proper treatment just to be on the safe side!)

My completed quilt top from the scrappy quilt along that was doing the rounds on instagram.  Just got to teach myself what to do next!!!

Some crochet blankety progress.  It needs to be bigger!

 



 

I have not been here.  I have been everywhere else instead.  Mostly working (relief teaching) and lots of running with a little bit of parenting thrown in for good measure.  And some craft. 

So while I may not have been physically here I am actually still here.  Reading all my favourite bloggy things, wasting time on Pinterest, instagramming till the cows come home.  Basically as much procrastination as you can possibly imagine.

 

I would looooove to have a big clean up here.  Getting a real person to show me how to pretty this place up.  Use an actual camera for photos instead of repeated instragram ones.  Commit to blogging more regularly.  It takes time though, and that's just not on my side at the moment. 

 

I say thank goodness too that this revolting Melbourne hot spell appears to be coming to an end tomorrow as well.  Can everyone give me a halla-bloody-lujah!?

My creative space...

I've just come off the back of three days relief teaching after already working my usual weekend job at clothing store.  To say that I am exhaustemated would be an understatement.  I stupidly have also been going to bed late and then getting up early so I can go for a run.  Blonde, I hear you say. 

 

There has been a complete lack of crafting as a consequence.  I have this little table set up next to my chair at night time while I try a squeeze a square or two out but that's about it.

 

And over the back of my chair in the craft room sits this lovely pile of sewn together strips ready for the iron and some more cutting as I slowly make some wonky squares for the scrappy quilt along that is going on over on instagram.  It has quite recently occured to me that once I have finished my squares I really don't quite know what to do next.  I should probably get on to that!

 

There is only one day left to comment and win a copy of the Simply Crochet magazine too.  I'll be picking a winner on Friday night.

 

(My creative space is a regular Thursday gig on Kidspot.)

My creative space...

Some very relaxed creating around here this week after the big finale of Mario!  According to my stats 122 people hit on him for a looksie so that was nice to feel the love after all that hardwork!  It's lovely to see him being put to use as well as the boys wake up at some ungodly hour and sit wrapped up in him while quietly watching cartoons and waiting for me to feed them.

 

I started trialling some new crochet squares for a new baby blanket.  This pattern is out of a Mollie Makes magazine and I have used it before to make a lovely cushion.  I love the puff stitches and the cluster stitches in the centre circle which is why I keep coming back to it.

 

I've been watching some beautiful colours and quilt blocks emerge over on instagram under the tag #scrappyquiltalong so I thought I might give it a go.  Who cares that I know nothing really about quilting!  I can see how these are addictive!  This is my first one and it was very simple to do and used up some scrappy bits I have been unable to part with my from my stash.

I have followed this tutorial...

 

And since I can't justify watching rubbish on tv without busy hands I made this simple but super pretty crochet motif from this lovely book last night.  I think they would be lovely as a set done in twine or something and then used as coasters.  The pattern was so easy to do!
 

 

What have you been creating this week?

Crochet Quilting!

I am certain I have blogged about this wonderful combination of quilting and crochet before (but I simply cannot find it in my blog post search).

Source: sewingdaisies.com.au via Sonia on Pinterest

Heidi at Sewing Daisies blog has shared this very thorough tutorial on exactly how she managed to create this beauty! 

 I, for one, am heading to a fabric store this weekend to grab a charm pack to give it a whirl!

Quilting 101

There are no fancy sewing feet around these parts!  There are no fancy instructions!  There is loads of guessing and guesstimating!  There is a vague knowledge that quilts exist and have a front and back and middle.  And that's about where I am up to.

I bought a pack of pretty squares and sewed them all together.  Who needs a quarter inch foot when you can just use the edge of whatever foot you have on your maching as a guide!?  I went to Spotlight and had a nice lady tell me I needed cotton batting to pop in the middle and have just used some housy Ikea fabric for the back.  I just pinned all three layers together and now I am about to stitch down the lines where all the squares meet - I believe this is called 'stitching in the ditch'!  I am sooooo quilt savvy!

And look, here's an appallingly bad iphone photo of where I am up to! 

I shall report back on whether this was successful sans walking foot on my machine! 

A wee birdy also told me I might not even have to use bias binding on the edges of the quilt!  Apparently if I trim it down nice and neatly round all four sides, I should be able to just fold the housy fabric over (like a skirt hem) and sew it down and use that as the binding!

Real quilters must be having a conniption about now!

My creative space....

This post should be called... 'My failed attempt at using a hot glue gun!'  I am making some rainbow ribbon wands for Matilda's birthday next month...

Source: icingdesignsonline.blogspot.com via Sonia on Pinterest

...and the instructions say to just use a glue gun to stick your two pieces of fluffy cloud together.  Sounds simple enough.  I did a quick Bunnings run, purchased said glue gun, plugged it in and gave it a test run!  I must say, there must be some knack for using one of these without burning your fingers, having messy strings of hot glue attach themselves to everything but the thing you want them to and then having the hot glue harden and firm before you get anything glued to it!  Any tips from seasoned hot glue gun users????

I am totes just going to sew around these babies instead!

I've also decided to try my hand at quilting this week (cue laughter!!!!).  Surely it can't be that hard, right???  I've had two packs of these squares (moda little apples by Aneela Hoey) in my fabric stash...

 ...for a wee while and was going to crochet into them to make a combination crochet/quilt but have decided instead to try this tutorial for an easy (!!!????) mini quilt.

Source: gingercake.typepad.com via Sonia on Pinterest

Please don't ask me why I am starting new crafty projects 5 seconds out from Christmas with absolutely no actual Christmas shopping done.  I of course am not really prepared for this Rainbow party in early December either and am supposed to be finishing off my handmade kris kringle gift.  I started a new job last week too, my house looks like a pigsty and there was so many clothes sitting in my foldups/ironing chair that tonight instead of folding and ironing it I picked it all up and delivered it to the couch in the front room where I didn't have to look at it anymore. Please tell me I am not alone in this!

Possibly more organised creative types hang out at Our Creative Spaces every Thursday.

Editing to add this:

One finished quilt top!!!!  Now what's the next step again???

Why I love blogs!

Because you see images like this:

(image from Meet me at Mikes - thanks Pip!)

and get all inspired to make your own!

You come across others with the same idea:

(image from One Red Fox)

Then, because you really don't know what you are doing, lovely people blog FREE tutorials so you can teach yourself!

(image from You Go Girl!)



Apparently when wanting to crochet into fabric it's all about the blanket stitch around the edge first which gives you the foundation to crochet into!

Can you see where I am going with this??!!  I feel a big, new project on the cards!