What Did I Send?

So what did I send my Fabric Addict Swap partner Lyn?  Well it wasn't anywhere near as lovely as what she sent me, which makes me feel a bit squidgy inside.  You just never know with swaps do you?  Sometimes you give more than you receive and sometimes it's the other way around. 

I found out that vintage inspired fabrics were her thing, so I popped on over to Spotlight and bought some pretty vintage looking ones. 

I made a pin cushion from one of my favourite paisley fabrics.  Another little crochet flower upon this pin cushion too.  Yep, still loving them.

 A few little fancy crafty helpers.  The pins are so cute and I'd wondered where everyone got them from.  Nice to see we have them over here now too.  The tiny buttons are for her doll making.  I have no idea what sort of dolls she makes, but I'm sure buttons are buttons.

And a few lengths of ribbons, laces and binding.  Could be useful for her doll making.

And here are the goodies all together.  Sorry about the photo, it had to be at night as it was a busy time with parties and all that they involve. 

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  I really must thank Helen very much for organising such a wonderful swap.  And now that my two swaps are finished I'll have to look around for another one to keep me busy.  I wonder what's happening out there?

Are You Ready??

The big unveiling is about to take place.  Just look at the goodness bursting to get out.  The red spotty ribbon is good enough on it's own.

See I told you it was impressive didn't I?!!  Just look at all these lovely gifts.  Four wonderful fabrics, red embellishment cords and laces, ribbons for Africa, a needle booklet and lip buttons.  And I wonder how she knew I liked red?!

The tape measure is really quite sweet.  My girls are also quite taken with it.  It rolls back up when you push a button so that's the big attraction.  It's perfect for popping in my bag to take out with me.  I'll need to keep that one hidden.

But I've been holding out on you.  Naughty me!  I'll let these gifts speak for themselves as I'm still feeling quite overwhelmed by her generosity and talent.  And speechless for a change too!

The prettiest tea cosy and two coasters that match my mugs so well.  Now I just need to find a red tea pot with white polka dots to match.

I am in love with all of it.  Lucy, No.2, was home from school sick and she willingly helped to unwrap all the parcels.  She was also blown away with all the gifts.  We ended up laughing so hard we had wet eyes.  She thought it was funny that I was so amazed with how lovely everything was.

Now I am making another jolly wall hanging to go with the tea pot theme.  I'm having such a good time with it too.  I do love to make things.

In all the rush with birthday shopping, renovating, daily life, sickness and the usuals, I totally forgot to post a photo of No.1's cake she decorated for herself.  Life must be tough around here when you are expected to decorate your own cake!  I thought she'd enjoy it.  I think she did in the end with No.2 and I supervising and redoing the numbers a bit.  Honestly she's so slap dash at times!  Oh well it turned out pretty in the end and she had a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday for the 20th May Molly! Where did those eleven years go to?

What's in the Box?

My goodness have we had some lovely treats lately.  First up, dearest Lorraine, who was kind enough to pay me a visit in the summer, sent this wonderful dress for one of our girls.  She found it in an op shop and just had to find a home for it.  It's a lovely heavy cotton in the prettiest of fabrics.  Thank you so much for sending it over Lorraine, it's just beautiful.  What a thoughtful thing to do.  Here is Katie twirling around in the dress and loving it.

A couple of weeks ago Vintage Vicki posted about the latest CK catalogue and offered it out to anyone who wanted a copy.  Well as we don't have such niceties over here in little old NZ, I asked if I could possibly have a few photos of the pages emailed to me just for a nosy.  No that wasn't good enough, Vicki insisted on sending it out to me.  And golly isn't a goodie isn't it?  We miss out so much over.  However the very same day I found CK mugs on special no less, for sale and came home with four of them.  They are a bit big really but the prints are just delicious.  Now I just need hubby to make a floating shelf in the kitchen for them!

The gorgeous CK bag was sent to me from Lululiz who didn't know I liked CK stuff!  Really that woman sometimes.  What's not to like I ask?  She had bought the last two magazines in the shop with two different bags attached.  Well Liz being the very kind lady she is, insisted on sending me one for a bit of CK love of my own.  I'm really starting to feel very fancy now.

Here's the very pretty card Vicky sent with the magazine.  Sorry about the lack of catalogue photo, my mother is salivating over it at present.

Liz also sent my two girls some very thoughtful birthday presents and included a little something special for me.  Aren't I the lucky one?  Some vintage French buttons.  Won't they look fabulous on something?  They go beautifully with my linen and new trims.  There's an idea already.

And lookie lookie!!  My parcel from The Fabric Addict Swap has arrived.  Helen organised it and I was partnered up with Lyn (no blog).  Well you should see what was lurking beneath the wonderfully wrapped parcels!  Next time, I promise.   I tell you, I was completely spoilt!

The card alone is divine.  Just look at the sweet little picture.  I've always loved old pictures and I'm quite sure I can smell those old fashioned roses.

I can now also say that I've finally completed my apron for the Great Apron Swap of 2010.  Woo hoo!!  I actually really enjoyed making it too, not sure why it took me so long to get going.  It's about to be wrapped up and sent tomorrow.  Have you all made your aprons yet?  Am I the last or not?  As I was explaining to Liz, I didn't want to put too much pressure on the participants by finishing mine too early. 

Cute as a Red Button!

My latest applique project was inspired by Daughter No.3's cute picture.  She drew a picture a couple of months back of the sweetest little girl (see next photo).  I was wanting to preserve the picture as I just love it.  Stitching it means she will have it for much longer.  And it keeps me busy as well.  I'm not good when I don't have a project to get on with. 

Here is her drawing but I've shown you it before if it looks familiar.  I want the two bigger girls to draw something as well so they can have a wall hanging and not feel left out.  Goodness doing four of everything is rather trying sometimes, luckily I just love making these.  Could be good little pressies too perhaps.

I started by cutting a polka dot dress out of scraps.  The sleeves are puffed with a little stuffing.  So cute!  I really enjoyed doing the embroidery drawing of her. 

I tried to get her hair to look just like her picture, but it was a little tricky.  Messy hair day for her I think.

And I found a signature of hers on another drawing and copied it.  Another tea towel background!  It's the off cut from the applique tree.  I do like to use up all my scraps.  I do love to buy new tea towels too!!  Any excuse for another new one.

The buttons were a bit of a colour boost.  I've used five different ones.  Five because that's how old she is now.  And of course uneven numbers look better, I've heard.

Now I've had rather a lovely week at the post box.  I will have to show you all our new goodies next time when I have some photos of them.  It's so lovely to receive such nice gifts in the mail.  I really must organise a few to go out too.  Hope you lovelies are having a wonderful weekend.  May the sun shine down on you.

Family Tree

This little wall hanging is making me very happy.  I love it soooo much.  And not just because I used my most favourite tea towel as the background.  Well you can't get much more perfect than a red gingham towel can you?  Especially one that already has pretty red crochet lace at the bottom.  Actually the top fabric is a tea towel too.  I guess you could say this is another project for my 101 uses for a tea towel book!

I feel there is something missing at the top of the hanging.  I'm not sure if it needs some lace too.  What do you think?  Problem is, it won't match the lace at the bottom.  But I'm not feeling comfortable with it like it is.

I haven't done a great deal of hand applique in my crafting life.  I really do enjoy it and must do it more often.  These wall hangings are a nice way to use it.  They are simple but very effective.  I think each of our girls bedrooms really must have one.

I'll make the next ones different.  I may even get the girls to design their own, but that usually ends up more complicated than I imagined.  They aren't too good at simple.  But I do like to be creative with my work and generally not copy straight out of a book like I have with this one.  I feel like I've cheated somewhat.

This little bird in the tree hanging belongs to Sophie.  I chose not to write our names on the birds as it just didn't seem right.  I'm mummy, not Sarah to her.  And if I wrote Mummy and Daddy then she'd feel silly having it in her room when she got older.

I handstitched everything before I blanket stitched around the edges.  It's much simpler to do this way.  I love all the embroidery on the different coloured fabrics. 

Here is the original work.  It's from the brilliant book by Alicia Paulson, Stitched In Time.  I would love to buy this book as there are so many wonderful projects in it.  I've taken to photographing all the wonderful ideas I see and just flick through my photos for inspiration. 

Mummy Monday's

We were a little short of time this Monday due to birthday shopping.  But since Sophie has started kindy she has developed a constant whine.  Doesn't that sound lovely?  Want to borrow her?  Anyway a trip to the park next door was in order, for sanity reasons.

Someone was sure in a hurry!  I have a feeling she was wearing these trousers in last Monday's posting.  I'd better be careful about that.  You might think she only has one outfit!

So we hung out at the playgound for a while.  (Ha ha very funny!)  It's very important to get strong arms for the monkey bars at kindy.  I only had one turn as I remember playing on the bars a few years back and my shoulder muscles were aching for a week afterwards.

Our little playground doesn't have a great deal of equipment unfortunately.  But Soph wasn't complaining.

Mother participation is all important.  I have to say it was quite fun, but the static shocks were a little difficult to bare.

The twirly whirly thing was the best.  I was allowed to take a photo of her at the top.  One hand ready to catch at any given moment.

The park was the perfect opportunity to try out the new gumboots.  Unfortunately the only mud she stood in was when she had taken her boots off!  Well it was a very hot day.

Now I keep forgetting to ask, how are your aprons coming on?  I know some of you have already posted about your swap.  Keep an eye on my blog list on the right there for big reveals.  I can't say I'm one of those good ladies.  No sadly my apron is still in pieces.  Yes I am feeling incredibly guilty about it and I promise I will get a wriggle on after the birthday.  Jolly birthdays!  They have a habit of getting in the way.

Button Love

Remember this button heart?  I was just playing really but liked the end result so much that I decided to stitch the buttons on some fabric.  Lululiz graciously offered to send me a piece of home woven cloth that is over one hundred years old to make my heart extra special.  Imagine that?  She's so sweet to me.

Anyway I finally put it together in the weekend and hand stitched every little button on.  I quite like it with my LOVE sign.  I quite like it generally really.

I have a wonderful, but little, collection of older buttons from my mother and Gran, and some sent from dear blogging friends Floss and Michela.  You just don't get the same result with new plastic ones.

It was most enjoyable sorting out just where each button should be placed.  I must find out from my mother what the buttons were from.  I'm sure she'll know.  I do know that the pink flower one has always been her favourite.  It's our favourite one as well. 

Lacing the fabric is always a bit of a challenge, but a more pleasurable one when using such special fabric. 

I love the card Liz made for me.  I would have loved to have used the lace flower she made too, but I think it may have to wait for another project.

I'm very pleased with my new heart.  I can't wait to add it to my heart collection one day.  One day when I actually have a bedroom.  It's in a state of renovation these days.  A right royal state actually.

I'm busting to show you my newest project but I'll not overload you with photos.  Perhaps next time.  We have another birthday this week.  No.1 is turning 11 on Thursday so I guess I should start thinking about her.  No party this year, but a family meal instead.  Should be quite lovely.  Right must go and take her to her clarinet lesson.  Bye for now!

Raggy Heart

Here's a quick project you can do in front of the TV in an evening.  It's so easy and so much fun, even the kids could make one of these.  And the best part, it's really cheap.

I picked up this wire heart for about $3 from Spotlight.  But you could make you own shape from an old wire coat hanger if you wished.  Good recycling as well.

Those bins of scraps that never seem to get used are just perfect for this project.  Just find fabrics in suitable colours or go for a jumble multi-coloured mix like I did.

Cut narrow strips about 15cm long and fold them in half.  Wrap them under the wire and loop the ends through the loop.  Push them really tightly together for a nice firm look.  The ends seem to stay up straighter this way too. 

You could hang a fabric heart down from the centre too.  Not sure whether or not I will.  I quite like the simple look of the bare wall.  I've had another three orders for these already - thanks girls!

I'm on a bit of a craft roll at the mo.  I have another project to show you next time that I really, really love.  I'll give you a clue.  It's made from some really old fabric.

Letter Cushions

Last night I decided to start a project from one of my library books.  Some pretty cushions for No.3's new bedroom.  Well she doesn't have the new room yet, but we are just being prepared. 

I asked her to pick out the fabrics from a selection I found.  There weren't too many big enough for the cushion backs so the choice was rather limited.  Not to worry, there were some nice ones in there.

A bit of applique last night, and today I made the cushions themselves.  A quick trip to the shop for some inners and here we have five plump cushions looking rather lovely on her homemade quilt. 

Mummy I want them straight!!  Followed by a lovely little tantrum!  Oh it's not her fault she likes everything perfectly lined up, it's her father's.  She allowed me to move them around a little for some photos, but still doesn't like those shots.  Little girls are so funny sometimes. 

There that's better Mummy, all nice and straight.

And the backs are nice and orderly too!

Here are the ones in the book.  They look nice too, even if some of the letters are in capitals.  Bit confusing for a little girl learning to write if you ask me.  The book is a very good one for bedroom inspiration and is entitled Children's Rooms by Andrea Maflin.

Well now I suppose I should do something else after spend the whole morning sewing!  Love those days.  I hope you are having a bit of that sort of time as well this weekend.