My Creative Space

I was given this box of enormous balls of wool. I feel especially spoilt as it is all pure wool. I don't know anymore about it other than it is probably more than 30 years old. It may have come from the wool factory that used to be in Launceston, Tasmania.

I decided I needed to do something with it rather than look at it. I saw Dottie Angel's blanket last week. I decided the other day that this might be good for that. I have no idea how much wool I have but they are enormous balls so there should be enough for a number of squares. I have been battling away trying to get started! I have this problem though where I just can't get the right number of stitches to start. It is very frustrating. Any secrets to getting the right amount. Yes I can count! lol But I still end up usually with one short, so I try & again & end up with one too many! Oh well, I have just tried again & I think I have it this time. Finally...

A lot of creative spaces to see here... go on, you know you want too!

Back By Popular Demand!

For those that have asked - some BJ pics for you! The last one was just 10 mins ago. This doesn't happen in the afternoons very often anymore so I had better go & make the most of it. I think he has a cold.

Wow, I'm excited!

Not only am I excited because my All Creature Great & Small animals are all stitched! I'm excited because someone is going to give me something! Wow!

Since daylight savings ended here we are really found out how dark this house can get. We have been shopping around looking at new lighting options for both the lounge room & the hanging lights over the kitchen bench. The lounge room because you can't see much at night even if you take the amber shades off them & the kitchen bench ones because the current pendants hanging there are pretty ordinary & being held up by bits of bluetac & sticky tape. Not a good look. Anyway, I have been looking locally at what is available & also a bit of a browse online. It's hard.

We have decided to wait with the lounge room lights for now as we may do some renos in there sometime next year. So they will have to wait until then. In the meantime I am struggling with some decent lighting to sew under at night. I have a lamp that keeps blowing bulbs but we also have the trouble of a shortage of power points in the room! Sheesh! The list for an electrician will be long!

So with all that being a right nuisance, I am surprised to have someone offer me a light to try & review! Check out the lighting options over here! I was impressed by their variety & price ranges. I found a little lamp that just may suit me in my time of need!!! (yeah bring out the violins about now) So I am really really lucky! They are going to give me the lamp I wanted to try out! Yep, give! I can't believe it! It could just save me from sitting in the dark all the rest of the winter. I really hope it works well for what I want. I'll let you know how it goes, so stay tuned. Woohoo!

Ta-dah

Here are my favourite chickens! Also the last of the 16 designs in the All Creatures Great & Small pattern book I have. I can't believe I stuck with them & finished them off! Cool. I was surprirsed at how easy they were. They are all basically done in back stitch. One other had a little bit of lazy daisy. They all have french knots for animal eyes. This one had buttonhole stitch for the flowers. They look cute but this doesn't show it so well.

I will put them all into a quilt for BJ one day. I need to save up for the fabrics that I need though. So maybe if I got just one piece at a time it will be a little while. I will see how we go with that. Probably a good thing I don't have it on hand as I would be be ignoring everything else today & cutting & sewing. Oh well, that will be something to look forward to, along with picking the fabric bit by bit.

Now onto some cross stitching.

Nearly done now...

Ok, this is the second last one. I'm rather boring I know. One more & we are done. Stay tuned... if you aren't bored stupid by now!

Sunny Frog

Nearly there - 2 to go. I finished this one last night. I actually enjoyed this one as I had a 2 year old watching over my shoulder seeing the frog grow. He was really quite interested & stood by my chair watching it for a while. I was very impressed by his interest in watching the needle going up & down, up & down & the frog gradually appearing. He must know this is for him & he is my little sunshine! (most of the time! lol)

These Rodents Are Cute At Least!

My basket of mice are done. On the home stretch - 3 to go. I should be doing some now as it is the perfect day for such things. But I am faffing about here instead. Oh the time that gets wasted at the computer!!!! Going to move now & go & do something less wasteful - hanging up washing! This is much more fun than that of course!

Another one bites the dust

I like the giraffe! He's pretty cute really. Actually I think the tree it pretty neat too! & the birds! & the nest! Ok, so I like this one. Nearly done now. I think I will miss doing these. But everyone else will be glad to see the end of them! lol

I know it is a bit early but...

... Santa is here!

This is a cross stitch kit that I did for a shop sample for work. It is a Rico Design Stitch Kit. It's rather cute. I have been stitching him this weekend - Friday, Saturday & Sunday nights & then today to do the backstitching when I could fit it in, between other odd jobs. The kit comes with the linen band all with seams etc sewn so you just have to stitch Santa, give him a press & hang him on the hanger that is also included. I really like that. I could do a lot with a couple of the hangers. The only thing it didn't come with is a bunch of gold stars. The string that Santa is holding actually needs 9 gold star charms on it. The kit doesn't have those. So I will take him to work as is & see what stars we can source. Other than that, it's finished as far as I can go.

Busy weekend here with more birthday parties. They should be over for a few weeks. I also have yet another cold which is really a drag. So it's a wonder I have got anything done at all, as it is worse than the one the other week. Maybe I didn't get over that one, but to me it feels like a different one completely. Oh well, about over the worst.

We also had the arrival today of new neighbours in our paddock. We have 3 all black calves now to hang out with & eat our grass. So we did get out a bit today to watch them. They aren't really little but aren't big cows yet either I don't think. BJ & Juneau will enjoy watching them I think.

& that is the end almost of another long weekend. When is the next one due? Can't come around soon enough I think! lol Now back to our regular programming again!

More Animals for Fell Farm

The lizard & camel are joining us today. This is probably my least favourite of all 16 pictures, but even this one has grown on me after stitching it. The lizard looks a little bit funky. It is rather an odd pair of animals to include but I thought that about the platypus, flamingo & pelican too. Good thing I didn't design the book! I guess it is called All Creatures Great & Small for a reason!

For anyone lucky enough to have a long weekend, enjoy it & stay safe!

Chugg Chugg, Wooo hoooo

Here we go. Finished train. Unfortunately it doesn't look like this any longer but it was rather tasty. Chocolate Cake & butter cream icing recipes both from the Ladies, A Plate recipe book that I really love. Actually it was the same one I used for BJ's birthday last year. The black edges on the cake are a glitter gel. Then the wheels are made with some biscuits I found yesterday at Woolies called Wheelies. They are small than the average biscuit & look like wheels with the pattern in them. Pretty cool. I used a bit of dusting sugar in green on the roof & Homebrand Fruit Sticks from Woolies for the front edges & the "logs" in the back. Oh & 2 yellow smarties for lights on the front. It wasn't over the top. BJ light up at it when he saw it each time so that was cool. He even managed to blow candles out on the second go. Luckily we didn't have a huge crowd for a party. Just 7 plus him & baby Ruby.

All in all he seems to have had a good day. Me too, as long as we don't think about the backyard chicken massacre this morning. Something to make the day even more memorable of course, but something I could have done without!

Thanks for the birthday wishes for him & myself from the creative space post this morning.

My Creative Space

Well it is cake day! My little fella is 2 today! Awwww..... so not much on today really except birthday stuff. This is the effort from last night. One train cake. Today it is adding the decorations to make it look like a train, with a very small tender. Had to make that quickly so we can stick candles or something on. Well see if it stays there or not. I had enough icing for that bit anyway so used it up. Not sure how we will decorate it yet but between hubby & I we should come up with something. It is only pale green, like a lime milkshake. We saw so many train pics & the colours were so bright they really looked sickly. So we went subtle instead! lol

Have a good day & for more creative spaces check out Kootoyoo...

edited to add - see next post for finished train if you are interested.

Animal Stack

Here is the latest animal embroidery. He's really cute. Either an animal stack or roast dinners. You choose. lol They are cute little things. There are 6 to go. A couple of pretty average ones & then the chickens I am saving for last. The chickens will also take the longest I think!

Well... I actually finished it

Here's my effort at the Needleturn Applique. Sorry it is so wrinkly. I don't know whether to press it or not so I won't yet. Technically I haven't finished it, as really this is only a quarter of the quilt pattern! But... I can't attempt another 3 of these. I can't. Why? Because they would look nothing like this one. Ok, if I tried it there would be an illusion that they would be the same but they wouldn't turn out nearly alike. So I think it is better to not attempt another one. My orange petals didn't even come close to landing in the same sort of area on the second side compared to the first. So what hope have I got to try another 3 whole squares like it? None.

I enjoyed learning it. I did. Another thing to say I have tried. Even though it probably won't be something I do again. I think I like the fusible applique method better. I enjoy blanket stitching believe it or not! I also think my placement of parts of pictures would turn out better if I stuck them down much more securely with that. This method just moved too much. No matter how long I spent trying to get it to be in the right place, it wouldn't end up there in the end. Interesting lesson. So I applaud anyone that can do this technique well. Well done to you.

I must find myself another class like the one last week. I must say I really enjoyed the class the other night after a bit of tutoring on the last couple of techniques we needed to know, it was just nice sitting around with a group of ladies doing some stitching. (plus we had the added bonus of the teacher there to help if we got stuck!) I really need to find me some Brown Owls or some such group to hang out with sometimes & sew/stitch/embroider/knit/crochet with. I am sure I can find some in my area that would join me!

Well this project is complete. I have no idea how I will finish it off. Probably just a cushion if I can find a big enough insert. I will pop it away for now though as I am sick of looking at it! Now it is back to our regular programming.

Vintage Sheet FQ Swap

I just decided to join this! I thought it would be fun & a good way to expand my collection of vintage sheets! Cool! I have time to collect a few more too so that's a bonus.

Some more practice

Amelia Jane by Carol Roberts is the pattern we are working for our Needleturn Applique class.

Mine is going to look quite different!

I had my second class last night. Final one too. We learnt how to make nice circles. I have just cut those out ready to do them. We also learnt how to put 2 fabrics together like the red & dark green flower on the top. That was tricky. I have to do 2 leaves with that plus 2 more flowers like that one. There are still a bunch of petals though. Oh, only 6. That isn't so bad. Outside curves are harder than inside ones. Sometimes I feel like I am getting the hang of it & then I don't. It isn't easy but it's not hard either. Just takes practice. I will aim to get it finished though.

The original pattern as above, shows 4 of these squares all pointing into the centre at the red flower. The design really isn't my style so I will be pleased if I can get one square done. It is a good one to learn needleturn with but I wouldn't attempt 4 - I would lose interest well before finishing them all. But at least I have learnt how to do it. I have a book with some designs in it that use either needleturn or regular applique so I will decide which version I use for that, when I ever get to that project.

It's Friday! Happy Weekend!

My Friend Geoffrey

Finally another animal to add to the collection. My pelican, named Geoffrey. Can you guess why he is called Geoffrey? As crappy as I have been feeling the last few days, I needed to do something when I had time for a sit down, so this was it. The needleturn applique takes a bit more concentration that I had the energy for so I sat doing mindless backstitching basically playing connect the dots! Nice & simple when your head is fuzzy! So another one down, & ummm... not many to go. Lost count but it can't be many more! This is one of my least favourites of them all but now he is down he isn't so bad either!