A few updates

Well, I'm off on a holiday tomorrow for about 9 days.

I'm not going too far, just up to a property near the Foster/Tuncurry area, where dear one and I plan to just chill out, doing nothing in particular.

I have added in a page for natural tips, which I will be sorting out proper when I come back, maybe categorising the info, not sure yet.  But for the moment, I have just uploaded the tips as you gave them to me.

I leave you with a farewell to a hardworking friend.....

R.I.P

Well, try and behave while I'm gone, see you soon.

cheers

Fi

Naturally nurturing ideas

Hi folks,

After feeling sick for the last few days (must have been all that blue sky and sunshine....... ;) , my mind has turned to natural alternatives to nurture ourselves.

You know, things like what beauty products do we use - are we predominantly using the story bought ones, or are we coming up with natural alternatives? Or using the tried and true methods hadn't done from the past.

Maybe we could share some of these healthy beauty/wellbeing ideas, and I could list some of them on the blog, a bit of a resource for ideas (with links back to your blog, of course).

I must admit, I'm not a great one for fussing with my appearance too much.  Too busy with crafty things for that. 
But, I do love natural products.

For a moisturiser I have a little squirty bottle that I fill with oils like Jojoba and a little rosehip oil, which is great for the 'mature' skin.  Jojoba, apparently, is very close in composition to the skins oils.

Actually, I think that technically it isn't an oil, but a wax - I could be wrong.

I then add in a few drops of essential oils, depending on my mood.  I often add geranium, or carrot seed, neroli, that sort of thing.

I am a huge proponent of essential oils

In fact, after the rainy, soggy Summer, I have discovered the benefits of clove essential oil in getting rid of mold.


In the last few days of being sick, I have been drinking elderberry syrup, elderflower tea, sipping on lemon, ginger and thyme tea and, even, wait for it, swallowing raw garlic!! 

Yes I know, yuk, but I hate being sick and will go to these lengths to get better without resorting to antibiotics.

I also believe in the power of prayer, which has been put into practice in the last few days (to great effect).

I ended up with pneumonia a few years ago, and believe me, I don't want to end up there, so, as they say - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Ain't that the truth!

So, come on, out with it.....

What's your favourite remedy, natural beauty treatment, etc.

cheers
Fi

Sorry, can't talk..........

....... because of this.

After complaining and whining all summer about the miserable weather, I'd better take advantage of this glorious Autumn day, by actually getting outside in it.

So........see you when I get back from my walk with dog, which may or may not end up under an umbrella at the local cafe.

'nuff said.

cheers
Fi

Selfsewn's Package Arrives!!.......

It arrived!!!!

Don't you just love the excitement of receiving something in the mail? (or post, for the Brits).

There is something about the anticipation of a package sitting there, waiting to be opened.

And I knew that this one held something special from a wonderful lady and talented artist - Clare from Selfsewn Blog

It held the prize I won at her new blog address giveaway.

Thankyou Clare!

And this is what I found when I opened up the package.

What a beautiful touch, with the note written on the star, and the crocheted heart tie - bonus!

Here is a close up of the heart and ribbon.

So, without further ado, here it is, Selfsewn's EPP (English paper piecing) star block.

With fabric pieced note.

What a wonderful colour sense she has.  The seed head fabric is a personal favourite of mine.  It reminds of walks along country lanes on Autumn days.

And the mark of true professionalism - a special touch on the back.

Thankyou Clare - you are a wonderful person and true craftswoman.

If you want to learn how to make your own EPP star block, Clare is hosting a flickr group and has tutorials on it.

Here is one of her tutorials here.

cheers

Fi

A chip off the old (crafty) block..

Hello all!
Have you wondered where I've been? I've missed you all!

Gosh, the last few weeks have been hectic - not that I have much to show for it, but there just seems to have been 'stuff' - you know..

Anyway, I was visiting my mother a few weeks ago, and took some photos while I was there.  I've been trying to get around to writing this post ever since.

Let me introduce you to my mother.

Mary.

What I would like to ask is - do you think that the desire/passion/addiction/obsession to craft is a genetic thing? 
Like, some of us have the 'gene' and others don't?

I think it must be the case.

I got it.  One of my sisters got it.  Two of them didn't.  My mother definitely has it.

My best friend certainly does NOT have it.  (she does, however, have lots of other wonderful qualities, and it's probably good that only one of us is up to our eyeballs in creative havoc)

So, my mother passed down the gene to me.

This is mum was working on while I was visiting. A crochet blanket.

I am really trying to convince her that it would look so much better at my house. ;)

This is the progress so far.

The colours look so vintagey.  I adore the old-fashionesness of it.

Ever since I can remember, my mum has been working away on something.
Always.

Years ago she used to knit the most brilliant Aran jumpers (sweaters, to some of you).  You know, like the big, thick fisherman's jumpers with all the fancy cable work.  In fact, the more intricate, the more she liked it.

Just like to point out, that I didn't get the knitting gene.

She could knit one of those in a couple of days.  I am in awe of that.


And when it comes to crochet, she blows me out of the water.  Well and truly.

Some of mum's crochet bits and pieces.

She has made the most beautiful patchwork quilts and cushions, made shadow applique curtains, tatted, did a course in machine knitting (which was an absolute obsession for some years) amongst numerous other things, but knitting and crochet have always been the big ones.

I didn't manage to get photos of the quilts this time.

Sorry. Maybe next time.

And this was mum's attempt at tatting.  I don't think she did much else with it - I think she just wanted to give it a try.  I haven't  tried it, but it sure looks like it needs a lot of patience.

Picture isn't too good - you don't get to see the proper detail unfortunately. 


So how about you?

Did you inherit the 'craft gene'?


Oh, and I did get a photo of this while I was there.
This is one of my own paintings, of a street in Tuscany.  It was one of the few paintings I did that I actually had hanging on my own wall.

But, mum loved it and I ended up giving it to her for her birthday some years ago.

(Do you think that could earn me the brownie points to get the crochet blanket?)



Anyways, sorry to have left you for so long.

cheers

Fi

 

I'm a winner!!!!!!

Here I am sipping martinis - because I'm a winner!

(Of course, you do realise that it's not really me, don't you?)

Just a photo in a crochet mag I happened to be reading whilst sipping coffee in my local.

So, why am I metaphorically sipping martinis?

Because, I won this!!!!

The lovely Clare over at Selfsewn Blog, had a giveaway to celebrate her newly relocated home on the web, (she used to be summerfete), and out of 102 entries, she picked me.

How brilliant.

Clare is a VERY talented young lady (actually, not sure how old she is, but she sure looks young in her photo) and is championing the side for the English paper piecing method of patchwork.

I have been intending for ages to make one of thse blocks myself - huh, we all now how long those 'Im going to one day' lists get - and now I will be the proud owner of one of hers. 

Brill.

She has tutorials on her blog for hand-piecing, and a really great one on 'fussy cutting'.

Don't know what that is, then, check it out.

OOOhhhhh, I should be so lucky,

lucky, lucky, lucky.

Thanks Clare,

cheers

Fi

Joining Hexagons Tutorial

While involved in the 'great craft room clean up of 2012' - I found a little packet with some balls of cotton yarn and crocheted hexagons from a forgotten project.

It was supposed to be a pin cushion - from a pattern I bought from Ravelry, can't remember the name of the pattern maker.

I had 6 hexagons finished, and I think I only needed 8, but looking at it now, I think the reason I tossed it aside was that, as I was assembling it, I realised it was going to make a pretty big pincushion.

So I did what might be expected and turned it into a doily/thingy.

Anyway, I get quite a few people asking me about joining hexagon crochet, so I took the opportunity to photograph my steps to show those that need the know-how, how to join hexagons together.

Five years ago today....

...was the day.


Most days I choose not to let it out.

Most days I choose to keep my secrets to myself, after all, I know in Whom is my hope.

Most days I just keep him close in my heart, knowing that one day, I will see him again.

Most days I know that we all have things to bear.  Deep things.


But not this day.


Today it is refusing to stay quiet, so please bear with me - tomorrow will be crochet and craft.  Life goes on.

This is the day he was born.

This was the day I took him to the zoo for a treat.  Just him and me.

This was one of the rare occasions we were at a 'social' event together.

Nathan, I miss you and think of you, today, and everyday.

love
Mum

Making Crazy with Daisies - On Video!!!

Hi all,

Super, super excited.........because......

It has taken most of my time for the last two days, but I managed to work my head around making a video tutorial (albeit simple), creating a youtube channel, and, uploading it to youtube.

Next step - embed it into this post.

Oh my gosh!  I cannot tell you how excited I was when it finally uploaded, and my dearest one and I sat down to watch it.  In fact, I couldn't even wait to eat my dinner, I sat and watched it with plate and fork in hand.

Trouble is, I just might have formed an addiction (already) and there goes all my bandwidth uploading videos.
Ah well. 



Making crazy daisies into rocket science, but I hope you enjoy it.

cheers
Fi

The Thing-a-my-bob aka Crazy Daisy Winder

Well, a few of you wanted to see what I would do with this thingamybob now that I know what it is!

My first attempts have been quite hilarious.

It seems that you make these daisy-like flowers, which look simple enough in themselves, BUT the possibilities of what you can do with them are endless.
I already have a few things in mind.

One of the main things is to crochet them together to make scarves, placemats, garments, anything really. 

Here are a few pics of me trying to work out how to make one.


Now, I am not going to go into too much details in words what I'm doing - because -

I am going to attempt doing a video clip!

I have to master the art of youtube videos for my other blog - The Vintage Folk Painter- so I am going to try it out on you lot first!!!

So, here is the pictorial version.

Ok, ok, I know thats not it.  But I'm still in blue-dresser-love-land.  What do you think of those little crochet doilies hanging over the edge?  I bought them on one of my nearly weekly trips to the vintagey/rustic/secondhand shop up at the Old Cheese Factory.  Only cost pennies. And when you think of the time and effort put into making them.......

Anyway, enough of that.

Necessary supplies:

Thread - check

Scissors - check

Thingamybob aka Crazy Daisy Winder - check

Darning needle - check

Cup of tea - check

If you hold the Crazy Daisy Winder in your hand and twist the knob - out pops the spokes.

You have to hold the thread in place with your thumb to start.

Then you start winding.

Now when I got to about here, I realised that this was going to be a very thin flower with one strand of that thread......

.......so I started again, this time winding the crochet thread around each spoke 6 times.

After it is wound, you thread the darning needle and start on the centre.

The side that is facing you is actually the back of the flower.

 Centre finished.

Now can you spot my mistake?

I wound it WAY too tightly.

See how the spokes won't turn down anymore than that?  I had to actually cut this one off the winder.

Shame.

Ok. Take 3.

This one is wound on a lot looser.

I chose a different colour for the centre.

And voila!  It is popping off the winder much easier. 

And there is the completed flower.

Quite simple, but it's my first - ; )

Stay tuned for the video version - once I work out the camera.

cheers

Fi

Name this thing-a-me-bob

Does anyone recognise this?

A friend gave this to me some time ago with a smile on her face like she was presenting me with some great treasure.

And then she did what I was really hoping that she wouldn't do - she asked me if I knew what it was...

Now, when she handed it to me, I was thinking was, 'why on earth has she given me the rusted out lid of a really old teapot?'

Glad I didn't say that.

Apparently she found it at a local market and she knows it has something to do with needlecraft of some sort.

And, if you twiddle the knob - look what happens!

These spoky things pop out.

I am sure that it is really useful.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why?

cheers

Fi