last minute christmas pressie...

dishcloth's for friend's and family

I have been extra busy making these last minute gift's (we leave for our hol's tomorrow).


* Knit one dishcloth, using this pattern, and red/white wool.

* Print gift card's (available here). Message says, "A little something for after Christmas Dinner."

* Add 2 miniature candy canes - I got mine from K Mart.

* Place all of the above in a bag, tied up with curling ribbon, and you have yourself a great, quick, and easy gift.

I spent this morning sewing...

a skirt.

Which isn't in of itself that eventful, except that I haven't sewed a skirt in many years (think intermediate school) and I have so many other things I should be doing!

I got the pattern from the local sallies on last week's thrifting session with Rebekah. What a great find - 50c and complete!

I say to myself, whilst thinking about everything else I should be doing - "You need another skirt, Dee, especially a nice cool one for the summer holiday's". Who am I kidding?

Anyway, I made it out of some nice navy linen that I bought last year, since that project wasn't gonna happen, it was perfect! Except for the crease factor in linen - I hate ironing!!!

longies; completed

longies done! On their way to you soon Rebekah...

longies; sewing up

My sister, Rebekah, has just been to stay, and she requested that I knit some longies for Mo. So here they are in the process of sewing up the seams, which is actually the part that I HATE... I hate the tedium and fiddley-ness of it all. Still they will be great finished.

Longies are great for when you use cloth nappies. Most baby clothes are made for disposables but if you want to save money and the planet, cloth are the way to go! Also, who wants all those chemicals against baby's cute little bottom?

You can get the pattern for free from here, and I promise to post a picture of them finished later today or tomorrow!

it's a wrap...

teacher's gift's wrapped = check

on the fifth day of christmas...

my true love gave to me,
five crafty stockings...
la la la la,
and a partridge in a pear tree!

These are the new read family stockings. Not overly "christmas", cos' I'm kinda over the green holly and red berry thing - so OVER that!

I'm proud of them. I used button's from my rather large untouched stash. I have loved buttons ever since I was a little girl and played with my Grandma's huge jar of them. Now, I am older but I still love running my fingers through them, and I was lucky enough to get her stash when she died - no one else wanted them. Go figure!

I have such a button fetish, that when I finished these stockings, my wonderful husband asked if I was going to remove the buttons off them after Christmas! LOL!

They were super easy to make.

I drew a template, grabbed some old Levi's and chopped them out, using the double stitched side seam as the back. I sewed them up, wrong side out. Pulled them the right way out. Sewed some bias binding in family member's favourite colour's to cover the top edge. Chose matching button's out of my collection (actually I got my daughter to do this part!). Sewed the button's on and Wa-la (how do you spell that word?) they were completed!!!

Now, my task is to fill them with goodies for Christmas Morning!

my wonderful hubby!

Hope's Notebook & Pencil Holder

Aimee's Notebook & Pencil Holder

Briahna's Notebook & Pencil Holder

the last knit

Teacher's Gifts; Dishcloth's & Scrubby's

I have made an awful lot of dishcloths since October when I first discovered their usefulness. Firstly, they use up all the odd balls of wool in my stash, and secondly, they are better than bought cloths.

This pattern can be found here.

Massimo's Cat

My gorgeous nephew is coming to stay on Thursday. I made him this about a month ago. It's one of the first softies I ever made. So so cute, and I hope it will become a well loved cuddly toy.

Ashlee's Notebook & Pencil Holder

I made this one for Ashlee, who is 11 years old.

Once again, the tutorial can be found at One Red Robin.

Jaymee's Notebook & Pencil Holder

I made this for 4 year old Jaymee.

The tutorial can be found at One Red Robin. Huge kudos to her for the fantastic idea!!!

some christmas home made fun...

This year I am trying to make christmas a nearly all hand-made one. I've been using bits from my stash and had a whole heap of fun...

The next few posts will be pic's of what I've been up to (or at least some of what I've been up to - don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone ;) )