Not everything goes as planned

I had grand plans this week. Lots of blog posts in my head. Unfortunately exactly zero of those posts came to fruition!

Life got overtaken by hospital visits once again. My three month routine bronch went a little awry and I ended up staying in hospital rather than coming straight home.

Now I'm back at home recovering, with all weekend plans cancelled (including bike riding), and trying to catch up.

What I really wanted to do this week was to finally show the finished quilt that B-Fab and I made for Cathie's upcoming arrival.

All those vintage sheet squares were so soft and snuggly. I hope the new bubba loves it!

This photo is just to show my new appreciation of hand stitched binding. I was ooohinh and aaahing at it once I'd finished.

I have another girlfriend who just had a new bubba so I might even try my hand at making a baby quilt all by myself....  but I have a couple of other projects that I need to finish first, so I really should get off the computer and get cracking!

Then this one time... at craft camp

I was so completely chuffed when Nic from Yardage Design won the weekend getaway to The Retreat Woodend (she's a really good egg you know).

I was even more chuffed that even though I couldn't stay for the weekend, I was able to head down for a fun day out with some lovely crafty chicks (and Pam)!.

There were lots of different crafts happening, but I chose block printing.

Nic bought along all of the supplies that we needed, and showed us all the tips and tricks, before letting us loose with lino cutters and that stuff that's softer than lino but I can't remember the name of (sorry you can blame the lack of oxygen to the brain for my terrible memory).

Oh and just by the way.... I have NO idea what Nic was making. What was it again?

Put a group of crafty bloggers in a room together and it's always a crack up. There was much discussion about hair accessories and bacon. Not necessarily together. There was boasting and laughter about my Kirk Pengilly fangirl moment.

Afternoon tea. O.M.G. there are no words... Cathie made my two favourite things - her Banana Bread and Lemon Tart.

My moustaches. At one point I thought they looked more like seagulls, but I think I like them en masse like that.

Oh, and this is my finished floral panel.

Now I just need to heat set them with the ironing press and decide what to make.
This was heaps of fun and I'll definitely try it again.

Thanks so much for all the fun and laughter girls!

Bag Ladies... and Ladies Who Lunch

No Filter - No Photoshop - Just an iPhone Snap

I had a lovely lunch date today with Nic, Cathie and Vic, and I just had to share these snaps. 

No Filter - No Photoshop - Just an iPhone Snap

OK it may have been absolutely freezing as there was an icy cold wind blowing a gale, but the clouds and the view were just stunning.

Nic made us these absolutely gorgeous personalised Yardage Design Market Bags.

So of course, we had to take on the obligatory Instagram 'pose de jour'

I think that if there's enough pester power, Nic might add personalised hand printed bags to her repertoire.... what do you think?

I have more pressies to show, but I just haven't had a chance to take pics yet!

Toytown Tales

I finally made it into the city yesterday to see the Toytown Tales Exhibition at Outre with Jess and Cathie.

There are lots of gorgeous close-up photos over at Teddy Bears Wednesday, but it's not until you see them in real life, that you have the chance to check out the amazing attention to detail in each creation.

Crappy iPhone photo - sorry!

I have the attention span and patience of a gnat when it comes to most types of crafting, so I really appreciate the hours Jess has taken to achieve this level of detail. Especially with the hair of each of the jointed bears.

Unfortunately the parking restrictions in the city made it impossible for me to hang around for too long. When I arrived back at my car, the car in front and the car behind me both had parking tickets.... but I didn't - hallelujah... and thankyou good karma fairies!

Forty

I forgot the camera so I only have an iPhone snap

It was my sister's birthday yesterday, and a very special one at that!

I don't bake these days, but lucky for me, I know someone who is an exceptionally talented baker and cake maker....

I asked Cathie to make a chocolate mud cake with chocolate ganache, and OMG it was absolutely delicious.

The boys loved the decorative stars, and even sang a special rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' before we all joined in to sing Happy Birthday.

She received a new Kindle for Christmas so I made a Kindle Sleeve to protect it while it's in her handbag.

Happy Birthday Rach!

Advent Blog-A-Long Day 2 - Cushion City and a Market

I'm having computer issues at Chez CurlyPops.... my PC was on the way out, so I bought a new one, only for my 9 month old HP screen to die......so I'm blogging from my teeny tiny mini laptop instead.

I headed off on a Melbourne road trip yesterday so visit some lovely stockists.

First stop was Open Drawer in Camberwell (Hartwell Shops)

You can now find Go Granny Cushions, Fabric Packs, and Cards along with my usual range of goodies.

Next stop was Gleaners Inc. where I dropped off some lovely new cushions and some super-cute zip pouches.

I'm still on the lookout for an Egypt teatowel if anyone has one lying around that they no longer want/need!

Tonight I'm off to the Made'n'Thornbury Twilight Market.

Cathy from Tinniegirl and Cathie from Melbourne Epicure are both having stalls so it will be lovely to catch up!

Featured Hottie Number 41

Todays lovely featured hottie is by Cathie from Melbourne Epicure.

I adore kids drawings (as evidenced by the amount of drawings plastered all over my fridge and attached to the curtain in my craft space).

This sweet embroidered version of one of Amelie's drawings is just divine.

Thankyou so much Cathie (and the original artiste too)!

The homepage of The Hottie Challenge - lots more in the Hottie Flickr Group and the Hottie Exhibition Group

Belting - Part Two

Belting - Part One
Belting - Part Three

I'll stop confusing everyone now. This is the finale of the Belt posts for a little while!

I seem to be getting more forgetful by the day.... so I completely forgot to take photos of the pirate belt before I gave it to Cathie.

But the best news is that Cathie is a super talented photographer, and she makes my crafty goodies look ever so much better!

PS - Thanks so much to everyone who shared the post about Nikki's Stolen Handbag via Blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc. With any luck, the person responsible might feel regretful and decide to post it back to Nikki.
The address details are here on Nikki's website.

The response has been absolutely tremendous. I'm sure that everyone in the craft community will be keeping an eye out for it from now on!

Belting - Part Three

Belting - Part One

There would have been a Belting - Part Two... except that I forgot to take a photo of it before I gave it away. It was a supercute Pirate print with little fishies on the reverse side .

Belting - Part Three - a request for a little green car belt for Aidan (but I couldn't resist making one for Amelie too - whoops!).

Owl fabric from here...

PS - If you'd like to win a sweet Easter Bunny, pop on over and check out this charity giveaway at Voodoo Rabbit.

My Creative Space

Moby received a new family portrait from his long lost relatives in the mail last week...

He has a new crafty photo frame, and plans on getting creative with it to add his own particular artistic flair

But first he need a little biccie treat for sustenance

The home of my creative space

The Apple Tree

A couple of weeks ago, I visited a giant apple tree...

.... and this week I swapped a basket full of empty jars, for a basket full of fresh home grown apples from that same lovely tree.

Cathie told me about her Apple and Berry Crumble recipe, and so I trundled off to the supermarket in search of the missing ingredients that weren't already in my pantry.

I searched and searched and searched for rolled oats in the baking aisle..... only to realise they were with the breakfast cereals (can you tell that I've never actually bought a packet of rolled oats in my life before)?

I retrieved my kitchen scales from the parcel packing bench (sadly, they're never used for cooking anymore, only weighing parcels) and measured out all that delicious brown sugar.

Tada! It's a pity that you can't insert an aroma into a blog post, because it smelled amazing when it came out of the oven. 

This was my afternoon tea yesterday.... and my breakfast thismorning.

Deeeeeeelicious!

A Big Weekend

I packed little Moo Moo into the car thismorning and we headed off to celebrate Amelie's birthday.

I only had my mobile phone to take this photo but, check out that amazing cake! It was the most beautiful teapot, covered in flowers... and inside was layers of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. Moo didn't finish his piece, but it was so yummy that I may have had to finish his piece as well (luckily I was wearing a loose waisted pair of jeans).

Lets just say that after all of the delicious food, I nearly needed to roll out out the door.

Then we headed off to the wee girls house to meet her new kitty cat Cranberry Marmalade. Moo picked an afternoon snack from the apple tree, while I enjoyed a lovely cup of tea.

The perfect finish to such a lovely weekend!

Ruffled

The next couple of weeks are crazy busy with events, appointments, work, and social invitations, so I'm trying to get a head start on the crafty front.

A sweet little girl is having a birthday very soon, so I had an idea in my head to make a crazy ruffle skirt.
I don't get the opportunity to make girly things very often, so I have to make the most of every girly opportunity that arises!

Amelie is not a fan of pink (which meant that fifty percent of my stash was banished), so I decided on green, red and yellow... although there is a hint of pink in the stripes on the binding.

Hope she likes it!

Mmmmm cake....

I had a lovely visit from Cathie and her two sweet little munchkins yesterday. They brought along a beautiful new sketchbook for me (perfect timing as my current one is almost finished), and these delicious cupcakes, and some very yummy banana bread.

Photo courtesy Melbourne Epicure

This is the second time that I've had this banana bread, and it's truly the most delicious one I have ever tasted. Cathie has shared the recipe on her blog.

Another sweet little munchkin has been hard at work making me pressies to take home. Nikki's wee girl is starting school very soon, which means that I won't see her as often..... I'm going to miss her, but she has invited me over to her house for a playdate!

And on with the show!

The day has finally arrived - Home is Where the Craft Is officially opens tonight.

My group of pieces form The Container Garden.

My original containment idea sort of metamorphosed when my containers suddenly started filling with flowers.

It's the ultimate no maintenance water free garden.

I hope that you can come along for a look over the next couple of weeks if you happen to be in Melbourne.

I'll be sharing more of my exhibition pieces during the week.

A big thankyou for the beautiful photos must go to the very talented Cathie, who came to help me set up earlier in the week.

When life gives you lemons...

Please excuse the poor quality of my mobile phone photos

 Wonderful friends come to visit bearing yummy peanut butter cupcakes...

.... and the on-site oppy provides some vintage gems...

Now I just need to work on breaking out of here!