Sweet Fabric [Search results for doing my bit] 

Sunday Sunset

I met Dad in Seymour & we loaded up his car with all the bedding & other items I'd collected. He rang to tell me everything had been gratefully received & allocated.

The drive up the Hume was alarming.

We've donated to Red Cross.

I'm making some handmade plans.

It's not enough...but it's something.

What I've been doing for the last month (& a bit)!

Thought you guys might like a tour of the old place.

Obviously not our furniture but I did do the bathroom & had to kitchenify the kitchen (nobody I know has three pairs of vases in their kitchen).

Trades I've used (& heartily recommend). This should be the "go to" list for Melbourne folk.

A bit of back history...I used to work in Property Management so I've dealt with a lot of tradespeople in my time & these guys were all amazingly accommodating & just a pleasure to deal with. I'm sharing them with you because I know how hard it is to find good tradespeople & it's so helpful to have referrals.

Garden Maintenance:
LC Mowing
Lucas 0409 998 508
This guy is a machine! I have never in my life seen a skip packed so neatly or efficiently. He just goes & goes until the job is done. If you need your lawns done, weeding & general garden tidy up then Lucas is your man.

Builder:
Glen Johnston Home Improvements
Glen 0414 325 722
Professional, helpful & extremely particular. Just absolutely top quality workmanship. Glen's the man if you're renovating or building in Melbourne's East.

Plumber:
Marty 0438 771 007
Just a complete champion. It seems to me that finding a good plumber is like the quest for the holy grail. Marty is it!

Electrician:
Armadale Electrical
9509 9133
Gary was "my" electrician when I worked in Armadale & frankly I'd never use another electrician. The guys from Armadale Electrical are all super professional & just lovely blokes.

General Maintenance:
Polished Properties Maintenance Group
Mark 0438 019 994
Mark was recommended by our Real Estate Agent as the guy "who does it all". He co-ordinated painters & carpenters & general maintenance items. He's professional & a pleasure to deal with.

Concrete:
RL Concreting
John 1300 790 775
John did the driveway at our new house (which is exposed aggregate) & also helped us out at the old house. He's professional, prompt & a pleasure to deal with. He went above & beyond offering advice & options for us.

Render:
Jolley Textures
Reegan 0425 773 684
The house was rendered about twelve months ago & it's transformed it! Probably the best thing we did for the place which was previously a hideous orange brick. Reegan was extremely flexible & professional & will be coming back to the new place to render our new fence.

Garden Design:
Imperial Gardens
Tracey 0419 200 116
Tracey came in & offered practical advice on excellent low maintenance (& not too costly) garden design. The difference the plantings have made to the house is unbelievable. Imperial Gardens have some pretty impressive "cap feathers" in Toorak & Hawthorn & Tracey is offering consultations so that you can DIY. She works with what you have & offers no nonsense solutions to maximise the look of the property.

Further details on the house can be obtained from Tom Ryan (0413 872 550) at Jellis Craig.

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I love the term "tracking square" to describe dating. I've been having lots of dates with the hook lately. The Granny & I are working really hard at our relationship!

My Grannies are eight rounds & beautifully square until round five & then things start to stray a bit. I tried really hard to embrace the wonk just as Jess said, but I can't - I'm flawed, I confess.

I tried to manipulate her a bit...not much luck.

I've changed my approach & I'm now doing a reversible Granny. I like it! A bit more solid in construction & I think the end result will be much more stable.

Lovely & square - just the way I like it. It's all about laying the foundations after all.
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Today I'm fighting with my machine over button holes & thinking that maybe I should just buy the buttonhole foot & be done with it!

In the space today:

-my "cheat sheet" for the music boxes. I have each step written down to avoid "doh" moments.
-a bit of yarn & wool suiting which I've been doing some felting experimenting with.
-a few more stackers for the collection
-& super cute Aunty Cookie original. I'm sure that there are several of us who fit this description.

Have you had a chance to visit last week's favourite space? It's over in the sidebar →
OR you could just click here. I'll update this week's sidebar link once I've been visiting.

Also, a big thank you to the people who do use the link list to pop around & visit the other players.

Pop in & add your link if you are playing along this week.

The order of the bath

I'm playing along with Bricolage Life & posting one of my found photos.

I have an album owned by Jessie Jamieson & dated 1922. I bought it because one of my dearest friends is a Jamieson.

I love getting lost in these images & just imagining what life must have been like. Jessie was a Melbourne girl & a pretty serious adventurer for the time. She travelled as far as Belgrave, Warburton, Lorne, Lakes Entrance & Sydney.

The images are held in a leather photo album & this image is titled "The order of the bath". The girls must be sisters because they all appear in many of the photos in the album.

Oh & if you are thinking that this crafty blog aint too crafty you'd be right & it's getting to me a bit.

I have been doing a fair bit of crafting it's just the top secret kind. Hopefully I'll have something crafty to share tomorrow.

From the Do's & Don'ts book by Todd Parr

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately:

on the run
in the car
in front of the heater
in front of the computer

too much I think. My head hurts from all that thinking. Too much thinking & not enough doing. So no Sunday Supper today. Sorry Pip.

I need to hang out with the smart guy a bit more.

& so my thought for the day...be generous with your smiling (virtual & real) & keep your tongue firmly inside your mouth!

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Sunday Supper hosted by Meet me at Mikes.

The little guy & I have spent the afternoon in the kitchen doing a bit of cooking for school lunches.

I've made cake: one for Brown Owls & one for snacks.

The little guy made raspberry pikelets.

Raspberry Pikelets
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1 Tbs caster sugar
1 egg beaten
1 cup of milk

1/3 bag frozen raspberries

Mix flour & sugar together in a bowl.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.

Add milk & egg to the well & using a wooden spoon gradually beat dry ingredients into the milk & egg.

Once mixed stir through the raspberries.

Heat fry pan, grease lightly & add spoonfuls of the pikelet mix to the pan turning once the bubbles appear...you know the drill.

Cool inside a tea towel on a wire rack. I'm not sure why you do this but my mum did it & my grandma did it so it must be right!

Freeze in a plastic container & add to school lunch boxes.

They thaw beautifully in time for play lunch. We do this for cake & muffins too.

It will probably come as no surprise to you to know that I'm an obsessive kind of person.

I run because I made a rule. I'm a creature of habit when it comes to food & I have the same pretty drink. The recent switch to Zubrowka (the original bison grass vodka) has meant I'm enjoying it more. A bit dangerous really.

It stands to reason that our children would also have inherited a few of my obsessive qualities.

When the kids were small I wasn't much about the making of things. There were no supplies in the house. No elastic or buttons or zips or even a selection of threads. I'd packed the machine away & only dragged it out for emergencies of the obsessive kind. I made a Melody costume for the biggest when she thought she was a mermaid. I refashioned a pinny when Madeline was the go. I made running repairs to the hot pink flowergirl dress (worn by all three) & one year I made them & all their mates Puffles when they were Club Penguin mad.

One freezing June morning when the little guy was three I fashioned him a loin cloth so that he could be Tarzan. It was made using an old suede waistcoat from the dress up box & the top of a pair of red tights. The total make time would have been around ten minutes.

I found the loin cloth last night when I was doing a bit of reluctant cleaning upstairs.

I remembered that tiny (but strangely muscular) little frame leaping about the furniture, springing from sofa back to floor and crouching and stalking me around the house.

It's good to be a maker...even a speedy, fakey only in case of emergency kind.

There's a lot I should/would/could be doing at the moment. I've got a fair bit on my plate but true to form I'm working on something new (& a bit cute). If it works I'll be making them for Christmas presents for small folk.

This foam was picked up at reverse art a few weeks back. I've hacked into it & this is what remains.

The heart shadow on the floor still hanging in from my heart wanders. I think I'm going to leave it. The shadow only appears for about an hour each morning & everytime I glimpse it I smile.

Monday is my cleaning day & I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Monday. I hate the doing but I love the sparkling floors & the smell of eucalyptus filling the house.
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We saw a lovely knitted shrug in Sunspun. Of course, I'm more a fan o' the hook & decided I'd have a crack at my own.

I've been doing a bit of sampling with the hook but before I wasted time on the crochet version I refashioned from an Op Shopped/thrifted Pashmina type thing to make sure I had the measurements right.

Very much in the same vein as the slashed number.

I had planned to use the circles as a neck treatment but it seemed a bit too much.

& of course it can still be worn as intended.

Here's the how to for my wrist cuff. This cuff makes an excellent gift & is a fairly quick & easy project.

You should be able to pick up vinyl off cuts from your local hardware or flooring shop.

Obviously you could stitch text or basic images using the same technique. Just be careful not to make your design too detailed...you'll drive yourself crazy.

How To Make a Wrist Cuff - faux wood & embroidered.View more presentations from kootoyoo.

- You can pick up the print friendly PDF tutorial here...
how to make a wrist cuff

I'm planning on doing more "how to" posts this year. I've made myself a rule ... but it's a bit early to say if I'll stick to it. I really enjoy making them & it's all about keeping me motivated.

OR maybe you'd like to come to a HAC workshop to make it with me? If I get enough interest I'll go ahead.

Date: Saturday 6th February 1-5pm
Venue: Balwyn TBC
Cost: $55 includes all materials & refreshments
Email: to register your interest kootoyooATgmailDOTcom with HAC 6th February in the subject line.

Today I've dragged all my bits and pieces outside to enjoy the kiss of the (fairly rare at the moment) sun.

I've got the new issue of Mixtapezine & I'm looking forward to reading it and doing a bit of mixtape inspired craft too. Just the ticket really...ignition from other people. Maybe something in Mixtapezine will spark a little crafty flame for you too.

Buy it here.

PS: There's an article by me & a music review by The Date.