uncomfortable

I’m not that comfortable with shop-hawking on the blog, but I have mentioned on Bookface that the code fortheloveoftuesday will get you a 25% discount in the big cartel shop….. over there under the header. Its running for 24 hrs so for those of you that are enjoying Monday or asleep till Wednesday , it should still be running when you are back in the land of blogs.

Why ? Because Tuesday is a day of promise – there is still enough week left to think we can get everything done but we have gotten over the Monday blahs. It’s not yet hump-day, so we don’t feel like we are on the downhill run. Its Tuesday.

The day when anything is possible !

On crochet, PDF’s and experiments

The crochet thing got under my skin a bit. I don’t like being unable to do something. So the almost week  that I was at the Craft show I decided to use my train-time and my evenings to play with crochet. It took me a whole morning and a number of slow-motion YouTube videos to ‘master’ the Magic ring.      

From there I farted about trying to learn how to increase and decrease

and then I made a hamster, from a pattern. (Well, you know it was supposed to be a hamster but when I put the eyes in, it looked fishy so I just made the rest up and turned it into a fish)

and then I scoured the internet for easy crochet patterns and started a whale. But I got bored with white so tried to add another colour and then just played with the increase, decrease stuff again.

So then I made a ball and I was pretty happy with it.

So I followed a real pattern and made a mushroom which looks Ok from this angle and took me for-bloody-ever by the way….

and it looks a little bit NQR from this angle.

Verdict : It is possible that I could become someone who crochets. I can see that it could happen BUT hell it’s hard work.  I need to think and count and keep my tongue at just the right angle. I struggle with how many stitches I have or haven’t got and never have the right amount. Why don’t you count the one on the hook? What’s that about? Its there , I can see it !!! It seems so illogical.

I really struggle with hanging onto everything. I have fingers and string everywhere. I’m clenched and cack-handed and awkward and I move like a busted –arse.

It does not flow. It is not Zen.

( and in the ongoing PDF experiment I have now attached a Big Cartel shop to my blog over on the sidebar and some of my patterns are there, available as PDF’s. More to follow. More to think about. My Craftsy shop has PDF’s and free stuff and my Etsy shop has PDF’s and soon soon soon will have some real life toys as well. Yes three shops does seem like overkill but I’ll suck it and see for a while and then decide. Questions? Comments? complaints? Let me know. )

I hope your craftywork is feeling all Zen my bloggy friends.

Broken promises

On the weekend I decided I HAD to clean the sewing room It was at the point where nothing could be done in there.

I bought these great door knobs at the Quilt and Craft show and thought it would be a two minute job to attach them…. yep two minutes after I drill the drawer holes bigger and do a little painting because these knobs are a fraction smaller than the ones already on the drawers.

I found

• eight unfinished embroidery projects (two of them are big ones)

• nine mini embroidery hoops ( I have no idea)

• an elephant who needed its ears moved and never got restuffed

• Two monkeys and a robot in need of faces, limbs etc.

Plus I found at least another six toys cut out, 14 toys in various stages of “design” and two baskets of half-made toys that I just tucked back into a corner.

I promised myself I would finish off one project everyday.

Days since promise: 3

Projects finished : 0

New projects started: 2

Piscari Cattus

      

A New Creative card. Cute but useless as is my wont.

So the burning questions are:

Do we have one or two cats on the cover ? and without any pussy jokes what will we call it?

You know, fat little felt animals  are good for what ails you.

To the tune of ‘fat bottomed girls’…HIT IT !

Hey

I am just a crafty chic

With a taste for nice fabric

But I take pics before I leave my sewing room.

I sew a lot of stuff

And I fill that stuff with fluff

crafty people, make the blogging thing worthwhile .

 

Oh, can you see me sew tonight?

Oh down beside Bernina’s light

Oh I will give it all I got,

Craft-minded girls you make the blogging world go round

Craft-minded girls you make the blogging world go round .

 

I’ve been following the blogs

Sharin’ photos of my dog,

I’ve seen many crafty fads along the way,

But their beauty and their style

Wear kinda smooth after a while

Give me sewin’, give me stuffin’ every time

 

Oh, can you see me sew tonight?

Oh down beside Bernina’s light

Oh I will give it all I got,

Crafty people you make the blogging world go round

Crafty people you make the blogging world go round

 

Now I’ve just turned forty-four

No spring chicken anymore

Ain’t no beauty queens in this locality

Oh but I still got my sewin’

It gets my juices flowin’

Crafty people, thanks for hanging

out with me.

(and from the back catalogue you can revisit forty-three) 

A quickie

   Today I headed in to Melbourne to get set up for the Craft and Quilt fair. I was lucky enough to be invited to be a guest of Catharina’s Vintage Stitches on stand C15. I’ll be there everyday, and it would be awesome if you came and said Hi (I am always terrified no-one will speak to me at these kinds of things).

I snapped a few quick photos today (with permission)

and stopped to tell this booth how much I loved their critters- only to realise it was Stephanie, who I had email conversations with about the show and her creatures before. These patterns make me want to be able to knit (but you guys know what I am like with the string crafts).

Photos at these kinds of things are notoriously difficult to take, but how cute are these sausage dogs ? Booth D26

and if you speak washi – you will be in some kind of heaven.

Crafty Hijinks

Do you guys know Gillian of Silly Gilly? many bloggy moons ago, there was a picnic in Ballarat in honour of Trash’s visit to Australia. It was a hoot.

Recently Gillian and I were talking about the picnic and it was decided that we should have another. So we have booked a hall (Ballarat weather being somewhat inclement) , set a date and found someone to organise the lunch.

Do you want to come along? It is going to be very low-key but lots of fun. Its a day just for hanging out, chatting, laughing and crafting. Its early days, but we have a local shop setting up a stall for the day, some door prizes and plans for goody bags.

You don’t have to be cool or groovy or particular friends with anyone – You just need to be a blogger-its that simple. Come in a group or come along on your own.  Have you ever wondered what a blog meet is like? Well there is often a bit of girly shrieking, a lot of laughter and that funny kind of coded talk we do where we call each other our blog names.

If you would like to come along, you just need to buy a ticket ( a ticket? yep, the cost of the ticket will cover the hall hire, sandwiches and slice for lunch, goody bags and anything else that we organise between now and then) A veritable bargain at $21.50.

If you are a businessy blogger and would like to put something (with your business card) into the goody bags, or you would like to donate a small door prize. Just drop me an email. We already have some fabric and I’ll probably add a toy or two to the mix.

(Now I know there is someone out there thinking “oh man that sounds like fun, but I won’t know anyone and what will I wear and what if no-one talks to me? so email me, I’ll hold your hand and we’ll have a great day)