fabric-a-holic!

I have just opened a red lizzi store on CRAFTUMI and you can check it out here. Craftumi is a sister website to madeit! which has australian sellers selling art, craft and hobby supplies. I have some fabrics for sale on my red lizzi site and they are at bargain prices for a limited time! Here are a few of my favourites!

       

     

bad news sucks...

I am still in shock. Last week my best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. At only 38 it is not fair that anyone has to go through something so horrible. Soon after I found out about my bestie, I found out my sister's friend also has cancer.  

I am over 4,000km away from her. I feel so helpless being so far away, so angry that something like this is happening to her, so scared for her and what she has to go through over the coming weeks, months, years and so frustrated that we (humankind) have no cure for such a horrible disease like cancer (yet!)
I feel like I am failing her for not being there - so like any rational, crafty person that is 4,000km away, I took solace in the hook and made a little something for her.

It may be tiny but holds a whole lotta love for her from me to help her through the tough times ahead for her and her family!

I am also selling these pink ribbons here and donating all money from sales to the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Today (Monday 25th October) is Pink Ribbon Day and October is Breast Awareness Month. It is a timely reminder to all women.

how time flies...

I sat down in front of the laptop tonight and noticed it has been 2 months since my last blog post! Jeez sounds like confession...  (but i digress)

I guess when I look back there has been a hell of a lot going on over the last while and with one thing after another i just haven't taken time to sit down and share with you what great and not so great things are happening in my life. 

Then there are others out there in blog-land that have been blogging their hearts out for blogtoberfest 2010! Yes it's on again this year - You can read about the history of Blogtoberfest over here! Hang in there guys, it's the home stretch now and only a few days left.

But I took some time out today. It was my day off from my day-job and took the dogs down to the beach for a run and a swim in the sunshine. It was a bit windy so we took shelter in one corner of the beach. Lizzi was straight in the water while Red ran around the sand looking for a makeshift ball that I could throw for him. 

Next thing I look up and there are about 5 dolphins no more than 20 metres off shore - at first i thought there may have been a sick dolphin in the group, but they seemed more concerned about taking shelter from the choppy water. Lizzi had no idea they were there and for a little while were only about 10 metres away from her. The dolphons were quite happy jumping up and swimming around and hung around for about half an hour. Pretty special sight! (Note to self: take camera when walking the dogs to capture these awesome moments!)

What a lovely day!

Hope you all had a lovely Monday too!

My Creative Space...

The winter weather has found me rummaging through my wool stash for a little knit diversion (and to give me a break from the pink project). 
I have had this Noro Kureyon screaming at me to knit up into a groovy textured scarf. 

How long will this "little" diversion take?
A day? or two? or three?


For more diversions, come and play over at Kirsty's place too.

sew much fun

On Saturday I went to a monthly sewing group hosted by Glenys at her patchwork/craft/quilt/fabric store Craft Collections. I was one of the newbies in the group for the day. 
There were gorgeous quilts and sewing projects over the walls which found my eyes wandering to all day. Some of the ladies in the group had made these. 
I am yet to make any quilts. I think I know deep down that once I start doing patchwork and making quilts I will be come addicted and won't stop. I guess quilts are like that packet of tim tams in the cupboard. Once you open the packet you can't stop eating them!

the sewing group in action

There were tasty home made treats all day to keep us motivated. My favourites were the scones.

 There was lots of chatter, show and tell, sharing of ideas, skills and knowledge. I was on a mission to get some unfinished projects completed. To my delight this fantastic bag is finished - made from japanese retro style prints. It has been in the 'to do' pile for a while so I am glad to have it move onto the store rack. (Thank you Robyn for modelling the new bag) Pop into my store soon and you can see it there.

I met some welcoming and talented people at the sewing day. Thank you to everyone for making me feel welcome and a special thank you to knowledgeable Nikki who showed me how to lower my feed dogs on my sewing machine. 
Would you believe that I have had my sewing machine for 16 years (and still have the manual) and hadn't managed to find the little lever (or read the manual) until now. (Note to self: read the sewing machine manual to find out what else the machine may be able to do! ) 
I have always wanted to try my hand at some free-hand sewing! How endless are the possibilities...

My Creative Space...

is a bit wonky.
I have finally finished the wise old owl. Wish I was wise enough to know how fiddly it would be sewing all his bits and pieces on. Although he seems a bit wonky, I think someone will get a nice surprise when the mail man delivers him soon!

 

Now onto my next project. Can you guess someone's favourite colour is pink!

Taking some advise from Jenni and knitting in the round I hope to enjoy the lack of sewing up at the end!
For more (not so wonky) creative spaces pop over to kirsty's place.

the weekend

A wonderful weekend with good friends, good food (great cheese) and good fun! 
Here are a few other highlights...


Found 2 interesting recycled pieces of fabric at a garage sale on saturday for my stash

A local craft store had a 30% off sale on all things knitting and crochet on Saturday, so I bought a few more hooks, wool and little bits and pieces

I started and finished a little elf beanie for a special little mister back in Katoomba (off to the post office tomorrow for me)

Decided to make a blanket with some of the wool from the Saturday shop. At first I thought I would do a granny square blanket. My Gran made me one and I have always wanted to make one for myself but after knitting one square, I thought it may not be a very warm blanket. For this project, I am hoping for a warm blanket so I have decided to make the blanket a bit more snuggly and have started a different style. It has 150 stitches across and will be green, blue and white stripes (unless I buy more colours) I will keep going till I am happy with the length. I think I have bitten off quite a bit with this one and it may be a long term - behind the scenes - project when I sit down after dinner and relax and have no deadlines to meet.

the granny square

  

the striped (long term) blanket project

I also started to post my knitting and crochet projects on Ravelry. My friend Kel is there. She was the one that got me started on Ravelry. You can find me at redlizzi. Come by and say hello, share your projects and any pointers you have about starting out and getting to know your way around the site. I have only scratched the surface of the wonders that are hidden there! It does have some great people and great projects you can check out. I have also found a pattern there and am about to embark on an epic project for me. 
But more on that later...