Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

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Mmmm… macadamias!

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Some delicious things are starting to appear in the lead up to Christmas!
These sweet delights are for a good friend who loves macadamias (and happens to be a sweet tooth too!)

Nut brittle is deceptively easy to make and you can use any nuts or a combination.
Here’s what I did:
150g raw unsalted macadamias
1.5 cups white sugar                
Roast the nuts at 180 degrees (celscius) for 5 minutes or until lightly browned and smelling gorgeous. When done, place on a lightly buttered tray.
Place the sugar in a heavy based pan ( I used our cast iron pot) on a low heat. When it starts to dissolve, stir. Continue stirring until completely dissolved and golden brown and smelling gorgeous.
Pour the dissolved sugar (toffee) over the nuts, leave at room temperature to set. Break or cut into pieces when hard, store in an airtight container.

Topsy Turvy doll

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I had a friend as a child who had a topsy turvy doll, the lovely doll was very popular and I was very jealous! I decided to design one and make her for one of my girls (the one who loves dolls!)  for Christmas. It was tricky figuring out the initial design, but with a bit of good old “winging it” she turned out fine and dandy. Do you know how they work? They’re attached in the middle (no legs) with the long dress covering one head so you only see the opposite head. Turn the doll and skirt over (upside down) to reveal the other doll! I love them, what do you think?

Dyed baby blanket.

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Wow, did I love making this! Would you believe I only used 3 colours on this and ended up with this gorgeous kaleidoscope of colour. This baby blanket is for my little one for Christmas.

I dyed the silk and then used a hot pink flannel for the backing. Naturally, the other little girls want one each now!

Cake and rain, a good combination!

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It has been raining for hours here, it’s beautiful. The tomato and corn plants are very happy!
Now for the Christmas cake saga. I didn’t read the recipe properly, so ended up with 2 cake mixes, not one as intended. No big deal, I just separated the mixtures into 2 lots. The first lot I discovered I had used too much self raising flour (sometimes I do wonder whether my brain is fully functional!) The cake turned out light, a little crumbly, but perfectly acceptable for morning tea munching.
The second cake presented with more of a hitch in the form of a malfunctioning oven. My 2 year old Westinghouse decided to go out continuously during the baking process, I had to keep lighting it to try and maintain the temperature. After about 5 hours of this, the cake was done! This is the cake you see above, so despite the oven it seems to have turned out better than the first one. Now I’m waiting for a technician to come so that I can fling money at him and get the oven fixed.
That makes this years tally – one dead washing machine, one dead hot water system and a broken oven.
Next adventure – Christmas Pudding (at least I don’t need the oven for that!)

Dyeing for Christmas Cake

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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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.