Origami flowers

I’ve been thinking about the idea of substituting real flowers for paper flowers at my wedding, to cut down on costs.  Let me know what you think…

To try it out I used a pile of old sheet music to make lillies, which we were already thinking about for the flowers.  I also liked the look of the carambola flowers, and though slightly tricky the first time they got easier to make.

Here’s the YouTube tutorial for the lillies, and here for the carambola flowers (yes its in German, but you can still follow what she does!)

When I get some glue and find some more time I want to try out these kusudama flowers – this bouquet with the buttons, and this one made out of sheet music – maybe even make them into a traditional kusudama ball for the ends of the aisles like this!  Here’s the tutorial I found at Folding Trees.

Stay tuned for more sheet music crafts, I have lots left over!

On the nightstand…

Usually I’m not one to have more than one book on the go at the same time, but I’ve got too many interesting books in the pile at the moment, I can’t wait to start the next one!

• The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva

This one is taking a bit to get into, maybe because I haven’t read any books about art theft before, but six chapters in its starting to pick up the pace a bit.

• Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray

Figured I should start reading books like this, now that I’m engaged, just to see what I’m in for! Super interesting so far; I like that it has a practical side too.  If you have any recommendations for similar books you think I should look out for let me know.

• Seriously… I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

I haven’t actually started reading this one yet, its just sitting there looking pretty on my bedside table!  I’m a big fan of the Ellen show though, and if the actual book is as brilliant as the back cover and introductory pages, then I’m really going to enjoy it! And this is her third book – must go hunt down the other two…

 

 

 

PS: all the links are to The Book Depository – I’m not getting paid for that, I just think they are brilliant!

PPS: sneaky photo there too of fiancé and I at a wedding we went to in November last year, in a pretty frame we got as an engagement present

FOs: Crochet Blankets

Remember last week, I told you I was making something from this?

Well, I’m all finished! Here’s the end result:

Here’s the link to my Rav page with the pattern details.  Basically its a huge crochet granny square using double crochet.

I was using up stashed yarn I’ve had for a while, a shopping bag full of unknown weight and fibre, so I just kept going until I ran out of yarn.  I was hoping I would have enough to make a blanket for my bed, but sadly no. It measures 1.2m x 1.2m so its still a pretty decent size.

While I was channelling my inner-Nanna I decided to stay on the crochet path and try out a pin I saw on Pinterest last week.

I had a big piece of woven fabric that I was going to bind with ribbon to turn into a proper blanket, but I thought this was a better idea.  I used leftover yarn from my February Lady Sweater (which I haven’t shown you yet – its not quite cold enough here to get away with wearing a wollen cardigan!), and the whole thing took about two hours.  The link has a great photo tutorial, very easy to follow.

I’m well and truly set for winter!

And, for my next project…

Goodies in the mail!

I love it when I get things in the mail – it happens so rarely!  Sitting on my couch the other day I heard a bang outside and what could have been a knock on my door.  When I looked out to check I found a courier envelope on the doorstep with all this inside…

It was a birthday swap package from Ozduchess from Ravelry! It was supposed to be part of a bigger swap, but as I missed the dates we just decided to do our own mini one.

I’m not sure if they project bags are handmade, but the butterfly fabric is beautiful.  And Cadbury Easter eggs all for me!  My favourite part though is the ball of Bendigo Mills yarn, which is a deep purple colour – I’ve been dying to try their yarn for a long time! Thanks heaps Ozduchess

To come…

I’ve been making something out of this blob of unidentified yarn:

I don’t know whether its acrylic or wool, or even what weight it is.  I got it from Italy in another swap a few years ago, and its been sitting there since then waiting for the perfect project.  Its nearly finished – I’ve just been continuing with it until I ran out of the yarn – so completed photos to come soon!

Homemade Laptop Sleeve

I recently got a new laptop – yay! Because I only had a big padded backpack to carry it around in, I started looking around for a slip cover for it, something a bit more compact. Sadly, the stores only had 12-13″ and 15-16″ cases – and my laptop is 14″! Of course, this got my crafty wheels moving, so after much thinking and trial and error I came up with this.

Originally it was just black quilting fabric, but I wanted it a bit more sturdy, so I found this thicker almost felt fabric to cover it with.  Then came the decorating part! I used a couple of quilting pre-cut pieces on the front and the back, with the front one being a little pocket, and embellished that with an iron-on butterfly I got for my birthday (in amongst a whole box of buttons, all hand-picked – talk about lucky me!!).

The part that took the longest was figuring out some way of keeping it closed.  My original idea was some way of folding the top so it wouldn’t need any other closure, but the fabric was too tight for that.  Idea number two was using some magnetic closures I bought a while ago, but I realised they were at my parents house and I was too impatient to wait for them to send it to me! So I went with idea number three – winding string around buttons, like a vintage envelope.  Love it!

Also – it doubles as a mat for when its sitting on my lap, because it gets pretty hot.

I really love the black stitching on the cream fabric, it adds to the vintage feel of it.  The only other thing I would do to it is find some kind of binding for the sides, so the quilting doesn’t show, but in the meantime it works!

T-shirt Market Bag

Ok, so I’m addicted to Pinterest.  There, I’ve said it! One of the cool things about Pinterest though is the wealth of crafty goodness there! I’ve started a whole board just for all the craft and DIY things I want to try!  One of the projects I saw on there the other day was this market bag made from an old t-shirt.  Since I had one lying around to use for a crafty something, I thought I’d have a go.

Here’s a photo tutorial of what I did, but check out this link for more details.

 

 

 

 

The story of the proposal…

For those of you who don’t know (though if you’re on Facebook you couldn’t have missed it!) – Andrew and I got engaged on the weekend!

From Drop Box

I had been helping out with catering at a wedding with Becs during the day, and our plan was to go out for cocktails that night.  When we’d finished at the wedding we went back to her place to doll ourselves up, then popped into see mum and dad and have something to eat before heading into town.  While mum was fixing my dress, I felt hands come around my middle! I turned around and thought, “oh, its Andrew”, because he hugs me like that often – only to do a double-take and think, “OH – ITS ANDREW!” I wasn’t expecting to see him at all!

It turned out he’d flown down during the afternoon and was waiting for me to come home so he could take me out, since it was my birthday the next day.  We were driven into town and ended up at Soi, a beautiful restaurant on the Wellington waterfront.  He’d booked us a quiet little table for two, tucked in the corner with the best view of the harbour. Amazing food! And he’d even brought a bottle of champagne with him!  Once we’d finished eating we sat talking for a while – unbeknown to me, he was waiting for all the other diners to leave! Once the restaurant was quiet he said, “well, there’s another reason I wanted to take you out tonight…” and came round to my chair, got on one knee and asked me to marry him! Yay!  I said yes, of course, and when we got home after a nice little walk along the waterfront, my family was waiting for us with more champagne. Such a great night, it was perfect! As for the ring, it’s a princess-cut 1.2 carot diamond, with four smaller diamonds on each side, set in 12 carot white gold (and if you look at it upside down, the claws are in the shape of an A!)

For my birthday we went out for a big family dinner, then went back to the waterfront afterwards for an impromptu engagement photo shoot – here are some of my favourites; photo credit to Becs.

 

 

 

 

Project Roundup 2011

Before we get too much further into 2012, here’s a roundup of all the crafty things I got up to in 2011.  I couldn’t believe how many there were when I looked back through all my photos for the year!  Not included in these photos are the dozen or so berets/beanies I made and sold to fellow students, only because I didn’t take photos of them before I gave them away!  There’s also a couple of photos here that were included in the 2010 list as not-quite-finished, but were completed in 2011.

From top row down, left to right:

• Brown blanket
• Molly Cowl
• Art apron
• Jeans bag I
• Audrey in Unst
• Wonderwoman skirt (made from this tutorial)
• Reading in bed Shrug
• Baby hat and booties
• February Lady Sweater (post and photos to come! Technically finished 2012 but most of the work done in 2011)
• Embroidered hankerchiefs
• Polka dot potholders
• Jeans bag II
• Kitchen assistant apron
• Christmas placemats
• Christmas coasters

Stay tuned for what I’ll be working in in 2012! In the meantime, what crafty things did you get up to in 2011?

Homemade Christmas

I hope you had a great Christmas and a fun time bringing in the new year!  My Christmas was spent at the beach with my family – we’ve never been to the beach on Christmas day before, so it was nice to have a few hours relaxing in the sun.

New Year’s Eve was pretty quite, boyfriend and I went out for dinner then spent the rest of the night playing games – then fell asleep before midnight! Must be a sign that I’m getting old…

As for my Christmas presents this year, being a poor student and all, I decided to go with homemade presents for the family. First up – Becs.  Having made her polka dot apron last Christmas, I decided to use the leftover fabric to make some matching potholders/oven mitts, which double as hot spots on the table. They took about a day to make, from two layers of black quilting fabric with the polka dot on the top, and wide ribbon as binding.  The cupcakes were hand-embroidered, same as on the apron.

Next was Dad.  There’s a thing in our family where we always steal his hankerchiefs, so I thought it only fitting to give him some that could be easily identified.  I outlined everything in pencil first then hand-embroidered over the top, with his initial and a little picture on each one.

When I told Mum that I was making the other’s presents and asked her what I could make for her, she requested a bag from a pair of jeans like I’d made before.  After hunting around I found some jeans that were Billabong brand, her favourite, and topped it off with a homemade scarf in guitar fabric.  The patch on the back was hand-embroidered from the detail around the bottom of the jeans.

All were very happy with their presents  This year I was also charged with table decorations, so I thought I’d try my hand at embroidery there as well.  I came up with felt placemats with Christmas trees, and felt coasters with holly and berries, using a mix of hand- and machine-embroidery.

In knitting news – I finally finished the February Lady Sweater! Photos to come soon.  Now I’m working on a cricket vest for boyfriend… so much cabling…!

WIP: February Lady Sweater

Pattern: February Lady Sweater [Rav link with details]
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers, blue-purple colour
Modifications: Using 4mm needles for the 35″ pattern to hopefully make it 32″ size.  I also made five button holes instead of three.

Loving this project so far, the yarn is great to work with.  I’m getting about two repeats done in one sitting so its going to take me a little while to finish it! At least it will be done in time for next winter.