need a holiday idea?

It's school holidays here and we have been enjoying spending more time together and not rushing around here, there and everywhere.

Today we opened one of these Djeco projects and we spent hours on these beautiful pictures. There are four prints in a box (each so gorgeous, it was difficult to choose a favourite), felt markers, and instructions on how to colour and decorate.

.........all boxed up

........here are our finished products.

.......my favourite.
Our favourite holiday project so far! We found ours here, which I have to say is the best toy store around so if you are looking for something to do, it is definitely worth a visit!

a thimble list

I am a list person. I write out grocery lists over morning coffee, scribble on the back of receipts whilst in the car and even wake up in the middle of the night sometimes to write down things I need to remember in a notebook next to my bed.

A thimble list.......is a list of small things that make you happy. I came across the idea here, and thought it was such a nice idea!

So here goes my thimble list:

- make coffee for hubby in the morning (he is usually the one to make our coffees each morning!)

- pull out a sewing project that has been started but not finished (oh, there are so many)

- meet up with a friend for a coffee

- try a new recipe

- bring home a bunch of flowers for home

The best thing about this list is......you can make a new one each day!

trimmings

The trimmings competition at Umbrella Prints is on again for 2011! I was hoping to enter last year but didn't have the time and now that another one is on, I would love to find try and make a few things with their beautiful prints. At least I know that if I run out of time, I will still have my little stash of trimmings to admire!

Carrots......filled with orange jellybeans to hand out to classmates before the holiday break.

Happy Easter!

a little party

It's been almost a couple of months already but our little one has turned seven.

We had a small party with close friends from school and made it all things girly.

Now we are a few weeks into a new school year and falling into routines again. I'm hoping it will be a year filled with more time for sewing and making new things.

We're going on an egg hunt!

Happy Easter!

We are meeting up with friends today and having an egg hunt for the little (and grown up) ones. I made up some Easter hunt bags to help carry around all the extra chocolate.


Mini canvas totes with coloured handles and eggs stitched on with contrasting thread. I have a feeling the kids will be more excited about the chocolate eggs though.
Have a Happy Easter and a wonderful holiday break!

patches

As soon as I saw this tutorial I had to make a start on this quilt. It's perfect for my 8 year old son who is very excited about a new "boy" quilt of his own.

We have also been preparing for Easter...... not long now until the Easter break!

slow and steady

I picked up a quilt pack from the Amitie stand at the Craft Fair last year. Yes, it's taken me a long time to get to this stage and no it isn't too tricky. I fell in love with these fabrics and thought it would be perfect for my little niece on her christening day.

I'm looking forward to getting a start on the quilting, in front of the TV, now that all my favourite shows are back!

school butterflies

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

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

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

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

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

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....

...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

Two years and seven months......

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


from Material Obsession One .

rolling

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

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

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

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

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!