I am doing a swap with Glenda this year and I sent her a pincushion I knitted. She got it today so I can finally blog about it. When I showed a photo to my gran she loved it and made me make her one too. For some reason it’s smaller and tighter than my first one, possibly some sort of reflection on the stress in my life that week? I don’t need to keep a diary, my life is reflected through my knitting tension.
When we’re up to our eyeballs in stressful house things and this rental property is driving me loopy and it’s raining and etc etc etc it’s things like this that really help me get through.Yay for the little things!
I got the basket and the 8 bias tapes in it for $15- all I had on me. The basket was originally $20 but it had been there a while so they dropped the price to $12 as thats all I could spare. The floss in the basket? There was a street fair on and a lady was selling bundles of 20 DMC skeins for $3. I got 3 bundles for $8.50 – again all I had on me. A skein of DMC costs $1.60+ here so I got $96 of floss for $8.50! Does anyone know what happened to DMC 67, 91 and 93? They are all variegated blues and they aren’t on my checklist. Are they so old they got cancelled?
These crochet and embroidery cottons were from Dave’s mothers stuff that he bought home for me. They are beautiful but theres one problem. She was a very heavy smoker indoors so they stink. I have to put them in a bag of kitty litter to try draw out the smell. Hopefully the smell will fade because they are beautiful.
And this is my favourite. Dave’s childhood train set – or part of it. I wish he had found more, it’s adorable.
And still more: I received this from Lisa of Little Acorn today. I sent her a wool felt rattle ball for the little person she and her husband are adopting and she sent me the baby vest for our future baby. She also surprised me with the sweetest bib ever. Check out how perfectly straight that ric rac is! Thank you Lisa!
Jannelle and I recently did a swap after I fell in love with the felt patches she embellishes her upcycled kids clothes with. I originally had plans to use them on a set of 4 cushions to replace the old pillows we use now (I really should do a post about how redneck we are) but I think I might have to put at least one on a bag to show it off. I just can’t choose which one!!
Because we live on the edge of a native reserve we get a lot of Tui (a gorgeous talkative native bird with a white tuft under its chin and a very bossy attitude) so I chose a tui, fantail, Kowhai flowers (also native to New Zealand) and a quirky bird….just because it makes me smile. She has a set of patches for sale in her Felt shop or you can check out her Etsy or Trade Me for more upcycled kids clothes. Reasonably priced kids clothes and supporting a crafty mama? We love that!
My embroidery bliss is back! I had SO much fun stitching this pattern. Unpicking and knots included. Stitch on!
My thrifting bliss (a trip north yesterday meant a whole new set of second hand and thrift stores to rummage through):
My second set of stacking dolls this year. I must be collecting them now I guess!
I got my swap parcel from Tracy yesterday. My copy of Living Crafts magazine, yay! Thank you Tracy! Heaps of stuff I must make. Those bunnies on the cover…first on the list.
My first hobby horse with a spikey head of hair. Much more kid friendly!
My ginger bliss (and the most annoying cat I have ever owned):
Filed under cats, embroidery, mail love, making stuff, swap, thrifting
These are for a swap I am doing. Renee is sending me books 2,3 and 4 of the Twilight series (I am so spoilt!) and I am sending her these two hats. My mum made them for me (Again: spoilt!) and I think she did a excellent job! I attached the pom poms and sprinkles and I think they look so great. It’s probably too late for her to wear them on the ski field this year but next winter she is going to look so damn cute! Winter is arriving here though and it’s mighty hard to part with them on this cold wet day!
If you want the pattern I found it on Ravelry by searching for cupcake hat and modifying it for head size and the little ball things are my mums added touch.
Filed under making stuff, swap
I love the weekends. For me every day is the weekend but I mean those 2 days where Dave and I get to chill as a couple and have fun until I get annoyed and send him to Matt’s house for 3 hours. OK so I really love Saturday mornings before I get sick of Dave begging for a cigarette. We sleep in, we thrift then we park the car somewhere quiet and eat hot chips and read the weekend paper. And I had a thrift score today at long last. It’s pretty slim pickings around here most of the time but I picked this lot up for $2:
According to the inside cover of the Harry Potter book there’s a local high school missing a copy 
The stacking dolls are all there – 8 dolls and only one is slightly broken at the back of it. A Teddy Bear Tale is from the 50′s I think. Another one of those books with cute little stories. A little bear who didn’t like carrots ate a whole jar of sugar lumps and got sent to bed with a tummy ache. Love it! I’ll have to take a few pictures inside it. When I’m not stuffed full of bread. I finally hit the right bread recipe – french setting, medium crust. Although don’t get smart and add extra yeast to see what will happen. Because this will happen:
See that peak on the top of the loaf? That was where it stuck to the top of the machine. I was worried it wasn’t going to stop rising. I thought it was going to lift the lid for a while. Lesson learnt!
OK so here is my next swap offer – Embroidered Treasures: 22 Projects to Stitch for Babies and Children by Claire Garland. It’s the British version, the US version is the same inside but with a baby on the cover. I wanted this book for ages and although there are some cuuuuuutteeee things to make in here it’s just not….me. You know what I mean? Infertility sucks like that. Baby stuff is cute but pointless for me. Great book, just not my style. I hope you guys understand why I have to offer these books to swap. Postage costs, ugh. If you would like to swap for it I will swap for the Spring Issue of Living Crafts (so this is probably for people in the US) and…ummm I don’t know. What else can you bribe me with? And for those outside the US interested in swapping I have two more books to swap in the very near future – The New Crewel (so stunning) and a sweet vintage Japanese embroidery book called Lovely Embroidery Patterns. Doe-C-Doe reviewed it here. If either of them interest you get your bribes ready! Enjoy your weekend!
Does anyone want to do a swap with me? I haven’t gotten any mail more exciting than the power bill for ages and it’s super boring. Admittedly the bill does get my heart racing (right before it flat lines) but it’s not the same as a nice parcel addressed to me. And those little notes in the mailbox telling me the parcel was too big to deliver so I have to go to the post office…don’t even get me started on how much I love those. Umm…do I need to socialise with real people more often or what?
Anyway I have this to swap:
A Japanese embroidery book. called Cute Embroidery Design Collection. It’s so adorable but I bought it months ago and haven’t used it so I’d rather swap it for something I’m going to use with someone who would like it. It’s in pretty much the same perfect condition I bought it in.
Make me a swap offer. Things I know I need/want include wool felt, black safety eyes, patterned bias binding, a tropical island holiday, linen, light purple or light green FQ’s, the Spring 09 issue of Living Crafts magazine. Is that bossy enough? Those are just ideas anyway so leave a comment if you’d like to swap and what you’re willing to swap for.
And can I just take a moment to self promote? I made my 10th etsy sale yesterday! Double figures at last! Yay me! Thanks so much to those 10 customers!
I was on my way to write this entry and I got a comment saying my little tutorial was featured on the Craftzine blog! That’s pretty cool for little old me. I love Craft magazine – unfortunately by the time it gets to NZ it’s approximately a squillion dollars but I hoard the one copy I have very jealously.
Another magazine I think I will be hoarding jealously is Living Crafts. Karen from Me, Myself and Kai kindly offered to do a swap with me so I could get my hands on the Winter ’09 issue. (Thanks to Sarah who also offered to send it to me) I think you can buy back issues internationally (for a small fortune – thank goodness there’s only 4 back issues or I’d bankrupt us) but not subscribe outside the US. Stinkers. Anyway my magazine came today and I cannot babble on about it enough. If you are crafty/a mama/both and can get your hands on it you should. I feel hobby horse making may be in my future after reading this issue. And my list of things to beg my mother to knit is growing longer with every page I read.
**A side note – the post office/bank branch my mother works at got held up by armed men yesterday!! I saw it online about a bank in her suburb, clicked the article and leapt out of my seat yelling “Oh my GOD! It’s HER branch!” My mum was out the back having lunch at the time (WHEW) and ran next door and called the police.**
Anyway my final goodies which I am soooo excited about: wet felting supplies. A library book and some roving. I’ve been pouring over youtube videos and library books and I’m a little nervous but I’m going to give it a go. Elf shoes are my eventual goal but I’m going to start by making a ball. The blue wool has acrylic glitter strands in it which I think will look good – and distract from the ‘this is my first attempt’ shape my ball may have.
You’ll be able to judge my success by whether I mention it in my next blog entry or not
Thank you all so much for your response to my Little Reader sets! A very lovely someone has even bought one of the blankets already! They’re the real hard work, crawling on the floor measuring so rather than make another one for the fair I’ll just be selling the cushions. The fair is tomorrow night (eek!) and I will hopefully finish the final cushion tomorrow afternoon, just in time! That one is the cutest one yet! I better remember to take a photo!!
I have a favour to ask US readers. Would someone be interested in swapping with me? I want to get my hands on the Winter 09 issue of Living Crafts magazine.
In return I have a turtle pincushion souffle to offer you – or I will do a custom one if you want. Leave me a comment if you can help and I’ll get back to you. (And rather randomly I’ll trade any Ostheimer toy for a custom pincushion souffle)
Filed under swap
I have been tagged by two different people (Twenty Cent Mixture and CherryBerry to do the 7 things meme and it seems like a nice way to avoid packing so now I will sit here for twenty minutes thinking of anything that is vaguely interesting about me.
1. I don’t drive. I can…sort of. It’s just really hard for me to do safely. I have terrified nearly a dozen driving instructors/relatives/boyfriends/people silly enough to get in the car with me driving in two countries. I don’t think I’m that bad but some of their reactions lead me to suspect I’m not that good either.
2. I’m as good as blind in one eye. My right eye has such a bad astigmatism that although I can see ‘stuff’ with it I can’t focus it. I have limited depth perception as a result and it took me years to be able to catch a ball cos of it. This MAY have something to do with number 1 but I admit to nothing. This probably has nothing to do with my bad cooking/cleaning skills but I refuse to accept that it might not.
3. I’m fickle. If I say I will then until I do don’t assume I will. Okay?
4. Since I have been with Dave (and a little before that) I have discovered a deep love of being domestic. I’m not particularly good at it but I love it, now at least. Making bread, hanging out the washing, choosing which takeaway place we’ll shop at each night (we’re very inventive about excuses for not cooking).
5. I usually fall for the dorkiest man I can find. The runt who is 5 foot tall if he stands on the phone book. That runt also had a lazy eye. That was an all time low in my man standards. The guy who was very good looking but super arrogant and took up drinking only to end up groping a friend at a party. My dork detector is powerful.
6. I hate phones. Mobile phones, land line phones, the lot of them. What’s wrong with talking in person like we used to? Why do you insist on making me leave a message in which I will inevitably sound like a babbling moron? There’s laws against that sort of torture!
7. When Dave snores I cover his face with a pillow. Shhhh, he doesn’t need to see this. When I tried it out of desperation (seriously, I couldn’t have ONE boyfriend who doesn’t bloody snore????) and found that it didn’t smother him I have resorted to it more and more often.
And I’m still packing so I’m tagging anyone that has 7 things to share with us.
I’m going to the new house tomorrow so photos should be imminent. And I started two new embroidery swaps on swapbot if you like to stitch and swap:
Round two of the penny square redwork embroidery swap and a Japanese craft book embroidery swap for those of us who have a Japanese craft book and haven’t tried a single bloody thing from it despite the obsessive need to buy it.
Filed under embroidery, meme, swap
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