Variety is the key ... hats hats and more hats

It is Itty Bitty Giant Hat Drive time ... so I've been making hats.

Designing a few along the way as well.  This year I decided not to crochet them all and to knit some as well as using a knitting loom for others.  At the moment the count for the hats is 82.

Some of the patterns will be released during next year's hat drive and others will be designed between now and then.

A small thing can mean a lot to someone who has lost their child xx

Itty Bitty Giant Hat Drive

It is September, and that means it is Itty Bitty Giant Hat Drive time ... lots of small preemie sized beanies that get donated to Chance's Clothes Project.

Day 15 of the hat drive and I'm on 39 beanies, well 40 if you include the one made by Miss 8!
She knows that I like to make quite a few and this year she wanted to help as well so she made a beanie too.

Sleeping Mats

On Tuesday I dropped off sleeping mat numbers 13 - 17.  That is 17 mats in total made in 16 months!!

Hopefully it means 17 people getting a slightly warmer, slightly more comfortable nights sleep.

I'd like to thank Sam from West Victoria Homeless Support Group who provided me with a peg loom to use to make the mats.  The mats made using the loom were a lot quicker compared to the first three that I crocheted.

At the moment there is another mat that is in progress, it is being completed by a Year 2 class of boys at Tintern Grammar.  Mrs G has got the boys weaving a mat so they too can help someone that is sleeping rough.  Thank you Tintern Grammar for taking on this project as well.

Homelessness Week 2017

What a week!!

It started last week when I heard about the launch for Homelessness Week at Lilydale Lake Community Centre.  It was advertised on the Yarra Ranges Life TV Facebook Page.

I'd been following Yarra Ranges Life TV's Facebook page after they did a special on Animal Aid up at Coldstream.

They were streaming the coverage of the launch live from Lilydale Lake Community Centre.

For the last fifteen months I've been making sleeping mats out of plastic bags.  I first found out about the mats on a local noticeboard where they were looking for helpers to make the mats.

I started going along to workshops being held in Frankston and started crocheting my first mat.  The first couple of mats were crocheted but then I found out it was a lot quicker to use a weaving loom.
Thank you Sam from West Victoria Homeless Support Group for gifting me a loom and the second two I also purchased for other groups to use.  One loom is on loan to a group of students at Tintern Grammar.

At the beginning of the week I had three mats along with pillows to hand over to people on the streets and I was looking for a group to give them to.

I took one of them along on Monday to the launch and met Councillor Tim Heenan who was sleeping rough in a cardboard box near Melba Park in Lilydale at the David Parkinson Pavillion.

Tim has been using one of the mats in his cardboard box and has provided valuable feedback regarding how they help him get a better nights sleep and at the end of the sleep out he will then pass the mat on to someone else who needs it.

Neal Taylor from Holy Fools was also at the launch and he has said that any mats I make after this week will be gratefully accepted and handed out to those who need them most.

I've met some wonderful people this week who are part of great groups that are helping people the most.  Holy Fools runs a lunch on a Wednesday at 12 o'clock and I'll be going down there to visit them to see their awesome work in action.

Thank you Tim, Neal, Phil and Pat who I've met this week along with the people on the streets themselves.  Looking forward to getting more mats out there and hopefully finding more local groups to help make more of them

If you have a group of people that would like to start making mats please contact me for further details via my Facebook page

Scones

Today I made some scones.  I used the CWA Scone recipe (as used at the Royal Melbourne Show).

Why did I make scones?

There was a video posted on the Royal Melbourne Show Facebook page about making scones.  I shared this video on the CWA Boronia Facebook page and someone said that they didn't look like our scones, I agreed so of course I had to make my own batch of them to see.

They were light and fluffy and tasted great with whipped cream and strawberry jam.

Thank you CWA for teaching me the secrets to your scones.

Beanies

Hi Everyone,

I've started making and selling handmade beanies to help fund the postage costs for my charity items.

The beanies are adult sized and can be made in your choice of colours. Please check out our Facebook page for more information.

Thank you and have a great week.

Lisa

Something different -- Homemade Ice Cream

There are some days when you decide to treat yourself.  A birthday is always a great reason so for my birthday I made myself some triple chocolate ice cream.  It is chocolate flavoured ice cream with both white and milk chocolate chips in it.

Ingredients

600 ml thickened cream

375 g tin of sweetened condensed milk

1.5 or 2 tsp of vanilla extract (depends on how strong you want it)

The above ingredients give you the basic vanilla recipe to which you can then add extras to give it more flavour.  I've added 

chocolate ripple biscuits to make a choc ripple ice cream cake

or fresh raspberries and white chocolate chips

These are just a couple of examples to add flavouring to your ice cream.  For the one pictured below I added a cup of chocolate topping and some white and milk chocolate chips.

To make your ice cream (no ice cream maker required)

1. Pour the cream into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until thickened.

2.  Add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla to the cream and mix again until it is thick.

If you are leaving it as vanilla stop here and pour your ice cream into a container to freeze, if not add your toppings and then freeze, you can mix those in with a spoon or spatula.

Enjoy and don't forget if you do use this recipe please leave a comment below and post your photos on the QuackersCrochet Facebook Page

Finishing a Latch Hook Rug

Today my order from Herrschners Inc. arrived including the iron on rug binding.  I needed two packets to cover all four sides of the African Elephant Latch Hook but the end result looks a lot better that trying to use sew on binding.  It is also a lot quicker.  This Latch Hook Rug has been finished as a wall hanging or a floor rug as I have also added the fibre lock to the back of it to give it a non-slip backing.  This latch hook is being donated for an auction prize at the 2017 Tintern Grammar Fair in April.

Koala Latch Hook

Another latch hook completed today.  Waiting for my rug finishing tools to arrive so that I can do the edging on them all.

Last count there were eighteen different ones waiting for the edges to be done.

Cake Decorating ...

Little Miss turned 5 today.  A big day for her and a big day for me too.  I have loved watching this little person grow into the independent big girl she is now (not allowed to call her a little girl any more).

I didn't make the cake but I did add the strawberries and smarties on top.  I am not a cake decorator. I still remember trying to decorate Miss 8's first birthday cake and it was so warm that the lollies almost fell off.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

Lisa

2017 - Another year of crafting

Every year I start the year off by completing a latch hook during our family holiday.  This year's latch hook is Wolves at midnight.  The latch hook took two weeks to complete.

Last year I completed an elephant, the year before it was dolphins.  They are compact and easy to take on a holiday instead of some yarn. Once the latch hook was completed I then made some small hats for Chance's Clothes Project, a local charity that I support.




I've found some patterns that I have designed previously but not quite sure what the item was at the end so they will be a mystery even to me!  Thank you for reading and have a great 2017.