Category Archives: miscellaneous

I have started a pair of socks for myself based on the recipe in this book. This yarn is Jigsaw Heirloom Sock Yarn Colour 57. I have two more balls, colour 58 and colour 27. Not to mention three balls of Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit 508 Senses – I plan to make more socks! I’m addicted.

I have been blogging for a year now and I thought this would be a good time to take stock.

At the start I hoped this blog would force me to create more to generate content. I don’t think that has been the case. However, it is great to have a record of a year’s crafting. In the past year I have been most pleased with

my patchwork cards

birth sampler

patchwork blocks

And my socks

Once I expanded this blog to include non-crafty items, such as book reviews, I found it much easier to find content.

During the next year, I want to focus on embroidery (in particular larger embroideries that require multiple hoopings) and reducing my fabric stash (not to mention the to be read pile of books). I have plans for an I Spy quilt (the latest Get Creative magazine had a pattern I quite liked) and a Disappearing Nine Patch.

I went here …

To see these …

Check out this link: Sculpture by the Sea 

I’ve been watching Road to Avonlea while knitting my socks. It’s a Canadian children’s television series that was filmed in the late 80s early 90s – there were seven series. It was made by Sullivan Entertainment who also made the Anne of Green Gables shows. It is based (somewhat loosely) on the works of L M Montgomery (namely The Story Girl, The Golden Road, Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea)

(Picture from http://www.avonleaguide.com/)

I’ve been enjoying it – each episode is about 45 minutes long (just the right length for any of my knitting attempts) and there are 91 episodes – surely I’ll get my sock finished before I’ve finished watching them all. There is a fabulous website devoted to the series here.

I love looking at the clothes and the house furnishings – I imagine there is a lot of ironing involved!

If you like period domestic detail and (dare I say it) wholesome entertainment, then watch this series. However, a word of caution Sullivan Entertainment charge a King’s ransom to post the DVDs to Australia, buy from here instead.

So I’ve changed the look. I’m not sure about this particular shade of green, but I’m happy with everything else. I might do a bit of experimenting with different shades of green over the next few days.

It’s so hot – 38 degrees (100)!

I’ve been having a few dramas – comments have gone missing (so if you have left a comment and I haven’t replied, I’m terribly sorry), I’ve had surgery (so felt too dreadful to do anything but read trashy novels) and I’ve been working on items that I don’t want to publish on the web – they have my children’s name on them.

I’m thinking about buying a new general purpose sewing machine.  I’m a bit of a Janome girl, so I’m looking at the MC6600P.

There is also a 6500P and I wonder if the additional features are worth an extra $500. Does anyone have any opinions?

I’ve been doing dull things – like printing PR stuff for my stall. Also my real life is  interfering with my crafty endeavours. My children have had lots of different activities that I need to get them to – swimming lessons etc. Plus in my opinion it’s all about the photos and I haven’t got myself organised enough to take photos while the light is good.

 However, I have bought more fabric because, of course, you can never have enough!

I plan to use one of these fabrics in a new quilt – a waterwheel design (I really liked the one Amy posted about at Angry Chicken ).

I was thinking something like this …

There will also be at least one border, but I’m still thinking about that. I want something more complicated than my normal one piece fabric borders, but I haven’t decided exactly what yet.

What do you think of the block and quilt image. I used my new PCQuilt software package to create them. So far I’ve been really pleased with it. I love that I can scan my fabric and use it in my blocks and I love being able to see a quilt of the blocks. I had a bit of trouble at first with scanning my fabric, but that turned out to be user error (of course) and their support was great.

You must all be wondering if I ever finish anything and I’m wondering that too! I’ve got three quilt projects on the go – Snail’s Trail, Log Cabin and now this Waterwheel. I find those initial stages so exciting! Planning the project, finding the perfect fabric etc unfortunately commitment to a project is not my forte.

I’ve been making more T-Shirts for my market stall. I’ve completed the embroidery, but have not yet attached the embroidery to the T-Shirts. Of course I haven’t even started the administration stuff. You know order forms, receipt book, etc.

I also have to write a book review for JASA (Jane Austen Society of Australia). The book is Cassandra’s Sisterby Veronica Bennett and I’m desperately trying to find something positive to write! I think it’s a bit unfair to say ‘this book turned me off reading for life’, but that’s how I felt. Usually I read a book a week, but I was determined not to read anything else while reading this book and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make myself finish it.

So what all this means is that I’ve been too busy to work on my Snail’s Trail quilt or my Log Cabin quilt. Although I did find time to correct my log cabin foundation.