The Great Apron Swap 2010

Afew months ago I signed up for the Great Apron Swap hosted by Sarah from Red Gingham.  I was very excited to be partnered with Julie from Swedish House - my apron would be going to someone on the other side of the world!! 

Well I recently received the apron that Julie made for me and what a beauty it is!

Julie described it as a crafting apron, and to me that is exactly what it is. 

Something to wear while I'm crafting up a storm - perfect for keeping off those pesky bits of thread which seem to have a habit of clinging to my clothes, and pockets to stash scissors and the like so they are always near to hand!

I really love this style of apron, and the embellishments.

 

I mean how cute are those two little birdies cut from vintage fabric.

And the love heart is just perfect.

 

But best of all I love the Sweden badge. 

Every time I wear this apron I will be reminded of how far it has travelled, made especially for me,

by someone I've only ever met on-line.

I gave a sneek peak of the apron I made for Julie back in May;

here it is in all it's glory!

Thank you so much Julie, I hope you love your apron as much as I love mine.

And of course a big thank you to Sarah for hosting and organising this swap

xx

Swap show and tell

Last Sunday the Craftroom put on a Sunday craft day.  Cass organised one of her famous swaps, which involved making four items for fellow Craftroom gals.  On the day we were randomly divided into groups of five, where we each swapped our little goodies - therefore receiving four fantastic, handmade gifts to take home.

What did I receive you ask??

This too beautiful to be used linen teatowel.  It has now taken pride of place on the table as a table runner (and yes I have ironed it since taking the photo!!) made by Cass, said swap organiser

 

and because Cass is a Very Good  and experienced swap organiser, she made an extra lot of swap goodies, just in case of any late cancellations due to unforseen circumstances.....................  Lucky for me there was,  because I scored this super cute snap purse!!  Miss A has already tried to claim it as her own but I've squirrelled it away in the hope she'll forget about it.  I actually think Miss B should get this one.  Being second in line she usually misses out!

This very lovely and perfectly sized for on the go crafting pin cushion came from Jen who obviously is not only a keen knitter and crocheter but also an expert sewer!!

And just in the nick of time, to save me from making one (inferior, I'm sure) for myself, Fiona contributed this perfect little needle book.

Look inside.........................

Fiona went to the trouble of sourcing pure wool felt, as it is easier to push needles through than synthetic felt.  I can truly attest to that, as this little beauty is now full of all my needles which have been floating around looking for a home for some time now!

Thank you so much lovely ladies - I love each gift and really appreciate the time and effort that went into each one xxxxxxx

And what did I make for my fellow swappers?

Upcycled wool scarflettes.  This one has barely been off my neck since I made it as a prototype for the swap.

I only remembered to snap a picture when I was all set to gift wrap them, so this is the best shot I got.

Hope they keep my lovely swap partners warm and snuggly during this bitterly cold snap we are currently enjoying enduring.

some hexegon love

Not of the quilting kind but of the crochet kind.

Well I jumped on the bandwagon a couple of weeks ago and decided I just had to make myself one of Kirsty's to die for Granny Shrug's.

 

I couldn't wait to get started so ducked out to my nearest Lincraft, hoping that they might stock Patons Wilderness.  No such luck, so I bought six 100g balls of Lincraft Premium Luxe, which is a 100% wool yarn, mostly because I really liked the maroon colour - and the price was right, at around $6.50 a ball. 

Unfortunately I was less than impressed by the fact that each ball of yarn had several joins in it; that is a knot where lengths of wool had been joined together to make up the 100g ball. 

I suppose the old adage "you get what you pay for" comes to mind.........

I used  an 11.5mm hook, 'cause thats what I already had.

It would have taken me only afew nights to make the whole shrug, but, I originally made nine rounds thinking it would be too small with only the suggested eight rounds due to the smaller hook I used.  Then of course, after figuring out how to crochet the two hexegons together (I slip stitched the seams) to make the shrug, I realised it was too big so had to frog some of it and then crochet it back together again.  I then did a row of slip stitch around all the edges, including the sleeves to give it some stability and then decided to finish it with a row of fan (shell) stitch, which formed a lovely sort of collar. So add a couple more nights for that little hiccup.

I am overall quite pleased with the end result, barring the fact that I seriously need some help with weaving in my ends, because they keep unweaving - not a good look!

Miss A snapped these pictures of me the other day at the park.  I was, as usual, trying to kill too many birds with one stone - take the kids to the park, walk the in-laws dog and get some photo's for the blog. 

The dog was doing it's darndest to drag me away, Miss A almost stepped off the timber deck in the background there into the river and Miss B nagged me alternately for a go at walking the dog and taking some photo's.

Feeling a little stressed me thinks..............

At least I had my two most favourite at the moment made by me items on to keep me warm!!!  The scarflette was a prototype for the fantastic Craftroom sampleswap which took place yesterday at the Sunday get together. 

I had a lovely couple of hours chatting and receiving four fantastic swap items from fellow craftroom girls.  Unfortunately I couldn't stay the whole day but was most pleased I at least got to pop my head in for a bit and do abit of catching up with all the lovely ladies who came along.  So much beautiful work going on, I truly love it. 

I will do a show and tell of my gifts received tomorrow. 

Until then I bid you a cheery goodnight xo

One per Month - May

Without revealing too much, here is a sneak peek of the apron I made for the Great Apron Swap.  As mentioned in my last post, I adapted the pattern from Amy Butler's In Stitches, turning the half apron into a full apron. 

I used some cherished and very gorgeous Heather Bailey Nicey Jane (Hello Roses, olive) fabric I purchased awhile back.  When I set to thinking about making an apron, this fabric just seemed to fit exactly the style of apron I wanted to make. 

Beautiful and functional - my kind of sewing!!

I will definately be sharing some more photo's of the apron once it has finished winging it's way over to Sweden and made it safely into the hands of Julie, my dear swap partner :))

Thanks Sarah for hosting this swap! 

Giving and Receiving (and April One Per Month)

Look what I found waiting for me bright and early this morning!!!

I found a package in the letterbox when I got back from dropping Miss A off at school and it was all I could do to stop myself from running into the house and tearing it open.

I looove this pincushion, especially the size - no more overcrowded pincushion for me thank you very much.  And isn't the choice of fabric just perfect!

The very lovely Mel of from little things... (love that Paul Kelly song by the way) and I were late comers to the Foxs Lane Pincushion Swap so were partnered for a direct swap. 

Not only did Mel send this beauty of a pincushion my way but she also included some very lovely fabric offcuts as well. 

I have to confess I'm not much of a fabric connoisseur but would love to know what the beautiful floral fabric pictured above under the pincushion is?  I know that you will know, so do me a favour and fill me in?

edited to add:  thanks Mel for confirming my suspicions, it is Liberty

As for what I sent Mel's way, well after asking you which pincushion you prefered I went with the firm favourite, the Parisian pincushion.  Thanks to all of you who commented, it made the decision alot easier.

I crocheted up afew little flowers in Mel's favourite colour to throw in along with a packet of pins.

I really love this pincushion and admit readily that I did not come up with the idea myself. 

 I borrowed a book called Sew It Up by Ruth Singer, from the library about 12 months ago and one of the projects in the book was for a pincushion with a ribboned edge like this. 

I absolutely fell in love with it and knew that one day I would give it a go.

And although I don't own this book, I've decided to make this my April One Per Month project as it does come from a craft book and it's a project I've had bookmarked to try for some time.

So there you have it, a very big thank you goes out to the lovely Kate of Foxs Lane, whose blog I always enjoy stopping by.  What an effort; there were almost 120 participants in this swap - wowser!!! 

What fun it has been!

Pincushion anyone?

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe,

Catch a piggy by the toe,

If he squeals let him go,

                                                   

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe

Which one do you prefer?

To see more pincushion goodness go to the Foxy Pincushion Swap Flickr pool

Bits and baubles

Last Sunday I got together with some of the Craft Room girls for our last meet up of the year.  The temperature reached well over 40C and what did I take to work on?  A crochet scarf........hmmmmm.  As a result I did not get as much done as I envisioned I would - it was just too darn HOT. 

The very lovely Ingrid (and her oh so lovely dolly baby Kitty) stopped by for a while and she brought with her a box full of vintage patterns.  I managed to score these five. 

I'm not sure they will ever become garments in my wardrobe but I do love just looking at their beautiful vintage goodness.

We did a gift swap again and I was lucky enough to pick Marina's (Wink Designs) swap item.  I just love the Matryoshka print tree ornaments - I couldn't wait for my Christmas tree to go up (not before December in my house, it's a thing I have) so I've hung them from the door knobs of my entertainment unit for the time being.  Every time I see them they make me smile :)

My swap item went to the very sweet Fiona whose sewing machine raised it's objections to being put through it's paces on such a sweltering day by  letting out a loud crackle and catching fire (it was just a bit of smoke really but that doesn't sound nearly as exciting)!

I have to be honest and say I had forgotten to prepare an item for the swap before I went away so I spent Saturday night in front of the tele making crochet and beaded christmas baubles.  This was just one of the many ideas I constantly have floating around in my head.  So many ideas and yet so few actually come to fruition.  I really am very creatively frustrated.  There just never seems to be enough time to get to the things I want to be doing (as opposed to the things I should be doing). 

I also included a 'Versatile Shopper' tote bag in my swap package, which I had made back here.  After a great response from some lovely reader's I was inspired to make more!  And two more I did before I was incredibly 'over it'.  Hence I learnt two valuable lessons 1 - I have a great aversion to making the same thing more then once, as I mentioned in my last post, and 2 - I will never make things to sell as I once dreamed of doing. 

Every time I go shopping I use my Versatile Shopper, I keep it in my handbag permanently. 

Every time I buy something from a shop which charges for plastic bags (as is become more common these days, and rightly so too) I think of the Versatile Shopper and wish I had it in me to make more as I am so proud and pleased with the few I did make - but alas it is not to be........  I have been wanting to post about the death of my little idea for a while now but kept holding on to the hope that I might be inspired to continue on, but if truth be told I know I wont.  So there you have it!  Enough rambling on about this.  Ahhhh, what a relief to have that off my chest :)

Anyway, back to my Craft Room post.  I did manage to finish the crochet scarf I was working on earlier this week but no pictures to show you yet, it's just been too hot to even think of wrapping a scarf around my neck. 

I want to say a big thank you to Corrie for starting up and organising the Craft Room throughout this year.  It has been such a pleasure to meet and chat with all the very lovely, talented and inspiring crafty women I have met because of it.

Crafty goodness

I've been feeling a little uninspired and despondent about my crafting of late, with several projects on the go and none of them going right.

BUT after a lovely day spent on the northern beaches with a group of talented and lovely crafters, getting a few more squares for my quilt done,

and after receiving this lovely gift from Sophie I do feel much better.

My swap item seemed well received and has found a new home here, where I hope a lovely little girl will grow to love her.

Thank you Craftroom (of course I mean you Corrie!)

Woohoo! x 3

I was very excited to receive my Snailblazer swap items yesterday. Ten beautifully made, unique gifts, made by other crafty persons from all over Australia. I have to say there was a very warm fuzzy feeling as I looked at all these little beauties! I really hope all my swap recipients were as pleased with their items as I was. My swap items included:

Keyring & Brooch

Polymer clay item

Hair accessories

Zip purse

Felt brooch

Frog magnet

Tote bag

Handmade cards

Pen holder

Tissue holder

Thanks ladies!

And a special mention has to go out to Cass for organising the swap, wrapping each item individually, including a wotcha got list and mailing them all out in such a timely manner - thanks Cass :)

This was my first swap, so I've learnt a few things for the next time. Oh yes, there will definitely be a next time! One thing I learnt is that my VERY small fabric collection weighs quite heavily on the floral side. So in an attempt to rectify this I ordered some fabric from here. Mmmm, can't wait....

Number three on the Woohoo list, another book I ordered from here arrived - and I was pleasantly surprised to find a rather lovely little contribution from the craftroom's very own Belinda. Well I'll be!

Just off the production line

Today I thought I'd share the things I finished making in the past few weeks.

First there was the Tinkerbell dress. I've been wanting to give shirring a go for a while now, and when my youngest daughter requested a Tinkerbell dress to go with her sister's Peter Pan outfit, I jumped at the chance to give it a go. I copied a little sun-dress my mother-in-law passed on to me (her youngest child is 25!).

Inspired by Corrie over at retromummy I made a crochet hook roll using some vintage fabric given to me by various relatives.

I am very happy with the end result, it is so much easier to find the correct size hook now!

I didn't follow a pattern, but one thing I learnt through trial and error while making this though, if you want to make a pocket big enough for larger/heavier items like scissors, make them at the opposite end to the ribbon used to tie it all up - otherwise your roll won't close neatly.

Last but not least, a sneek peak at the items I made for the Snailblazer swap. I'm soooo nervous. This is my very first swap, but I really, really wanted to get involved in the crafting community.

I guess you have to start somewhere, right?