Mirabunny

I was just checking out the Softies for Mirabel auctions over on Ebay and found my Mirrabunny.
She's a very happy bunny and he doesn't eat much, so please make a bid so that the Mirabel Foundation can help out some lovely little kiddies....

Thankyou Pip....you put a smile on my dial.

Read the Instructions

It's been a busy weekend so far, and tomorrow we're off to Clunes to check out Booktown.

I'm hoping to find some interesting vintage books.....

.

In other news, I've started making another Mirabel Softie. I've never been able to sew stretch fabrics and I have always tried to avoid buying them thinking that I was doomed if I ever tried! But ages ago, for some unknown reason, I actually found some really weird silver stretchy material in one of the remnant bins at Spotlight and bought it!

.

I found it yesterday afternoon and had a brainwave about making a spacey / astronautey softie. So I did a quick sketch, made a paper pattern (if you can call it that) and cut it out of the stretchy silver stuff. Then I remembered that while I was perusing the instruction manual of my sewing machine earlier in the week (while swearing and making buttonholes), there was a section on sewing stretch fabric. So for the second time in 3 years, I read a page from the instruction manual.....it's quite amazing what you can learn from an instruction manual.....for all of these years I had no idea what the S.S. setting on my machine was for. Now I know it means STRETCH STITCH! And guess what? I sewed the 2 pieces of stretchy silver fabric together with no problems! I am still in shock.....

.

Anyway, I decided to give my spacey / astronautey softie some ears because he was looking a little bland, and he ended up looking like a rabbit. Mr CurlyPops thinks he looks like a rabbit at a rave party.

.

I haven't quite finished yet.....Now that he looks like a rabbit, I thought I would make it look like he was actually supposed to be a rabbit all along. I was making him a pom pom tail but I had a disaster and the pom pom fell apart so I came up with a different solution. I'm just waiting for the glue to dry and then I can stuff him full of polyfill, stitch up the side, and send him off merrily on his way to Mikes!
.
Oh, and I almost forgot, the moral of the story is READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Mirabel Softie

Yah! I finished my first softie today.......

I was going to embroider the "M" for Mirabel on her foot but my sister suggested adding a heart with the "M" embroidered.......the heart was a great idea!

I decided to give her some plaits just to make her look a bit more girlie because her legs look a little bit like golf clubs (whoops)!

If you would like to join in and make a softie, then go for it!

Thanks to Pip for organising such a great fundraiser for the Mirabel Foundation.

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.

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

On my desk today is.....

Mirabel heart pincushion made by Kitty
Beautiful screenprinted fabric received in yesterdays mail, bought from Pippijoe
Sketches of my Softie for Mirabel (yet to be started)

Check out who else is playing over on Kirsty's blog!

Girls Day Out (well, morning out) - Updated

My sister and I decided to go on a little drive away from the 'burbs' thismorning and into the city. We left the Melways behind and took one of Mr CurlyPops's favourite gadgets 'Lola' (aka the Navman). We had a slight problem when Lola wouldn't give us directions becuase she kept switching herself off! It seems that I may have inadvertantly jammed her powercord in the concole of my car, so unless we held the power cord at a certain angle, she wouldn't stay switched on........in the end, we pulled over and got her to finally work!



My sister ran out of Peter Watson tomato sauce yesterday, so the first stop on the intinerary was the Peter Watson shop in South Melbourne (Update - thanks Pip - there's another store in St David St, Fitzroy) . It was only 11.00 but they had some lovely grilled fish and sliced vegies for tastings and they were offering wine too. It was a bit early to get sloshed so we passed on that and just bought our sauce. I got some lovely tomato sauce and some worcestershire sauce too.

The next stop on the intinerary was Meet Me At Mikes. We got to meet lovely Cam and to see lovely Pip in the shop! We also got to see what some ugly horrible people decided to do last night.....

On a happier note, there were so many lovely things to see. If I had a limitless budget, I would have bought one of everything. What I did buy was:

A Heart for Mirabel made by Kitty (I'm not sure which Kitty, but if you're out there let me know and I'll add your link). Update: I've been doing some searching and I'm pretty sure my heart was made by Kitty from Kitty's Kaboodle.

I managed to snap up the wonderful babushkas pencil case handmade by Mikes.....

...and I also bought this gorgeous notepad by Kristen Doran....

....and to make it even better, I picked up my fabulous soupy prize of vintage fat quarters!

This is a close-up shot of my favourite. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make yet but I can use my cool new notebook to start making some lists and drawing some pictures.



The best thing about Mikes was being able to check out all of the cool stuff that all the crafters and bloggers make. It was great to be able to pick things up and see them in the flesh after seeing photos on all the blogs.



There was one little downside.....I'm feeling very depressed because my hearts are still hanging in the window. If anyone is reading this, can you please please please shell out $10 for charity and buy one that I made before it's all over.

It was raining when we left Mikes so we got in the car and headed down Gertrude St in search of coffee. We found a nice warm cosy coffee shop and had a cappucino and a lemon slice (it was delicious) and then headed into a secondhand bookstore called 'The Searchers' which was in Smith St. I got 6 novels for $22 which was a bargain.

The next stop on our itinerary was supposed to be the Rose St Artists Market but my dad called to let us know that he was on the way for a visit from Ballarat. So we had to pack up and head back to the 'burbs'.

In other news, Mr CurlyPops made it to Hong Kong overnight and has been sending through MMS messages. Above photo: Roadworks.........Why?.......I have no idea......

Next photo.....trying to find the train station to get to the rugby stadium.

I guess he found it!

Giddy Up!

I've tested out my new bias tape makers and they are fab!

It's so much easier than making the tape manually just with the iron. So I managed to finish two Giddy Up blankies for the twins and I finished the spotty blankie that I started earlier in the week.

I couldn't wait to use the fabrics from Retromummy, and luckily I had a few spare t-shirts lying around so I quickly added some Jack and the Beanstalk and some Funky Monkeys to the fronts.

I also had a scrappy bit of skull & crossbone leftover for this one.

These three are going to my nephew Moo Moo (it's ok, that's just his nickname - his parents aren't crazy folk).

Mr CurlyPops has just left the building. He's off to Hong Kong for the weekend to watch a rugby tournament (and buy me lots of presents). In his absence, I'm hoping to get lots of crafty things done, and I'm planning to drop in to Meet Me At Mikes tomorrow so I can snap up a Mirabel Heart before it's too late.

Anyhoo, have a lovely crafty weekend!

Final Hearts for Mirabel

I thought I would try something different to send in so here they are:

A small bag with a heart pocket....

.....and a small wire beaded heart

More Hearts for Mirabel

I've made some more hearts to send in for the 'We Heart Mirabel' appeal over at Meet Me at Mikes.

I have another couple of crafty hearty things that I would like to make, and then I'll be sending them all in together. Hopefully somebody will like them enough to part with their hard earned cash. It is for charity after all!

I need to make my luggage tags to add to the hearts thisafternoon and then they will be all ready to go. I also need to clean up all the mess I've made as I've migrated from the sewing room to the kitchen table.

We heart Mirabel

I am joining in the fun of 'We Heart Mirabel' over at Meet Me At Mikes.
I have made 2 hearts thisafternoon.....



This first one is a little wonky but hopefully that adds to the charm.....

For this one, I went through my scrap drawer and sewed some of my offcuts together. I like this one better and it was much quicker to make.

It's a bit hot in Melbourne today so it might just be time for a break and a nice cool drink...