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!

100

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

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

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!