What did you buy?

We all know there have been a lot of auctions floating around Blogland of late.  All for a good cause and hard to resist.  In addition to the auction I held on my blog, I helped the QLD flood appeal by bidding on, and winning these beauties:

A tram roll inspired print from Mokoh.  I will have to get this framed and find a good spot for it.

This beautiful crochet shrug from Donna.  It really is beautiful!  Donna also tossed an extra couple of goodies into the package too, all great stuff and very exciting given my love of all things yarn!  The wooden dodad on the left is a Nostepinne centre pull ball winder!

And lastly, these two Japanese craft books and super cute Elephant softie from Rachel.

Did you win anything great?

Flea Market Finds #1

Joining in with Flea Market Finds this week.  This year I am making more of an effort to be frugal in order to speed up renovation work on our Colonial home so I thought this meme would help me stay on track.

My dated 100 year old kitchen has a wall of open shelving and everything ALWAYS looks cluttered and messy.  I was a tad excited to find these four matching cannisters complete with lids in which to hide things.  A man was looking at them in the shop and I tried to remain calm, and close.  He put them down and I wasted no time in scooping them up for myself, HURRAH!

$10 well spent!

My Creative Space ~ Quilts for Queensland

 Now that the amazing Flood Appeal Auctions are over and the final tally is in ($99,089 raised woot!!) I though it was time to turn my thoughts to Corrie's Quilts for Queensland Project.

In order to keep it quick and simple, given we are busy with plasterboard and other fun stuff I decided to do a simple 9 patch block.  Quick and easy to whip up and should still look good in a finished quilt.  Anyone can make these given they are simple 4.5inch squares sewn together with a 1/4inch seam.

 

Corrie has started a Flickr group too.  She also had the idea that it would be nice to get photos of people holding up blocks that they have made for Quilts for Queensland.  The Mr took a photo of me but then told me I look tired and that perhaps I should not use this photo.  I thought I would post it here at the very least since I am not given to putting photos of me out there that often.  So here I am, looking tired, in an old shirt and no makeup holding up a couple of blocks that I will be posting off to Corrie soon.!

Next up on the creative agenda  are some Hope Softies.

For more Creative Spaces click over here :)

Flood Appeal ~ Thank You!

The first thank you goes to Toni, and her sister Carli who have worked hard to pull everyone together into one big blog community fundraiser.  Without them working so hard this would not have been possible on such a scale.  Thanks Guys :)

The next BIG thank you is to Esther, who put in the final winning bid on the cardigan I had for auction.

Esther drives a hard bargain offering to double her bid if I would knit a second cardigan for her other daughter!  They are such little cuties that I couldn't say no.

Special thanks also to the other ladies who bid.  Without them the end result would be different so their roles are important in an auction.  With this in mind I held a secret giveaway with the above knitted skirt up for grabs.  There were seven other bidders over the course of the auction and the random generator picked #2.

Sheridan, as soon as I knit the i-cord tie for the waist of this skirt I am sending it to you.

And lastly, if you didn't win any of the auctions that finished yesterday, or even if you did, there is still time to buy a raffle ticket in any number of the raffles still open until Wednesday lunchtime.  Master list of raffles found HERE.  Good luck!

Minnie Me skirt pattern

I was lucky enough to get to test knit this wonderful skirt pattern from Kelly without a net.  She has her own Ravelry group too where you can say hello and ask questions.

This skirt is called Minnie Me and I have put the full details on Ravelry.  I have knit the fitted version, but have on my needles right now the twirly version and it looks great too.  I will show that off when I have finished it!  I still have to knit the i-cord tie for the waist.  I got all excited about casting on the next one that I still have not finished that bit. 

 I do love this skirt pattern.  It is quick, simple and looks great.  I love that it comes in both a fitted and a full skirt version making it great value.

Coincidentally, Kelly is the same designer responsible for the In Threes Baby Cardigan I have up for Auction for the flood appeal.  The auction still has about 12 hours to go being closed at 9pm tonight so there is still time to bid if you like :)

Grateful

I am grateful for so many things this week.  The auction is going very well and it is a little bit special to see something you have created used in a good way.  It made me think about who would win in the end, and those that helped by bidding along the way.  I think I will draw a name from a hat for those that put in a bid and send something extra to one of them as a thanks-for-helping kind of gift.

This is post 401 for this blog! I am very grateful for that, and you as friends who have helped it happen.
I am not grateful that I had so much trouble uploading my images, but I suspect that would be a different meme...

My baby boy moved into his own room again today.  Since we moved in this house 6 months ago he had been sharing with Possum, but there is no point having a rambling old house if you don't use the rooms.

The Imagination Possum has.  She amazes me daily! 

She told me these guys were being naughty so she had to put them to bed.

She also insists on calling her bed a nest, and calls me 'Mummy Bird' and likes to be called 'Baby Bird' in return.  I don't mind 'Mummy Bird' but drew the line at 'Mummy Witch'.

There is more to be grateful for at Maxabella's.

Flood Auction

Auction now closed

When I saw Toni's plan to coordinate a heap of blog auctions I was excited, but didn't think I had anything to offer.  Then I remembered the In Threes cardigan I knit for Possum that she hasn't worn other than to let me get some pictures for my blog.  I love this cardigan, but I hope by auctioning it off I can do some good.

This cardigan is a size 3T.  It is knit in Bendigo Woollen Mills 10ply Luxury and also features handmade buttons from The Bird and the Fish.

Please bid and/or share this link on your blog, via Facebook or Twitter and hopefully we can raise some much needed money for the Queensland Flood Appeal.

How this auction works:

1. Bidding will start at $30 (Australian).
2. You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount and email address. Please make sure that your bid is higher than the previous bidder.
3. Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.
4. This auction is open to everyone, however $10 will be charged for International addresses. Postage is FREE for Australian residents.
5.The auction begins now and will END at 9pm on Monday 24th January 2011.
6. At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment includes your email address). The winner will pay the winning amount directly into the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal and send me proof of payment via email. Once proof of payment has been received, I will post your package to you.

Auction rules borrowed straight from Toni's blog :)

Cookie Cutter Biscuits

A plain biscuit recipe we use when the children want to play with the cookie cutters.

300g Plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

115g butter

200g caster sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla essence

Option icing and colouring to decorate.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

In a separate bowl beat butter and sugar, then add egg and vanilla.

Stir in flour and knead lightly. 

Divide dough in half, flatten slightly and put in fridge between parchment until firm.

Preheat oven to 175degC.

Roll out dough between two lightly floured parchments sheets until the dough is about 5mm thick.

Cut out cookies and place on baking sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Makes a lot, and they store well for a week in an airtight container.

The kids can have fun decorating them as they wish as well.

Swim and Survive

We have had a busy 9 days here with Swim and Survive lessons at the local pool.

Both Possum and Blue ended up in the same class which was great.  Lucky for us the Mr was able to come in each day and hop in the pool to help. 

Both kids had a great time and watching them both progress over the 9 days was wonderful for us.  Possum learnt to paddle and kick at the same time and Blue loved jumping in off the edge after tossing in a floating toy.  He was also happy to go under the water but could not blow bubbles as every time the water touched his chin he would open his mouth!

Possum held out for a bribe of 2 red frogs each day so it was 20cents a day more expensive than I thought, but still a bargain really :)  

The instructor is going to start running weekly lessons so that should be good too.

Finger Paint, the Good and the Bad.

Good:

Still Good:

 

BAD!

No surprise here why finger painting happens in the afternoon before bath time!



In chalk related news, I love how much detail is starting to make it's way into Possum's drawing.  The other day she drew one with hair the whole way around it's head and said that it was the bad one.  In Possum's mind you can pick the bad guy by how much hair he has.  I wonder if that is why she told her Dad it was time to shave yesterday?

Eden's Adam

Blue likes his cotton vest, and this strange Summer weather we have had so far makes it a wardrobe essential.  The full details of this vest are in my Ravelry projects.  For those not on Ravelry the pattern is Eden's Adam by Aussie designer Georgie Hallam.

I have been slow to blog this knit as i had not taken any photos.  I braved a gap in the clouds today so I could fix that!

It has been suggested that Blue needs to have his first haircut.

I am not yet convinced...

Psst, Kylie, have you knit your vest yet?

Photo a Day (PAD) 6-10

More photos for January's Photo a Day challenge:

{six}

{seven}

{eight}

{nine}

{ten}

All images SOOC (straight off of camera).

New Look 6504

I am sure New Look 6504 did not mean for the terms interfacing, pin and iron to be optional...

But this VERY quick dress for Possum is a great dress for playing about the yard.  I used buttons and remnant fabric from the stash too.

For some reason not only did I fail to add interfacing, pin, or iron, I also got up to instruction 2 and decided to just do my own thing.  I should be happy it worked at all given the amount of things I did wrong.

I will make more of these simple dresses, and next time I will slow down and do it properly to see if it makes a difference to the end result.

Photo A Day (PAD) 1-5

One photo per day in January:

{one}

{two}

{three}

{four}

{five}

All photos are SOOC.

edit: SOOC means 'straight off/out of camera' and refers to the fact that there has been no PP 'post processing' (editing) on these photos.  Gotta love photography speak ;)

Craft Rage

THE PROBLEM: The second curtain drop is 100mm shorter than the first drop (swear words) and too short for the window in question.

THE SOLUTION:  Cut 100mm off first curtain drop. Here Mr, have a new stinking curtain for your bathroom upstairs.  I would have had to make one for you anyway (eventually) so you might as well have this now (internal cussing still in progress)...

THE BENEFIT: Had to go to Spotlight and buy more fabric for the original window.  Also bought overlocker thread and some quilters cotton :)

Yup, craft rage here already in 2011...

Reading in 2011

The 2011 master list of books read.  Is it ironic to call a handful of books for 12 months a master list?


1. The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me ~ Roald Dahl
2. The Dancer Upstairs ~ Nicholas Shakespeare
3. Six thinking hats ~ Edward De Bono
4. Madam Bovary ~ Gustave Flaubert
5. Does my head look big in this? ~ Randa Abdel-Fattah
6. Treachery in death  ~ J.D Robb
7. Caleb's Crossing ~ Geraldine Brooks


The 2010 list (18 books)
The 2009 list (57 books)


Books on the Holiday Reading list:
Mr Rosenblum's List ~ Natasha Solomons
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand ~ Helen Simonson
The Postmistress ~ Sarah Blake
Fantasy in Death ~ J.D Robb

Simple Sewing

Because one must ease into the crafty year slowly, I decided to start with a simple skirt.

Once a tablecloth just the right size for a card table, it was a simple matter cutting it in half, sewing it up along the short edge side seams and adding elastic.  No need to hem because it was already the right length for Possum.

Note the dirty white shirt, or rather,  please don't note the dirty white shirt...