made | neat little wristlets

I am loving these neat little fabric bracelets. I based them on the pattern made by jchandmade's tutorial found free on her blog, changing the shape and the method that they are buttoned together, by using hand-sewn loops rather than hair tie elastic. :) You can find a neat tutorial on how to sew button loops on the ysolda blog.

The one I am wearing in the photograph was made out of an old linen teatowel that little miss flossy sent me last year. It was super scary to cut into, but I've decided these little wristlets are a great way to show off and use your favourite fabric. The fabric is not much use hiding away in piles in my craft room!!

As a sideline, I discovered it is very difficult to try and take photographs of your own wrist... The little fabric wristlet is so much better in person, believe me! :)

What do you think?! Cool or not?

love | lisa hannigan...

again, but differently...



I love pop-up books, don't you?!

I'm also thinking Lisa Hannigan just may be my new favourite artist! Her website looks totally crafty and super awesome - I just may need a copy of sea sew now!!

EEEEK! Chickens in the house!

I was busy updating the blog, when I turned around to find the dog inside (should've been outside!) and then heard clucking coming from the hallway!

Aaargh! Chickens inside!!!

Our chooks are free-range but not so free-range that they're allowed inside! I now have a fair bit of poop to clean up off the carpet!!! Grrrr! Funny though!!

made | lots of cards for the shop

I hate to drive...

but I love google and the internet!

Look what I found...

when I was thinking about how much I hate to drive after this mornings trip to school.

I sometimes wonder why we decided to put our girls into a little country school when I have to drive there and back, twice a day. Cos, I HATE TO DRIVE!

Need to move closer to their school!

Postscript;
And, yes, this means SCHOOLS BACK! :)

Not sure what to do with myself, now that they're back doing what they're good at. Last night, Briahna begged me to homeschool her again! I homeschooled them for FOUR years, and they've been at school now for almost two years. Does she think I'm a sucker for punishment?! ? Actually, those four years were some of the best years of my life. I got to know my girls really well during the best hours of the day! But I don't think I'll be wanting to give up my crafting days and ways to school them anytime soon...

This week will be interesting and restful as Aimee has respite on both Tuesday and Friday, which means I'll be getting a well-deserved break! In fact, we are heading into relaxing May, with two retreat's planned for ME! and three respite days for Aimee. God is good, because I really need some treat me well time! I'm sure it's He who organised this coming month as I only just put two and two together and figured out the respite times last night, I'd been looking at just March/April and May/June as seperate letters, and not together as April/May! LOL :)

look!

what arrived in my postbox yesterday!

Yep, my membership to Brown Owl's is official!  HEHEHE!  I only wish that I could attend meetings, which is a bit hard since there are none in New Zealand...

So, I'm a little faraway brown owl as lonely as can be...

Anzac Day!

Today is Anzac Day here in NZ and in Australia!

From Wikipedia: Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.^[1] The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand.^[2] This is a rare instance of two sovereign countries not only sharing the same national day, but making reference to both countries in its name.

Having a quiet day at home with the girls.  We've lost one but gained another, as Aimee is at respite and Briahna has her best friend over for a sleep-over!  Quiet is not really a word I should be using for the day though, but at least it's all happy noise.  Let me tell you, 9 year old girl's sure can talk and GIGGLE! :)

Favourite things Friday...

About a month ago, one of my favourite bloggy friends sent me these sweet charms made by resinator.!

 

 

Thanks Marion!  I love them very much...

fun needlework...

I'm loving doing needlework lately, and it seems the bug has also been caught by my wonderful 12 year old daughter too...

my little toadstools... transfer from a 1970's woman's magazine

Hope's little toadstools... transfer from a 1970's woman's magazine

rainbow cat... my own creation!

Enjoying the simple things and the holidays, which will quickly be over. It's back to school on Monday! :(

repurposed | cute yarn holder

This is something that's been sitting in my brain for a while, just waiting to come out...

Cute Puppy Yarn Holder

closed and ready to use...

a little something I added at the last minute...

and to prove that cat's LOVE craft!

or at least cat's always turn up when it's photo time!!!

What do you think?

I used an old cadbury drinking chocolate tin inside so that it would keep it's shape - great re-use! :D

I am LOVING making crafts with what I have on hand, it's fun figuring out what you can make with stuff that's lying around!

Off to do some holiday stamping with the girls now - FUN, Fun, fun! :)

visit to the dietician...

We've just come back from visiting the dietician for Briahna. She basically agreed with what we are doing with her diet and gave me some interesting websites to check out, so I thought I'd post them here in case any of you were interested too!

We will probably need to do some more investigation into whether or not Briahna is allergic/intolerant to chocolate as at easter she threw up major time after having a dairy free/gluten free easter egg! :( This means a little bit of a bland diet for a few weeks and then testing by introducing a small amount and waiting for a reaction.

Anyway, here are the websites;

http://www.allergy.org.nz
http://www.actagainstallergy.co.nz
http://www.mfd.co.nz
http://www.allergy.org.au
http://www.aaaai.org
http://www.foodallergy.org

I am really impressed with the manufactured foods database, and need to take a better look at that one!

The joys of allergies, at least Briahna doesn't go into anaphylactic shock!

Trust you're all having a great day!! :)

inspired jean refashion | sewfunky rendition...

loving the details...

denim & chenille go great together!!!

Never mind, the bad photoshopping skills, what do you think?

refashion | bag from dress...

Not sure how it'll work due to the small neck/handles, but I loved this little woollen dress and the embellishments that were on it, so I thought I'd give it a try!

good times...

organising all my buttons with a friend...

and watching her daughter and mine dance the day away...

Arty Shots by Bree... (age 9)

Favourite things Friday...

is back!

Today, my favourite thing is yummy Dilmah Earl Grey Tea and hot toasted cinnamon raisin bagel's for breakfast!

I love, love, love this cute wee teacup, saucer, plate set that my good friend Cathy gave me for my birthday last year!  Most of the time it stays put in the china cabinet, but today it came out to play! :D

I think we need to relish and use more of our favourite things, no point having them cooped up, unused in the china cabinet, eh!

inspired jean refashion | A & B is for...

Briahna & Aimee...


Yay, I finished making some more of these great door bags today!
Now, Aimee & Briahna don't have to be jealous of Hope!!!

awesome papercutting on a music vid!

Lisa Hannigan | I don't know

as found on Craftzine.

inspired jean refashion | H is for Hope...

This was inspired by the little tote bags that Kristy, of Paisley Jade fame, made recently!

I now have three others in the process of being made! :)

Maybe, I've got my crafting mojo back?!!

Unfortunately, my photography skills suck bigtime!
I'll try and get Mr Sew-Funky to take a better one... ;)

BIFF! BAM! BOOM!

Decluttering can be fun! 

I was a little inspired this morning and came up with a way that my thoroughly cluttered mind could cope with a little physical decluttering...  I've always been of the opinion that, a cluttered house generally equals a cluttered mind and vice versa, so I'm thinking that that must mean my mind is almost beyond help ;).

I've only just begun the road to decluttering and simplifying, but today was thoroughly satisfying as I motored through my bedroom with three boxes in tow!! 

The BIFF box is now empty, and the rubbish is on the side of the road ready for collection.  I love Wednesday's as that is rubbish day! :)

The BAM box is still waiting for me to put it's contents away.  It is surprisingly emptier than I thought it'd be.

And the BOOM box is ready for me to take on down to my local oppy, probably most of the stuff was purchased there at some point or another.  Scary really as there was a huge rubbish sack of clothes and a box of books to go.  So that makes 3 boxes of junk decluttered away, only 96 more to go Mr Sew Funky! ;)

I think this easter weekend I might even get the kid's in on the declutter bug and get them to go through their bedrooms.  I'm loving how simple the three box method is!!

one of these things is not like the others...

one of these things is not quite the same...



Hehehe, do you remember that from Sesame Street?? It was one of my favourite sections, that and the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 one...




Anyway, a bit of a trek down memory lane and you get 4 neat little spring magnets, made from singleton buttons, one not quite the same! ;)

Make's me feel all springy inside! (even if it is autumn here!!!)

I am going to be making some of these for my etsy store, so if you're interested in some neat magnets for your fridge keep an eye out! :)

Decluttering...

Even if we are actually heading into autumn, I'm feeling just a little bit of spring cleaning coming on! I guess having the clocks slip back has helped this feeling along, nothing like an extra hour of sleep in the morning. :)

Today, we decided to get rid of a big pile of books that've been collecting dust in the hallway and condensing two bookshelves into one. Woohoo!

nothing but dust remains...

We dropped them off to the local hospice shop as soon as they were in the box, so that we (namely, I!) couldn't have second thoughts about getting rid of them.

I don't like clutter, but, unfortunately, it seems to like me a whole lot. I think this is because I'm a sucker for a bargain, and for the idea that I might need something one day...

It's nice to be one box down! There are about 10 more boxes to go (if not more)!

Cloth of the month | April 2009

Instructions:
Cast on 15 stitches using 5 or 6mm needles, using 2 strands of cotton yarn. I like to use an 8ply cotton yarn with a finger weight crochet cotton yarn.

This cloth is made up of 4 wedges, all exactly the same. Then the edge is sewn together, the threads are sewn in and the cloth is complete. :)

Every wedge:
Row 1: M1 (by knitting into the front and back of the first stitch) K across to last st, turn.
Row 2: K across row.
Row 3: M1, K across to last 2 sts, turn.
Row 4: K across row.
Row 5: M1, K across to last 3 sts, turn.
Row 6: K across row.
Row 7: M1, K across to last 4 sts, turn.
Row 8: K across row.
Row 9: M1, K across to last 5 sts, turn.
Row 10: K across row.
Row 11: M1, K across to last 6 sts, turn.
Row 12: K across row.
Row 13: M1, K across to last 7 sts, turn.
Row 14: K across row.
Row 15: M1, K across to last 8 sts, turn.
Row 16: K across row.
Row 17: M1, K across to last 9 sts, turn.
Row 18: K across row.
Row 19: M1, K across to last 10 sts, turn.
Row 20: K across row.
Row 21: M1, K across to last 11 sts, turn.
Row 22: K across row.
Row 23: M1, K across to last 12 sts, turn.
Row 24: K across row.
Row 25: K2tog, K across to last 11 sts, turn.
Row 26: K across row.
Row 27: K2tog, K across to last 10 sts, turn.
Row 28: K across row.
Row 29: K2tog, K across to last 9 sts, turn.
Row 30: K across row.
Row 31: K2tog, K across to last 8 sts, turn.
Row 32: K across row.
Row 33: K2tog, K across to last 7 sts, turn.
Row 34: K across row.
Row 35: K2tog, K across to last 6 sts, turn.
Row 36: K across row.
Row 37: K2tog, K across to last 5 sts, turn.
Row 38: K across row.
Row 39: K2tog, K across to last 4 sts, turn.
Row 40: K across row.
Row 41: K2tog, K across to last 3 sts, turn.
Row 42: K across row.
Row 43: K2tog, K across to last 2 sts, turn.
Row 44: K across row.
Row 45: K2tog, K across to last 1 sts, turn.
Row 46: K across row.

Begin at row 1 again if making another wedge or cast off the 15 stitches you have left on your needles. :)

For easy printing, I know how hard it can be to print from a blog, go here to download this pattern as a PDF file. :) Free Dishcloth Patterns from sew-funky.blogspot.com.

© SewFunky 2009
http://sew-funky.blogspot.com
etsy store: sewfunkynz.etsy.com

just a little more creativity...

Some little gifts for a special 18 year old I know - Hi Rebecca! 

a little bit of dressmaking...

I'm not really one for dressmaking much, but yesterday I felt inspired after looking trhough a topkids magazine.

I made this cute little apron/dress/top for Briahna.  It was really an experiment to see if I liked the style on her, and I might make it again with some nicer corduroy. :)  Also, believe me this is one item of clothing that looks better on than on a hanger!

And then this morning I designed my own little pinafore for my, soon to be one year old, neice.  I based it on a pattern in the topkids magazine, but changed it completely!  Theirs was made with quilted nylon, had pockets, and was really ugly!!  I like how mine turned out!

What do you think?