my little space

school butterflies

2009-11-26T20:40:00.002+11:00

With the end of school fast approaching, Ashley wanted to give a little something to each of her classmates. She has been lucky to have such a great kindy class and has really enjoyed her first year of big school. I made some little canvas drawstring bags, using cotton twine for the drawstrings and some iron-on adhesive (heat'n'bond) to decorate them with butterflies from Canyon Flutter. Inside was a pencil and a sharpener for each of them.

If you have a chance, pop over and have a peek at this wonderful giveway.......for gorgeous, gorgeous fabric. My fingers are crossed!

butterflies

2009-10-28T16:44:00.005+11:00

It's not easy to please a five year old girl.....however, if you throw in a little pink, red and a butterfly or two, it's bound to be a hit!

This wrap-up skirt pattern is wonderful. It has simple to follow instructions and a super clever way of making a cute pocket. I will definitely be making a few of these for Christmas presents this year.

library bag

2009-10-14T14:13:00.002+11:00

I've made a few of these library bags recently for little friend's birthdays and filled them up with books. The pattern is the Easiest Accessory Bag Ever and there are three bags to choose from. The one above is the middle sized bag pattern which I like as it has tote bag handles and drawstrings too.

They also make a trip to library a little more colourful and fun!

momo

2009-10-06T15:59:00.009+11:00

The sun decided to come out this afternoon so I quickly took some pictures of a little quilt, just finished, made from momo wonderland fabrics (which I love). It is for my little niece Ruby who is just a few months old.

I enjoy making quilts with rows of squares, not too tricky and nice and quick to put together. I quilted with a soft pink perle 8 cotton and bound it with stipes.

Now it's all bundled up and ready to go!

little birds and teacups

2009-08-26T14:42:00.007+10:00

This little canvas is from Audrey and Maude, a kit that I picked up from the show last week. It was a great project that I could pick up and put down whenever I had a few spare minutes. We have been so busy with this week with book week preparations, poetry festivals, excursions, and science projects......this project was a lot of fun and has helped keep me sane this week!

Ashley isn't too keen on dress-ups and I couldn't convince her to dress-up as a book character for book week so she picked out an outfit from her wardrobe, wore her headband and we all decided that she could get away with being Alice in Wonderland! Each student also had to bring a dish to school for a picnic lunch so we made these little wonderland teacups.

Pink icing on round biscuits with a marshmallow and chocolate freckle on top. The handles were peppermint or musk lifesavers cut in half. Yum!

little bugs and butterflies

2009-08-21T13:50:00.003+10:00

Another quilt done! This one is for my nephew who enjoys The Hungry Little Caterpillar book. The pattern is from Andover Fabrics and the quilt was sent away for machine quilting. The pattern also has an extra border around it but I had to stop here as it was getting too big!

A peek at the backing.....

It's a bit tricky to take photos of it...now it's time to bundle it up and send it to it's new owner!

you might like to know....

2009-08-10T12:56:00.004+10:00

...there's a little competition happening at Umbrella Prints so take a peek and see what you can make with one of their gorgeous trimmings packs!

petals

2009-08-08T16:42:00.004+10:00

Two years and seven months......

........and now it's finished!

from Material Obsession One .

rolling

2009-05-28T16:58:00.003+10:00

Fair Day was great fun! We were lucky with the weather, a beautiful day, and we were lucky to be looking after the children's stall where a lot of little ones came to visit. Now that the fair is over I have had some time to sew up some pencil rolls for friends.....

...and thank-you hair ties for our helpers on stall.

I have some quilts to finish now, a few babies due in the next couple of months. Josh and Ashley will have a couple of new cousins arriving soon! Hopefully I will have some pictures for you soon.

buttons buttons buttons

2009-05-01T13:39:00.007+10:00

I've been spending my evenings in front of the television watching Masterchef and making fabric button hairties for the school fair next Saturday. While sorting them out I thought I'd sneak in a quick picture as they looked so colourful altogether. Ashley has picked out half of them for herself and I have to keep reminding her that they are for the stall! I found the fabric covered button kits in bulk from www.jackobindi.com.au which I was happy about as I've only seen them in spotlight in packs of six. (tried to make a link for the website but having a little trouble with it)
Have a great weekend!

reflecting

2009-04-26T22:38:00.003+10:00

We spent the weekend in Canberra, a three and a half hour drive away from Sydney, and took Josh and Ashley to visit the Australian War Memorial on ANZAC Day. We placed a poppy in the Hall of Honour for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives. I've always loved the flanders poppy, which were one of the first flowers to sprout on the fields following the war. It was a reflective day.

We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Australian Mint and Questacon too, where you can easily spend hours and hours! The kids are in bed now and it's the end of the school holidays. School bags have been taken out of the cupboard, winter uniforms are ready to go and we are back to early starts again tomorrow! Hope you all enjoyed your holiday break too.

machine daze

2009-04-21T07:43:00.004+10:00

I spent Saturday at a machine quilting class at MO, my first attempt at quilting with my sewing machine! I found it quite tricky and very different to the relaxing stitches of hand quilting. I tried leaves and pebbles....

cross-hatching and wonky hearts!

It was a great class and it opened up a lot of new ideas for me who is used to stitching in straight lines only. I just need to practise and hopefully will be brave enough to try and quilt one by machine soon.

button flowers

2009-04-05T11:09:00.003+10:00

Making these flowers is so addictive........

It's so much fun to play around with different buttons and colours.......

I'm not sure what I am going to do with them yet but I have a couple of ideas floating around in my head. Thank-you for your lovely comments, I have been trying to work out how to use the random generator but gave up so I used the good old name on a piece of paper method and a spoonful of sugar was picked - Hooray! Please email me your details Lisa and I'll send your little surprise package. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

100

2009-03-30T10:00:00.004+11:00

Hello again! I've tried to simplify my days, making sure that Josh and Ashley are settled properly into school and now that we are heading towards the end of term 1, I have finally had some time to sew. A little bunting for the school fair which is coming up in May - we are helping out with the children's stall and it should be a lot of fun!

Would you believe this is my 100th post? I'm terrible at posting, very irregular and I tend to drop off for a few months when life gets too hectic....but I made it and I'd like to say thank-you to each of you who has popped in to say hello and keep me company over here! A little giveaway is in order I think so please say hi and I will draw out a name on Friday and send a little parcel of goodies your way if it is you.

Have a great week!

there's no place like home

2009-01-17T18:28:00.004+11:00

Happy New Year! We are back from our beach holiday to Lindeman Island and have had a very relaxing week full of tropical weather, swimming and summer activities with the kids. I'm not usually a beach person so I had to dig out the swimmers and pack the sunscreen and hats. My children love the water so we spent most of the time in the pool and making sandcastles on the beach.....I even managed to finish a novel too! It felt strange not to worry about cooking meals or cleaning the house - it made me realise how much time I do actually spend doing the housework.

It is good to be back home though and we are now getting ready for school. Ashley starts school this year and I'm a little sad - she has always been the baby of our family and I can't believe she will be starting kindy.

Hope are are enjoying the school holidays too....only a couple of weeks to go!

time to pack

2009-01-07T16:47:00.002+11:00

I know NYE fireworks were a week ago but we are running on holiday time around here and things are taking a lot longer than usual! We are off on a little holiday tomorrow....just the four of us, and we are looking forward to some nice family time together in the sun. Have a good week everyone and see you when we get back!

2008-12-27T16:46:00.002+11:00

Just popping in quickly from my mum's place as our computer has quite literally blown up! We've had no computer for the past week and I'm not sure when it will be back either. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Santa was good to you all (we are still eating our way through lunches and dinners with family)!
Today we celebrated a friend's wedding which was a traditional Laotian ceremony. It was so beautiful and the colours were so stunning and vibrant. My husband's family is from Laos and we didn't have a traditional ceremony so it was interesting to see one today with all the traditions and rituals. I think my favourite was tying on a small piece of white cotton string to the bride's wrist to signify well wishes to the couple. You might be able to see them all tied on her wrist in the picture below....

Wishing you all a Happy New Year too!!! (just in case we don't get our computer back in time)

partridge in a pear tree

2008-12-18T08:29:00.004+11:00

hello! Just popping in quickly to show you the last of the dolly quilt mailouts for the year. Must admit that I haven't had a chance to start the last couple but I couldn't resist this one.....being a Christmas theme and all! School holidays have started and pre-school is in it's last days. Plans have been made for the holiday break and Christmas shopping is all done (phew)!

The pear tree was made using an 18 degree circle segment ruler - a new favourite toy. Very quick and easy and the partridge and pears were appliquéd on.

I always enjoy sewing on the binding, it's my favourite part of making a quilt! Below are some spare change squares which arrived this week - beautiful fabrics, I think I will jumble them together and make a quilt with them as they are.

Time now for catching up with family and friends, a wedding, some sewing (hopefully) and counting down the days until Christmas!

more time

2008-11-21T16:34:00.004+11:00

This little stash of AB goodness (except for the book) was given out at the Amy Butler evening last night . It was a nice night, hearing all about her life and inspiration....although it did feel a little bit like watching mornings with Kerri-Anne!

Market stall has been postponed, due to an over allocation of stalls and to be honest with you, I'm a little relieved. It's left me with time to make a colouring wallet by Jennifer Casa which I first spotted here. A great pattern...I think there will be a few friends receiving these over Christmas!

mermaids and pirates

2008-11-15T19:40:00.002+11:00

Ashley's friend is having a birthday party with a mermaids and pirates theme in a couple of months so we made up these little bags to see whether she would like to use them as lolly bags. They were sewn up with some cotton canvas and a little drawstring looped through the top. The fabrics were ironed on with heat'n'bond, an iron-on adhesive, and the little pirate face was hand sewn with some embroidery thread. Super quick and easy!

....and I couldn't resist these beauties from our local fruit shop!

to market

2008-11-11T13:54:00.003+11:00

A few friends and I are putting together a little market stall in a few weeks. We are making little things and putting them together to see if anyone would like them. I was excited about it a couple of months ago when we decided to do this but now I'm not so sure! I'm finding it difficult to sit at the sewing machine to make something for someone I don't know and progress has been slow. So far I have a stack of coasters and some little kids totes.......time to get sewing!

little ghosts

2008-11-01T08:09:00.003+11:00

It was our first Halloween trick or treating with the kids. They dressed up as a witch and wizard, their outfits and capes quickly sewn up the night before. Lolly bags prepared for the little ones and ghost meringues for the mums and dads. All sugared up before bedtime and had loads of fun.... Happy Halloween!

too nice

2008-10-11T17:26:00.002+11:00

This lovely package arrived in the mail this week from Kellie....thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! It is a gorgeous smock and monkey (plus watercolour paints) which Ashley just loves. The smock is too nice to use but I don't think my chances of talking Ash out of using it are very good. I've always admired Kellie's pretty designs and I have to say that they look even better in person. The detail, colours and fabric choices are just perfect.

My favourite part is this little bird.......thanks Kellie!

summer dress

2008-10-07T19:59:00.003+11:00

I ventured into Spotlight the other day to have a look at some overlockers. After making Ashley's skirt a few weeks ago I thought I would try making her a dress as well and started to research a little on overlockers. I have no idea about these machines and haven't even used one before so any bits of advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

As I walked through the store, the top fabric in blue pictured above caught my eye. It looks very much like the bottom fabric in pinks which is a Liberty print I love and purchased a tiny amount of and haven't yet used. Is it just me or do they look very similar? The blue print came at a bargain price of $6.99 so I thought it would be perfect for a summer dress.....

This pattern is from here and is called the simple servant frock. A nice and simple pattern for a beginner like me.

....and I'm happy because Ashley likes it!

fun mail

2008-09-26T18:08:00.003+10:00

It's Friday and the start of the school holidays! What better way to start them off than to have a read of these quilting magazines from Lisa, which landed on our doorstep as part of a magazine swap organised by (another) Lisa. Thanks Lisa, lots of inspiration and fun projects in these magazines.

Here is a little peek at what I'm working on.......hope you enjoy your weekend!