In the nick of time!!!

In true "Kerrianne" fashion, i have raced the deadline for my January sewing challenge and just beat the buzzer!

I had promised to deliver oven mitts and i have only upheld half of that bargain, mainly due to a dramatic undercalculation of exactly how much batting i had on hand lol! But i do have one mitt to show and will endeavour to make the other sometime in the near future! The pattern comes from my new book "The Crafty Minx" by Kelly Doust.

To make up for it i made not one but 2 theatre hats for myself to wear to work, now that i'm officially a working girl again, this fabric has been sitting in my stash going mouldy for at least 3 years haha At least i got it cheap! Fits the bill perfectly and if i chance to meet you at work, i'll be the snazzy one in the 'cool' hat hahahaha

Check out everyone else's efforts here, it's been great sifting through them and great for us all to spend some well deserved time working on something for ourselves (gasp) Thanks again Carolyn for starting up and hosting this great meme!

Now i can start thinking about next month's "knit" challenge.....

Kez

Accountablility...

With me and exercise, it's all about accountability, i won't do anything unless i'm held accountable for it, so what better way than to keep myself publically accountable as well as privately hehe. I'm not tooo bad when it comes to my health, i try and eat well, am vegetarian and also like to think that i'm regularly active.

So here it is for everyone to read that i will endeavor to include some form of exercise into every day and go to the gym at LEAST 2 times a week.

Today i intend to go to gym for a 1hr weights session - mainly because mum and dad a picking me up hahaha

a pic of me being active on Rottnest Is

In other news, my beautiful big girl is officially a big grade oner!! She was a bit nervous but loved her new teacher and was lucky enough to be in the same classroom as last year. A bit dissapointing that we weren't able to aquire a 'big grade oner' shirt, but we'll have one as soon as they come in off back order and i'll post up a pic accordingly :) here's one of her enjoying some baking with mummy over the school holidays ahhhh

Home again, jiggity jig...

Having spent the last 4 days in the veritable paradise that is Blackdown Tablelands, we're now back home and are literally hitting the ground running! Tomorrow, my big girl is starting grade 1, Roll's straight back to work and it's also the last day of my maternity leave :(, i've so enjoyed doing the SAHM gig, but "business is business and business must grow, regardless of crummies in tummies you know", so i'll be back to the daily grind - sort of - only 2 days a week but still!!

I had grand intentions of some WIP wrestling whilst i sat sipping tea in the highlands, but alas, young Oscar foiled my attempts at every pass and i only managed one FO, a measly NB pinwheel beanie for my new niece or nephew to be, it was pink and there will be a blue to match so i'll post them both up together :) I did get a few rows in on some projects while O caught some zzzz tho haha

Got to do a few walks although somehow i ended up doing the same one thrice! Mook Mook being my favourite, it's so breathtaking that a pic can't do it justice! (see top for a feeble attempt)

Also soem rather exciting news for me, the slightly mad quilt lady kindly offered up a gorgeous little dress for giveaway and little old me who can't even win a chook raffle, came up trumps!! Thanks sooo much, i intend to pay your lovely favour forward at the first available opportunity :D

Hope everyone enjoyed a great Aussie day!

As for me, i'm hitting the hay

nighty nighy

kez

Finishing fever

And so it seems, i am EXCELLENT at casting on and starting projects but then it seems i get finishing fever and start on something else... hmmmmm

Well i have managed to push out one little FO, a deja vu pinwheel hat which will be making it's way to it's rightful home this afternoon, i'd love to do one for Oscar but since his nanny is so talented he's got an endless supply of cute crochet hats and alas doesn't not need me to add to his collection

Despite the name of my post, when it comes to my sewing challenge, it seems i have the opposite, despite being in desperate need of a new pair of oven mits (i'll post before and afters for full effect) the only thing i have done towards my challenge is drawing up a 'pattern' - oh the shame, i'll sew them up next weekend - i promise!!

Anyone who LOOOVES the feeling of being cleean will looooove Kelly's soap, she's having a giveaway, fingers crossed for me, i've got a drawer full of her divinity but as they say, it won't go off! :)

So that's me for the week, i'll be diligently working on my UFO's but don't put it past me to CO something else, my stash busting has put my creative brain into overdrive and suddenly my meagre stash has turned itself into a veritble paradise of future FO's and it's hard to resist hahah

Happy Australia Day

kez

A few bustin' FO's

I'm trying with all my might to get some fabric and yarn moving from this place haha My efforts over the past week have culminated in a few measly offerings lol. I've decided to start weighing my FO's and counting how many grams of yarn i'm knitting, i feel that yardage would be a more accurate indicator of how much time etc is going into a piece but it's way easier to get out my flash digital Tupperware scales and weigh stuff as it flies (*cough*) off the needles hahah

FO this week to date are the back of a jumper for mee - not photoworthy yet but an accomplishment none the less. A Leafy shrug for Matilda using bedigo woollen mills 8 ply cotton in inferno, pattern by stitchymama, a boxy pouch for me using this tute - totally awesome and soo fun to make, Nina's going to do one too - can't wait to see how it'll come out and a change roll for Rolley's cousin due for a bub very soon :) I'll try and squeeze out a pinwheel hat for her as well, my arm 'might' have to be twisted haha

Lastly a little gem from Saxon's exploits with his mum's camera - a lovely angle of myself that i rarely get to see, thanks Sax, come Sunday i won't have my heart in my throat every time he makes off with the camera, the big boy is turning 4 and as such will be getting his own haha He's gonna love it <3

Ta Ra

Kez

Hiking and vintage awesomeness

Today Rolley took me on the most fabulous hike literally on our back doorstep - actually it starts a few K's away but it was like a mini-holiday for me. It's really made me think about how we really should know the treasures that are closeby and enjoy them. We hiked 12 Kms through the local National park, after the recent rains the creeks were all full with around 10 creek crossing it was inevitable that someone would end up in the drink. No guesses who went for a dip on the first crossing lol, i blame my shoes *cough*. It was wonderful and i want to thank my wonderful husband for organising it behind the scenes and then almost dragging me to the track. Admittedly i only did it to enhance his final days of a great holiday but i got a lot out of it too :)

Now onto vintage awsomeness, my mum's new year's resolution was to clean out her spare room of 'stuff. Fair enough, she saved 2 little treasures for me. First being 3 packs of Japanese Origami paper, which the kids turned into ice-cream's, rockets, boats and other treasures. I somehow managed to remember how to do a crane although i failed to record it on film lol. The second is this completely AWESOME vintage collection of sewing patterns bought by my Grandma in 1959, there are men's, women's, kids and babies patterns in there and the thing is in absolute mint condition. I so totally want to make myself one of the vintage dresses and hopefully Oscar and my toddler niece will benefit from a bit of sewing from it too. It's so nice to think that she sat here in this very house and sewed from and i'm about to do the same thing :)

I'm off to look it up on e-bay to see if there are other's around

toodles

kez

op shopping and baking...

Mum took me for a run down to my corner op shops - i have two ~5mins walk away. Got some great finds - i looove the bassinette sheet, not 100% sure what it's turning into yet....

The teatowels are turning into market bags, not sure for who, might *gasp* keep one for myself!

Most awesome is the embroidery hoop, it's smoothed from use and is an old Singer one, they're probably a dime a dozen but i've got a quilt that i want to do that i'm planning on handquilting so it'll be great for that :)

In other news, Nina and i hit the kitchen and made some AWESOME lemon and orange syrup cupcakes. Although my little helper disappeared after she'd cracked her promised egg and magically re-appeared when it was time to lick the bowl, how strange lol!

They taste awesome, i'm planning on working my way through this book that Roll gave me for my birthday last year, i've made probably around 8 or so of the recipes so far - all devine mmmmmmm

a stash busting we'll go.....

Ok, so 6 days into my stash bust new year's resolution, i've had a little bit of output lol, today i attacked the extra bag of fabric that won't fit in my designated fabric storage box but i didn't want to get rid of. I've got an upcoming baby shower to help the creative juices along!

First a little swing top made out of a pillowcase which i think is adorable despite the gaudy buttons! Even though the little girl told me she wanted it and chose and sewed on all her own adornments she now admits to me that she didn't want it after all grr lol. I will likely leave the ric rac on, place a smaller pattern piece over the top and make it into a baby top :)

Pattern from Madquilter

Second sewing effort of the year is a naff little change roll, it's so cute i want one for Oscar, have to get around to that, i used a pillowcase as a template for sizing and a layer of batting for a bit of softness, some stretch french terry and some soft flannellette. Topstitched in zigzag contrasting thread.

Knitting knews - the little vest is done, too cute and my sister predectably loved it, not sure if it will ever get worn as i'm predicting a boy for her lol, the vest's brother is just a bit nicer IMO, done with lovely hand-dyed yarn and a pleasure to knit :)

Pattern: Milo by Georgie hallam

Yarn: BWM luxury 8ply dyed by whimsical wool and panda starshine in pink.

2010 knitdown first cabs off the rank...

The end of last year brought the need for me to declutter my ridiculously small space, so after taking at least 5 bootloads of 'stuff' to charity and sending probably half that again to the rag bag or the dump my attentions have turned to all the yarn the i 'had' to keep (a huge amount nearly went to Vinnies before my mum captured it first!)

First cab off the rank -

a tiny pinwheel hat in newborn size for an old friend expecting a new baby! I've got until the 14th to finish this gift, i'll be adding some knitted washers and hopefully a changemat cover all to match. I bought this yarn in a fundraiser for juvenile diabetes and admittedly had no plans whatsoever for it - even though i told Rolley i did haha. It's been sitting there unloved until i got the invite for the babyshower - i LOVE the colourway :)

Pattern: Pinwheel hat by Stitchymama

Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mill 8ply cotton Hand dyed by Woolly Butts

Second project -

A little milo vest for my little niece or nephew to be, not finished and being knitted out of some very horrid acrylic wool mix, but my sister does not share my affinity for lovely yarn and in my destash i felt the need to hang onto it as it was my first purchase of 'nice yarn' - before that it was the really scratchy $3 a ball homebrand acrylic!! It well be cute and is pretty soft even though it's crazy to knit with. Not finished yet but there's something about watching projects climb off circular needles so i love a UFO shot :D

Pattern: Milo by Georgie Hallam

Yarn: Panda Starshine

January sewing challenge

I absolutely love the idea of this new meme :) Challenging myself each month with something i haven't done before - or need to polish. The first challenge being to sew something for yourself. I have chosen to sew myself some humble oven mits out of my new book The Crafty Minx, by Kelly Doust. Although i imagine they won't be too challenging in themselves to sew, racking my brains to think of what i would like to do for myself was challenging enough! Why is it so that ideas come easily when i'm creating with someone else in mind?

In addition to the above challenge, i'm also conducting my own challenge to knit and sew down my respective yarn and fabric stashes. Although they are quite modest compared with some, i do feel the need to get them into order and USE stuff instead of letting it sit there, so in light of this i'll be making my mitts using fabric and notions i already have :)

Can't wait to see what everyone else will be doing for themselves!

Goodnight

Kez

Hello

A meme over at My Favourite has spurred me on to create my own blog, mainly as somewhere to keep a record of my crafting and creating :) Now to attempt to become computer literate enough to use it properly!