RAOK that was not so random, and was more like a swap....

Two lovely ladies did something nice for me recently.  Hannah dyed up some lovely grey wool, and Julia knitted it into a gorgeous baby blanket.

 Lovely isn't it?  They are both very clever women.

I'm shocking at not returning kindness - its in my nature to repay in some way.  Whether its a box of choccies, or something I can make - I aim to do something in return.

Julia has been doing some sewing lately, so I thought I'd whip her up a little cute pincushion, and a WIP bag.  She likes brown - so this knit was dug out from the stash and matched with a cute japanese print.

Hannah apparently likes brown, but it doesn't really matter cause she was getting this anyway - LOL.
I was totally lazy - managed to change to a ball tipped needle for the knit, but didn't even bother to coordinate the thread, so its a dark navy.  Slack huh?

All four knocked up in a couple of hours, and hopefully they show my appreciation to two lovely ladies.  The link to make the mousies can be found here.

A bit of a redesign.

Lets see how long it lasts.
I like red, but I'm not sure its calming.

Lots of sewing this afternoon, I was getting somewhere quickly until the bobbin ran out in a particularly tricky seam, and I flagged it all.
Hoping to get my giveaway photographed tomorrow so that I can start collecting names.

Pretty easy to give something away when only a couple of people read the blog - hahahaha!

I'm also working on a fabulous swap that I am really enjoyingto be sent to the lovely Hannah (Rainbowchild) in about 3 weeks time.  Only 6 items to finish!

Pressies

So I have many nieces and no nephews!
In fact, H is the only Grandson on both sides of the family (excluding the ex-communicated ones......)

Nieces are fun to make gifts for.  They like dresses that I can knit, and shawls, and I can sew them things too.  All good outlets for my creative flair.

S is 11 (I think???) this weekend, so I decided to try out a new design for her gift, a lined bag and a lined zippered purse in some super pretty colours.

I think these will make excellent project bags for knitters (with the matching purse for all your odds and sods) and I am planning on making them to sell when life gets a little more gentle (and I have done all the pricing).

One of these sets will be in my giveaway bonanza next week.

Lunch Bag

TNN are doing a series of yarn swaps at the moment, I have just sent off #3, so I shall put that up next week when my swapper receives it.

But this project was started right back from V1. Its been sitting there because I had run out of white 10ply hand wash wool. BUt I found some last week in my stash, and decided to put it to good use.

So here is the before shot:


And the after shot:



I need to find a fun button (oh damn - a trip to spotlight, or knit world.....) but I'm pretty happy with the result. A new lunch bag!

Pattern was from Knitty, and is called Brown Bag. I never found out who this swapper was, but I hope they like what I did with the wool.

(I'll be honest and say I pushed this project ahead cause I needed my 6mm, 40cm addis for another project ;) )

Spots Galore

This is todays effort. You may recognise the fabric from the spotlight stash from last week - well I made the bag today, and I'm pretty happy with it!
I can't believe the pattern though. It was a freebie from spotlight in their stash of patterns, and I have to say it was almost negligent. All the easy things had mammoth instructions - the tricky things had next to nothing. I had to pin and "try out" the seams several times, but in the end it finally came together.
So not sure what it will be used for. All up it took me about 3hrs to sew, which considering how many times the quick-un-pick came out, is a pretty good effort.
I might make another, and it will be heaps easier.

Back to my glass of red - and a house without a toddler - go the stayovers at Grumps' house!!!! YAY!! But the newbie is screaming it up, he's fed, clean, but tired, and is battling sleep with his daddy while I am doing this.

Bag Lady

I have a heap of second birthdays coming up. I've already made quite a few special bags for Jenna to put toys in. She has one for her kitchen toys, one for her blocks, one for her animals and I have yet to make one for her musical toys.

So I thought a nice thing to make for Jenna's cousin would be a bag for her - and I'll send it with a lovely Mr McGee book I bought today. Its pretty cute. I like the applique I've done on this bag - its very simple, but nice, but I changed the way I made the bag and now I have to come up with a new way of putting the drawstring on it. I'm thinking maybe a button flap....
Not sure.

This bag is also fully lined, so they become lovely soft but strong bags.