Wednesday 21 August 2013

5000 Poppies

Hi There,
One day while I was on Facebook a post popped up.  The post came from a group called 5000 Poppies and they are all about commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the ANZAC's setting foot at Gallipoli in 1915.

What this amazing group is going to do is get people to crochet, knit or felt 5000 poppies and display them in Federation Square in Melbourne in 2015. I thought this was such an amazing idea and I was VERY keen to make my contribution to the cause and send my poppies to Australia but then I got thinking.  If it is to commemorate the ANZAC's surely we should have something here in New Zealand too. Surely there should be a 5000 poppy display here. Then I decided I would email the group and find out if they would be keen to do the same thing here.  Thinking nothing would really happen.
But golly golly gosh! A few hours later Lynn emailed me back and said she was very keen for the project to be done here.  I can't believe it!  We would set up the New Zealand satellite group via the Australian site and then off I could go to spread the word.  WOW!!

I must admit I am a little shocked that I am doing this. Very excited, but a little shocked as I have never done ANYTHING like this before. But I feel very strongly that we New Zealanders should be represented.

So here starts my quests to get LOADS of New Zealanders on board in helping me make 5000 poppies.  My hubby thinks we can do better than that and make 10000.  We will see if we can get to 10 first!  I have started. Here is lonely number one...Dedicated to my Grandad.



Lxx

Sunday 18 August 2013

Weekend FUN.

Hi There,
This weekend has been FANTASTIC!!

My Mum came to stay and we spent most of the weekend crafting, shopping and chatting.  It was nice to spend some time with her.

We managed to get to the crafternoon tea market for the first time on Saturday.  It was great even with the two little lovelies being dragged around with us.  They were actually well behaved, chatting to all the store owners about anything and everything!  They are quite entertaining to listen to.  

At the craft market there was so much to enjoy and savour.  We meet a couple of very creative ladies.  One lady from Adventures of Alex O and Co made the sweetest wee pixies I have ever seen.




I wanted to take them all home!

In October she will be having a craft night where you can go along and make your OWN pixie.  I'm definitely going to be there.  My home needs its own little pixie.



Another lady, Lucy Patterson makes and designs the most amazing things.  I feel in love with this matryoshka doll cushion.  


I had to buy her and bring her home.  I'm not sure where she will go yet. At the moment she is happily sitting with me on the couch while I crochet.  A great companion to have!

So once the little lovelies had scoffed some Russian fudge and cupcakes we had one last look around just to be sure we hadn't missed anything then we happily and wearily travelled home for a much earned cuppa.

The market has sparked something in my Mum and I.  We now want to have our own table at the market full of our crochet goodies.  There was nothing crocheted there.  So for the next few months we are going to madly make hats, booties, blankets and toys to sell.  It should be a fun adventure that will keep us busy. 

Sunday was spent doing a little bit of mall shopping and crocheting and dreaming of our craft table...BLISS! 

Lxx

Sunday 11 August 2013

Pink!

Hi There,
The project I am working on at the moment which seems to be dragging its heels, is a pink cot blanket that I am hoping to sell on my little shop over on felt.
Felt is a lovely place that sells scrummy New Zealand homemade products. I love wandering around in there looking at what other creative people have made.  I always get stuck in the jewellery section looking at brooches.  Oh how I love brooches!

Anyway...back to the pink cot blanket.

When thinking up the design of my blanket I knew I wanted it to be done in two pink tones and in four different granny squares.  However my ideas in my head in reality didn't quite look right.  The four square combination just didn't gel.


I changed them around but still they didn't look right so I thought maybe instead I should just stick with two granny square pattern.  So again...which do I choose? 



The combinations were endless! And a little mind boggling. On top of that, if I chose one combination I would then have to unpick/unravel the others.  You know how I hate to unpick anything.  But this blanket has to be right if I want to sell it. So I had to just decide... After much thought I chose the last picture combination as it looked the most balance.

After much unpicking, winding up of wool and re-crocheting I can say I am very pleased with the results...


 Until I blocked and crocheted the squares together and this happened..


It doesn't lie flat.  It looks terrible.  Argh!!! What to do?
Maybe it will look better once the border is on?  We will see, if not I will be re-blocking the whole blanket to see if that helps and if that doesn't work I won't be selling it.  

I have also decided that I need to add one more row along the top and side so it will be big enough for a cot.  I figure it is better that the blanket is bigger rather than smaller.  It can then be used for other things.  But while I was crocheting up the final squares I ran out of wool!  I am getting a little impatient and frustrated with this project. Will I EVER finish this blanket?...Watch this space.

Lxx

P.S...I need to work on my photography.  I find the photos never truly show the colours of wool properly.  Something to master.



Wednesday 7 August 2013

Spring?

Hi There,
While I was hanging the washing out today I spotted these lovely sweet flowers in the garden.
Earlycheer they are!  They have the most delicious sweet smelling fragrance.




Every year in the middle of winter they spring up to claim their spot in the garden.  I always find it a little odd and funny that they come up so early but it does make me feel good to know that Spring is almost here. Today though, the sun is shining and you would think Spring is here already.  It is nice to feel warmth in the sun. Alas, it won't last as every year when things start to warm up we get a really cold snap in October just to remind us who's boss!  Then everything calms down and Spring arrives.
I wonder if it will be followed by a delicious Summer, like last year.  I hope so.

Lxx

Tuesday 6 August 2013

My Mum



Just recently my Mum celebrated a birthday and instead of buying her a gift I thought it would be nice to make something.  I wanted it to be special because my Mum is an amazing lady. 
One day while reading Attic24's blog I found this lovely heart. And YAY!  That was it! That was what I was going to make.  Unfortunately I don't have photos of the making of the above heart.  Lesson has been learnt.  If I am going to write a craft blog I need to show my workings. That sounds like a maths test..."you must show your workings if you want to get full marks." Funny.
Anyhow, above heart was made in record time, sent and received with delight.

I should at this point talk about my Mum.  I think she is the one I get my crafty obsessions from because Mum, like me is a crafty person too.  As long as I can remember she was always sewing.  She is an incredible seamstress.  She is very particular and neat in her sewing and every garment was and still is of top quality.  As a child she tried to teach me how to sew but back then I was incredibly impatient. Clothing had to be made NOW! Mum ever patient would explain "great sewing takes time."  So I tried but as soon as anything went wrong and that horrid phrase - UNPICK IT came up I was out of that sewing room quick smart.  I hated it.  I always figured Mum can do it better so she can make it.  Hence the end of my sewing career.  Funny thing is, now as an adult I love sewing and have made a few dresses (yes dresses!) and clothes for my little lovelies as well as cushions.  I am sure Mum is quietly laughing to her self.  Me too, I never thought I would get a buzz out of producing something on my own that I liked.  I wonder if she liked the 100's of texts, pics and phone calls I made as I grumbled to her when the zip didn't meet up.  I still don't like zips.  Horrible things!

Another thing Mum and I also love is crocheting.  For a long time she was a knitter but recently I got her hooked (sorry about the pun) on crocheting and now there is no stopping her.  She already has made two lovely BIG blankets for her home. I'm impressed by her efforts because she hasn't been at it long.  A natural I thing when it comes to crafty things.  

I love chatting to her about all our crafty projects, phone calls have been know to go on.  Oh how I wish she lived in the same town as me.  I would be at her place ALL the time discussing ideas.  Lately one of our ideas is to open an online craft store via this blog. It is still a work in progress.  We have been madly crocheting up products in the hope of selling them.  Soon it will be full of scrummy stuff...watch this space.

So to my lovely and ever patient Mum...xxx

Saturday 3 August 2013

Beginnings...

Hi There...
Here I am finally plunging into the world of blogging. It has taken me almost eight months of pondering should I or shouldn't I write a blog, how do I want it to look(which by the way is a work in progress), what shall I say and share, will it be any good. Oh the list was endless. There were days where I would get so excited, "yes! I can do this" to days where I thought "nope this is too hard, can't do it." 
Over the past eight months I have had lovely friends and my cool mum telling me to stop procrastinating and just get on with it.

So here I am!  PHEW!!... 

Who am I you might ask, well...
I'm a stay at home mum to two lovelies who make everyday fun. As well as a being a wifie to hubby who is an incredibly patient and tolerant man to all my crazy craft ideas. I am also a part time teacher (which helps subsidise my craft/wool obsession). I try to garden and love to bake yummy goodies for my lovelies. I like to dabble in photography too. And lastly I am a craft nut. I love to sew and crochet. Oh how I love to crochet! The feeling of hook and yarn in hand is divine!!!

So that's me. 
Welcome to my craft cupboard.  I hope you enjoy peeking in from time to time with a cuppa and seeing what I get up to.  This journey should be fun!

Big hugs,
Lxx