Little Miss Meshell has moved! Thank you all so much for all your support, comments, advice and kind words over the years. Please follow me to...
http://www.thesolitarythread.typepad.com :)
xo
PS. This blog will be deleted in August 2008, please update your bookmarks and links!
Hello! I am back and raring to go after a wonderful holiday (happy snaps coming soon). Don't you love it when you get your groove back?
Anyway, I have a not-so-secret, this blog is about to move, the 'Little Miss Meshell' name will be no more, and I am getting ready to start my handmade business, yay! I am awaiting an official document (aarrgh, please approve me, please arrive! And quick! *squirm*), and then I'll let you know the link for my new blog which is all ready and awaiting new posts (I've imported old posts, and this blog will stay up until September when my paid Typepad year is up). But I don't want to jinx myself by moving over just yet though!
I'll be starting my business on March the 1st, at least that is the plan, and am still in setup mode, but at least the blog is done and all my other accounts have been started.
I have SO much to blog but I'm going to wait until then, so I'll just leave you with this interesting moth that was outside the front door (well I thought it was interesting anyhow), loving my macro lens! :) x
Um...well as you can see my blogging is going brilliantly. And now is probably where I should say MerryChristmasandHappyNewYear to everyone and HappyBirthdayToMe!
Just a quick note to say that I will be on holiday (yay!) and offline for the next week and a half, starting tomorrow. I will definitely try to get my head and blog together after that (I was going to say I promise...but decided not to, so that looks positive doesn't it =P).
These gorgeous embroidery threads from YarnPlayer on Etsy are coming with me, along with a bag of organic cotton and wool from Ecoyarns AU, a container of DMC and a whole bunch of new crochet hooks.
And not to mention a tower of books, a sketch pad, a camera with a million lenses and gin squash making supplies. Woot.
Catcha when I get back :) x
This was a fun, fun project. This is the first crochet project that I’ve finished! Just ignore that half-finished ripple blanket over there…I’ll get back to that in winter.
I can definitely understand the granny square addiction now, this stocking was made from little hexagons and you get that sense of accomplishment after you finish each of them, love it! I love crochet so much, I hope to do lots more next year. I really want to make some lovely earthy, stiff, organic-y, natural fibre containers for my supplies.
I am not a fan of forest green, at all. I am a huge fan of red, and a fan of white, so when it comes to Christmas colours I love playing around to get rid of that green. I love aqua in its place, or lime green, or just the red and the white together. But when I went to buy some Christmas crochet thread I came across this gorgeous jade green cotton (it looks a little more aqua in the pics though) which I thought was just perfect! I love the three together.
This stocking was super easy, crochet newbie me got along just fine with it, and you can find the free pattern here. I bookmarked it mid-year, and was reminded of it when some of the granny-along bloggers started to tackle it. I was so excited that it ended up looking like the one in the picture! The pattern mentions that you can either sew or sc the hexagons together, and I sc'd them as I wanted that pop-out look that she mentions. At least I think I did, ha.
And who is the stocking for? Why, the cat of course. She gets a present each year so she needs a stocking don’t you think? It worked out just perfectly because I used 4 ply cotton instead of worsted yarn, so the stocking is a good size for a cat (read, small!).
She won’t be happy with her present this year, but I was! I got her the cutest handmade collar from pawsntails on Etsy. Asta is an indoor cat, but I like her to wear a collar because she does go on some supervised walks outside, and has a habit of waiting at the front door when I get home from work in the middle of the night. I just feel better if she has her identification on. But she hates collars with a passion, she’s always chewing them to pieces or dragging them off her head. She hasn’t worn one in the last few months and has gone through at least 12.
But this one that I got looks super comfy, it’s a fabric one, and has a tension clasp (which will open if she gets caught, good) instead of the belt buckle type collars I find here, which she grabs ahold of the end of and breaks it or half strangles herself. So there are no dangly or bulgy bits at all, it’s smooth and comfy. We’ll see how it goes! How cute is the ladybug print, ha!
I made sugar cookies today, although they didn't turn out as nice as last time, I don't think I cooked them long enough and I accidentally put too much bicarb in them. Who stuffs up sugar cookies!? Geez. But they got eaten, so they must not have been too bad. I am so terrible at icing so I decided to just splodge it on as you can see. =P
I've caught a cold so have done no cleaning this weekend. Hope to start tomorrow as I really want to do that quilt!
I’ve been having a lovely time making Christmas goodies with a little bit of baking thrown in. December has gone so fast hasn't it! I’ve got a couple more little things I want to make but I really wanted to make a Christmas quilt by Christmas Eve so I think next week will be quilt week and I’ll put the rest of the project ideas I collected away for next year. I’m happy that I got a lot of them done though. I've taken pics of most things today so I do have blog fodder for the lead-up to Christmas.
This is the most fantastic project that Nixie emailed me, you can find the tutorial on Craftster right here. I had so much fun making this, and it was SO simple. If anyone has tried making a patchwork sphere you know what a pain in the butt it is right? Although this looks like patchwork it’s actually a no-sew styrofoam ball ornament. I would be making a ton more of these if I had any more balls but unfortunately I’m too lazy to go buy any more. I do have one quite huge one left though, maybe I’ll do a mega one to sit in a display somewhere instead of hanging on the tree.
I also received my first ornament from the 2007 Holiday Ornament swap, it’s so beautiful! I love it. It’s from Paula McGurdy, you can check out her blog here.
I’m going a little slow on the baking front (although that’s probably a good thing health-wise!), I’ve got about five recipes I want to try out, and a couple days ago I made the Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies (from Martha) that I did last year, mmm. Sugar cookies next. And I must make time for homemade marshmallows to go in hot chocolates.
And because I’ve had a lovely week just playing and making it means that finally his weekend I need to tackle the craft room (waaahhh) and my car. Much mess in both. My car is filled to the brim of uni stuff, wood, shelves, tools and a gigantic stuffed knitted scarf. And the other day I was yanking my window sun visor out of the back seat and it ripped and exploded disintegrated foam ALL over the car and myself. Not quite the white Christmas I was hoping for. Sigh.
Phew! That ornament design took longer than I thought, it was fun sewing by hand this year although a bit slower than the machine. I love that feeling once everything is finally packaged up, in its envelopes and addressed. And the bazillion customs forms filled out too *nurses hand*. About 25 things to post tomorrow (a little later than expected, whoops! Hope the postal gods are smiling on me) and then on to Christmas crafting and baking!
I'll post the ornaments in a bit when some of them have been received. I managed to make an advent calendar before the first, and have set up the Christmas stuff. And done the herb garden and a little bit of exercising, yay! x
Oh look. Rolled up bits of paper. Interesting.
Hmm. My human has thrown them. It must mean that she wants me to chase them and pick one out with my mouth, oozing cute for that dastardly camera. So instead, I shall sit right here and ignore them.
Well your plan backfired didn't it human? Mwahaha.
...
Hmm... but this particular one does look quite good.
You won’t let me go back to sleep until I choose one, will you vile peasant? So yep. Definitely this one. The cat has spoken.
Ah yes. Cat foresees very deserving winner. Xray vision and all that. Good choice self.
Aha. Just as I foresaw. #4 Emma, whatever that means. Quite possibly a human named Emma, who left comment number 4 on le blog. Yes, that must be it. Good detective work self.
I loathe you human. I am no blog photo backdrop! Get this thing off me or I will rip up your prized green opshop chair. Oh…er, yes. Forget I said that.
Well that was a boring game. Really.
Ugh. On the threat of no dinner (ABUSE!!) I am forced, er, inclined to say thank you ‘so much’ to everyone who entered, and ‘sorry’ to everyone who missed out (although I’m not sure what that term means? Hmm), and that not to worry, my human will be doing lots more of these things next year (Oh WHAT!? Note to self, make self scarce at those times so as to not have to go through this tomfoolery again). And that apparently this other human named Emma…yes, yes, I’m saying congratulations, be quiet human. As I was saying, she has a blog right here - Apparently it’s great, and has a massive cupcake with a delicious icing recipe in the first post. Mmm...cupcake.
Can I leave now? I feel so used.
PS. I urge you all the call your local authorities, this is a clear cut case of cat labour! Please help me! Ack! I am being silenced! Hel...
* Note from the editor - The lovely winner Emma hasn't got pierced ears and has kindly let me draw another name for the earrings, so I've picked another name and the runner up is Chara Michele! Congrats :) I'll throw in a Christmas fat quarter and a different Maditi postcard too, emailing you now! x
EDIT - Update! Entries closed, thank you so much :))
Thank you so much for all your lovely comments! Boy did I miss blogging, getting those ‘you’ve got a new comment’ emails again was sooo lovely.
So I am in ornament factory mode at the moment for my contribution to the 2008 Holiday Ornament Swap, (edit - whoops, 2007! I'm way ahead of myself) and because I can't count I have an extra one, so I had the last minute idea of having a little Christmas giveaway if anyone is interested...
They’re not cooked yet, still need sprinkles and silver sugar balls, and their edges doing, but hopefully they will turn out nice! My first idea was quite a disaster, I decided that I wanted to make some intricate sewn snowflakes from highly patterned fabrics with no seams showing, but turning them inside out just was not going to happen. So sugar cookies it was. They're made of wool felt and cotton, and calorie free.
And how bout a fat quarter of each of these Christmas fabrics? Which will probably arrive at your house just before Christmas meaning you don't actually have time to use them, but anyway, thought that counts right? And continuing on the redish theme, two gorgeous postcards from Maditi, they are my favourites.
I have so many posts to do, but here is a super quick project I did, with these cute little Christmas light charms mum got me last year. Hey, I’ll throw in a pair of these too, you can let me know what colour you’d like (there are also blue and yellow). Mine are the red ones, and mum has nabbed the purple and the green. I like that they are subtle Christmassy.
So anyway, this is just a quick little giveaway with one winner, and if you miss out, don’t worry, I have bigger and better planned for after Christmas! If your name is Feli, Miss Dot, Astrid, Barbara or Nixie, there are already cookies with your names on them but please feel free to enter for the other goodies, and if one of you win I’ll draw another name for the extra cookie ornament :)
Anyhoo, leave a comment on this post before 12 noon on Thursday my time (I told you it was quick, and I’m in Perth, Australia if you need to do some timezone changing, and I’ll edit the blog post when the time is up), and if you can get your address to me ASAP when I email you that would be great, so that I can post your package with the rest of my ornaments on Friday.
I’d love to be pointed to one of your favourite online recipes, or hear about a great book you’ve read, or you can just say hi and tell me something about you, or whatever! xx
Edit - PS! Anyone anywhere in the world is free to enter! :)
EDIT - Update! Entries closed, thank you so much :))
Phew. Done. Finished my degree (trying to holding back the 'at freaking last!').
I've just spent the past few days setting up my little portion of the degree show, it was hard work. Ali, I can't imagine trying to set up a whole solo exhibition, go you! I'm exhausted, sore, covered in house paint...and happy. I actually had a heap of fun setting up with everyone (although it was tedious waiting around for the curators all day on the first day, but I suppose they did have about a million people to place and move!), and it felt GREAT knowing that it wasn't being assessed, no pressure on that front. I've got four pieces in there and I'm pretty happy with them, and two lovely shelves thanks to Bunnings, I really like the look of the final setup, quite stark and simple. Noice. I'll post pics in a bit. If any Perthians are interested, opening night is at 6pm tomorrow (Friday) and the show is open from Sat 1st Dec to Sun 9th Dec from 10am-4pm. If you don't know what uni I go to (...went to, hee!), let me know in the comments (I must get my email address back up) and I'll let you know, and for those who do know, it's held in the Department of Art, maps on the website :)
Phew, phew, phew.
I'm not feeling as huge a sense of relief that I thought I would, it doesn't feel that different (although I'm not stressed anymore! I was super stressed), but I'm sure it will become apparent next year when I realise I don't have to think about study!
I'm also really happy because the head of the fiber/textiles department took down my details as she may want to hire me as a research assistant to work on some grants some time in the future, YAY! That would be a dream, art research is one of my most favourite things. I turned down a Graduate in Residence position though as I really do think I will go insane if I study/am at uni for a minute longer, I know a residency isn't really study but do you know what I mean? I need to get out and work by myself for awhile! I might kick myself in the future, but I think it's for the best. I am so drained.
ANYWAY, I bought myself two graduation presents on Etsy (although we all know that I don't need an occasion to buy myself a present =P), I thought the brain cup was fitting, since I am now officially so smart and all. I have been eying this for forever, I love everything Circa Ceramics make, it was a tossup between this and a camera piece, but this seemed perfect for the occasion because of aforementioned smartness. I love how heavy and chunky this style of cup is, perfect for a big, comforting cup of tea.
I also bought this beautiful journal from My Handbound Books, it is so lovely. I have a major handbound addiction, I just think the skill and craftsmanship of book binding is so amazing, there are SO many fantastic journals on Etsy, it's hard to choose, but I am building up a wee collection.
I was also lucky enough to grab some Lara Cameron fabric, the kind that sells out in about 2 minutes when she does an update! I was very sad to have missed my favourite of her prints, Poppies, in blue, but luckily when I got the Ginkgo from her second run I spied a little pack with the Poppies included, yay! The base cloth of these ones is an absolutely amazing linen/cotton blend. Last time she updated I also got two blue colourways of her Birch Forest, which is absolutely divine (I don't think I blogged it yet, I'll use it as a background sometime).
So I've got a few more degree show things to do, and then in about a week I am a free woman! About time! I've got so many Christmas plans, so I hope you all don't mind the blog being in a Christmas themed frenzy for the next few weeks. The plan is to carry out all my Christmas plans until the day (I have leave from work, woot!), and then in January I'm going to start focusing on the small handmade business I want to set up next year, and I'm hoping I will open it up in mid February, probably starting with an Etsy store. I'm also going on a holiday in Jan which will be lovely. Err, and will try to save some money, but we'll get to those resolutions in due time.
It will feel so good to be posting again! Thanks for bearing with me. :)
...no post. Hi everyone :) I accept the prize for the biggest blog neglecter in the world, thanks.
Alive and...maybe not well but getting there. My final uni exam is at the end of next week and the degree show set-up soon after that. Then I’ve graduated, I can’t even fathom it. I am so fed up with uni, studying and stressing out (unfortunately anxiety/panic back in full force), I have about no ounces of motivation left to finish everything up but I have to try. So close to the end!
Anyway, as soon as that’s all over I’ve got 6 weeks of annual leave from work and I’ve so many lovely Christmas plans to carry out! That’s what is keeping me going, I can’t wait. I’ve joined the 2007 Holiday Ornament Swap (which was an absolute blast last year), I won’t have time for anything else as the Australia post send out deadline for overseas packages to arrive in time for Christmas is about the 4th Dec and I have uni almost right up until then, but I think I can handle making 10 pretty ornaments! Must remember to keep them flat like last year so that they can go letter rate, that was handy for my rather empty pockets.
I’m feeling very proud because in moments of study procrastination (many of them) I’ve almost finished my Christmas shopping, just waiting for some things to arrive and a couple more things to get. I’m so happy that the majority of everyones gifts came from Etsy, I highly recommend having a browse over there with your friends and family members in mind! I’ve also collected a gorgeous little bunch of handmade Christmas deccies from Etsy as well, I’ll show you them when I put up my tree. I love collecting new ones each year. I'm also lusting over a white Christmas tree in Myer but I didn't see the price when I was there, I might have to pop back and have another look. I probably don't need two trees eh? Hmm.
One great thing that’s happened is that the Elf shoe Christmas stocking that I made Avi last year is in the 2007 Holiday Softie Awards, how exciting is that! Totally made my day :) Voting for all the categories is still open, there are some absolutely amazing works in there, my favourites are the Christmas puddings, the zombie choir girl and the white Guggenheim museum! You can also check out ALL the great entries on the Flickr group, I love seeing so much holiday craft. Speaking of that, while you're there, if you are into pink, there is an amazing Pink Christmas Flickr group too, wow.
I’ve also been keeping a Christmas Word document (don't we all? err..), it has reached about 6 pages now, lol, here are some links for some cute projects I’ll be trying to tackle...
Christmas lights lampshades - these are so cute, I've bought my fairy lights and vellum and little brads, i can't wait to make these!
Ball wreath - I love this, I'm going to have a go with pale pink, aqua and silver, although I need to go and find some balls, cheap ones hopefully as it looks like it uses a lot!
Holiday card ornaments - These are stunning, I saved up last years cards especially for these ornaments. Yay for recycling!
Card pinup wreath - Love this! Always looking for new ways to display Christmas cards.
Two different paper star decorations - These look fun, will give them a go too.
This crochet - possibly as a cushion, someone out there in blogland did this in white and red and it looked just like peppermint candies, I can't for the life of me remember who it was though!
I'll also be doing an advent calender and a Christmas quilt, some Christmas garlands and bunting and hopefully lots more. Hope those links are of use to someone!
Some of the things on my massive (but fun!) to-do list after this madness is over, go on a lovely holiday down south with my family in January as well as start a herb garden (I’ve decided on parsley, oregano, chamomile, dill, peppermint, basil, chives and garlic chives (if you haven’t tried these, oh my! Very nice) to start me off. I'm going to be collecting a ton of recipes too, I will have time to cook, wow!
I’m also going to be decluttering EVERYTHING, clothes, craft room, shoes, computer, books, everything. I’m in need of some simplicity methinks. I can’t wait to clean up all this mess. And one of the most fun things will be trying to set up my handmade business…after I have a big relax with lots of cups of tea, reading of many books, lots of yummy summer food, holiday baking, beach-going and etc. Plus I want to go on lots of outings with my new camera (which I will post about!).
I’ve also got a very special present coming for Christmas from Mr M...a Print Gocco! Whee! :) If you don’t know what that is, google it, but be warned, you will most probably want one! I'm also getting myself an Ashford Knitters loom which I'm very excited about.
I can't even imagine what it's going to be like not to be studying, I've never had a break from study, I will be able to have hobbies, cook, read without it being uni related, exercise! But for now, back to this...
Anyway, bye again for now, I probably won’t be back until the end of November, but back with gusto I will be!
Thanks for putting up with my away-ness, thanks for the lovely emails and so sorry I’ve been a bit un-contactable. I’ll also get back to putting up those old blog posts again, I did quite a few of them but jeez, that turned out to be a task and a half! xo
