Woolly Wednesday!

Oh, I do love a bit of Noro Kureyon in Chevron! Dead easy and so addictive!!!

Flourish

So, I've just come back from the most amazing Women's Conference in Sydney! "Flourish" is the national conference run bi-annually by the Women's Ministries in the Presbyterian Church of Australia committee (WMPCA for short!), of which I am a member! We've been madly preparing for this for the past year and this year's conference was even more exciting than our first... we made it two days packed with workshops, speakers, fabulous food, and heaps of networking opportunities! Some of the highlights for me were getting away and meeting new people, many of whom are doing amazing things in their communities; fabulous singing; some fascinating interviews with women who were prepared to share their lives with us; leading a workshop on hospitality with a bunch of enthusiastic people; sharing a hotel room with a great girl from Tassie who's set up a great online network for Hobart mums'; hearing some inspiring guys talk about encouraging women to live to their God given potential; having some of my favourite people come up to the conference this time and lead workshops; and so much more! Loved every minute of it! Even added a bit of colour of my own!!! I feel like the real me has finally reached the outside!!!

I also had a great catch up with a good friend of mine... and made Ninjago costumes for her boys while I was there! Fantastic to catch up with someone who is so real about her life, such a good listener, and a top girl even if she can't sew! Fabulous dinner Saturday night, great coffee, and a nice drop of dessert wine! It's always good to see her and her family when I make a trip up to Sydney! Also really enjoyed visiting my old church and catching up with so many familiar faces! Can't wait for my next holiday up at Gosford!!

Cross-stitch crazy...

Cross stitching is one of those "not-so-cool" crafts I've done since I was about 14! I make no pretence that I don't love it! Sometimes I don't do it for months at a time but it's like my fall-back craft... I always pick it up again in the end! I know it's kind of daggy but I find it relaxing. At the moment I'm trying to finish 3 cross-stitches that I've been working on for ages and ages... so why don't I show you those... and also a few I've finished over the years!

 I love Lizzie Kate! So simple yet effective!

 Bought this one years and years ago and was always disappointed at the difference between the warm tones of the picture and the cool tones in reality. Determined to finish it this month!

Yes, I relate to this... totally!!! Almost done! Just a bit more back stitching on the chair and it's finished! I often frame my own cross stitches to save money. I buy a suitable read made frame, get the framer to cut a mount to size (much cheaper!), then press my aida and spray glue it to the backing. It's only when cross-stitches are so "out" like this one is that I get them professionally stretched and framed.

 I did this cross stitch a while back when I lived near the coast... it has about a million 1/2 and 1/4 stitches and about 2 million colours! It's very pretty and delicate and is no bigger than 5 x 7".

 I love the red hat society! It's so much fun! This is one of the two cross-stitches that I have in the theme!

 Sometimes the simple is sweet! I made this to match my house colours a few houses back! Done in no time!

Bit addicted to Country Cottage Needleworks designs. Like Lizzie Kate they are quick and simple!

 Margaret Sherry does some lovely work... always with a lot of detail! I love the quirkiness of this design!

I've always been a bit of a royal fan and I loved the colours and kitsch of this design! It works well in my newly revamped studio which I must show you photos of one of these days!

As you can tell my style is very ecclectic! I like what I like! Generally I'm attracted to colour or quirkiness but sometimes I will surprise with something altogether different!

Some of my favourite designers areCountry Cottage Needleworks http://countrycottageneedleworks.com/
Weelittlestitches  http://www.etsy.com/people/weelittlestitches
Lizzie Kate  http://www.lizziekate.com/


These days I much prefer to buy PDFs. Check out http://www.creativepoppypatterns.com/

There's plenty more cross-stitch finishes I could show you but I'll save them for another day!

Woolly Wednesday

A little summer weight vest using a Sirdar pattern... very soft and comfy... I realised I need a white t-shirt for Little Miss to wear with it!

Cushions by the dozen...

 Last year I went to my daughter's Grade 3 class and made footprints with the girls at lunchtime... we mixed paint and textile medium... they picked the colours they wanted...  got quite a production line going with paint, fabric, water... let them dry for a few days...

...then the girls hand-sewed around their feet with cotton (quite amusing when you watch them sew themselves to their school dresses!)... and I took them home and added ribbon for thong straps... 

 It's taken me the better part of a year to manage to raid my fabric stash and turn them into cushions... and sew buttons on to the "thongs" for decoration... but they did all look good when they were finished... and hopefully the girls will have a lovely momento of their feet in grade 3!

It was quite interesting to watch the girls that had patience to finish their sewing... and the ones who pleaded with me to finish theirs!A couple of the teachers asked to have their feet done so I ended up with a couple of extras!

 Allyson wins the prize for the longest feet... can you pick hers? Can you find the flattest feets? The highest arches?  This project came from a delightful book by Marcia Layton with loads of fun and creative projects involving hand and foot-prints in it.

 I'd highly recommend this as a simple activity which gives the kids a very special memory! Having said that... I'm really glad the cushions are finally done and heading to their owners with my daughter today!

Woolly Wednesday

Ooooh wow! My first award!

The lovely Allyson over at  http://hookedonyarn81.blogspot.com.au/ who is my favourite crochet girl has awarded me a blog award! I think she is secretly just trying to encourage me to update my blog more often! Actually, who am I kidding!? There's no secret about it! In the spirit of the award (hey, does it actually have a name!?) I am passing it on to FIVE other bloggers with less than 200 followers that I know and enjoy as a way of encouraging them in their bloggy pursuit!

1. http://pursuitofchairs.blogspot.com.au/ Kaesea always astounds my with her ability to turn the most simple things into the most brilliant! She is a thrift genius extrordinaire and I love what she's doing with her upholstery!

2. http://buttontreelane.blogspot.com.au/ I really enjoy reading Michelle's blog. I always feel inspired to make more of my own clothes when I read her blog! And she's a pretty amazing yarn genie too!

3. http://luboost1.blogspot.com.au Erica tries to suggest her life is mundane as a stay at home mum but from one to another its actually far more exciting than she makes out! I love her way with colour especially and the variety of things she manages to get into her life!

4. http://crossedyarns.wordpress.com/ I did a cross-stitch exchange with Pokua a while back and enjoy her style of cross stitching! She's always very upbeat and I cannot believe the amount of cross-stitching she gets done!

5. handmadebyknottygal.blogspot.com.au  This is a really fun blog with a mixture of all sorts of mediums! Girl after my own heart! Josie does the most beautiful stitching and designs!

So, discover a new blog today... head on over and say hi!