Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Crochet

It is now 3:43pm on Christmas Eve and I have just finished my last handmade gift...finally!!!! I feel safe to put this gift up on my blog because it is for my mum and she wouldn't know how to get on my blog - computers aren't a huge part of her life!

Here are some pics....


One side of the top has long tails that are meant to do up in a bow..just adds a little interest and prettiness to the top...

As you can see it needs to be worn with a singlet or camisole underneath...I added the beads for the photos...I think it would look really cute with a little skirt or even jeans...

The edges are all completed with 4 rows of double crochet - I think it finishes it off nicely..


I am hoping it fits (I am sure it will!) and most of all that she likes it.

This will probably be the last post for 2 weeks as it is holiday time!!!! If I get some great pics on hols, I may pop in, otherwise I will be using the time to rest, relax, and also create some new ideas I have been waiting to do all year!!
Have a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours - enjoy the day and the memories it makes.

Ciao
Bella
xxx

Christmas Sewing

Over the last few years I have become a last-minute girl. Not in all areas of life - most things I am sickeningly organised - but when it comes to hand making gifts for people, I often over-estimate how much time I have and grossly underestimate how much I have to do!
It's almost Christmas Eve ( a mere few hours away) and I have a crochet top still to seam but I HAVE FINISHED cute little outfits for the beautiful little ladies in my life - aka my nieces....
I decided to make patchwork skirts and matching tops for them - comfortable to play in but pretty enough to be more than a nomal outfit. I wanted them to have something different and handmade is the only way to ensure that they have something beautiful and they don't look like every other 3 year old dressed like Dora (no offense Dora!)
Enough chatting, here we go!


Vintage crochet peice topped with a crochet dusty pink flower...

4 pretty skirts for 4 pretty girls....

Matching top and skirt for 6 year old...

"Cherry" themed outfit for 2 year old...

I love these colours...prettiness for the 1 year old...

Pretty purples and paisley for the 3 year old....

pretty fabric rose...


That's it for now....hubs is practically breathing down my neck waiting for his turn with the laptop (hehe). I will endeavour to get shots of the girls in their outfits over Christmas cause these photos just don't do them justice!!!

Have a blessed and Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Ciao
Bella
xxx




Sunday, December 18, 2011

Christmas Creating...

Hi friends!  It's now 1 week till Christmas! One week! I don't know where the time has gone this year. Sprouted wings and flown away I think! Anyway, I am fairly ready for Christmas apart from having to buy one more gift and finish crocheting another. I am very ready for some holidays and relax time, a chance to just stop and not have to be anywhere and do anything I don't feel like doing. It will be bliss!

This week I finished off a very cute present for my Nan and I am hoping she will love it....Here we go....



I used a pattern I found in the American magazine "Crochet Today". It was fairly simple, using the classic "granny square" and then joining together...

It was fairly easy to create the needed spaces for the handle and spout by measuring it against the teapot as I joined it together...


The top is made up of eyelets and then simply thread through some pretty lace or ribbon and you are good to go!

I also decided to decorate a wreath for our front door. I was really disappoined that I couldn't find a plain wreath (no leaves or anything) so that I could start from the ground up and make one. I searched EVERYWHERE and couldn't find what I wanted. I ended up only being able to get a greenery wreath so I made do....




A bunch of simple crocheted flowers, hot glue gun to the wreath and add a bow....so simple!!!

I will have one more "handmade Christmas" post before the big day! Super cute outfits for the little ladies...you will love I'm sure...

Have a brilliant week! (4.5 days of work to go....who's counting????)
Ciao
Bella
xxx

Saturday, December 10, 2011

A Very Vintage Weekend....

Hello dear friends! This weekend feels like we shoud be living in the tropics - thunder stoms, rain, high humidity and weather that can't seem to make up it's mind! Nevertheless, it's been a lovely weekend here in our house. Hubs and I went "thrifting" yesterday and I came back with sooooo many goodies! Mainly vintage material, pattern books and lots of ideas for future projects which I hope to get done in the new year. I stumbled across a gold mine in a shop called the "Retro Wombat" - metres and metres of amazing vintage fabric in beautiful condition at a total steal!! I left sooo happy with ideas dancing across my mind that stayed with me as a I dreamt about all sorts of random ideas and patterns...the mind will do as it wills! hehe.

Anyway, I have a few things to show you today....

Hubs came home this morning with this AWESOME vintage tea trolley he found for FREE!!! I immediately claimed as my "project trolley". It can sit in the corner of the loungeroom and hold all my needles, hook, notions and current crochet/knit/sewing projects. It will get it all off the coffee table and keep it looking organised and cute as well!

It's gaudy and retro and I love it!

It's in pretty good condition. The pattern takes me back to my childhood!

I also finished off a cute little robot friend today....

He isn't my best work to be honest, I was having trouble with my machine but he's not too bad for a first go. I was one of the patterns that needed to be assembled with mathematical thinking and lord knows I am no go at that! (think cubes and three dimensional shapes....ugh!)

I think he looks so friendly and cuddly (he is stuffed with soft toy filling). Fairly easy to work with but I would like to try it with 100% wool felt rather than the 30% wool felt I used.

The pattern calls for felt balls on the top o the robot for his "controls" but since I am stingy and wasn't about to shell out $7 for 5 felt balls and didn't have time to make any, coloured pom poms had to do. I didn't mind them actually as I think they are nicer to touch for a little set of hands anyway!

Now, a little clue as to next week's post.....can you guess what it will be???


How is your Christmas shopping going? I have hardly been to the shops to be honest, I have chosen to make a fair few of my gifts this year and apart from a few trips to my favourite sewing shops, I haven't had to venture far from my own lounge room. Bliss I say! A few of my favourit blogs have lots of posts about going handmade this year...for one of them check this out: Maybe Matilda

Also, before I forget, the robot pattern is from a great toy making book called "hop, skip, jump"by Fiona Dalton. I bought it at my local bookstore - I am guessing Amazon and most online places would have it too.

Two week till Chistmas! Yay!!!!

Ciao
Bella
xxxx






Sunday, December 4, 2011

A New Twist on a Old Fashioned Item...

I have recently been on a bender of buying retro/vintage sewing patterns...Yep I love 'em! One of the patterns I bought had a really cut head scarf for girls aged 2-10. I decided to whip one up but as soon as I started I knew there was going to be no "whipping" - it was tedious and time consuming and required far too much work for such a small item. This is the one time I actually preferred a more "modern" approach and decided to go with a tutorial for head scarfs I saw on a blog ages ago (sorry I can't remember which blog, I only remember it roughly and had the idea "roughly" in my head!)

Anyway, the method I used was soooooo simple (think making 4 of them in 20 minutes - yep that easy!). The colour combinations are limitless and you can add as much frill and frippery as you like, or none at all if that is your fancy.
I made a combination of different sizes and it allows you to use different colours of fabric as the scarf is meant to be reversible - that is, you can wear it either way (duh!)

I used my uber cute niece Marlee as my model and managed to catch a few shots when she wasn't running, climbing, jumping or trying to take the camera off me so she could take a "pitcher" (aka picture!)







Perfect for running and playing, to keep hair out of eyes and to keep you at the top ranks of cutest kid in the playground. For real.

This week is going to be mega busy! I have hubs sick with man flu (let's not even begin to discuss!), busy week at work and the rest of the silly season's events! Deep breaths everyone!

Have a brilliant week. Make sure you stand under some holly and get a big smooch! What else is that green stuff good for???

Ciao
Bella
xx