Spring! And Busy stuff!

For end of term we took the kindy kids to the Botanic Gardens.  It was a perfect 26 degrees Spring Day and the gardens were just beautiful.  There was blossom to smell

There were places to hide

 Water to play in

Things to build

And the new Wetlands centre to explore.

Our Kindy is all about getting kids outdoors and reconnecting with Nature so we were very excited to see this project completed.  You can follow our outdoor experiences at http://www.lobethalkgn.sa.edu.au/blog/ 

And now it is sweet, sweet, holidays.  Lots of knitting, crafting, lazing, cooked brekkies, sleep ins, snuggles with the kiddos.

Last Wednesday my lovely friend Rozzie helped me finish off this project from Moda Bakeshop

 I finished my own Meret:

 and then this earflap hat for my bestie's little girl

 Today I hope to finish a cute little test knitted dress pattern and do a bit of spinning.  Happy holidays!

Kick the Bucket and Julie and Julia

You could be forgiven for thinking I dropped off the end of the planet.  In actual fact life has just been crazy busy with kindy and that has left little time for crafting or blogging.  I did, in fact, finish 3 big projects in 3 months, as well as a host of other little crafty projects tucked into an hour of knitting at karate, or a few moments stolen while waiting on appointments/kids/etc.  My amazing quilty friends organised a whole weekend of sewing at Port Elliot - it was bliss!  I got soooo much done! So this is the world's ugliest quilt finished:

This will become an 80th birthday present for my Nanny who has Alzheimers and won't even know what day it is :(

Then there was this wall hanging which was started at Jane's Christmas in July Gathering when I was pregnant with Maddie!  I love how this one turned out, especially as I am not a fan of satin stitch.  This is a Leanne Beasley pattern.

The last quilt is Lena's but I do have a small bit of finishing to do on it this morning before I show it off. There was also this little cardigan for baby Mike, the pattern is from Joelle Hoverson's "More Last Minute Knitted Gifts"

 I sent it up to him with a little woodland knitted hat and then this photo showed up on facebook - how cute is he!?!?

 There was also lots of rav pattern knitting - 2 pairs of calypso mitts

 and a Merrit for my friend's birthday:

All three projects were handspun - quick and fulfilling.  I also finished James' Jedd socks for Father's Day.  Then there was some test knitting for this cowl, Cloud 9.  I really like this one and think that both the girls will probably get their own smaller versions for Christmas.  The lace repeat is only about 17 stitches wide and every second row is purl so it is kind of a cheat's lace.   I also have a bit of a think for moss stitch and double moss stitch so that was a win win too!

Next on the to do list are a couple of bigger projects for me (Paris Cardi and a green cardi) and a couple of hats for Nessie's girls.  Next up for quilting is a Dr Seuss baby quilt for Lou and a bed sized version for Dan.  Luckily, holidays are just around the corner!

Stamp of the Month and some new techniques

I just love this month's Stamp of the Month - so sweet for photos of kids and family and that tree will be awesome for all sorts of photos.

Did you notice the wood grain washi and the wanderful arrows washi on that first one?  I have also been playing with dimensional elements.  While I still wouldn't put them in my album they are great for cards and home decor items:

 This is our dimensional pennant frame - great as a gift for grannies and friends!  The paper roses are cut on the cricut and rolled using a quilling tool.

On the weekend I learnt how to make other flowers from the cricut too: 

I can see this being a great project for gatherings/hands on classes.

I am also exploring with our Shinhan markers - this was my first page using them (and last month's SOM)

Happy scrapping until next time!