Raggy Edge Quilts

This was my first time making raggy edge quilts. I loved how quickly these came together. A lot of prep work but it was fairly simple after that.

I made these for 2 of my cousins who are expecting their first baby's very soon (one could even be giving birth right now!!!). I was very excited to find out they were expecting and I set to work straight away thinking of something to make them. I had asked around to see if they had any preference for colours (I was hoping they were going to find out the gender. Maybe next time??) but the only answer I got was 'green' and 'brights'. Not a lot to go off but I think I did pretty well.

First up was the 'green' quilt. I love the cute little baby hand prints
and who could resisit the sweet little birdies on this one.

I'm also a bit fond of the green and white dots.

The backing fabric was some flannelette that I had in my stash. It is so soft and snuggly.

Next was the 'brights' one. This one was fun to do because of all the colours.

I love how the blue backing fabric makes a border around the squares.

The backing fabric is another that I had in my stash.

Cute little animals.

Here they are both together. They aren't huge but enough to use in the pram or in the car or even as a floor rug. Maybe when the babies get bigger they can use it as a lap quilt.

I loved making these quilts. I loved seeing my cousins open their gifts and knowing that they really do appreciate all the time, effort and love that went into making them.

I will definitely make more of these in the future. I'm hoping there will be more baby cousins sometime soon ;)

Amigu-whati?

Amigurumi is a Japanese art of crocheting or knitting stuffed toy animals. I first tried to do it years ago but did not succeed too well. I just couldn't get the hang of it. Last week (whilst procrastinating about cutting squares for a quilt!) I decided to sit down and give it another go. I had picked up Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts!: Amigurumi at the library and I couldn't resist trying to make some of these gorgeous little guys. As you can see, my attempt at the little bear wasn't very good but for my first (real) try it wasn't too bad. The book itself was fantastic. Clear instructions and simple to understand patterns made it so much easier. I'm going to buy a copy of the book once I take this back to the library because I can see myself making many more of these cute toys.

This little guy was my next attempt. I was experimenting with different wool/cottons and only wanted to use what I had in my cupboard. I had 'inherited' lots of crochet cottons and wool from my Grandmother so I am trying to avoid buying anymore. This pattern was from here. Take a look and you can find LOTS of free patterns to try.

This sweet little bird was another free pattern from here. How cute are these guys?!

Here is the latest addition. I can't show this one to Emily as it's a gift for someone and she will want to keep it for herself (because you know... it's PINK!)

Awww.. cute little face..

So that's what I've been up to this week. Lots more crafting going on but I've just got to get motivated to take photos!

It's giveaway time!!!

Head over here to see what Retromummy is giving away! While you're there, check out her shop. Lots of gorgeous prints and designs...

Bow competition.

I've just come across this competition here. I'd love to win some cute bows for my little Miss "does my hair look pretty today, Mummy?"

Go on over and have a look. There are some gorgeous designs. I think I'll find it hard to decide which ones I'd like!

Family Fun Day.

Today we decided to have a family fun day. There was a lifestyle show on down the road so we went along. It was small but there were some Chinese Dragon's doing some dancing.

And the giant wiggly worm was 'so much fun!'

Afterwards we went to a little park to eat some lunch. I got to really test out my new camera today. I love it so much!

How was your Sunday?

Pincushion Organiser

My Mum mentioned that she needed a new pincushion. I'd seen this organiser on sew,mama,sew! and had wanted to try it out for ages. Mother's Day was the perfect motivation for me. Here is the one that I made for my Mum. I had raided Mum's stash years ago and have always loved this vintage fabric.

After making one for my Mum, I decided to make one for myself. I used one of my favourite Sandy Henderson fabrics and it always makes me smile when I see it.

I made the scrap bag slightly different to the pattern but it works just as well. Notice the cute little decorative stitch. I really should make more use out of some of the decorative stitches that my machine can do. There are some really sweet designs on there.

Aren't these the cutest pins you've ever seen??!?

This is a great pattern to try. The instructions are clear and simple and it took me just UNDER an hour to whip one up and that includes cutting out!

It's not only great to use at the sewing machine either. I use it when I'm hand sewing/embroidering so I don't leave pins stuck into the lounge somewhere. It means that my quick unpick and scissors don't fall between the cushions/under the lounge/on the floor or under my butt LOL.

You really should make one of these. Go on. You know you want to. If you do, let me know. I'd love to see it!

Easter Time...

Easter this year was a quiet one. We woke up to find the Easter Bunny had left a trail of mini Easter eggs. Emily thought it was so much fun collecting them in the basket!

The trail led us to the table where the Easter Bunny had hopped all over and left his footprints! He left some winter clothes and PJ's and a Humpty Dumpty Egg.

Once Emily had collected all the eggs and opened her Humpty Egg and ate "Just one bit Mummy, ok? Just one!" we gave her our present from us. A Dora Vanity. I am not a fan of licensed products and infact I will go out of my way to NOT buy them but I just couldn't NOT buy this. It was heavily reduced in price and I just knew she'd love sitting there looking at herself in the mirror and styling Dora's hair.

This is the reaction when she saw what it was... Jumping up and down saying that this is what she has always wanted and it's her 'FAVOURITE in the whole wide world'.



She's so proud of her little vanity. I still don't like licensed products.

I hope you all had a safe and happy Easter.

I have a new addiction...

I've been sewing for awhile now. Mainly children's clothes. Sometimes clothes for me (not nearly as much as I'd like though!) and various other bits and pieces for the house. I was never really interested in quilting until I made this quilt for Emily. Now I'm slightly hooked. So hooked infact that I joined a quilting/patchwork group. I love that I can go and spend a few hours talking to people about something that I enjoy doing and learning lots of things along the way. They are mostly older ladies but there are a couple of 'young'uns' there too ;) Here is my progress so far.

I'm making the 'Joys of Springtime' quilt. There is lots to be learnt making this quilt. I'm looking forward to learning how to embroider and doing some applique. I'll try to blog my progess on here.

Onto something other than sewing now...

This is what she calls the 'Princess Hairstyle'. She loves different hairstyles. I'm often asked to do 'braids' or 'platts' or 'piggy tails' or even a 'bunny tail'. I'm just grateful she'll sit still for me to do all those things!

Gimme Gimme!!!

Do you want to see some sunshine? Check this out! GIVEAWAY!

It's so puuurrrty. I love it. I want it. Dare I say, I neeeeeeeeed it...

Haberdashery Swap.

Valentines Day was swap opening day. I was so excited when the day finally arrived! My swap partner was the lovely Ingrid from Lottielulu. Ingrid sent me a gorgeous package full of lovely pink goodness. I received some pink ricrac, pink ribbon, pink velvet ribbon/trim, pink binding, pink buttons including some very cute Hello Kitty ones, some pink fabric with sweet bunnies on it and a pink tape measure! I must say, I am very excited about the pin tape measure because for some reason all my tape measures seem to disappear into some kind of abyss. Now with my new pink tape measure I can see it clearly on my table (the white ones that I have blend into everything) AND I know that DH wont 'borrow' it ;).. It's MINE!!! ALL MINE!!!!

Thank you so much Ingrid. I love everything that you sent and I really appreciate the lovely handmade card you made as well. It's nice to add a special little touch like that. Here is a photo of the lovelies that Ingrid sent me. Thanks again Ingrid :)


My swap partner was Natalie from GoMama. Silly me forgot to take pics of what I sent so I hope that Natalie managed to take some to share.

This was a fun swap. I really enjoyed this one. Many thanks to Karen for organising it.

EB Haby swap...

My likes:

• Colours pink (I love pink ANYTHING!) and green.

• I'm a girly girl.

• I sew all different things (children's clothes, clothes for me, bags, quilts, lots of things). This year I plan to get more creative and try new things.

• Vintage anything.

My dislikes:

• Fluro colours.

I'm so excited to be part of this swap. Thanks so much Karen for organising!!

New Years Eve...

I've changed the background on my blog again. Now It's a bit 'loud' and it's making me feel a little claustrophobic. I'll see how it goes for a couple of days and I'll reassess then.

Well, it's 8:30pm on New Years Eve and I can hear fireworks going off. I am guessing from Wet'n'wild as they have a childrens new years eve party on. I must admit, I don't 'get' the whole New Years Eve thing. I much prefer to be sleeping well before the clock strikes midnight. In fact, I am about to head off to bed in just a moment.

Had a busy day today digging out the mulch and weeds in the garden ready for the new mulch to be put in. We have filled a mini skip bin and have a trailer load of stuff to take to the tip. Lots of work happening in the next few days. I am tired just thinking about it!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment on my blog. It's nice to know that I am not talking to myself in here ;). Thank you for taking an interest and encouraging and inspiring me through your own work. I love reading and seeing the creations that others have made.

Anyway, for those that are out celebrating, I hope you have a nice time and keep safe on the road. Wishing you all a safe and happy 2009!

See you next year!!!

'twas the night before Christmas...

Can you believe that it's Christmas Eve already! It doesn't feel like it. It felt like any other ordinary day actually. Now that all is quiet and we are waiting for the older kids to go to bed (so we can do the Santa thing) it's starting to feel like it. Just a bit.

We've left a jam 'bizik' (biscuit) and some water for Santa... thank you to my husband for his 'assistance' in the photo...



We've left a key out for Santa to get in...
We've sprinkled reindeer sparkles so the reindeer can find their way to our house. I hope the kangaroos don't eat it!



And we've left a carrot for the reindeer to munch on.
We were planning on going to Carols by 'glowstick' tonight but it started getting darker and darker. (Another) severe storm on the way. The forecast says there's more to come in the next few days. Anyway, we decided not to go to carols.
Storms building...

Christmas this year will be a quiet one. Very different to what I am used to. Coming from a large and close extended family, Christmas has always been HUGE. This year, it will be just my parents, my brother and my family. The rest of the family are still in Sydney. It's going to be different that's for sure. Don't get me wrong, it's still going to be lovely. I'll be with my family and that's all that really matters but it's just going to be hard to 'do' Christmas without all my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins/second cousins around.

On that note, I'll sign off here by wishing you all a safe, happy and joyous Christmas xxx.

Mr Postman...

Tuesday started like any other day. Running errands etc. Got home to find the postman left a pickup slip in the letterbox. When DH got home with it later that afternoon I got a shock when I saw that it was for me (I thought it was for Emily from either her Grandparents or her birthday swap partner). I was half right.

It was from a VERY GENEROUS friend of mine from my online parents group. Emily received a gorgeous 2 piece set made in the delightful 'Sandi Henderson- spring dahlia & spring stripey' fabric.

She also received some cute covered hair elastics and a gorgeous handmade card. I absolutely LOVE this outfit and so did Emily who asked to put it on straight away (she was dancing, again, in the photo).

So, here I am sitting all confused as to why there is so much stuff inside the box (there was no senders name on the box so I couldn't figure out who it had come from and why there was so much in there!). As I went through it all I came across things with my name on it saying happy birthday. I was blessed with some beautiful goodies. There was, a 'Homespun' mag pack, a booklet, some thread, a Portabellopixie- Gracie pattern, denim, a WHOLE HEAP of FARMERS MARKET fabric and a gorgeous glass jar filled with buttons and cotton. (all buttons and cotton in coordinating/matching colours for the fabric).

I just couldn't believe it. I was seriously holding back the tears. It was a total unexpected surprise.

Here is the totally cute little jar. She's even stitched buttons on there, awwwwww! You can see a bit more of my yummy fabrics in the background..
Anyway, after drooling over all my goodies and recovering from the shock of receiving such a thoughtful gift, I did a bit of detective work and figured out that the beautiful Leoni sent this awesome package. Unfortunately Leoni doesn't have a blog but she really should!! You should see some of her craft work! Talented is an understatement. I don't know how she fits all the craftwork in whilst looking after her 4 young children.

Thank you again Leoni. As I've said before, this is one of the most thoughtful and personal gifts anyone has ever given me. Saying thank you just doesn't seem like enough.

So now I am thinking of what I can make with all my lovelies...

Surprise number two will follow in another post.. Stay tuned (again). I'll be back!!!