Crazy birthday month

We all have them. Ours is July... we have no less than 13 birthdays and had a few kids party invites thrown in there too.

So you can guess what I've been up to.

Always trying something new I decided to do vinyl covered pencil cases for the girls, I've never sewn vinyl before. And the boys got peek a boo toy sacks after I found THIS cute pin on Pintrest.

I bought the cute Sprout turtle fabric after Dman spotted it while I was buying fabric online. But of course how do you use white fabric for a boy? So it became the lining of his toy sack and I've made sure you can see a whole turtle through the front peek hole.

Now it's August, I'm working through my unfinished projects. You know I have a quilt that I made for Fox last year and all it needs is binding. I'm guessing it will be done in time for Father's Day :)

My first attempt at patchwork

My very good friend has just had a baby boy and so I have decided to make a baby size patchwork quilt for him.

I will make 9 blocks i think and back with flannelet. I have seen others do patchwork in strips but I have opted for blocks because I don't trust that I could make the patches line up. Maybe when I have more confidence this will be the easier option.

I think choosing colours is probably the hardest part of making patchwork and I'm always amazed at how well different colour combos go together. Cross fingers my fabric choices work out as a whole.

We'll see soon enough :)

Craft book challenge - March

I joined the craft book challenge to give me a push to get into all those craft books i have collected.

This month's project was from Meet Me at Mikes first craft book and was made just this morning.

Eldest son gets a phone call from his friend late yesterday and organises to go over to his place  today. No worries. Then later last night he tells me ... well actually it's his friends little brother's birthday and his friend was allowed to choose a friend to come over. OHHH Right... So mum can you make him something out of that camo material that you have and can you put his name on it too... That camo material is jersey and i can't really make a pencil case or bag out of it. Don't worry I'll sort something out in the morning.

 Looking for something super quick to whip up that was suitable for a 10 year old boy and pow... make a little pouch, the mmam's one would be perfect.

So after only a few hours from start to finish the gift was ready. We put some Australia postcards inside along with pencils and International post stamps. My son's friends have been posted here from America.

I was pleased as punch when I went to collect my son this afternoon and the birthday boy was well impressed that I had made him this bag. He had questions about how it was made and really was thankful.

Now that's what it's all about hey!

My Creative space...

So very close to finishing this quilt that started a long long time ago... sounds like the start of a fairy tale so I'm looking forward to the warm fuzzies and the end of this creation. It's fox's quilt. he's been on my tail to get it finished and i tried so hard to make a 'masculine' type quilt only to be told otherwise. Never mind, I'm sure he'll enjoy snuggling up under it very soon.

My second project on the go is my Quilt for Queensland. Just after i started making this baby the foot pedal on the pfaff gave up in the humidity and who can blame it really, it's been a hell of a wet season to put it nicely. A replacement pedal arrived from the states last week and I'm just it the process of quilting it together.

I decided to hand quilt it to give some extra loving to it's soon to be new owner. Never hand quilted before... it's a bit harsh on the finger tips but amazingly relaxing and fulfilling at the same time. You should try it.

I have one more project on the go but I will save it for later. Have fun checking out all the lovely Creative spaces over at Kootoyoo.... looks like the lovely Kirsty is trying something new too :)

Scandinavian Stitches

Finished my Finnish herring 'silakka' pillow.









Totally in love with my new craft book Scandinavian Stitches made by Syko, it has the sweetest little projects.

I made this pillow as a present but after completion I really really want to make one for myself. Or keep it even.

I picked up a few new techniques making it. The first was pulling the top thread through to the back and tying off. It really does make the top look neater rather than reverse sewing back and forth etc. And the second technique is using an embroidery thread to top stitch around applique. I didn't realise how much it would affect the look of the appliqued fish.

This pillow has been entered into Stitched in Color's Bloggers Pillow Party.

Wish me luck.

Out with the old...

And in with the new...

I just love this time of year and who doesn't, you get to eat happy food, enjoy family time and with any luck relax a little.

My gorgeous kids bought me Scandinavian Stitches for Christmas and I just couldn't wait to get into one of the sweet little projects. My fancy Pfaff machine had other ideas and the foot pedal seems to have given up. I don't think it is liking this humid weather all too much. So I got out my old trusty Janome (Jan) and I can't even describe the joy it brought me. Getting her out was like having an old school friend come round to visit and we just picked up where we left off.



Attempting to make this cushion with Jan has had it's obstacles. The directions call for machine stitching the word 'silakka' across the bottom but after realising the feed dog cannot be lowered It had to be hand stitched. I'm not a stitcher of the hand variety but somehow it worked out.



Machine stitching on the little fish I also picked up a new technique of pulling the top thread through and tying the thread instead of reverse stitching. It really does make it neater on the front. The first fish started off a little dodgy but i got it more stream lined.



So I'm nearly done and so is this year...

It certainly has been eventful here. I've had many battles this year, some i won, some lost.

My plans for the new year are BIG.

I want to join the etsy community and share my creations with others.
I know my family love them so it's only fair to share right?

I want to try and share more, I have a tendency of hiding away (true cancerian style) when things are tough instead of verbalising I wait it out in silence.

I want to include myself in the list of those who i look after. you know how that works.
And I also want to run the mother's day classic, a 5km run. Not that huge really but coming from a large chested family something that doesn't come as second nature.

I'm sure this list will grow through the year and also get checked off along the way.

So that's it my friends, thanks for all your lovely comments and words of encouragement this year. It has meant a lot to me, really.

Wishing you a happy and healthy new year full of joy and happiness

last minute xmas gift making

Yeah, I thought I was so organised but have somehow found myself making last minute gifts as you do. I did join in to the handmade xmas meme but had to make a hasty retreat when i realised that some of my family do indeed read my blog...

So I went to ground with it all and totally forgot about it until Sunday, of course!









Last year my 3 nephews received a pair of gorgeous handmade shorts. This year I went with pencil cases because they're quick although I'm still trying to master the side seams near the zip but I think I'm getting it after only 2 quick unpicks :)



the flash has washed out the colour on the denim diaper covers



for my newest nephew. Baby clothes look terrible without a model but trust me these are the cutest ever, It's hard to find cute/cool stuff for baby boys, I think I'll be making more of these.



And I made this crocheted rug earlier in the year and put it away for my little sister . I know she won't read this because she's on holiday's in Sydney and she's either opened her present early or taken it with her to the in laws. Either way, i think it's safe. I hope.

And that's it, I'm ready for Christmas.

Last year we moved house and the twins were in Perth so this is going to be an awesome Christmas with my family together in the one place, not moving house... just relaxing and spending time together... big smiley face

Been busy... you know...

Wow, it seems ages since i last blogged, it's not because i haven't got anything to blog about it's just a busy time, . We had a little trip to Perth, not for a holiday but for a family matter, it wasn't fun but we did enjoy catching up with family and of course i made most of the opportunity and I picked up some lovely glass balls for the tree... will show you these later :)




I seem to go through colour phases with my latest fetish being red white and red white and blue. The stocking I crocheted for Kitty n Kitsch in Selina's stocking swap was Red & White, I borrowed her picture, i hope that's okay, it's dark in my house but glare and super bright outside, being the wet season it's not a great time of year to take good pictures. Well I'm having loads of trouble taking good pictures :)



I made this Santa sack for a little boy who didn't have one. Apparently this is an Australian thing to have a Santa sack I just found out from an American friend that they only do stockings and have never heard of this sack caper. What does Santa do at your place?



And finally a pretty little Christmas outfit for a gorgeous little girls first Xmas. I have to confess that I have never made baby clothing before and let me tell you it's not as easy as you would think. My mind was telling me that little clothes would be easy but trying to sew around arm and leg holes that don't fit around the sewing machine arm is kind of tricky so I am quite pleased with myself .

Teachers gifts

I don't even remember if I made teacher's gifts last year.... oh that's right I moved house last xmas and made quilts for the twins in the weeks before we moved... because that's what they wnated :)
So no excuse this year to whip up a little something for some absolutely lovely teachers. We have been lucky this time round with the kids loving their new school, making friends easily and having great teachers tooo. Can't ask for more than that now can you!



I came across this cute coffee cozzies tutorial and couldn't go past them.



While out xmas shopping yesterday I found some silver star tree ornaments and mini bonbons with truffles inside and thought they would go nicely with the coffee vouchers that all manage to fit inside the coffee cups. Now cross fingers they love a good cuppa!



And here is a sneky peek at the stocking I made for my swap partner in Selina's Great stocking swap of 2010. I had a lot of fun making it, I just hope my partner likes it too.

My creative space...

A little home making... iv'e been sewing and putting up sun-out curtains in the bedrooms. I chose this rather dark curtain material for good reason. We have windows on two walls and two walls of full length wall to wall, floor to ceiling mirrors...oh yes. At present the only window coverings are vertical blinds (dha standard) and well they aren't all together private or very good at keeping out light considering the cupboard doors are quite reflective lol.



We have taken down the verticals and replaced them with the curtain tracks. Probably illegal according to dha, we will put everything back as it was before we leave but considering we expect to be here for another 2 years I think it's worth the effort.

You see, the sun shows up here anywhere from 5.30am onwards and Dman gets up not long after that.... usually to tell the native birds to be quiet! We have a plan for that too. Bambini Pronto have these alarm clocks that light up when it's okay to get out of bed and so far it's been working! We set it to turn on at 6am and will slowly make it later.

So excited for more sleep ans a cosy bedroom.

Check out more creative spaces at Kootoyoo :)

Toby's Blanket

It's finished and on it's way to the brand new owner as we speak.





So soft & spongy, i want to make one for keeps now.

To make this blanket -

Make a chain however wide you like in an uneven number.
Tr in the second chain from the end and in each chain to the end.
Chain 2 then Tr around the post, then do a normal Tr all the way to the end.
Repeat for as long as you like. It's that simple.

I started with 7 rows of main colour then 8 rows of contrast and continued doing 8 rows until the last colour and made it 7 rows . This was so the edging didn't make that colour band too wide at the ends.

After completing the last row of main colour make 1 chain then single crochet all the way around, slip stitch in first SC, 1 chain then turn and SC around again, SL ST then 1 chain. the edging is crab stitch, which is reverse single crochet. So instead of turning you SC from left to right . I had not attempted this stitch before but it's not hard, I looked up you tube and was away in no time. Thank you You Tube for teaching me the ways of the hook :)

I found it took longer than I had first thought and chose this one piece blanket to avoid sewing squares together. Trying to take a short cut and it back fired, hehe, oh well.

Also, the stripes were meant to be horizontal but when Toby decided to stun us all and make an early entrance into the world I changed plans and went for a bassinet / pram sized blanket instead.

An eventful weekend

After cleaning up my stash I thought I'd give this sweet tute a go and polish up my zip skills at the same time and Meeka snapped it up as soon as she came home from school :)

Then on Friday my big boy received a rugby injury and ended up getting carted off in an ambulance. I met him at the hospital and was shocked to see a golf ball sized egg above his eye. He's fine but now it's a very black & purple shiner. So I won't put any pictures up as it is quite shocking and this is the reason I haven't put too many birthday photos up. Not a good look.





So, Dman celebrated his 4th Birthday yesterday, we made cupcakes and opened pressies, his favourite was the buzz light year lazer gun that has a zurg he can shoot. He played all day and was not impressed when we had to leave home to go to the shops. his daddy is away at the moment so we'll have a real cake & a party when he comes home.

today while Con was making himself a Lego movie using still shots on my camera I made him a little guitar pick & string pouch.





And when I gave it to him he immediately scrunched it up and threw it in his guitar bag... ahhh boys... got to love them .


Hoping your weekend was much less eventful than mine xox

Adam's Birthday blanket

I played around with the embroidery stitches on my machine and made a little name tag. I'm not really a big fan of machine embroidery and that's probably why I haven't given it a go until now, but Fox is really on my case about making labels and thinks I should make my own too. So bossy!

Adams blanket is fleecy one side and flannel the other with cotton binding. and I quilted the two sides together with a large square pattern. It's funny how something that looks so simple to make can actually take a whole day to complete.

Anyway, I'm so glad I got this done yesterday because Adam's little brother Toby was born yesterday & I'm no where near finished on his crochet baby blanket. Time to get the hook out and go for it. Oh & it's my sister's birthday on Thursday, so I'm hoping to fit all three pressies in the one post parcel. Express of course!

Thanks for dropping by, hope you had a lovely weekend!

My creative space

My eldest sister is having her birthday next week so I decided to make her a Cosmetic purse using Nicole Mallalieu Design's Kit. And a matching little tote with Jennie McClelland's cute pattern out of the Meet me at Mikes book.



And now I'm off to a friends birthday lunch... hope you have a lovely day and keep warm down there in the southern reigons of Australia. It's a bit cold here too in Townsville...lol no really I have a cardi & jeans on :)

Pop on over to Kootoyoo and see what other crafty types are up to.

Edit - My husband keeps telling me (nagging) i need to put my own label onto the gifts i create, but i have no clue where to look for them, any hints on where i could pick up some cotton tape labels? thank you, trying to keep the man happy, you know x