Spinning a Yarn

We’ve just got back from the dog park a little wetter, tireder and most importantly cooler then we started. Today’s been a real scorcher!

This afternoon, in between bits of a project that’s not ready to be revealed yet, I pieced together all the squares from the garage sale and lay them out on the bed. This is the layout I came up with- I’m very pleased with the outcome.

The square with the red and whie in the middle is my favourite- I did a little free hand embroidery on it. I’ve been very inspired by two sets of colours in this quilt- the red and white and the classic blues.

After I sew all the squares together the hunt will be on for fabric for the back and binding, and possibly a border too, depending on dimensions. I think, due to the nature of the squares, a thrifted find is in order.

I will try and get a few of my other finds up in the next coule of days.

A while ago in ‘KnitWorld” I spotted this yarn. I though it would be perfect for my brother, he’s a hunter. (Warning: link is a little gory. He “stuck”, gutted and cooked this pig for my 18th birthday party. Sam’s the one on the right with the knife!)

I’m making a balaclava with a drawstring top so it can be worn around his neck too. I think the word scarf is not manly enough when you’re a hunter. He’s turing 18 this year- any thoughts on a 18 yo gift (crafted or otherwise) for a hunter??!!

Michael’s mum Marlyn is a little easier.

I’m planning a knitted chain, but we’ll see where it takes me.

This year I’m hoping to go all mostly handmade. Wish me luck- I may need it. (I’m sure etsy will come to my rescue, but even that requires a little forthought!

My camera is back!! So so happy, and so so much to share. This one deserves a post of its own.

A while back Melissa and I decided to do a bag swap. A couple of days after my camera was broken this amazing package arrived- how itchy I have been waiting to show you!

A beautiful bag

Which is destined to be my new work bag. (I haven’t used it yet beacuse I have a thing about waiting to use things and them being lucky, weird huh? It kinda sounds weird when I write it like that.)

Inside (along with two fantastic pockets and a loop to hang my keys off) was some yummy fabrics and vintage self cover buttons.

That’s right- square buttons!

They’re the newest! Fantastic.

Thanks again Melissa!

My camera is still in the shop.

“I’m sorry you were told two weeks, our turnaround time is 3 weeks.”

There has been crafting- mainly of the start a new project and not finish it variety.

There has been gathering of NZ into a parcel to send away.

There has been study. There should be much more study.

Lately I’ve been coveting one of these (Concentric circles, with addition of a pearl) Which I am going to buy for myself when these exams are over- 16 years of schooling deserves handmade jewellery right?

I am so so inspired by the redwork at this site, especially that quilt. Oh the last photo is beautiful.

We went to the museum. Michael is coveting obsidian. I am coveting this for him.

I have been doing some embroidery on the Laura Ashley patches. I’ve just printed off an alphabet for a sampler. I’m a little crazy.

The study is doing me in- so hard to stay focussed on the right now and needing to pass when the immediate future is so exciting.

Right back to the books. (Wouldn’t this make study much more enjoyable?)

Come Bake Along with Tasha and I!

(I can’t find the recipe for the only thing baking I’ve done recently that I have a photo of! Tasha please post something up!)

Family friends recently got back from an overseas holiday- 5 family members, a country each, an amazing adventure! It will take a long time for all the stories to come out- I suspect they never all will!

Jo had a gathering at her place last night for an unveiling of two goodies.

In her country of choice, Mongolia, they went on a yak trek, slept in yurts, ate the local food- the whole shebang. In the national department store, antique section, Jo found an amazing tin box full of all sorts of goodies, old knives, needles, awls, and a drop spindle, some camel fibre and a peice of camel fibre rope. It was eeire watching it all being unpacked and thinking about the people who had used the tools to make a home and maybe a living for themselves.

The second unveiling was more of a resurrection- a wheel raising! 2 years ago when Jo and Steve were in the States Jo tried out a whole range of wheels and found this Lendrum to be her dream wheel. They didn’t have any in stock, so it was ordered in, and has been sitting waiting for her ever since! (I think the particular store she bought it from only gets 12 a year!) Jo put it all together (unfolded it and screwed a few bits in) and got spinning. We were all (the two other fibrerheads anyway) itching for a turn and it was the smoothest ride ever! An absolutely beautiful wheel, and my next wheel will definately be a double treadle, it was so such a soothing rocking motion to spin with.

So when (and note, I don’t say if) we come to the states, you can be assured I will be setting aside a whole day to check out the merchandise!

On another, more food related, note, I made some yummy cupcakes to take- Lemon cupcake, with a lemon honey filling and lemon icing. Trust me when I say they were really good. I’ve been thinking about Tasha’s idea in the comments to have a bake-along, and have been thinking of setting it up on wordpress. Any interested parties? At the moment my vision is to have several pages with different genres- cakes, biscuits, slices, jams and jellies etc. When posting a recipie (in it’s correct page) it would be given the catergory of it’s recipe name. Other people who make the recipie can then post in the same catergory under it. Would be good to see changes other people make and how the recipe evolves. I think it would be fun to try out other peoples favourite recipe’s and hear the stories that go with them- who they got them from, occasions they make them for. Just wondering if there would be any interest out there for people to join in with this??

Today was the Opawa School garage sale. So.much.photographic.goodness!! (So sorry for the lack of photos!)

At opening I headed straight for the manchester section- snaffled up some embroidered linens, a tablecloth and a to die for sheet- it flashed at me as I rummaged through  box of sheets, and I hurried to pick it up, shooting glances over my shoulder to make sure no one else was eyeing it up! And then, the real paydirt- 92 17cm square squares of Laura Ashley patchwork fabrics- 2 of each. I’ve already sorted them into coordinating (mostly) pairs to make a quilt from. A good in between studying project to chip away at. (Becuase it’s study time again my friends….for the last time!)

Also scored was a couple of beautiful “Made in New Zealand” 100% wool, wool mark jerseys- to use the wool from or cut down or felt (oh the possibilities!) some clothes to use for fabric, and a linen/cotton tank to use the fiber out of.

In the kitchenwares department I got some great loaf tins- the kind that slide in and out to change size, a whole heap of enamel bowls and plates in assorted sizes, jars for the great pantry reorganisation that is coming, and a cooling rack- perfect timing for the batch of cupcakes I whipped up when I got home. What a hit. Their only job now is to survive the night whith two predators- the ants, and Michael!

…by the cupcake bug. On the recommendation of the Crafty Girls Michael and I went to the Cupcake Parlour today.

I came home to look up some recipes on the Cupcake Bakeshop Blog and we head to the supermarket tommorow.

Next I will need some of these.

(Camera update: could be a week away yet!)

The photos on my camera were all of this crafting I did about a week ago. I’ve been wanting to try out the flat marble magnets for a while. Boy is it addictive searching through a magazine and making these!

I’ve still got quite a few marbles left, but next time I will be trying to get some less shiny ones- it’s a bit hard to see the picture through them. Also some stronger magnets- I had some on the fridge holding up a shopping list and a gust of wind came through and blew the list off the fridge (read: need stronger magnets). Pedro ate one (my second favourite one) before I could get to him.

Pedro eats everything. Charcoal, sticks, the other day I found my new pen on the lawn, nib gone. It looked like he sucked out the ink. He dug up an entire potato patch and ate all the potatoes raw.

Ok, that got a bit random. Don’t mind me, I’ve only seen about a hundered things I need to photograph this week. And in case it’s not back in time, my ::black and orange:: this week is the last of the orange chocolate chip icecream melting off a spoon in the container. Please do me the favour of visualising it. Ta muchly.

Yeah so I’m struggling with this “blog break” a bit. Thing is I don’t need a break- I just need to take one! There has been much activity of the bloggable variety around these parts- headbands, a stencilled tee-shirt, a swap package arriving, new cotton yarn (two packages, one delivery!) a small lament about the lack of nice knitting needles in New Zealand.

You can understand why I rang up the photoshop and asked (if not slightly neurotically) when my camera was going to be ready. They only sent it away today.

So, some more photos of Pithy (as we have come to be very close.) This time Pithy is interacting with some Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It’s pretty cool becuase visibly on the plate the bactreia is inhibiting the fungal growth. (Ok, I get a little excitied in my microbiology class. But because I can’t show you all the cool things I’ve been doing, you are stuck with my fungi. Incidently the 2000 word report is due in a little under 2 weeks.)

The fungi is the long blue stringy thing, and the bacteria the blue dots. I’m excited because the blue dots are associating with some parts of the the fungus and not others. Maybe they are eating a secretion? Maybe they are paratisising the hyphae. Apparently it’s a PhD question. Who would have thought?

Tommorow: random photos which may be on my memory card, which I took out of the camera before I handed it over.

Right now, I’m off to swatch on some impossibly small needles, which I suspect they don’t make circulars in. Sigh.