knitting is addictive

i havent knitted much in years...like since my grandmother taught me as a kid...until recent weeks when i started with my knitted green bag and then a pillow for lilly as we work on making her room nice and pretty and hopefully tidy! (making it a place she loves is working on the keeping it tidy part woohoo)

anyway

i have NEVER knitted anything that is a guess wearable...NEVER had any idea of how to follow a pattern beyond knit one and purl one....until i bought a learn to knit book that told me what the parts to the pattern where.

so this week i have been knitting my first piece of clothing, for emily. Its a cardie, and im pretty happy with it, it has all the errors u would expect from a learner, but its wearable
the pattern is from lincraft and its actually the easy baby jacket. It went right up to an 18month old size....i sized it up to 2 years, and its actually a little bit big on emily so will probably last this winter and into the next one. The pattern was easy to follow its basically stocking stitch with a little bit of shaping which suited my level of just learning all that type of shaping stuff. The flower came off another pattern for a beanie, which i think i will make to match the jacket for her and i will run up a pair of purple pants to go with or green too i think. U do need to know how to crochet for this pattern which was thankfully something i already knew from my first living in the country, cold winter experience.
any way i really enjoying the whole handmade experience this time around.. :)
i dont know what it is, but there r some cool wools around. While i picked a plain wool for the actual knitting, all the crocheting was done with thicker wool and all that fluffy stuff. Its certainly harder to work with but im getting better at using it

tagged

thanks kirsty

Ten Years Ago
UMM, moving out to charlevile, starting my teaching career, just got engaged

Five things on todays ToDo list
Knit emilys jacket (check)
take photos for dan (check)
do washing up (check)
eat lunch out (check)
photoshop todays photos (check)

Snacks I enjoy
Apples, avocado with salt and pepper on toast YUM
as well as my share of junk food

Things I would do if I were a millionaire
Go back to uni to study something arts (creative arts that is) - photography would have to fit in there somewhere. Pay for a good education for my kiddos too... :) Buy houses!

Places I have lived qld sunshine coast, toowoomba, charleville, mitchell, redcliffe, northlakes and vic avoca.

i tag... Chris Millar , and Kate Mason

Well i spent my day helping out my dh. They have been updating the warrenmang website and dan wanted me to take some photos of his latest food creations to put on the restaurant section of the site, so i have been reading foodie mags all week looking at photos and getting ideas. I had over 100 photos and a yummy duck lunch with chocolate for desert! YUMO

here r some of the pics i took today...just 4 of them to make u all hungry.

I had this for lunch.

I had this for lunch!

now i plug..if u r in victoria or coming to victoria Warrenmang is well worth a visit. The wine is fantastic and the food.well these photos speak for themselves.. :)

some scrapbooking

well one page to share anyway, miss lilly in the tree. i worked on this at my lss using my lime tart kit of pink pasilee products, the bird was an addition, is that not the cutest rub on u did ever see. the layout is called birds eye view...its hard to see the missing part of the title up there.

i have one more but im still working on it. I hope to spend some time with that layout tonight or tomorrow

everything else im working on atm is a secret for a few months yet... :)

a weekend of sewing

i have spent my weekend sewing! a strange way for me to spend my craft time, but there it is, my sewing machine got used on fabric!
actually i scrapped on friday night at a crop at my lss in ballarat...i have one layout finished and i will share it later on...and one im working on that just isnt working for me atm...i seem to go through these times esp before working on comp work and masters is what i need to get working on....i do have a few ideas for my single layout that are brewing and only started today while i thought about something that was the complete opposite...go figure.

anyway
i came home with material last week to make our art on the go bags...i have only made one, because i got so carried away by stitching other projects hehe

Lilly needed a new school bag...and i just havent had a chance to get anywhere where i might be able to buy one...so i made this one from demin and pink poka dots material. Ive been material inspired ever since i went home and had a quick trip to the young designers market...there r some so clever young bag makers...well worth a visit if u r in brisbane on a sunday. im sure its all wrong...i wouldnt know how to follow much of a pattern if my life depended on it and im not one for following many sewing rules either, i was more about the creating, which i actually enjoyed.
I then using the ideas from the creative family for making a pair of pants made these for emily. it was so easy, i used a pair of her pants as a pattern and i was off. The demin is light weight and stretchy so perfect for me so i just added elastic for the waste band. PRETTY is all she says when she looks at them,. (excuse the photo...hard to make a nearly 2 year old stand still and in the light lol)

And then i moved onto this. This apron....a version of this sits on the wall of the material shop and i stare at it every time i go. It is well worth going to your local material shop and getting to know the people that work there....they r so full of information and willing to help, so unlike spotlight where they often have no idea what will and wont work. After i bought my material the other day we were talking about what i could do with the scraps and she suggested the apron knowing that i always stare at it! lol...she then pulled it down off the wall and talked me through making it myself. I was very happy with this...i used an old apron of lillys as a pattern for the top. and was very happy with the frills and how it all worked out. Lilly loves it! Emily is gettong one, im going for some lime green gigham fabric tomorrow.
And heres is one of our art on the go bags...its just a draw string backpack bag. one panel folded in half. I did line it.
How is it u can keep your sewing secret through 8 years in brisbane and live in a small town for just 4 months and the secret is out lol here is an art smock for preschool that i have been working on...i have one cut out and on the table ready to stitch tonight.
i hope everyone else had a productive weekend too.. :)

6 weeks of challenges

ive been playing with the dt search at scraploot

6 weeks of challenges that have come to an end. it started with a card and went threw to layouts with certain things and finally a life of a dt layout...i chose one by sheree http://www.scraploot.com.au/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=886 see it here

i have fun for 6 weeks, got some scrapbooking done and got to see some fantastic layouts by the other people in the challenge

thanks everyone

making

i have been all inspired by wool...maybe its winter and the cold. or its the better homes and gardens spread this month on wool, there r some really funky balls of wool around. I got all the wool iin the bag from lincraft. SUCH YUMMY wool on show
anyway i have a few wool projects on the go atm...but this one i finally finished this morning in a rare quiet moment. Its just a basic garter stitch bag...the one in the mag was fancy and while i wanted to have a go at that, it just didnt look right with the fluffy wool i picked. im happy with it, i havent knitted in years, and i really had to think about casting off, but we got their int he end lol

also been making these cute little rolls for the pencils to live in

and coveriing some of our art journals

no scrapbooking yesterday but thats for tonight, i have a scraploot dt comp challenge to catch up on

will be back to share that later tonight!

right now im off to make some bread with lilly

i *heart* this

we have lived here about 4 months, and have longed for this to work! esp lately as winter took hold of our lives. With such a big old house some days we were wearing 3 layers inside! Yesterday FINALLY our landlord got someone out to look at the fireplace and the flu was totally blocked, like replace it blocked. so yesterday afternoon the flu was replaced and last night we were so toasty warm from a fire in the fireplace! i *heart* my pot belly stove so much that we changed the house around so that our smaller lounge room is now with the fireplace the the dinning room in the room we had the lounge set up. The house feels so much nicer to me now! it was to be a chilly <10 id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211193949931164482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpb9ult6BzSeJYMKzj4lsNEq3o-Xg8pTfJiq5_ciR4JVz5oJCAlQbkRBi4knvdpyIMRax7Enz5oK9jKbXClPDp2QEjFxp-BdgeGg6rTP8ktZCqi02LLKqoJttcu3Sc0YpG_mR3Eg/s320/IMGP5527.JPG" border="0"> This morning we started our new way of life...from the creative family book i was reading with our own twist on it. We started with a weather journal. Something that was fun and was great for lilly to start learning about the days of the week and about describing the weather. Heres a close up of the page she worked on this morning. (dont look at the mess on their general drawing table, im yet to tackle the cull of that table and the putting away of things.)
When we woke up this morning their was a rainbow in the sky, their was some blue sky and the sun was trying to poke through and the clouds were rainy grey ones (which have now started to rain down on us. and its really come with a cooool turn in the weather.)
i thought she did a great job. I then printed out some words and the day of the week and we sat together and she selected the words to describe the day and the day of the week. It was a fantastic way to start the day.

I went thrift shopping yesterday for something we could use as an art cupboard. Came up empty handed. I moved onto the second hand shops and found this white set of drawers. So i picked them up for $49 and they have become our art drawers. they r of course half empty but i dont think that will last long. I wish i had always had a cupboard that was for storage of art supplies now that i have this one. Its so tidy when u have a place to put everything! derrr. I think we will rib them back a bit to expose the wood underneath and give them that weathered look.

and lastly, our art display...we would love to attach a rail with hooks but seeing as we r currently living in a rental i went with command adhesive hooks, some ribbon from the stash and some wooden pegs. Its serving a great purpose....: )

well im off to join lilly, emily should be asleep by now fingers crossed and lilly and i are watching enchanted.

ps guess whos climbing out of her cot at 22 months...many months longer than lilly at 19 months, but still it looks like we pack away the cot today or tomorrow for what might possibly be the very last jones child we have....its a bit bitter sweet for me even thou i am enjoying emily at the age she is now...my sad to say farewell to this stage in my life....here somes the toddler..and the toddler bed as well

were home and inspired

were home
we had a fantastic week away in brisbane, we saw family, friends and met some new precious little people that i will share with you next time, (photo is on the usb stick i have to find it!)
i got some great photos of him.
on sunday we went to the paper convention in brisbane where i got to do a photography class with andrea thompson. It was fantastic and just the thing to help me take a leap with my photography. So i have now learnt a little bit more about posing people.

here r my two cuties on the planeon the way home, i caved and bought the pay tv...at 7 in the morning when they had been up since 5 it was the best decision i made the whole trip.

thanks to my parents that put up with us messing up their house for the past week. They were fantastic. Even giving me the sunday to go to the convention while allt he kids mine and cousins all together...brave nana....brave! hehe

my children ready out did their best behaviour while we were away. they were co-operative, did as they were told and put up with me taking them places, shops, coffee shops and all with little effort. We did of course have a few melt downs but nothing that stopped us having a great trip.

after getting off the plane people stared as they ran off up the walkaway and out and YELLED when they finally saw daddy...6 and a bit days is a long time without your daddy! it was so very cute.
and a big thankyou to the kindness of strangers. On the way down the poor lady sitting next to us gave up her seat for alot of the flight and did anything i needed done even when i said i couldnt possibly ask that. and to the man this morning that helped lilly onto the escallator (sp) this morning when she missed the step and had to let my hand go....he saved me from going through security to get her again.

and finally a big thank youto virgin....fantastic people to fly with...everything was oh so easy! we were able to get on and organised first which really is helpful.I HAVE BEEN READING THIS....oh my god fantastic book. we r already putting things from this book into play in our home. If you have children i guesson the smaller side its well worth the effort of tracking it down and buying it. I got it in australia after much searching from http://www.booktopia.com.au/ for minimal money too. it took about 2 weeks i guess to come from the states. i am loving the new lease of life its given me and the changes in our daily life its helping me make...and all for the better~!
here is lilly finger kniting, which is an activity from the book and the first step for me teaching lilly to knit. handing on those traditional crafts that my grandmother taught me. we have some sewing planned this week also and some drawing in brand new art journals with lovely art supplies that we shopped for before coming home. and today on the way home i shopped for some material supplies to make us all some art on the go bags. i will share some of my making later on...crochet a scarf on holidays and started a baby blanket for a friends first baby, most of my friends have something handmade from me for their babies.
If you are interested in the book here is the author blog http://www.soulemama.typepad.com/

for those that asked
we r now living in rural victoria in a town called avoca. Its in the pyrenees wine region of victoria and daniel is working as exc chef here. http://www.warrenmang.com.au/ YUMMY wine! it was a warm 14degrees upon getting off the plane this morning and it was worse as we drove home. im to scared to look now but im about to go get the heater organised!

a quick one

heres my next pages for the scraploot challenge , in the gallery over there under jacqui j

heres a sneak peak today

the close up certainly looks alot better than the whole layout!....on a time limit with this one i was, and well the creativity just didnt flow, mine is else where...its ok but certainly not dt comp quality in my eyes. but oh well as i said no time to wait for it to happen it had to be done today and today only

because

tomorrow we FLY home for a weeks visit...woohoo....we leave tomorrow night, but lilly still has preschool, and then the 2 hour drive to get to the airport and well i havent actually packed our bags yet! So no time to fix dt challenges tomorrow im afraid. we r however looking so forward to going home for a little visit. Just me and the girls, but we have grand plans for a week of social butterflying...: ) including a visit to the scrapbook convention on sunday and a creative photography class as well....again i say woohoo, im right into my camera at the moment. and excusing todays photo of the above layout for the scraploot gallery {edited : i just fixed it i couldnt stand the yukko photo upthere} im actually getting better (i just didnt have time today to deal with getting a better photo) best part of doing the photography class i need no tools cause i couldnt handle kids stuff, scrap stuff kids and myself all on my own at the airport and well my camera will be coming anyway so it so suited me. I will post some of our queensland adventures next week, it all feels so shiny and new when u havent been there for a few months....and while for u qld'ers it might be cold....its a big 10 degrees warmer than here most days so i say bring it on!

have a great week everyone