our creative space.

putting the very last of the baby blanket squares together.

nearly time to put on the edge and get it alllllllllll finished up!

what are you today?

what's in the bag?

i have a bag. it's not the prettiest bag, but it's where i keep all of the things that i'm working on. and let me tell you, it's deceptively big...



it's holding a fair few projects inside at the moment.



peter rabbit cross-stitch, ready for a beautiful name and a date (that has already happened, bit slack on that one), a baby blanket in the works (which i'm trying to only use stash wool on, keep running out :s), a mess of double pointed needles (i think i'm slowly getting better with them...) and a beanie (mindless knitting project for when my brain is too busy to think!)

more details for you when each project is finished, promise!

no, thank you!

the lovely lea sent me a little package in the mail, to say thank you for her blankie (despite the fact she made a very generous donation and it was absolutely my pleasure!) and well i'm feeling VERY spoilt!


look at how lovely and lovingly everything is wrapped! brown paper, vintage patterns, wool, twine and even a yo-yo! i was in heaven before i even opened anything!




and well, then i did open everything! soooooo many gorgeous bits and pieces! vintage sheeting pieces, a huge variety of paper envelopes, cute gift-tags, a happy paper garland (it really does make me happy :D), a very pretty note-book (if only i had pretty words to fill it with :( ), lovely decorative tape AAAAAAAAND...



some wonderful fridge magnets. they got their own picture because they've been on our fridge since they came in the door! bb was beyond excited about them!

so thank you lea! such a thoughtful package full of gifts! i am beyond thrilled!!!

my creative space.

if you go into the bedroom today, you're sure of a big surprise.
if you go into the bedroom today, you probably won't believe your eyes.

for everywhere, all over this spread
there's wool galore all over the bed

for today's the day that nicole goes through her wool stash!

yup that's right, i'm spending a bit of time today, going through my wool stash, trying to coordinate some kind of unisex combination of wools to create something special. last time i knew i could use pinks so i went a bit crazy but this time, well it'll be a bit more of a challenge for me that's for sure!

more creative spaces can now be found here!

getting things done.

after spending last thursday working on getting a few things done, i did get some of those things completed.
my work on peter is done for the moment. i'm just waiting for a new baby to come along, with a nice new name and a date of birth, waiting very excitedly actually!
the present for baby number two has been planned, deconstructed and planned again. i'll probably be raiding my stash tomorrow for a more concise idea tomorrow...

and the wedding present, well i managed to finish that one off too, the morning of the wedding. i was really stressed about getting a nice finish on the box, i didn't want it to look tacky and horrible, which i thought would be hard when covering it with paper...



however i think i was a bit inspired by all the talk of quilting and binding that goes on twitter and such (@coleyann if you tweet, be warned, i tweet a LOT), and bound my box with some sweet ribbon i bought from the little crafty place near me.
the colours probably aren't perfect but i like it, and that's what counts right? (errrrrrrrrrrrr....?)
anywho, would you like to see what was inside?




packets of seeds! the bride and i had had a conversation in the past about how the lovely couple wanted to have a vegie garden together post-wedding. hopefully this gets them started :D
oh, and the ceremony? so gorgeous! not that it would be hard when you start with two such gorgeous people!
congratulations ben and jess! i hope the rest of your lives together are as beautiful and fun as your big day was!

a goodbye, a thank-you and a selfish gesture.

it was a very sad day for me last friday. you see, my lovely neighbour had sold her house, and friday was the unfortunate settlement day. i was very sad to see her go, as she was the best neighbour you could have, always up for a chat and a fellow crafter!
i made her up a little box as a happy housewarming present (excuse the terrible photo). she's an avid gardener and had mentioned to me that her new place had a garden, but it wasn't particularly exciting...



so in the box i popped some random potted colour pots from bunnings (one of them was lobelia, that was as far as my plant knowledge extended though) and some nice herbs for good measure.
she loved them!

also on friday last week, i received a little envelope in the letterbox. inside it was this bundle of loveliness,


from steph. the rectangle of vintage gorgeousness (with my initial EMBROIDERED on!!), is a tissue holder! sooooooo cute! needless to say i love it, and can't believe steph took the time to make something so beautiful! i'm almost afraid to use it as my bag is a bit like a tip at the moment (always).
thank YOU so much steph!

then yesterday, after work, i popped into the supermarket to get a couple of things, and thanks to a post-mothers day flower sale, managed to pick this up for myself,



for half-price! i'm not particularly into buying cut flowers because of their impermanence, and well your basically giving someone something that they're going to have to watch wither up and die... which makes these perfect for me, not only are there still flowers yet to come out on the plant, they're bulbs so i'll be able to enjoy them every year! huzzah! reusable gift to myself!

so that's what has been happening in these parts, what have you been up to?
did you have a good mother's day? i visited my mum for dinner and surprised her well and good as she didn't know i was coming, i like to think it made her day but i think she was happy to have the family all together having a meal together!

update.

so it's been a couple of days, but i haven't really been up to anything exciting...
i've been working on the wedding blanket constantly, but that's really about it!




it's growing and growing and growing! it's well over a third of the way done now, i just hope i can get it all finished up on time! many late nights in my future i think...
well i'm off to the city for the day (blankie in hand). my parents are in town for the night yippee!
hope the start of your week is going stupendously!

the book list.

yesterday, i read megan's book list idea and i signed up right away!



i'm really hoping that it gets me reading more. or any. i think i'm definitely missing the thrill of escaping into another world and i definitely have no shortage of books to read (i struggle to leave an op-shop without a second hand one AND i signed up to the local library last year).
in any case, i'll be posting about any books that i read i think, and they'll all be linked up in my sidebar too, well maybe, we'll see how technical i can get...
if you'd like to play along too, pop over and visit megan.



in other news, see how lonely and sad my ripple is there? it's oh so very close to being finished. SO very close.
but i'm a bit busy at the moment. with this...



lovely specimen.
it's inspired partly by lucy's blankie and the pattern is from here. it's destined to be a wedding present for my cousin, who is getting married on january 21st. i've definitely got my work cut out for me!!!

i'll be back tomorrow with a tinniegirl inspired new years list!

postal love.

as i mentioned before i was very VERY lucky to win alli's december giveaway and i received some more fabulous prizes in the mail recently! gosh i love mail!



i received the chandelier necklace from stuff you'll love and i do SO love it! however it's sparked much debate amongst myself, the boy and my friends. the boy and a couple of my friends think it's strange as it's asymmetrical but i love it just the way it is!



the postman also brought me this cute-as-a-button beret from lisa of goodknits. if you think this hat is cute, you should see how it was wrapped!



amazing!!! how lovely are her business cards too? and that doily deco? i put it straight on the christmas tree (which i should probably take down today...)

well i'm off, i've just started a new big blankie (no, ripple blankie isn't finished yet, i'm not good at finishing things ok?) and it has a very close due date, the third weekend in january. yes, i'm crazy but it's an easy and quick pattern i swear! should be back to share tomorrow :D
until then, enjoy today's public holiday and the first day of the 5th cricket test (BLEURGH!)

cute things come in small packages.

and boy this is a cute little note-book. aptly covered as well i think...



while i probably won't fill it with 'bloggers i've met and liked', i may fill it with ideas about my blog, future blog post ideas and the like.
it's just the perfect size to fit in my handbag so it'll always be close by if i have a spark of creativity. now if only i could find my good pen that used to live in my handbag too...


i love what was written on the back of the packaging.
"140 pages of unspoiled creativity"
well it most certainly is!!!
thanks brianna for such a lovely gift. i'll definitely have to thrift you more vintage chenille in the future :D

heirloom knits.

as i mentioned yesterday, i was VERY spoilt this christmas! and one of the fantastic gifts i received was this lovely book.


it was a gift from my boss no less. who says you can't have a good relationship with your boss ha ha?
i've been looking through it in any spare moments over christmas, and i think i've worked out my first project...



we so badly need a new bath mat, our old one is literally falling apart! hopefully this one will last a little longer, i'm pretty sure i bought the last one fairly recently, maybe last christmas. they don't make them like they used to :(



i've sussed the second project too. something a little bit pretty but a little less functional.
but sooooooooooo pretty!
they're going on the end of my very long to-do list... and i'm off to do some work on that list!
have a good wednesday!

season's greetings!

yes i'm a little late, yes it's closer to new years now but they don't call it the silly season for nothing!
i had VERY good intentions of getting a little blog time in on christmas eve, before i had to work and then drive the hour and a half to be with family but the boyfriend (along with his list of un-bought and non-wrapped presents) had other ideas for me. needless to say, all the christmas presents got wrapped (beautifully, i must say), i got to work on time and many happy family christmas times were had!
did you have a good christmas? did you indulge in ridiculous amounts of delicious food and equally delicious beverages? were you a good girl/boy and did you get lots of presents from santa?
i answer yes to all of those questions :D



look at the amazing presents i got from "santa"
by santa of course i mean my lovely friends and family!
it's going to be a very creative new years by the looks of it!



oh, and i managed to get those pesky stockings finished too. i think they turned out ok, and i think they had a fairly warm reception on christmas morning... (apologies for the interesting looking photo, iphone pictures with flash are WEIRD!)

i hope you all had a lovely and very merry christmas!

in the postbox.

a few weeks ago i won a little prize from clare's craftroom. one of her lovely patterns, and i was allowed to choose! after a bit of a think i chose one...
and it came in the post earlier in the week! i get ridiculously excited whenever i get mail that isn't a bill or a waste of paper from centrelink.


look how lovely clare wrapped it! the paper is really lovely. like the old lady i am, i opened it carefully and folded it up to use later.



but look what was inside! the cute pattern that i chose and clare wrote me a lovely card! she even included some spare coathangers. i plan to make lots of these cuties!now if only i can find my pesky machine foot (i've lost it, well it's been misplaced at least...)



i got even more excited after drooling over the pictures of the chocolate truffles on the front of the card, i turned it over and there was the recipe! i'll definitely be trying that one out!

thanks so much clare! you made my day!

inherited.

i recently inherited this obese little box of knitting needles from my nanna.
sooooo many different sizes and lengths!


so i spread them all out on the floor, and sorted them out into the different gauges. the different forms of measurement for the gauges had me a little confused, but a quick google-ing session, and the gauge meter on the other half of the broken box helped immensely ha ha!


soooo many different sizes and types, some circular needles, some double pointed, lots and lots and lots of little tiny thin plastic-y ones.

after spreading and then sorting, i filled up my knitting roll. i think i've got plenty in there now, it's SO full!
oh and can you see those lovely pink bobbly wooden ones?



they didn't actually come from my nanna, nor did they come from a shop. they were a lovely present, from jodie at the haby goddess. i feel a little guilty, she sent them to me a little while ago and i haven't shown them off yet!
thanks so much jodie! if you aren't already a follower of the haby goddess, you should definitely have a little, look-see. lots and lots of cute haberdashery type crafty things!

tuesday treasures.

yesterday i received a little present from my grandma. a pair of freshly knitted socks!
as long as i've known my grandma has always knitted socks, normally for her brothers and son-in-laws and just recently, me!


there's nothing quite as warm and snuggly as a pair of hand-knitted socks :D

maybe it's time for me to start learning?



i'm more than a little keen, but i think i should be finishing some blankets off first...
for more tuesday treasures, pop over to clare's craftroom.