Scatterday

I'm a little early today because I'm going to Bali tomorrow! Yay! I'm so looking forward to a break, I'm working 13 days in a row at the moment and working tomorrow morning so I'm a bit exhausted (which is why I haven't been posting as much on here, or leaving comments on other blogs). I'm hoping to come back nice and relaxed and refreshed and more enthusiastic about things generally. It's also my birthday while I'm in Bali, so that will be the fourth year in a row I've been away from home for my birthday. Last year I was in Adelaide (which I never really thought of as home, the year before in Hawaii (I went away after graduating) and before that I was in Colac doing work experience).

Next week I'll be posting Scatterday late, but if someone puts the categories in a comment I might get them in time to take Bali photos...no guarantees though.

Anyway, onto Scatterday.

First is texture, I struggled with this one but eventually came up with moist and here's a photo of some dirt with a seedling in it (watered with buckets from the shower of course).

Second is a weapon and we have a mallet, because I couldn't find the machete I'm sure lives in our garage somewhere, but I think the mallet would be deadly enough.

Finally, a hobby and it's making things. This is the Mesmerize Sweater from the Crochet Me book, so that starts with M too.

Pincushion and Tape Measure Cover

I had some cute little apple fabric scraps lying around so I used them for a couple of small projects.

First we have a tape measure cover (because mine was pretty ugly), much better now!


Then we have a pincushion. It's actually for someone at my dad's work so I don't have a matching pincushion and tape measure.

I used Whip-Up Tutorials for both of these. The pincushion was from the Stickin' it to the Pincushion, and the tape measure cover was from the Customised Tape measure tutorial

Scatterday

It's Scatterday again and today's letter is T.

Hot Things: It's a Tap Pepper Grinder, it used to have a hot on it but that fell off, but pepper itself it a bit hot.

Purple: It's a teddy bear that I gave my mum ages ago, which now lives on her bed.

Clothing: it's some ties (and there are some purple ones in there). Next to this rack of ties is another one, and there are normally quite a few ties that haven't been put away as well.

Bookmark Swap

I took part in the Bookmark Swap at Crafty Daisies and today my bookmark arrived! It's a lovely crocheted bookmark in a Catherine Wheel pattern and my partner let me know it was designed to look like flowers in a field of grass. Isn't it just gorgeous!


On the weekend I went to a primary school reunion which was a bit weird, seeing people I hadn't seen for thirteen years, since I was twelve. There were about 15 people there out of a class of 73, but more people than that had been tracked down, and almost everyone had been contacted through Facebook. It was interesting to see what people were up to, and amazing how many people had gone travelling for a year. No one could think of anyone who was married or had kids (at 25 you'd expect someone to be wouldn't you?).

Scatterday

Happy Scatterday! It's H today and the categories are:

Human: This was a bit of a tricky one, but then I started looking round and found this picture of Hedy Lamarr. My mum had carried a calender of black and white movie stars around for years until she eventually got all the images framed. They're all in our dining room now and look very effective. Other pictures include Errol Flynn, Lauren Bacall, Mae West and more.

Toys: We have a harp seal and a hedgehog. They were both gifts. The seal was from a friend when I got food poisoning in Perth (other than that I had a lovely time), and the hedgehog was from my aunt and uncle when they visited us from the UK.

Soft: It's a hat. My mum and dad went to a mad hatters fancy dress party. I made mum's hat which won, it was a desert island with a little palm tree and a little doll fishing. It was lots of fun with paper mache and sand and cellophane water. The only problem was that I didn't think about balance until it was finished. Unfortunately I think it's been thrown out now and I didn't get any photos, but we've still got the prize.

Aussie Tour Embroidery Swap

I've got my apron back from the Aussie Tour embroidery swap. It was a round robin and I sent around pieces of an apron which will be sewn together at some point. First though I have to embroider a couple of gaps. That may have to wait for a little while because my to do list looks a bit like this:

URGENT
Christmas Ornament Swap (I signed up at the last minute)
Christmas Cards
Christmas Presents
Secret Santa Gift

Then there is my WIP List
Mesmerize Sweater
Cocoon Bag (which is probably more like a UFO)
September CAL Square

Plus lots of non-urgent things too.

Plus I'm working lots of hours at the moment and I'm going away in a few weeks (Yay, a holiday in Bali).

So it might take me a little while to complete the apron, but until then everyone else's embroidery deserves to be shown off, so enjoy the loveliness.


This one is from jane feebles, such a clever idea (I had a craft theme for my apron)


This one is from sharre. You probably can't see the little needle embroidered with metallic thread, but I love little details like that!


This is from librarylass and it's three dimensional! Doesn't the stick figure have so much character too?


This is from cmc_aust. I wish my French knots were as good as this.


This is from Miss_Vicki, how gorgeous is the sewing superhero fairy, and the stitches are teeny!

Cotton and Wool and Yarn. Oh my!

That title doesn't completely make sense, but with just cotton and wool you don't end up with the Wizard of Oz reference. Anyway a combination of factors led to me splurging on various yarns.

1. I'd just bought some new crochet books
2. Bendigo Woollen Mills was having a sale (and still is I think)
3. There was a destashing thread on the Australian Knitters Board of Ravelry

So I've ended up with all of this:


The first two cones are from Ravelry, no plans for this just yet and the rest is from Bendigo Woollen Mills. The other cones are going to be made into the Icelandic Sweater and Leaves Sweater, I keep changing my mind as to the colours of each. The next three balls are cotton and are going to turn into the Mesmerize Sweater (I've started this one), then we have two balls for a non-Crochet Me cardigan, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment, and finally we have another three balls of cotton, bought because they were even more on sale...not that I have to justify them!

TAST Week 21: Crossed Buttonhole

Week 21 in the TAST challenge was Crossed Buttonhole and we have some little sea stars (or starfish).

Scatterday

It's Scatterday again and today's letter is O.

First is Breakfast and we have some oats, which go on to become muesli (courtesy of Poppalina's recipe here). Very yummy and a wonderful start to the day!

Next is something shiny and it's a Cloisonné owl my mum and dad got in China, which is used to hold toothpicks. This was a very hard topic I thought so I'll be interested in what everyone else gets!

Finally it's something small and I've taken a photo of my mum's printers tray (a section anyway) with some ornaments. She's been collecting little things for years and has bits and pieces from over the world (I made the gumnut glued to the bit of wood)

My new books

All my books have arrived now so I thought it was time to do a quick review. I ordered them from The Book Depository which offers free shipping worldwide. All my books arrived very quickly and the prices were excellent.

First we have Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori. This is a lovely sweet book. The photography is lovely and the patterns easy to follow and would be manageable to hand sew. There is some assumption that you already know how to sew in this book. Overall a very inspiring book, and I'm sure I'm going to buy some socks and/or gloves for these projects soon.

Next is Plush-O-Rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults by Linda Kopp. This was a great book to read through, the introduction goes through various materials and techniques and there is a wide range of creatures to make, all with their own personalities. There are some great designer bios as well. The only negative would be that the templates need enlarging, but that is a small quibble. It's also full of inspiration for creating your own monsters as well!

Then there is Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol, which is beautifully presented, full of inspiring designs, clear instructions, and lovely writing. It goes through sewing basics initially and then has a range of projects, all appearing nice and simple. I'm looking forward to trying some.

Next is Crochet Me by Kim Werker, which is a very empowering book. You don't often get crochet books that you get to the end of reading and go "Yeah! I crochet!" but this one manages to do that. As well as the essays throughout there is a lovely range of projects, and I've already ordered some wool to start some of them (it doesn't count towards your stash if you buy it for a specific project).

Second last is Amigurumi: Supper Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth A. Doherty and I must say, the patterns in this are adorable. There is a range from crochet food, animals and humanoids. There are instructions for the crochet stitches, embroidery and also some hand exercises which I think is a fantastic idea.

Finally we have the Harmony Guide 300 Crochet Stitches. This book is obviously designed to be very functional and gets straight into the crochet without any non-instructive text. The stitch patterns are packed in, all with clear photographs and some with charts. It's definitely a good base for different crochet patterns and motifs.

Scatterday (late again)

Only a couple of days late today, but better late than never!

First we have vegetable...and I think canned vegetables only just count, but we have some asparagus. We did have fresh avocados and apples but they're both fruits.

Next a round thing and it's a stone apple. I think mum and dad got it (and the matching pear) from overseas somewhere, but I can't be more specific than that.

Finally it's Something I like the Smell of. This was even more difficult than the vegetable because I've got a terrible sense of smell so in the absence of taking a photo of the sky and calling it air, I've gone with some aromatic candles.