Scatterbrained

I have been making buttons.

I made a quilt

I'd never call myself a quilter. My squares don't even meet up, but it turned out OK and I don't think baby Dino will mind too much.

This is the first useable quilt I have ever done. I have made a couple of small doll quilts for a swap over at flickr but this one is actually for a person to sleep with. A little person.

The backing and some of the front is vintage cotton chenille from a chenille quilt I bought at a garage sale. I have a few of these but this one was in such lovely condition, soft and fluffy I had to use it for baby Dino's quilt.

I am making another quilt. The next one will be a single bed quilt for Dustin's birthday. I am going to try and do the proper mitred corners for the next one.

I turned a dress into a skirt

Ruby had this cutest little dress. I bought it for $2.50 in an op shop. It looked vintage but i think it was a vintage reproduction. Still, it was so cute and made out of a soft cool cotton. She grew out of it though so last night I turned it into a skirt.

Now she should get a couple more summers wear out of it as a skirt and that makes me happy.

Remember this yarn I spun recently?

 

Well I turned it into this little purse.

It is just the right size for my camera, car keys, credit card and my phone:)

Today we have to go shopping in our local town. Groceries, a bot fly knife from the saddlery, the library to drop back some audio books, a parcel to collect from the post office...

These are the very last photos from our Flinders Island trip.

The kids rode their bikes around the boat.

The sea leaving Flinders look rough and I though we were going to be in for a bumpy trip but it wasn't at all!

Here we are again. It is such a looooooong trip.

We finally saw land but then we had to wait two hours for the tide to come in so the boat could get into the channel. I did embroidery and poured a glass of wine.

The kids played on the fork lift and got filthy!

That was a new dress!

The trip was long but the kids didn't mind at all. They had a ball.

Jump higher so I can get a cool in the sky shot!

Yesterday I made a little outfit for Ruby out of a pair of my old Thai fisherman's pants which I bought when I was pregnant with Dustin but only wore a couple of times because they never stayed right. They had big wide legs and were made out of a light cotton. I thought of Ruby because she likes pink and I whipped up this very simple skirt and top set and we headed out to the trampoline for a photo shoot.

I love rick rack. I have it in many colours :)

This little outfit probably wont fit her next year but at least it will a cool fun little thing to put on after a bath on a hot afternoon or for an evening walk on the beach this summer.

Dustin wanted his own photo shoot even though he didn't get any new clothes yesterday.

Creativeness

Look what I made yesterday!

Yes... I know a cow REALLY made him, but I participated. I called the dairy farmer across the road and had him come and pick up my cows and put them in a truck and take them over to the paddock his bull lives in where they had a nice holiday for a couple of months and lost their virginities.

That cow in the pictures with the little calf is not his mother. That is his Aunty Clover. Her calf is due any day now. In the next picture you can tell which one is his mother. Check out those udders!

I have been very creative lately. Karma and I crocheted a bag while we listened to Stephen King audio books in my chair in my bedroom.

I have felted this already and it is OK but the handle is a little bit wonky. I made it for my market stall but I don't think it is good enough to sell. I'll take a photo today. It is the right size for my wallet and keys, phone and a paper back novel though :)

I bought a bunch of natural wool and silk roving from the US which arrived this week and I plan on spinning some today. I have decided to start making scarves for my market stall. They might sell well on our cold Tasmanian weekends during winter.

I also plan on finishing off my third vampire today.

OH, I almost forgot. I did some work on 'The Secret project' for the other new baby which is due soon.

Vampires and vegies

We had a little vegie harvest.

Big yellow zucchinis, two different kinds of squash, beans and two different kinds of tomatoes. They are all delicious.

I have to find some good zucchini recipes because these yellow ones are growing fast!

This lovely wool came in the mail at the end of last year from an online friend and I pulled it and spun it on Saturday night.

Here it is drying after I washed it. I'm not very good at spinning but fortunately I love the over spun bits as much as I love the underspun bits :)

I have already crocheted it into a little purse. I haven't taken a photo yet but I'll do that today.

I spun this one from wool from my own sheep. Some is dyed red but most of it is natural. The yellow and orange wispy bits are locks from those curly wooled sheep. They are not mine but I think I need some :) I have already crocheted this into a little 'pot'. Photos to come.

So here is the Vampire Isabell (with no E on the end). She didn't take as long as Petunia because there wasn't quite as much stitching but I like her. I still haven't quite gotten her fangs sharp enough. I like how the ink comes out on the cotton fabric. I need to get some more of this.

I am starting another vampire today.

I also have a new kitchen bench :) This is what the old one looked like.

Pretty ugly hey! I got our builder to use plywood for the new bench because I wanted something cheap. Eventually this kitchen will be pulled out and will become a walkway to our extension when we get around to doing that, sometime in the future.

Here the new bench is in its raw state. Looks nice.

And then I rubbed it down with linseed oil.

A weekend

We had a pretty boring weekend at home. How was yours?

I thought we might have had calves as our two very pregnant freisans were getting around very slowly and well, mostly laying around. Scott called me to the window and Willow was walking down the hill to the water towards the house and he said, "Look! She looks like you when you where pregnant". Poor thing. She did too.

I also have a friend who is the same amount pregnant although she is doing much better than my cows. I am still working on The Secret Project for her.

I also began another smaller project for my market stall. A pocket for a vintage apron. I bought the apron from a thrift shop last week. It was cute but the pocket was ugly. It had a horrible Hobbytex painting on it so I unpicked it and am embroidering a vintage design on what will be the new pocket.

Flinders Island Day 5

The weather changed. Not a lot of photos because we moved camp and I was cranky as hell. I'd been bitten by mosquitoes and I was getting fed up with sand in my bed.

The weather cooled right down and we sat around the fire.

Our new camp was right on the beach and the sand was white instead of dirty grey/black like we had at our other campsite.

We had mangoes and ice-cream for dessert though.

Pincushion!

Yesterday I did some more work on The Secret Project but I got distracted because I needed a pin cushion so I made one out of scraps from The Secret Project. Then I made a whole bunch more. They are not stuffed yet but I thought I could sell them for a few dollars at my market stall. At least they will add a little bit of interest and colour.

Flinders Island Day 4 (cont)

Scott was really impressed with this river crossing. He wanted me to take a photo of it because he was amazed at the work put into making something that is mostly going to be covered in water or mud. The fresh water on Flinders Island is very scarce and what there is doesn't look very appealing.

A secret project

I cant show you the project I started yesterday but I am so proud of it. I hope to finish it today but I managed to get the majority of it done last night. It is a present for a new little friend who hasn't been born yet :) His or her mother might read my blog so I don't want to give too much away. I can say I dug out the beautiful vintage Cotton chenille blanket I bought at a garage sale in Richmond last Spring for it.

While we were away on holidays I read 'Dead Until Dark' the first of the trashy vampire novels by Charlaine Harris. I loved it. Such a fun read, I'm reading the second in the series now and am so happy there are six more after that. I know about these books because of the TV series (which we don't get here). I know about the TV series from some online friends in the US (Hi Sandra and Janice :) I found out I can get the TV series through BIGPOND MOVIES which I subscribe too.

I was onto the third disk in Season One but after reading the first book I have to go back to the beginning again and start all over again. Yesterday the first disk arrived again and I put it on when I went to bed. Scott who was going to sleep rolled over to see what I was watching. At the end of the first episode he says "Is that all?" So we both stayed up until after midnight watching it. Now I have to share my new laundry folding/ironing show with him.

It took me ages to work out who the actress who plays Sookie Stackhouse was. Have you seen 'The Piano'? 

Flinders Island Day Four

That is her new swim suit. It is three sizes too big but isn't it cute!

I bought these cute little Indian cotton outfits for $10 each when I went to Melbourne in November. I thought they would be good when the kids needed to have some protection from the sun. They were good too. I wish I had bought some more. They were cool and comfy and had 'tickle holes' (holes under the arms)

Ruby has her tongue like that because she is licking snot off her face. Nice!

My computer is having a bit of a dummy spit so I will have to continue on with day four tomorrow.

The fabric scrap box and a new dress

I was making hot pads out of fabric scraps the other day and Ruby was playing with the box of fabric scraps. She spent ages pulling them all out and lining them up and picking out the ones she likes best. She wanted me to make her a dress so I found some cotton fabric and whipped up this little red and white dress for her.

I had no idea what I was doing and just made it up as I went. This was the second attempt. I changed my mind halfway through the first one and started again. It is kind of daggy and home made looking but she likes it and it is cool and kind of cute.

Too much fabric around the gathering though.

I wanted to use red ribbon but I only had this lacey stuff and it is a bit slippery and the bow slips around to the back too much. The neck line is too wide and it slips off her shoulder a little bit.

I do like the rick rack though and I did make this in half an hour and it was the first dress I have ever made her so I am happy enough with it. I think I will make her some cute nighties this way and I'll find out the pattern I have for cute little dresses sent to me from a friend a little while ago.