A refashion - Merino Swing Cardigan

From This

To This

I bought the long cardigan from an Op Shop (Charity Shop) for $9 as I loved the colour. But I did not like the fact that it was made to have a big gap at the front. Winter here is too cold for that. And the length was just not right for me. I love the gather on the sleeves. So I chopped. Jakob was horrified and told me that I should not and then I realised I chopped it too short. So out came an old grey jersey which got sliced and diced too. I have been really inspired with my overlocker being fixed. Though it took ages to get the tension right when I changed threads. Why are those machines so hideous??!!! I follow a blog by Jody Pearl about reinventing fashion. She had a fabulous tutorial on how to make a small cardigan into something funky that fits. So I followed that and inserted triangles of Merino under the arms, then put on the grey border and finished it with a doubled over merino strip. I love the length.

From this

To this

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A merino poncho in just 30 minutes

I was in Fabric Vision the other day purchasing interfacing and the assistant behind the counter had the most gorgeous merino poncho on. When commenting she advised the pattern was free if you purchased some merino.

Talk about a simple pattern. Just put right sides together and sew up to 30 cm on one of the non selvage sides. Hem it etc and voila. I love the combination of pink and grey and copied the assistants idea of putting a grey stripe at one end. So instead of it taking 20 minutes it took me about 35. I love it. Warm and smart but casual.

I used my overlocker for the the first time since purchasing new blades and getting it fixed. Thanks to Graham it is working beautifully. I also purchased a pile of rotary cutter blades. Wow wonders will never cease with how amazing it is cutting with new blades. Just sliced through it. mmmmm.

On the weekend Eli's rugby game was in the country so we decided to go and watch the game as a family and then have the day at Hamner Springs. The weather was fantastic, Eli won his game and we had a great walk, a lovely soak and gorgeous food.

Linking to these place and Crazy Mum Quilts.

A finished noughts and crosses quilt

 I have been concentrating on completing this quilt. I am not good at finishing but am fantastic at starting. 

Once I decided that this quilt was going to be mine and not given away I got a bit more inspired. All last term I studied and found that really hard not having time to sew. But it only took half an hour or so for a block, so I started by just doing a block on a night I had time. 

A block turns into a quilt and then it was put together. I finished my exam so it was time to sandwich and quilt it all. None of these photos really show the quilting as I used red on red and grey on grey. But there is some half inch crosshatching and then some squiggles.

 I was stuck with what quilt around the border, so you can see some writing as I quilted the prayer of Aaron : Numbers 6: 24-26 "The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

In amongst all of this we have had the most awful flu go through us. Aaron and I got it from Eli. Terrible temperatures and sick for quite a few days, then turning into an awful cough. My sister in law was so lovely and left a care package. My sister was amazing and really helped me the day we had to call an ambulance. Wonderful to have such fantastic family around.

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Saturday night stitching

Sandwiching my quilt while watching the thrilling All Black vs Wales on TV. Great game and I got the quilt all pinned together. My parents were meant to be staying with us but with Eli really sick they resided at my sisters. I felt quite bad about that so made Dad's favourite biscuits to take over on Sunday afternoon.

Hmm there is a big gap on the trays of Afghan biscuits.

A bit of kids time

 A few weekends ago we had my wee niece and nephew for a long weekend. We had forgotten how different it is to have little ones in the house and how much fun it makes. Our boys took them under their wings and had a great time.

Both the kids were seriously into making food. It does mean they eat really well as they want to show that their food is delicious. It is a technique I always used with my boys when they were little. If they chop the veges, they will eat them! We made their favourite cake - spiced apple - and both days we had to make bread. Alex made vegemite and cheese swirls and Mieke made cinnamon and brown sugar.

Lots of mucking around and staying in jammies. A mattress on the floor created a great gymnastics display area. Spades for some outside time, until a certain young girl found a snail and squealed her way back inside, sigh.

All in all, a fantastic weekend.

An Alpaca Hat

Well here is another thing that has taken a long time - 8 months!! It is just a Alpaca Hat with earflaps and lovely and warm. It was meant to be done for Christmas. Now as it is an extra I am going to put this into the caravan for those cooler nights. I finished it while watching Downton Abbey with our boys. They are 10 and 13 and saw the last few episodes. They got hooked so we have started from the beginning as a bit of family TV time.

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My latest upcycle

I am thrilled with this upcycle but when I went to show it to Aaron....hmm...how many ways can a husband be polite when he just isn't riveted? How can you not be excited by an amazing travelling ironing board?

I found the small board at our local dump shop and paid a huge sum of $2. I need a board for my yearly quilt retreat. I added two layers of wool batting as it was sitting on metal mesh. Then I raided my canvas fabrics. Drafted a pattern sewed and Ta Da! I love it. The fantastic thing about it is that the legs fold away and it has a hanger. So when not in use you just hang it in the cupboard.

Looking forward to being fully equipped on my next travels.

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