A Bunny Diversion

  

  

This is the bit of sewing I did at the weekend.  The sweet little bunny's name is Thistle.  She is from the book Little Traveller by Simone Gooding.  And yes, that is a parsnip in her bag.  Thistle is approximately 40cm tall to the top of her ears.

Mum & Dad's Rose Bush

  

A drive to Moe yesterday, lunch with my brother and his wife, and picked up a very large rose bush.  The cemetery where Mum and Dad are buried are refurbishing their gardens and we were asked if we would like our parent's rose.  Wasn't expecting such a large tree.  It is in need of some TLC and hopefully it will bounce back after it's move. Thank you David and Treen.  Bit of rain on the way back to Melbourne, rather dramatic sky when we pulled out of The Spud Shed in Trafalgar.

Clamping Scissors or Haemostats

  

I bought the purple pair a few years ago and the silver ones in Geelong the other week.  They are a great tool for turning small pieces inside out, also for surfing said pieces. The rounded top is helpful to push into corners to properly turn them out. You can push the stuffing into the small points and the haemostats easily come out to push some more in.  A very useful tool.

Bit of Sewing

The teeny tiny people are finished.  They are part of a larger project, but before getting started on the rest of that, having a slight diversion with the sewing machine.

Teeny Tiny People Update

Nearly done.  Just making their security passes so they can get to work.

A Reflective Reindeer

  

  

This little reindeer was made using a reflective thread by Dairing with the yarn.  It has been really difficult to photograph the effect.  The first photo is how it looks without light shining on him.  In the second photo you can see the cone of thread behind the reindeer, this is with my usual work light shining on them.  The third photo is using the flash on the camera.  And the last photo is with the reindeer at a distance from the work light.  You can see the thread interweaving with the crochet stitch and the antlers are wrapped only in the reflective thread.

Mum's Cookbook

  



I don't know what made be think of this book yesterday, but I got it out and had a flip through.  Mum brought it with her from Scotland when she migrated in the 1950's.  There are several worn, torn and well thumbed pages.  I used to cook from it when I was a kid and learning.  Yesterday I made Date Scones.

Duncan

I am still working on the teeny tiny people, a slow process, so here is something I worked on last year.  This is Duncan, one of Stephanie's sons and he works in Can Do Books with his parents.  I made dolls of Duncan, Stephanie, Paul and the two dogs to put in the window to announce the shop moving.  I took quite a lot of photos of the dolls as I was making them, as you could imagine, and I always liked this silhouette.

Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show

  

  

Yesterday Piers and I went on a lovely country drive to Bendigo for the Show.  This sheep looked like it was asking us to take them home.  Came home with a small pile of goodies:  something to spin, something to knit and something to read.

Houses on a Wrapped Ball

  

This was made in 2013 and was the first of many houses embroidered onto a wrapped ball.  The ball is weighted so it always sits upright and measures about 10cm tall.  I haven't made one in a long time, but keep getting reminded of them when they pop up on the screen saver.

Old Typewriter

This old typewriter was in the antique shop I was visiting in Geelong last weekend.  Just like the ones I learned to touch type on at school many years ago.  Except our ones had all the keys painted out, but not the numbers.  There was a poster on the wall to show which key was which.  I became a good typer, a skill I still use today.  But I have to say new keyboards are much nicer to use, and no ribbons, ink on fingers, stuck keys you have to flick back, or the manual push for the next line.  I do remember the old clicky clack nose was quite nice.

More Dyeing

This dye pot started out using one of the native plants in our garden.  I was curious to see how much colour I could get from the flowers.  There was a little bit of colour, but once I put the yarn, ric rac and crochet cotton in, they didn't take up much colour.  So I sprinkled in some commercial dye that I had, called Sturt Desert Pea.  Clearly the yarn sucked up all the colour, but loving the results, lighter coral shade and a rich vibrant orange.

Teeny Tiny People Update

Some of them now have heads.

Lichen Dyeing Update

It's nearly a month since I put the lichen from Hearn's Hobbies into the jar of ammonia (I did swap the three jars into one large one) and put it out into the garage.  There has been no change at all.  I think that means the lichen has been treated to be able to be imported into Australia, a good thing for our environment, not so good for dyeing prospects.  The small jar is the lichen from Maria.  It turned to this dark colour immediately, so I have high hopes for this producing a very good dye bath in a couple of months.  The colour is supposed to deepen the longer you leave it.

Niddy Noddy

  

I made myself a niddy noddy.  It is a tool to wrap yarn into skeins.  The loose skein is then great for the dye pot, allowing all the yarn to move freely in the dye.

Little House Pin Cushion

  

I made this pin cushion two years ago while doing a House Project (made something each week for a year relating to a house).  I love the little cushion and is is still holding up, even under the weight of all those other pins and needles.

Antique/Collectables Shop Haul

  



 Piers needed new wheels for his push bike, so a drive to Geelong to get some at a bike shop there.  He dropped me off at the Antique/Collectable shop on the way so I could have a rummage.  Got quite a few things too.   Someone's remnants of an embroidery stash, clamping scissors (good for stuffing small parts), someone's remnants of a crochet stash, a couple of lengths of ric rac to put in the dye pot, a couple of serving plates I have seen before and thought I should just get them, and a little ceramic dog that made me smile.  And Piers got his wheels.

Teeny Tiny People Update

Working from top right:  Hats, bodies, heads, legs, and bodies with trouser bottoms.  They are coming along, although quite slowly.

Little Birds

Still working on the teeny tiny people, which is a bit of a slow process.  So here is one of those "This time last year" things.  I made the little birds from the book by Arne & Carlos, 'Field Guide to Knitted Birds'. They all hung out in the window of Can Do Books for a while to advertise the book.  The birds were fun to make, and are a cheery addition around here, perched on a bookshelf.

Dyed Tablecloth

  

  

I bought a cheap tablecloth and dyed it a couple of weeks ago.  I used black beans for the dye pot.  The end colour is more purple than the photos are showing.  I quite like that it has a tie-dye effect.  The cloth is for wrapping up my wooden swift.  I crocheted a cover for the swift when I got it, but it hasn't held up too use, stretching and unraveling.

On The Table

Making the bodies to fill those little hats.

Fungi Reindeer

  

I made these two sweeties last week using the yarn and crochet cotton dyed from the orange fungi.  They were a thank you gift for Maria who sent me the fungi and lichen.  The photo of the reindeer on my hand is to show the scale, a suggestion from Stephanie at Can Do Books on Thursday, where I was making them.  And according to Mandy, who was also at Can Do, they are just a couple of Fun Guys.

Hard Hats, Twists and Tarts

  

  

It was a strange mix of baking yesterday.  I made teeny tiny hard hats out of polymer clay, Spinach twists for dinner, and Portuguese Custard Tarts (from a new Paul Hollywood cookbook that I bought) for dessert.