It would have to be while I’m having a giveaway that blogger has a hissy fit!! I’m afraid some people’s comments have been disappearing, I’m hoping I’ve fixed the problem by altering comment moderation. I’ve decided to extend the giveaway in hope that those who’s comments have vanished can re – comment and still enter. Please check that your comment is still there, and if not, please comment again (I know a lovely lady in Alaska left a comment, I didn’t get to look at your blog and now your comment is gone š
Soory about all this mucking around, bad timing!
Improvements?
A few of you have been having trouble leaving comments here. I’ve hopefully fixed the problem now, please let me know if you still have trouble.
Dyeing for Christmas Cake
A little word play in the title there (heh, heh). Sooo, I became interested in dyeing recently after seeing this mandala baby blanket on Sara’s blog. I wanted one for bubs for Christmas, but due to her current renovations Sara was unable to make one at this time.
In my typical DIY fashion I figured I’d try some dyeing for myself.
Love the colours in this tie dye. I’ve been doing some practice swatches with homespun. Haven’t been brave enough to try my silk yet, but after these very funky and cool results I’m not so worried.
I tied this one randomly in bunches and scrunchy bits and dribbled dye randomly (but a bit carefully!) This has lead me to a new discovery – I love dyeing!!
Thanks Sara!
I’m making my first ever Christmas Cake this year. I don’t know why I never have, I love fruit cake! I guess increasingly having a number of mouths to eat the end product helps. Here is my fruit soaking in brandy.
And here is the mixture ready for the oven. I’m using the “Prize winning fruit cake” recipe recommended to me by my Mum in law from the Australian Women’s Weekly Celebration Cookbook. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Remember the giveaway is still on until Sunday.Ciao for now!
A gorgeous day
I woke this morning feeling really tired, but as soon as I peered out the window my spirits were revived. It was a glorious summer’s morn.
I felt it would simply be wrong to let the day pass without taking the children out for a picnic. So we packed up some lunch and headed to the local gardens. We found the perfect spot under the shade of a great willow.
The boy took the opportunity to sketch in his art journal.
I love the way he so carefully looks out for his little sisters.
A big old peppercorn tree, just right for climbing.
The gardens are really pretty with little ponds and streams. Intellectually disabled people work here and do a great job helping to maintain the plants.Thank God for natural beauty and happy days!
A little angel tutorial
For one angel you’ll need the following:
1 wooden bead with a hole through the centre (I used a 14mm bead, you can go larger if you wish)
A white chenille stick, 4 inches long
Small wool felt pieces
Scraps of yarn for hair, or you can use carded wool
Beads, sequins etc for embellishing or embroidery floss
Pigma pen or paints
Craft glue
Gather your yarn into 3.5 inch long lengths and tie in the middle with a piece of yarn, double knot it.
Glue hair on head towards the back so it doesn’t cover the hole. While the glue is still wet, push chenille stick through the hole in the wood bead so that it protrudes 2 inches out of the top of the head. Allow to dry.
On a piece of paper draw a circle with a 4 inch diameter, it’s easiest to do this with a compass or by tracing around a circular object. Cut this out as your template. Fold the circle in half and cut again.
Now cut out 1 piece of white wool felt and 1 contrasting colour using your half circle template. Embellish the white piece as you wish. As you can see, I stitched beads onto mine.
When you’ve finished embellishing, bend the piece of wool felt around into a cone shape so that the straight edges meet, leaving a small opening at the very top. Sew along the straight edges to hold the cone shape.
Add a little glue to the hole in the top of the cone, then push your chenille stick and head down into the hole so the head bead sits nicely on top. Sew up securely at the nape of the neck and around the neck if necessary. I added some more beads around the neck too.
Your angel should look like this. Take the top of the chenille stick and bend it around your finger into a hook shape for hanging. Now draw with Pigma pens or paints a little simple happy face.
The last step is to take your contrast colour half circle and place it at the back of the angel so that the straight edge runs along as you can see in the picture (I cut some little wavy bits on the curved edge to make them look more like wings). Take a running stitch up the centre of the back of the angel to secure the wings.Now you can go make her some sisters to hang on the tree!
If you make an angel or any of my tutorials I would love to see the results, please email pictures to me or send a link of your blog so I can see! I’m happy to answer queries too.
It’s giveaway time!
For my Christmas Giveaway (and also coinciding with my 300th post!) I’ve joined forces with Corrie from Retro Mummy (you know her already, right? Fabulous online store with gorgeous fabrics, books & gadgets – basically a sewer’s paradise!)
Corrie and I are offering a $50 gift voucher to spend on anything (yes, anything!) you like in the Retro Mummy store.
So, here’s what you need to do to enter:
1. Leave a comment here telling me what would be the first thing you would buy from the store if you win. (This will give you one entry)
2.
Blog about this giveaway with a link back to here. (This will give you two entries)I will draw a random winner on Sunday 6th December, that will give you a couple of weeks to spend the voucher and totally spoil yourself for Christmas.
Fingers crossed for you!
Mamu Imke
Yay, I finally finished the Imke top I’ve been working on, yes, that’s me – hello! (what’s a photo without a baby attached to your hip?)
A few things I didn’t like about this pattern. First, the instructions were minimal and a little unclear, which won’t faze you if you’re a pro. The second thing is the fit is a bit funny and it didn’t come together quite right and needed some adjusting ( or maybe it’s just me?)
My third problem was the crappy black and white spot fabric which looked very nice on the roll when I bought it but performs a little like a piece of cardboard. Not great.
Not sure if I like this top but I’ll be trying the pattern again with different fabrics as I like the style.
Oh, by the way, I got my pattern from Crafty Mamas.
Giveaway!
Have you visited A Little Sweetness yet? Tasha is a talented artist with her own fabric range (and a mum to 5!) Pop over and enter her giveaway.
A few art works
As there hasn’t been a whole lot of crafting going on here, I thought I’d share some of my art pieces with you. All these were done in watercolour pencil, I hope to do some more some time soon.
This was a gift for a friend.
I was inspired by a french provincial work in an art magazine, so this one isn’t strictly original, shall we say “strongly inspired”.
This is the least original of the three, I did this one from an art book when I first received the pencils as a gift from my sister and wanted to try them out. The colours turned out beautifully.I love the watercolour pencil as a medium, it’s drawing and painting all in one – fantastic!
Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary
The grass is always greener, ain’t it so?
How much time do you spend thinking about the life you’d like to have? How much does this detract from your everyday life?
For me, it’s a real problem. I wish I was younger, prettier, thinner. I wish I had a house in the country with an animal menagerie and space for the children to run. I wish people were interested in my designs and I could make a living from this. I wish I could spend more time doing what I want to do….. I could fill the page with this stuff.
But what are all these thoughts, wishes, dreams going to do for me long term? If they motivate and inspire me to live better, then good. But, if they become a weight that I carry around in the form of restlessness and dissatisfaction? – not good.
From a very young age I wanted to be a singer and entertainer. With a little work I was able to make this happen, albeit on a smallish scale. People would be wowed by the fact that I was out there doing this, but let me tell you the reality. Lugging heavy sound equipment around prior to setting up, performing “popular” songs that I personally hated (Kylie, you did me a great disservice!), breathing in the second hand cigarette smoke of a collective room (before the new smoking laws came in), dealing with drunken hecklers, then hauling all that equipment away again before hobbling (high heels – ouch!!) into bed at 3am, only to get up a few hours later to care for my family. Sound glamourous?
I know what I need to do to feel happier, it’s just that saying it is easier than doing it.
A couple of quotes I like:
āDo not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.ā
Mother Theresa
āPerfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.ā
Angelique Arnauld
I must be off, the baby is crying again, which is a regular and ordinary occurence.
But isn’t she extraordinarily beautiful? š
God bless you all.