Not long till Christmas

 

Seeing as we are already in December I thought I would remind any readers who are crafty that I did a blog post a while back named Christmas Gift Ideas in case you want to make a couple of quick homemade gifts. 

Christmas Gift Ideas

As Christmas is just around the corner and I know that many of my readers are crafty little vegemites I thought I would remind you of crafts I have listed previously in the blog post Christmas Gift Ideas in case there is anything there that you would like to try. 

Origami Christmas Wreath

Crafty people

 I find myself surrounded by talented people who are so very generous. Recently I took along my attempts at Japanese Meshwork to our Simple Living Toowoomba group and one of our ladies who presents sewing workshops along with her sister offered to finish the items off as I am quite 'straight line challenged'. 

Learning new skills

 This month our Simple Living Toowoomba group held a Plarn and Yarn Workshop which was really well attended. Firstly Kate showed us how to cut plastic bags into Plarn. Then she taught us how to crochet the Plarn into tote bags. 

A Crafty Weekend

 This weekend Craft Alive 2021 is being held in Toowoomba. I imagine the fact that this show was able to go ahead this year is the envy of a lot of my overseas readers some of whom are still in lockdown. I must admit I was a bit surprised myself that it was going to be on but seeing as many sporting events have been going strong for several months and there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Queensland the organisers were able to go ahead with their plans. 

Shelley's Land

A 2020 Puzzle

 Yesterday I was online and saw an advertisement for a 2020 Time Capsule jigsaw puzzle. I don't usually buy jigsaw puzzles but thought this one would be interesting down the track for my grandchildren especially the younger ones who may not remember what happened in 2020. 

2020 Time Capsule - used with permission from Funbox Activities

Making suncatchers

 In an effort to use up some of the many beads I accumulated when beading was very popular back in the 1980s I thought I would make some mobiles. I had seen these hanging from the ceiling at Danish Flower Art each time I visited and it seems that these days they are called suncatchers.

Christmas Markets

 Normally at this time of the year we have quite a few Christmas markets and this year is no exception. All of them seem to be going ahead during the pandemic apart from the Cobb and Co Museum's Handmade under the Stars which has been cancelled for 2020. I am not sure why one event goes ahead and another is cancelled but there seem to be a number of inconsistencies where restrictions are concerned. At the moment the annual Bush Christmas  is in full swing. This is an exhibition where artisans from remote areas can showcase and sell their arts and crafts and, believe me, they are a very creative lot. 

Coming up

As we are nearing the end of 2018 there are a number of interesting events coming up in our city. I know several people who read my blog live in Brisbane or in the region and like to visit when these craft shows are on so I thought I would let you know when they start.

National Op Shop Week

Today when I had the house to myself for a change, I thought I would paint some chopsticks as I want to make some potplant 'pretties' in the next few weeks. I got the idea of the hearts from Meg's blog post Flower Pot Hearts and experimented with wrapping the wire around a chopstick to make it more sturdy.

A festival for yarn lovers

Today I visited Warwick's Jumpers and Jazz in July Festival with a couple of friends and the event is getting bigger every year. If you had the time you could easily spend a couple of days there. As today was a Monday it was probably quieter in town than it would be on the weekend but there were still a lot of visitors about.

More crafty projects

Judging by the number of pageviews of my last post about the lovely craft items that some of the ladies who come to our Simple Living Toowoomba group have made, there was certainly a lot of interest. Valda has sent me some more photos of projects she has finished so I thought I would share them with you as well.

Some crafty projects

At our recent Simple Living Toowoomba Recycling Fabric Workshop I met some very talented ladies and asked them to send me some photos of their projects so I could show my readers what a clever bunch they are.

T-Shirt Yarn Necklaces

As I have mentioned in a previous post Workshop on Finding Meaning in What We Wear, our Simple Living Toowoomba group was fortunate to have Jane Milburn show us how she upcycles fabrics bought from the Op Shops. Jane had brought along some of her outfits including a T-shirt yarn necklace which looked rather easy to make so I thought I would do a bit of experimenting with the yarn cut from my old gym T-shirts.

Fidget quilts for Alzheimer's patients

I have spent some time recently looking through Pinterest ideas for T-shirt yarn necklaces which I mentioned in my last post. Next thing I know a pin for fidget quilts came up in my Pinterest feed and, as I had previously written a post Twiddle or Calming Muffs for Dementia Sufferers, I was interested to see what fidget quilts looked like.

Used with permission: With Heart and Hands

Upcycling T-shirts

Recently our Simple Living Toowoomba group was fortunate to have Jane Milburn present a workshop on finding meaning in what we wear and she showed us how to use T-shirts to make necklaces, bracelets, garden ties etc. This was just up my alley as I had kept all the free T-shirts I had been given at Curves intending to make a toothbrush rag rug out of them one day.

Chook Farm

I have a little 'chook farm' going here at the moment. Well, not real chooks but chook pincushions which are quick and easy to make for most people.  Not so quick for me as I take forever to finish anything off but for anyone who has a sewing room and doesn't have to set up the sewing machine every time they want to sew something it wouldn't take long at all. Plus it helps if you can just leave what you are sewing on the table for the next session but alas, that is not the case here.

Markets and Heatwaves

Well, summer arrived with a bang this year. No gradual warming of the days until we reached our 'normal' average temperature but a week long heatwave which I am sure none of us who live in Queensland like one little bit. However, we just have to find ways to survive...without aircon! So the Mango Ice Cream has been made and Icy Poles will be the next on the 'To Make' List I think. The heatwave has coincided with a couple of markets I was looking forward to but the heat didn't seem to deter anyone as the venues were quite crowded.

A Festival for Yarn Lovers:Part 2

This is a continuation of my last post about the Jumpers and Jazz Festival in Warwick which we visited on Monday. I took too many photos to put into one post so I hope you don't get bored with them. 

This is the statue of Thomas Joseph Byrnes who was the Premier of Queensland for a few months in 1898 until he contracted measles and then pneumonia and died at the age of just 38. He represented Warwick in the Legislative Assembly which I guess is why his statue sits in the main street in the middle of the traffic. I grew up in that town and wasn't even aware of his story until I just did a little bit of research. I always thought he was an old man. How sad that he died so young. Anyway, his statue sports a beanie and scarf during the festival and when I look at it the next time I am visiting I will think of him in a different light.

A Festival for Yarn Lovers

Yesterday we drove to Warwick for the annual Jumpers and Jazz in July Festival. I used to have a look at the yarnbombed trees many years ago when we were visiting our mum and when the festival first began but since then it has gone from strength to strength and is now held for 10 days during winter each year.