Lighting up my night

Lastnight was another fun night at Brown Owls....and my last one for the year.... Boo Hoo!

We made these sweet tea light candle holders....

We very nearly had an entire table full of bloggers.... Liesl, Cindy, Lara, Steph, Hollie, Myself, and Kerry (who will remain blogless)! It was lovely to finally meet Liesl in person.

Gemma drew my name out of the magic prize barrel and I won one of Kirsty's fabulous swizzle stick rings....

....and this is Kerry modelling her fabulouso chain stitch embroidery!

Looking forward to next year.

As I promised

Tin can fashion shoot...

Work it canney!

Canniness....

Canniness Definition - can·ni·ness (kan′ē nis) - noun - the quality of being canny


It was tin can pencil cup night at Brown Owls lastnight.......


There were lots of prizes from the magic barrel....

....and I'm officially the slowest at embroidery. It took me three full hours to embroider my pencils. Cindy and I were neck and neck on the embroidery speed most of the night, but she won in the end!

.....and Steph managed to finish her pencils, add some text, and a running stitch top and bottom and glue it on and varnish it!
I've promised that I will definitely finish mine off today...more photos later.

Brown Owls Badgemaking

Lastnight was a fun night of badgemaking at the Brown Owls clubhouse. Gemma was the badge machine protector and queen, which was lucky because I just couldn't remember the correct sequence for all the little badgey bits and pieces!

Special guest star Anna Laura showed us how to make these cute little stuffed felt badges.

I borrowed Steph's Lolcats book because it just makes me laugh out loud....and Steph also bought along a themed pressie just for me.... a Smash Hits INXS badge from the 80's...how's that for cool!

I also started a cute little house badge that Pip had created but didn't get time to finish it just yet. I might keep stitching that one on the couch tonight.

Thanks again Kirsty and Pip for a lovely crafty night out.

Dexter the Dinosaur needs a new home

I've added some new curtain ring bags to The CurlyPops Shop. Firstly, Dexter the Dinosaur and his ABC blocks.....

Secondly, this denim bag has a vintage 70's panel on both sides.....

Thirdly, a denim bag with vintage tablecloth panel on one side.....

....and Dexter the Dinosaur with his RST (we did make up an inappropriate RST name for this one on Saturday but I probably shouldn't type it)! It shall be known as the Rainbow, Star & Train bag.....

Hope you all have a happy Monday.....Brown Owls tonight!

And don't forget the giveaways...I added at least 4 new ones on Sunday.

Linky Links

Just in case you missed it, go and check out Pip and Aunty Pat in The Age!

Also I found a couple of new blogs in the last couple of weeks (well, they're probably not new, but new to me...get it)!

Poppy Lane

Loz and Dinny

Ideyspidey

Midgee Moo

The names are fabulous...

and my little sister has started a blog - you can find it here!

Fabric Printing Fun

So lastnight was lots of fabric printing fun at Brown Owls....

Making the stamps was easy peasy and lots of fun (great craft for the kiddies). Kirsty is an absolute genius with sourcing recycled supplies and the ideas she comes up with. Gemma and Pip were perfect hosts and instructors too....thanks so much crafty gals!

My singlet still needs to be heat set (haven't got around to that just yet) and then it's finished.
I'm definitely trying this again....

There are lots of lovely fabric printing photos around here, and here, and here, and here and here and here.

He, he, he, I've just realised after I posted that my singlet completely matches my header.....

Update: A very very very big thanyou to my parking angel Danielle who saved me from backing my car into a concrete wall (I'm really bad at reversing out of carparks)!

Mushies

I had a lovely stitchy night at Brown Owls lastnight and I actually managed to finish the project...yippee! We made these sweet little mushroom pincushions.


Kirsty did a fab job with her supersensational 'mushie how to slide presentation'.
Steph saved my CurlyPops owl from the last session that I missed and now I also have a sweet little Lara owl.

There were lots of delicious things to eat - chocolate cake made by Kirsty, apple cake made by Stephs mum, and cupcakes made by Cindy (which was lucky for me because I only had vegemite toast for tea before I left).


....and of course there were lots of lovely girls to stitch and chat with. I finally got to meet Hollie (luckily I was wearing my gorgeous Hokey Owl brooch) and had a walk down memory lane with Kerry from Quamby.......

Check out the forest of mushrooms here.... a collaboration of stitchy goodness.

How Now Brown Owl

Here's another sweet little pressie that came in the mail this week from Hollie over at Hokey.........
This is one of her brand new resin brooch creations.
It's the perfect accessory for a night out at Brown Owls!

Brown Owls

Lastnight was another fun crafty night at Brown Owls and I learned something new and fabulous! I took my little sewing kit along......my scissors, needles, thread, pins, and my gorgeous little red pincushion handmade by Libby.....


Pip bought along Peaches the Piggy and Mirabel (Belle for short) so that we could wonder in amazement at the extraordinary talents of the two creative ladies that made them.....

I wore my gorgeous Betty Jo Owl Brooch to get into the owlie spirit.
I learned how to hand piece, and I actually managed to finish this sweet little pincushion (admittedly I was still sewing on buttons while everyone else was cleaning up)!

My nest is getting a little squishy so I'll have to start searching for a new home for my little owlie friends before my next meeting in the clubhouse.....

Chunky Scarf

Life is slowly getting back to normal around here.......

The twins came home from hospital yesterday. We went to visit them in the afternoon and I gave my sister this scarf that I knitted for her on the weekend. My knitting is getting faster, this one only took about 4 or 5 hours in total.

I'm off to Brown Owls tonight , just the thing I need to get me back into the crafty groove!

Brown Owls Project

We had Elisa Webb join in as a student visitor at one of the Brown Owls sessions earlier in the year and she has created a website as part of her studies. Go and check it out, it's really cute!

Thanks Elisa!

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A big thanks to Michelle for the tip on creating a link to a website via clicking on the photo.....I actually got it to work...yippee! Remember to check Michelle's blog each Tuesday for a new tip!

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Granny not so square...

Lastnight was my second crochet attempt at Brown Owls.... it was a lot more successful than my previous attempt! I made something that might be known as a granny square but it's not really square (I had a bit of trouble getting the tension even all the way around).

It was a lovely crochetty evening full of chatting, eating, drinking and laughing. I met Angelique who was visiting all the way from Noumea, and farewelled Corrie (luckily she was able to squeeze in one more Brown Owls night before moving).....

Thanks once again to Kirsty and Pip for a great night out!

Lemon Slice Recipe

I've had a few recipe requests for lemon slice so here it is:

Lemon Slice Recipe

1/2 cup condensed milk
125g butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
250g plain sweet biscuits (marie or malt work well)

Warm the condensed milk and butter. Stir until combined. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Press mixture into a slab tin lined with foil or baking paper.
Refrigerate until firm. Spread with lemon icing. Cut into small squares to serve.

To make the lemon icing, I just use icing sugar and lemon juice. I won't give you any quantities because my icing is usually a disaster!

If lemons are out of season, skip the lemon rind and just use bottled lemon juice for the icing.

If you have a food processor, it only takes about 30 seconds to crush the biccies (much quicker than doing it manually)!

I'd better start searching for my crochet hooks because I'm off to Brown Owls again tonight.....yippee!

Knitting.....part 2

Look! It's amazing! I actually managed to knit few rows (and apart from some lumpiness at the beginning, it doesn't look so bad)!

Aunty Pat returned to Brown Owls last night to teach us knitting beginners. She taught a really easy way to cast on using our thumbs (I just hope I can remember it).

I had to really concentrate so that I didn't drop any stitches, but at least this was easier than crochet (for me anyway).......

.....and then lucky me ...... I won one of the door prizes! This gorgeous zippered clutch purse made from vintage fabric. I love the contrast of the green material with the red zipper!

Knitting

My sister and I met up with Corrie and Kiera for lunch on Friday in Williamstown. It was a lovely day so we sat outside in the sunshine and fresh air.......

Keira was wearing the beautiful pink jumper that Corrie had knitted......she looked so cute!

Corrie had also made a beautiful gift for my sisters twins (I don't have a photo at the moment), and I was finally able to give her the knitting pattern book that she won in my giveaway! I can't wait to see what she whips up with her knitting needles!

After lunch, my sister and I popped into Vinnies in Newport where I found another couple of craft / sewing books........

......and knitting needles and wool for Brown Owls tonight!

Brown Owls Badges

Brown Owl emailed me to let me know that I've now earned two badges.

I've earned my stitching badge for stitching my name panel and membership panel.

I've earned my cooking badge for submitting my recipe for the Brown Owls Cookbook.

Yah!

On My Desk......on a Wednesday

Well, not much has changed on my desk since last week. I still have my Pippijoe fabric and my WIP crochet from Brown Owls....

Just a couple of new additions - instructions for creating buttonholes on my sewing machine and test buttonholes on calico. I made machine created buttonholes for the first time on Monday for the handbag that Steph is receiving as part of my 100th post giveaway. I will post photos of the bag once Steph has received it in the mail. There was a lot of swearing and unpicking and instruction reading and calico testing and tea drinking involved in the creation of those damn buttonholes!

Finally - bits and pieces cut ready for my Mirabel Softie!

Thanks to Kirsty for hosting, I can't wait to check everyone else's desks this week.

I am not a Crochet Master!

I had a lovely time at Brown Owls on Monday night. Jess and Aunty Pat tried to teach me how to crochet but I'm going to need lots and lots of practice!

Luckily we had some other crochet masters on our table who were extremely helpful when I got stuck so a special thankyou to Steph and Lara and to Corrie who helped me to get started. It was also lovely to see Libby and Christie again and to meet Jess who was all the way from Canberra! In the photo above, the owls nest and the granny square were created by Steph. My crochet talents only extended to the sad looking mis-shapen blue piece of double crochet!

Thanks to all the Brown Owls girls for another wonderful night out!

This is........my latest discovery

Anyone who has been reading this blog would know straight away what my latest discovery is!

My Clover Bias Tape Makers that I bought from Clegs.......

......and then this is my next discovery, crochet supplies to take to Brown Owls tomorrow night.
Brown Owl has asked me to bring crochet hooks in size 3s, 4s and 5s. I wasn't sure what that meant but I found 3mm, 4mm and 5mm so I'm hoping that's correct. Can someone please let me know if it isn't so I can pop back into Spotlight tomorrow and exchange them.

Thanks to Angela for hosting this lovely meme and RheLynn for this weeks theme. Hope everyone's having a lovely sunny Sunday!