A Throw with tussles

May - 2004

Made this when I had a fracture in my right pinky. Couldn't do any of my usual chores. So decided to try this.

Undoing the material was the hardest part. It got tangled quite a lot. Once that was done - I got started with the knots. They were just ordinary knots at equal intervals. Then... I halved each section, knotted it together with the closest half of the next section. I had to work out a way to keep the two ends of the tussles neat. It wasn't hard.

I still have them after thirteen years, with some damages done to them. The tussles will lose their shape in the washing machine. One of our friends just kept unpicking them every time he was home. ;-) 

Lint Rose!

Lint from my old clothes dryer. 
It had a circular mesh lint catcher. Found a lot of lint after a wash. :-)

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtJJQn_OYGIjbWGX-69vS87_kubfXuDYZU2109mOgHmG3eeJ95bOmGsMs1MeeNe1i9XzHH7BnAprmAMiq_SQqJt_GZmErBgFIbjffxkJ31-rpu5OC5RA_JkZBXv7Jkmv1WvTiYJnnbw/s400/100_4355.JPG

A Ladybug pincushion

The first sewing machine I bought here in New Zealand was a second hand. May have even been a fourth or fifth hand . :-) It was quite old but reasonably a good one. I didn't have much difficulty with it since I knew how to fix simple problems. I always unscrewed the case and turned this and that and it worked. :-) 

I always lost the pins in the carpet and they ended up in the vacuum cleaner. That didn't matter. I wasn't the one emptying the bags of the vacuum cleaner. Chris always complained. He once was going to chuck all my pins in the bin. :-) I needed to do something then. That is when I decided to make a pincushion. 

To find the step by step instructions on how to make these bugs, click - http://www.arusuvai.com/crafts/how-make-ladybird-pincushion

Flowers from grapes

All you need are... a few firm grapes, a V tool, some toothpicks, a few sprigs of parsley & a piece of an apple.
A vege knife can be used instead of the 'V' tool.
(This 'V' tool came with a vegetable cutter set that was gifted to me by Chris' Mum on my birthday.thirty years ago.)  

Lets's move on to the instructions now.

• Wash and wipe the grapes with a kitchen towel. 
• Remove the stalk. 
• Push the 'V 'tool in to make a petal. 
• Turn fruit around and make three or four more cuts.
• Carefully separate the two halves. 

• Insert a toothpick for the stem.

• Peel the apple for the stand.

• Prick holes using a toothpick where you want the leaves to go. 
• Insert sprigs of parsley. 

Done! Quick and easy! 

Capsicum Anthurium

Some crafts you see online make you want to try them straight away. The anthurium on http://www.arusuvai.com/tamil/node/29447  made me feel that way.

All you need is - a fresh red capsicum, a baby corn, something to use as a stem, a toothpick and a kitchen knife to cut and carve.

Senbaga had used the stem of spinach; I used s a garlic stem instead. I also scraped the edges so the petal looks real. It is so easy to make. Want to try!!