Wednesday 29 August 2012

Special Art Project - Take Two

After the disaster that was my first attempt, I tried again.. Of course starting with the background this time!

I thought I would even try out some clouds. Sorry about the darkness. It was night time when I took the photo.  The cottage is very dark in winter.

When it was dry. I painted a tree straight on. No drawing this time.

Complete with a few new leaves.

I am quite happy with how my little tree turned out. Wanna see all my owls in their new home? Of course you do!
Don't they look sweet? The last couple of photo's were taken outside where the light was better and I could show the colours more accurately.

I was going to crochet some owls to add to my tree. But seeing them up there, I have changed my mind. If any more owls make their way to me before the end of this RAOK I will happily add them to my tree (I can see a few branches where some owls could nest without looking crowded), but I am not going to add any of my own.

My Special Art Project is not complete yet. I have a picture in my mind of how I want it to look. But first I need to do some dreaded sewing. My Filet Swap Project is complete. It just needs some hand sewing and it will be in the post today along with my three pledged squares for August's biggest square. Like usual I am cutting it close to the line. But I plan on completing my pledge for September's biggest square early. If I do or not is another story.

Special Art Project - Take One!

 I have mentioned in another post how I am collecting owls for my Special Art Project. I think I have also mentioned how I am not very artistic. Because of this fact I have had a great big canvas sitting in my room for the last few months waiting for me to pull out my unopened painting supplies brought especially for this project.

 Well a couple of days ago I received two adorable owl appliques in the mail and they were calling out for a new home. Out came the art supplies.



I mentioned I am not artistic right? Yes? Just checking.

Well I jumped straight in. I drew a fantastic (if I do say so myself) new home for my owls. I was on cloud nine, so sure I had tapped into an as yet, unknown, needed much practise, but happy to learn, new skill.

Not artistic? Ha! I rock!!

I painted that sucker in and it looked brilliant. Even the kids praised my work.


Then and only then did I realise that I was so impatient to paint my tree I had totally forgot to paint my background.

DRAT!!

Also I only had a couple of cheap little brushes and that was a lot of white to fill in. Not to worry, I know my kids put off cleaning unless I am standing over top of them.
"Kids have you cleaned up that mess Dusty (Demon Dog) made ripping up little man's mattress?"
Of course not. So the kids collected some foam and we all went to town sponge painting that background.

It looked just as I'm sure you are imagining. T E R R I B L E.



Did I mention it was done in oils?

DOUBLE DRAT!!

My poor owls couldn't live there. They would get a complex!
Much Googling later I found it is not wise to paint over oils with acrylics (which I had brought cause you get more for your buck, and face it, I suck at art), as in time it may crack. GRRR!

So I had to start over.

DRAT! DRAT! DRAT!

Lucky I am persistent! (which is a much better word than obstinate, which my ex liked to imply) I currently have my Special Art Project - take two, drying in my room. Tune in tomorrow to see the end results!

Thursday 23 August 2012

Graphing those Afghans

I was really excited yesterday to recieve my much anticipated Susan Bates afghan hook in the post. They can be really hard to come by here so I was very happy to find a place in Australia to buy them online. Along with the corded hook I also purchased a magnetic board.

 Last year in one of the many swaps I participated in, my partner had a magnetic board on her wishlist. I purchased one for her from an American site and had it shipped straight to her address. I had never seen one before and coveted it so badly! I checked our online stores and they were rediculously pricey. So imagine my excitment when I found one in the same online shop I found my hook, for a very reasonable price.


After I had purchased it, it was time to start finding charts for my kids afghans. I had absolutely no luck with them. My pre-teen boy wanted something to do with one of his many games. My pre-teen daughter wanted something to fuel her Harry Potter obsession. My youngest daughter wanted her favourite character from 'Once Upon A Time' and my youngest son wanted, Homer, from 'The Simpsons'.
 Then I stumbled upon a brilliant site that turns photo's into cross stitch charts. If you haven't seen 'Stitch a Photo' before, you must check it out!

Yesterday while I had four sick children home from school we sat at the computer and searched for photo's that the children would like. I found photo's for three of my children. We are having a hard time finding a good one for my eldest son. I am trying to talk him into a zombie blanket as that is his newest obsessions. But he wants to keep searching first.

I do not want to use too many colours, so I turned the Rumpy (as we affectionately call him) and the Harry Potter photo's to black and white in photobucket before we put it through the program. The Rumpy photo turned out excellent,


A clear photo of Rumpy.
but I may redo the Harry Potter again.

As the Homer photo only has a few colours in it, I left it as it was.


 I think I will be starting the Homer one first as there is not as many colour changes.

I still have some projects to finish off before I can start and I just joined the tea cosie swap on Crochetville as well. Plus I need to rewatch some video's on Youtube for correct colour changes in tunisian stitch. I have only made graphghans in single crochet before so this will be an adventure!

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Surprises in the Post

Today has been a lovely day. This morning I woke up to gorgeous spring-like weather. Which was very surprising as just a few days ago we were getting the cold winds coming from the snow off Barrington Tops. The mountains are too far away to see the snow but it is always felt.
 After I got the boys off to school (both my girls are home sick) I sat outside in my courtyard and enjoyed a morning cuppa.

Not long after that I had a visit from the delivery van. I recieved a nice little package for me from a Florida Fairy God Mother from Crochetville. A very nice lady had sent some gorgeous ami's she had made me as well as some very adorable little stitch markers and a note telling me all about her state. I love hearing about where other people live. The whole package was awesome and I totally fell in love with my ami's. Wanna see them?
  

They are currently sitting at my kitchen sink.
Aren't the owls just Adorable! My kids have also fallen in love with them and they keep disappearing. I have yet to figure out where they will be permenantly as I need to make sure my naughty puppy doesn't run off with them. Dusty has claimed several of my sons stuffed teddies as his own. He does not rip them up though. He leaves that for my lounge and mattress. Naughty but totally adorable boy.

 Here are some more photo's the girls and I took.




These are my new stitch markers. They are The cutest stitch markers I have ever seen.


Yesterday I recieved a new square for my Friendship-ghan. I knew this one was coming and was very excited for it's arrival. My total square count is now seventeen!It is ever so pretty and came all the way from South Africa! This CAL is so much fun!



I just love visits from the delivery lady! Thank you girls for my parcels :D


Sunday 19 August 2012

Heaven on Earth

  On Saturday afternoon I made an impulse decision to visit the Craft Fair at Newcastle the following day. A quick text to my kids dad and it was all organised. As he lives fairly close to where the Fair was being held, the kids would be spending the day with him.

   Next morning we were up bright and early to catch the 6:30am train. I love the early morning train rides (not the getting everyone organised for it though). I get in a solid 90 minute - 2 hour crochet block (I am 10 rows from completing my swap project!). The kids are always hyper as train rides usually mean movie's or visits with dad. They play games, sing Harry Potter songs, count Kangaroo's out their windows... then crash.


Five minutes after this was taken, Little Miss was fighting with her little brother.
  After dropping the kids with dad, I made it to the Fair. Now I must say it was the first time I have ever been to a craft fair. When I walked in those doors my heart was fit to burst! Aisles and aisles of crafty goodness! There was very limited crochet or crochet tools to be seen, but I really didn't mind.

Want to see what I brought?


Yes, My budget was blown to smithereens.Do I feel guilty? NOPE!
 Some booths were strictly no photography and others it was hard to get clear photo's because of it being so crowded.
 The first booth I stopped at was Stitchabout. I stayed at this booth for a very long time, admiring the finished works of art


and choosing my own purchases. It has been many years since I have done cross stitch and I have never tried embroidery.



I love this morning prayer.

A more realistic Aussie Christmas.


I thought this cute fella would be fun to test out.
  I enjoyed checking out the scrapbooking booths. Admiring all the little bits and pieces of adornments and tools. The cardmaking booth was facinating and I caught several demonstrations of different techniques. All the inserts for the cards were beyond gorgeous. But I knew they would make some very expensive hobbies, so admiring was as far as I was willing to go.

  I made it around to the Twiddleybitz booth and fell madly in love with their chipboarding projects. More Christmas decoration projects were brought.


Completed countdown calendar.
 

Christmas countdown calendar and cute townhouse.

Gingerbread House.


 I imagine I will be a regular visitor to their online store. Must check and see if they do giftcards, cause my list to santa is growing.

 I visited many stalls that sell yarn and thread. At one stall I saw a gorgeous scarf that was made out of three rows of cute little flower thread granny squares. It has now gone on my to-do wishlist. I petted many hanks of yarn that were totally gorgeous and totally out of my price range. Spent a ridiculous amount of time at one stall that sold alpaca yarn. Had a great chat to the stall owners about their alpaca's and how shearing time is a pain in the arse. I splurged ( conviently forgetting the whole day was a splurge) and brought my one and only yarn purchase from these funny and sweet people.
Aptly named. Sweet,spitty alpaca, you are going to make me an alluring scarf.
I have a love of owls. Of course everywhere I looked there were owls. I found some cute little felt owls that I am going to be using in my Special Art Project (did I mention I can't draw?) and a cute little owl magnet.


I brought myself some early Birthday/Christmas presents from the kids.(The joys of being a single mum).















I didn't buy these but they were pretty nifty!


Here is some beautiful textile art I admired done by some artists at 'Beneath the Southern Sky'. They really capture the essence of Australia.



















I had five heavenly hours at the Craft Fair, fully endulging my inner crafty child and basking in the contentment it has given me. Then it was time to pick up four tired children for the long ride home. I tried to hold on to that feeling as I was rudely thrust back into reality.







Sunday 12 August 2012

Morning Tea Break and WIP's

This morning has been Busy. I have been dealing with sick children over the weekend.So this morning has been clean up catch up while the kids are at school.

After sweeping up and mopping out I am enjoying a little break with a cuppa, some choc coconut slice I made yesterday and some hooky time to fit in a couple more rows on my Filet Swap Project.


I am loving this project. This is the first time I have tried filet crochet and it is addictive! I could not find a chart to fit the size project I wanted to make, so I had to design my own. How hard could it be to colour in some tiny squares?
 Well it turns out very, when you can't draw! In the end I pulled up a photo of what I wanted and tried to be as accurate as possible. Ten pieces of graph paper later I have a design that I am very happy with.

I have a lot of trouble trying to divide my crochet time between all my WIP's.

My friendship-ghan squares that need bordering and joined.

This years Bernat CAL. I found out I was moving and never got any further.


A graphghan for my bed. Will be put away until after Christmas.


One completed square and two started for this months Biggest square on the "Ville thread.
 I only have three balls of RHSS and one is carrot. This months Biggest Square specifically asked for no orange. So I sure hope you like blue and brown!
I still need to replace two squares that came back to me from last months biggest square. One was missing and the other destroyed.


A tote I started to pack my afghan away in.
 ...and I still need to make five headbands for Wednesday and start my four afghans for my kids I have promised for christmas. It's summer here then. They won't mind not getting them until winter kicks in next year right?

Welcome to The Cottage

Hi! I am very happy to have you here sharing my blog.

I suppose I shall start off by introducing myself.I am a very proud single mother of four gorgeous children and belong to two adorable maltese x shitzu furbabies.We live in a small rural town in the Hunter Valley Region of NSW.

Back in April we moved into an old two story cottage. It was love at first sight for all my little family when we first walked inside it almost two years ago. Our old cottage needs some fixing up and alot of TLC, which we have in abundance. When we moved I culled six years worth of junk into about a dozen boxes. Now four months after we have moved my home is still looking a little bare and in need of some serious decorating.

In the past, all my crochet has been passed along and I do not own one crocheted object of my own. I will still be making crochet projects for others, ( How can I not,I am addicted to crochet swaps at Crochetville!), but I figure if I record my projects and their progress my home will eventually be decorated as I imagine in my mind.

So I hope you join me in this venture. Feel free to give me a virtual kick up the butt if I procrastinate too long. A habit I confess, that I have perfected into an art form.