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