Shirt dress plans

Now this post was meant to go up at the begining of the month before I kept working on my purple dress but for those following me on instagram you'll have seen a lot of these photos before. Though probably not the whole story all together.

I realised as I was looking through dresses that I like that I love a shirt style dress. The only problem being that I have always been a little afraid of them as they have buttons! Which means I need to do button holes!!! Of course the only way to get better is to do them so that is what I'm going to do.

 I have the perfect fabrics for making a couple of these dresses, so we shall see how it works out.

These three patterns were already in my collection and I keep finding myself wanting to buy more despite the fact that the kwik sew and cotton and chalk ones look almost identical from the technical drawings!! I am drawn to clothes that come in nicely at the waist as it's the smallest part of me.
                                                                              
This was also pushed along by the fact that  I was going through my fabric drawers and pulled out a bag with some purple fabric, a pattern and some other miscellaneous stuff. ( I found a pair of scissors I've been missing for 4 years!)  That project was never intended to be put away for so long!!!

 Has anyone else been around long enough and have a good enough memory to remember this fabric? I was very excited when I got started with this project....

 I did have an interesting challenge as I taught myself how to put on a collar... it's surprisingly easy though I don't think it's the neatest work ever....

And here is where I'm currently up to. I need to add the sleeves and the ruffle on the bottom. Also make the tie for the middle. Also need to add button holes and buttons. Please excuse the background and out of focus photo I had to use the kids bathroom mirror as no one was home to help with this photo.

But this was 3 weeks ago and the project has stalled again just because my craft room is so hot I really don't have the energy to go in there at the moment. Hopefully I will get this done in the next couple of weeks but we shall see.

Once this one is finished which pattern should I make? I think the chai is calling my name first.... 

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin
  

Crochet blankets update

I have shared both of these projects at one time or another last year but here is where they are currently sitting and what I've got left to do.

To start with my rainbow ripple blanket using lincraft cake yarn. This photo is not entirely accurate as to how much is left on this blanket. I want to finish the rest of the third skein but it's not the ball sitting there. There was a knot in the yarn so I cut it and restarted the yarn then had to frog a bit because I made a mistake. I have about 1/2 a skein left so I'm really trying to push through and do this. My friend is overdue so I really need to get going.

I will have one more skein left which I am thinking of using to make beanies for my friend and her baby like a mother/son set. Maybe .... it really depends on my energy!

Then this one is kinda more urgent. This friend had her baby at the beginning of the month. I never claimed to be on time! Thank goodness for summer. I love working on this blanket but it got put away in the middle of my stress of uni last semester. It's a scene from Nightmare Before Christmas that I designed. I'm just working a corner to corner crochet pattern using 12 ply marvel acrylic.

This is another one where I will eventually share the pattern with you guys but it will take a bit of time. I need to get my computer running my cross stitch program again I never put it on my new computer. I will have to do that eventually.

Anyway I wanted to show you guys where I'm currently sitting with these two blankets. They should be done sooner rather than later but we shall see what happens, this is me!

Have you noticed 2 posts in a week? What is happening? I'm slightly organised :D

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Tardis Face Cloth

I finished this face cloth when we were camping between Christmas and new year. Of course I then proceeded to not be able to get a photo of it until this morning when I decided enough is enough and I needed to show everyone.

So quickly before dashing to work today I managed to capture pictures of all my recent face cloths.

Don't they look so pretty folded there on my quilt? I will start by saying a disclaimer I haven't bothered to block any of these and because they're all for me probably won't at all. Also I'm sorry the tardis is done in purple! I found the blue yarn after I started making it in purple.

But moving on here are the face cloths I've made in the last month.

This one you've seen this pattern from me before. It's the Grandmother's Favourite and it's such a simple design I just love doing it as I don't need to think!

 The next one is a Christmas lace pattern that I fiddled a bit. I added more repeats of the pattern and a wider edge but I also made a couple of mistakes as I was learning how to read the pattern as I kept getting lost when I would put it down. Once I worked it out it looks great :D But since it's for me the mistakes make it mine.

And lastly I have the Tardis Facecloth.

I used a cross stitch pattern that I found and fiddled it and changed the proportions so that it would work as a knitting pattern. I am happy to create this as a graph if anyone is interested? I probably will create a graph but the speed with which it happens will depend on the amount of interest.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and New Year. I am planning to post more this year but we all know about the plans of mice.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

To Be Read....

I'm a bit of a bookaholic.... actually I'm not that bad but I come from a family of readers and honestly I love sitting with a book in my hands. Yesterday morning I started the day with a book and a cup of tea on the back patio. It was heaven! This morning I barely could force myself to put the book away before dashing out the door to bootcamp. This hasn't always been the case. For the last couple of months with Uni all books have just been placed by the wayside.

But I'm finally settling back into reading and relaxing and just finished 'The Upside of Unrequited' By Becky Albertalli. Really lovely read and much more realistic than a lot of young adult books. If you want a nice enjoyable fiction this is a highly recommended book.

But after finishing that book I started going through my other books. Some I own and I MAY have visited the Library on the weekend.... actually not on my own it was at the request of Lana. She was really really really excited to look for more books. I'm not going to stop that excitement. She found some good looking books and I may have picked up some more J.D. Robb.

I'm reading all the in death series out of order and some audiobooks and some physical. I actually picked up 4 audiobooks while I was there too. Makes my drive to work more enjoyable.

But then I was also looking through the bookcase in the craft room and this is what I found in my TBR pile....

I visited a couple of fetes a couple of months ago and got a pile of books really cheap. The top two books were a dollar each. Jane Eyre I treated myself to as it's one of the fancy covered classics. I will need to read it again it's been a while.

I've read Wicked and Son of A Witch a while ago but despite owning these two for almost a year O just haven't read them yet. I will just have to bite the bullet and read them.

Actually looking through my photos and thinking about my book hauls recently I just realised I don't have any photos of my pile of about 5 new Nora Roberts and Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (birthday present). I think I will be well occupied coming up to Christmas and well beyond. We shall see how many books I actually get through. I also have a pile of craft projects that I want to do as well.

What do you enjoy reading? I love a good fantasy, romance or crime novel. But I'm not into thrillers, more the mystery style. I also don't mind a nice chic fiction/YA.

Do you have piles of books you're trying to get through? I'm hoping to go through a decent chunk of this as I just relax into books again.

What are you reading?

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Escape to the Country

Last weekend we managed to get away for the weekend and do a little bit of 4wding and camping. Of course being me I took my craft stuff away and ACTUALLY finished finished a project including sewing in the ends!!!. More on that when I share the pictures. We went away to a place called emu creek 4wd park. It was a running park but became run down as the old owners lost interest. Then family of friends of ours bought the property and they're slowly working to bring it back and restore it to a working 4wd park. The purpose of the weekend was to go down and help clear lantana and find the old tracks, a lot of them are barely visible as they have become so over grown.It was a great weekend away even if I did spend most of it studying as I had my last exam today. That is another semester down :D

But study aside I want to talk about entirely happy things. On the way down the weather was a bit miserable, and we were really worried about a very wet weekend. But thankfully it stayed cloudy and wet enough to keep the temperature down and sunny enough to have a ball.
I took this photo on the way down, you can see the cloud cover on the mountains behind. We had to travel through that later. It was stunning to look at.

Of course I snuck in some knitting in between feeling car sick. This started as two rows of stitching.

The campsite was awesome. Lovely wide grassy areas and a flushing toilet!!! That's a big thing for a campsite. Here is our set up. We had the one tent and then the tarp for shade. It was really quick to set up and only took us about 30 minutes and once the creep of gear was packed away at the end it was relatively quick to pack down. We have it down to a fine art.

They had excavators and everything to help clear out the mess. If anyone tells you it's a good idea to introduce a new plant to an area tell them they're idiots. Lantana may be a pretty flowery shrub in England but here it's a noxious weed that is a bloody pain to deal with.

The kids found an old rope swing that was actually still in working order. They spent most of the weekend swinging off it. Either into the water when they had swimmers on or just out over the water when they didn't. I was waiting to find that he'd got his only jumper sopping wet... but thankfully it survived.

Now I did promise to mention my finish and here it is. This is one of two horrible photos of me wearing the beanie but you get the idea. I actually finished the stitching and sewed it up so it was a useable beanie straight away. It does feel a tinge short but not horribly so. Being a rib stitch beanie there is enough give in it and it covers my ears so definitely covers his. That said he was more interested in swinging off the aforementioned swing to really care about it. Hence the bad photos of me wearing it. I honestly think I need to make one of these for myself. They are truly a quick and easy stitch and very warm and comfy to wear. If you're wondering about the pattern it's my own design. I have instructions here.

Of course you can't go camping without trying to capture the magic of a campfire. This one was pretty awesome and burned beautifully warm. It wasn't COLD but there was still a distinct chill to the air, which meant I was wearing two jumpers most of the weekend... go figure!

 Then on the way home we got to enjoy this view. It was beautiful and I was so grateful for our lovely weekend away.

We needed this break as the chance of getting away for any decent time over Christmas is slim as it's the busy time for James as things like to grow. The joys of owning your own business you have to be there and do the work if you're the only around to do the work.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed my photos of our trip away and I wish everyone happy stitching,
Caitlin