Sweet Fabric [Search results for habit] 

I confess I am a creature of habit. I like routine.

I eat the same thing for breakfast everyday & recently I've noticed that I've become habitual with my stitching too.

I know I like stem stitch, french knots, chain stitch & the occasional back stitch. I'm pretty good at them...I like the way they look...I'm confident that I'll get the result.

I was at a friend's house the other day & really admired her grandmother's framed samplers. You can't really get the effect with my "soulmate" stitches. I've forced myself outside the comfort zone & I'm playing around with a sampler of my own. Of course it's not going to be just a sampler. I've got an end product in mind...

Making this day happy...

having the date back home
coffee with a lovely friend
a nice clean house
the smell of eucalyptus
watching the kids walk down the street to school
neatly folded washing
bulk "crafting" for Thursday Evening (I've posted details in the sidebar if you're interested).

Image story: I've never even had a drag of a cigarette but these holders make me so happy & actually make me consider taking up the habit. This was a gift from a very good friend. Thrifted in Clunes. So happy.

& how quickly a "technique" employed out of necessity becomes a habit. It was tricky to find my chain stitches with the two strands of mohair & using the big hook. So I started marking. Now I'm marking my third chain either for back & forth or in the round. Regardless of hook & yarn size. It makes things easier for me & we all know I LOVE a rule.

I'm holidaying at the moment (& you could be too enter Mikes Crafty Getaway). I'm enjoying taking stuff in, spending time unplugged & stopping to check things out. Noticing.

Noticed elsewhere:
hand quilting - just lovely.

Have a fabulously creative day.

Don't forget to pop in & add your link if you're playing along this week.

Dear FriendO,

Today I ran a long way.

I haven't been on the long run for a couple of weeks. Before the break I was afraid of stopping & last night as I drifted off to sleep I was afraid of starting again.

I certainly needed a little break from this space & I'm glad I had it but as I ran up the hill this morning (& thought I was actually going to die), I realised that if I didn't start again today I really never would.

I'm going to have to make the habit all over again...for me that's 21 days.

I'll probably bore you witless with drivel because to be honest I haven't made anything for ages...the machine's lying dormant...the hooks have cobwebs on them...and I frankly can't think of anything less appealing than a skein of floss...but I'm always planning & thinking & reworking.

Perhaps just think of the next 21 days as kootokoo rather than kootoyoo & I'll understand completely if you don't stop in.

Looking forward to another year with perhaps a bit less of the fear.

Thanks for being ace!

Love

Kirst
x

I mentioned it last week.

I've finished my contribution & I'm ready to mail it on for the next "random dispatch from the blogosphere".

If you would like to know more about the project visit here, or better yet just sign up! I had fun.

I love a challenge & it's probably what I value most about the whole craft/blog thing. I really enjoy watching other wonderful people challenge themselves & I'm seeing plenty of evidence of it around:

Jhoanna preparing for her solo show,
Angela's off on her first international adventure,
Pip's editing like a woman posessed,
Cam's opened her shop,
Lexi is forming a solid habit &
Claire's keyboard is red hot.

Girls to stick like glue to ... for sure.

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.

Creature of habit. Everyday lunch - yoghurt.

Today it's one year since I pulled the blogging runners on & took my first step out onto the track.

Actually, the first step was taken sometime in 2005. That step was one taken my many others and it landed me fair & square in the middle of lovely Loobylu. I walked silently alongside Claire for a good long time & was hugely impressed when she began cross training.

Occasionally I took a stroll with Nichola and her lovely sidebar mates and Justine’s iPod seemed to be loaded with all the right tunes.

Late in 2006 when I was out for my stroll I tripped over this. Pip was setting a cracking pace & I loved running beside her.

In the middle of last year Pip stopped running to grab a Gatorade & issued an invitation. “Crochet yourself some laces for those Asics Kirst. You’ll need them if you’re going to run with me”.

I'm a huge fan of the run but I was a complete novice at running a journal of any kind. I knew I was going to need a training program if I was going to have any chance at all.

The program went something like this…

1. Post everyday for 21 days. Make the habit.
Effortless, just like running on the flat.

2. If that goes well…make sure you return comments.
A bit more tricky, running on sand
(made more difficult by my cranky coach who only woke periodically from napping in the arm chair to deliver the message!)

3. Speak up…if you like something, say so.
Nice & easy, running down hill with the wind behind me.

I think once I’d found my stride & was comfortably running in the zone I got a bit cocky & made this rule…

4. Post everyday for 1 year!
This is probably the hill that’s been the toughest to climb.

Some days have felt like a sprint to the finish, a few have felt like a monotonous treadmill run, others have felt like a hill climb of epic proportions & I’m pretty sure on at least a couple I’ve limped into the first aid tent!

But I’ve done it. I’ve crossed the finish line & I think I’ve run a pretty good race.

I’m knackered though…I’ve tried really hard & given it my all.

So, if you've been spurring me on, cheering & supporting...

OR thinking I’m crazy as you watched from the comfort of your sofa...

OR if you've run a few kilometres with me...

OR kept the sugar levels high with beautiful eye candy...

OR most importantly, if you were there with me when the starter’s gun went off & been running hard with me the whole way,

THANK YOU!

Recovery is important. You’ve got to rest after a big race. I’m giving myself a few days off.

21 days to make it – 3 days to break it?

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This bag made from thrifted "reverse ripple" fabric. Slouchy & casual when you're not carrying much around but able to hold everything a busy girl needs.

The size of the bag was determined by the only thrifted green zip I owned.

I think it works for this fabric. Something smaller really wouldn't have done the pattern justice.

The idea has been kicking around for sometime & then I had a conversation with Lara about just how much stuff you need to carry around when you've got small kids & a crochet habit. It's made of Thornberry green fabric & the belt keepers at the top are crochet string.

Made from thrifted everything so totally green.

More bags by me.