Happy 2015

Happy New Year everyone.  It has been a long while since my last visit in blog land.  It is good to be back. 

2014 has been an eventful year for us. 

Our place was flooded.  

Luckily the water came inside the garage but not the house.  The cars were flooded and we had to write off one of them. It took us a little while to clean up the place and sort ourselves out. 

We celebrated Poppy's 10 years birthday and our 20 years wedding anniversary. 

 

Rescued a little terrapin from our yard.

Let's hope 2015 is going to be a more peaceful year. I am looking forward to spend more time on my craft work and on my blog.

Till the next time, sending you my best wishes for the New Year.

Hand made round teabags

My husband brought home some special teabags when he traveled to work in Europe recently.

They are special because each teabag is hand tied. The bag is made from cotton muslin, not paper.  The price ticket reflects that of course.

This gives me an idea; I can make the sachet for my chamomile tea.

I was able to find all the tools and stuff I need around the house.  Labels for the teabags.

Cutting the cotton muslin into 5" circles.

Tea leaves, cotton string (for cooking), a little dish, and a mini Bowdabra.

Then off I went...loose tea leaves on the muslin.

 Fold the muslin in half.

Gather the folded edge together. Don't over stuff the sachet. Tealeaves need room to expand.

 Put the cotton string in the Bowdabra.

 Put the sachet's gathered edge into the Bowdabra.  I can now use both hands to tie the sachet.

 Wrap the string around the sachet and tie one more time.

Use scissor to trim back the excess string/muslin on the gathered edge and add a label.

My home made chamomile teabag is the one with a brown label.

The 5" circle gives great result.  It is a perfect match in finished sachet size to the shop purchased Earl Grey French Blue which is the bottom one with a black label.



 

A cleaning Sunday

My husband and friends have gone down to Miami to watch the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins game.  I decided not to go, stay home and tidy up my craft room instead.

I started off by sorting through all the patterns I have dumped on my desk and organized them in a binder.  I finished the arms of my mohair cardigan and am working on the body now.

 I spent this afternoon to install 2 new software and re-install 2 old ones in my computer..

Intwined Studio and Crochet Charts are new.  The Cross Stitch and MasterCook are old.

I don't normally shop over the Thanksgiving holiday.  This year is my first ever shop on-line on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.   I bought a few things; all craft related.

Intwined Studio is a knitting pattern design software $44 and the Stitch Works Crochet Charts is a crochet pattern design software $50.  The applications have a similar look and feel as the other Office programs like Excel and Words.  They are new products, came out in 2010 and 2011.  They have user groups in Ravelry already.  So happy that they keep the price affordable so I do not have to break my piggy bank.
 

My first post for 2012

2011 was a good year for me. It was busy. I changed jobs in the beginning of the year. At the end of the year I flew back to the United Kingdom to visit my elderly mother and my family. It was so good to see them after nearly 3 years.

I have established a routine; I like routines and feel more settled now. I don't have a to-do project list for 2012. I have been knitting though and am making progress with the green shawl.I want to pick up where I left off with the spider wrap but there is only one spare ball of yarn.So I found the white Dorset Down and started carding...and started spinning again.Using a jumbo flyer and jumbo bobbin for the aran weight yarn.I hope you have a great start to 2012. Wishing you and yours all the very best for the coming year.

In the right frame of mind

I have not written for more than 2 months. Not that I don't want to, I just needed to be in the right frame of mind to do so.

When Poppy is not well I fret over her. It is not that she has been ill. She was just plain clumsy. She run across a slippery surface one day, her back leg went under her, and she tore a ligament in her knee and injured a toe. It took nearly three weeks for her to heal.

Just when we thought all was well, Poppy started having dizzy spells and one time actually collapsed. It turned out to be an ear infection that affected her inner ear and her balance; after a week of medication Poppy is better now. I can relax and spend time in my craft room.

I have two more rows to do then the doily is done. But the next row is tricky. I would need to join and cut the thread to do 12 separate sections before working the final round. I started another project: it is a little toy elephant. I took it to bed with me, knitting a few rows every night. The head is nearly done.It is hurricane session with us now. It has been raining today. The sky is so grey and dark.But a little bit of rain is not going to stop Poppy waiting outside for the love of her life (my hubby) to come home from the gym.Poppy is good. I hope you are keeping well and are enjoying your summer where ever you are.

Till next time. Take care.

My Home

In the run up of the 2009 Christmas my husband and I replaced our kitchen floor. Not sure if we have started a tradition, we worked hard with our 2010 Christmas to get our house ready for an overall paint.

This is before:
This is after.

O, the vine is not growing back. No more snakes on the vine, thank you.

My Stash

I have always considered 3 as my lucky number. Well, today is 3rd of January. Let's start the New Year in blog land with three posts in one day.

I was so busy last year in my effort to put my career back on track that my home and my needle crafts have been taking a back seat.

My goals for 2011? Only three simple ones: (1) Spend more time for my home and hobbies. (2) Stop buying new patterns. (3) Using up my stash.

Here is one box of yarns and one box of fabrics. I have 9 boxes all together plus a big basket full.

And a closet full of fleeces.Hope you have a great start to 2011 already.

Happy Stitching.

Back to Normal

My husband’s uncle and auntie came and stayed with us for a week. They are both 60 this year and are celebrating their 40 years’ wedding anniversary. My husband and I booked time off work, took them to places, wine and dine them every night… and really pushed the boat out to make their visit in Florida special and memorable.

Here is a picture of them enjoying the airboat ride to see the Everglades. They were sitting at the left back row, the uncle in green shirt and the auntie was hidden by the man in blue.
We have done this so many times now that I was happy to wait in the car and to do some knitting. This is what I managed to do while entertaining the relatives. I’ve done the left front, working on the back…just the right front and two little sleeves to go.

When it was time for the uncle and auntie to say goodbye they gave me a surprise gift.

A money box decorated with an abacus for addition, a little drawer to keep the coins, so neat.

After a week back to work, this is the first weekend when things are back to normal. I have my first chance of spending some times in my craft room this morning. I selected my next project, knitting a swatch to test the gauge right now.

Thank you for visiting. Have a great weekend.

My shopping

The mail man delivered two parcels last week: 2 craft books and 2 magazines. I came across the Australian Homespun when I was blogging last Christmas. My local book store does not carry Homespun so I took out a year’s subscription. They have beautifully illustrated projects, I can’t make up my mind which project to do first.

I don’t have a lot of free time now, but my life is not the same if I can’t do my craftwork. I am slowly getting used to a new work routine and I even managed to spend time in my craft room this weekend…so nice. I made good progress with my knitting.

Till next time.
Good night and have a great week.

Very little craftwork done

This work business really isn’t helpful when it comes to my craftwork and my blogging. All I managed was a little knitting for the last three weeks.

I didn’t do any needlework over the last few weekends either. I used the free time to shop for a second car. You wouldn’t believe the number of car dealerships we went to see. Our search came to an end yesterday. We found a little 3 months old Volkswagen GTI we both like. I think Poppy likes the GTI too; she was checking out the inside of the car when we were looking it over. I will have to show you some pictures when we go and collect it this coming Thursday.

The other craft related activity I did was to order some craft books on-line. Two parcels are on their way, one by air and the other by sea, something for me to look forward to :0)

Winter is definitely over with us. It is warming up now, 84ºf / 29ºc for the last couple of days, and the rainy season is just beginning. When it gets hot outside, Poppy stays close to the air-con unit inside.

Well, I hope you're having an easy Sunday.

Take care.

Joyce

My latest Projects

I finally finished the cross stitches of the lilac fairy and am working on the top stitch...so happy.
I made a start on one of the summer tops; I cut the pattern pieces, just need to sew them together now.

I need something to do while watching the television in the evening and knitting is something I could do with dim lighting, so I cast on a cardigan for a baby.

I harvested the tangerines. I was going to leave the fruits on the tree for decoration, but after woken up by two raccoons screaming and fighting over a fallen tangerine at 4:00am in the middle of the night, I changed my mind.

Hopefully I will have a finished project to show you next time.
Till next post, take care and have a great week.

Starting two new projects

We have some good news this week. The immigration department has approved our application to stay in this country. They have also given me authorisation to work too. So this week I have been working on my resume and have been looking around for suitable work in my local areas.

It has not been a good week for Poppy because I was not doing routine stuff with her. Also after the long break between Christmas and New Year my husband went back to work. After we dropped him off at the airport, when we got home, Poppy went and hid in the garage, in the dark, and sulked. She was missing her human daddy.

By Thursday evening I was ready for a break from the job search and was sorting things out to start some new craft projects; I think Poppy felt that she had had enough too and would not be ignored anymore. She came over to me, stepping on to my sewing paper pattern that was lying on the floor, did a big lazy stretch and proceeded to bark. The result of her complain? The sewing pattern was tear apart by her paws and my plan to do some craftwork was postponed.

Well, her human daddy returned home yesterday. Poppy was a happy puppy again. I managed to tape the pattern together. I want to sew an apron to replace the one I wear when I do hand-spinning. It is the shorter length one in the picture.
Then late last night I started knitting this cutie called Victoria. Go to her blog's sidebar on the left for the free pattern. It is knitted all in one piece. I asked someone who has already done it and she said that it is not simple, at certain points, it can be tricky. So far I have done the two front legs and am working on the body towards the bum.

Unless Poppy is mad with me again, I am hoping to finish these two new projcets quickly. Till next post. Take care.

A cold start to 2010

We carried on with more home improvement work last week: replacing internal doors, stripping wall papers, painting walls, doors and ceilings…so I have not been doing much craftwork at all.

I did spend time tidying up my craft room though and set up a Work-In-Progress section in my blog’s sidebar. Going through my hobby stuff, I realised that I have finished all the projects I started in 2009, but the three pre-2009 projects are still outstanding. I really would like to complete these in 2010. So I set up the work-in-progress buttons as a way to motivate and to remind myself to get them done.

Last year I have done well with using up my stash of yarns, but I need to sew more and spin more in 2010….yes, I confess… my stash of fleeces and fabrics are just as big.

Also I found that I really enjoy making toys last year. I think my youngest sister knew because she gave me these adorable knitting patterns as my Christmas present. It sure is a good way to use up remnant yarns and I guess I will be making more toys in the New Year.
Talk about gifts, you know how some pet owners say that their cats and dogs bring in presents like dead bird or mouse? Well, thank goodness Poppy is not like that. Otherwise she would have brought in a big dead lizard. This is what she found this morning. Poppy just altered me there is something strange in the yard and I went and checked it out.

The weatherman says that a deep freeze is moving across the world. It is cold here too. Cold blooded reptiles shut down their system when the temperature drops below 40fº/4cº. It was near freezing last night. It was just too cold for them. In case you are wondering, this is what it normally looks like.

It has been a cold start to 2010 and a slow start for me with my craftwork. Let's hope that it is going to warm up soon. OK, I will say bye for now. Take good care of yourself where ever you are. Stay warm and stay safe.

Book Shopping

I have been doing a bit of internet shopping for knitting and craft books, and a few sewing patterns. I usually buy my books from Amazon.com but not this time. I found better offers elsewhere.
KnitPicks offers 40% discount on all their books. I purchased “Knitting in the Old Way” from them which is cheaper than Amazon. I came across KnitPicks summer book sale by chance, so glad I did because I managed to buy the books I wanted at a really good price. Their book sale ends August 17.

YesAsia has a good selection of Japanese and Chinese craft/crochet books and their prices are nothing like what some ebay sellers are charging. The nice thing about YesAsia is that they offer free international shipping once your order is over US$39. Right now, they have a free shipping promotion for everything. It is air mail too, so it’s pretty fast.

I simply couldn’t resist when I saw this doggie book. It is written in Japanese though. Japanese language incorporates many Chinese characters so I read all the Chinese writing, but that’s only a small part. To overcome this language problem, I first scan the pattern instruction using HP Document Viewer into editable Japanese text, then copy and paste it onto GoogleTranslate so that I could read it in English. The rough translation plus the crochet charts printed on the book really help.

From Lady Bird to Little Lamb

When I was 15 years old I chose Needle Craft as one of my subjects to study in school back in England. I had a wonderful teacher. She taught us sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, crewel work, macramé, appliqué…basically any needle craft you wanted to learn, all you had to do was to talk to her and she would show you. She was one of those rare teachers whom didn’t simply teach you to follow a pattern, but she would show you how to create your own design. That’s probably why I love needle work so much now; it has been so creative, fun and rewarding right from day one.

I remembered we had to do a final exam for this class: a 3 hours written exam plus a submission of three practical projects. My three projects were a beaded corn-on-the-cob picture, a round embroidered cushion and a patchwork ladybird toy. I received good marks for all my work and passed my exam but they never returned my corn-on-the-cob picture. The cushion was so worn out, I might have binned it. I don’t know where it is now. And the ladybird? Poor thing, it has been with me all these years; I used it as a little cushion to support my lower back when I sit down on my rocking chair. Time has taken its toll. I am sending ladybird to retirement.
In comes the little lamb, got him the other day, so cute.