Moving Again

I am one of those people who grew up living in the same house as my parents have lived there for 30 years. My grandma still lives in the house that my grandpa built. That's what I grew up knowing. Since moving out of home I haven't stayed in one place longer than a couple of years. I would say that's the fault of renting but at one point in there I owned a house too.

This latest move has taken a lot out of me. I've been stressed and exhausted. The owner wanted to move back in and although we were given a 2 month time frame we really only found somewhere 2 weeks out. This put a lot of stress on all of us. Also when out entire townhouse is so tiny it's really hard to find room for the boxes which added to the mess. Honestly it was extremely hard to keep up with everything and it didn't help that I am still working full time. We had boxes stacked up around beds and everywhere.

We have now officially moved out of the old place and into the new place. It's a 4 bedroom house and we are just loving the space. The crazy thing is we will only need to get one piece of furniture for the new house and that is a dining table and chairs. That is all! How did we fit the whole house in a tiny place for 2 years?


I think the only reason we fit is because we had to! That place just never worked with our stuff. In the end this place is going to be much better. Particularly because there is one room JUST for me! I get a craft room again! Ohk the wardrobe will be general storage but the rest of the room is mine to work with and in. I'm going to be able to get away and study or work as needed.

Of course we need to get everything else away so that I can organise and tidy that room as it will be the last one I sort! Once the little man sorts his room we can stick the drum kit in there... This will also be a study for me so I'm getting a couple of desks from mum to go in front of the windows ... I will have a lot of study to do!

So that gives everyone a very good idea what has been occupying my head space and mind this last month particularly. I will be so excited to get this place set up so we can use it.

I am getting together a post on my granny stripe blanket. It was the only project I've had going while I've been moving. A needle to sew in threads and the blanket are easy to tote around. I have managed to finish finish it so I am organising a recap post and hopefully going to be able to get a good photo of the blanket this weekend. Can't have too many photos!

I have many ideas of projects I want to do and start... but how many I actually achieve at the moment is up for debate. Oh well... at least the worst of the crazy is over and we are back to our regularly scheduled program.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Granny Stripe Finish ... Kinda

I was debating whether I talked about this one in it's own post of mention as part of my retreat post but in the end it wasn't finished on the retreat I actually managed to finish the stitching part a couple of days before. It only took about an hour once I got the rest of the yarn! Story here

But it is only a kinda finish as I have  A LOT of ends to sew in. I did manage to finally get a full photo of the blanket. I must say I don't want to do another 'random' blanket like this again but it truly does look random!

I also love the way that the ruffle worked out. It makes an interesting edge. Now all I have to do is finish the ends which could take me a while! I'm about a third of the way up the side at the moment I just carefully tucked them under in this photo.

I wish I could work out how to get that pink to show up properly! Probably need to steal dad's camera with the fancy lenses. Actually just want dad to use his camera and get a photo ... I can't use his camera I manage to cause it to be blurry or silly without even trying.

So I will try and get more photos so this isn't the last time you ever see this blanket but it's pretty much in it's finished stage. I think I do want to do a wrap up post for this blanket but that may take me some time to compile the information.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

My Weekend Away

I had the privilege this past weekend of joining some LOVELY ladies for the AndSewWeCraft Retreat. It was just awesome to get away and actually get some projects done!

I took a mix of projects with me and found that I really only wanted to get the sewing projects done. But that's the beauty of a retreat I didn't need to do what I didn't want to do! I went up Friday afternoon and came home Sunday afternoon.

I managed to finish three projects by the end of the retreat and it was sooo wonderful not having to worry about anything but sewing.

1. I finished a dress and I'll be talking more about the process that went into this one over on andsewwecraft this month. But I have to show you guys the finished piece! Sorry about the gloves they make it look like I have no arms. But it didn't stop raining all weekend and it was really cold! I wore this dress home on Sunday and everyone who saw it was really happy with how it looked on me.

2. A handbag to match the dress, this wasn't planned but when they were running the class I just couldn't resist doing it and learning how to put hardware onto a bag. It's not as scary as it looks! Although my fingers may disagree as that hammer hurts.... but that isn't the bags fault. This bag pattern if anyone is interested can be found Here. It's currently on special but I don't know how long for.

3. A toy elephant for my sister. This was made using a pattern from funky friends factory and if you've been around my blog long you know that I love her patterns for a reason and this one was no different. After a couple of hours sewing the really easy directions I had an elephant to take home to give to my sister. She has a baby shower to go to in a couple of weeks.

So although the weekend was cold and rainy and altogether unpleasant weather (if you guys get news about Australia's weather this past weekend you'll understand! It wasn't the best time to be out) But we were safe and warm enough and just had an absolute ball!!!

I hope you managed some time this weekend to craft!

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

So close!

I was getting so close to a finish! Then this happened....

I have about 50 cms left and I've run out of yarn. I do have more yarn, another ball of this colour it's in a box at my parents house. So not something I can grab quite yet. In a couple more days yes... I'm so close to finishing this! It's soooooo frustrating!!!!!!!!!

Well ... happy stitching everyone!

Caitlin

Same old story

I have been crafting recently but really I haven't had much time to think. Part of my problem is I get home and it's dark so I sit and work on whatever project I'm working on. Which is fine. But I don't want to share a bad photo with you guys. Therefore I need to wait until the next morning to maybe find the time to photograph it. I get up the next morning and forget to photograph it ... and the cycle continues.


Also in exciting news. I got accepted into my Master's of Business (Professional Accounting) This means big changes for me. I will be doing classes twice a week AFTER work. My crafting time is about to half. Not that I had that much time to start with! Actually that brings me to this weeks task...
We move in the next month and I need to have a major destash!

With limited time I know what is becoming important to me. So I really need to limit my crafts. As always my cross stitch is important but I can't even reach most of it at the moment. That is half of the problem. I love my cross stitch. Knitting and Crochet (so my 8 ply acrylics stay) and my fabrics for sewing though those need to be sorted and gone through. I need to be realistic about what I keep around. If I won't use it in the next 6 mths I'm going to either store it or donate it and I'm going to stick to that. I'm about to move house and I want to be reasonable. I actually want to get some projects DONE. To do that I need to declutter my head and my craft space so I can find it!

But I can't just have a post with no photos. I made myself another headband because I kinda cut my hair off.

It's going into winter here and I cut all my hair off. I absolutely LOVE it! I was getting sick of looking after my hair. Not the best photos but you get the idea. I have ACTUALLY finished something!!!!  I need to make a couple of hats for the new winter season. It may happen ... may not too. We all know about the best laid plans of mice.

That is said with my granny stripe blanket sitting over my lap with the edge still unfinished. I really need to put some time into that! But right now I'm watching frozen, writing blog posts and enjoying time not doing much of anything. So hopefully I will post as much as possible but life at the moment definitely has a habit if getting in the way,


Happy Stitching,
Caitlin