Week 48

I have a jumpy eye. i am told it is stress related. best i start crafting MORE! told hubbie that I am not allowed to stress, but only to craft. he didn't believe me. i tried.

this is my project for week 48 - something new to me..cables...am very scared, but my knit club say its easy so am giving it a whirl. will let you know how i get on!

  

i also worked on a baby quilt this weekend. but am afraid i cannot show it here until september when it goes to the expectant mama. last time i posted a pressie on here, she saw it...see i have to kill two birds with one stone: bird one = challeng, bird two = gifts for friends!

you will have to take my word for it, made a new block, and worked on some old....lots of colour, lots of fun. i have a brand new book which am savouring, will share it with you next time. right now, its way past kids bedtime, and they are still watchign olympics...so best i go tuck them under their quilts xxx

ps. look at my loot from i heart market - for lovers of fine crafts and supporters of really clever people, its a must visit spot. first saturday of every month at moses mahbida stadium

 

Week 47 - 30 july

i treated myself to some delicious sock yarn...four balls was an extravagance but i told myself i deserved it. the plan: to make a blanket. it wasn't a very well thought out plan, in fact i have a teeny tiny feeling, if i am truthful to myself, i simply NEEDED that yarn and so hastily made a "plan" of what i needed it for.

charmed with the result of two squares I was not...but at least i tried two new crochet blocks...

the "plan" is out the window, and my yarn will probably end up in a shawl/cowl/snood like article. watch this space.
ps. 7 weeks of challenge left. but after week 46 of no show of anything new, lets add another week to the 54, making it 55....anyone out there feel i am clinging to this challenge? seriously, its the best thing i have ever done for myself. you shoudl try it. let me know how you get on. imagine if we all did this, how inspiring that would be!

Week 46 - 23rd July

this has been a busy past 6 weeks of work...so not much new on the challenge myself front, although i did continue with my hexies and with my knitted log cabin blocks....look how my piles have grown...

afraid at the moment work takes the front seat and my crafts have sadly slipped to the back, but craft on i do, although only on the weekends at the moment....

week 45 - 16 july

we had a fantastic birthday weekend camping on the beach. i tried something new - a lace sacrf and oh my word, people say never say never. But seriously. Never again! unpicked 9 times, this is a do-not-interrupt scarf...sorry if i am repeating myself but haven't blogged for a month, with no internet access on my "blog machine".

here is the scarf nearly finished...spot the mistake!

find the mistake? no? well thats good then, all is well. if you did find it, tough luck, i have been told real knitters unpick, but i believe only masochists unpick more than 9 times!

well at the saeside i crocheted...a lot..in my defence it was ugly weather, cold and windy...and then i yarn bombed the surroundings...this blanket is inspired by the sea, surf, sand and fauna.

 

so that was week 45!

Week 44 (only 10 weeks left of my challenge)

Yes, 10 weeks to go. Remember I added an additional 2 weeks onto the original 52 week challenge? It has become such a way of life for me now, I am not sure I can be parted with this challenge just yet. I may have to refine it, and make a 52 week finish something challenge, although some of my projects are so big, and week, or weekend, won't give them justice. But I definitely need to do something every week, I cannot slip back into old ways of not creating for weeks on end, I just can't.

I hope I have affected others to do the same thing, or to get creative. My husband is certainly crafting up a storm, his X Wing complete with flashing lED lights and fibre optics is becoming a masterly masterpiece of model work. The kids are also caught up in the model and making frenzy...look at these little artworks they made whilst playing restuarant owner and chef this week " Yes A, I own this place, amazing isn't it?" Says my nine year old to her imaginery friend, then my boy says "Table 5 is waiting, they want a BIG breakfast"....

cupcake delight

burger with egg, fries, peas and cupcake to finish

After a hectic 4 weeks solid of work work work, I am finally on holiday with my two littlies. I have been wandering in and out my craft/sewing space, not quite knowing what to do with my time...so I did a little of everything I could find...

Hexagons - english paper piecing has never grabbed me, until now. Having portable projects is a must, and with a caravan holiday looming, and exile from my sewing machine, hexagons on the go go seemed a perfect choice. I have followed the blogs, the hexagon fanatics, and after whipping up a few of my own can see the joy they bring!

Lucky I have some perspex templates to trace around on freezer paper and also to cut out the fabric. I also found an old stash of 2 x 2 inch squares, so have made myself some to take away...

and then, despite having several crocheted and knitted blankets on the go, well, whats one more?! I have tried this block before in brights but a blue and green sea theme grabbed me...this one will be for the van, I think it will look good draped on a  deckchair alongside the sea shore...oh I do love to be beside the seaside, I do love to be beside the sea....

AND if that wasn't enough I bounced off to do some paper piecing or foundation piecing, 4" blocks from my new e-book of sewing notions...

..and sewed them onto Woollies recyclable bags and voila, designer shoppers to give to friends!

Feeling guilty at starting new stuff, when the old is packed tightly all around me, I finally finished my ripple cushion to go with my blooming flower cushion, so the van will look sweet with this pair on the weekend...

...hand "quilted" with premier cotton in long running stitches onto a purple dot shwe shwe backing.

So, that was week 44. Now what shall I do in week 45?

xoxoxoxooxox

Week 43

WHOOOOOHOOOOOO!
I have FINALLY dyed my own fabrics! This is something I have wanted to do for a very long time, especially since my foray into the art quilting side where hand dyeds are the best thing to work with. The depth of colour and shades, and oooooohhhhhh just love hand dyed fabric!

I could have started playing, but i am such a "course dependent" type person that I like to be shown something, at least just a little in order to give it a go. I wish I were more like my good friend J, she just leaps right in and her creativity knows no bounds. She is the most inspirational, give it a go and see what happens person I know and I don't know what she gets from working alongside me, but for me, she teaches me to let go, don't be scared, just jump! And look what we produced together yesterday:

The Quilt Indaba, hosted by Grass Root Quilters Guild, is held every two years I think? They always have classes for beginners, and advanced quilters, as well as a dyeing course or two. Helga Beaumonts class yesterday, was fabulous. We mixed up 15 different dye colours, and dyed fabric, lace, scrim and threads. To edn up with 30 fabrics, 15 dark and 15 lighter, as well as experimented with different dyeing techniques. J and I had a great day! After work today, I rinsed, washed and ironed my fabrics. Have a look at how pretty they are:

too much of lovliness!

So happy to share these beautiful vibrant fabrics with you. Now I really need to go to sleep as my head is buzzing with ideas of where to use them...and how I must go and buy some soda ash tomorrow!

xoxoxoxooxoxoxo

Week 42

Am "dyeing" (hahahhaha) to show you my week 43, but lets not jump the gun here. Lets finish off with week 42. Week 42 was a mixed bag, with some entrelac knitting and some fabric folding.

This is easier than it looks. You take a circle, and a square. The square's corners must touch the edges of the circle. Cut out a freezer paper circle. I used perspex templates. Iron the shiny side of the freezer paper onto the back of the fabric. Cut around the circle, leaving a bit more than a 1/4 inch all around. Thread a strong thread and run a running stitch around the edge of the fabric - be careful, if it frays, use fraycheck. Then pull up the thread to gather the raw edge closely around circle. Iron in place. You can now remove the freezer paper, unless you aren't ready to stitch, in which case leave it in so it holds its shape.

Then take the square shape, and cut a square of batting and a square of fabric for the inside piece. Once you have removed the freezer paper from the circle, lay first the batting in the centre (on the wrong side of the circle) and then put the fabric, right side facing you, on top. You will then fold the edges of the circle over the square, to hide the edges of the square, using a running stitch to secure - I used a perle hand dyed embroidery thread from House of Embroideries.

And TA DA you have a beautiful Japanese folded block, that is PRE-QUILTED! You join them by using a tiny ladder stitch, so you do not get a ridge.

Look what my man has been doing in his man cave, armed with manly airbrush...

for a novice airbrusher, i think he is pretty damn good. all that dormant talent, lying wasted all these years. well he sure is making up for lost time, i don't see him all night!

So, week 42 is done and dusted....go to week 43 and read on...just fulfilled a long time dream of mine, dyeing my own fabric.

xoxoxoxoxoox