Ahhh... now that's better

I should have been making brooches and gadget pouches thisafternoon....

But I just had to whip this up instead....

Beautiful linen tablecloth outer courtesy of Stacey, teamed with my one of my favourite op shop finds of all time (vintage floral bedspread), and some random offcuts of binding for straps.

Now my new pens are very happy!

Rewarding

Photo courtesy of Sheeps Clothing

I've been working very hard lately (I even managed to finally get all my tax sorted and ready to send to the accountant), so I thought I deserved a little bit of handmade goodness.

My reward to me for all of that hard work - a beautiful pure wool scarflette from Sheeps Clothing. I couldn't go past that gorgeous charcoal tone, perfect for a day out in the city.

Sheeps Clothing - Made It
Sheeps Clothing on Etsy

What fortuitous timing, as it arrived in my letterbox on Monday, just in time for the wild winds and storms in Melbourne on Tuesday..... at least my neck was warm!

When the going gets tough....

The tough go shopping..... crafty online shopping that is of course!

I saw these beautiful Sheeps Clothing mug cozies on Staceys blog a couple of weeks ago, so I couldn't resist. I ordered a pink one for me (of course), a green one for my older sister, and a purple one for my younger sister.

The colours are just amazing, really deep and rich, and they're so soft. I delivered the green one today, and I'll be handing over the purple one on the weekend. It makes me want to go and make a cuppa just so I can use mine. If you need to buy a gift that would suit anyone, then one of these would be perfect!

I also bought another little gift just for me. I've been meaning to make myself a needlecase forever! I always end up with a huge mess when I try to pack up my sewing supplies for crafty days out.

I spied this one over at Selina's Vintage. Selina has used vintage chenille and a vintage hanky to create this gorgeous needlecase.

Inside has plenty of room for lots of pins and needles....

.... and there was also an extra special suprise of vintage tea towels! How cool is this one from Disneyland? Thankyou so much Selina.

The Bubbas are One

My twin nephews, Noah and Zane turned one today.

Luckily, the sewing machine service man returned my overlocker thismorning, and I managed to drag myself off the couch for just enough time to whip up a birthday pressie.

I have a huge pile of unwanted clothes that have previously belonged to various family members in my sewing stash.

An unwanted / preloved adult pair of jeans is just perfect for re-creating into a little pair of kiddie jeans.

I used two pairs of my sisters old jeans to make these for the twins - I left the half pocket detail in place from the old jeans to actually show that they've been recycled (and I think it looks pretty cool too).

I always have plain t-shirts in the stash - they're perfect for last minute gifts.

So, I also whipped up a couple of appliqued t-shirts using the denim offcut and the same fabulous cowboy print that I received from Stacey.

They'll be wearing their new uber-cool outfits to creche tomorrow. Hopefully, I might get a photo for the blog in their new outfits.

PS - For anyone who is interested - I checked with the Sewing Machine Service man and he services the Western and Northern Suburbs. He picks up and drops off, and the service is $65. His details are in the Yellow Pages here. He even puts a little sticker on the machine so you know when it's mext due for a service (just like when you take your car in)!

PPS - I refused to go to Spotlight last week to buy vliesofix for appliques (after the last debacle), but Nikki told me about a new fusible that she saw at Stitches and Craft. I did some research and bought a new one named Applifix online from Craft Cubby. I'm impressed!

Loot Glorious Loot - Day 5

Today's Loot Glorious Loot is sitting on the ironing board.... although it's pretty easy to see now that the iron hasn't been anywhere near it yet!

It's a beautiful Australian Birds tablecloth that I recieved in the mail from Stacey last week.

I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for just yet. It's in fabulous condition - I would love to try to incorporate the birds into a large handbag... just need to think about it a bit more first.

Thankyou so much Stacey

More looters to be found at Tinniegirl

Moo Moo and the Manbag

Little Moo Moo has a bit of a fascination with handbags at the moment.

He keeps pinching his mummies handbag, putting it in his Big Red Car and driving (like Fred Flinstone) away with it.

So it was about time that I made him his very own Manbag.

As you can see, I just winged it, so the satchel flap is a bit too big but I'm sure a two year old won't notice. I used a piece of the lovely cowboy fabric that Stacey sent me to make the flap, and I added a magnetic snap to close it.

It even has an adjustable strap for when he grows a bit bigger...

I think he likes it!

I heart nice stuff

Kristy from Paisley Jade is giving away Buddy
Kirsty from Kootoyoo has a fab new game - Deal or no deal!
Kathryn from Our Shabby Cottage is celebrating her 100th...err 112th post
Stacey from Sheeps Clothing has a very interesting question to ask....

I spy....what I want for Christmas

Sadly This is...is no longer, BUT, Cindy has come to the rescue of all of us who can't think of anything to post on a Sunday, with a new meme.... I Spy.

This weeks I Spy is - I Spy what I want for Christmas

Other than health, happiness and world peace...what I really want is:

These beautiful hair elastics from Stacey at Sheeps Clothing. Anyone that knows me in real life also knows that my hair never grows long enough for pigtails.... but I don't care, I want them anyway!

I would also love this gorgeous pendant

and these tubeway armies would be perfect for next winter....

...and of course, I just can't go past these divine cupcake candles (and even in my absolute favourite flavour...or should that be scent - choc mint)

Note to friends and family: YES, I have intentionally included links to each sellers Made It Shop so that you have no problems in finding these and buying them for me!

Love Fridays & Blogtoberfest Finale

Well it's the end of the working week and the end of Blogtoberfest..........

I've finished Nico's brithday present. I made an appliqued t-shirt using the fabulous cowboy fabric from Stacey, and a pair of jeans (recycled from an old pair of Mr CP's jeans).


The cowboy t-shirt also matches the cords that I whipped up earlier in the week. Both the cords and the jeans were made using the pattern that I won from Silly Gilly. Can you tell that I love that pattern much?


I'm actually a bit sad that Blogtoberfest has to end....it's been so much fun! I've been introduced to so many new blogs (which hasn't helped my procrastination problems) but has definitely kept me entertained for hours on end. I could tell exactly how much time I'd been using and how many blogs I'd been reading when my internet virtually slowed to a halt with about 7 days until the end of month...aaaagggghhh! Surely 5 Gb per month is enough for a blogger? Anyhow, I'm hoping it will reset very early tomorrow morning.



Fantastic Blogtoberfest Fact:

There have been 49 giveaways listed on my sidebar. At least 4 giveaways were newly listed today so make sure you head on over and visit them all to enter.


Thankyou so much to Big Cat for hosting such a wonderful event....she's an ideas woman you know... you just wouldn't believe how many fantastic ideas she still has to come!
Thankyou to everyone who played along this month. Thankyou to everyone who hosted a giveaway. Thankyou to everyone who left a comment. I hope everyone had the chance to make some new bloggy friends.


.....and now on to a very good reason to Love Friday today.

On the 31st January 2009, I will be heading down to Lancefield for a lovely crafty day at Sewjourn. I've been hoping and wishing for this one all week long..... and I even checked the Sewjourn blog about 5 times today to see whether the winners had been drawn (am I pathetic?).

Lo and behold, I checked after dinner and found that I was one of the winners...yippee!

Sometimes, even though some really crappy things have happened lately, I really am the luckiest blog girl in the world.

Hope everyone has a lovely long (in Melbourne) weekend.....

Sharing the stash with Mike - a finale!

It's been so much fun this week to share my stash and to have a peek at lots and lots of other stashes....I've been green with envy checking out all the other blogs!

These two pieces were gifted to me from Stacey, just because she saw them in the fabric shop and she thought that I would love them (and she was absolutely correct). It's things like this that warm the cockles of my heart......simple generousity and thinking of others....it's a truly wonderful thing.

Thankyou to Pip for hosting such a magical week!

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

On My Desk today are a multitude of works in progress.....I constantly swap between projects before finishing them leading to lots of mess. I have bibs cut out ready to sew, a stack of fabric that needs to be put away, a beautiful package of ric rac and fabric that arrived in the mail yesterday from Stacey, a naked softie for the Toy Society (I have an idea in my head about making a dress for her), and the cowboy jeans that I whipped up for Moo Moo yesterday afternoon (waiting on a final fitment).

I loved the giant ric rac that I used on Staceys Apron, so Stacey very generously offered to pick some up for me next time that she was at her local fabric shop....

It arrived yesterday......and it's gorgeous.

Then as an extra suprise, she also include this fantastic cowboy fabric. I had to stop what I was doing and immediately start on the cowboy jeans. There was supposed to be an appliqued cowboy tee to go with it, but when I popped down to the Bonds outlet, they were closed for stocktake. I'll have to try again today.

Thankyou so much Stacey!

Stacey is having a birthday giveaway at the moment with a fantastic prize from her Etsy or Made It shops.....head on over and enter.

Washing Machine update - repair guy arrived at 3PM - good news, it can be fixed - bad news, cheaper to buy a new one. Moral of the story - no point buying an expensive brand like Maytag because they don't last any longer than the cheap brands.

Baa Baa Red Sheep

Look what arrived in yesterdays mail.....this package of loveliness from Stacey at Sheeps Clothing. A beautiful beanie with detachable flower brooch, scarflette, and yummy chocolate.

It's a perfect size for my weirdly small head. I would have included a photo of me actually wearing them, but it would have been mighty difficult to photoshop my head out in-between.....

The wool is sooooo warm and soft......

The scarflette is such a fantastic idea because it's small enough to wear on a chilly day and then take off and fit into your handbag. I'm going to wear it on my little outing later today.

Stacey makes lots of other beautiful woollen items that you should definitely check out....

Thankyou so much Stacey, I absolutely love it!

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

On my desk today (well actually, I cheated and took this photo lastnight, which was very smart of me apparently, because today I'm wandering around the house with my head in a bucket). I finished Staceys Apron and now it is all packed up and ready to be popped in the post.

I hope she likes it......and I hope it fits!

Back to the couch for miserable me.......

Love Fridays.....part 2

I'm back from Spotlight......

This time I decided to try a different approach. I didn't take a basket or a trolley at the entrance. I decided that I could only buy what I could juggle in one armload.


I found some cotton that co-ordinates perfectly with Stacey's fabric....

Now that I can use my overlocker, I can start collecting overlocker thread!

.....and I found these three fabrics. The blue floral is much prettier in real life....I found it in the remnants bin, 2 metres for $3. The middle one was on one of the special tables for $4 per metre. It's sort of a heavy weight cotton. The one on the right was $2 per metre from a different specials table.

So I managed to juggle 4 reels of cotton, 4 reels of overlocker thread, a folded up piece of fabric from the remnants bin, and 2 rolls of fabric in one armload....

Now I can spend my Friday night planning Stacey's apron...yippee!

I forgot to add.... Friday night is the best time to shop at my local Spotlight because there are hardly any customers and never any lines at the cutting desk.

Love Fridays

It's hard not to love Friday on a day like today....the sun is shining, I've been to Donut King for a cappucino and 2 cinnamon donuts....what more could a girl want?

These lovely fabrics arrived in my mailbox today from Stacey. I'm going to make a lovely (well hopefully it's going to be lovely) apron for her. But first, I might just treat myself to a trip to Spotlight just to make sure that I have the perfectly co-ordinating colour of thread (that's my excuse anyway)!

So tra-la-la off I go!

Make sure to head over to Big Cats Emporium to check out who else Loves Fridays....