At last

I finally found an app to use with blogger so I can blog and upload pictures into it from my iPad.

Hopefully now I can get back to writing and sharing a little about myself with you all.

This is what I have been working on lately, I finished it a few weeks ago.

Where has the time gone

My oh my it's been a long time since I have blogged. I've been both busy and distracted. I've been working on uni, spending time with my lovely partner, cooking, knitting, crocheting and a little sewing. I've also been spending some time at church and at the local community garden. I'm resolved however to resume blogging more often even if it only short or just what's on my mind.

So for today, I've been working on a rainbow Babette inspired throw for my bed. I love the colours and can't wait to see how it comes together.

Dishcloths

What I've been up to

 New jewellery creation

 Cookies!!

 Helping my lovely sister with a food tech assessment.

My latest pair of socks. Bedsocks for hubby as requested

Results of my crafty weekend

Just quickly, I had 12 things on my list, I added one more because I forgot about it and from the final list of 13 items I was able to cross off 5 things. I unpicked the jacket, finished the dress and skirt (the additional item), sewed the granny squares together for the baby blanket and finished the other baby blanket which consisted of crocheting 2 full balls of yarn. That took up most of my time. After that my back was hurting and I lost motivation so I started a new pair of socks to work on on the train during the week. Overall I am happy with what I achieved.

Big UFO weekend plans

Like every crafter I have a collection of UFOs awaiting my attention. This is for a number of reasons:

1. Because I spend a lot of time on public transport or waiting for public transport, I often have portable projects on the go.

2. I see new ideas I just HAVE to try.

3. I do a lot of different crafts so it is not unusual for me to have something on the knitting needles, crochet hook, a hand sewing project as well as something cut, pinned and next to the machine.

4. Plus there is also the quilting problem of putting a top together and not having the appropriate batting or backing to go with it.

So this weekend while my lovely boyfriend is away at a family wedding I have made a list of things to finish. NOT things I want to make but things I have started and not yet finished. So far the number is 12 items. Oops. My list looks like this:

• granny square baby blanket - to pieced together
• granny square lap rug - needs more squares and piecing
• crochet baby blanket - needs another 10 rows
• jelly roll quilt - needs backing/quilting
• stacked coins quilt - needs corners reinforced
• yellow dress - needs hemming and one strap finished
• little black jacket - may be taken apart as I believe the sleeves went missing
• blue knit scarf - only half way through - may be taken apart and turned into a pair of socks
• I spy book - cut and pinned ready to sew
• ragged edge quilt
• zig zag quilt - hand quilting in progress
• crochet bag - needs straps

Now obviously they are not all going to get done this weekend I can get a start. Also, they may not all end up as they start. I anticipate the granny square lap rug turning into a scarf so I can use the rest of the wool for something else.

I'll have to post on monday morning and let you all know how I went with it all.

My new socks.

This is my first pair of socks I knit for myself. Obviously this it just one sock, this is before I finished the other one. Pretty snazzy hey. The reason it's stripey by the way was because I wasn't sure how much yarn the pair would take. Turns out I could have had them both done with one ball. Go figure.

My first sock :D

I've been fiddling with socks the last few days and finally finished something.

my lovely 'garden'

I picked up this little greenhouse a couple of weeks ago from one of my neighbours and the following saturday picked up some carnation, bean and pea seeds and carrot tape and started planting. 10 days later and this is what I have so far. The carrots are in the bottom box but won't be there long because my beans are getting very tall so I need to rearrange the shelves again.

What I've been up to lately

 I tried my hand at making fresh pasta the other day. Very tasty and quite simple.

 This is the raggy quilt I had cut and ready to make before my sewing machine died. Now I have my Janome I can finish it off.

 I bought this free standing wardrobe the other day, now I can store my crafty stuff with out getting it dusty.

Really bright white clouds last week.

On my mind

Apologies for the lack of posting lately, I've been busy with...well... life in general. I've been spending my time focusing on 3 things: my tafe course, my source of income, and my future. Let me explain.

1. My tafe course, while it is interesting is a lot of work. There are quite a few assessments to get through, the days are long, the transports a nightmare, they've just changed the timetable and the main tutor is a bit rough.

2. My income currently consists of centrelink. It's not glamourous I know but while I'm studying it provides what I need to make rent, bus fares and groceries. However my course is only for 6 months and I don't want to be on centrelink forever. I want/need to work on getting more/better income. I do want a job but I'm not planning on staying in the area long. I have been selling fabric and crafted items online and at the markets for a last few months but thus far it's not enough to provide a reliable wage.

I'd like to do the markets more often but I don't have a car as of yet to do them regularly. I have approached a couple of shops about selling my stuff on consignment so my next move is to go through my stuff and find the best stuff I have to sell.

3. My future consists of both the last 2 things but also of growing my fruits and herbs on my windowsill, learning how to make my own pasta and bread and other stuff, continuing to be frugal with my money, learning new skills and making plans to move in the next few months. I am very much looking forward to having my own house/flat where I don't have to worry about housemates and other stuff. I also can't wait to get out of my local area.

I can't wait to move to a place where I can do my own thing without people looking over my shoulder and where I have my darling boyfriend to take care of and make a life with.


So there you go. I've had a lot on my mind lately but am always learning new skills, drafting new projects and making plans for my future. I've eased off the craft forum and have been spending more of my time on the down to earth forum. I'm still crafting but am now spending more time just trying to get by rather than be inspired to buy yet more craft materials when I don't have much money. I'm thinking more about my future than right now at the moment, which is where I really need to be focused.

Catch up post

This is only a really quick post on my tafe break because their internet is WAAAAY faster than mine. So it's like this:

• tafe is ok. I'm doing a small business management course that I know a lot of so far...wish me luck.
• I LOATHE cityrail. They decided to have trackwork this week so not only am I up earlier than normal for my first week of tafe but I'm stuck on buses and and trains at funny times that don't match up with the service bus home from the station.
• I love love love my new sewing machine. I can't wait to explore with it further later on in the week when I'm not so tired.
• I'm going to see Sherlock Holmes on thursday. Anyone else seen it yet??
• Also going to see The Vow on the weekend with hubby for our 5 month anniversary. awww lol
• I'm in the middle of a raggy quilt I can't wait to finish as it will be the first thing I've made start to fnish on my new machine.
• I made scones last night. Very Very tasty.

Must dash, breaks over. Fast internet yes but not fast log in. Silly Tafe.

The Rag rug tut. And dessert.

found a recipe I had to try

with ice cream on the side and icing sugar on top, hubby approved

Now onto the tutorial.

Start with strips the same width. Snip a little slit near the end but not too close.

If you join strips this way they will look like this. Alternatively you can knot the ends together but this is less bumpy.

 To do so, get the next/2nd strip and poke it through the slit in the end of the last/1st.

Then, poke the end of the same/2nd strip through the slit of the 2nd strip.

 If you pull it gently it will end up looking like that first picture. Don't pull too tight in case you tear the slit. Don't be afraid to use your fingers to jiggle it down a little. It will look like that as the loop gets smaller before the knot is created.

The 'tool' I use is just a safety pin. You can poke the strip through the hole or you can just pin the pin onto the fabric. Whatever works for you.

 To start you have the knotting strips (white) and the guide - is what I'm calling it. In this case I have used green to show you the difference and so you can see how it shows up later. You don't have to use different colours if you want them to blend.

Join them as instructed above and drape the white ( which will be hereto referred to as the 'feed' strip) over the green (guide) in a 'q' shape.

As with making a knot tuck your feed strip under you guide and up through the loop you left in your 'q'.

 Pull as tight as you wish for your pattern.

Keep going until you reach the desired length using your guide as a...guide.

To determined length, work out whether you want a circle, oval or squared off shape - more about this later.

 To widen, turn your work and drape your guide around an imaginary corner.

From now on in you knot BOTH around your guide and the loop from the last row.

 Continue around your corners watching your work grow.

If you are doing one in the round you may need/want to do 2 stitches in the same hole around the 'corners' to account for any curling up around the edges.

If you find later that there is too much fabric and it is bunching up you are also able to skip a stitch and move on to the next hole. Work it out as you go along.

This photo was taken a couple of hours later after I taught my boyfriend how to do this.

Notes:

As you can see, the green guide fabric is still visible. This is not always the case depending on the thickness of your strips and the tightness of your knots.

To finish the rug simply choose an appropriate place i.e. not in the middle of a row where it's noticeable. Try to blend it in. Tie a knot onto the stitch next to yours and tuck the strip in so it wont come out and unravel anywhere. You'll figure it out but basically you just tie it to something, there is no magic way.

As mentioned you can go around and around or in straight lines. Round is easy. To make a circle make a relatively short first row and go around it. For an oval make it longer to stretch it out.

To make a straight edged rug takes more focus. As you can see round builds on itself, with straight lines though you need to continually use your guide strip to make new rows. You are essentially zig zagging your guide all the way through your piece. While it is relatively easy, the tricky part is keeping all your edges the same size because they are loops so you have to pull them tight but not too tight.

There are other methods of making rag rugs: crochet and braiding and stitching. I have tried both of these methods and found this to be the easiest one out there.

As for the strip width - the size of your rug depends on the strips. The rug will be thicker if you use a wider strip. The same could be said for a thicker fabric.

As for your tool. I use a safety pin because it suits my strip size and has a hole I can thread through. I have seen people use a toothbrush shank - if you buy the ones with the hole in the handle.

Good luck and happy knotting.

P.S. I taught my boyfriend how to do this in about 10 minutes the other day. He picked it up quite well. He is blind, so he learnt how hands on, without the pretty pictures.

Happy Saturday!

Just a short post to say

I Get My New Sewing Machine Today!! *happy dance*

Also, my internet has been particularly painful so I haven't been able to post when I want to be nor upload photos. I plan to work around this later.

My friday was spent tidying house. I like it to be clean when boyfriend comes to visit so he doesn't bump into things and such. Then we proceeded with the quiet night in I had planned: a nice dinner and movies. That is until my brother showed up with no warning and the rest of the night was spent 'watching' the cricket. Yay fun!

I was able to work on my latest crochet while they were doing that and prior to dinner I even taught hubby how to make a rag rug. He got a bit addicted. Kept saying 'I'm running out of strips' and I was thinking yea but I'm making dinner, it'l take longer if I have to keep making you strips LOL


Have a lovely day everyone and hopefully there will be pictures for you all later.

Take two

So apparently there was a slight mix up with the winner of my giveaway so I am having a redraw.

The new winner is Geniene!!

Also on my mind... I went shopping yesterday and stocked up on lots of lovely fresh fruit and veg. Plus I bought some gardening stuff and am now trying to grow some seedlings on my windowsill. I have parsley, cherry tomatoes and strawberries. Wish me luck.

And the winner is.....

Drum roll please *brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* EVIE!!!!!!

Congrats. If you get me your details I will get about sending you your lovely fabric.


Apologies for the late and rather short post but my internet is be really difficult today.

In my head + my giveaway

My brain is full of lots of things at the moment so rather than write some wonderful cohesive post I'm going to be lazy and use dot points.

• I've lost 2.5 cm from my waist measurement in the last 5 days. Don't know how but there you go.
• I'm looking forward to starting Tafe on Monday.
• I may possibly have a babysitting job for the other days of the week.
• I may possibly have use of a car in very near future *fingers crossed*
• I'll be getting my new sewing machine on Saturday. So stoked!! So many things to finish and lots of things I want to start.
• My computer screen is currently pink. Don't know why but it's quite annoying.
• I really do need a new laptop. This desktop is a refurbished previously dead one from a friend. However, I really want/need a new sewing machine more than I want/need a new laptop. I will be able do stuff at tafe, the library and boyfriend has super fast internet connection at his place too.
• Entries for my giveaway end tomorrow so hop over here and comment because there are only 4 entries so far.
• I'm really really over this heat. Bring on winter!
• The heat has not only upset my sleep and domestication but my crafting too. I can't sit still long enough to focus on anything and I really don't want to play with wool or big (read:warm) items that need to be hand stitched.

So there you go. That's my little outpouring for today. And in case you missed it the first time, my giveaway ends tomorrow if you want to win that cute charm pack.

"A woman is like a tea bag, you never know how strong she is until you get her in hot water"

Down to Earth

Morning all

Today I thought I'd blog about what I've been reading lately. Along with my daily perusal of the craft forum I've been hanging out over at downtoearthforums.com  This forum, hosted by Rhonda over here is all about simple living.

I've been reading it for a few months and honestly I just LOVE it there. There are so many great things on offer from recipes, diy tips, ideas for cleaning, cooking, growing fruit and vegies, raising chickens, milking cows etc as well as a whole host of crafty tuts and ideas. Not to mention subforums on frugal living, ways to save money and live green.

I think it's fantastic. I've always felt like I don't quite fit in anywhere because I'm happier at home with a craft, a good book or a new recipe to try out rather than shopping, partying or drinking like my peers and...most of society really. But when I stumbled upon this forum I felt like I found my place. In this little corner of the world there are people just like me who would rather take note of a dress design and try their hand at making it rather than put it on credit and regret it later. People who have containers of spaghetti sauce, soups and meat in usable portions in their freezer, along with stores of flour, sugar, pasta, lentils etc in their pantry for later, just like me.

It's a great place to hang out honestly because it's visitors have such a wealth of information. You can get in there an ask questions about just about anything and chances are someone knows, and if not, they'll work out how to do it and put up a handy tutorial to show you how to do it too.

Now this is not a gimmick, I was not asked to write a rave post, I just had to. After reading Rhonda's blog this morning I just had to share my excitement. Today's post included info about stockpiling groceries and cooking extra to freeze. I was reading through it thinking 'tick tick tick' because I do most of that already. It made me so happy to think I had finally found a bunch of like minded people to chat with.

Tennis and Etsy

My last few days have been spent crafting as well as cutting and listing fabric. I finally packed up my craft table from all my beading.

This is what I did while hubby watched the tennis on friday night.

Beading the other day before packing up

Prep-ing bangles

I have both an ebay store and an Etsy store. My etsy link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/designsbyrai
The ebay link is only temporary until I set up a business one but here it is http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/loveylovacious/m.html?hash=item1c2350f0d8&item=120851591384&pt=AU_Fabric&_trksid=p4340.l2562

fat quarter bundle

fat quarter bundle

fat quarter bundle

charm pack

Sewing machine.

The long and the short of it is that I am AGAIN looking for a new sewing machine. Mine slowed to a crawl and when I took it back because it was still under warranty they took my Brother and gave me store credit. Not impressed. So I'm on the hunt again. Trying to work out which brand to buy and work out my finances. I've been looking for a few weeks and out of the blue stumbled upon a Janome store in Moss Vale that not only sells fabric, wool and other bits and pieces but machines too. Including a Janome one that just came on sale and will be until the end of March, so take that.

How is your Saturday so far? Any big plans for this weekend?

'that's not a knife, this is a knife'

I came into Crocodile Dundee II halfway through last night and couldn't help but watch it. He's such a cheeky bugger. I don't think I've ever seen the second one all the way through. Some interesting tactics in those movies, and good lines - 'Must be why they call it the city on wheels, no one even gets out of their car to mug you.'

Any other Paul Hogan fans out there?

I'm only human

Yesterday was as promised, spent finishing the squares for my baby blanket and doing some beading. I just need to stitch the squares together now and I have 10 more bracelets to add to the market jewellery box.

Today's plan however, is exercise. I have all the best intentions for getting myself fit and in better health. I have never been a small girl and recently found out that one day I WILL be diabetic. The only way to combat that before it gets unmanageable is to reduce my weight. The other big problem I have is that I have serious issues with my back that prevent me from overdoing it as far as exercise. I have in the past had gym memberships and at the moment am even renting a treadmill. I even have the wii fit, weights and a whole host of exercises and stretches to help my body but I just can't help it. I am so unmotivated some days. Honestly some days yes I'm just lazy but sometimes I'm just so scared I'll hurt my back again. Every time I put the effort in I end up on my back in pain for the next three days. It's painful and scary and there's really nothing I can do about it until it happens.

So as I said I need to get off my butt and use this dam treadmill I've been staring at for 2 months yet only used twice. Don't get me wrong, I exercise, quite a bit actually. I do a lot of walking, public transport has that effect. And carrying groceries home from the bus. Big fun. The trouble is it's only enough to maintain my current weight, not help me lose any so I need to CAREFULLY pull out the big guns and get moving.

I've done this before you know. I've made all sorts of resolves to improve my health but now...I trusted my instincts to get tested and I was right. I will get sick if I don't do something about this. So my motivation has to hurry the heck up and kick in and stick around this time.

Sigh, am off to hula hoop and flap my arms in a giant virtual chicken suit, AFTER I get back on the horse...I mean treadmill. I'm only human you know.

P.S. Don't forget my giveaway is still open til Feb 1.

rainy day = inside crafting

It's so grey and miserable outside. I would love to be sitting in front of my machine getting some things done but sadly I am without a machine at the moment so will have to make do with other projects.

baby blanket - fill in the blanks

baby blanket I finished a few weeks ago.

 I decided at the end of last year that I was going to stop putting projects aside for 'one day' when I actually have kids or someone to give kiddie things too and figured 'bugger it' I'll just start a baby box for myself. Which gives me oodles of time to do things like baby booties that I tried the year before last for my nephew.

Also,those boxes of beads have been on that table for weeks now, I really need to put them away or use them, or both. Hmmmm choices.....

ten things you might not know about me

Just because. Feel free to play along.

1. I have a beautiful orange kelpie x border collie who lives at mum's place. I miss her. She waddles - not cuz she's fat but the curve in her spine looks really funny.

2. I have a thing about black nail polish. No particular reason why.

3. I miss the kids I au paired every day.

4. I can't wait to hoe into some Cadbury easter eggs.

5. I love music.

6. I can't leave the house without my sunglasses. My astigmatism gives me light sensitivity.

7. I can walk all day but run for a minute and I can't breathe for the next 10. Go figure

8. Chicken kiev has to be one of my favourite foods.

9. I love me some Disney movies.

10. I really hate making the bed.


Anyone else want to join in? You can comment or post on your own blog. I'll come read it.

Crochet dishcloths

I've been doing a lot of reading at Down to Earth forums over the last few months and was recently inspired to try my hand at some crochet dish cloths. This is what I have so far. It's not finished yet and is made with leftover cottons but I think it's pretty good for a first attempt.

"If you judge people you have no time to love them" Mother Teresa

First giveaway of 2012

So I started this morning by pouring milk on my feet. Yes of course I did this deliberately. haha Have you ever had one of those days where you fill your bowl with cornflakes and they land just so you end up with a little ski jump on top. I poured the milk, it hit said ramp, went all over the bench and over the bowl onto my feet. I am just so cool :D

On to the giveaway. I have a whole bunch of fabric precuts going up for sale in the next few days ( when my internet plays nice) and I figured it would be nice to start off by giving one to a lucky blog reader. You will receive a 40piece charm pack containing 2 of each of the pictured fabrics.

Also, I was thrifting yesterday and ended up with 2 copies of the same book - the original and the reprint, so I shall add one to the mix as well. It's a pretty cool book, it has patterns, ideas and how tos as well as the basics for quilting.

To enter, Australian residents ( who should hopefully already be following my blog) just need to comment and tell me what fabric you can't go past. For me it's anything purple. I have to have a second look when I see purple or blue prints. So come on, fess up.

1 entry for commenting
1 entry for following me (if you already do just let me know)
1 entry for blogging about my giveaway

The winner will be drawn on Feb 1st.