Lovey Dovey Buttons

I've been wondering if I could use recycled plastic milk bottles to make buttons, and thought to try it today with some of the left over love heart print.

This post about how to make a fabric button made me wonder if I could make the pieces from recycled plastic, instead of buying the kits from the craft store. Buying new something so simple just to make a button seems wasteful to me. I had three goes at making the pieces from the plastic, going smaller and refining it as I went. My result is, I don't think this makes a very strong button! You could use it as a decorative button only, not a functioning one on clothing. I also cut and covered a small piece of plastic to form the missing piece for an old fabric button, which worked ok.

So then I went back to the net. This post about how to make a fabric button without a kit prompted me to go through my large button collection for any faded buttons that were candidates for a fabric covering. The large once-were-purple buttons worked the best, the smaller faded blue ones were more fiddly. By trial and error I found the smaller ones really need a round of cloth that was neither too small or too large. I also watched this video on making fabric buttons with a kit, it looks very simple and I wonder if I could make my own. I really like the picture frame on the wall behind her, it's holding 4 rows of cotton threads, looks cool! (wonder if I could make one from recycled materials ... )

So that was a productive day today - I learnt how to cover buttons with fabric! I'm sure to need that skill at some point ....

edit: I'm thinking of trying to make fabric covered thumbtacs when I've collected enough tiny plastic bottle tops (eg. toothpast etc).

Lovey Dovey Boxer Shorts

I found making this pair of boxer shorts challenging, but I carefully worked through the steps I knew I needed to pull this off. I took no shortcuts like I normally do with my sewing, so I'm proud of the results.

David likes the love heart motif, but would like to have some choice when buying clothes. Love heart options for women's clothing are abundant, but for men it's pretty much limited to g-strings with hearts on it. And that's just not our style! I saw this love heart printed material and decided to grab a metre with the thought to try and make him some boxer shorts. I would copy a comfortable pair he already has, but making pants in the past has usually resulted in failure. So before doing this, I made a couple of pairs of pants for toys, going so far as to use a paper pattern for the fashion doll pants. Big teddy needed some jeans, so I threw them together from the bottom part of already cut up jeans, to check if I understood the pant pattern shape. Teddy's pants wouldn't be complete without a big cheery red button!

Today I was ready to try and make David a new pair of boxer shorts. I started by making a paper pattern by copying David's black boxers, leaving space for seams, and cut out the shape. Pinning the material, I cut it carefully in half so I had two pieces of material. I folded a piece in half and pinned the paper pattern to the fold, then cut it out, removed it and did that to the other piece. Then I pinned the whole thing together first, before starting the sewing, something which I normally do not bother to do. First I sewed the tummy seam, then the back seam, then the crutch. The boxers looked huge! But when I checked the size by placing the black shorts on top, I saw they weren't too much larger. I made a pocket for the elastic along the waist, and threaded it through. All that was left to do was hem the bottom of the legs and wait for David to come home so I could check the elastic and sew it up.

Bouyed by my success, I decided to make the scraps into an itsy-bitsy pair of boxer shorts for me! To my surprise they actually worked and are wearable, David even says they are cute! Needless to say, I won't be modelling them and posting a foto!!

Feast for a Day - Valentine's

It's important for strong mental health to mark the passage of time with friends and loved ones by celebrating special occasions together. This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday so this will be the last weekend day for a couple of years. Next year, David will be at work. So David and I have decided we shall celebrate with a day long feast!

To design the menu, we came up with three words to describe our greatest hopes for our relationship, this being the time to celebrate "love". We then assigned colours and foods to these themes, then created a menu with each dish containing at least one thing from each theme. Another way to describe this "spell" we made up is to describe it as a "positve affirmation", because after you eat each dish, you could think or whisper the three romantic words together! The only hocus-pocus here is to remind ourselves of our goals for our life together, and to consolidate it in a yummy but meaningful way.

Passion - Longevity - Faith

Passion - heat, red, sweet, blood
(eg. chillies, pepper, honey, mint, tomatoes, red wine, red kidney beans, red capsicum, rosewater, strawberries, passionfruit, lamb, ham, salmon, wasabi, coffee etc.)
Longevity - life, health, trees, green
(eg. rosemary, basil, oregano, marjoram, lemon myrtle, lemon balm, olive oil, eggs, eggplant, apples, linseed, tree nuts, nutmeg, peas, dairy, flour, rice, citrus etc.)
Faith - earth, strong, white, reliability
(eg. potatoes, water, onions, carrots, chives, chocolate, garlic, ginger, groundnuts (peanuts), cinnamon, mayonaise, etc.)

DRAFT Feast for a Day menu (will post fotos of what we actually did later)
(if you use this idea on your website, please link back to my blog, thanks!)

breakfast
Peppermint, Lemon Balm and Ginger Tea (passion, longevity, faith)
Hot Chocolate Coffee with Cream (passion, longevity, faith)
Heart-shaped Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon and Chives (passion, longevity, faith)
Garlic and Tomato Homebaked Bread (passion, longevity, faith)

morning tea
Heart-shaped Rosewater and Peanut Cookies (passion, longevity, faith)
Spice Milk Chai, incl. caffiene, ginger, nutmeg etc. (passion, longevity, faith)

lunch
Salmon and Carrot Sushi Rolls with Sweet Chilli Sauce and Wasabi (passion, longevity, faith)
Mango Juice with sprigs of mint and ginger (passion, longevity, faith)
Apple Juice with floating strawberries and a dusting of cinnamon sugar (passion, longevity, faith)

dinner
Roast Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic (passion, longevity, faith)
Basil Fried Rice with Peas, Onion, Red Capsicum and Chilli (passion, longevity, faith)
red wine (passion) to be served in green glasses with white ribbon (longevity & faith)
Garlic and Tomato Homebaked Bread (passion, longevity, faith)

snack and drink ideas
Pistacio and Lemon Myrtle Biscotti with Honey and Cinnamon dip (passion, longevity, faith)
Hot Apple Tea with Cinnamon and Honey (passion, longevity, faith)
pappadoms with carrot and margoram dip (passion, longevity, faith)
corn chips with tomato and onion salsa (passion, longevity, faith)
Poorman's Caviar  - red capsicum, eggplant, garlic (passion, longevity, faith)

desert
Love-heart Shaped Pavlovas with Strawberries, Cream and a drizzling of chocolate sauce (passion, longevity, faith)
Strawberry Shortcake Icecream with a dusting of sweetened cocoa powder (passion, longevity, faith)

make before the day
garlic and tomato bread
rosewater and peanut cookies
peppermint and lemon balm tea
hollandaise sauce and pavlova shells (or merringues)
pistacio and lemon myrtle biscotti

A special old dress

Another thing I've been doing to improve my crochet skill is by making clothes for my small collection of toys. It may seem silly, but so far it has helped me get better, and they are there for the children to play with when they visit, if they wish. My goal is make one item of clothing for them all, but each item has the purpose to develop my skill in a certain way.

an old doll dress my grandmother made

I have saved from my childhood barbie doll collection this very special dress. I don't recall how it came into my possesion, I have a vague memory of it being given to me by another girl, maybe in a swapsie arrangement. I don't think my mum made this, but I could be wrong (edit- I've sinced learnt my grandmother Pam made this dress!). I've managed to keep it with me all these years, as it is particularly nice. A couple of Saturdays ago when David and I were at the shops, we decided I should get a new barbie doll! She was to be a model for my crochet practice, of course. I didn't realise I was still such a fan, as I had lost the last of my collection in a moving mishap after I left my first husband, but I've quickly become quite attached to my new doll, which is quite funny.

My goal was to look at the dress and see if I could copy it. I wrote down a pattern from counting the stitches on the dress and reproducing it row by row. Up until recently, when I started work on my crochet skill in earnest, I could only copy very easy things by looking at it, and I couldn't read patterns. Now I can read easy patterns. This dress has been the most challenging thing I've copied without a pattern. I'm quite pleased I managed to produce something resembling the original, although its not the same of course. I finished this exercise a week or two ago, only posted now. I made a few more things for the doll while I was at  it, practicing working with fine yarn by making the red slippers. My second attempt at making a snood was better, they're good to keep the hair in place so it lasts longer. I wrote out the patterns for practice, posted below.

my first attempt at reproducing the dress

These are the notes I made while making the dress. If you use this pattern, please link to my site.

Dress - top
starting from waist up
ch 21
1. begin 2nd ch from hook, 20 dc to end, ch 1 turn
2. (4 dc, 2dc in 1) to end, ch 1 turn
3. 22 dc total, ch 1 turn
4. (3 dc, 2dc in 1) to end, 27 dc total, ch 1 turn
5. 27 dc total, ch 1 turn
6. 6 dc,  ch 3 sk 3, 9 dc, ch 3 sk 3, 6 dc, ch 1 turn
7. dc in each st, 4 dc in armholes, 29 dc total, ch 1 turn
to finish off, work chain stitch to edge one side to form button holes
add 2 or 3 buttons

skirt - short (puffy)
starting from the waist down
1. ch 2, 2 dc in every ch sp, slip stitch into opposite side, joining the back of the dress (or for finer wool, do this a few rows lower)
2. 2 ch, 1 dc in every st all around, sl st
3. 2 ch, 1 dc in every st OR for shell pattern, 2 ch, sk 1 st (3 dc in 1, sk 1, dc, sk 1) to end, sl st
4 - 6. as row 3

skirt - long
as for short
7. 2 ch, (2 dc, 3 dc in 1, 2 dc) to end, sl st OR for shell pattern 2 ch, sk 1 st (5 dc in 1, sk 1, dc, sk 1) to end, sl st
8 - 12. as for row 7
13. to finish off, chain stitch along the edge

Mary Jane Slippers (here in red)
using the thinest thread and tinyist hook (2ply with 1.25mm hook)
1. ch 4, 5 trb into 1st chain, sl st into 1st ch sp, this is the toe.
2. ch 4, 5 trb, do not join, ch 3, turn
3.  5 trb leaving last ch of ea st on the hook, with 6 chains on hook, loop through all once to form the heel.
4. ch 12, sl st into 1st ch to form ankle strap.
take care not to cut the ends too short and weave in ends carefully to secure.

If they turn out too bulky, you can trun the slippers into socks
1. hold the ankle strap to the slipper and sl st 3 down the side (trb in the ch sp in the 1st round of the slipper toe, ch st to the ankle strap) repeat 3 times, 3 ch st strap to slipper, sc into 1st chain of ankle strap in the heel, sl st into 1st ch st of this round
2. 10 dc, sl st in 1st ch (ankle length socks)
3. for longer socks, add rows of trbs increasing with an extra stitch or 2 at the back

Snood (here in white)
1. Make a chain that fits snuggly around the doll's head, over the ears and on the hair line, slip stitch to join.
SC in each stitch around, slip stitch.
* Count the stitches in the round and divide by 9. That is the number of stitches you will skip for the first ch spaces. *
2. ch 9 (sk *, trb, ch 6) 8 times, slip stitch in 3rd of ch 6.
3. ch 9 (trb into top of trbl, ch 6) 8 times, slip stitch in 3rd of ch 6.
row 4 5 6 as for 3
7. ch 3, (trb into top of trbl) 8 times, slip stitch.

If you use my patterns, be sure to give me credit for writing the pattern by posting a link to my blog. If you make these things, please post a comment, as I'd love to know! :)

Love Heart Rag Rug

This is my first completed rag rug and it was hard work so I don't think I'll be making these very often!

love heart rag rug made by crochet strips of material

Using crochet to make a rag rug like this uses a lot of material, so I want this to be the only one that uses material that's not recycled. Really, rag rugs should be made from strips of material salvaged from discarded clothes and sheets. But I had a small collection of cotton material squares that I'd been carrying around for ages, so I decided to put it to good use. It's all the same type of matterial and I think the colours kind of go together. Luckily I have a heap of that blue otherwise this would have turned out a lot smaller.

the material was cut into thin strips with pinking shears

I needed some new mats for the kitchen and knew I could make some from strips of material. After hunting around on the net for ways to turn recycled material into rugs, I found the best one at The Sunroom. My first attempt didn't work out because the biggest hook I had was a size 6, so I went and got myself a size 10, the biggest one they had at the shops, and started again.

rag rug in progress

Using my new pinking shears, I cut strips of ribbon from the material to reduce any fraying. I cut up one square of material at a time to give my hands a break, but my wrists hurt a little from all the hard work! lol. I spent at least two whole days on this, plus several hours here and there spread out over two weeks. I think this is a great way to reuse material that can be cut into long strips, but only if you're time-rich like me. If you don't have the time, I think paying $10-20 for a small rug from the shops might be worth it! 

the love heart rag rug in its place by the back door

But this is a good way for me to make things for my home without spending any money (other than getting a new hook which I'll reuse) and using up things that I might otherwise throw away. From what I've read, this rag rug will flatten out and I can wash it in the machine. This one is about 60cm wide and it's my Valentine's gift this year for the home I share with my true love.

/awww

The Herbs in Our Garden

One of my greatest simple joys at the moment is our cute little herb garden. Although it was a challenge to get established, it's finally starting to become productive.That might be because our companion plants like basil and lavendar are growing nicely and their smelliness is discouraging pesky pests. Taking care of these herbs is a sure-fire tonic for keeping the blues at bay.

Growing your own herbs is a very simple and satisfying way to save money too. If you love good food, you would know having fresh herbs at hand is always best. Buying a bunch of herbs from the supermarket is wasteful, expensive and just not as good as growing them in a pot at your back door and taking a sprig or two as you need it. The absolute essential herb as far as I'm concerned, which is the first one we were able to successfully grow and harvest, is parsley. It's very healthy, versatile and hardy. But now we have a bunch of other herbs that are turning out to be real joys, for example, having three types of basil and mint on hand is just wonderful!

Here is a quick break down of the herbs currently in our potted garden and what they are good for. Many also have traditional 'magic' properties too, which I think is nice to just keep in mind, even if you don't fully believe in that kind of thing. After cross referencing several websites I found common themes amongst them using various words meaning basically the same thing. So I came up with three practical catergories that are meaningful to me.

aloe vera - skin (burns and rashes), "health"
basil (thai, all-year-round, sweet) - relative to peppermint, antioxidant and antibacterial, add last to hot food, "health & passion"
chamomille - flowers make a relaxing tea, also good for the skin "health & sleep"
chilli - antibacterial, good for nasal congestion, migraine relief, high blood pressure, good in winter, increases metobolism, "passion"
chives (garlic, onion) - like garlic and onions, antibacterial and antioxidant, but milder, fresh is best "health"
coriander - wonderful fresh herb for salads, "health & passion" (weddings)
lavendar - relaxing tea, migraines, insect repellant "health, passion & sleep"
lemon balm (a type of mint) - relaxing tea, stomach aches, pre-menstrual cramps, headaches, overuse can cause insomnia "health & passion"
lemon myrtle (eucalyptus, part of the myrtle family) - a relaxing tea, good for headaches, used in cooking for a mild lemon flavour, antioxidant "health, passion & sleep"
marjoram - food preservative, relaxing tea, good in cooking, upset tummy, headaches, mild antioxidant and antifugal, dried is best, "health & passion" (weddings) "add to food to share with your object of affection to strengthen love"
mint - good with peas, juices, punch, tea, icecream "health & passion"
oregano - antioxidant rich, antibacterial, close relative to marjoram, makes a good tea for nasal congestion, dried is best "health & sleep" (weddings)
parsley - high in iron, good for high blood pressure, tummy upsets and uti, breath freshener, toothache, constipation, detox, salads "health & passion"
peppermint - tea, indigestion, tummy upsets, IBS, cough suppressant, morning sickness, relaxing herbal bath, "health, passion & sleep"
pineapple sage - tea (with lemon balm), anti-anxiety, "health, passion & sleep" (weddings & wisdom)
rosella hibiscus - native bush fruit for making jam "passion"
rosemary - food preservative, cook with lamb, good for upset tummy, relaxing baths, may protect against cancer, use liberally in food, "health & passion" (weddings & memory)

resources
www.global-garden.com.au/gardenherbs.htm
www.scribd.com/Herbs-and-Their-Magickal-Properties
windspirit57.tripod.com/id4.html
www.earthwitchery.com/herbsa-g.html
www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/pagan/articles_magass.htm
www.gardensablaze.com/HerbMarjoramMag.htm
www.herballegacy.com/Branca_History.html
www.ehow.com/how_4436311_oregano-tea-rid-sinus-problems.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtaceae

Beautiful Biscotti

I just had to share some fotos of David's first attempt at making biscotti. I was a good little kitchenhand, as usual, and got all the ingredients out. But that is where my contribution ends, (other than oohs and aahs of encouragement) as this is necessary to the successful end product! David has an excellent success rate with his cooking, I would guess somewhere around 90%. My success rate is somewhere around the 50% mark, maybe it's 45%. Ah well, just what we need for me to cook something simple when he doesn't feel like it, or on his raid nights!

David has posted more about this biscotti on his blog, with a link to the recipe. This stuff makes really nice gifts, I can wrap it up purrddeee. And it's a lot cheaper to make than buy, if you have a genius like David in the family! /nomnomnom

Love Charm Pincushion

I started the week off yesterday morning with a quick tidy up and stocktake of my current projects. I had some scraps lying around that needed a home and last week's scraptrap was currently deployed! So I quickly whipped this one up, and already its full of scraps and finished to become a lucky love charm or pincushion... or both!

I was upstairs in my sewing room and couldn't be bothered coming downstairs to the computer to check the love heart patterns, so did the only one I could remember from the top of my head. The new scraptrap just had to be a love heart, right? The square based love heart was the only one I could remember, probably because I actually didn't follow a pattern for that one, its just a square with trebles to form the cheeks. I made one, then did a row of trebles along the side which would become a side panel of the 3d heart. Then I made a second heart, putting the treble cheeks where they would match the first heart. It was all matching up nicely, I just had to sew around the two sets of heart cheeks using slip stitch, then a few more trebles down the other side. I left an opening for the scraps to go in during the day, and also some from today went in. I just closed up the opening when it was full. I added a chain at the top, so if I want to hang it up, like in a window or something, I can.

I think this very simple pattern will make a lovely luck charm to hang in our home somewhere, or I'll probably use it as a pincushion so I can retire the silly old spider thing I made! If anyone would like the pattern for this 3D heart charm, just let me know. I'm pretty sure I could write it out if anyone wanted me to.

If you'd like to use this idea on your own website, please link to my blog :)

Simple Tube Top

I just whipped up this cute little top using some material that caught my eye when I was at Lincraft last week. The weather is so hot and muggy here right now, this is just what I need for wearing around the house as a boobtoob with my pretty aqua blue skirt!

I really liked this print of Japanese fans so just got half a metre, not knowing what I would make with it, although I did think perhaps I would make a little cami. The grand total cost of this top was $4.49! I didn't have any orange thread which would have been best, but this emerald green thread worked just fine, it's good to have finally found a use for it! I don't ever remember buying green thread, it must have come to me along with some other coloured threads. I already had the elastic in my kit and that's all I needed to make this.

I simply sewed up one side of the half metre fabric forming a tube. Then I made a pocket along the top to thread the elastic through. I cut 10cm off along the bottom to form straps which I've decided not to use. Then I sewed a fine hem along the bottom. This has got to be the simplest top to make. It might look it too, unless you find some really nice material like this silky look print, and at less than $4.50 its not bad. This simple tube top is fine for wearing around the house, seeing as I don't have a strapless bra because this thing is unsuitable for 'outside' unless I get one!

My three year old baby, Bloodlust of Nagrand.

I look over all of the craft projects I could do, things started but not finished, and wonder what I might have achieved if I started this in earnest 5 years ago. But I can't begrudge the time I invested in a virtual reality known as Azeroth. I've learnt so much, about myself, my limitations and strengths, and about people generally. Those who don't dabble in MMOs of any kind would be surprised and bemused to know I have to say it's been a life enriching experience!

"To wake in the morning with an energy and passion .. makes any cloud seem surmountable and frivolous."

Three years ago today, while David was at work, I created my second guild charter on a raven haired rogue named Mary. I had made it the day before on my warlock, Zalise, but decided I wanted the GM to be a toon with an honourable and stately name (years later a young officer would tell me that name was too religious!) I also decided to do it on the 1st of  February which would make it an easy to remember birthday. When he got home I said 'Darling, I've made us a guild! We're just waiting for your signature' as I'd easily managed to get 8 other names signed up straight away. It was called Bloodlust simply because with the launch of the Burning Crusade, I had fallen in love with Blood Elves. I had no idea that it was not an original guild name, we would later find there were many, many guilds called Bloodlust, and ironically it was also the name of Nagrand's battlegroup.

Since then, so much has happened, so many trials and tribulations, so many adventures and misadventures! I started out with such different views on the game and the role of players, as it was my first MMO. But the experience of trying to lead a guild has made me make a complete turn around in attitude. It's been very, very hard and now I look back and wonder what the hell was driving me so passionately. The only explanation I can find is that it replaced another great passion of mine, something I full heartedly believed in with all my soul, yet irreplaceably lost. To wake in the morning with an energy and passion for the tasks you are about to undertake that day spurs you on and makes any cloud seem surmountable and frivolous. It's quite an astonishing miracle, that the guild took on this mantle, that I was able to re-devote my attentions so self-assuredly to an abstract concept so that it would survive to this day. I actually gave up on it three months ago and made David's toon the guild leader, a token gesture as I'm still involved with it, but I did it all the same. The passion has died, I no longer know with complete confidence what is best for the guild, to have that spirit and energy to virtually fight with other personalities that would interfere and take advantage of our work and take it for their own. It is a very abstract concept, and now the fire to fight is hard to find within me. But for the guys that are left, as long as they are happy with the direction it goes now, I'm content we've had fun with it and it achieved something great. Now I am a passenger on a ship I built, I give myself up to trust and the gentle rocking of waves not of my own making!

Happy Birthday, Bloodlust of Nagrand, my amazing baby, may you continue to grow without me holding your hand wherever you go!
Much love from Mary, the Rose. xoxxox