FO Friday – Happy Christmoose!

Happy Friday lovely readers!

With the end of the year, I wanted to thank you all for following my little blog and wish you the happiest of Christmas, surrounded by friends and family. I will be taking a little break next week to enjoy my family as much as I can and I will be back probably around the 1st of January.

I didn’t have many goals for 2017, except to read 30 books and finish 30 craft projects. Unfortunately with the crazy busy year we’ve had (2 house moves, including one overstate, hubby starting a new job, the end of my PhD) I didn’t get much time to just sit and read so I’ve only finished 16 books but I have completed a whopping 45 craft projects (of the ones I wrote down) so I’m still pretty happy with myself 🙂 I will set goals for next year in a post in a couple of weeks or so.

I just have one goal before that, it’s to do a Christmas eve cast on with my first crochet socks! I’m really excited for it and if you have good sock patterns to recommend I would love that as I’m sure I won’t be stopping at one pair!

And now, let me show you my finished Chritsmoose!

He just turned out so cute I love him! So he has taken residence in my christmas tree as hubby has decided that we should put my crochet in the tree to represent our house better! He is the best!

Once again, a very happy Christmas to everyone and I’d love to hear if you are doing a Christmas eve cast on 🙂

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WIP Wednesday – Christmoose

Happy Wednesday beautiful readers!

I hope that this last week before Christmas isn’t too crazy and that you are all getting into holiday mode. I have my last week of work before the holidays now and it’s been quite hard to stay focused when all I want to do is bake and craft!

You probably remember a few weeks back I participated in the Fantastic Creature Amigurumi design contest from amigurumipatterns.net. I wanted to say a very warm thank you to everyone who voted for me, it was my first participation and seriously it was awesome!

Wiley and Sandy did pretty good too, I was very excited to get over 500 votes with Sandy, it was really a great experience and I can’t wait for next year’s contest!

I did not win the contest (the first person had over 2000 votes for her design!) but I’m really happy with how I did and all the participants earned a place in the December ami-along hosted on amigurumipatterns.net. Which brings me to today’s WIP: meet my Christmoose! He is Sabrina Somers design for the December ami-along and he is adorable!

He tuned out so cute! I’m very excited to add the finishing touches: baubles in sparkly yarn! ✨

Are you currently participating in an Ami-along or have you participated before? I’d love to know!

Hand Quilt Along – 17/12/17

Hello readers!

It is time again for another hand quilt along update! I’ve tried to add small triangles to fill on of the edges of my EPP this time, and I think it worked great 🙂 Can you see it at the bottom of the second picture? You might also notice that I’ve introduced some new fabrics, the ones from my hoop embroidery project.

This time

Last time

We have some new participants this month, Nanette Sassy and Edith, welcome! Next update in 3 weeks on the 7th of Jan!

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Here are the others participating in this HQAL, please go check their posts!

Kathy, Bella, Lori, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Deborah,  Susan , Jessisca Sherry, Nanette, Sassy and Edith

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Fantastic Bake Along – Cherry tarts

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday.

This month is obviously a bit special as it is almost Christmas! Yay! Because of this, Tracy very kindly chose the recipe so that we didn’t have to think about it. Thanks Tracy! ❤️

The recipe for her cherry tarts can be found on her blog as usual and without further ado, here are mine!

I didn’t have shortenings so I used butter instead and I reduced the amount of water because the butter I used made the dough more moist already. I was worried I would be able to find pie filling but I did find pitted cherries in syrup and I’m pretty sure that’s what it was meant to be. Regardless, the tarts are amazingly good and they have been husband approved too! I hope you guys join us for the bake along, I always love reading your comments on recipes and seeing all your delicious food 😊

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

• Tami @ TangleWoodKnots
• Tracy @ ItsaTSweetDay
• Kathy @ SewingEtc
• Brenna @ Crochet539
• Kate @ LifeTeaAndEverything
• Tina @ KristabellasHodgepodge
• Lucia @ CrochetKnitAndMore
• Connie @Connie’s Creations
• AJ @A Petite Slice of Life
• Rebecca @Twinklehook
• Abbey @Three Cats and a Girl
• Marcia @Una Regiaen Bicicleta

WIP Wednesday – Diamond lace kimono

Happy Wednesday readers!

I have to say it’s been a bit hard to knit or crochet today, as it’s been super hot in Melbourne! But I realised that there is a project I have yet to share with you.

A little while back, I may have mentioned that my lovely nana sent some yarn in a parcel and I have decided to follow the current fashion and use it to make a lacy kimono. I feel like kimonos have been everywhere this season, and I’m very happy to me making one (which I probably won’t use until autumn, but that’s okay!).

The pattern I’m following is a free pattern by Kaitlin Blasing from Originally Lovely. I love this pattern, the only issue is that the gauge was a bit confusing to me. It read 16 stitches = 10 cm , but I’m not sure how many rows, or even if that was using stockinette. Oh well, I’ve started and I shall see, but it seems good so far, I think I will definitely fit in (I’ve tried wrapping it around me and so far so good!)

Here it is, isn’t the pattern lovely?

I’m really looking forward to finishing it, it’s supposed to be knitted in one piece starting from the bottom and I’m almost at the neck, yay!

What have you been working on this week? I’d love to know ☺️

Chunky Blanket

Happy Monday readers!

I hope you’ve had a great weekend, it has been productive here! I have told you before about the Lottie and Albert vlog that I watch on Youtube. I’ve had my eyes for a while on her chunky rainbow blanket and I took advantage of a sale at one of our craft store to buy heaps of acrylic yarn for $2 each! Lindsey recommends 6 balls of yarn and I also got myself a 20mm crochet hook before happily starting my blanket!

I loved working on it, it was just super fast! This is a baby size blanket, but you could easily adjust it to make it bigger by starting with a longer chain. I’ve decided to make tassels instead of pompoms too, I love how they turned out.

How cute is it? This is definitely a good size for a baby blanket, but it may be a bit small otherwise, except maybe for a lap blanket (that’s what I’m using it for, as we don’t have a baby 😅)

As promised, here is a picture of the ornament I’ve made for my nana too, I think it turned out great! I had lots of fun making it, so it was a complete win in my books 😊

I hope you all have a great week and that your Christmas preparations are going smoothly too!

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FO Friday – something different

Happy Friday!

I hope you’ve all had a great week, my friend left yesterday and I’m a bit sad the she’s gone but on the bright side I’m back full time with blogging! (still the usual 3 x a week , but you know I’ll be able to actually read more and hopefully respond slightly faster, so that’s a win!)

I know I’ve said that I wouldn’t really make any Christmas gifts, but then I actually thought of some really good and fast gifts to make for my nana and my aunty, as them and my grandpa are visiting for Christmas. So, I have decided to hand stitch them some gifts!

You probably remember (if you were following me at the time) that I went to a craft fair in  Brisbane in September? When I was there, I bought some really cute buttons and a cool diy ornament kit from Krazy Kreations.

Isn’t that going to be super cute? This will be for my nana, but today I want to share with you the finished I made for my aunty.

I spend a good while looking for the perfect fabric for this, as I had a pretty clear idea in mind. This is what I ended with (excuse the poor lighting on the left fabric, it’s meant to be blue!).

I then hand drew the motifs I wanted and used my rusty appliqué skills. I’m super happy with how it turned out, and all that was left to do was to write a cute sentence at the top (it means “hop with happiness” in French, pun intended) and sew on the buttons.

Did I mention my aunty loves frogs? I think it’s a very effective gift, and I know that she will love it because it has frogs! I can’t wait for her to see it 🙂

How is your Christmas gift making going? I’d love to hear about your more ambitious projects!

Amigurumi design contest – Votes open!

Happy Monday lovely readers,

Today, it’s all about Sandy and Wiley, remember them?

The voting for the amigurumi contest is now open, and it would mean the world to me if you could vote for my designs! As a bonus, everyone participating will also enter the draw to win yarn, how amazing is that?

I have also started working on the patterns for both, which I will release in the new year, and thought that you would like a sneak peak at my new design notebook.

I have plenty of ideas for 2018, so I’m very excited to use this notebook more! Stay tuned!

November wrap up

Happy Saturday everyone!

I hope you all had a great week, it has been busy as ever here! I have actually been taking a small break from blogging with my best friend still being here, as I wanted to make the most of my time with her. This means that I will have to catch up on all your amazing blogs in the next few weeks, which I’m really looking forward to!

So, what did I manage to get done in November? For starters, I managed to put together a little parcel for my stitching santa, organised by Sheila of Sewchet. I really hope that my swap partner loves it as much as I do! I posted a picture on Instagram a couple of weeks ago but here it is again if you have missed it 😊

I have also received my own swap parcel, and it’s been patiently sitting under my Christmas tree! I just can’t wait for Christmas now!

This month, I have also barely escaped from trolls, made friend’s with Azog the defiler and visited the Shire on an amazing trip to New Zealand!

I did decide to join the NaNo WriMo as well for the first time, and I have to say that it was all great before New Zealand, but I did find it hard to write once there. So in the end, I was quite far from my goal, with almost 15,000 words written this year. I’m still pretty proud to have done it, and I think I will continue to use the site to track my writing, as the hardest thing is to just keep at it. I do also have plenty of plot ideas, so I will definitely keep on writing on this project.

This month, craft-wise, I have mostly done crochet, and I have finished two shawls, the Liula from Potter & Bloom and the Swaye from Addydae Designs. I have also made a lovey for a new baby girl in the family and I have designed Sandy the sea dragon for the amigurumipatterns.net design contest (voting opens tomorrow, 3rd of December, I will share some more in another post).

I am also super pleased to have joined the Hand Quilt along this month, and I have made some progress on my EPP! I have decided that this will be a baby quilt size, and that I might actually also hand quilt it.

Last time

This time

And last but not least, this month saw another very successful Fantastic Bake-Along, themed around the apple! Yum! I decided to make an upside down pie, called a Tarte Tatin in France.

I hope you all had an amazing month and that you are ready for Christmas!! 🎄🎁