Crafting Update

So I have ACTUALLY been crafting not just taking photos of previously finished projects :D

This little cross stitch set is FINALLY up on display again. It has been waaaayy too long. This is a set of Faye Whittaker designs I finished when I first started this blog.

Also speaking of way too long :D the last of my gingerbread men is making an appearance at the moment. I'm hoping to finish this over the next couple of weeks then I can finish all of them at once and put them up on display this year.... it's long over due but then again I'm saying that about a lot of things lately.

I finished my Doctor Who cross stitch and washed it in the sink to get rid of some of the marks.

Here is my finished piece :D in all it's wet glory!

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Christmas Headbands

Oh gosh! I am my worst enemy when it comes to Christmas Crafts. I decided about a week before Christmas that I had to make these ... and so I did. In secret in the mornings and evenings when the kids weren't around or awake. It's really hard to do! It would be easier with younger less knowledgeable kids but I managed to get one sewn in time for Christmas. .... I possibly could have finished the other two but I also wanted to measure it on her.

I used this pattern and made  the kids band. But I changed the length of elastic. I used
7 inches. That fit better around her head. So here are the three headbands all finished. The bands are fully reversible so there are really 6 headbands.



Don't they all look beautiful and bright? These are the same fabrics I used to make her shorts so they match some of her clothes and just look nice for others.



The elastic part at the back is actually quite comfortable. I made one of the Christmas ones for myself in the adult size.



The colours will work with a whole pile of different outfits so she is set for a while.



Gorgeous scales.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Christmas Crafts and photos from my break.

Before Christmas (only about the week before) I decided I needed to make certain gifts for the kids. Queue lots of earlier mornings and later nights trying to sew in secret but I did it. I made Lana some headbands (or partially made them) and Caiden got a pillowcase. I only partially made the headbands as I wanted to measure them on her head before sewing them all. So I finished one and made the other 2 up to the elastic part. They are all done now and I love how they turned out. I need to get photos of them still. I forgot and they have all disaappeared into the abyss.. aka. the BEDROOM!!!!!


The pillowcase for Caiden was very simple. I used these instructions and just cut it long enough according to pillow I already had. It worked out beautifully and I will need to make a lot more of these.



2 days after Christmas we left to go camping. I desperately needed to get away. I think we all did. It was kinda a family affair as we found a place to go and then my parents came along and invited a group of the Landrover people we have been camping with the last couple of years. My sister and her partner came along as did my cousin with his partner and kid. It was just a lovely group of people.

Here was the view from out the tent door every morning. Can I say we were just a little in love?

 
Though the boys didn't like me taking photos of them :D



We had a beautiful fire and some awesome music. There was even bagpipes one night :D



We went exploring and played games. I even took my cross stitch... I don't know how many people take a big cross stitch frame camping but I did it!

Camp chairs make awesome frame holders.

I think we are already looking forward to next year and the fun we'll get up to.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Christmas Ideas

Christmas is fast approaching, as much as we all like to ignore it. Only 6 mths and I need to come up with an idea kinda desperately!!!

Now for a couple of years I would make cross stitch ornaments, and one year I made crochet ones and although I kinda want to make some more I want to keep making something different. Below are some of the ornaments from two years ago.

Last year I made mug covers and dishcloths and I loved that idea and they were very well received.

But I still want to make something different.

So here are the ideas running through my head at the moment. I was talking to my cousin the other day and he said he was excited to see what they get this year.

So what should I do?

1. Cross Stitch or Crochet Ornaments

 Go with my normal idea and make some simple cross stitch ornaments? I don't think this is going to be the option. As I really want to try something different.

2. Cross Stitch Bookmarks

I really like this idea. Use my patterns and others to make some gorgeous bookmarks as these are something that people can use. I will need to buy more bookmark aida but I really like this idea. Simple and easy but they do look stunning finished.

3. Fabric Notebook Covers

I know my sister and mum are both using the ones I've given them and I could have a lot of fun making small cross stitch to go on the covers. This would be a great way to use my cross stitch and again make it usable.

4. Fabric Midoris

Along the idea of the fabric notebook covers create my own fabric midoris. The only problem with this is it starts to become a little time consuming and expensive buying all the parts because I don't have anything but the fabric. Though I would have to buy more fabric in boy colours anyway as I don't have many options.

5. Crochet Hats

I did joke with my cousin about making him  raccoon hat and I may just have to make him one on top of whatever else I do. He has a big bald head so it would really suit him. Repeat Crafter Me did a pattern that I may just need to use. The only thing is I have no worsted weight yarn? Can you use DK doubled?

6. Soft Toys or Amigurumi 

This is time consuming though. It took 1 day of solid sewing to finish that giraffe and I rarely have the motivation to batch sew at my machine. It's just too uncomfortable. But I know that the reactions I would get would be amazing. I know I love the little amigurumi but they take ages to construct.

7. WHAT OTHER IDEAS????

I don't know but I think I'm going between 2 and 3 and the more I think about it the more I like number 2 as it's easily portable and possible to get done. Can you give me more ideas? Or do you have a thought about the ideas I've mentioned above? Remembering I have a mix of females and males but no kids so it's all adult presents. I generally give one per couple though if it's bookmarks maybe I should do a bookmark and book cover per couple??

I have so many ideas running through and around in my head it is really awesome but I will have to make them into a reality somehow.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ohk I am a day late techincally but I got it in.

It's been a crazy couple of days as I have been sewing and stitching like crazy when I wasn't present shopping/wrapping for the kids or celebrating a birthday plus Christmas within two days of each other.

We took the chance to visit Seaworld on the Gold Coast for the little man's birthday and it was an awesome day out.

 The polar bears were so cute. This one was having a ball playing with this purple toy. It kept lodging it in the rocks then diving down and rescuing it.

The kids loved the shark tank as well, it was awesome to find all the different fish and to recognise some from 'Finding Nemo'.

Now you may notice a distinct lack of crafting photos. That is because despite spending ages and ages sewing and crafting over the last couple of days I forgot to take a photo of ANY of the finished mug covers or cloths before they were given out. Nor did I get a good photo of my framed cross stitch.

 SO I'm going to have to put out a request to my family to get some photos sent to me of their mug covers so I can show you. I will blame the fact I was still stitching and wrapping at 8:30am Christmas morning when I had to leave in 10 minutes for brunch.

Have a wonderful and safe Christmas season and I'll be back with my regularly scheduled program soon. I leave for camping in two days then I'll be back in the new year.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin 

WIP Wednesday 17/12

Well I have been very very very busy this week. I even managed a finish :D Two of them actually.

I have a finished dishcloth. It looks lovely and colourful. This pattern is so easy to do. I talked about stitching this pattern in this post. 

The next finish has been waiting a year and a half. My cousin's wedding sampler is finally finished.
I will get better photos during the day but at the moment I keep forgetting to set up for photos while there is light.

Now before I show you my next project we went for a walk on Tuesday morning to get rid of some energy, It was lovely walking down to the river despite the mosquitos that we had to deal with. We were really lucky to catch a koala in the tree while we were there. 

Now the last project I've been working on is the last of the Christmas gifts. I have been making some mug cozies. They look so pretty. The design is my own just a simple treble crochet, with a colourful edging. I just used hair ties and I'll add a button to tie them around the mugs.

Don't they look pretty. The hair ties I crochetted into the edging so that they don't fall off and I don't have to sew them in.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Cute Owl

I am already thinking of Christmas and what I can make that won't take ages. I could do cross stitch ornaments but I won't have enough done in time for Christmas this year and it's always so stressful, getting them all done.

I have been looking at easy amigurami projects that won't take me ages to finish and I stumbled across this one. 

They are so cute and only take about 30minutes to make.

I did have a model to help me he wants to claim this owl as his. He also asked me to make one for his teacher. 

 I think these are a plus and they are so easy I will have a whole collection by Christmas!

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

I'm back from camping...

Well we came home early because the kids were coming down with something but it seems like its not them we should have worried about. Both me and James have been knocked for six! Though I'm finally getting better and feeling kinda human. It was just a sinus infection but.... with the heat we've been having as well we've both been dehydrated. It was meant to get to 34 yesterday and today is meant to top out at 41! (about 105 Farenheit!)

So basically I'm trying to stay cool and hope I can ride it out. So glad we got a pool yesterday. I may need to make a lot of use of it!

While we were camping I did actually get some stitching done. I took Maskerade Pale Dawn with me and I set up really well on my camp chair.

It looked like this:

And after quite a bit of work it became:

Once I got home I wanted to work on a small so instead of starting a new one which I was so tempted to do I worked on one of the Joan Elliott ornaments.

Its close to finished with the stitching but then I need backstitching and beads... I'll get there eventually!

But I'm turning my computer off because it's too hot and going in the pool!

Stay cool everyone!

Caitlin

Ooops I forgot!

Oh no! I was looking through my crazy January page trying to update it and couldn't find photos anywhere! Then I realised I probably forgot to post updates when I finished or worked on some of my projects while so stressed out through work! I wasn't in the best mind frame!

So I finished the RED gingerbread man!

 He's all ready for me to work out how to finish him entirely.

 I'm also well on the way with the Blue guy. I don't work on these much they tend to be my portable projects as they don't have many colours. So they live in my car!

I also never posted a photo of the green one up on the crazy January page so I have done that now! I'm so behind in dates and times it's not funny!

I also finished another of the Joan Elliott ornaments its the circle house. I will need to finish a pile of designs from this one though to be able to finish them entirely so I'm not sure what I'm doing with this yet!

Lets hope I can get some more finished before CHRISTMAS! It's coming up toooooo fast!

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Small Finish and a giveaway extension!

I managed a small Christmas finish yesterday in the midst of an absolutely crazy weekend. You can get my Santa pattern here.

I had 2 performances last weekend plus all the rehearsals. It was kinda crazy. Just one more performance left and then I have a break until next year which I'm looking forward to. Everything will be taking a break including softball.

So I have been working on Santa and I managed to finish him despite the lack of motivation and having to do a couple of exams.

Oh I don't think I've mentioned this yet. I got accepted into a dual diploma course business and management. I'm taking a step away from teaching and we shall see where it leads. As I told my grandma yesterday I want to eventually run my own craft shop but what form that shop takes I'm not sure. I don't know whether I will just run workshops for kids or have a full shop with a cafe attached. There are lots of options and I'm throwing them all around at the moment. Nothing is happening quickly I need experience first and everything I'm doing is testing the waters and moving in that direction.

But back to Santa I finished stitching him yesterday morning I think but only now getting the time to post.

 Doesn't he look SOOOOO cute! To understand the size they are only about 2 inches high. I'm going to turn these into some sort of Christmas quilt hanger or something. I'm not sure exactly what!

 

 L and C were looking for something to do so they both picked up some sort of stitching. L is doing her cross stitch Sampler while C is doing a tapestry style star. He is getting better since I put him on Plastic canvas. I will update with their work soon.

I've also been working on things that aren't my designs. I'm loving the way this one is turning out but I'm so out of practice working on evenweave! I've been working a lot on aida recently.

GIVEAWAY NEWS!
Ohk for those that made it this far I'm giving a couple more days to get an entry into my giveaway. It's a couple of posts back. I understand the silly season means noone has time to keep up to date so I'm giving some more chances to get an entry in. You have until Friday your time to post your entry!!!

Happy Stitching!
Caitlin

Carolers and a Giveaway!

So I now have some carolers in my shop and to celebrate having so many awesome designs up finally! I want to do a special giveaway on my blog.

You have the chance to win the pattern of your choice from my etsy store.

To enter:
1. Visit my store and pick your favourite design.
2. Post about this Giveaway on your blog
3. Reply on this post with your choice and a link to your blog post.


ETA:
I HAVE extended until FRIDAY the 13th your time. SO I will wait until ALL of Friday around the world has finished before drawing!


Happy Stitching and Enjoy!
Caitlin

Angel Wings

I was bored yesterday afternoon and decided to try out my Angel Wings pattern. I picked the wings I liked the best and started stitching. I found an issue with the pattern with the skin colour. I had an outline around the face but it made her look like she had a beard. So I changed that and I added a bit of sparkle to the wings and replaced the yellow with gold sparkle because sparkle is always better.

Then I spent yesterday afternoon after I finished the pattern fixing up my listing. So that the pattern is now correct!

But without further ado here is my finished angel.

 

 For the wings I blended one strand of silver in with the ecru to make the sparkle without overpowering.

I'm almost finished the carolers pattern then I will plan a giveaway :D
Happy Stitching!
Caitlin

I joined a craft group

I joined a craft group on a Wednesday morning. Or at least I have until I have a job that interferes. It's great because everyone is doing different crafts but you're able to ask advise about whatever you're doing because you can. There are a couple of scrap bookers, some crochet, hexagon quilts, and beading among a lot of talking.

I have another finish though I don't actually have it anymore. I finished it in time to give away to my band to be raffled off. I will have to try to win it back. I finished the stitching last year it's one of tangled threads penguins which I still randomly LOVE to stitch. I'm glad I have such a good collection.

 I managed to find the green angel fabric on Wednesday morning just before craft group so I could finish it. I love the pretty green and trumpets. So appropriate for band!

I'm getting really good at finishing the ribbon this way! I love the effect and it always looks stunning! It takes ages though and I really get bored of doing more than 1-2 in a sitting where I could do lots of the pillow cases. It takes more concentration to do it this way!

 Also I know most of my readers are overseas but I can't resist showing off a little. We have a couple of performances coming up but this one is exciting. I got this flyer in the mail and our name is on it! The MBSO Jazz Band in the 5:25pm slot. So anyone around the redcliffe area on the 7th Dec please come visit :D I have a solo!!!!!!