Makes 2013 :: looking forward to 2014

Hello 2014!

I really thought 2013 was going to be a year of change for me, and while it didn't really pan out that way I learned to accept things more and enjoy this moment in time in my life.  Particularly in the second half of the year I realised how lucky I am with my little family and our relatively trouble free life.  I ate better, I slept better, I felt happier, I embraced the every day more and worried less about the "should have, could have, would have".  I was offered a great job and then was un-offered it which was just crushing but it made me start to make some serious plans and find connections that were there just waiting for me all along.  The big changes I was looking for didn't happen but in the end I think I was happier for that.

That said, I hope again that there's going to be a lot of changes for me this year, I'm ready to shake off the full time stay at home mum label, I'm ready to use that teaching qualification I finished four years ago, I'm ready for more sewing and ready for having more fun with photography and I'm ready for a few changes to this blog for sure, nothing like a little shake up and refresh. A new look and a slight name change are brewing in my mind, but I will be tackling that all in good time (I've got my fourth party of guests for the holiday season arriving this afternoon...toilets need cleaning and beds need making!)

Due to a lack of access to my sewing room over the Christmas/New Years break I thought I'd start the year by looking back at some of my favourite makes for 2013 ::

I've never done a recap of a whole year of sewing and making before and I'm really pleased to see it all laid out like this.  A range of clothes for my boys (who says boys are hard to sew for!), skirts, tops and dresses for me, a spot of crochet, one cushion, one daycare blanket, one hat, one toy and some quilt blocks started this time last year that remain unprogressed 365 days later.  I started experimenting with knit fabrics (I'm still in the experimental phase there I think), did a good amount of upcycling/refashioning from found fabrics and op-shop garments and took part in some community sewing events such as Selfish Sewing Week and Kids Clothes Week (which is on again soon by the way, click here to find out more).  I also started making the clothing in my shop to a better standard, taking time to add trims and pockets and buttons that give the items a little more finished and polished look, and I've got plans to sew some new patterns to increase the range of things on offer there.  (I say every year that I must do more with my shop but it never happens, it remains a study in what happens when you put things for sale on the internet and then never promote them! And I'm happy with that right now.)

Here's hoping that 2014 is a happy year for you.

Now, lets get sewing!

Granny square blanket, meet my couch

It's high time I shared with you my finished granny square blanket.  I think this project took me a good 18 months to complete and in doing so it completely missed its intended purpose of being used in little boy's cot this winter.  In various stages of completion it has sat in a lump in the lounge room or hung in a bag from my wardrobe handle, I even faithfully dragged it around to a weekly knitting group I was attending last year (which was mostly some toddler chasing, lots of chatting and a little bit of crochet), it just would. not. end.  But now it is done and gracing my couch, albeit a little small to be anything more than a lap blanket.  C'est la vie, blanket, c'est la vie.

It's made from the relatively cheap Moda Vera wool from Spotlight, blue and white only, 20 squares all up. The squares themselves are nine rows each, either six rows of white, two of blue and one of white, or five of blue, two white, one blue and another white (sorry for the non-technical crochet speak there, I'm sure there's a more elegant way of describing that somehow). I sewed the squares together in five rows of four to make the blanket.

But oh no, it couldn't stop there, could it?  It needed a border, where to start?  I had been methodically making treble stitches around and around to make the blanket squares without being able to understand any other crochet stitch but then I looked up some online tutorials for making borders on blankets and a curious thing happened to me - I started to understand crochet. It just clicked and I fast made a 'flat border cluster' row from a tutorial at Handmade Wardrobe, then did a row of blue treble stitches, another of white and finally made a scalloped edge following instructions from Attic 24.  Ta-da!

After all the time it took me and the moments of hating how slow my progress was on this blanket in the end I was almost sad I had finished it.  Nothing like finishing on a high.

And nothing like getting snuggly with little person toes.

I think my days of playing around with wool are numbered for the rest of the year.  Spring just sprung here in Brisbane and for the first time in ages I went fabric shopping and came away with enough goodness to make three new garments for myself - almost time for 'hello sewing machine'.

A change, as good as a holiday, and one of those too

My winter time crafting fix has very surprisingly come in the form of crochet.  I had nearly given up on it and thought that finishing one small granny square blanket was going to be the death of me, but something just clicked and I was drawn to the hypnotic action of yarn and hook. 

I've also just been on a holiday to New Zealand so of course I packed the hook and a few balls of wool for the ride.  On a particularly balmy 10 degree (or so) day I sat outside our accommodation, on the shores of Lake Wanaka and indulged in the view and some crafting time, and a cup of tea (yes, my fingers got a bit cold, just had to keep them moving and then wrap them around the tea cup for respite!).

It was a peaceful and beautiful afternoon, no where to be, no body to look after.  I could look to the left to see snow topped mountains.

Or look to the right to see the township of Wanaka nestled around the shore of the lake. 

Too lazy to make a whole lot of individual squares and join them together I'm attempting a giant granny square blanket.  I've chosen cream, mint, lavender and a kind of oatmeal colouring.  

Not following any particular pattern, I crocheted with cream until I got sick of it and then changed to green, then decided on four rows of each colour and maybe back to cream, we'll see where it goes and how large it gets.  I hope this will be gracing the couch with its woolly warmth next winter at least.

Long weekending

A long weekend just gone here in Brisbane - the Queen's birthday.  A pity the weather was so terrible, I'm sure the rain scuttled many a long weekend getaway plans.  We stayed put though and just enjoyed each other's company.  There was a spot of crochet on possibly my longest running project ever...

Biscuit making and biscuit eating

Admiring illustrations and listening to translations of Russian children's stories

Making box cubbies and reading in them

Looking out at our soggy building site and willing our extension to be finished soon

 

Loving the warmth being pumped forth from our new wood heater.  Having this is making us so happy!

Time for tea, Mad Men and chocolate biscuits.  xx

Staying in

A wet, cold and windy Queen's birthday long weekend here.  Three out of the four of us are in various stages of recovery from a runny nose lurgy that swept through our household last week.  We are inside with the heater running and the oven on making chocolate cake, meringues and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Later I'll be putting in some lamb to slow cook with potatoes.  When it's cold go for comfort food I say.

The floor is strewn with Duplo, kid craft paper offcuts, baby toys and sandwich crumbs.  The dining table is covered with sewing, sheet music and recipes and the coffee table is covered with my crochet granny squares.  

This weather is great motivation to try and get to the finish line with my crochet blanket. I've got 18 squares done and I'm aiming for 20 squares to make a small 4 x 5 blanket.

I have to get those spaghetti ends woven in and then work out how to join them together and do a nice edging around the outside border.

  

I'm also working on my couch dint in the process.

Are you having a cozy long weekend too?

Random acts of crochet

  

Crochet, crochet, crochet. 

It's supposed to be white and blue, but I've just realised taking these photos that I have just re-stocked with cream wool instead of white, so I'll have to do a little unravelling.  That will teach me for working by lamp light in the evening, can't see my colours properly.  At least it's more like two steps forward and one step back. 

At first I was just practicing, but now its getting rather out of control - I really don't know where I'm going with this, I need some kind of a plan!

 Hope I don't have a case of...

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...crochet.

I hadn't been to Brown Owls for the longest time, but they were holding a learn to crochet class a few Saturdays ago so I made sure I was able to pop along.  The lovely Rebecca of Edward and Lily was on hand to teach the newbies the basics and I was lucky enough to sit next to a very gorgeous lady called Danielle who was also a most awesome crochet teacher and all round great to chat to.  At the end of two hours I hadn't made much progress, had stiff shoulders, slightly strained eyes, it was hot and the baby needed feeding. Sigh, I still couldn't see much to love in this crochet thing.

But I have persisted - the little stubborn character that I can be.  Lots of unravelling and starting again from scratch, plenty of consultation into the Meet me at Mikes craft book, looking at a few video tutorials on YouTube and persistance, persistance, persistance - I can now do myself a chunky granny square in one colour, thread ends are still dangling, still got to work that one out.  This is interesting, I'm not bored yet.