First things first. I was tagged quite some time ago by the very lovely Kristy with a you make my day award, which was very sweet. Thank you.
Now I've been tagged by Chocolate & Steel for the six random things. I've only fairly recently done the 7 random things & I'm really bad at these games so I apologise in advance. I've used these Op Shopped cards as my springboard.
My Favourite Tea: Earl Grey My Favourite Outfit: My Asian slash modern slash tree dress that I bought without trying on! It was bought from a guy who knows his stuff. My Favourite Food: It's a toss up between lollies & Burgen Rye toast with St Dalfour raspberry jam. My Favourite Shoes: Yep - it's the runners although I am pretty partial to my boots too. My Favourite Flower: Hydrangeas My Favourite Book: Recently, it's The Lying Tongue. In the last 5 years, it's The Kite Runner. Historically, it's The Outsiders.
Now, this is where the really bad comes in. I don't pass these things on. I'm not really sure why - I think it's linked to the whole chain letter caper when I was a kid. But...if you'd like to have a go. Consider yourself tagged.
They remind me of the staff room at Deepdene Primary & of my Dad's office. I can hear the ting-tui sound of the portables & I can smell the ink solvent whenever I look at them.
Elsewhere favourite of today:
mrskutcher & aplusk on Twitter. She tells me it's their publicists for sure but I figure even if that's true they deserve the follow. Awesome job.
some things old, some things new, no things borrowed & two things blue.
Just a jumble of junk really:
spare car key (dumb place to keep it!) receipt for groceries clover washable markers (x2) wallet, coffee money/metre change purse & you are beautiful purse (all opped) phone loose change fresh sheets note pad mints mentos wrapper shell from Pt Lonsdale owl key chain some sausage dogs a fabulous little babushka stamp from Angela valium for when the dog got clipped YIKES! cheapy lip gloss juicy tube lip gloss (I never wear either - why do I have it?) receipt from my favourite Op receipt from my favourite shop old shopping list camera card carrier
Just as you'd expect really - nothing very exciting or unusual - sorry.
Off to snoop the handbags of this girl & this girl.
I was tagged ages ago by the lovely Chalk & Cheese. I'd decided today was the day & then Arthur's Circus tagged me too.
Seven is the number of rings I wear all the time. It's ridiculous for a girl with hands my size & I look like a mafia wife but I don't care.
Friday is my favourite day of the week - I run like a demon, drink with friends & fall in a heap.
I love mornings best of all. The crispness of the air makes me feel alive.
My favourite piece of jewellery is my wedding band. One of my school friends told me it would be & I didn't believe her. I was so in love with my engagement ring I couldn't imagine that a little piece of gold would be more treasured - but it is.
I've known the date since I was 12 years old & we've been together for more than half my life.
Grant Caroll made me remember than 7 8s are 56. He tortured me with that table in year 4 it's just about the only "times" I can remember - I was always bad at tables.
I'm a details girl see image above...7 pins & 7 spots on the toadstool.
As for tagging other players - if you want to play consider yourself tagged.
Such a lot of creating going on in my head lately but not so much with the hands. I'm hoping that this little experiment comes off. I'll be able to justify my crazy crafty happy dancing about it if it does.
The head creating is mainly about all things quilty. I got my copy of Fat Quarterly yesterday & let me tell you that little ezine(actually rather large - a huge 78 pages of goodness) has really got the mind ticking. Have you purchased Fat Quarterly? My favourite project was of course Kate's business shirt quilt. She gets two ticks from me on that one. Firstly because she's ace & secondly because of the reusing bizzo.
The new commenting system worked pretty well I think. I used the random number generator & asked for 60 numbers. It spat them out & I had a lovely time leap frogging around the list.
One of my favourite lily pads from last week was this one. I love her desk.
In the news: It's Cam's birthday today. She's one of the very first creative space players. Have a happy day Cam.
Don't forget to pop in & add your link if you're playing along this week.
Thinking lots about Christmas & giving & sharing & eating & drinking & making & appreciating...
I'm trying really hard to give handmade this year & I thought this might be a good way to spread a bit of Christmas Spirit around.
The Winner Takes it all!
Vintage Father Christmas pillowcase filled with great holiday gift ideas all handmade by me from mostly thrifted/recycled materials. I think that this would cross a LOT of people off your nice list this Holiday Season. You could win the lot! I'm happy to post anywhere! You can view this image with notes on Flickr.
I like to be organised...
Here's a list of places I've been & things I've seen to help me prepare for the upcoming holidays.
COPY FROM HERE:
Still feeling totally inspired by the handmade issue of mankind mag from my favourite design blog. Q What is the blog author's first name? ANSWER: use the first letter - LETTER:
We like to keep lunch casual, I've found some fabulous BBQ recipes for the big day. Q What type of meat is pictured on the rotisserie? ANSWER: use the first letter - LETTER:
Getting some great ideas for upcycling (my favourite craft) & enjoying the revamp over at this fabulous craft website. Q They list everyone's favourite Portland based author mama as one of their inspirational sites. Which Portland based author mama is she? ANSWER: use the second letter of her last name - LETTER:
Looking forward to being able to buy handmade at the shopping shindig with the craft book Queen. Q What type of car is pictured? ANSWER: use the first letter - LETTER:
All these letters unscramble to reveal: WHAT? is all you need.
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HOW TO MAKE AND DO 100 NEW THINGS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
I do love books & I have many favourites - some previously featured but today I'm featuring my favourite vintage Craft Book.
The make & do book is jam packed full of gorgeous projects all really simple & really effective. I love this book & refer to it frequently. The kids & I have made quite a few lovely things from this book.
Thanks Dees & Angela any excuse to get out the make & do book is fabulous.
This is pretty much my motto. Of course, most things end up taking me a lot longer than 20 minutes (& I often get myself into trouble) but really I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm not totally unrealistic & I didn't for one minute think the "old house makeover" was going to take 20 minutes but I did seriously underestimate just how long it was going to take...
...& I've still got another coat of "black japan" to go.
Anyway, this is my bathroom in the old place. This was the only room I was in charge of & I confess it's my favourite.
We made these hand pieced hexagon shaped pincushions a few weeks ago at Brown Owls. They are a great way to use up scraps or tiny samples of favourite fabrics. Not surprisingly, I've used vintage pillowcase fabric for this.
The original project came from a vintage children's craft book, "How to make and do 100 new things". If you ever spot a copy in an Op Shop or second hand bookshop buy it - it's pure gold!
| View | Upload your own
Tutorial as a slide show (best viewed at full screen via my Slideshare). You can just click & stitch, click & stitch.
It's been a while since I've used powerpoint & I can tell you there was much swearing. But I think well worth the effort in the end.
Download this kootoyoo how to... as a PDF (including templates).
Thank you to my crafty kick in the pants. You're ace!
See all my click & stitch make a pincushion projects. .
How It seems that the mulberry granny shrug has inspired a few of you to have a crack yourself. That's super exciting & exactly why this patch of web space exists. Over the weekend Lara & I have worked together to present to you the whole box & dice for the granny shrug enthusiast.
There's something for everyone. This is the master class...for lovely folk who like to follow a pattern, or maybe you need the visual (like me) or perhaps you'd like to watch a dinky video.
If you know how to make a granny square then you know how to make this shrug. Just crochet yourself a couple of lovely granny hexagons.
You can just skip over the "instructions" & make the granny exactly as you always do. Maybe you slip across to the next chain space...ripper knock yourself out. There is no "right" way to make it.
You'll just end up with a lovely curly hexagon...good, that's great...exactly what we want. Just keep checking your sizing after each round to decide when you're done.
Mine have been 9 rounds (in the Wilderness) but depending on your tension & hook size yours might be 8 or 10 or more. Keep folding the curly hex in on itself until you're confident that the fit will be right for you.
the pattern My very favourite crocheter is Lara. She's one of the reasons I picked up the hook in the first place. She likes to be good at stuff & works hard to make sure she gets things right. Well, guess what? She's written a fabulous, fabulous pattern (it might not have posted yet...be patient) for you to print & keep. And spared you all from my effort at a written explanation. Thank you Lara, you're the very best & it was lovely to share the making of the how to with you.
& the video Just so you know it was really hard to crochet standing up stradling a tripod & keeping (or trying) the crochet in the frame.
Australian/UK terminology
Yarn You've got a HUGE amount of flexibility here. You want to achieve a good deal of chunkiness & you'll just adjust your number of rounds accordingly so pick something that suits your style. I did make the suggestion the other day to use stash yarns crocheted together to make up the chunky style yourself.
I used Patons "Wilderness" 14ply. I like it...A LOT. It's a blend so purists might like to check out other options but I think it's just the perfect yarn for the job. Here's why... (& where to buy too).
OR you can have a go with 2 balls of 8 ply held together or whatever else takes your fancy. You'll just adjust your number of rounds according to tension & fit. Go nuts. Lara's using two strands of 12ply & is very happy with the result.
Hook I'd say 15mm. I'm really happy with the result I'm getting with the 15mm hook. You need it to be loose so that you get a nice drape with the finished "fabric". We're not going for sturdy here folks...we want the pretty drape.
Making Up I switched to a 2.65mm hook & just used double crochet up the centre back seam.
Then I doubled along the top sleeve seams & single crocheted along the back of the neck opening to give extra strength.
Again if you know how to do it your own way...do that. It will be great.
What, haven't had enough? Here's the steak knife! A round by round for the visual learner. How to make a granny shrugView more presentations from kootoyoo.
Other Stuff There's a flickr group. If you make a shrug we'd love to have it added to the group.
HAC class? There have been a couple of requests for a HAC class for the shrug. If you still think you need it or would like to make it up with a bunch of other girls over tea & biscuits, I'd be happy to run it over two evenings. If you're keen please email me kootoyooATgmailDOTcom & if we get enough interest we'll go ahead.
We all know I'm a huge fan of just about anything "on wood" but I had no idea just how much I was going to love the crochet table cloth hacked & tacked to a couple of pieces of thrifted furniture.
Things are coming together quite nicely in the new house. If you've had a peek inside my place you'd notice that there was only a tiny patch of our bedroom photographed. We've been looking for something nice & skinny for the TV to sit on. It's in an awkward place because it's very close to the ensuite door.
I'd picked up this glass fronted cabinet at the Op Shop (for $5) intending for it to be hidden in The Date's office & reserved for his "straight to the pool room" golf trophies & such. It looked ridiculous & he pitched it out into the hallway earlier in the week. I seconded it for this maybe temporary maybe permanent fixture in the bedroom.
I'm not a huge wrap for the basket shelves (which came out of this unit) I've fashioned below & prefer a more open look. I've got another idea for that (which will hopefully still hide the power cords). I'll keep you updated.
While I had the glue gun out I worked a bit of crochet magic on this sweet chair (also Opped for the princely sum of $5).
Beautiful floaty images by Bricolagelife.
So I think I've managed a pretty nice bedroom makeover for under $20! Unbeatable value & my very favourite ... reused, repurposed, recrafted, upcycled.
If you fancy having a go at this yourself it's just super-easy-thrown-together fun.
You'll need... double sided tape, spray adhesive, hot glue gun, a thrifted crochet table cloth ($2-$8).
For the cabinet... Using double sided tape create a frame on the inside of the door (as close to the glass as possible).
Then... Rough cut the table cloth to size. Keep all the motifs intact at this stage.
Now... Expose the double sided tape & position your crochet piece.
And... Use your hot glue gun to more permanently adhere the crochet piece.
Finally... Trim away excess fabric so that everything looks nice & neat.
Repeat for the other door.
For the chair... Rough cut the table cloth to size. Keep all the motifs intact at this stage.
Then... Spray the wrong side of the tablecloth piece with spray adhesive.
Now... Position on the chair.
And... Use your hot glue gun to more permanently adhere the crochet piece.
Finally... Trim away excess fabric so that everything looks nice & neat.
I'm just about music boxed out, but still making sure I enjoy every step of the making. The building of the towers and the prettiness seem very important to me. Making things should be good looking don't you think?
Also taking the multi-tasker for a test drive & it seems to be holding up pretty well.
Thank you all for playing the heart game so enthusiastically last week. I enjoyed my heart hunt very much. If you haven't had a chance to check out the favourite myspace from last week ... click here.
Pop in and add your link if you are playing along this week.
I've made a pretty solid start on my square for the quilt project. I can't wait to get home from curtaining so that I can stitch a little more.
I'm really enjoying the slow & steady as I'm feeling there has been so much rushing. Rushing the kids around, rushing to make decisions about the house, rushing to pick things up...you know the drill.
You can visit last weeks favourite space here.
Don't forget to pop in and add your link if you're playing along this week.
OK :: The link isn't working...again! Sorry but this is the perfect opportunity for me to plead with you all to sign up to JS Kit. Then we can all just visit from your name. It will take us straight to your blog if you sign up! Even better if you upload an avatar then I can see at a glance exactly who you are.
Have tested further (& now rushing to curtaining...argh). So...if you comment with your blogger id or JS Kit it's going to work. I'd still love you to consider an avatar if you're so inclined. I really like to know which "Kirsty" just by seeing your little image. It seems this is actually a JS Kit issue. I've logged a help ticket.
More USB pincushions in progress. The process has been refined & I'm much happier with the way they are working out.
I'm aware that alot of the things I make involve circles...interesting. I'm hoping they don't go the way of the granny squares & end up in a pile in the linen press.
I do have a fancy "olfa" circle cutter which I love but Christie's got one which she doesn't rate. If you've got a bit of a circle thing you might want to visit this post. Circling without gadgetry...I like it.
The school holidays are treating me well. The kids & are having a lovely time (which means I've neglected the blog & visiting a bit...sorry). We're going for a bike ride today & having lunch in the park.
Visit last week's favourite space here.
Don't forget to pop in & add your link if you're playing along this week.
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