New Finds

I had my softball semi final yesterday afternoon and it was the BEST fun ever! We played really well as did the other team (23-19) but we WON!!!! I got a home run the first time I came up to bat and did a couple of awesome catches at third. We go into the grand final next week and if we keep playing at this level we will be great!  

After that I rushed home then we went to my bands trivia and auction night last night which was a LOT of fun :D it was 70's theme. Though I wasn't organised enough to dress up but the table we were at was and they brought spare hats. I wore an Indian headband and I thought I looked wonderful. Though I wasn't organised enough to get a photo but one of the other ladies did but I just need to get it from her.

James didn't want me taking a picture but this one is halfway decent. I love the blue hat on him!

In the auction part I bid on a couple of things but only won two. My book cover went for $10 but to a lovely little girl so hopefully it is loved!

I won a cushion and lavender satchet set from my fellow trumpeter. Her embroidery is gorgeous it's so neat!

 The second auction I won was a suitcase FULL of fat quarters. 34 in total! Lana has already bagged the pink one for me to make her teddy with. There was also a notebook and scissors and cool stuff.

 Unfortunately I lost this one which is a stunning cross stitch of a butterfly. It looks so gorgeous and the stitching was soooo neat!

 All in all last night/yesterday in general was a wonderful day and now I need to plan what to do with my new wins. It was all for a good cause to help us get to New Zealand for our music tour this year.

Happy Stitching Everyone,
Caitlin

Something New

I know a lot of people have joined a lot of SALs this year but I just don't have the motivation to cross stitch only or to get things done by a certain time. But because I haven't joined any SALs I've found that I do want something to help me to achieve. So I'm going to create my own linky party there could be just me in it or there could be lots of people we shall see.

One thing I've found myself doing this year is trying new techniques particularly with finishing. Because of this I want to make a point of each month doing "something new" it could be trying a new finishing technique for cross stitch. It could just be a new sewing pattern or it could be a new yarn. Something that challenges me and that I can learn from. I get stuck in ruts I like doing the same thing again and again. But I learn so much when I do try new things and I impress myself when I do.

This year I made myself a dress on my sewing machine not entirely by myself but I made it! Post Here

I made a book cover as a new way to finish off my small cross stitches into a useful thing. It was a bit of trial and error but I got something beautiful that I'm proud of.  More info here!

I've also started my first BIG crochet blanket which is definitely new for me so we shall see how that goes.

I've done amigurumi before but the face on this guy was a bit of an experiment. I hadn't done this at all before. It's a mix of embroidery, yarn and felt. Look Here :D

Because I haven't just tried to finish what I've already done I have stepped outside the box and tried things. Now I probably would have still done this having done the WIPocalypse but personally I haven't felt tied to only cross stitch. I want to cross stitch and to sew and crochet and knit and bead and and and. ... you get the point. Oh and it's been too hot to concentrate on cross stitch! 

It doesn't have to be only crafty. I have ventured out in cooking and made my first pie and tried other recipes. Find this yummy one here. 

Anything really that is something you haven't tried it could be as simple as a new recipe that had new techniques to trying an eyelet stitch for the first time. I want to start celebrating the achievements and working outside the box. Stuck at home most of the time with no job it does feel like the same old, same old. I don't want to be boring I want to learn and be challenged. I need to feel like I'm achieving something so I don't end up in a slump! 

So here is how it's going to work 

At the end of the month in the last week I'm going to put up a something new post. This will have a Linky thing involved.... I just need to learn how to create one for next month. You can choose to post up a link to a post you have written, if you feel you've done something new that was a challenge for you. It can be anything but its about celebrating the achievements however small. I'm doing this for me but invite you to join in too :D I will create a button for it to. 

It will start next month with something specific to March not a mix of January and February like this one has become. 

If you think you'd be interested please comment so I have an idea whether anyone else likes this idea. 

Happy Stitching Everyone, 

Caitlin 

Another Book Cover

I did say I needed to do another book cover and see which one I liked the best. I have found the one I LOVE! I'm going to be kinda sad to let it go tomorrow as it's awesome but I hope the person who gets it enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

 I've got a series of photos and a bit of an explanation but I forgot to take any photos of how you actually make it into a book cover as I was so excited about getting closer to the finish and I was kinda tired by that point.

This time I didn't want to have to fiddle with lots of random colours and make a picture so I pulled out a pile of blue hues from mum's stash and I visited sewco (the local quilting shop near my mum) they had a sale on and bought a couple more colours. I also added a watermelon pink which isn't shown in this photo to add some accent.

To make it I made a template by tracing the book and adding half an inch all the way around. Probably a little too loose but I wanted it to be able to be moved to other books.

Then using my kangaroo as the base I started adding little bits of fabric. This time I was really careful to make it bigger than needed to it would cut down nicely. If you have done any patchwork before you will understand how I have done this. The difference is I didn't bother to measure just made sure the fabric was bigger than the length I was sewing which sometimes meant sewing two bits together to make the length.

I also added trim into the middle to make it look more interesting.

I kept using the base paper as a guide to where I needed to add more colours.

Here is the top all ready to go. I only added the trims to the front I didn't want much on the back. I also added some decorative stitches which aren't here yet.

WOOHOO! A finish! It looks stunning. The first time I didn't add any wadding and the second time I just added a light wadding and the difference was awesome. Much better. I also added a ribbon to mark where you are in the book.

When researching how to make it I did search on google and I used a tutorial from somewhere to get an idea of what I could do to make it up. I've got no clue what I used now though.

I'm so proud of the finished piece. It just looks happy and pretty. SOO nice to see it finished. But I have to give it away :(

ETA:
If you want to buy this pattern it available from my etsy store for $1 AUD The link to my store is on the left.

Happy Stitching Everyone,
Caitlin

Glasses are wonderful!

Last Tuesday I was driving to the shops when my glasses BROKE! I'm extremely blind without them! I can't see much past my face without them. It was the scariest time trying to drive to get home.  I had to hold one side up and balance them on my nose while keeping the other eye closed so that I wasn't seeing triple. I've only had these glasses one year.

broken glasses

Thankfully at home I did have a spare pair of glasses. It felt so weird to wear a pair with full rims, but it looked so much better than no glasses. It only took me a day to get down to the optometrist and order a new pair of glasses. I had so much fun picking out a new pair. Here were my final two choices. It was such a hard choice.

Glasses I tried on and decided against them
they looked nice but too big on my face.

I chose these glasses :D 

I ordered them early Thursday morning and Monday afternoon I got a text saying they were in. 

Here I am with my new pair of glasses and loving the new look. 

They're kinda purple but have more blue and sparkles :D It's always nice to have sparkles :D

Anyway Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin 

I'm slowly moving forward

I'm having lots of fun with my blanket I find it is easier to pick up when I don't have much time than cross stitch and a lot easier to do. It also is more comfortable at the moment in the heat to be not thinking about than anything else.

I'm almost finished the tenth colour so only two more before I will have used every colour that I have.

I was browsing blogs today and I came across one recommending an app called beautiful mess. It's a photo editing app and it's so simple to use to make quite professional looking collages and stuff to display my work. A plain photo is so boring.... and I'm too lazy to upload them onto my computer anymore, I take them directly from my phone so anything to help photos look interesting when I want is great. Even just an easy way to add simple text if I need. Basically I was looking for something to make my photos seem more professional without spending tonnes or having to use my computer.

It's meant to be used for project life so has a nice sizing that prints well too. Can you tell I had some fun with my pictures. It was soooo easy to play with and enjoy.

 It's so much fun to play with I had to play with all my projects. The colours are so pretty.

I had so much fun playing with my new program. The only problem is that it saves to my phones memory not into the pictures folder. So uploading them from my phone was a pain until I worked out how to move them around. :P

I just couldn't resist all the pretty photos.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin