Knitting 2010

Since I did a post about my sewing projects for 2010 I thought why not do one for my knitting projects. This one is going to be a lot smaller because I only knitted 8 things during 2010. I again am hoping to beat that next year. Probably not by a lot but any improvement is better than none. We just don't have the appropriate weather for me to need a lot of knitted things. So here are my projects for 2010.....

Some of these things were made for other people such as the Sunrise Blanket, Honey Bunny, te cake pincushion and Corey's ski hat but the rest were for me. I am hoping next to year to knit more presents for people. I am already working on one gift at the moment. I really enjoy giving people things that I have made and knitting is something that relaxes me so so any excuse to knit is appreciated.

My favourite project for 2010 has got to be the Sunrise Blanket. I gave it to our new niece Marlee for Christmas and received so many compliments from Corey's family about it then when we went around to visit them 2 days after Christmas she was in her bouncer asleep under the Sunrise Blanket. It makes me so happy to know the gifts I make people actually get used. So here is to more knitting in 2011 and hopefully more well received gifts too!

Strawberry Jam Skirt

All I can think of when I look at this skirt is strawberry jam and cream on scones. Possible sitting on a picnic blanket while watching the clouds go by. Sounds like a lovely way to spend a day to me! But I digress....

This is the skirt I was telling you about in my last post that I made yesterday morning. I bought the fabric on sale for $5 a metre so with the zipper the whole skirt cost $7.20. A bargain if you ask me! I did not use a pattern for this one. All I did was use the checks as a guideline for making pleats then tried it on for size, cut off the excess and sewed it up with a zipper. And the great thing about using this sort of material is you always end up with a straight hem and straight sewn lines because you can just follow the print. I love it!

So there it is folks the last sewing project of 2010! What a way to end the year. I have officially sewn 23 items this year and knitted a few more. I think next year I will aim for 30 items sewn but I will be post my crafty resolutions in the new year.

Sewing 2010

It's that time of year again when we start making lists of what we have achieved during 2010 and what we hope to achieve in 2011. I love this time of year! I am slightly addicted to list making if you haven't already noticed. This year I decided to make a little collage of all my sewing projects. I had 22 sewn projects in 2010 which I am hoping I will be able to beat next year. Actually it is 23 because I sewed another skirt this morning but it is not included in the collage as I have not taken any photos of it yet. But which were my favourites of 2010......

1 - Sunshine Skirt

2 - Sweetheart Skirt

3 - Macaron

4 - 50's Tiki Dress

These are my favourites because I think they really reflect my style and they are also the most worn items in my wardrobe that I have sewn. They are also things that I know I will sew again. I already have ideas for a sailor version of my 50's Tiki Dress and I would love to make a flowery pink version of Macaron. So onto my least favourite projects of 2010......

1 - Blue Button Up Shirt

2 - Pink Gingham Dress

These are honestly the only two things I have sewn this year that I don't really like. The blue shirt was the first shirt I ever made and I don't think I chose a very good material. After sewing it it was very stiff and sits funny so I have never worn it. The pink dress doesn't fit me well because I didn't bother to try it on as I sewed it. I also have never worn it since I first made it. But we learn from our mistakes so I am glad I made these two items because they both taught me something about how to sew. Stay tuned for my sewing project list for 2011 and a recap of my sewing list from 2010.

No. 1 - Be More Active!

The number 1 goal on my 101 in 1001 list is to become more active. I do not exercise. And when I say no exercise I mean absolutely nothing that is not included in my everyday life. I don't go to the gym, I don't play sport, I don't run, walk, cycle, surf whatever. I do no physical exercise whatsoever! This is basically because I am lazy. I know I should exercise but I am just super lazy and would rather be at home sewing then going out for a walk or to the gym. So for Christmas I got wii fit plus and I am determined to be more active.

So my goal is to do wii fit plus for 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. I say 5 days a week because I know with how hectic out lives our weekends just won't get done and then if I do it will be a bonus workout. I am also going to be watching what I eat because I would like to lose some weight. Not a lot but about 6 kilos will make me happy. Each week I will do a little update on how I have gone so that I can be accountable for keeping this goal. Here are my starting stats:

Weight: 76 kg

Height: 171 cms

Exercise: Sunday - 30 mins

Monday - 30 mins

Tuesday - 40 mins

I will most probably do my updates each Monday so wish me luck and we'll see how this first week goes!

Christmas Aftermath

So how did everyones Christmas day go? Mine was wet and cold but also relaxed, fun and very enjoyable. Despite the horrible amounts of rain we have experienced on the Gold Coast we managed to have a very lovely Christmas day. We started the morning at mum and dad's for breakfast and to open presents from mum and dad. Then we headed to my aunties house for lunch. In the afternoon we made the hour drive out to Corey's sisters house to spend the afternoon/evening with his family. We were lucky that we made it out there because with all the rain they sometimes get flooded but luckily that didn't happen.

Remember how I said I bought a second vintage dress to wear on Christmas? Well here it is......

This one was also purchased from Vintage Twists on Etsy. I was so happy with it and got quite a few compliments on it as well from my family and Corey's.

Being that this was our first Christmas since moving out of home I got to bring along some goodies. Usually mum does all the cooking on Christmas because there is only the one kitchen and it gets crowded both of us trying to cook. But this time since I have my own house and my own kitchen I was able to do some cooking. I made gingerbread cupcakes...

And watermelon, feta and pistachio salad. A strange mix but a delicious salad!

I think this is going to become my thing for Christmas. Mum's thing is potato salad and apple pie. She makes the best potato salad and apple pie and if she doesn't bring it for Christmas lunch people are very disappointed. With the positive response my watermelon, feta and pistachio salad received I decided it will become my thing for Christmas. And the colours look pretty festive too don't you think!

(dad and his present I bought him)

Was santa good to you all? He was very good to me. I got a wii fit which is going to help me towards my 101 in 1001 goal to be more active. I also got the box set of True Blood books box set which happen to be another goal on my 101 in 1001 list. I also got a new handbag, the Grease game on wii and the new Hello Cupcake book. Right now we are relaxing at mum and dads watching movies and reading books. I might just get back to that. Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful day however you choose to celebrate it. We here on the Gold Coast are hoping the rain stays away so we can enjoy our usual summer Christmas day. But at this stage things are not looking that good. Love and hugs to you all and I will see you back here in a couple of days for a Christmas day catch up.

Plaid Circle Skirt

This morning I decided that I needed to sew something so after a quick trip to Spotight and a quick sticky beak around the sale tables I found this plaid fabric for just $4 a metre. I used the skirt section of Simplicity 3078 and made myself a quick skirt.

Pattern: Simplicity 3078

Fabric: Cotton Sateen

Actual Sewing Time: 1.5 hours

Total Cost: $9 (includes fabric, zipper and two buttons on side)

You can't actually tell in the pictures but the fabric is black, grey and purple. It will be great in winter with some stockings and boots. Actually with all the rain we are having that is exactly how I should be wearing it right now!

Gingerbread House Fail

After the great success of my very first gingerbread house that i made last year I decided it would be fun to make another one this year. I was wrong! I cooked my gingerbread on Sunday and then we bought a bunch of lollies while grocery shopping on Monday to decorate with. When we got home we set everything up to start decorating and disaster struck. About 10 minutes into construction one side of the roof sunk in the middle and snapped in half. So with a bit of quick thinking and improvisation we ended up with the Gingerbread Tent!

Corey thinks its cute but I think he is just trying to make me feel better about my epic fail!. I don't know if I didn't cook the roof pieces long enough because they didn't seem to harden up as much as the other pieces once they were cooled. It might also be because the roof pieces were so long. Not too sure! Either way it made for a bit of a disaster so this year we will have a gingerbread tent and next year we will try, try again. Hopefully with better results!

No. 58 - Buy A Vintage Dress

This is one item of my 101 in 1001 things that I have been wanting to do since the start but it has taken me ages to find a vintage dress I like, that is in my size and that doesn't cost too much. But when I did eventually find something I went one better and found two vintage dresses to buy. They both came from Vintage Twists on Etsy.

This one I wore out to dinner tonight my mum, dad and Corey. It had mustard coloured sleeves but I took them off. Now it is a lot more versatile for wear all year round. The second dress I will have to show you later. I am planning on wearing it on Christmas day.

So while I am here I will give you a quick update on my 101 things in 1001 days progress. Since my last progress report I have completed the following items:

29 - Get A New Passport

35 - Learn How To Sew Knit Fabric

49 - Make Corey Breakfast In Bed

50 - Develop My Personal Style

58 - Buy A Real Vintage Dress

73 - Roast Marshmallows Over A Real Fire

80 - Have A Colour Coordinated Christmas Tree

And the following items are still in progress:

22 - Read all the True Blood books (2/10)

38 - Make all the patterns in my collection (13/26)

51 - Have 30 handmade items of clothing in my wardrobe that I wear regularly (19/30)

63 - Take 15 portrait photos of other people (3/15)

101 - Make 10 of the items in my ravelry queue (8/10)

So, I have currently completed 30.7% of my list and 38.7% of my allocated time has past. That means that I have 614 days to complete 70 more items. That is approximately 1 item every 8.77 days. I better get a move on!!!

Christmas Movies

I am on a mission to watch as many Christmas movies as I can before Christmas. The problem is I have not seen that many on tv lately. I mean the other night they played Men In Black....how is that Christmasy at all??? So far I have watched these ones:-

And I am really hoping to watch these two as well. We say A Christmas Carol at the movies last Christmas and I loved it and Corey's little sister recommended Santa Paws to me.

So what I need from you guys are some recommendations. What movies do you like watching at Christmas time? Do you have any favourites or ones that you watch traditionally?

Sunrise Blanket

This is a project that I have been working on for 2 months and I just finished it the other night while watching Polar Express. I am on a mission to watch as many Christmas movies as possible before Christmas but that is another blog post. So I started this a while ago because I really wanted to make a blanket. At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with it but have since decided to give it to my niece Marlee as a Christmas present.

Pattern: Chevron Blanket (via Ravelry)

Yarn: Moda Vera Marvel Plain

Time Taken: 2 months

Actual Sewing Time: No idea!

I called it my sunrise blanket because it reminds me of a tequila sunrise but seeing as I am gifting it to a baby I thought I should abbreviate that. Now I have made 8 things in my ravelry queue so I only need to make 2 more and I can cross another item off my 101 in 1001 list. Yay for progress!

Winter Wonderland (Image Heavy)

Last night Corey and I went to Movieworld's Winter Wonderland with his little sister Kasey and her fiance Clarence. It was loads of fun! They had some of the rides still open so we went on the Scooby-Doo Roller Coaster and the Wild Wild West ride. They look completely different in the dark. It was really fun! We also got to watch the Rock & Roll Christmas Show and the Looney Tunes on Ice. Then we watch the Polar Express 4D Show. Here are a few pictures from the night.

Decorations in Main Street

Looney Tunes on Ice

Movieworld just opened the first Ben & Jerry's on the Gold Coast so we had to try some while we were there and let me tell you it definately lived up to the hype. Delicious!!!

Playing in the fake snow which is no where near as fun as the real thing.

Getting ready to watch Polar Express 4D.

In case you can't already tell Christmas is my favourite time of the year. I am hoping we can fit in a few more Christmas activities over the next couple of weeks. I need to find out when they will be doing Carols by Candlelight in our area so we can go have picnic dinner at the carols one night.

All Tied Up With Bows

Since making my knitting needle bracelets I have been intrigued by the idea of making other pieces of jewelry out of sewing paraphernalia. After seeing this headband which was part of a giveaway over at Our City Lights I decided to make my own.

This pink one was made by sewing elastic between the two ends of the headband. These sorts of headbands don't work for me so I decided to make one with a plastic headband which I picked up from Spotlight for $1.50. The tape measure cost me $3 for a pack of 2 from Riot Art & Craft. This was the quickest and easiest project. Just a few cuts here a touch of hot glue and ta-da a new headband.

I have a few other projects that I want to try out with some tape measures and some zippers so keep an eye out for those soon.