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Friday 28 August 2015

Book Week

Oh gosh I mentioned this on Wednesday but I hadn't got photos of them in their costumes yet. They had book week this week and of course being me I HAD to make them their costumes. I'm not going to go into how exactly I made them here. I am talking a bit about the creative process that went into them over at andsewwecraft but more so because I just kinda threw them together and hoped it worked.

So here we have Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

And a Cat in the Hat from Dr Seuss's Cat in the Hat :D That was a mouthful.

Then both of then together, They looked pretty awesome together. All the black and white with that bright red was quite stunning. 



So there are more up close photos of the parts over on andsewwecraft and I will put up a link to that when I finally get it organised. (After Wednesday I just collapsed) and then I spent yesterday doing accounts. The post is written I just need to organise photos.... It will happen!

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin


Wednesday 26 August 2015

WIP Wednesday

I've been working on my blanket this week. I worked out that I am going to do one more repeat and then add the border on. I'm not interested in making it quite as long as I was planning but after I add a border using all the colours I think it will end up being quite big anyway. Definitely big enough to curl up under on the couch.






I love how it's looking.

This week is book week as well and it's been the major focus of my crafts this week and I will show you many photos once I go through them all. The kids dressed up today as characters from their books and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Friday 21 August 2015

My Sister's New Planner

Now I have been umming and ahhing about making one of these for weeks. The problem partly being I couldn't find a good tutorial online (They all had raw edges on fabric) and partly because I couldn't see myself using one. I still can't really seeing myself using one but I do love it and I know someone who will.

Lets go back a couple of weeks where I was chasing my sister up about what she wants in a planner and the following conversation ensued.

Do you like this planner? (my A5 one) no it's too big. Well what do you like/need?

DO you need daily pages? Weekly pages? What do you need to write while out and about?

All these questions led me towards something very portable and smaller that she can put daily layouts in to keep track of her tasks but also an overview. On top of that she is an architect so grid paper to draw and sketch on while out is also an awesome idea.

Now the very reason I don't like the travellers notebook size is the reason my sister loved it. I got caught up researching how to make the inserts (surprisingly easy) and I made them up for my sister.





 Then after making the inserts I sat staring for a while and looking up tutorials for how to make a midori but nothing really made sense to me. Then I was on the quilting group I'm a part of and they were talking about the new One Thimble magazine and the stichidori tutorial. I knew the tutorial was coming out I just didn't know when and then it felt like fate.


This meant a trip to the fabric store on Monday and then I trip to spotlight on Tuesday for the wadding and elastic. By Tuesday afternoon I had finished!!! It didn't really take long and I was highly motivated to finish.






Doesn't it look pretty :D I love these fabrics.

So did anyone get close with their guess?

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

I really hope she likes it!!!!

Wednesday 19 August 2015

WIP Wednesday



This week has been awesome! I never thought I would enjoy getting up and taking my partner to the train in the mornings. But I do. Though my body is still adjusting and settling into the new times I love what happens after I get home. There is an hour just to sit and think in the mornings all by myself. This morning I'm using it to write, but on other days I just sat and read my book. It starts my day off on a great feeling. This moment of me time just to sit and think and get ready for the day. I am finding that I feel better in the mornings having had some time to wake up before dealing with everyone else. Does anyone else find this? It's like the quiet before the storm. 

Now I didn't get much stitching done this week. Actually not much of anything. I DRAAAAGED the kids to the Library last week and they found a pile of new books but so did I! 

One of my favourite fantasy authors is Mercedes Lackey and she is known for her Valdemar series which had about 30 books in it and I had almost all of them. Are you hearing the had? At the Library I found 3 more books added to this series one starting a whole new trilogy/story line. The Valdemar series is broken up into groups of trilogies that tell different stories throughout the time of this land. Usually centred around a different protagonist each time. I love that you can read 3 books and be satisfied or 30 and it's all about the same world. SO the new books I've read are Redoubt and Bastion from the Collegium chronicles series, and Closer to Home from The Herald Spy series. 

I also found a NEW series she has started. Oh gosh... I know myself and I will be hanging out and waiting for each book of this series to appear! It's awesome! There will be at least 12 books following the 12 daughters as they adventure out into the world. I'm in heaven! This one is called The house of the four winds and it's a joint effort with James Mallory. It's the start of the One Dozen Daughters series and I am looking forward to seeing more appearing. 

I have been struggling to get into books recently and really haven't felt like doing much and then since Wednesday last week I've gone through 4 books and I'm looking for more! 

Now this isn't a book post. It's meant to be a WIP post but I don't have any of those. I do have a finish that I managed to start and finish yesterday. Though it needs it's own post to explain  exactly what it is I will leave you with this teaser picture. 


Can you guess what it is? 

More to come on Friday anyway so you don't have to wait long. 

Happy Stitching, 
Caitlin

Friday 14 August 2015

Planner Epiphany

This is one of those times that I've been lusting after the new range of Kikki K. planners. The emails come to my inbox each week and the colours are just beautiful. The orange and blue and just pretty. But then I turned around and thought long and hard about it. I was looking at spending $80 on something that although pretty and gorgeous and lovely wasn't exactly me. Have a look at the pretty eye candy below :D I borrowed it from the Kikki K. website. Planners are so pretty to look at! Warning following that link can lead to dangerous thoughts and the urge to buy everything.


Then I looked at my planner and I thought about it. I realised something really important. I LOVE the planner that I made for myself. The cover is so ME!!!! It means something to me. More than just a pretty cover or something with the right colours. I can't ever buy a cover that can be as special or be so me. It is one of the reasons why I craft in the first place. I make because it means more than something store bought. Quite often you can buy things instead of making but they aren't as or as long lasting. I can never buy something so special to me anywhere, in any store. Now I do think I will have to check out some of their notepads and sticky notes from that collection as those colours are just scrumptious. But I don't need EVERYTHING.


I don't need the latest craze, I don't need everything that everyone goes absolutely crazy about and I truly don't understand the need to buy the latest all the time, I remember reading on some of the planner groups on facebook when Erin Condren brought out her new rose gold planners and the horizontal layout. Everyone was going BONKERS for them and then within 2 months there were numerous people selling their horizontal layouts because they found they hated the layout but they got caught in the craze. All through the Kikki K. planner groups at the moment as soon as the new range came out people started selling off the last range so they could get the latest one. It gets a bit stupid and the amount of money people are putting out is unreasonable.



I'm already looking towards next year and I know that I'm going to keep my current planner. I want to make the inserts better but that was always going to happen... I may make myself another planner cover so that I have a spare one because I can... but it won't be about having the latest craze.

Sometimes it just takes realising that you like what you have already to be happy and work with what you've got.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Wednesday 12 August 2015

WIP Wednesday



So after making a headband this past weekend. I got distracted by another one... that I started and finished. This time a braided cable one. It's definitely more of a headband than an ear warmer as I don't think it would work to keep my ears warm. Too thin.

I love it and think it's wonderful and pretty. :D The yarn is a 100% arylic called Cardellino and the pattern is this one here. It's the grey and purple colourway though more grey than anything else.

I liked the colours so much I wanted to make a wider band headband with it. I couldn't quite find a pattern that I really liked a lot so I kinda combined a couple. I used the middle section of the previous cables. and added a border either side. I will go into more detail later when there is more done so you can actually see what the pattern is going to look like.



This colour is soo pretty.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Monday 10 August 2015

New Headband

So I gave in on Friday and got myself onto some antibiotics. So now I feel a lot better. Not perfect and I still run out of energy really quickly but definitely getting MUCH better. 

So yesterday I really didn't feel like working on anything that I had already on the go and I had the urge to make a headband. I like to wear headbands but don't have many any more as they weren't something I collected as an adult. 

SO I got out my knitting needles but then I ran into a problem. The only patterns I liked seemed to use a worsted/bulky yarn to make them go quicker. I didn't have any of that. I only have a lot of DK at the moment. So I grabbed out two colours and started combining them together. So with a purple and dark blue picked out I was off and running. It did take me a lot longer than I expected but I think a large element is how easily distracted I am! That and it was my first time trying a cable. 


This is me taking selfies.... not too bad. I didn't get a good photo of it off me because as soon as I finished sewing it I put it on and it hasn't come off. Sooo warm! 


I like the fact that it is nice and wide and sits over my ears as an ear warmer as well as a headband. It's been a little chilly here recently and this is warm without being silly.


I used this pattern I found here and it was lots of fun to do.

The changes I made were to use 6mm needles and doubled strands of 8ply acrylic. It was what I have around the house.

Happy Stitching, 
Caitlin

Wednesday 5 August 2015

WIP Wednesday


Oh gosh it's Wednesday already! It's been that sort of week. I spent Monday and most of Tuesday curled up on the couch feeling absolutely pathetic. Today I have felt much better though I'm still not through the worst of it. Since last Wednesday I have made some progress on Afternoon Tea but none since Monday as I haven't had the concentration. 

I found out something really awesome though about this piece. I have actually done some of the dragon. There is a little tiny bit of his horn showing up. I thought it was another star but it's a horn! It made me so happy to see it. and because I haven't shown you a picture of the finished piece in a while here it is. Look closely at that horn sticking up and see if you can spot it in the stitching below. 


I have only done another half column but considering my week that half column is pretty awesome! I always love working on this piece.


Can you see the horn? 


I hope to get more done for next week as I am starting to feel a lot better and more alert at night again. 

So happy Stitching, 
Caitlin 

Monday 3 August 2015

Weekend Fun

Oh golly gosh! I'm sick again! I don't know how I manage it but I constantly seem to be sick. At the moment I have an annoying cold but also achy bones. Just feeling very pathetic. So to make myself feel better I'm posting here about some of the fun we got up to over the weekend.

It's Lana's birthday TODAY. So this past weekend we had a lot of fun spending time with family and giving Lana a fun weekend. Which Caiden got to enjoy and have fun with. Her grandma happened to be in town this week so she took everyone to the Pine Rivers Show.

Two show in two weeks! It has been a fun couple of weeks. I'm sorry crafters I didn't get any photos of the needlework displays. Though there were some amazing pieces there. I need to get some pieces done to put in for next year because I know my work is good enough to win.

There was a laser challenge that the kids loved doing. It was free which is really awesome.

The boys were really brave and went on the claw. It made me sick just looking at it!



It spun up and around and turned many ways. Not my idea of a fun ride.

On Sunday we visited Bribie Island with my parents. It was an awesome day out and the beach was wonderful.

I learnt some more information about Bribie island while I was there. I didn't realise that it became a fort during WW2. Fighting didn't come to Brisbane but there was always the risk that it would and Bribie has a perfect view of the shipping channel. They built two forts manned with guns. Thankfully they only ever got fired as practice.


After 60 years of wind and weather the two forts are looking a little worse for wear. They had signs everywhere saying not to go on or near the structures but most people ignored them.



When we were driving up the beach we managed to see an emu. I've never seen one so close to home and not in captivity. It was awesome seeing one wild.


Oh and Lana requested a rainbow cake for her birthday. Mum very kindly delivered. (her baking is better than mine.) It's an awesome rainbow marble and I think my dad loved licking the bowls after.


Hope you had a lovely weekend too.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
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