sweet tooth

Has it been almost a week already since Father's Day? What better way to start the day than to be woken up with a cup of coffee and a peanut and banana tart from Becasse Bakery? Oh, so sweet (almost too sweet for first thing in the morning!) and only because it was a special occasion. The day was spent with family, eating a little too much and some fishing and bike riding thrown in to make the most of the gorgeous day!

It's been a hectic week around here....we've had a school camp, a classroom visit, work and tradesmen at our house.

Sometimes it's the little things, like finding a nice punnet of blueberries and baking a batch of muffins, that make everything seem okay again.

pretty magnets

What better way to decorate magnets than to cover them with pretty scraps of fabric?

Fabric covered buttons with flat backs and magnets glued on, make for pretty magnets for your fridge!

A present

I did it...... I pulled out the sewing machine, plugged it in, ignored the housework, didn't think about dinner and sewed.

Ashley's dear friend Eliza had her birthday today and I made a little pouch to store some felt pens and paper. I have used the pattern before from here and love it!

It folds out into three sections, one for some little pens or crayons, one for a little notepad and one that I like to add in some stickers. It can be taken anywhere with you, perfect for coffee shops or long trips in the car.

Happy Birthday Eliza!

birthday banner

My sister-in-law is celebrating her birthday today so we made a little birthday cake banner for her. The idea came from this little tutorial. It was a lot of fun to make and we had all the bits we needed right at home.

favourite reds

It's the last day of the school holidays and Ashley is having a play at her friend Eliza's house today. We chose some favourite red fabrics, cut out some circles, attached them to plain canvas bags with an iron on fusible and tah da!

Instant craft bags for the girls! We filled them up with bits and pieces to keep them busy.

Happy crafting girls!

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!