My creative space....

I have decided to join in with Melissa at One Crafty Mumma and do a Ripple-along!  Now I could have easily used up some of the stash in my cupboard but it was all so bright and lary and made up of bits of this and bits of that.  And while I would have much preferred to be able to wander into a lovely wooly shop like The Stash Cupboard, Hobart was just too far away (Sorry Penni!), so I went with the old faithful and had an emergency dash to Spotlight.

 

I saw this pin on pinterest that inspired my colour choice as well as my decision to go with fat ripples.
 

Source: hellosmitten.tumblr.com via Sonia on Pinterest

 

 My colour choices - trying to keep it simple.



 

Now I just have to settle on which ripply pattern to follow:

(click on the image and it will take you to the respective patterns)

 

The Royal Sisters...

 

Attic 24...

 

Meet Me at Mikes...

 

And, hark!  What else did I spy at Spotlight?! 



Timber Babushka cross stitch!  Well of course I needed two!

This is where I am up to with my scrappy quilt along thingy.  Just two more blocks and I think I am done.  Then of course I have to work out what to do next!!!  This is not the final placement of each square - I just needed to lay it all out to see what colours I need to go with for may last two pieces.  I'm thinking a greeny block and maybe a purple one too.

 

My creative space....

Winner of the Simply Crochet Magazine....

 

So I should have drawn this last night but then I ended up teaching again all day yesterday, flying home for a shower and a freshen up and heading straight out to my other job at Sussan!  When I got home from that last night all I wanted was a foot massage and a wine/whine!

 

Google sent me to this random number generator which then picked number 7.  The seventh commenter on the Simply Crochet Magazine giveaway was the lovely Brenda from Mira Narnie.

Send me a message lovely lady with your address and I'll post it out to you! 

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.)

Simply Crochet Magazine Giveaway

 

Somehow (when I say somehow, it really is not a mystery since I purchased both of them!  I just couldn't wait for my newsagent to get me a copy in so ordered one online from the Lark shop when I noticed they had them last week!)I have ended up with two copies of the lovely Simply Crochet Magazine, published by the same crafty peeps who put out Mollie Makes and The Simple Things.  These are UK magazines that I am slightly addicted to and are of the type that I seem to purchase for the pretty pictures, then can't seem to part with and end up having a lovely stash on my shelves!

 

Now I don't need both of them obviously so I thought you might like one, yes?!

 

The magazine really is quite lovely with some great patterns and loads of inspiration and pretty pictures.  Loads of funky crochet and not so much of the scary old fashioned nanna craft if you get my meaning! It comes with two free hooks attached and I'll throw in that lovely yellow ball of yarn to start you off on your granny square journey.

 

To win just leave me a comment below and make sure you leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win!  I'll pick a winner next Friday night, February 15th, when I get home from work.  You must live in Australia too.

 

Good luck!

 

First Day Photos

School and kinder resumed late last week and mother's everywhere breathed a collective sigh of relief, at least in this house they did!  School holidays are such a mixture of emotions.  Slower paced days, sleep-ins, playgrounds and other various activities are all fine and dandy but, oh, the incessant fighting between my three!  The whole Cruise Director hat I must put on to keep everyone entertained!  The picking up of lego!  The putting away of eleventy billion textas and pencils! 

 

My little people go into Grade 3 (where apparently the Real Homework begins!), Grade 1 and Four year old kinder this year.  That means for 15 hours every week this mamma has no babies at home!

 

 

Don't worry.  I do remember when they really were all babies.  Here's Matilda all fresh and new, Isaac at 2 and Oscar at 4.  It is not a lie when they say that time really does fly.

 

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?

Run Forrest, Run!

 

 

 

Every time my alarm goes off at some ungodly hour of the morning I think of this woman who switches it off and rolls over for an extra bit of snooze time.  Then I think of how pasty and unhappy she looks for the rest of the ad compared to her healthy version. 

That literally gets me out of bed.

 

This morning I ran just over 8km.  The whole way.  Without stopping.  I'm aiming for 10km but after that I'm not sure what.  Running for more than an hour just seems kinda boring.  I play music during my runs and get little updates on how I'm doing with the Runkeeper app.  My shuffle button is quite intuitive too... every time I feel like stopping and walking a peppy upbeat song comes on and off I go! To name a few... Pat Benatar (All Fired Up), Transvision Vamp (I Want Your Love), Guns and Roses (Civil War), Madonna (Like a Virgin, Express Yourself, Like a Prayer), Bonnie Tyler (Faster than the Speed of Light), Tina Turner (The Best, Nutbush City Limits, Proud Mary), Cindy Lauper (Girls Just Want to Have Fun), Aerosmith (Janie's Got a Gun) and when the going gets really tough on comes Eye of the Tiger! 

 

 

I have a wee running companion too!

(see all those leaves and tree branches in the background... his favourite activity is eating everything in the garden!)

Milo turned 1 today! 

He is finally learning to run at my pace rather than his and when I go out in the early mornings I always feel a bit safer with him next to me.  I wager he's better than taking another person in terms of motivation because he still gets me out and active as he needs exercise too and he doesn't expect me to make any conversation!  While I love a merry bit of exercise with a friend you can't talk and chat while also attempting to breathe!

Look how cute he was when we first got him!!!