Fabric Joy!!

Went into my local Spotlight Store for buttons - couldn't quite work out how the bill came to $57???
Oh yes that 6 metres of fabric - BUT it all was on clearance - bargain!!

Patchwork Pretty

This was one of my first patchworks, without a pattern, it was supposed to be a quilt for my guest bed BUT I ran out of fabric!!!! Tried many many sources but could not find anymore and I wasn't confident to introduce another fabric .
Then my mum had the bright idea to turn it into a double bed duvet cover, it was just the right size.
It looked so pretty on the single bed in my sewing room, the prefect place for my husband, children or cats to come in for a lie down and have a chat while I was sewing..
But last week we needed to move this bed into Andrew's room, he had bunk beds we brought from the UK, the bottom one needed a new mattress but being in Australia we could not source the right size anywhere. So my lovely duvet cover has been replaced by a Manchester United one!!!

And a wee cupcake cushion to match.

Tea towel Challenge

A new project for my Year 9 Home Economics Class.
Turning a tea towel into something else - hopefully something useful!
Any ideas??
I am sure the students will be more creative than me!

Gift for a Baby

Looking for a personalised gift for a new baby - decided to make a wee cushion in the colours of their new Nursery.

New Crochet Project

I have started my most challenging project - a tote bag pattern from 'The Hat & I' by Marken.
I saw this pattern on Pinterest when I first started - new stitches have been introduced and the confusing difference between UK and USA????
Progress to date.
Have to admit I have not made any progress on this - started something else - I'll get back to it!!!

Finished Quilt.

Baby present - loved these fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

First attempt at slippers??

Looked at a few different patterns....then kind of decided to just do my own thing???
Bit of an idea in progress!!!

Birdy Tablemats

I love looking at Pinterest - lots and lots of crafty ideas from lots and lots of crafty people.
I saw this picture 'Happy Birdies Mug Rugs' and decided to make some new tablemats.

More fabric from my stash used up!!
Then I decided to make my new nephew a wee sign for his bedroom door - after I had it all sewn up and finished - I thought I should have made it reversable with "Shh...Baby Sleeping..." on the back...need to remember this for the next time.

Finished Simple Stacey!!!!

All finished and ready to put on Heather's bed - surprisingly this only took me a couple of weeks!!!

 

Patchwork - Simple Stacey

I saw this lovely quilt in the Australian Homespun Magazine - No.82 Vol.11 No.3
Lovely colourful quilt by Clare Mooney.
www.homespun.com.au And decided it would be a great way for me to try and
use up some of the fabric in my stash - basically my box with the bits 'n' pieces of fabric from other projects was getting out of hand!!!!

Next Crochet Bag

Second attempt - same wool but I used a 4mm Crochet Hook - the closer texture was better.

Crochet Bags

Moving on to my next project - I saw this lovely bag on Attic 24 - attic24.typepad.com/weblog/crochet-bag.html
This is one of my favourite blogs, loads of inspiring ideas and fantastic instructions.
First attempt - Double knit/8 ply using a 4.5mm Crochet hook.

 

Yarn bombing gone wild!!!!!

Check out this website for some crochet inspiration.
http://yarnbomatraintoallwood.webs.com/

 

 

Flower Power!!

I saw this beautiful crochet blanket on hopscotch lane and the pattern was on Annie's Place
where their was another beautiful blanket and very easy to follow instructions. Due to my lack to crochet proficiency I joined the new colour at the corner in round 7, starting in the middle of the square I seemed to end up with a bump??

Learning to Crochet

Crochet has been one of those crafts that I just could not get the hang of, I bought two books, got a couple of instructional leaflets from the wool shop and a very patient lady tried to teach me...but NO!!!
But during the Summer holidays I decided I was on a mission....I now didn't just have to learn, I needed to learn!!!
All Free Crochet to the rescue...well mikeyssmail. I watched this video clip on 'How to Crochet Granny Square' m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=Xa7WjJKJjmg
I watched it over and over and over again - success!!!

Quite a few granny squares later I am all joined up....
First Project completed.

Ready to start the next project...Think I am HOOKED!!!

Different Flavours of Cupcakes

A wee baking session on Saturday, the Red Velvet Cupcakes from this book are lovely.
'The Hummingbird Bakery - cupcakes and muffins'
I also used the Chocolate Cupcake recipe and added the rind of one orange to the mix, then topped them with the vanilla butter icing, but I put in the rind from another orange and 20mls of orange juice instead of the milk.
The pink ones are the vanilla recipe with 25grams of coconut and 50grams of frozen raspberries - fold the raspberries in gently at the end to avoid having blue coloured cupcakes! They were then topped off with the vanilla butter icing, but 25grams of defrosted raspberries were beaten in instead of the milk.
The addition of 1tsp of cinnamon and a peeled and grated apple to the recipe also works well, with 1/2 a tsp of cinnamon in the butter icing instead of vanilla.
As this is a very light cake mix I found that when I added chocolare chips they tended to stink to the bottom and stick to the cupcake cases.

Cupcakes

My favourite recipe for cupcakes is from 'The Hummingbird Bakery'.
The Vanilla cupcake recipe can be found in the book of the same name or from www.goodtoknow.co.uk.

My copy is very well used and loved!!
This recipe is one that when I read it initially I thought it would not work as well as my trusted creaming method recipe - the 'rub-in' method is usually used for pastry, crumbles and scones, but it works beautifully.
I usually use buttermilk instead of full fat milk, this recipe works really well if you want to add something else to change the flavour of your cupcakes.

Greetings

Hi
I love reading different crafty blogs online - so I decided to start my own - it's a wee bit scary since technology is not my strong suit - anyway I am just going to jump in, learn and probably make loads of mistakes - so here goes!!!!!!