something to cuddle

Finally, a handmade toy for our little one.


Truth be told, I started this softie a very long time ago, so it was quick to finish. It was designed by Jhoanna of One Red Robin and the pattern was in Homespun (Volume 9 no 10).

I love her quilted body and big googly eyes. The only problem is, I can't think of a suitable name for her? Do you have any suggestions?

a finish!

I made this taggy blanket in about an hour a couple of nights ago. It is nice to have finished something - even if it is pretty small!



A simple cotton on the front, some satin, grosgrain and gauze ribbons as well as some ric-rac, and some super cuddly minky on the back.

I struggled to find any coordinating fabric in my stash to make a patchwork front, so instead I decided to make it textured. I used the 'shrinky sheet' I bought at last years 'spring stitch-in', however my cheap and old iron is not too good at steaming, so it took quite a while to shrink!


And look at these lovelies back from the quilters yesterday - now I just have to get onto binding them all!

You and Me

Isn't this just the most gorgeous fabric? I saw it here and immediately bought half a yard as I think it will be wonderful for the babies room. I want to keep the colours in the babies room fairly neutral, but with a few splashes of colour. I am thinking this will become a cushion perhaps...

My granny squares are slowly coming together, but with Uni in full swing at the moment my progress has been a little slower than I had hoped. But I am determined to have it finished by December!

sewing for little ones

My granny squares are starting to pile up and I have recently learnt from you tube how to join them. I am really enjoying making these little squares and imagining the little fingers that will run accross them

Turns out four of my friends are also pregnant and due within a month or two of me as well as my cousin who is expecting her third! So I have lots of baby related sewing to do. A quick clean-out of my craft area led to the discovery of 3 unfinished baby quilt tops, which will definitely help, and also two orphaned quilt blocks from a quilt I made for my cousin Belle. After seeing the ridiculously overpriced taggy blankets in the shops I decided that these quilt blocks could become perfect taggy blankets.


With some satin and felt ribbons and some soft minky on the back, they were very quick little gifts to whip up. And I even got to practice my free motion quilting too. During my cleanout I discovered a shrinky sheet I purchased last year, so I hope to use that in the next one to give it a little more texture.


Now I just have to start a quilt for my little one.

Mad Hatters Tea Party

Our move is almost finished now. We still have a pile of empty boxes waiting to go out, but I think we have almost unpacked everything now. Unfortunately with the move I didn't get my quilt finished for the baby shower on the weekend, but it will (should!) definitely be done by the time the baby arrives in March.

The baby shower / mad hatters tea party was lots of fun. One of the girls organised these gorgeous (and really yummy!) cupcakes from Cupcake Occasion in South Yarra.

I made a bunch of tea wallets to hold our teabags and for people to take home (there is a really simple tutorial here that I used). It only took me a few hours to make 16 of them. I also made a little toy for the baby, but I completely forgot to take a picture of it. Great simple idea though that I will definitely use again.

Everyone also got a sweet teapot tape measure.

I didn't get pictures of all the little details - like tags saying "Eat me" tied to teacups full of lollies or "drink me" on the teapots, teapots full of flowers or silver stands piled with sweet treats, but the effort one particular friend went to was amazing.

I have the best friends and it was great to have a girly afternoon with them.

Dance!

This year I took part in a program called SISTER2sister - a mentoring program for teenage girls. The girls finished up their year long commitment to the program on Saturday with a graduation ceremony in the city which was lots of fun. So I made my little sister a present to commemerate the year and to give her something to remember it all by.

Her bedroom is decorated in hot pink and green - so it was easy to find fabrics in my stash to match. The butterfly was the symbol of the program, so it was an easy choice for the applique.

She seemed pretty happy with her cushion and even asked me where I had gotten it made. I think she was a bit excited when I told her that I had made it!

I also gave her a copy of the book "Girl Stuff" by Kaz Cooke. After a bit of a read, I would really reccommend it for young, teenage girls - it covers everything from puberty, friends, family and relationships to drugs, alcohol, mental illness and many others. And it does it in a really accessible way for young people. There are lots of cheeky cartoons and funny sayings in it. I wanted to read the whole thing myself!

Tonight my husband and I, along with his twin brother and his wife are off to Tetsuya's for dinner! It is constantly voted in Australia's top 5 best restaraunts and has even made the top 10 world list for a number of years - I can't wait! We made our booking 6 months ago, so it has been a long time coming!

And tomorrow I'd better finish off the last of my present for Chookblue's SSCS - only a few days to go now!

To my sister...

who is moving to London tomorrow...

We'll miss you lots
xxx

Ideas...

I've had lots of ideas lately for little projects, all of which I've been jotting in my little notebook that I carry in my handbag. I decided to start with the smallest, and simplest - a small needlebook and pincushion.

I got this fabric from Silly Gilly in a giveaway and knew immediately what I wanted to use it for.

I picked these buttons for their stitching detail around the edge - so cute!

And I also made my very first, Renee-designed softie! I've had this idea in my head for a while and it was nice to see it in fabric too. Here's just a sneak peek as I am still not entirely happy with her face.

Can you tell what she is?

Only 2 days until I head to Melbourne for the Spring Stitch In with Rosie and Leanne! I can't wait!

Tutorial: three-dimensional flower

I used these fabric flowers to embelish the bag I made to take on my recent holiday.

Me and my bag in Carcasonne, France (!)

The flowers are really simple and very quick to make. I think they would also look good made into a brooch or even on a wallhanging. Please let me know if you have any queries about the following instructions.

For each flower, trace 5 circles the same size onto your chosen fabric. For my pink flower the circles I used had a diameter of approx 2 - 2.5 inches. I think I traced around a small espresso cup!

Cut out the circles on the lines.

Fold each circle in half, wrong sides together. Press. Then fold in half again to form a triangular shape. Press. These are your petals.

Using matching thread, work a running stitch along the curved edge of the first petal. Without knotting or cutting the thread, work a running stitch through the next petal in the same manner.

Continue until all 5 petals are joined.

Pull the thread taught to gather all the petals together into the flower shape. Sew the first and last petal together.

Sew the joined petals to your bag/wallhanging/brooch backing.

I added a button to the centre of my flower, big enough to cover the raw edges, but I think it would also look great with an appliqued circle or a suffolk puff in a contrasting colour.

That's it. Easy huh? :)

This is my 99th post - stay tuned for my 100th post giveaway!

Did you see kangaruby in Homespun?

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday

And look who is on the mailbag page!!

I recieved an email a little while ago telling me that Kangaruby and my platypi would be appearing on the mailbag page of Australian Homespun magazine! It is so exciting to see my name and my homemade gifts in my favourite magazine! Today I went to the post office to pick up my prize. Seeing as though it was a Christmas in July issue of the magazine, my prize had a Christmas theme - 2 beautiful books full of Christmas patterns, a Christmas pattern from the Rivendale Collection and 2 packs of gorgeous glittery threads! Lucky I LOVE Christmas!

The book Comfort and Joy is exactly the type of book I love and has some gorgeous projects in it - I can't wait to start on some!

Arn't these angels cute!

Lately however, my sewing has been very very frustrating. It seems I have forgotten how to quilt! I have quilted ok before - never great, but always passable, but this is just awful. I am so frustrated and dissapointed -and it wasn't just this one that was bad. I think I will start looking for a quilting service in Inner Sydney (any suggestions?)... Or maybe I finally need to give in and do some classes to figure out what I am doing wrong.

Apart from my attrocious quilting, I have just finished a new bag to take on my holiday . I am so proud of myself - this is completely designed by ME! Even I can't believe it turned out ok! I even put a zip closure on the top - my first ever zip.

Speaking of our trip, our plane leaves in 24 hours and I haven't even started packing! I hope everyone has a wonderful month and I'll be back in August with lots of photos and stories to share.

who can sew when there's a cat around?

Sampson was a wonderful help on the weekend...

But there's no way I can get angry with him - he's just too sweet!

why can't every weekend..

be a long weekend?

My weekend really started on Thursday night when my husband and I went out for dinner for our wedding anniversary. And yes, we did meet Manu! My husband also got me some gorgeous flowers - and they smell wonderful too. Then on Friday I met Delta at a fun run to raise money for the new Cancer Centre at work.

I decided not to go to spotlight on the weekend as I wanted to save my money for the craft and quilt show this coming weekend. So instead, I worked on some WISPs. I put together another angel block - only 3 to go now! (Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can stop my fabric from fraying? These blocks are becoming a bit of a hassle)

I now have a bunch of bodies waiting to be stuffed.

Started on a another One Red Robin pattern I have been wanting to make for ages (and practised some grid quilting too).

Made Pea and Ham soup for dinner

And made some pumpernickel fruit and nut loaf for morning tea

And that was just yesterday! Phew! I wish I had three days off every week!

Angels come in all shapes and sizes...

I've not had a chance to do much stitching in the past week, and with visitors from Melbourne for the next two weekends in a row, I think my posts may be a little thin on the ground.


However, I did remember taking a photo of this wallhanging at Mum and Dad's over Christmas. I made this for them as a Thankyou after they helped me out when I got myself into a bit of a pickle... And for everything else they have done for me too! It was one of the first things I made with the sewing machine Mum and Dad gave me a number of years ago, and like another I made at the time, it was made using a zig zag stitch around the applique pieces with a clear thread. It's probably not a method I would use again, but it was a great way to see results quickly.

I remember that I made it from a pattern in a magazine that was meant for Father's day, but I have no idea what magazine it was or who designed it.

I still have no word on Pointy kitty - thankyou all for your lovely comments about her though. I'm hopeful that she has found a wonderful home!