a little bit of this, a little bit of that

so Harry Potter is finished and I'm sad that now there will be no more, but I was satisfied with the ending - don't worry there will be no spoilers here - you'll have to read it for yourself. I guess I'll just wait for the movies now! Anyway, thanks everyone once again for entering the giveaway I wish you could all win, and I have even included an extra prize this month, because I have so many magazines taking up precious space, so here are the winners

please email me your address at whizzme(at)bigpond(dot)net(dot)au so I can send your goodies to you. And for those of you who didn't win this time, there is always next month's giveaway. However, as I do have so many magazines that need to go I have the following magazines available to anyone who is interested to swap or purchase, once again just email me: whizzme(at)bigpond(dot)net(dot)au.

Piecework issues:
2007-July/August, May/June, March/April, January/February
2006 all 5 issues
2005 - March/April
2003 - November/December

US Knitter's issues:
2006-Summer
2005-Spring, Winter, Fall, Summer
2004-Fall

UK Knitting issues:
2006-March
2005-November, August, April, March, February
2004-October/November, April/May, February/March, January/December
2003-October/November

Australian Creative Knitting issues:
1 to 10, 13 & 15

Now, on to some crafting items that were finished before Harry Potter arrived on the scene.

I entered in the second round of the Doll Quilt Swap. This is my finished quilt sent of to my partner.

I was very happy in the end result, which is hand pieced, embroidered and quilted. It isn't the original idea I had for this swap, that little mishap is still sitting waiting to be saved from "stupid thing" pile!
I received a beautiful quilt from Ros in the UK (who studies in the US).


A little project commissioned by Miss L when we were in Wangaratta - a poncho for her elephant. Yes, elephant's get cold too. As it happened I had just that day bought some sock wool and mum had picked up a poncho pattern, so with a little bit of swatch testing and guesstimating it wasn't long before Elle was sporting her new winter wear.


And here is proof of just how much my mother loves me! A wonderful cardigan from Knitscene, with some beautiful wool I purchased a year or two ago from La Lana.

It was originally planned for a shrug from Interweave Knits, but once the wool arrived I wasn't so sure anymore, and had never started. Mum and I flicked through patterns, worked out tensions, wound skeins, re-wound skeins trying to figure out how best to balance out the hand-dyed colours. Unfortunately I cannot show you the finished beautiful product, because my part of the project is the sewing up - ah yeah, any day now!!!

I have so many other projects that are in varying stages of chaos production, but the next two days will be spent sewing with some friends. Catch you soon....Oh and here is Miss L's latest photo shoot.

I don't mean to be rude

But I'm just too busy to spend anytime doing anything else except read the latest Harry Potter book. I really can't concentrate on anything else, so while I'm away discovering who dies etc. I leave you with this month's giveaway.
CRAFT MAGAZINES.
There are 4 categories, and each winner will recieve at least 5 magazines from their chosen topic.

So go ahead, leave a comment and tell me just what you want to be reading.
I will be back on Friday to choose a winner - GOOD LUCK


The images are from the following sites, from top to bottom, secretsof.com, superiorlabels.com, cucitoericamo.com, girlguides.ca.

and, and, and, and...

and then we....and also.... this is what this post is going to be like, rambly, shambly, all over the place. bit like myself at the moment! So, I warn you now there will be no linking of one random piece to another, because really I have several things to show and tell and no intelligent or witty way to present them, so you are stuck with this! (It is also because I have started this a few times and had no luck so now you just get the quick and dirty version).

My new dish cloth (starting with the elegant!). Purchased from my favourite soap shop, which is very frenchesque.
The artist is swedish illustrator Lotta Glave Why aren't more dish cloth's this pretty? Has my brain ticking over about the possibilities of printing designs on to the wettex, but not sure how to get them waterproof - any suggestions? And you should see some of the other beautiful things Lotta has designed - I would like one of these please. (my birthday is only a few weeks away - hint, hint!)

Anyway, next I found this fantastic photo taken by Miss L, when I was downloading the latest photo's.

It is of our grape vine which covers the next door neighbour's wall, and presents a stunning wall of green in summer and spring, beautiful reds and yellows in autumn, and bareness in winter. But this photo has made me look at it differently, for its own beauty.

And, I think I mentioned Mum being here, finishing wip's for me (three cheers for Mum). So, Miss L, myself and Mum headed up to Wangaratta during the week to check out the Stitched Up Festival. It's about a 3 hour drive from Melbourne, so we decided to stay a couple of nights, so we could also check out the surrounding area. Although the festival itself was small and quaint, it was nice to visit. I would however, recommend visiting the Bendigo Sheep and Wool show rather than trouping up to Wangaratta - but that is just my opinion. We browsed for a while, then sat by the fire and added a few rows to their scarf knitting challenge. I would love to show you pictures, but photos were not allowed. Shame. If you do find yourself in this part of Victoria though, there were also a couple of good fabric/yarn shops which helped to add some new goodies to my stash.
Also, at the festival Miss L and I paid $2 each for a lucky dip. I got a little paper bag of brightly coloured fabric, and Miss L scored a little bag of green hued wool. She was so excited about all the knitting she could now do, now she had her own wool, that I was coerced into buying some children's knitting needles. Below is a photo of her progress. Not bad for a 5 year old.
She has since pronounced that "now I can knit" and has shown no further interest in adding any more stitches. oh well! As it is still school holidays I guess there are just far too many other things to be doing.

And school holidays is still my excuse for not finishing much lately, but starting several new things, running out of time on some due dates like the Doll Quilt and really just enjoying the complete haphazardness of our days. I have managed to add a few new scrap bundles to the shop - vintage japanese silk and some hand dyed yarn from Marta's, but everything else is on a FWE timeline (finish when ever!). I have'nt forgotten about this month's giveaway either, and am currently assessing my craft books - the give away pile isn't nearly as high as I had hoped! Oh well.

eight is enough

My favourite Miss Homemaker tagged me, so here goes:

A. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.

B. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. When I was growing up Mum always folded our underwear, and taught us to too. So now I fold all of my family's underwear, I just have to. R thinks this is very funny and completely unnecessary.

2. About once a month I have to sharpen every pencil in the house. I hate blunt pencils - hate them. R recently wounded himself trying to reach for a pencil to take a phone message. That's how sharp they have to be!

3. I am the only one in the house who can put the teacups, mugs and glasses away correctly. They have a specific way of fitting together to fit in the small cupboard space and no one ever seems to get it right. Anal I know!

4. I can sleep anywhere, anytime, for any amount of time. I think I may have been a cat in a former life. (R made me include this one!!)

5. I bite my fingernails.

6. I go to the gym twice a week, for a work out with my trainer - I am still rather proud of this.

7. I get really antsy (and slightly grumpy) if I don't get to read some of my book(s) each day. (I am usually reading two or three books at one - currently they are Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral)

8. Miss L and I run late to school every day -every day. Usually it is my fault.

I asked R and Mum to help me with these - R's included things like, hates doing dishes, doesn't rinse out things for recycling, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Mum thought I should include the fact that "I buy everything on the spur of the moment". But like, yeah, so? I mean who doesn't? right?!

Anyway, I find this very hard to choose who has and hasn't done these things, especially since I am always way behind reading all my blogline entries, but taking a stab I'll say,
linda
kate
jo
tiel
kristen
leslie
tatania
kirsty

Phew!
We have just recovered from the sleep over party, which was a big hit and now we are onto a week of crafting and playing with Mum who is visiting this week. She is already finishing one of my knitting project's from last year - with much mumbling of 'very peculiar'!

scraps - literally!

The pleasure of using up odd ball's in my stash with beanie's knitted for charity and modelled by Miss L's teddies, and wiggly woo hat's (coming to my shop soon) while also continuing to add stripes to my scrappy scarf,
and enjoying the smell of rhubarb cooking - mmmm
after repairing tea party mishaps,
then having a little girl who was excited about having Dad home again.
But, starting to become nervous about having 5 little girls for a sleepover tomorrow night.....