New Website!

My New Website Is Here!

Crafting Through Loss...

I know it has been a few months since I last wrote about the exciting crafting that has been happening here in the studio. The reason being, in this such short space of time I have lost two close family members. While any loss is a difficult journey, two in a short 3 months has been an even harder one. But despite this rocky road there has always been one thing that has helped me through - my craft work!

I have managed to knit my way through some more squares on my slow growing blanket for my daughter , who will soon be turning one. I've dyed, blended and spun my way through fibre into yarn. I have also made a memory quilt, with some help cutting out the squares from a friend, and I found sewing this blanket one of the hardest thing I have made, yet a very therapeutic sew that helped immensely with the grieving process.

I might still be adjusting to life, now that everything has changed as it does after loss, but there are exciting new things happening in the studio!

I have a brand new line of Coloured Merino Top and it is a dream to spin! I am very excited about this new Merino top and it comes in 11 exciting colours! Now available in my shop.

There are also the new batts, rolags, yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks, and plenty still to come! So please feel free to have a browse and message me if you have any questions.

Thanks for looking!
Liz :-)

Creative Life Challenge - Day 17

DAY 17

Well day 17 brought chaos. It seemed that everything that I was trying to do just went wrong. First I was going to work on my Quilt at craft group, but forgot my cutter and board t cut some more strips. Thinking I was fortunate I had brought the pieces to do my Book cover, I wound the bobbin and got  ready to sew - No top thread! In total frustration I put it all away and pulled out a hand sewing project that I keep for such emergencies.

The project is a little mouse pin cushion. I had finished adding the embellishments to the body and just had the ears to finish. So, failing everything else I had tried to do, I finished the ears and then stitched the body ready to stuff when I got home.

Patchwork, to an extent, is a little out of my comfort zone. I am still learning the techniques and while I am enjoying it, maybe me forgetting half of the things I needed was telling me something. Maybe I'll try going back to something I know well for Day 18.

I hope your day was more creative than mine!
Liz :-)

Creative Life Challenge - Day 10

DAY 10

A lovely day today in front of first the spinning wheel, where hardly a dint was made in a braid of fibre, and then the sewing machine. I had more luck with the sewing machine and managed to sew down all the scraps of fabric I had pinned together to create a cover for my sketch book. I'm quite happy with the piece so far, but much more decoration is to be done before it is finished. Needless to say time kind of got away before I got to the drum carder. Maybe tomorrow...

How was your day? Did you manage to find something around you to inspire you?

Until tomorrow, Liz :-)

Creative Life Challenge - Day 6

DAY 6

Today was a very productive day with lots of sewing (and concentration!) with a friend, and many cuppas in between. I did a bit of work on my quilt and then started to design a patchwork cover for my next art journal. It is amazing what a few scaps of material can create. I still have lots of sewing to do on it, but the design is well on the way. You can probably tell by now that I have a thing for purple/blue/teal at the moment. They are my kind of colours, and even though they are cool colours, they make me smile and are a "warm" delight to work with.

Do you have a favorite colour that you tend to work with more than others? Why do you love this colour? Find something that inspires you in your favorite colour!

Happy creating!
Liz :-)

Creative Life Challenge - Day 3

DAY 3

It was an unexpected day today but a surprisingly productive one. I had a wonderful day with some lovely ladies and got the sewing machine out and worked on a quilt that had been a little neglicted. While the fabrics were plain, they were bright and colourful and were a joy to work with again. While there were many cups of tea in between rows of sewing, it was a lovely time sewing with friends on a cold winters day :-)

I hope you found a few moments to be creative today.
Hugs,
Liz xx

The End of a Year...

And before I know it, the year has gone and the New Year is here and it has started without me... again Lol! So, let me catch you up on the last few weeks and then I will tell you about my new years spinning challenge in the next post ;)

I managed to get all of my Christmas presents done in the end, with a few last min touches on a couple of birthday presents which were give before we left to go on holidays. So here are a few snap shots of my last min Finished Objects for 2014...

 These are the Present Sacks that I made to use each year for presents to my family and close friends instead of buying wrapping paper all the time. A great way to reuse some fabric from the Op-shop and to save some $$ and trees in the precess, not to mention filling the recycling bin!

So these were the last of my projects for 2014 and now I am excited to start the new year...

A Very Special Day ...

Ok, so I know I have been a little bit MIA the last few weeks, but I have a good reason, honest. A few of the things that I was working on were for a very special day which has been a long time in the making. But the big day has finally arrived and it was a beautiful, perfect and a relaxing special day, but then again, some weddings are. So let me show you some of the things I was working on the weeks before...

One of the most important things one needs on the day... a dress. I found this very plain dress in the op-shop, made a few alterations (one of which was removing the horrible puff sleeves!) and then spent about a week double stitching each of the crystals on, one by one. I must say I love the end result, a simple and effective way to show my creative personality without going over the top, and I was glad to have it finished a few weeks before the wedding.

The next important thing was the bouquet. I wanted something that I could keep and would last for many years to come. Ever since I learned the art of beaded flowers many years ago, I had wanted to bead my own bouquet, despite the fact I hadn't met my now husband. I started this project about this time last year, working on it and making a petal here and there until I had it finally finished around October last year. It has 13 roses, what I consider to be our lucky number, with a matching buttonhole for the groom.

The butterfly was a last min addition, matching the next important thing...

... the cake. Again I wanted something special to put on my cake that I could keep for later on, especially for the special anniversaries so I can re-create our wedding cake. So I returned to my default skill and beaded up another 13 roses for the cake, with some help from my bride's maid in threading the beads. I created another two butterflies to represent the bride and groom in the cake topper, the exact opposite but same style of the one on my bouquet.

My jewellery for the day was something special too, with the main creation being the necklace, again matching the rest of the rose theme. I made a simple pair of spiral earrings to go with it and wore my charm bracelet from my Nana and Grandad, my something old.

The other main thing I created, with a little inspiration from my Mum in the design, was my wishing well box. I know it was a large box, but I had this in mind when I was making it so afterwards I could put my bouquet, cake decorations and other special things in after the wedding.

None of the photo's do any of these creations justice, but they come close and can give you an idea of what everything was like on this very special day.

I have some other more resent crafting to share too, so keep checking back for the next update :) Happy Crafting!

Forgiveness In Chaos

I know it has been a week since I last wrote, and the reason why was because I was feeling guilty. I had been tripping around the country side and the only project I had manage to finish up til Wednesday was a simple knitted headband (which I might add I started on the 1st of August). I finally had a chance to breathe on Wednesday and do something for me. It was then that for the first time I started to not feel so guilty about life getting in the way of craft. Instead of procrastinating about having done nothing (which I tend to do sometimes), I sat down and just did something about it and started to knit. 

I will admit that as it was a lovely day Wednesday, so I did spend most of the afternoon in the garden, especially since it has been too cold and miserable for gardening these last two months. But while I was lying in the sun in the hammock having my morning cup of tea, I did do a couple of rows on my socks, a couple of rows closer to finishing them.

Yesterday (Thursday) was a complete opposite to Wednesday and like today, it has been cold, windy and raining on and off both days. The perfect opportunity to sit down and start to finish off my projects. So yesterday morning I finished the two squares for our group project.

In the afternoon I finally got around to the group's knitting challenge (for the last few months I might add) and knitted just about all the pieces to two knitted toys. The only part I didn't get to yesterday was the cute little hat pieces so I finished them both off this morning. It was only then when I went to sew them up and stuff them that I realised I didn't have anything to stuff them with, so I shall have to finish them off tomorrow at craft group.

This afternoon I am going to do a few more rows on my socks as I'm almost up to the ribbed top. I also have a few things to organise for the wedding so all in all, I am finally starting to feel like I'm finishing off more projects than I am starting. Until then, happy crafting :)

Projects started this month: 1
Projects finished this month: 2

More bits & pieces plus Goodies!

So I am back in the studio, a bit earlier than yesterday, and It is only after reviewing yesterday's post that I realised the photo's didn't load. So take two.

 

Here is the crochet sampler, my slowly growing shawl and the stitched together squares for my wagga-patchwork quilt.

Today I have added some more rounds on my shawl while I waited for the postie this morning and having the all important first cuppa of the day. I also stitched together a large piece of cloth for my wagga-patchwork backing and found an old blanket that had seen better days for my middle "stuffing". I must admit it's quite big as I went through a whole packet of patchwork pins, and that is with only one pin per square!

Then the most exciting part of the day, my friend who went to the Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show bought me in my goodies. :) I have a few different fibers and bags of fluff to play with and three new spindles to play with, a Russian Supported Spindle, Turkish Spindle and another nice "normal" top whorl spindle. :) As promised, here is the photo.

Well I think I might go and play with the new spindles and see if I can spin on the Russian one. Until then, happy crafting! :)

Sewing & A Bit Of Everything Else ...

While the week might have started out a bit slow, it is starting to pick up again. Like the other week when all I wanted to do was knit, this week all I seem to be doing is sewing ... and a little bit of everything else too.

I spent all day Tuesday in town so all I managed for the day was a few rounds of knitting on my shawl and a little bit of Quaker Tapestry. I may not have done as much as I would have liked to, but I did do something crafty for the day and that is all that matters really.

Wednesday I spent the whole day sewing. I don't have any photos to share as I was working on my wedding dress all day. Once the wedding has been and gone, then I will show you a photo of the dress, so you will just have to wait until then.


And today was no exception for the sewing bug. I found a couple of old table cloths in my mending pile that had holes in them. After assessing the damage and the potential for repair, I decided it just wasn't going to survive the other end. So I cut them up into squares and stitched them all together to make a "wagga" styled patchwork quilt. 

Then I got a bit stuck on what I was going to do next with this stitched up material piece, so I finished off my crochet sample square which will be used for a group project at the Woolies craft group.

That finished, what to do next ... so I jumped on the internet and searched "Wagga" and started doing a bit more research into what it actually was. So of course, I now have more ideas running through my head so I went back to my squares to experiment!

I shall keep you posted, until then, happy crafting! :)