The crocheted afghan rug I made for my niece.

The afghan I made for my niece all spread out.

A closer up shot of the stitching.

Hi All again!!
Here is a couple of pics, including a closer up shot of the stitches, of the latest crocheted Mile-A-Minute afghan (rug) I made for my niece's seventh birthday. It took a year to make with many breaks to do other things. I made it using Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply ( like Sportsweight or DK) Classic and Allegro with a 4mm hook. The pink /mauve colour was in Allegro the cranberry and cream colours were in Classic. Bendigo Woollen Mills sell their wool online on their website and I think they do ship overseas to the U.S. and Britain and allover too. The Classic and Allegro are beautiful 100% pure, soft Australian wools.

It's a big blanket for a young girl but I'm hoping she'll keep it for life as an heirloom to continue my Grandmother's tradition of making crocheted blankets for all her grandchildren. All my nieces and nephews, bar the youngest, who is still only 15 moths old, and my two sisters all have a crocheted rug that I've made plus I've sold a few. All of them are Mile-A-Minute designs; less ends to sew in that way especially if you use 200gram balls or cones that have no joins, (usually), like I use. They crochet up quickly especially if you use 12ply (like U.S. worsted weight) and a 6mm hook.

Please note: I'm not taking any orders to make these. It's just a family thing now that I do.

All the Best and Happy Crafting!!
CateW :0)

Pincushion rings.

How a pincushion ring is worn.

An assortment of pincushion rings.

Hi Everyone,
Here is a couple of pics of the pincushion rings we made at my last local CWA meeting. The materials are very cheap and include the lid of a P.E.T. soft drink ( ie soda pop like Coke or whatever) bottle,  a short length of hat elastic, a small circle of scrap fabric, a little bit of polyester stuffing, a little bit of braid or lace, a sewing needle, some sewing thread to match the fabric circle and some Tacky glue, and a toothpick to apply glue. Do I need to include full intructions here? I would think they could be made by looking at the photos.


I will give you a hint: stitch a tacking stitch around the edge of the circle to help gather "the cushion" in nicely before you add the stuffing. You can always adjust it by pulling on the tacking thread to tighten.


Oh, another tip: make two holes through the bottom of the plastic bottle lid with a hot metal skewer. This can be done easily if you have gas cooking top ie just stick the end of the metal skewer into the gas flame til it heats then make the two holes in the plastic lid with it.


Estimate the length of the hat elastic you'll need by wrapping a length around your finger plus allow extra for the knots. 


**** Don't forget to apply glue to the underside of the lid so that the fabric and stuffing will stay put and also glue the braid/lace onto the outside of the lid to finish.


Feel free to ask questions if you don't follow.


All the Best and Happy Crafting!!
CateW :0)

TRAUMA DOLLS FOR KIDS IN HOSPITAL.

Hi All!
Just wanted to let you know of a very worthwhile charity crafting exercise; making and donating Trauma Dolls for kids in hospitals.

I had my friends stuffing trauma dolls at my last social craft group meeting on Wednesday. One member had sewn some up out of the pre-washed calico you use for these dolls, and we were all turning them inside out and stuffing them ready for my mother to stitch closed. No face, hair, clothing or whatever is put on these dolls. They are perfectly plain calico dolls ready for doctors and children to draw on etc to help explain to each other what will happen, where the pain is etc, whilst the child is in hospital. Each child gets to keep and decorate the doll as she/he sees fit. I imagine any hospital that has child patients would find them a useful tool and soothing to the kids too. They are approximately 39cm tall (15 inches tall). Please see below attached scanned image of one, (the legs, arms and head are a bit cut off in this photo but you can still see the general shape of it).

When sewing the doll up remember to leave about a 6cm (a bit over 2 inches long) opening on the outside of one of the legs so you can fill the doll with stuffing, then hand stitch the opening close.

All the Best and Happy Crafting!!
CateW :0)

Recycled cards Christmas bauble pattern- link only

Hi All!
Here is the link to a really good crafts activity for kids, the elderly or for yourself as well as being inexpensive, attractive and great for the environment.

You can also make these for any time of year, not just for Christmas decorations, out of any greetings cards you like, to hang around your home or in your child's bedroom. Make the circles smaller for smaller versions or larger for larger versions. I use tacky glue for these as it bonds quicker and the circles will stick with just a short squeeze between your fingers without the whole thing falling into it's pieces. Normal white glue ( P.V.A.) is a disaster to try and use!

http://www.things-to-make-and-do.co.uk/paper-and-card-projects/baubles/baubles.html

Have fun!!
All the Best and Happy Crafting!!
CateW :0)

What have I got myself into now!!!

Hi All!
As with many community and not-for-profit organisations being a member can have its hazards (tongue in cheek).
My local group with the C.W.A. of Victoria (our group comprises of four branches) is setting up a blog and Mum and I thought we'd go to an information day about it. When we got there "word" had already spread that Mum and I were going to be co-webmasters of this blog!! So it seems we have "volunteered" for the task. I'm not complaining mind you I wanted to volunteer for it anyway. It's just too bad if I had decided I didn't want the job after the info session.

Had one of the group members, from another branch, Eileen, (not her real name), come yesterday to get a lesson from me on blogs and working with computer files and folders etc in general as well. That was fun. She's into crafts too so Mum, Eileen and I had a great chat and afternoon tea.

Eileen may be willing help me to find some other outlets for Crafters For Charity's crafts where we can get better prices for them. I didn't ask her about this. She brought it up herself and suggested the following: She suggested we share a stall, thus halving the costs for each of us. A couple of markets in more affluent areas were mentioned. Probably would have to get up at 4.30am in the morning to set up!!! Yikes!! I reckon I could manage it though. I'd need a couple of days off after each of these markets to recover though, :0). We're talking about only going twice a year or so to each of the two markets we discussed. Any more than that and it may be difficult to keep these new stalls plus my regular charity craft stalls stocked up. All these stalls would all be for The Fred Hollows Foundation of course, except for Eileen's crafts I guess she'd keep funds from any sales she made for herself.

What else has happened? Of yes! Trying to organise a kids' crafts school holiday program at my local Neighbourhood House (where I have my social craft group I mentioned before. It's like a community house where you can do all sorts of courses etc for a reasonable price. Local council pays for alot of it plus grants they manage to obtain). Got days and times picked out. Got two keen volunteers to join me and may get another one or two to help out. Plan to make beaded memory wire bracelets, beaded animals, have Mr Squiggle-type drawing games, doodling and drawing, maybe some stamping and cardmaking and bookmark making with the kids. Having two x 2-hour sessions hopefully, a morning one and an afternoon one, to give parents a choice. Will have max of 24 kids per session. It's all a trial. Parents will only have to pay $20 for the 2-hour session per child.

Anyway enough gabbing!! It's nearly dinner time!!
All the Best and Happy Crafting!!
CateW :0)