Little Fish Creations

Labels Done! I traced circles onto some old drawings of mine using the bottom of a pepper grinder as a template.  The drawing side is on display and the pertinant info is recorded on the back.

A few weeks ago I bought a book about Blackwork and gave a small motif a whirl.  The technique is pretty finicky – especially on the fabric I was using which wasn’t ideal for counted embroidery.

It took me about half an hour to make this up into a lined zippered pouch.  I’m pretty chuffed as I’d never tried to make one before and it all just came together so effortlessly.  Even with Jasper pressing buttons on my sewing machine while I was using it!

So this is where my spare jam labels and hole punch now reside.

Ok this might get a little boring for some… but I’ve been at it again:

Six jars of Onion Jam and two jars of Pickled Beetroot!  The onion jam tastes like sweet pickled onions  (YUM!!) and I’ll have to wait and see how the beetroot turns out.

Both recipes were from A Year in a Bottle by Sally Wise. (and the jars are sitting on a handmade tea towel made by Gina/ClutterPunk… I love it!)

I’m now at the stage where I need to consider labelling.  I think a simple tag on a string might be better than a sticker…. I hate trying to wash labels off bottles!

And, it’s been a while since I shared some photos of Jasper:

He turns 16 months old in a few days!

No more burnt fingers!

I love the fabric 🙂 Funny thing though; it’s been sitting in my stash for eons and I’ve never thought much of it.  But yesterday it screamed “Use me, use me!!!” 

And I’m glad I listened 🙂

Perhaps I was also influenced by a new book in my collection: Russian Textiles – Printed Cloth for the Bazaars of Central Asia by Susan Meller.  And my current obsession with a certain GREEN which pops up in this print.

This afternoon I made Piccalilli. 

The recipe say’s to wait a week before eating and a recipe online advised a month. I hope that the wait time will work some magic with the flavours.  In it’s current state it isn’t great – too salty and also, strangely, too sweet!

Proof of my goddess-ness!  4.5 jars of Mandarin Jam and it’s yummy! (independently tested by Chris).  Actually it’s more like a marmalade with skin included and a slightly bitter flavour.

This is the recipe if you feel inclined to give it a try 🙂 (Gina!)

Today I will attempt to make Mandarin Jam.

Instead of spending years saving jars, I ended up buying around 60 new jars and lids.  I have big plans for jam this year.

I’m very proud of the zip backing I put on these cushion covers 🙂

The hooked rug is getting boring and I’m only 1/10th of the way thorugh.  Options 1) use the colours in a different way 2) reduce the size.

A greeting card/painting in progress. (same scaley pattern as the rug!).

Clockwise from top left:

• Quick biscuits using this recipe–  Very yummy!
• Jasper and Chris at swimming lessons
• Yoghurt with leatherwood honey – yum!
• A bit of cross stitch, I’m using motifs I downloaded from Needleprint, they are the set called Vierlander Motifs Volume 1.

• This week my ‘Free Friday’ was spent sewing a quilt top. My new strategy is to use the services of a long arm quilter to get some UFO’s finished and into use – lickety split.
• All the yarn for the rug project has been cut, bundled and stashed in a basket ready for hooking.
• I finally finished the crocheted blanket!  I hope it gets lots of use by it’s new owner – baby Mietta.
• A shot of my work table last Friday morning – the radio is tuned to Classic FM, there’s coffee in the plunger and a day of sewing (and pilates class) is ahead of me.

Inspired by one of my favourite blogs Tiny Happy.  It was a situation where I saw her blog post and immediately started measuring my Bodum, riffling through fabrics, cutting and sewing.

This is the sort of fun stuff I can do when Jasper is at day-care 🙂  I’m finding that 6 hours respite a week makes a HUGE difference to my wellbeing (aka sanity) and a bonus is that Jasper seems to really enjoy it too!

The cozy was constructed almost exclusively from scrap bin fabrics (yay!!) and utilised a random bit of embroidery from my pile of random embroideries (super yay!!)

The buttons are from Deep Indigo Etsy Shop.  Aren’t they cute?  I think they are 🙂

We’ve had a tough couple of weeks with all of us getting the dreaded gastro. One of the worst bits about this virus is seeing your loved ones be so sick – all the time knowing that it is a ‘sure thing’ that you’ll be suffering likewise sooner or later.

But we are all good now and I’m ready to face my uncompleted projects:

Clockwise from top left

1) Little granny sqare blanket.  I’ve just got to finish stitching the rows together!  My aim is to have this done in the next couple of days so I can dispatch it off to the newest baby on the block 🙂  It’s small, but just right for keeping a newborn toasty in a pram, bassinette or carseat.

2) Two skirts.  The same A-Line skirt pattern as before.  All that’s left on these is the closures and the hem of the polka dot skirt.  I think I’ve nearly come to the end of my enthusiasm for this skirt pattern and it’s time to move on…. maybe a to a tunic style top.

3) Latch Hook Rug. Last Saturday (just before I got sick), I took an Adult Ed class with Jo Wild – latch hooker.  I made a start in class and will continue once I’ve got the crochet project finished. More on this later!!!

4) Linoprinting. Me and my friend Kate have planned a linocutting/printing playdate for tommorow 🙂  I love my creative friends!

In other news, Jasper started at ‘Family Day Care’ last week.  I am very ready for some respite after nearly 15 months.  So once a week he gets to spend 6 hours with a nice lady and some other children and I get to do whatever the hell I want!