Good Stuff

Oh holidays I love you!
There has been lots of good stuff here lately.

A spontaneous trip to the local op shop for a copy of "Black Beauty" unearthed some great treasures including a new summer handbag (still with the tissue paper in it) a kids weaving loom, books for all three children, 2 new summer skirts for me and a cute 50c dress for Maddie, 2 balls of 50c wool for my Tassie hats project, a set of vintage glasses and a couple of cute china plates, some 20c zips for more humbug bags, a cute red and white checked tablecloth and a yummy basket perfect for showing off my skeins or knitting projects.

There has been LOTS more knitting!  My friend Lea-Anne and her lovely daughter came over last week and   Lea-Anne was playing the part of my conscience and making me finish things!  This is the Tassie hat collection so far.  I have had fun playing with odd snippets of leftovers to mix and match combos.

I have become re-inspired to keep knitting my Lightening Speed - only about 21 rows from the end now!

And in between all the crumbs, sibling rivalry wars, clutter and chaos there has been lots of dramatic play!  There have been sleepovers, puppet shows, countless iceblocks, water play, swimming, lazy t.v. watching, fashion parades and play dates. Tomorrow the cherubs head off to Granny's for a few days and I start back at work and so begins another school year..
Happy remainder of the holidays to you!
Nell

Support for Tassie

Tasmania needs our help!
Calling all of my quilty, knitty friends!

I am catching up with one of my Tassie friends in February and hope to be able to pass over a parcel of hand-knits.  When I visited in July of last year it was FREEZING so I am sure those that have lost everything would appreciate some handknits.  I am thinking beanies and mittens but you can seriously do whatever you think will be helpful.

They are also asking for quillows and quilts for the kids and teenagers.  I've never made a quillow before but I am hoping to whip up a few little quilts.

So what do you say? Wanna help me?

Passing on a passion, sharing a skill..

My big kids have been wanting me to teach them to knit for a long time so we decided today was the day.

I first tried to learn to knit when I was about 8. My Mum tried to teach me but she couldn't make it stick so I taught myself when I was 9 and have loved it ever since.  I learned to knit with acrylic wool on slippery metal needles.  Call me a yarn snob but I was determined that I wanted my children to love the "feeling" of knitting as much as the knitting itself so we went with small wooden needles and 100% wool.

I don't think any of my cherubs will learn to knit proficiently in an afternoon but they are all making good progress and I am so proud of them!

Latest spinning:

This is some sparkly "purple pizzazz" that  Hannah has taken to learn to knit with.

And this soft cloud of fluff is "Lucy" 50% angora bunny and 50% merino - my knitters fingers are just itching to knit it up!

I've also been enjoying the holidays doing some scrapping.  These are my two new favourites using the new "P.S. I Love You" range.

Happy Wednesday!
Keep smiling,

Nell

Endings and beginnings

What a lovely lazy New Year's Day.  Last night I finished Lil and Will, bringing the total to 7 quilts for 2012.

Today I finished my MIL's sock, her scarf (which has only needed 3 rows and the fringe since last August!!!) this little baby jacket  (which I suspect would look better on a baby) and this sweet little rainbow hat for a friend's little rainbow baby.

Then, because it is the dawn of a whole new year and I was feeling reckless I cast on Hannah's poncho and this sweet little dress bodice from the Debbie  Bliss magazine that I borrowed from our library.
I felt good because both of these projects will come from my stash (and I will start the year really trying to shop from my stash!)
Hope you had a great start to your new year too!

Just before midnight?

I am making the mad dash to finish my "Lil and Will" quilt before midnight!  I have only 24 squares to quilt double lines around and then I am done!

I love the respite between Christmas and New Years.  It feels like the old year has gone and the new one yet to begin so there is time for self-reflection and dreaming (in between yelling at my kids to pick up their stuff and play nicely together LOL)

I went back and looked at my New Years List from last year and was pretty chuffed to note that I have learnt how to Navaho ply, and to knit socks on one circular needle, and to pin on pinterest (oh what a dangerous thing that was!) and to use social media more for my business.

Knitting wise I have finished the GG shrug and a Kina cardigan for Maddie, and Shalom for me, and no end of beanies and hats and socks and my first ever Baby Surprise jacket and a little baby jumper.
I have really enjoyed spinning this year and have also become a bit of a Ravelry addict - I have a very pleasant group of online friends who aid and abet my fibre fetishes.

Quilt wise I have finished 3 cot quilts, and 2 charity quilts, and my string piecing experiment, and the ticker tape dolls quilt and, fingers crossed,  I will add "Lil and Will" to that list tonight.

Along the way there have also been a few dresses and skirts for the girls, jammie bottoms for the boy, swimming bags and cushions and table runners and humbug bags.

All in all, craftwise, it has been a good year and I feel especially spoilt to have added a Ron Doley spinning wheel and a Quilt Expression 4.0 to my collection.  Our saturday Apple Piecers have spun off into a delightful Tuesday night group "The Night Owls" and I took great delight in watching my friends Chris and Yvonne rediscover the joys of spinning from our get-togethers too!

I feel like not much has happened on the scrapping front lately but working so much at kindy meant not a lot of free time.

So looking ahead to 2013: I would really like to finish the rest of the WIPS (especially my Patchwork Apple BOM, the needleturn applique, Maddie's strippy, and Emmy Lou's Braids)  I want to make Dr Seuss by October for Dan and an owl strippy for my niece by her birthday in April.  I've also been told that I have another niece or nephew arriving next September so there will be another cot quilt for then.  I really want to concentrate on doing lots more sewing for the girls (especially now that the new-fangled machine will make life easier!)

I really want to focus on a better balance of kindy and CM and life - hopefully 2013 will be about more quality time!

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing to celebrate the New Year, may peace be with you.
Here's to 2013!
Nell
xxxx

A Special Christmas

If you don't want to be bored with photos of family and more family then look away now.
We had a glorious Queensland Christmas (the first time in over a decade that all four of us Cox siblings have been home with our respective partners and kids!)

I think I must have consumed almost my body weight in mangoes.  I ate fresh crab sandwiches. We fished. We rode in Gumpy's boat.  We drank moscato by the dam.  The kids went horse riding everyday.  The kids went swimming every day. We met new cousins and reacquainted ourselves with old ones.  We hugged those precious great-grandies and were thankful for just one more visit.  It was soooo good to just be simple and unburdened by all the craziness we left behind.  It was the perfect downtime.
It was a VERY special Christmas.
Belated Christmas Blessings to you all,
Nell
xxxx
p.s. Highlight of James' holiday was running into Mark Webber in a cafe in Noosa.  We were straightaway those abnoxious star-struck fans who had to get a photo but he was very gracious and photogenic about it!

November WIP finish

Finally a finish!!! This was a ridiculous experiment foundation pieced onto A4 paper (some crazy recycling idea in the days when I was sleep-deprived with Hannah as a newborn and I saw Alex Anderson's take on "Depression Era Newspaper Quilts")  You would not believe how often these blocks have been shuffled from place to place and how many times they ALMOST ended up in the bin.  What a relief to finally have them finished.  This quilt actually gave me the chance to really play with my new machine and I have to say that I have totally fallen in love!  No more cussing while quilting! No more losing the needle thread, or having stitches unravel, or even searching for the scissors.  I LOVE IT!!!

I love the 3 million fancy pants stitches (especially the one that looks like hand quilting) and I love the inbuilt walking foot.  It has totally re-jigged my sewing mojo (which is why you see that I've started my Lil and Will quilt!)

Maybe that will be my December finish?

Have a great week!