It has been a while since I last wrote a post. How are you doing? I know it has been very hot for many recently, but here in southern Australia it is a bit chilly at the moment.
I had surgery on my left wrist and thumb in the beginning of May this year. Because of that i have not been able to sew as much as usual. Crochet has been a lot less painful to do, so I have finished my throw that I started last year. I have also made some smaller projects to experiment with new stitches and yarn.
On July 21st I had the opportunity to visit the Craft&Quilt Fair in Melbourne. It was a lovely exhibition with lots of beautiful quilts.
Another weekend in lockdown and it looks like it is going to stay that way for a couple of more weeks. It is tedious but I am not complaining, so many people are a lot worse off than us. My husband and I can both work from home and we don’t have any young children that we have to supervise studying remotely. We are also very happy with our decision to move out of the big city to regional Victoria, close to the coast. It has definitively made lockdowns more bearable and less frequent.
Last week, I made this coin purse using some left over fabric. I found the pattern and tutorial online. Not that I am using coins that often anymore, but there is always room and use for another zipper pouch. It is also just because they are fun to sew.
It was a was a very good tutorial and an easy pattern. I got some new snaps that did not need a tool to assemble.
I also did work some more on my latest crochet project that you can read more about in my last post. This is how far I have come since I posted last, about two weeks ago.
Most of the crocheting has been done while watching The Tudors with my daughter. I really like historical dramas.
I am taking some online courses in WordPress and Blogging at the moment too. I really enjoy it and of course to try to improve my blog and blogging skills.
I have had extra time for sewing and crochet the last few days. We are in lockdown again, which is stressful but at least I can spend some of the time doing the things that I love. There has of course been some streaming of television too. Good excuse for crochet and coffee.
I finished a zipper pouch using the same basic zipper pouch style as for the cross body bag in my last post. But instead of a long bag strap it has a wrist strap. It is going to be used for diabetes supplies. I have made her a few different ones over the years. I made her one for her glucose meter a few years ago. You can find the post here. I am going to make a pattern for that case.
This pouch has a small inside pocket. I have also used interfacing and thin iron on batting on the outside fabric for more protection. Needless to say, the pouch can be used for anything and it is also a great scrap fabric project.
I also had time for some crochet due to all the time spent in front of the TV this weekend, watching both movies and TV shows. I am making a throw using a 10 ply cotton yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills in a denim blue and a beige called cotton latte. I am not using a pattern here either but the plan is to buy enough yarn for a 50″x80″ throw. I am using a mixed grit stitch which gives a nice texture and weight to the throw. I have been working on it for a month now and and I have a plan for how it is going to look.
This is this weekend’s progress
I hope you enjoyed this post. Until next time, take care and happy sewing!
I has been a different year this year for all of us in some way, and very difficult for some. Things are looking brighter here in Australia at the moment, as we are going in to summer with very few Covid cases. I haven’t done as much sewing and pattern designing this year as I have done previous years.
We have moved house and out of the big city, like so many others have done this year. Due to the lockdown and restrictions here, we couldn’t get much help and I ended up with a tendon issue in my left wrist. But it is slowly getting better and I won’t need surgery, so that is good.
I have been able to do some crochet the second half of this year, like my never ending hexagon throw that keeps getting bigger and bigger. Today I finished a Christmas Tree Bunting crochet kit that I bought earlier this year from Deramores, it is designed by Melissa Collings. I enjoyed it very much and it will probably be the only Christmas project this year.
Two of my oldest pattern in my Etsy Shop are reduced by 70% to $3.30 each. I am going to retire the patterns on the January 10, 2021. It is my Pencil Case x 3 pattern and my Beach Bag pattern. They will be replaced by new patterns during the year, I am already working on a new pencil case pattern. I feel I can do alot better patterns today and that it is time for an update of my patterns.
From me and my family to you, Happy Holidays. Hope you have time for some sewing or other crafting if that is what you want to do. Take care!
I recently moved house and when packing up my sewing room I came a cross a few unfinished projects. I mostly sew but I also like to knit and crochet. We spent a lot of time and money on rubbish removal and getting rid of things that we didn’t need anymore. Three of my four children moved out recently and we have lived in the same house for nearly 20 years. We still had a hard time finding a spot for everything in our new home. Therefore, decided to finish some of my unfinished projects.
The first project I got out was this crochet throw. The pattern is from a Better Homes & Garden (Australia) Magazine, May 2015. So I probably started it during 2015. I can’t find any online reference to the pattern, it was called Bianca Crochet Blanket in the magazine. I have made a few changes, I always do. The individual hexagons are crocheted following the pattern but I have made changes to the layout and number of colours.
The original pattern is made up of 307 hexagons using 15 different colours of wool yarn. Instead I am using three different colours in a soft acrylic yarn. I have changed the layout by not having “background hexagons” around the hexagon flower, and letting the hexagon flowers connect to each other. It makes the shape and size of the throw a bit more challenging, but I think it looks a lot prettier.
This is still an unfinished project but I have started to work on it again and I intend to finish it. I will probably have to make a few partial hexagon flowers to even up the edge. At the moment it measures 105 cm (42″) by 90 cm (36″) at the widest points. I’m hoping I have enough yarn to make it big enough for a single bed. I will let you know how it turns out…
Until next time, happy sewing (or crocheting) and take care!
