I Love Teapots and Tea Cosies

Rather than get out my old tea cosies (most of them are stored in a box in the cupboard), I decided to knit a new one.

Some nubbly yarn scraps and some fluffy yarn left overs.

I used a cosy as a guide as well as a tea pot. There is always a bit of trial and error getting the fit right. I undid the first attempt after about 4 rows because it was obviously too big.

I combined the fluffy and nubbly yarn every 4th row. I ran out of nubbly yarn at the top so I had to make the top part all fluffy. I made holes around the top for the ribbon but the fluffiness made it impossible to see where they were so the ribbon just got threaded through best as possible using a big needle.

It is stocking stitch for the first 6 rows with smaller needles then the rest is stocking stitch with needles 1 whole size larger. I used 7mm and 8mm needles. The top is shaped by knitting 2 tog all the way across. After knitting 2 sides I put them on one 7mm needle.

I did knit 2 purl 2 ribbing across both sides so the top is done in one piece. I did about 8 rows with the holes around the 4th row.

I added some beads.

I love the way the bottom curls up a bit.

This one fits 3 or 4 of my medium tea pots.

Happy Crafting and Quilting,

Val

WIP Wednesday

I am so glad I have managed to make another owl. I am quite a few behind now but I plan to make two more next month and try to catch up. I have to wait six months to get the others out of storage but I should be all caught up and ready to put the quilt together by then. The BOM finishes in August.
For this one I cut his eye sections in one piece. The pattern has it in two pieces but it doesn't work out right. The second layer is from a floral fabric and the darker petals make cute eyebrows. I am using raw edge applique and machine buttonhole stitch.
You can see my blocks pinned here.

I have been working away at another dish cloth. The blackberry pattern is much slower than the lacy pattern. I am using smaller needles too to get a firmer cloth. The lacy one looks to be more holes than cloth now :D

Don't forget I am having a linky party for everyone working on Welcome to the North Pole next Wednesday 26th Feb. It will be great for everyone to see what others are up to.

I am linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced today.

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Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Two more small finishes

I have been steadily working on my tea cosy for a couple of weeks and finished it off yesterday. I love the colours but I think it needs a band of colour then cream for the rest like an Old Country Roses plate. I think the next one will be dark pink, light pink and yellow with maybe a green lining and base border. I love this tweed knitting pattern.

After seeing Donna's star tutorial I just had to make one with the Japanese floral that I had. It sits nicely on the big lazy susan in the centre of our banquet table.

Not much to do right now. It is early. I have to put lemon icing on the quinoa and carrot cake and prepare the pumpkin ice cream mix. I have frozen up several bananas too, to make a nice icy dessert. The pumpkin ice cream is made with coconut milk. There have to be some dairy free options.
I think this Christmas theme is the 'Free From Christmas'. We have to have some dairy free, wheat and gluten free, mango free, peanut free, sugar free, meat free options :D

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Merry Christmas!
Val

Little Christmas bits 6

I had nearly finished my little festive book minder when I started a new tea cosy I have been planning for a while. I had to tear myself away from it to sew the reindeer together. I will be getting back to it now while I watch my Phryne Fisher DVD.

The reindeer is another Just Jen Knits & Stitches pattern for free. When he has done book duty this month I will put him on the tree and find a new book minder.

If you like my December posts why not pin them or +1 them. I don't expect you to comment on every one :)

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Wip Wednesday - knitting for my 18" doll, a bag and a quilt.

I have a talent for cobbling together several different design ideas. Occasionally I come up with something different enough to be considered original. I saw the range of gorgeous knitted clothes made for dolls by Maggie and Kate Create and just had to attempt writing a pattern for my 18" doll along similar lines. It will be a long cable cardigan with a collar. The fashion concept is not mine but the pattern made for my doll will be my original pattern. So far I have only knitted the back but it looks nice.

I like to knit in my back room looking out on the yard. I can see the bird bath and lots of birds just hang about. The crows are a cute couple. They will come to the bird bath together and sometimes they just sit together. Here they are on the back fence. They sat here for nearly an hour just canoodling. Their nest is in a nearby tree. I don't think it is finished yet. The cockatoos have been visiting the bird bath too.

I keep a bird observation sheet. You can see it in the knitting photo. I got the idea from somewhere else and made it my own. If you use Pages on a Mac you can have my bird observations page.

The bag I am working on is also a mixture of ideas from others. I have all the pieces ready to sew.

I have used lots of features like the bag at Patchwork Pottery.
I have changed the top so the zipper will curve over like many of the zippy pouches I have pinned.
I have added a flat pouch on the back to hold my iPad at the ready. It just slips in. No zip top. Because I would also need room for my purse and lipstick I needed the bag to have depth so I kept the gusset for the bag section. I want to put it over my shoulder so I have a long strap like a messenger bag.
The applique dog I got from the beautiful designs at Paste. Denise Fiedler makes framed pictures using vintage printed pages cut into shapes. Here is my applique plan.

Because Christmas is unbelievably close I have kept working on my North Pole quilt. I finished stitching around the applique pieces on the third row and I did a bit more on the Santa row.

I am linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced this week.

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Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

FNWF - A bit of knitting

I just needed a little push to get Belinda Jane finished so I signed up for Friday Night With Friends over at Cheryll's Cubby Hole. There is a long list of bloggers to browse through.

I fell in love with this dolly the minute I saw her online. She is a PDF pattern from Dollytime on Etsy.

Here she is in her knickers lounging on my knew summer shirt fabrics.

She has a pretty shell top.

And the most amazing skirt and cute cardigan.

Funnily enough it was the cardigan that attracted me first. It reminded me of the hand knitted cardigans my mum made for me when I was in primary school.

This is my first and last mention of the North Pole September roundup. If I hadn't promised myself that I would finish it this year it would be rolled up and put away. I hope everyone is doing better than me.

Happy Quilting and Crafting
Val

Cute fleece fabric

Went into Brisbane for a lovely lunch with my mum and my two daughters. I took the opportunity to visit Lincraft for their half price sale. I decided I wanted some polar fleece to back my Debbie Mumm sampler and I found a cute owl pattern. While looking I found a beautiful coral fleece (much softer than polar fleece) with a Christmas pattern. They were both $6.99 a metre and I bought 3m of each. I think I will use the Christmas one to back my Welcome to the North Pole quilt.

I also couldn't resist a nice tea box from The Tea Centre.

On Saturday I am going to Aldi bright and early to buy a down jacket for $49.99. It has duck down in it. I saw a duck down jacket reduced to $200 at Kathmandu and the goose down jacket was $500. I guess the Aldi jacket is quite a bargain. I have wanted a down jacket for a while because they are warm, light and squash into a small space. It will be perfect for holidays involving plain trips. Mum and I have started saving up for the Australian Sewing Guild trip to Sydney next July. It will be great for that.
I finished a knitted dog for DD1. Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the finished article. I have now started a cat for DD2. She tried to knit her own but got thoroughly confused so I have borrowed her book Best in Show - knit your own cat, to help her out.

I completed my first crochet square from my new book. I made it first with a 5.50 hook but it was just too loose and open. I pulled it undone and did it again with a size 4.00 hook and it looks just right.

Happy Quilting,
Val

FNWF and a busy week

On Friday my neighbour rang me just before lunch and said "Are you busy this afternoon?".
I expected she needed someone to mind the kids while she fitted something in. She has 4 young children so I try to help out in tight spots. I was quite excited when she asked me to make a red riding hood cape for her daughter who was off to Guide camp after school. It took me an hour and a half.
From this:

To this:

My official Friday night sewing was some cross stitch. It is a round Christmas decoration with three lovely bells. I am doing it on 16 count aida. I am linking up with FNWF over at Gone Stitchin with Cheryll. There are lots signed up. I will be visiting as many as possible this weekend.

I have been busy making all sorts of things. I found a pattern for knitted slipper socks out of thick wool. I have already worn them and washed them. They are very snug over normal thin socks. If you sign up to Ravelry for free there are lots of free patterns to knit and crochet. The slipper socks are here http://www.ravelry.com/designers/yuko-nakamura

I also tried out a new crochet stitch called lover's knot and made a little scarf to wear with my slippers.

I should have posted my Country Cottage Quilting SAL on Thursday. I had the Hollyhock needle book finished. Here it is.

Because the cover turned out a bit crooked I tried again with a new stitchery but the same book cover design. I love the new free stitcheries from Red Brolly.

I changed the insides quite a bit. I used some applique elements from Some Kind of Wonderful and a purse clasp magnet for the scissors.

Several times I have linked up with Applique Thursday at A Quilting Reader's Garden. Last week Angie offered a book as a give away for those who linked up. I am thrilled to say I won a book on making patchwork landscapes. Thanks Angie.
I suggest you have a look at her blog A Quilting Reader's Garden. She has a hexie Friday too.

I have been trying to avoid knitting dish cloths. You all know why :D
They are extremely addictive.
I have collected some patterns in Pinterest and I bought the Sugar and Cream cotton yarn online at Yarn Over. Yarn Over is based in Brisbane. I worked out that buying about 8 balls from them is a similar price as 8 balls from the US.
I knitted a big one and tried using it but it is just too bulky so I have made several 5 inch ones. I think I will have to have a new one for each day because they take so long to dry. I don't fancy using a cloth that has sat damp for a day. I also found that the dark wine colour ran. I will stick to light colours now.

I cut up some Audra's Iris Garden and Avalon to make 2 1/2 inch squares for Nanna's Farm.

I bought a lovely new book about Amish gardening. It is a lovely look at the life of several families in the garden through the year. I love it. The photos are beautiful.

It is starting to get very wintery here lately. I am thinking I will have to try some baking. Nice puddingy things. Perhaps I will make some things to take to the quilting group. At least that way I don't feel obligated to eat them all.


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Happy Quilting,
Val

Tidying up loose ends

I have been trying to get several things finished before I go away. One was the Club Bag Challenge for Beenleigh Quilters. We had to use a given piece of fabric. I didn't like the fabric at all. It didn't go with anything I had in my stash so the challenge was to make something I like out of something I didn't like. After lots of thinking I decided on the simplest tote bag with my rooster design appliqued as a bit of an art piece. I think it turned out all right.

 Another project I promised to do was a cowl collar scarf for DD1. I just have to press it and sew on the buttons. It will be in the post next week. It is merino and silk. Very nice to knit with.

Only a couple of things left to finish now. One is the jacket I want to wear on my trip. It is well on the way so I am not frieking out yet :D

I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself today. Yesterday about lunchtime I had to deliver a green frog from our spa to the dam. Later I was a bit itchy around my wasteband. I just scratched and didn't look. By late afternoon I was really itchy across my belly and down my leg. On close inspection I found I was covered in about 30 or 40 tiny tiny ticks called seed ticks. They barely registered as black dots. I put on some aeroguard to kill them a bit then I jumped in the shower and tried to scrub them off. No luck there so I had to use the tweezers to pick off every one of them. I now have lots of red itchy spots. I am glad I didn't have some more serious reaction to them. I must have brushed past some grass where they had just hatched.
This is not me but it gives you an idea of what they look like.

Source: http://mayalassiter.com/2009/08/seed-ticks-the-scourge-of-the-earth/ticks-1-jpg/

Hope your days are happy and tick free
Val

The Beenleigh Quilters

I had such a lovely time at my area quilting and craft group on Wednesday morning. I was lucky that I happened to turn up on birthday day and several birthday ladies had brought along cake for morning tea. Since it was my first time I thought it would be easier if I just took along some stitching. I was warmly welcomed as I walked in and when I said I had some stitching I was directed to take a seat with Betty 'n' Betty. They were a couple of lovely characters and so the tone was set for a funny, relaxed and gossipy session. I had a little visit with all the groups and hardly got any sewing done.
The hall was built just for the quilters by the show society and it is a lovely space. I took a few pictures as I walked around.

I need to make a name tag for the birthday board but it won't be put up for quite a while.

One of the lovely group quilts around the walls.

Magazine heaven for a coin donation.

One side of the library cupboard. Can't wait to get my hands on these.

Ruby sits at the door.

I have been wanting to buy a Jean Greenhowe knitted doll book for a while and with my purse quite a bit lighter I am knitting a soft doll with a lovely body shape, a pretty face and great hair that I can put my hand made doll clothes on. I couldn't believe my luck when I scored a pattern book with basic patterns for 5 different doll sizes and how to make lots and lots of different looks and garments. It was on the 'For Free' table.
I needed an instant gift today so I knitted the tiny teddy included in the knitting book. He is so cute and only 2 1/2 inches high. His name is Beary Small. I bought some new sewing needles and to make the little bear I used my bodkin, my curved fine fabric needle and my short doll needle. I can't understand how I survived without all these needles in the past!

I hope you are all having fun making things.

Happy Quilting,
Val