Sunday, November 29, 2009

Sunday Stash



Someone recently asked about patterns which got me thinking about how many I own, which is a few.  I thought it would make a good Sunday Stash mention.

I decided to start with the Make it Perfect range. Toni is a super clever Aussie Mum pattern designer who I can't say enough nice things about.  Go over and check out her blog!

From the top left in the photo the patterns I have are:
Summer fling top
The versatile wrap skirt
Flirty skirts
Lazy day hat
Little Explorer shorts
Pinny #2
Pinny #1
Bloom top

I want to add the Downtown boy jacket to this list very soon :)

Sunday Stash bought to you by 1/4 of an inch

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Wordless Weekend


A good roll in the dust

For other Wordless Weekenders look here

Friday, November 27, 2009

Vestvember

Did you know it is Vestvember on Ravelry?  As I had started a Milo Vest recently I decided to use this as motivation to finish it.  It worked!









The only problem with finishing it so quickly is that it is too big!  I had cast on a large size so that Possum would grow into it by the time I cast off...  Better too big than too small, and she must be due for a growth spurt over the summer months so it will be perfect next Autumn and Spring.

This is my first project knitting on the round, my first go at a cable, and my first sewn bind off.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Secret Santa sneak peak

Christmas is a month away!  I decided that this would make it a good time to post a sneak peak of my Secret Santa gift I am sending off this year to an EB crafty girl!





How are you going with your Christmas shopping?  I am partly organised and partly worried about the fact that I still have a fair bit to do, at least my swap sewing is nearly done :)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A List

I have so much I want to get done between now and Christmas that I was feeling a tad overwhelmed.  To combat this I decided to write a list of projects and attack it systematically.

Sounds good in theory!



These button hair clips were NOT on the list, but I made them anyway.





These little baby knickers were not on the list either.  Seems I need to apply a bit more focus to the task at hand rather than being so easily distracted...

The pants are from The Meet me at Mikes craft book and contributed by Nichola Prested.  There are some great projects in that book!

Monday, November 23, 2009

My Place & Yours ~ My Collection

This is the first time I have played along with the My Place and Yours meme, but Kate from Foxs Lane picked such a great topic that I thought I would give it a whirl.

After putting a bit of thought into it I decided that I would show off my Johnson Brothers Australia crockery collection.  I love this set and it is our everyday use crockery.  The colours are sweet and pretty and I always get excited if I find a new piece to add to my collection.



My collection minus whatever is in the dishwasher



I also collect books, but with over 500 on three large book cases and various other places I thought it would be too hard to get a photo of them all!

Have a look at Pip's to see other collections this week.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Wordless Weekend



For other Wordless Weekenders look here

Friday, November 20, 2009

Better late than never



I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Jodie's blog. I feel a bit slack as this pot holder has been in use for a week and I am only just blogging it now. I was waiting on another parcel but that seems to be lost in the mail, and is another story for another time.



I love it! It looks good in these photos but it is even better in person.
I love handmade gifts, and this is a great one!

I also love Jodie's Blog, I only discovered it recently but have been an avid follower since. Click the link above, you won't be disappointed :)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The start of Christmas crafting

The small girl and I put in a lovely and crafty afternoon making Christmas cards.
We signed up for the Kids Craft Weekly card swap which means we have to make, and send out 10 cards, and then receive 10 handmade Christmas cards back. What a great way to start the festive season.




Our cards are simple, with Possum at nearly 2 years old simple is always good when it comes to craft. We mixed some green paint and glitter with some PVA glue and used this to stick red and green coloured fancy paper onto some cut up lunch bags. When everthing is dry we will stick these onto some blank card fronts.

We had lots of fun as evidenced by the cheeky and happy grin in the quick snap I got to capture our efforts :)

Monday, November 16, 2009

Knitting Camp

I am back from a weekend away with some girls from Ravelry. We had such a great time and are already talking about our next knitting retreat.

Ellie has a cottage on her property which is where we all stayed. It was perfect!







I had a go at wet felting a little basket, it was fun to make and Possum has discovered it is the perfect size to be a hat for her doll. It makes a better hat than basket so this is good :)



We ate so much good food, all home cooked and wonderful.



I was one of the few who did not have a wheel. I will have to do something about this VERY soon. In fact, I am going to get on the phone as soon as I finish this post and put my name down!

This wheel is named Thumbelina and I think she is PERFECT!!



The swift got a good workout, Baby Bug loved watching it fly round.



There was so much beautiful yarn!! I had serious yarn envy, I have a lot of wool but nothing this beautiful...









I got some tips on kettle dying which I am keen to try out too!



It really was a lot of fun and just what I needed.
Thanks girls, I can't wait to do it again!!

Giveaway

Toni from Make it Perfect is having a monster size GIVEAWAY.

I have been sewing a lot from her pattern range of late and can't say enough good things about them so head over and put your name down. Have you seen the Make it Perfect Flickr group? Lots of inspiration there :)

Friday, November 13, 2009

Birthday Cake

Due to the goings on mentioned in the previous post I have not been doing much of interest over the last week. I did however find the time to eat cake that was the by product of a recent birthday in the house.

This is not your traditional birthday style cake recipe but it is good enough to share. We have deemed it a keeper :)



Ginger & Sour Cream Cake

1.5 cups SR flour
1.5 tsp ground ginger
1.5 cups brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
180g butter, melted
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 23cm round springform cake tin and line the base with non-stick paper.

Sift the flour and ginger into a bowl and stir in sugar. Stir in the eggs and melted butter. Combine to a smooth batter.

Spoon into the prepared tin and smear the sour cream over the top.

Bake 45 min or until lightly browned on top.

Cool for 10 mins in the tin on a rack. Turn out and cool completely before serving.

Enjoy :)

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Free to Good Home

Two children....

The big one has flu and may (will) cause sleepless nights featuring sniffles, crying, coughing and temperatures.

The small one got less than glowing reviews on his Gross Motor skills at his check up yesterday as well as raising concerns into his ability to hear well. This also added to my lack of sleep but we will know more after further testing next week.

NB: I don't really want to give them away, maybe you could take them just long enough for me to have a nap :) And feel free to mow my lawn too ;)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Sunday Stash

No, I am not mad! I realise that today is in fact Tuesday. But I thought this would be perfect for a Sunday Stash post and I am too excited to wait that long. I am away this weekend anyway so consider this me getting organised in advance!

Beautiful large balls of 100% cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills!
I was very good and only ordered three balls in Honeydew, Wild Lavender and Denim Cotton colours.





This is going to be perfect for quiet evenings knitting over the summer months and given that my Lighting situation in my lounge room is about to improve I should have something nice whipped up in no time ;)

Monday, November 9, 2009

My Little Explorer

Plenty of sewing at my house lately, and in attempt to keep things fair I decided to sew something for Baby Bug. I thought that the Make it Perfect Little Explorer shorts would be... perfect!



Using Tula Pink Anchor Stripe in Pacific for the contrasting fabric.
When my little explorer is big enough to explore we will be ready :)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sunday Stash

Sandi Henderson, who knew I had so much?  There is meters of it! 
Great motivation for the summer sewing I keep talking about :)


Petal Party ~ Pink


Petal Party ~ Spring


Petal Party ~ Autumn


Dahlia ~ Lime


Dahlia ~ Spring



Caribe Ginger Tile


Ginger Bouquet Toss ~ Lime

Sunday Stashers found at 1/4 of an inch

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Wordless Weekend

Oh My!! DQS opening day

Today is opening day for the 3rd annual EB Doll quilt swap. It is the first year I have taken part, and I am so very glad I did!!

I was sent a beautiful quilt by Cylie and I am in LOVE with it! So much work has gone into this quilt and the colours are wonderful. I have not yet seen all the other quilts from this swap, but I am pretty sure that I must have the best one :)




Quilting

Circles

The back

I was outside this morning, in the rain, trying to remember how to use the manual settings on my camera so I could take good low light photos!


I posted a quilt off to Alissa. I hope she likes it, I did! So much so in fact, that I am making one for me as well!


Friday, November 6, 2009

Perfect Pinny

I had so much fun sewing for me that I decided to keep doing it. I pulled out my tub of fabrics and found something that would work. The spots were a remnant find and the flower fabric and ric rac were both sent to me via a haberdashery swap. A splash of yellow and TA DA!



The Pattern is the Make it Perfect Pinny #2. It was so very SIMPLE and came together really well. I am not much of a sewer, having started less than 12 months ago when I started this blog so if I can do it, and do it well it is a good sign!
My goal for the next 12 months is to make more clothes for the kids, and me too. I already have a lot of patterns and a lot of fabric, but I bet I need more of each before too long ;)

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Me time!

Yesterday I bundled up another set of swap blocks to be posted off to their recipient. I have another set to go but it was the middle of the day and I did not feel up to the challenge of a new project.

I decided to do some 'me' sewing. It has been awhile since I did something just for me and as the first row of my Chaletgirl Block Swap quilt came together my smile got bigger, and did not stop for ages :) In fact, I am still smiling now!



I added a border from the same fabric range as my feature fabric which is Gypsy Rose by Moda. I like it as it is the same shade of pink with a small and different pattern which matches in well. I made the border 9 inches wide which is the same width as one block in the quilt. This makes it double bed size too.

I spent AGES working on the layout for these blocks. So many things to think of in getting the colours in the right places to keep it looking even. I have one of those fuzzy felt type sheets so this quilt spent a week up on the wall and I would move this block with that one until I was happy with it.

Dear Husband is happy that it is now a quilt top as he didn't think much of it as bedroom wall art ;) Our bedroom is the only room with a large enough child proof wall to hold all the blocks.



I am going to do a pieced back. I am thinking I will use a cream backing fabric and incorporate my leftover fabrics, and the coins from the other girls feature fabrics as well. That might take me a bit longer to put together than the top!



Why do little people need to run across fabric as soon as it is on the ground?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Hot + Not

I thought I would jump on Loobylu's bandwagon and chat about what is hot and not in my house at the moment.


HOT:
  • Picking vegetables straight from our garden.
  • Toddler craft. I love crayons! I bought a big roll of news reel paper from the local rag. They sell the last bits on the rolls. I have a years supply of craft paper neatly rolled up for the low price of $10.
  • Baby smiles! Baby bug has started smiling and cooing. I love it!
  • Free range chooks that eat from your hand.
  • Sleep, we have slept from 10pm to 7am the last 2 mornings in a row. Bliss!!

NOT:
  • Crayon on my walls, I bought paper damn it...
  • Bugs eating my vegetables :(
  • Chook poo at the back door.
  • House work. I can never keep up.


Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Around the block ~ Lara

What fun was had with these Around the Block blocks! Lara asked for Whirling and Pointing things and this is what I* came up with:




Don't you love thses fabrics? This is going to be a stunning quilt!!

*EQ6 may have helped...