Giant Motif Shawl

My last visit to Canberra to see my sister and her family lead me to do some crochet, mainly whilst travelling but also as a leisure activity. I made a huge dent in a chevron crochet blanket for my son. All the crocheting inspired the kids to make tomboys and huge strings of knitted ropes, which became mini rugs when sewn together. 

My niece inquired whether i could make a poncho for winter. (Of course I said yes but that was last year!) The colder months are now barrelling towards us with nothing on the hook until yesterday . I think that I spend such a huge amount of time actually looking for a pattern and then do nothing about it. Originally I was to make a poncho with owls in it, but the pattern I chose ended up not being suitable. Then she requested minty green colours but I can't find any in wool that is suitable (unless I go online and I tend to want to buy wool when I can see and feel it). 

So after all that I decided to take a completely different tack and utilize my abundant supply of grey wool with brights. An old Vogue Pattern had stuck in my mind and I  thought that this would make good use of multitude of colours.

It is a 1971 edition book printed in the USA. Vogue Guide To Crochet. Dig the hat

The shawl is made up of 5 blocks. Some of the instructions were a little hard to follow and the pictures are not particularly clear, so it was a little bit of trial and error. The white star was the first block I did and probably the hardest only because I was crocheting in English instead of American stitches. Silly me.
The five blocks below. I'm just sticking to a grey background with bursts of colour in the middle. I'm undecided if I will make this as the pattern states - as a shawl - or make it all in one, throw over the head style poncho and not bother with half triangles. Do I do tassels??  Plenty of time to think about that.

Homemade block stretcher.

I really do have to learn not to take my photographs at night! Crap photographer - but you get the idea!

Back to Hooky fun.

Doodle

Yesterday I went to Harbour Town - outlet shopping - to visit an art store that I know has ezy carve rubber blocks available,.. I'm planning to stamp some material for the chair I picked up off the street. Whilst there I visited Typo the paper store  and scrounged through the sale table for items to play with. I scored a black papered book for $2 (normally twenty) and then bought a couple of white and metallic gel pens to draw on the black paper. the white gel pens are disappointing and stopped drawing midline  The above picture started with the white pen but I over drew it with the bronze pen.

The gumnuts, below, was a quick draw and came out clearer.

Anzac Day - Australia 2013

On this Anzac Day , 26th April 2013, we honour and remember our heroes ... lest we forget

Finally - Hand Printed fabric Swap III

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Aussie Surf Titles 2013

 Gold Coast : Aussie Surf Lifesaving Titles 2013

You may have noticed that I disappeared for a few days. We went to the Gold Coast Queensland to watch my son Ben compete for his club Brighton at the Aussie surf titles. It was kind of a last minute decision to go and watch but we are very pleased we did. He won a Bronze medal with his mates in the ski team events for the under 17 age group! With 55 teams competing in that age group they did a grand job and definitely not to be snuffed at.
They were right characters on the beach, one of the mums having made them beach towel throw overs in the form of animals, my son the owl, Josh the duck and Will the penguin. Ben actually wore his back on the airplane as part of a bet that if they got in the first five for ski event then he would would wear it home on the plane.
The above photos are of the activity in the under 17 area. Plenty of bodies around and lots of craft. The red caps are the Brighton boys. They all have to wear high visibility vest since the death of the young competitors over the last few years. Makes you appreciate the up and coming youth of Australia and our Iron men to be in the making. Wonderful effort by all competitors

Winners are grinners. A Bronze medal for Ben Will and Josh (1st photo)

We were very fortunate with the weather whilst away, many of the locals saying that we had the best of summer. We drank lots of coffees and lattes from starbucks, a shop just being across the road from the apartment. Got to watch lovely sunrises from the apartment building. Long walks into Surfers Paradise and dress shopping for Jordy. Picture 7 is a view across the road on the Aria building, a  poster by Claire Bridges : After the Bath. I really enjoyed looking at it from  the balcony. The last 2 photos (above) are taken at Snapper Rocks near Coolangatta  People attach locks to the fencing to commemorate death  or marriage at the Captain Cook Lookout.

 1. Gelati to eat, mm... coconut flavour won my attention. 2. The Pool below 3. Brother and sister enjoy the win 4. 5. 6. Snapper Rocks 7. Dragon at Snapper Rock 8. Captain Cook Lookout with David and his Dad 9. Proud Father 10. Snapper Rocks 11. Evening sky - wavy 12. Highrise

Koalas on the Gold Coast and one slow moving turtle!
Glad to be home but had a great time. Got a tan and an empty bank account!

Summer Colours Cushion

Tangerine,hot pink, red and yellow - obviously colours I favour at the moment  ! My finished Sarah London Summer Crush. Sarah made a cot quilt with cream background but that big reel of grey screamed out use me!  16 squares of  color to brighten your day. Its a really heavy piece of pure wool.

 The backing is a big granny square

 And I've sewn in a zipper so the cover can be washed.

Going Ape

Love my daughter she's the best in her monkey pose. Such a willing participant to be photographed and doesn't mind acting up or going ape! Just striking a pose to display my chimpanzee tshirt - godizilla eat your heart out. She is a good sport.

Calypso Rose

I've had stored in my cupboard for some time packets of coloured clay and leather strapping. I bought a lot of it at Christmas time and then again when Spotlight gave me some vouchers to spend in store, so not having any particular project in mind I bought a collection of colours that appealed to me.
I obviously like the tangerine colours and the hot brights of summer, watermelon , tangerine and hot pinks - just delicious!

The same necklace taken without flash with flash and then on a different background - anyway you look at it they are really fresh!

And some cooler colours but still a lovely pop of colour

 The roses took a while to form and needed securing to ensure you could see the rose when hanging on the necklace.  Each necklace has an opening clasp but it fits easily over my big head and sits on my scoop neck t shirt neckline

 I'll pop the ones that are complete up for sale in the shop. Did you notice that I opened. I have to work on a few things to iron out teething problems and get a little organized but I should start to fill it up in the coming weeks with a variety of items and not all jewellery- some printed items and sewn goodies too! I'll even try a couple of t shirts but sourcing the t shirt itself is a little difficult so there may only be a few.!

Fan Stamp

Yesterday I started to make plans for a new stamp.

I wanted to produce a fan shape that would fit in rows and also be able to print a circle or repeat pattern with, (something like below.)

I've abandoned the idea of the zigzag line through the fan shape for the moment, at least until I can perfect the shape of the fan first and opted for plant life. It was just too hard to get the spacing right.  After meandering through some of my old pages I was quite taken by an ink drawing and thought it would lend itself to being carved in a stamp block.

And this is what I came up with. My curve is not quite right , it was right when I drew it but somewhere in the carving process my curve became very slightly off, so maybe I will have to chip a little off and try to improve the curve or just start again. Starting again will have to wait until I have more rubber blocks to carve.

That little effort took me all afternoon to do! And my stamping ink isn't very evenly spread as I used a sponge but as an overall effect it is quite pleasing to the eye. Still have to produce the leaf stamp and trial it together with the fan shape....always tomorrow because I dont have to go to work... yeh!!!!

Designing a new stamp

I really love the shape of the fan and am partial to circular shapes. I nearly always doodle in circles and add leaves and vine as I doodle. I do this particularly whilst listening to handover at work, you will find my hand stray to the edges of my sheet and fill in the white voids with pattern. Just amusing my hand whilst my mind focuses on the job at hand!

Today, whilst waiting for Jordana to complete her Maui board training with her surf life saving group, I sat down at the club coffee shop with my sketch book, pens and pencils and my Kaffe Fassett quilt book - Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts.(and ordered a large ice coffee).

1.sea urchin by monique'smess 2.3.4. Kaffe Fassett patterrn  5. Water & Sewage man hole 6.Kaffe Fassett inspiration 7.working on my pattern 8.Kaffe Fassett inspiration 9. linoprint by me

 I'm sure I must provide some amusement to all the beach goers as I spread myself out at the table underneath the umbrella and draw, rub and cut out shapes trying to find the perfect curve, adjusting a line and experimenting with pattern.
I was trying to design a shape that could be layered one on top of another to form  multiple fan shapes and then in another pattern fit in a square with leaves and form a circle.

I have also been out walking in the OHallaran Hill Reserve and photographed the golden light and colour.
The light was very sun drenched as the sun prepared to tuck away for the night bouncing the last rays for the day giving a spectacular display. Don't you just love thistles? Purple or dried they are spectacular plants, strong and bold limbs and  leaves but soft and gentle looking crowns. They make a statement wherever you find them.

Orange bugs on threaded pompoms!

 Even the greys spoke loudly in these gumnuts..