Busy busy busy..?

Ok, so it appears I keep disappearing! Although I don't "do anything" life seems so hectic. Trying to juggle being me with having a bf (7mths now), adapting to new challenges with my daughter, applying for jobs etc. Not to mention fitting in enough craft to keep me sane!!!

To start, my pop came home in February. It was so wonderful to have him back, watch him laughing and smiling at the kids etc. I say was as we lost him in April. He was such a precious man to me being my great-grandfather, Jessica's great-great-grandfather. It was really hard on me when he passed away, I was in Perth getting Jessi Skin Patch Tested (SPT) at an allerists. I was in Perth when his wife, my great-grandma, died also. It was like a huge kick in the guts. When I got home all my great-aunts were here and an uncle or two. Grandma and pop had 10 kids, 9 of which are living, and they were all here for the funeral. Some of them travelling from the other side of the country.

I will always miss my pop. He was just shy of his 90th birthday when he passed so I wont be too sad for him. He had a long life, saw so much, and was never the same after losing his wife of 63yrs. Loved them both dearly.

So about that SPT... He tested something like 20 things, maybe more. Added a little drop of allergen on her skin then went over them with the head of a needle and ever so slightly broke the skin. We were sent back to the waiting room while he saw the next patient, then called back in. He pulled her arm up onto his desk and counted down, then counted on a list that obviously told him what he tested where. He says "This isn't good". Me, I'm feeling all nervous and stressed as it is, so I replied "thanks for the vote of confidence" looking at my sister with questioning eyes. I was grateful she was there with me when he said Jess is allergic to Latex (NRL). That was fine really, no balloons or rubber gloves. Then he started listing stuff and saying "and she'll probably need elastic removed from her skirts and things, especially her underwear.." which made me rather unsettled. I looked at him, knowing full well what anaphylaia is as Jessi has it to tree nuts and sesame, and asked him "so, this is bad then?" and his reply saw me crying right there in his office, trying so hard to keep my head held high.. "THIS IS THE WORST THING SHE COULD HAVE". I just slumped. Jessi was trying to kiss and hug me not really understanding what was going on. I think my sister just sat quietly, I don't recall her doing or saying anything. When we went back to the waiting room to pay for the appointment a lady we'd got talking to asked how it went, I managed to get out "apparently she's severely allergic to latex" and then started bawling again. The lady says "aww.. don't cry" and that just made it worse!!

On the way back to my sisters house I was in a bit of a daze. Right away I called nanna and had a good cry to her. She was saying to me "be strong for Jessi, don't let her see you upset" and that hurt. I really needed support and worrying that Jessi was seeing me cry wasn't big on my agenda right then. I rang Neil too (my bf) and he was more supportive but also just as gobsmacked as me. His main responses were "shit. oh shit. that's not good". Every 2 seconds I was going "can she even have...?" and just wondering what kind of myriad of things she would now have to be kept away from. All the allergist was able to give me was one brochure from America about latex (NRL), he told me to go home and look it up on the net. Which I did, and that only served to overwhelm me more!! I found and anaphylaxia suport group here in Aus and joined up. The ladies at Anaphylaxis Talk are so supportive of each other, and friendly and welcoming. It's nice to finally be able to talk to others who know what this is like. Most people really don't get it. At Anaphylaxis Talk I have compiled a comprehensive list of products containing NRL as I couldn't find one on the web. Just lots of little ones.

It turns out Pecan reacted really bad too, and cashew. But we already knew she was anaphylactic to tree nuts. I guess she is allergic to almost all of them, and from what I've been reading many people are only allergic to one or two. He didn't test sesame, just took my word for it. The letter he sent back to our doctor also said orange but as he didn't bring it up I'm not too worried about it. He said she reacted to peanut and asked us about it. We told him she eats it, not often but she does eat it, and he said to give it to her 2 times a week. He said taking it from her diet would probably be worse. He wrote a new form for a Medic Alert bracelelt on the spot. It's been a lot to take in but I am getting there.

Nanna bought me a sewing machine for my birthday so I've been playing with it some. While in Perth there was a fabric store relocating and having a closing down sale to do so (why they didn't relocate it I don't know) but I got 25m of fabric for $12.50, jusy 50c a metre!! I was so happy to get such a good bargain. I also went to op shops (thrift shops) and bought remnants and patterns and stuff. Not like I needed more patterns.. I just love them :)

Some slippers from various patterns and a mostly-complete teddy bear I've sewn

I've not really been crocheting or knitting. Done some scrapbooking though. I am wanting to learn bobbin lace, but I want a kit from the Fox Collection and don't have the money for it right now. There is just so much I want to do I don't think I will ever get to do it all!

Some of the scrapping I have done

Neil is talking about moving in with us so I will have to rearrange my house again. Thats an adjustment I want, though I am a little unsure how I will cope with it. I've had 3yrs on my own with just Jessica. Neil lives with his nanna and has never lived with a partner before. Going to be a big learning curve for us both!

I applied for a job a week ago, as a Library Officer in the school. I am pretty confident I will get an interview, fingers crossed I get the job too!

Who Knew!

Wow.. I had no idea it had been soooo long since I last blogged. There's been so much going on in my life that I guess the ole blog got a little left behind!

I've been tatting, scrapbooking, crocheting.. all the usual. I wont bore anyone with photos ofall I have done in the last 6mths. Jessi is about to turn 5, my great grandfather had a heart attack and a pacemaker put in right before xmas (he was sent home xmas day from hospital) and is finally coming home from Perth, I have a bf now, I've read a few books, changed the house around. Just so many things :)

I managed to take a simply stunning photo of Jessi on Dec 20th, so I will share. Everyone loves to look at cute kids! I cropped out the toilet block and everything when I scrapped it of course ;)


One book I read I want to tell you about. Had I read the blurb I'm not sure I would ever have bought it. It was in a discount book order thingy at the local supermarket for about $10. The pic on the cover of 3 little blonde girls appealed to me so I grabbed the order form and wrote my details (of course buy Jessi books too!). When I read the blurb some weeks later I said to my bf that I'm not sure I would like the book, but for some reason I was still drawn to reading it. And I did. And it had such an impact on me, to the point I researched the authors online and was tempted to email them about their story. I decided that was probably going a bit too far!! The book is called "Not Without My Sister" by Celeste, Kristina (Jones) and Juliana (Buhring). They were born into a cult or religious sect or whatever other "politically correct/incorrect" term you may have called the Children of God. Now known as The Family International this cult still operates. In researching the authors I read a blog by an Australian man who had been "flirty-fished" by a group of Family girls in Sydney just last year. The lives these little girls lived were horrific. Dragged all over the world and often being raised by people who weren't their parents or in a communal environment they suffered abuse of every kind. No child deserves this no matter the reasoning behind it. These ladies, Celeste, Kristina and Juliana are fighting for the rights of children like them all over the world. Kudos to you! If you ever have the chance to read this book, do. I couldn't put it down. My life seems so "normal" and "fair" after having read what these ladies lived through. I was mortified that these things really happen, and reading it in such a way saw me in tears and constantly commenting to my bf about how dumbfounded I was about it all. A real wake up call! I'm not in anyway religious by choice, and I don't hold anyones religion or beliefs against them, but I tell ya what, abusing children I cannot accept. Abusing anyone in any unjust way really. And if your "religion" tells you it's right.. I mean, where are the common sense and morals? So, with an open and unbiased mind I recommend this book. Be warned, it can be a little graphic. Juliana, Celeste and Kristina.. if you ever happen by my humble little blog I admire your strength and will power. May your work with RISE International help many and bring you peace.

I recently started compiling a http://www.myqh.com/ webpage. I had run across a couple when hunting for crochet patterns and they were just so well organised and helpful that I thought I might make my own. So far I've used their process for copying all your links from your browser and they all need sorting. But where as in the past I was saving just a homepage or index I am now going to go through and organise more clearly. Mainly with the tatting stuff I will be trying to add in every pattern I come across as a reference point for people. www.crochetpatterncentral .com and http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/ are already such comprehensive guides to those artforms and Rachel does such an amazing job of keeping them up to date I could never hope to equal her. Tatting will be my thing :) I do have the Tatting Index in my bookmarks and use it often, so I am really kinda taking inspiration from there. I have more tatting bookmarks than I do anything else so it will be great to think "hmm.. I want to tat a 3D rose" and know right where to look. If no one else ever uses my lists I certainly wont be offended!! But that said.. if you're interested take a look

http://www.myhq.com/public/m/i/michelles_angel/

It's a slow process as I have to add each thing just one at a time and pull up all those webpages in the process. That's kinda a good thing too cos it means no broken links. For now.. Not sure how well I will go in keeping it that way!! *lol* OOOOHH!!... I better remember to add my own dragonfly tatting pattern, huh?!! Foolish me.

Enough babbling from me, I have a myhq page to work on. Take care and I should be back. I hope. Maybe....

Toys galore

I was asked if I would like to test a pattern for KristieMN at Crochetville after commenting how Jessica is totally into her "babies" at the moment. Kristen had said she already had the testers she needed so I was really surprised to get a PM asking if I would like to test too. Of course I said yes! I just adore Kristie's patterns!!

Here is Hallie, a BackPack Baby pattern by KristieMN which I imagine will be available at her Etsy Store Kristie's Kreations just as soon as she has all her testers results. I haven't done the bear as I still can't find a smaller hook! Hallie is the name Jessica chose for her new doll.



Also completed 2 cute balls. So quick and easy. So much so that I even embroidered on them just for the sake of it! Basically just cat balls with bells inside crocheted over which means they jingle when shaken, rolled, throwed etc. I think I will be making these and stashing them to sell when markets come up etc. Only thing is that I need to get to a discount store to buy them. The larger balls at the local supermarket are 2 for $4 (almost) and the smaller ones $4 (almost) for 4! So quite pricey really!! The colours in these balls are the same as Hallie but as she was photgraphed inside in the evening her colours aren't shwing as bright. These are a truer representation of colours used. I will probably send one of these balls to my friends little girl Hayley for her 1st bday which is fast approaching. I made her a toy when she was little that she loves, will keep it up as a tradition *lol*

And last but not least, I am so proud to show you Barbie in a mermaid tail that is all my own work! This took me days!! I am really very pleased with it and owe so many thanks to Vicki for sending me the colour of cotton I wanted all the way from Washington state USA! I have wanted to make a mermaid since I was on that real Barbie kick for Jessica's bday this year and just didn't have what I felt I needed. So heaps of thanks and love to ya Vicki for rescuing me!

Right now I am working on a top for Jessi. I would have finished already but I made the first piece too small so have to make another. Not to worry. The small one will likely become a halter, also for Hayley's birthday :D Where there is a will there is a way! And I waste little!! I will show them off once complete. I don't like showing half objects. Spoils the surprise. Oh, these are all my own design too which makes it so much more rewarding.

I decided to start getting this house of mine organised yesterday. What a disaster, but also a lot achieved. I moved the fridge and I tell you what.. I wish I hadn't done that. I was trying not to puke while scrubbing the floor under it. So relocated the fridge and the pantry which allows me to then move the tv and couches etc. You see, so much in my house needs something done before something else can progress and that's a lot of the reason I just leave it be. Totally reorganising things creates a huge mess. Right now you can barely walk through my kitchen, simply because to move the other cupboard that was in there I need to move things in the living room to put it in there. Some of those things from the living room need to go into Jessi's toy room which isn't even in existance yet. Ahh.. the joys! *lol* anyways, I got some done. Will get to the rest soon I suppose. It needs doing and I need to stop procrastinating about it. That simple.

A minute to breathe, at last!

Finally I can update my blog. It seems like I update less and less, but not through a lack of wanting. I like writing here it’s kind of therapeutic in a way only I always feel so tired, or I am playing some game for hours on end to try avoid thinking about things. A lot has been happening as usual. Things I wish had never happened. My friend tried to hurt herself, Jessica spent 3 days in hospital and I had to fight the dr and nurses the whole time. I need to see the dr tomorrow and I really don’t want to. The less I see of that guy the better!

They made me see an asthma nurse yesterday. Implying (imho) that I knew nothing about asthma and that I was perhaps over reacting about Jessi (the dr didn’t want to hospitalise her, he was sending her home even with her oxygen saturation at only 92%). So.. I went along to see the asthma nurse yesterday. Least I could do since the poor guy travelled 1.5hrs to see me. Besides, it’s better to stay informed about these things. Steve, the nurse, was so nice. He asked what I knew (finally someone who doesn’t treat me like a 5yr old) and we discussed Jessica’s hospitalisation in the lead up to and time we were there. He was dumbfounded I was sent to him. The nurse here who arranged it just said she had a mother who needed asthma education and he had none of our notes or anything so was very surprised at what I knew and said to me “you know as much about it as I do”. He said I asked all the right questions and had appropriate expectations. He wasn’t happy at the way things were handled but said as this isn’t his jurisdiction its hard for him. For him to speak up he’s walking on treacherous ground. Well that was annoying! As I said to him, what’s the point of me being educated/informed on these things if it still means nothing when I see the dr or take Jess to ER.

I cut Jessi’s hair the other week. It had been annoying me for aaages and said to her one night “next time we’re in Kalgoorlie I will have to make you an appointment with the hair dresser” she replied “you can cut it mummy” as I had asked her only a week or so before to cut it and she looked horrified. Not at the prospect of having it cut, but at me doing it *lol* Well, while she says do it I wasn’t wasting any time. Couldn’t find my hair scissors so we went straight to nannas and chopped it off. It’s not perfect, one side looks a little longer than the other, and there is about 6 whole inches gone, but it looks SUPER CUTE!!!!

Before and after


I crocheted her a very sweet little wrap top from the lionbrand website in Bernat Cottontots. She looks absolutely adorable in it, and loves wearing it. The cottontots is surprisingly warm so perfect for this time of year. Such a fast little thing to crochet too, took me maybe 12hrs on and off. I hated sewing up the seams though.



On the craft front I have been dabbling. Doing a little bit of this and a tiny bit of that. Crochetville is holding it’s Holiday in July Random Act of Kindness (raok) lists and I have been tatting for that. A lot of people ask for handmade ornaments or anything handmade. It’s something I can post relatively cheaply as most things have to go over seas. I’ve done a snowflake from a pattern then just made up a couple more, a tatted angel, tatted bookmark (see that hugely obvious mistake?), and a dragonfly I did when I was teaching myself split rings that I somehow over looked photographing before now.


I’ve also knitted a little rose which is really cute but was quite tricky to knit, a few crochet flowers and some tatted ones. All were just something to do at the time cos I have no plans for them. I do love the knitted rose, and the crochet one. The crocheted ones are so quick and easy!


I attempted some knitting and am at a complete standstill! I was given a whole set of a 1980’s collectors series called “Get Knitting”. You had to buy one a fortnight from the newsagency. I found a few patterns in there that were cute (and literally only 6-8 from over 100) and decided to make this for Jessi. Using bigger yarn and needles. It was all going along well until I had to decrease and pick up a stitch repeat without instructions. I guess it was written for an experienced knitter. That I am not. I have had some good help just haven’t got back to it yet. I think I will run out of the yarn before finishing too. Again it’s Bernat Cottontots and Jessi loves the colour! She really wants me to finish this.



Right now I am crocheting a mermaid outfit for Barbie. The stitch I am using looks like scales which is so cool. Slow going though. The colours are blocking which is not what I was after and I am pretty bummed about it. Will see how it looks when I am done. Might even be another RAOK. If Jessi doesn’t claim it first.

I have netball tonight, it’s so cold, I am getting a flu and Jessi already has one. Fun fun. Wish we had an indoor sports centre!! Oh, my mum moved back to town too!! It’s so nice but I am sad for her. Things didn’t work out how she hoped which must be hard for her. Jessi is rapt to have her back!

11.5" Fashion Doll Panties/Knickers in yarn (Barbie)

This is my pattern for yarn panties to suit a fashion doll as requested by someone at Crochetville as posted originally at Crochetville. I personally used both a modern and an older Barbie doll but I'd guess they'd suit any fashion doll. I would like to say this is in the public domain, I can't see copyrighting anything like this any kind of achievement. Feel free to use it as a basic guideline to experiment from.

older style Barbie

modern Barbie

I used a really fine baby yarn and 3.25mm or US-0 hook

sc decrease- pull up a loop in first sc, pull up a loop in second sc, yarn over draw through all 3 loops on hook

Begin top front
ch9
row 1 - skip first ch, sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (8sc)
row 2 - sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (8sc)row
3 - sc in first 3, 1sc decrease using next 2 stitches, sc next 3, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 4 - sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 5 - 1 sc decrease using next 2 stitches, sc in next 3, sc decrease using last 2 stitches, ch1 turn (5sc)
row 6-13 - 1sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (5sc) repeat for 6 more rows (8 rows of 5sc)
row 14 - 2sc in first stitch, sc in next 3, 2sc in last stitch, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 15 - sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 16 - sc in first 3 stitches, 2sc in next stitch, sc in next 3 stitches, ch1 turn (8sc)
row 17 - sc in each stitch across (8sc)
row 18 - 2sc in first stitch, sc in next 6, 2sc in last stitch, ch1 turn (10sc)
row 19 - sc in each stitch across (10sc)
row 20 - 2sc in first stitch, sc in next 8, 2sc in last stitch, ch1 turn (12sc)
row 21 - sc in each stitch across (12sc)
end off

I looped a ribbon between the top stitch both front and back on either side and tied but you could just as easily use crochet chains. I worked in a small hair tie in the first and last rounds with no difficulty. Experiment with it :)

PS. This is untested and I am no way affiliated with Matel
Oh, yes I am Australian but I speak crochet in US terms so don't think you need to convert anything

It's busy busy in my household right now!

For the first time in a long while I felt like making some Kelly doll clothes. All of these are my own originals, all crocheted off the top of my head at the time of picking up the hook. I love the overalls the most! The purple/white outfit I was going for a sporty outfit, maybe like a jogger or yoga or something but I don't think I quite got there. Will work on it a bit more and see what I come up with. The purple dress was just playing about and all of a sudden I had a skirt so I reattached where I started and made a top half too. Looks pretty dressy huh! Have been contemplating pattern writing as I really could use extra $$ (who couldn't!) but it's so daunting. I like to just crochet. I came across a hosting site I'd never seen before called www.esnips.com and in there I found wonderful folders full of tatting patterns. I especially like the work by Terri Dusenbury. This is 2 letters from her Butterfly Alphabet. Terri used a lot of joins in her work and as I am lazy and hate (make that despise!) sewing in ends I made both in one piece with a few extra split rings. The J is of course for Jessi and will probably be used on a scrapbook page in the not to distant future. It's made with an unknown size 20 thread and about 1.5" tall. The P is for Pauline, a lady on the tatting along thread I started at Crochetville as she liked the J so much. It's made with size 70 tatting thread and is only about 1" tall. Both are very cute!! I started to tat Jane Eborall's Large Sea Horse but realised my threads were two different sizes... oops *lol* Will go back to that one! I received the MOST AWESOME RAOK the other day (Random Act of Kindness) from some sneay fairy god-kitties at Crochetville. 17 skeins of Bernat Cottontots which I must say is sooooo lovely and soft, not to mention gorgeous colours plus a Kool Kids cottontots pattern booklet; 6pk Boye steel hooks; Scat cat Beanie Baby for Jessi; 12 pks of scrapbook stickers (too cool!!); and 33 scrapbook papers in a project protector! I am soooo overwhelmed and feel so lucky! I love so many of the papers and sat to scrap with them the other day only to decide my workspace was too untidy and I needed to do something about that first. I am looking for a knit pattern for the cottontots and goodness knows what I will make with it all. It's so nice I'de like tojust keep it to look at *lol* I also feel as though I must have made a very positive impression to someone on the 'Ville and that makes me feel very happy indeed!The above dragonfly will be my next tatting pattern if and when I write it up. I think I can make a few modifications to it before I share and writing it wont be fun! I will also modify it so there is a two wing "in flight" version and a 4 wing "specimin" version. I hope!

More of my tatted dragonflies and a heap of lil fishes. I like both! Will be great on cards or scrapbook pages etc. The grey thing is a Kodak film canister lid for size reference. The fish pattern was found online somewhere.. Can't think of where at the moment.All pics [should] be clickable.