my creative space :: before, during and ... during

Crazy days of Christmas crafting left the creative space looking a tad ... unloved

(and a wee bit yellow due to poor light - sorry!)

Inspired by a series on organising your craft space on a recent WhipUp newsletter and aided by the presence of my Dad, who, unlike the Mr always jumps at my suggestions that, "perhaps that would look better over there" (he is, after all, a Virgo), we got cracking on moving and shaking things up a bit ...

And so after only half an hour of furniture moving but many many more of tossing, arranging, organising we've ended up with this so far:

A space for little people*

A space for ... stuff

A space for ... more stuff

A space for fabric. But man oh man, look a those neglected fabric stacks!

Enter a rainy Saturday afternoon ...

Ahhh that's better!

Now to organise a few more corners and clear the sewing table.

Watch this space ... oh but while you're waiting pop on over to Kirsty's for the return of my creative space for 2010!

*What say you of sharing a crafty space/studio/sewing room (should you be blessed with a designated space) with children? For or against? I'm interested in your thoughts ...

crochet throw completed!

Well, kind of ...





Fi Fi likes it anyway ;)

And another notch on my handmade gifts belt (I did take the pledge after all), the lovely "Polly" from the first softies book.



I love her cheeky little grin. And a little matching bag for wrapping



All the (surprisingly and refreshingly), non-pink fabric was chosen by Sienna who insisted the birthday girl's favourite colour was orange. I had cause to doubt this when;

1. the invitations were pink
2. the birthday girl was dressed head to toe in pink-ness
3. the birthday girl took one look at Polly and all but threw her in the bin ...

Oh well. Secretly I like to think she found her again late last night after she'd grown bored of all the pink stuff and decided she needed something soft and lovingly handmade to snuggle up to!

embracing my inner nanna

Well friends this week I have traded in the ra-ra skirt, bad make-up and Wayfarers for a [crocheted] shawl, the circle-in-a-square pattern, various yarns from my travels and my trusty hook.

On Wednesday night the lovely Kate ever so patiently sat and taught me pretty much everything I needed to know to get cracking on my circles-in-squares.

Now I'm not sure if it was wise to pretty much insist that Kate teach me to crochet seen as how it was the first time we'd met and all. Let's just say there was many sleep-deprived, blonde, vacant, "Whaaaa's that again?" coming from me and nothing but cool, calm repetitive patience coming from Kate!

Anyway here's where I am at so far





Tonnes of mistakes I know but good lord it was fun! All the yarn is from Wolle Roedel in Germany apart from the white yarn bordering the second square which is an old Zara Italian wool from Tapestry Craft (so much for supporting the Australian Wool Industry there *ahem*)

And as luck would have it Pip is cranking up the Granny A Day again over at Meet Me at Mikes. So c'mon, grab your hook, your cuppa, a nice bickie and let us all embrace our inner nanna's! You know you want to ...

Now, for a nice little nap.

(p.s did you SEE how many links I got into this post? I was a cutting and pasting fool I tell you! Did you click on any of them?)

the good, the bad and the just plain ugly

::  the good  ::

 new beginnings that bring with them fresh stationary. Like the first day of school with new supplies ;)



gifts that arrive in the mail after Christmas and make boring tasks like drying the dishes so much funkier



a stack of books and all the promise they hold ... should I get time to read them



time to test out the equipment from Santa





time spent with good friends ...



... learning things


... and eating things



::  the bad  ::

this heat. And that's all I'll say about that.

my computer finally dying and taking with it one year's worth of unbacked-up music and six months worth of unbacked-up photographs. Including Christmas photos. *sniff*

::   the ugly  ::

The 80's. Apart from the music that is. Were there no natural fibres at all?*



Here's hoping you've had more good than bad (or ugly) so far this new year!

* my friend Antonia and I don't regularly go out looking like this ... except when we have a 80's inspired 40th birthday to go to. Or sometimes to go shopping ...