Blue Flower Handmade Label

I've been needing some lovely handmade labels to attach to my crochet gifts, and this is what my mum came up with!

blue flower handmade label for crochet gifts

When I give someone a handmade crochet gift, I need a label tag to attach to it, saying what kind of fibre it is and the washing instructions. I also want to put my blog address so if anyone wants to learn more about the item I made for them, they could read more about it on my blog. Although I'm pretty sure most of them don't do that!

My mum has a special cutting machine that cut out these tags, I think they do the job very well as they fold onto themselves. That way there is more room to write washing instructions inside, but its still a cute little tag. I'll tie some pretty recycled ribbon to attach the label to the crochet gift. Very pretty I think!

A Happy Potted Dwarf Lime Tree

our potted dwarf lime tree is nearly 3 years old

Our 2 and a half year old potted dwarf lime tree is thankfully looking a lot happier this season, after some T.L.C. about 6 months ago.

Last year our lime tree was dropping leaves, and a fair few of the leaves were yellow. We were very worried about our darling, we didn't want to lose it considering how much we invested in it! After some research we found out the yellowing was caused by not feeding it enough fertiliser, and too much water sitting in the base. We started being vigilant about tipping out the excess water from the base, and making sure it got a good feed regularly. It gets a liquid fertiliser every 3 or 4 weeks, as well as some slow release citrus plant food pellets. Last winter we top dressed it, by removing as much soil from the top as we could using just our hands, and replacing that with fresh premium quality potting mix. We also did that the previous winter.

flowering potted dwarf lime tree

After keeping up with a regiment of regular feeding, our potted lime tree is looking better than ever, and I'm so relieved! The leaves are now a healthy dark green, the tree is as tall as I am and the missing leaves have been replaced. There is even a new blush of flowers, promising a new crop to come!

Flowering Potted Rosemary

a potted rosemary bush flowering prettily

Rosemary has turned out to be one of the easiest herbs to grow in our potted garden here in sub-tropical Brisbane. Our 3 year old plant is currently flowering very prettily with delicate little lilac blossoms. It's so easy to grow, I recommend it as one of the first herbs to try.

Even if you don't use rosemary in your cooking, this is such a nice herb to have in your garden because its so lovely and fragrant. Just break a small piece off and sniff for an instant boost! Rosemary is a very useful herb to have fresh on hand and goes especially well when cooking lamb. Check out my husband's cooking blog, Dave's Home Cooking, for ideas on how to use rosemary in your cooking, especially this yummy Beef Casserole and Rosemary Dumplings recipe! Rosemary is also a great herb to add to craft projects like scented pillows and bath soaks.

my three year old potted rosemary bush

This particular specimen is 3 years old, it was one of the first herbs we grew in our potted garden. It grew from a cutting either from our old flat or my mother in law's garden. If you take a cutting, you need to keep it moist if you put it straight in the soil, it won't take if it gets too dry. So far I've only managed 2 successful cuttings.

Rosemary must have full sun and good drainage, our potted rosemary bushes don't have sauces underneath. A common problem that happens here to a very young rosemary bush in its first year is a white mould, probably because you treat a younger plant more delicately with a little shade and a little more water. To remove the white mould from the small plant you simply rub it off with your fingers or a damp cloth. When you remove enough mould for the green of the plant to show through it will fight off the fungus. Both my rosemary bushes suffered from this in their first year, but recovered after a rubbing and placement in full sun. We've not seen the white mould return to an older plant after the initial attack.

drying a posy of rosemary

Rosemary is a woody herb, which means it has bark on it's little trunk. It doesn't like its roots to sit in water or the wood will rot. Rosemary and lavender are related, so you treat them same way in your potted garden. Both prefer full sun, good drainage and not too much water.

I prune the bushes when they get scraggly, I try and keep them in a general shape to match the pot. I then pass on the cuttings to my husband for his cooking, or I dry them by tying them together and hanging the posy upside down. You can use the dried herbs by removing the leaves from the stems.

Growing Potted Chillies in a Sub-tropical Climate

a bumper chilli harvest

We just collected a bumper crop of chillies from our potted herb garden! To learn how to make hot chilli sauce with your home-grown chillies, please visit my husband's cooking blog Dave's Home Cooking.

Chillies have been the most successful crop in our 3 year old potted garden. Our oldest plants were planted in the first year, using seeds from a seed packet of mixed varieties we bought from Big W. Younger plants were grown from seeds collected from fruit we grew, all these seeds had a very high chance of sprouting in our garden. You just press the seeds into seed raising mix and water them in, they sprout a couple of weeks later. We stopped planting from seeds a couple of years ago as we ended up with too many plants, we even gave some away as gifts! We now also have a few plants that were given to us by David's father last winter. We have several different varieties of chilli plant, I'm just not sure which ones they are. We live in sub-tropical Brisbane, where the winters don't get too cold, although we do sometimes get a mild frost, and the summers can be quite warm. This summer has proven to be very wet and humid!

flowering chilli plant

Chillies love direct sunlight, but they need good watering regularly. They don't like to sit in water so the pot must have good drainage, which is why our potted chillies don't have saucers. These plants seems to be resistant to pest problems in our area. To keep them really happy they like to re-potted every 1 or 2 years in a rich compost soil, and the pots shouldn't be too small, they seem to prefer our bigger pots which have a 30cm diameter. They also appreciate a regular feeding with a liquid fertiliser every 3 to 4 weeks. We still have plenty of flowering and green chillies for the near future.

green chillies growing

If you like cooking with chillies, and you live in an area similar to ours, I highly recommend including chillies in your potted herb garden.

Ronda's homemade flower brooch

This just arrived in the mail, a special handmade gift from Ronda, an old friend of my mother's!

Ronda saw a photo of the first tea cosy I ever made on facebook and asked me to make her one, so I made her one and posted it to her. My second go at a tea cosy was a bit fancier, it was a reversible two way tea cosy with a Lady Grey side, and a Ladybird side. Ronda liked it so much she sent me a present back, which included her home made flower brooch!

How sweet, now I just have to find a special place to put it. I'm thinking my favourite sun hat could do with an embellishment like this!

Summer Drinks "Frangipani" Coasters

This is the last coaster set I'll do for now. I guess if anyone else wants one, I'll just get some more cotton and make more! But next time I buy cotton, I'll get some red, pink and purple so I can get different colour combinations. Below is a photo of the colours I used for this gift giving season.

It's fun to think of a name, a scene or season to match the colours and vice versa. I have done this last set because these three colours to me say 'frangipani' and I had enough of these colours left over. When I lived in Darwin there were a lot of frangipani trees about. They would loose all their leaves in the dry season, which is the north Australian equivalent of winter, but it really doesn't get very cold at all. Then as the wet season approaches, the trees would become full of flowers and the smell was gorgeous. Most of them were the yellow and white variety, some had a light blush of pink. And very rarely, there was a deep red variety which didn't seem to grow as thick but had the rich fragrance of a rose and was very special. The blue in this set represents the clear blue skies of the Darwin dry season.

I do not recommended this coaster set for red wine drinkers, as it's mostly white and yellow. If you spill red wine on these, soak in cool water immediately. Here are some more tips on how to remove red wine stains from cotton.

Next, to make some Christmas decorations and practice baking some home-made treats to share as gifts!

How to have a simple wedding

David and I decided early last year that we would get married, after he romantically proposed during a holiday at a place called Secrets on the Lake in Montville. The how and when of it was all up in the air. The thought of organising a wedding was very daunting for both of us as we have become real hermits in recent years! But it was pretty obvious to us from the onset that whatever we did, it would have to be very simple and low stress!

By holding the ceremony in the cute and quaint backyard garden of a local celebrant, and only inviting parents to witness it, a relaxing lunch for 6 topped off the day and rain by no means dampened the mood.  The day was all about David and I celebrating our love and making our marriage official, skipping a lot of traditions but keeping the few that were meaningful for us. Below I outline the details of our little wedding for future reference, and how we organised it in about 6 weeks and for a cost of less than $1200 (if you don't count our rings!).


Our major purchase
The most expensive things we bought were the rings. We got those about 18 months ago when David's mum Beverly worked at Michael Hill so we could get a discount. We decided we could afford to splurge on these so got ones we both really liked, as these were the items that would last forever. We even got David a diamond engagement ring, as I feel it's very important that he get treated like a 'prince'. Getting married should not be all about the bride being 'princess for a day', imho. We got titanium and diamond engagement rings and plain titanium wedding bands to match, once made these can not be resized but we preferred it to white gold so we wouldn't have to get it coated every year. Soon after getting them we realised we had no idea when we would make our wedding official. It seemed a shame to not wear our wedding bands for an indeterminate amount of time, seeing as we were otherwise married and living as man and wife. So we put our rings on each other one night at home alone soon after buying them, and that was about 18 months ago. I usually wear my diamond ring when leaving the house, and David wears his on a neck chain, as he can't wear both at the same time on his left hand and it doesn't fit on his right hand.

What's in a name
Now I'm pregnant we realised life would be that little bit more convenient if we had that same family name in time for our baby's arrival. Of course, you don't have to be married to have a baby, and the wife certainly does not have to change her name - I didn't for my first wedding. But that was a lifetime ago and I really do feel like a different person now with different motivations. My sister has 4 children but did not marry their father for a long time. But recently she said it was just too inconvenient and too annoying for her to have a different name to her children, so they got married in a very simple family ceremony early last year. I took that as a cue and decided that I should do the same before our baby came.

The first thing to do
As winter drew to a close, the spring weather turned beautiful and inspired us to think what a great time to get married so started to make plans. We short-listed about a dozen local celebrants, which took us a while, but by the 7th September we were ready to start emailing them. But we had to check with David's mum when she would be back in town as she had told David but he'd forgotten. It takes a month and one day's notice to put in the form of intent to marry, as it turns out Bev had already arranged a trip with Michelle for the 1st of October so it wasn't meant to be. David and I went ahead and organised our wedding by emailing the celebrants, having little idea who we could ask to be our witnesses. We simply settled on the most local celebrant who replied to our email the quickest. It turned out Joy Jensen was a lovely lady, gorgeous with her manner of speaking and poise. She turned out to be the perfect celebrant for us.

The matter of witnesses
Every wedding needs two witnesses, if you elope you can often ask staff members to witness it. Joy offered to supply the witnesses, but by that time I'd already asked my mum. Our original thought was simply to invite the two mums only, that way hopefully the rest of the family wouldn't be too offended. For me, the matter of witnesses turned out to be the most unnecessarily stressful part of organising our wedding. We purposefully wanted something simple to avoid all that. We should have just had two witnesses that were not in the family at all, as I just felt too obligated to 'do the right thing' by every one else, especially the parents. But like all weddings, it pulled together beautifully in the end. We had a perfect wedding where both our father's came and signed the registry which was simply gorgeous. My mum and David's step-mum helped during the ceremony by holding our rings, which was really nice and special.

Our reception
For our celebration we went for lunch afterwards at one of our favourite places called Fleet Street in Indoorpilly. It was a bit of a drive away, but once we got there we knew it would be perfect. I worried the whole time how long everyone else had to drive that day, only coming for a day trip 2 or 3 hours away, then having the return trip. The other option was Yum Cha at the Landmark, which we love doing and would have been a lot of fun, but even if we made reservations it's such a popular place, we probably would have had to wait to be seated,  even on a weekday. So Fleet Street it was, and at one point we had the place to ourselves, so we could have a leisurely lunch and really enjoy the food. David and I insisted on paying for the lunch, for only the 6 of us it was considerably cheaper than a traditional reception. We even took photos of the deserts for a laugh to share on Facebook.

Including the rest of the family and friends
A month before the wedding we created a Facebook group called 'David and Teena's Virtual Wedding' and invited people from our friend's list. We kept the date a secret for as long as possible, simply telling everyone it was coming up. A week before I announced the date, and joked that our virtual gift registry had just one item on it, a toaster! We asked our friends and family to post 'virtual' gifts of toasters or whatever they wished on the page. We got a few pictures of funny and pretty looking toasters, as well as a punch set, which was fun. I was careful to point out that for a 'virtual' wedding, only 'virtual' gifts were appropriate, so I was very glad that almost everyone respected that. When we got home after lunch, David and I quickly chose about a hundred favourite shots to download immediately to Facebook to share with our friends and family. This was our way of having a virtual wedding, so we were able to invite and include everyone on our special day.

What's in a date
It turns out to be convenient later on if you choose dates carefully. David is not one likely to forget such a thing, but making the number easy to remember helps make life that little bit easier. We wanted to get married in October, or possibly early November. It being 2010, I knew the 10th of October would be especially lucky. The problem was it was a Sunday and it would be hard for me to get my hairdresser to help me on a Sunday. Then there was the option of the 20th of October, I was surprised I didn't realise earlier what a neat number it was (Twenty Ten Twenty Ten 20.10.2010). That was a Wednesday so I could get help with my hair, which I really wanted as my hair would have been a real flop if I tried to do it myself! I did have a problem with the hairdresser, as the first couple I wanted let me down, then the salon I had wanted screwed me around so much I went somewhere else. So it was the 5th hairdresser that did it on the day. I knew she would do a good job, but she has a problem of running chronically late, which she did do on my wedding day but it was no surprise so it wasn't a huge disaster. Just would've been nice if we started on time. Maria, a beautician at Amaroo Essential Therapies, helped me with my make-up, which was fun.

What to wear
I did try on some ivory coloured wedding dresses at a maternity store, but they just weren't right. I also tried on some expensive dresses which just looked silly. In the end I found a really nice simple maxi print dress at Katies for a bargain price! The good thing is, I can wear it again and there is room for baby to grow. And blue is good luck!  I've been married before and have done the whole 'white wedding dress' thing, so I didn't feel like I had to. But David hadn't been married before, and I wanted to make an effort for him. I didn't want him to feel like he missed out so I tried to look as nice as I could manage. When our relationship started to get more serious years ago, we were joking about getting married one day and that we would wear blue. I really didn't think at the time that it would come true, I was very much of the mind of 'wait and see'. Now the four years is up and we are happily married and all has turned out well. We decided David should wear the white instead so found him a very smart white shirt from Myer.

Whether the weather's fine or not
We were thinking to have the ceremony in a park, but Joy offered us her backyard. I was doubtful at first but it turned out to be very simple and easy to just do it there. She has a very cute garden with a gazebo and it was perfect. Although the weather forecast was fine, we always had the option to stand under cover if it was raining. If we went to a public park it would not have been so good, especially if it was raining. The two days preceding our wedding were beautiful and fine, the forecast for our day was partly cloudy and otherwise fine. But when I left the beautician it was pouring down with rain! It was fortunate indeed that we had kept that 'in case it rains' in mind when deciding where to hold the ceremony. In the end, the rain caused us very little inconvenience at all because of that, and everyone kept telling me 'rain on a wedding day is good luck'. And I think it was ...

Taking the photographs
We thought to get professional photographers, mainly because I didn't do that for my first wedding and regretted it. But they wanted waaaaay too much money for something that would be all over in 30 minutes! And then you don't own their images, can you even put them on Facebook? We all own digital video cameras, so decided we should do it ourselves! With only the 6 of us and Joy there, how many photos were you going to need to take? The minimum photographer's package we saw was something like 4 hours which was laughable, we just didn't need that. In the end, we took our own photographs, everyone had a camera and away we snapped. After lunch we were able to download them to our computers and select the best 100 to share on Facebook with all our family and friends who missed out on being there. It turned out to be the best way for us.

Beautiful Flowers
I was pretty sure that if I was wearing a dress that didn't look like a wedding dress, I needed a bouquet. Just to help make it look a bit more like a special occasion. That turned out to be a bit of a drama, unfortunately, because when I went to the florist I had in mind with less than a week's notice she literally freaked! I swear I could see the whites of her eyes when I made such an outrageous request so I walked out of her shop. I rang my mum that night and she told me not to worry at all, that she would ask her florist friend, Wendy at Wendy's Flowers to help. The professional bouquet she prepared was perfect. David's father also brought a lovely bunch of home-grown roses and lavendar from his garden, and my high school friend secretly sent a bunch which arrived on my doorstep as a surprise! So in the end, there was plenty of flowers, even without worrying a stressed out florist who couldn't handle the pressure!

So with the purchase of wedding rings well out of the way 18 months before, the preparation of our official wedding took just 6 weeks. My initial guess was it came in under a grand, but after adding it all up, including several trips to the beautician, it was just under $1200. But it wasn't about the money so much as keeping it simple and low key. In the end, the day was about David and myself celebrating our love and making it official legally. We had a lovely day, skipping a lot of traditions but keeping the few ones that were meaningful to us.

Silk Bamboo Wool Hat with Flower Brooch

This is the most expensive wool I've ever bought, but it was on special and I just couldn't go past this gorgeous blend of silk, bamboo and wool. I chose a colour similar to another hat I've made, because my sister-in-law said she liked it.

I used a 4mm hook for this hat, and the pattern is my own which is the same as my Pretty Patterned Beanie. As promised back then, this time I used a much nicer yarn with a 60% wool, 20% silk, 20% bamboo blend. This yarn was a such a joy to work with. It has a luxurious softness and consistent thickness, it's called 'silk plus' yarn from Lincraft. Again, I made a matching detachable rose brooch, using the free pattern at Crochetspot.

In everything I make I would like to include a little of what I call 'wabi sabi'. Apparently it's a Japanese term that means imperfect perfection, and is often included in handcrafted art works! I think it helps remind me that not everything can be perfect, no matter how hard we try. It's much healthier to accept and appreciate the beauty in handcrafted things that often include a slight flaw and lend the piece some personality. It also helps me avoid an obsession to try and produce perfection, which can be very frustrating as I find little flaws irritating! The 'wabi-sabi' in this piece is hidden at the base of the rose brooch! If you see it you will know this is a homemade piece made with affection.

It's my sister-in-law's birthday and I wanted to make her something but I wasn't sure what. I remembered she said she liked the patterned beanie but it's too small for an adult to wear, so I made another one with nicer wool in a similar colour. I was worried this one would be too small as well, but it's slightly larger than the proto-type as I used a bigger hook and thicker yarn.

I also put it on David's head for a while to make sure it was big enough, which was pretty cute! Sorry I forgot to take a photo of that, lol. I'll be posting this one off with the first one I made like this as a pair, which is a smaller size. Hopefully these two will get some wear, I'm just sorry they didn't arrive in time for winter!

Enjoy and Happy Birthday
<3 <3

Cream Ribbed Hat with Rose Brooch

I was very surprised when this beanie hat worked out so well, because I made up the pattern myself!

I learnt how to do ribbed stitches when I made my purple bolero shrug using a pattern from Lincraft. I had seen round ribbed crochet hats before but I'd never read a pattern when I made this hat. I sat down to watch tv with David with a new ball of Sullivans Softply in cream which cost $2.49. I flicked through an old stitches book my mum has leant me but couldn't find what I was looking for, but I did start thinking about the ribbing, and wondered if it would work. It easily worked out, it was a lot simpler than I thought!

Then I just had to make a big rose brooch to go with it didn't I? This is the 4th flower I've made using Rachel's pattern from Crochet Spot. But this time I remembered the pattern as I had done the Berry Pink one the day before. But I made this one different. There are 14 petals, and for the 1st 7 I did trebles (English db tr) instead of doubles (English trebles) to make the petals at the bottom bigger. The other 7 petals are double crochet (English trebles) as usual. It makes the rose more full at the bottom.

My easy ribbed beanie pattern, using 5mm hook and thickish wool
1. 1st round is a beginning 3 chain, sl st, then 12 trebles (American doubles) in the round, sl st
2. 2 ch counts as 1st treble, treble front around the post of the treble below, treble into each treble (as well as front treble around each post) = 24 trebles
3. 2 ch counts as 1st treble, treble into each treble, treble front around each 3rd post (the one thats raised from the previous round) = 36 trebles
4. 2 ch counts as 1st treble, treble into each treble, treble front around each 4th post, sl st = 48 trebles
5. 2 ch counts as 1st treble, treble into each treble, treble front around each 5th post, sl st = 60 trebles
6. 2 ch counts as 1st treble, treble into 5 trebles, skip one treble, treble front around each 6th post, sl st = 72 trebles
7+ repeat row 6 until desired length is reached

The wool I used feels soft to touch, but after wearing this hat for a short time the skin on my forehead started to itch. I'm assuming this is why people usually use nicer wool for beanies. I will live and learn! Still a fun hat to make, and I'm very glad my mother in law liked it enough so I could give it her last time she dropped by for a visit. She didn't think it was scratchy, so I hope she will get some use out of it.

<3 <3

Pink Doilies my great-grandmother made

These are a pair of embroidered doilies my great-grandmother made which are edged with pink crochet. This is my post for this week's Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound.

I remember these from my childhood. My great-grandmother was so very talented with this, there are many samples of her work in our family, these are the few I have in my possession. My great-grandmother (my mother's mother's mother Margaret) embroidered these, as well as the crochet edges. These two are starting to show signs of age, and I know they look like they are in need of an iron, but I dare not touch them!

Here is another doily, this one my grandmother Beverly embroidered. That is my mother's mother. The fine embroidery is so lovely, I hope one day to improve my skill with this, but I don't think I will get it this good.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these two samples of our very special family treasures made by my great-grandmother, and my grandmother.
<3 <3 <3

Be sure to check out other pretty pinks @ Pink Saturday!

Scented Bean Bags

I'd already decided to make these to use up a bunch of dried basil flowers, and cut up the squares last Thursday afternoon. This project turned out to be a way for me to practice my embroidery, and I'm pleased with how that's coming along.

Scented Bean ags numbered sides

On Friday morning I was looking through the Transformation Thursday's party link and found number beanbags at Lemon Tree Creations. I'd already planned my bags, so the ones at Lemon Tree are slightly different, but it's still good to see how they do theirs.

After I sewed the bags on my trusty Husqvarna 2000, I stuffed each one with three tablespoons of old lentils and dried basil flowers. I put 15 tablespoons of lentils and a big heap of basil flowers into a bowl, and then a spoon of lavender oil, so these bags smell lovely. A little aroma therapy there for the kiddies!

reverse sides of the scented bean bags

I planned to do my stitches in thick contrasting coloured cotton. When I went to embroider the "D" on a hanky for David, I had a vague memory of my mum teaching me a chain stitch and tried to replicate it but had a lot of trouble. So for this project I did some research and looked up images of basic embroidery stitches and found a very helpful page at Tipnut. The chain stitch in particular came back to me easily. I also found some youtube videos on how to make a lazy daisy and a french knot.

For this project I used the following embroidery stitches
running stitch
blanket stitch
cross stitch
chain stitch
lazy daisies
french knots

Pretty Patterned Beanie with Flower Brooch

This pretty wine-coloured beanie was not planned and has ended up being a small adult or teenager size. I wonder who will wear it?

I had planned for this to be for one of my young nephews, using the craft wool I bought from the city Lincraft store on Monday especially because this is a 'dark colour'. A good thing too, that I didn't need to use the whole 100g ball, the end of the yarn is faulty, but at least it was cheap at just $2. But this wool had such a pretty shine to it I just had to do some special stitch which ended up looking a bit pretty. This is a common shell stitch and is the same as I used on my teddy bear dress. I started the beanie with 7 increasing rounds which is the size for an adult, but the pattern makes its little tight for me to wear. For this I used a 3.5mm hook.

I don't think I'd ever wear a hat with a big flower on it, but this is just begging for one! I had a go at the rose pattern from Crochet Spot. A big thankyou to Rachel for sharing this free pattern on her site, I'm really happy with how this turned out! Because I wouldn't normally be keen on wearing a big flower on a hat myself, I've made the rose detachable by securing it to a safety pin. This way, you can wear the beanie with or without the flower, you could even pin the flower to other things like a bag.

This was really easy to make, and cheap using this wool. Maybe next time I will get some fancier yarn?
<3 <3 <3

For this post I tagged along with The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday! Check it out for some homecrafted ideas.

Recommended Blogs from this week's party.

• Red Crochet Doily at Crochet Galore


• Jeans into Skirt at Ready-Set-Create


• Edged blanket, hat, carseat cover at Katy-Di's Creations

Beautiful Pink Roses

These are two beautiful pink roses that David's mum Beverly brought from her house. She lives alone near Ballina in NSW, and grows her own fruit, veggies and flowers, including roses, all the while working as a nurse at a local nursing home. I think she said this species is "Tiffany". I particularly liked the fragrance, so I hope we could grow me some of our own! These smelt so beautiful and were so lovely to have in our home, I made the petals into a pot pourri.

Also, outside my front door are some very pretty pinks flowering at the moment. I'm not sure, but they might be a variety of native lilly pilly.

Yay for PINK!
Go to How Sweet the Sound for more details on Pink Saturday.

Recommended ...
Five Minutes Just for Me
Another local blog, this one is a mum who lives here in Brisbane, Australia

Two New Blogs for this week, highlights include a vintage pink telephone and a Pink Princess Suite!
Teacupstitches and A Cottage Muse

A trip to the Library and Lincraft

Every Wednesday I plan to post on my blog about venturing outside, sometimes tagging along with Outdoor Wednesday. Today I'd like to include some pictures of a particularly spectacular snowflake bush which is currently flowering and welcomes you as you drive into our apartment's complex.

When I turned up for my Monday morning 'meeting' I was unhappy to report that I had not managed to leave the house for the week, having found an excuse not to visit my family on Saturday as planned. So after the meeting I went to my local Lincraft store, and while I was there I poked my head in the library which is in the same building.

My visit to Lincraft went ok, it wasn't too busy so I was free to potter around in peace, and there was no waiting at the counter, which is a bonus for me. I bought some brightly coloured wool which was on special, I plan to make some children's beanies with it. In the photo you can see my first attempt which is too big and has to be undone. I also bought some new cotton for edging face-washers! They didn't have any white, so I chose a nice lilac-grey. I bought 1.7m of stretch velvet which I plan to make a skirt with. I also paid a couple of dollars for some crochet patterns, knowing I can get crochet patterns off the internet for free, but I liked this particular collection and want to try making the bolero.

I find going to the library a little overwhelming, which I know is silly! I went and picked up some brochures, one is a very helpful map of the local nature reserve which I hope David and I can go to soon before it gets too cold. I walked around the whole library then wondered what to do next so made myself sit down as I feel stupid walking around aimlessly! After I looked through the brochures I noticed some quilting magazines, so got up to look more closely to see if there were some crochet ones but they only had knitting. I then went and had a look at some more information displays but couldn't find anything about the craft group that's supposed to be there at the end of this month. I didn't feel up to asking anyone about it so I left. I hope to go back to the library again soon, it would be great if I could sit in on that craft group in a couple  of weeks.

Wish me luck!
<3 <3 <3

Wonky and Blue

<<< While I was surfing the net for inspiration I stumbled upon this seemingly simple small heart pattern. I had success with the pattern from Crochetspot, so thought I should give this one a go, too! It's a little wonky I know, but I think my next one will be less so.  I don't know what I'll do with it, but who knows, it might end up as a bag handle end or something, lol.

>>> I used the same wool as I did yesterday when I whipped up a quick project at the end of the day. I got the idea to make a scraptrap from Granny Judith's website. But I figured I could use it as a pin cushion when it was done, instead of a child's toy. I didn't use any pattern, I just made it up as I went along, so like my blue heart, its a little wonky! But for a pin cushion, I have a feeling that's going be quite ok (take That, perfectionist tendancy!) And at the end of the day, I had a heap of cotton and scraps to go in it already. It was an excellent way to finish up the day, with a quick tidy up!

<<< While I'm waiting to go to the doctor, I'm keeping myself busy so I whipped up this one in a few minutes. I really liked this photo of a ten petal flower doily. I just looked at the picture and tried to copy it. My flower only has seven petals because I didn't count the dc in the 1st round. I just ... gave it a whirl!!

What can I make with Plarn?

Plarn is yarn made from plastic shopping bags. I first saw the pattern on how to make it at Crochetspot, but there are heaps of other sites on plarn on the internet. You can see some examples of the types of things people make with plarn to sell on Etsy, a UK site for handcrafters to sell their wares.

The idea to try rag rug making came to me yesterday because some small rugs I have in the kitchen are getting pretty old. But when I inspected my megre collection of material scraps, I didn't feel inclined to rip it all up into 1 inch strips to make a rag rug, in case it didn't work out and I wasted it all. But one thing I do have a lot of is pastic bags, I even gave a bunch to my sister-in-law last month, as well as throwing away another bunch before Christmas, as I just had too much rubbish in my house. For some rag rugs, you simply crochet 1 inch strips of cloth into a flat round. So I gave making this plarn thing a go, planning to try a round. I figured the worst that could happen was it wouldn't work and I would just throw the plastic away.

The first thing I tried was just making a simple round using my biggest crochet hook and the same coloured bags. The colour I have most of is this horrid army green colour, it makes me feel like I'm in the military! This first round I tried used the plastic from 10 shopping bags. I added one row of a paler green colour, just to try. I really do not know what will become of this object, as it was just a trial.

As I was surfing the net last night for ideas on what to make with plarn, I saw a foto of what I think was a doily made from a freezer bag. I haven't got a lot of practice making doilies, I find them a bit impractical, although I do have a few special ones my great-grandmother made. I was about to throw away a freezer bag after dinner when I thought I might try making a small flower. This is made with the very smallest of my crochet hooks, a 1.25mm, and using the pastic from just one freezer bag. The diametre is 5.5cm. Again, I have no idea what practical use this object could have, it was just a trial.

From what I've been able to see from surfing the net, most objects made of plarn are shopping bags and handbags. These take 50 to 100 plastic shopping bags to make. As I only have about 50 here, if I'm going to use them, I need to think about what practical objects for my home I can make with that amount of plarn. I've already sorted it into colours, although I don't think I have enough of the nicer colours to make one thing. Maybe I can make something like drink coasters, flower hairpins or a shower puff. Hmmm, wonder if I'll ever need an Easter Egg Basket!

Watch this space!

edit: What else to do with a plarn small flower doily but to hang it beside other useless danglies in the window?

Lavendar Afternoon

Last Easter, when we visited David's father and his fiance in Stanthorpe, we stopped by a lavendar farm and got our very own lavendar plant to grow. So far it seems to have adjusted to the climate change (it can get very cold in Stanthorpe). We gave it a good sized pot and put a lucky grow charm at the base. I'm trying to shape it by pruning lightly. I'm supposed to do this after it finishes flowering I know, that's why there aren't as many flowers on it as there otherwise might be.  After the flowers finish, I deadhead them and keep the dried flower. It prefer's a sunny spot and a good water, but doesn't like to sit soaking.

After the stresses of the morning, I knew I had to take my stress management into my own hands and decided to make a lavendar bag! I made this one in about 30 minutes and did it by hand, not machine, as I did it for relaxation more than anything. It's quite easy, this is how I did it.
Fold a scrap piece of pretty material in half with the back of the material on the outside, the front facing each other inside.
If a seam of the lip will fray, hem it first using blanket stitch and some matching coloured thread.
Using backstitch hand sew down the side of each of the two edges.
Turn the bag right way out.
Fold a scrap piece of thin white ribbon in half, put a knot in the end.
Sew the half way point of ribbon about an inch down from the top of the bag.
Put some tablespoons of dried lavendar inside and twist the ribbon around the bag to close it.

On one of our trips to Indoorpilly with David's mum and his sister Michelle, we stopped by the T2 Tea shop, which is full of relaxing teas.  While we were there, some tea cups and saucers fell from a high shelf, as if of their own accord. One tea cup remained intact, so I declared it a lucky tea cup and bought it! I also picked up a packet of dried lavendar from there. Lavendar tea is very good for stress management and soothing migraines. I didn't know you could drink lavendar tea like that, and through trial and error this is how I've come to prefer my lavendar tea.
Add 2 teaspoons of dried lavendar to a small tea pot with a removable mesh cup.
Fill with boiling water for no more than 2 minutes.
While waiting, jiggle the pot!
Test the colour every 30 seconds to make sure its not too strong.
Add 1 teaspon of sugar per teacup of tea before sipping.
Enjoy!

I remember a song my dad used to sing to me when I was little...
"Lavendar blue, dilly dilly, lavendar green.
When I am King, dilly dilly, you shall be Queen.
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so.
Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, who told me so."
/awwww