It has been a wonderful day today and as promised I have some beautiful finishes to show you. I had all sorts of fun styling photos this morning and here are my awesome photos :D
I finished two new dishcloths. These two are crocheted and they have a very different feel to the knitted one. They are still soft but a bit scratchier. I think they'd work better as dish cloths/wipes rather than for your face.
I just made the pattern up for both of these. The rainbow one is two rows of each colour following a pattern until I felt that it was large enough. I like the fact there is a bit of arrowing happening.
The blue one is just treble crochet repeated then I added a border. The border is single crochet rows finishing in one row with a picot edge. 2SC then 3 chain repeated around the border.
I love the colour effect as they both lay here all ready to be used for something. It is so exciting to do these simple projects because they are such a quick finish.
But that isn't the only great thing that I want to post about today. I got a little stitchy mail this morning. I ordered 3 balls of cotton yarn for myself from Bendigo Woollen Mills, though I did get 6 in the mail because my friend also ordered three. I am going to have so much fun with the gorgeous yarn making a tonne of face cloths. It's a much softer yarn so I think it will suit face cloths better and it's only $10.50 a 200g ball. I also surprised myself and DIDN'T order purple!
I ordered the Latte, Light Teal and Daffodil, while my friend ordered the Latte, Light Teal and Pink Blush.
Aren't they so scrumptious! The ball sizes are so big too! I'm going to have a lot of fun with it.
I was very impressed by the service I got. I ordered it last Friday, they posted it Monday and it arrived today. Less than a week to get here from Victoria!
So excited by all the cloth ideas running around in my head right now. It is going to be so much fun!
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
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Thursday 30 October 2014
Wednesday 29 October 2014
WIP Wednesday 29/10
I'm almost at the end of the month and I actually feel like I've started achieving more this month than I have in a long time. I've started towards some personal goals and managing to actually work towards my course again.
But while doing that I've also been making more time for my craft and actually trying to achieve some goals. I will talk more about those goals on Friday as it's the last day of the month but before then I do have some progress pictures to show you.
I apologise now for the bad photos because I've been travelling around south east queensland today collecting an engine and photos of my work was the last thing on my mind.
Though I did get a chance to work on my blanket in the car, it is looking pretty awesome! I did have a little hitch.
Although thankfully I got the tangle sorted and I could continue crocheting. I really need a better way of storing all my balls of yarn so they don't tangle!
This month I've finished another rotation of colours. Which is awesome since I have been distracted by other projects a lot this month.
I also have another WIP which really shouldn't STILL be a WIP but I am incredibly lazy when I know I have a week before it needs to be finished.
My poor little doggie has been stuffed for the last week but I haven't been organised (bothered) enough to sew him up and I need to take him to band tomorrow as he needs to be in the raffle on Saturday. I will get him finished tomorrow!
Oh well. I haven't got anymore WIP to show you but I do have a couple of little finishes to show off another day. I've kinda gotten addicted to working with cotton.
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
But while doing that I've also been making more time for my craft and actually trying to achieve some goals. I will talk more about those goals on Friday as it's the last day of the month but before then I do have some progress pictures to show you.
I apologise now for the bad photos because I've been travelling around south east queensland today collecting an engine and photos of my work was the last thing on my mind.
Though I did get a chance to work on my blanket in the car, it is looking pretty awesome! I did have a little hitch.
Although thankfully I got the tangle sorted and I could continue crocheting. I really need a better way of storing all my balls of yarn so they don't tangle!
This month I've finished another rotation of colours. Which is awesome since I have been distracted by other projects a lot this month.
I also have another WIP which really shouldn't STILL be a WIP but I am incredibly lazy when I know I have a week before it needs to be finished.
My poor little doggie has been stuffed for the last week but I haven't been organised (bothered) enough to sew him up and I need to take him to band tomorrow as he needs to be in the raffle on Saturday. I will get him finished tomorrow!
Oh well. I haven't got anymore WIP to show you but I do have a couple of little finishes to show off another day. I've kinda gotten addicted to working with cotton.
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
Friday 24 October 2014
Russian Join
Hmmm.... I just realised I'm posting a lot of crochet posts at the moment but I am in love with this top.
I have tried something new for me when I've been joining in the new balls of yarns. I wanted to try a Russian Join which is an easy way to sew in the ends so that they don't come out without me having to remember to sew them in. I also am trying to avoid knotting the thread on a top where I want to wear it. But I want the join to be strong and not come apart for the same reason.
It is interesting how you have to split the thread and create a loop then thread the other side through the loop and tighten it.
Here it is ready to stitch in. The only issue I have with it is it does create a thicker section of yarn because for about 2-4 inches you have double the yarn.
Of course if you didn't know there was a join in the picture above and were actually looking for the thicker stitches you wouldn't know they were there.
Now for the moment I'm keeping the thread ends there but I can just cut them off when I'm finished which makes me feel good. I am waiting until I finish to cut everything in case I have to undo anything for sizing.
Has anyone else tried a Russian Join? What do you use to join in a new ball of wool?
Happy stitching,
Caitlin
I have tried something new for me when I've been joining in the new balls of yarns. I wanted to try a Russian Join which is an easy way to sew in the ends so that they don't come out without me having to remember to sew them in. I also am trying to avoid knotting the thread on a top where I want to wear it. But I want the join to be strong and not come apart for the same reason.
It is interesting how you have to split the thread and create a loop then thread the other side through the loop and tighten it.
Here it is ready to stitch in. The only issue I have with it is it does create a thicker section of yarn because for about 2-4 inches you have double the yarn.
Of course if you didn't know there was a join in the picture above and were actually looking for the thicker stitches you wouldn't know they were there.
Now for the moment I'm keeping the thread ends there but I can just cut them off when I'm finished which makes me feel good. I am waiting until I finish to cut everything in case I have to undo anything for sizing.
Has anyone else tried a Russian Join? What do you use to join in a new ball of wool?
Happy stitching,
Caitlin
Wednesday 22 October 2014
WIP Wednesday 22/10
Well another Wednesday has rolled around and I don't feel like I've achieved much that I haven't already shown you.
I got to the end of the back of my top BUT
Once I'd measured it against me I decided to add another diamond motif. So although the back is finished according to the pattern it's not according to me. This will take a while! I'm changing up the pattern as I go to suit me which could mean an absolute disaster or it could be amazing.
I also worked a little on my blanket this morning I did about half a row before I gave up. I just wasn't in the mood this week.
You can see here that I'm using my new hook which I absolutely love! I'm not sure how I survived without it before this!
I also couldn't decide what I wanted to work on so both projects were out. I didn't have my cross stitch with me ... but I wasn't really in the mood.
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
I got to the end of the back of my top BUT
Once I'd measured it against me I decided to add another diamond motif. So although the back is finished according to the pattern it's not according to me. This will take a while! I'm changing up the pattern as I go to suit me which could mean an absolute disaster or it could be amazing.
I also worked a little on my blanket this morning I did about half a row before I gave up. I just wasn't in the mood this week.
You can see here that I'm using my new hook which I absolutely love! I'm not sure how I survived without it before this!
I also couldn't decide what I wanted to work on so both projects were out. I didn't have my cross stitch with me ... but I wasn't really in the mood.
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
Monday 20 October 2014
Diamond Vest Top
I promised better photos of this project after I took some bad ones late at night just to show you that I am actually working on it. It's taken me a couple of days because everytime I've been looking at this project I just want to add more rows to it. The rows are quick and easy and I'm about 3/4 of the way through the back already.
The pattern starts across the top of the back and goes down to the hem. Then you add the shoulders, then join the front and work down to the hem. This means the only sewing you have to do are the two side seams. I may need to add some panels or something down the side though to make it fit just a little bit better.
The purples are a little bit brighter than this in real life but not by much. It reminds me of Jacaranda trees which to me always means spring. I am going to get this done in the next couple of weeks and be able to wear it for the summer. It's so exciting!
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
The pattern starts across the top of the back and goes down to the hem. Then you add the shoulders, then join the front and work down to the hem. This means the only sewing you have to do are the two side seams. I may need to add some panels or something down the side though to make it fit just a little bit better.
The purples are a little bit brighter than this in real life but not by much. It reminds me of Jacaranda trees which to me always means spring. I am going to get this done in the next couple of weeks and be able to wear it for the summer. It's so exciting!
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
Sunday 19 October 2014
Dishcloths
Although I only just started a new project on Wednesday but then I had to start a small crochet project to get me through band on Thursday. Not that I had much time to think it was a little crazy we're only two more rehearsals until our performance and we've got a lot of work to do.
So using some of my gorgeous new cotton I had to start a facecloth/ dishcloth. I like the idea of having a house full of home made and reusable cloths rather than using sponges and paper towels. Then using rags for the really dirty stuff. This seems so much better than wasting so much stuff.
But my house aside I thought these would make gorgeous Christmas gifts with a little pot of home made moisturising cream. I just need to get some more cotton. I think I want to try the cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills. I've done some reading and it should work great ... I can only try and I've been wanting some of their cotton for a while.
Doesn't this look gorgeous? I love love love the colours. It's my new Japanese cotton (Pierrot) knitted up from corner to corner on the diagonal. Increasing for the green then swapping colours and decreasing. I didn't like the way the edges weren't quite the same between the decrease and the increase section so I added a double crochet edging around in the grey. It just brings the whole piece together.
I will say I am IN LOVE with cotton! This stuff is so smooth and soft I keep rubbing it against my cheek. I think this one will become my face cloth and I'll have to make more for Christmas.
Have you ever made dishcloths / facecloths? What cottons have you used to make them?
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
So using some of my gorgeous new cotton I had to start a facecloth/ dishcloth. I like the idea of having a house full of home made and reusable cloths rather than using sponges and paper towels. Then using rags for the really dirty stuff. This seems so much better than wasting so much stuff.
But my house aside I thought these would make gorgeous Christmas gifts with a little pot of home made moisturising cream. I just need to get some more cotton. I think I want to try the cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills. I've done some reading and it should work great ... I can only try and I've been wanting some of their cotton for a while.
Doesn't this look gorgeous? I love love love the colours. It's my new Japanese cotton (Pierrot) knitted up from corner to corner on the diagonal. Increasing for the green then swapping colours and decreasing. I didn't like the way the edges weren't quite the same between the decrease and the increase section so I added a double crochet edging around in the grey. It just brings the whole piece together.
I will say I am IN LOVE with cotton! This stuff is so smooth and soft I keep rubbing it against my cheek. I think this one will become my face cloth and I'll have to make more for Christmas.
Have you ever made dishcloths / facecloths? What cottons have you used to make them?
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
Wednesday 15 October 2014
WIP Wednesday 15/10
I'm running a bit late today... I almost forgot to post. I took a whole pile of photos this afternoon but it's 8 O'clock before I remember to actually get on the computer.
I had a little bit of fun today ... my friend asked me to go with her to Tangled Yarns in the Valley I couldn't resist! I wanted to get some cottons that I could use to make dish cloths/face cloths. I want them for Christmas presents. I picked some awesome colours and I'm going to have so much fun. It's Pierrot a Japanese cotton yarn.
I also wanted to make a gorgeous lace vest thingy. I got some Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima in a gorgeous purple. I'm so excited about what it's going to be.
Also that gorgeous hook sitting up there in the top of the yarn is one of my new Clover amour hooks. I love love love love my new hook.
Here is the gorgeous pattern that I'm now working on.
I made sure that the back of the dog was all the same colour for the ears and tail. The red one is going to be the same. It took lots of planning.
I had to plan out the ears and tails quite carefully. It took a lot of thinking.
I also have done a tiny little bit of crochet on my blanket. Bit by bit I'm going to get there.
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
I had a little bit of fun today ... my friend asked me to go with her to Tangled Yarns in the Valley I couldn't resist! I wanted to get some cottons that I could use to make dish cloths/face cloths. I want them for Christmas presents. I picked some awesome colours and I'm going to have so much fun. It's Pierrot a Japanese cotton yarn.
I also wanted to make a gorgeous lace vest thingy. I got some Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima in a gorgeous purple. I'm so excited about what it's going to be.
Also that gorgeous hook sitting up there in the top of the yarn is one of my new Clover amour hooks. I love love love love my new hook.
Here is the gorgeous pattern that I'm now working on.
Not the best photo and I'll get a better one tomorrow but this shows you my WIP. It is so exciting, to be working on this.
I do have a little finish but I also still need to stuff this little Kutie. Then sew up the second one.
I had to plan out the ears and tails quite carefully. It took a lot of thinking.
Once we got back from shopping my friend and I couldn't resist starting crochet. Here she is making a lovely dish cloth for herself.
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
Tuesday 14 October 2014
Softie Fun
I get randomly hooked on sewing and have to sew a whole pile of things before I get back to my cross stitch or something else. I also go through many stages of being hooked on Funky Friends Factory patterns. I love her soft toys. I find each time I make one of her patterns the instructions are so easy to read.
I was avoiding going to the craft show this weekend, my favourite cross stitch fabric store wasn't there :(, but I still treated myself to one new pattern. Then I spent most of the weekend sewing on it.
These little guys have caught me at the moment. They are part of the Kawaii Kuties series of patterns. This little guy is the dog.
I started sewing this dog on Saturday morning and by Saturday evening I was finished. That was with being distracted by a softball game and other fun stuff like that.
That was Saturday.... by Sunday morning I had another 2 faces done ready to cut out. I had some fun with my machine and explored the blanket stitch appliqué. I was really excited by it and I learnt a lot about getting my machine around the corners. I'm not sure whether I will use the blanket stitch again but I so really like the effect.
You can see the awesome blanket stitch up close :D I need to work on it, my machine detail stitching always needs work, but practice makes perfect.
I used a couple of the music fabrics that I bought a while ago because when these two dogs are done I will donate them to my orchestra to raffle off. I thought it would be appropriate to sew with music fabrics.
What have you been up to this weekend?
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
Friday 10 October 2014
Homemade Creams
I want to become more and more able to make stuff at home and buying less stuff that is full of chemicals and preservatives. That goes for both food and house hold stuff.
With that in mind I was directed to this really cool website. It's about 50 things you should be making at home instead of buying. I am going to try them all bit by bit.
I started with the moisturising cream. You can find the recipe I used here
I gathered all my ingredients together. It was really hard to grate the beeswax but once I worked out how to hold it it went really well. Thankfully I had a helper by that point so he could stir while I grated.
One thing I found is it said to let cool slightly... I ended up having to leave it for 10 minutes to cool down before I could add the rosewater. It needs to be starting to cream up and thicken. Once it starts that it goes very quickly. (the time I had to leave it was probably influenced by the temperature here it's quite warm during the day)
Here it is on the stove as it's creamed up. I'm adding the rosewater at this point... bit by bit I slowly added it.
Now it was only meant to make roughly 2 baby jars full of stuff. But I used some old Lancome jars that grandma gave me (I thought to make them into pin cushions maybe but not anymore) I filled three jars plus a little baby food jar. I thought I'd added a little bit more oil than I should have!
Although reading the comments on the blog some people keep it in the fridge, some don't I think it depends where you live. I will be keeping mine in the fridge because it's too hot here and since we're going into summer it's only going to get hotter.
Also the comments say the almond oil is the moisturising agent and some people say they replaced it with coconut oil or apricot oil with lovely results. I will have to experiment with the coconut oil as I bought some recently to try cooking with it.
I'm thinking these jars of cream will make gorgeous Christmas presents for all the ladies in my family. I will have to see though how I like the cream as time goes on. If you guys make it please tell me how it goes I want to find out how other people fare.
Happy Stitching or creaming :D
Caitlin
With that in mind I was directed to this really cool website. It's about 50 things you should be making at home instead of buying. I am going to try them all bit by bit.
I started with the moisturising cream. You can find the recipe I used here
I gathered all my ingredients together. It was really hard to grate the beeswax but once I worked out how to hold it it went really well. Thankfully I had a helper by that point so he could stir while I grated.
One thing I found is it said to let cool slightly... I ended up having to leave it for 10 minutes to cool down before I could add the rosewater. It needs to be starting to cream up and thicken. Once it starts that it goes very quickly. (the time I had to leave it was probably influenced by the temperature here it's quite warm during the day)
Here it is on the stove as it's creamed up. I'm adding the rosewater at this point... bit by bit I slowly added it.
Now it was only meant to make roughly 2 baby jars full of stuff. But I used some old Lancome jars that grandma gave me (I thought to make them into pin cushions maybe but not anymore) I filled three jars plus a little baby food jar. I thought I'd added a little bit more oil than I should have!
Although reading the comments on the blog some people keep it in the fridge, some don't I think it depends where you live. I will be keeping mine in the fridge because it's too hot here and since we're going into summer it's only going to get hotter.
Also the comments say the almond oil is the moisturising agent and some people say they replaced it with coconut oil or apricot oil with lovely results. I will have to experiment with the coconut oil as I bought some recently to try cooking with it.
I'm thinking these jars of cream will make gorgeous Christmas presents for all the ladies in my family. I will have to see though how I like the cream as time goes on. If you guys make it please tell me how it goes I want to find out how other people fare.
Happy Stitching or creaming :D
Caitlin
Wednesday 8 October 2014
WIP Wednesday - 8/10
It's been an awesome day :D I got a lovely necklace and a gorgeous headband from the kids this morning.
To make it better I spent the morning crafting and working on my blanket. Until I realised that I had left the one colour I needed at home and I wasn't there. So then I swapped to working on my cross stitch.
My blanket is getting so big I'm only one colour away from starting a new rotation.
My Tiki is getting closer and closer to a finish! I'm almost finished the green and then it's just the border and back stitch to go. I've already done the back stitch on the bottom tiki so there is just the top one which makes me even happier.
I'm exploring working with my phone camera more and getting it to take better and better photos. I hope with some work on lighting I should be able to get better photos and with much better camera programs too. I didn't realise until today that you could get other programs to actually take good pictures I've always just used the base camera. The photos are going to get slowly better.
Then I went to a trumpet lesson which was awesome as I feel like I have some clue about what I'm doing now for tomorrow. Running through stuff away from band makes life so much easier I should heed my own advice more often!
Now I need to go get ready for dinner tonight.
I'm going to enjoy not having to cook :D
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
To make it better I spent the morning crafting and working on my blanket. Until I realised that I had left the one colour I needed at home and I wasn't there. So then I swapped to working on my cross stitch.
My blanket is getting so big I'm only one colour away from starting a new rotation.
My Tiki is getting closer and closer to a finish! I'm almost finished the green and then it's just the border and back stitch to go. I've already done the back stitch on the bottom tiki so there is just the top one which makes me even happier.
I'm exploring working with my phone camera more and getting it to take better and better photos. I hope with some work on lighting I should be able to get better photos and with much better camera programs too. I didn't realise until today that you could get other programs to actually take good pictures I've always just used the base camera. The photos are going to get slowly better.
Then I went to a trumpet lesson which was awesome as I feel like I have some clue about what I'm doing now for tomorrow. Running through stuff away from band makes life so much easier I should heed my own advice more often!
Now I need to go get ready for dinner tonight.
I'm going to enjoy not having to cook :D
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
Sunday 5 October 2014
It's My Birthday!
Well not today ... on Wednesday but since I want to put up my normal WIP Wednesday post (I want that to become my new thing then at least you know when I'm definitely going to post.) I am going to celebrate my birthday on my blog today.
I was trying to think about what I could do, something special since I usually forget about it, and I looked through my patterns and came up with this.
I made it as a companion to my witch a couple of weeks back now but I never managed to get it over to my big computer so I could turn it into a PDF. So now using my little computer I turned it into a PNG and you all get to share in my awesome Ghost. (don't know how to post PDFs to share) You can buy the witch pattern from my etsy store.
So enjoy my birthday present to you :D You should be able to right click on the image and save it. Though please despite it being a free pattern don't share it around I would prefer it if you direct people to my blog instead.
So Happy stitching and if you complete my little guy please send me pictures I would love to see it.
Caitlin
I was trying to think about what I could do, something special since I usually forget about it, and I looked through my patterns and came up with this.
I made it as a companion to my witch a couple of weeks back now but I never managed to get it over to my big computer so I could turn it into a PDF. So now using my little computer I turned it into a PNG and you all get to share in my awesome Ghost. (don't know how to post PDFs to share) You can buy the witch pattern from my etsy store.
So enjoy my birthday present to you :D You should be able to right click on the image and save it. Though please despite it being a free pattern don't share it around I would prefer it if you direct people to my blog instead.
So Happy stitching and if you complete my little guy please send me pictures I would love to see it.
Caitlin
Wednesday 1 October 2014
WIP Wednesday
And now I'm back and I am remembering to do my WIP Wednesday post. I will say that not much has been happening over the last few days I managed to get quite sick with a bad cold and absolute exhaustion after cuboree and it's only today I'm starting to feel a little better.
On a really awesome note I got a chance to host the Aussie WIP Wednesday today over at The Dove Nest. So please go check it out and link up if you have something on the go this week.
This morning I took the kids (it's still holidays for another week) and we went over for my normal Wednesday craft morning with their aunt. I feel quite proud of myself I have managed to achieve a lot this morning.
I've been working on Baroque by Inkcircles and this motif is getting closer and closer to being finished.
It should only be another couple of sessions and this motif will be done. Then I need to find out where I put my colour list so I can work out what comes next!
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
On a really awesome note I got a chance to host the Aussie WIP Wednesday today over at The Dove Nest. So please go check it out and link up if you have something on the go this week.
This morning I took the kids (it's still holidays for another week) and we went over for my normal Wednesday craft morning with their aunt. I feel quite proud of myself I have managed to achieve a lot this morning.
I've been working on Baroque by Inkcircles and this motif is getting closer and closer to being finished.
It should only be another couple of sessions and this motif will be done. Then I need to find out where I put my colour list so I can work out what comes next!
Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
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