Chance Meeting.....

I got the chance to meet up with the sweetest blogger over the weekend who just happened to be passing through my town, Janice....

She even bought me a pressy, can you believe it???? Some gorgeous thrifted corduroy that I'm dying to turn into matching skirts for my girls.... If you can see it past my pesky ginger cat that you're doing well... I love cats and with another kitten arriving in the wee hours of the morning over the weekend I now bring my running total to 6... I know, I know, I really am becoming a bit of a cat lady these days... LOL!!!

Anyway, back to Janice... It was so great to put a face to the name!!! Janice has joined in on every one of my washcloth swaps so I've gotten to know her fairly well via email.... We have great plans of meeting up again soon in her home town of Bathurst and I just can't wait, especially after she told me that she loves to 'collect'... Boy are we going to get along well as I'm a bit of a hoarder as well, oops I mean 'collector' (hehehehehe).................. :)

Here's hoping you're having a great week thus far...

Hugs................. Jodie..............

IN LOVE!!!!!

A belated Xmas pressy came from my sister at the end of last month... You can just imagine how excited I was when I opened it and found a subscription to this mag.....

The first thing I made was this cute pair of overalls for Little Millie...
I love everything about this pattern, right down to the little pin tucks at the front.
I've also made some super cute 3/4 tights using stretch, a big first for me (using stretch that is)and I LOVED IT!!!!
These were SO EASY!!! I can see me making loads and loads of these for the girls out of the big haul of stretch I scored from here last weekend for $1 a metre...
Yes that's right $1, some were reduced down from as much as $16.95 a metre, can you believe it, well I couldn't... That's why I bought 45 metre's of it... LOL!!! A bit obsessive I know but just think of the saving.... ^_^

Recipe Swap...

Last month Randi over at I have to say came up with a great idea to do an online recipe swap... She's given this month a theme - Money Saving Recipes....

I love this theme!!! I'm always creating meals out of nothing, trying to stretch the budget as far as I can without feeding the family on bread and water... LOL!!!

If you'd like to participate, post your recipe on your blog, and then leave your name and post URL (this is located in the address bar at the top of your computer screen) in the auto-link on Randi's blog.

Here's my money saving recipe....

Salmon Mornay Pasta Bake...

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons of Butter
1-2 Tablespoons of Plain Flour
1 Onion Chopped
1 200g Tin of Pink Salmon (you could also use tuna)
1/4 Cup of Cream
1-2 Tomatoes Chopped
1/4 Cup Freshly Chopped Parsley
1 Cup of Fresh Bread Crumbs
1 Cup of Grated Cheese (I use a combination of cheddar and Parmesan but you could use any cheese you like)
1/4 Cup of Grated Cheese (Extra)
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to Season
250g of pasta (I used spiral)

Melt butter over medium heat. Stir in chopped onions and saute. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add cream making sure to stir well so that lumps don't form and cook for 1 minute. This is the base of your mornay sauce.

Add the tinned salmon to mornay mixture, juice and all. Add chopped tomatoes, parsley, cheese's, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir well to break up the salmon chunks. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Cook pasta in salted water until just cooked. Drain pasta once cooked saving 1/2 a cup of the water. Return pasta to the pot you cooked it in, add the salmon mornay you prepared earlier and mix together well.

Poor the pasta/mornay mixture into a baking dish. Top with combined bread crumbs and extra grated cheese. Bake in a hot oven until top is golden and crispy. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread.... YUMMY!!!

I popped by the local op-shop on Wednesday afternoon and picked up this gorgeous fabric...

There's just under 3 metres of it and you won't believe how much I scored it for..... $0.50 cents, yes that's right, 50 cents for the whole lot... Talk about a BARGAIN!!!!

I must admit I'm a bit hooked on dish/wash cloths at the moment. With my little sisters b'day coming up I wanted to create her something that she'd absolutely love. It had to be original, she's not a production line kinda girl, so I put my thinking cap on and thought that a couple of funky wash cloths teamed up with some delicious handmade soup would be right up her alley.

I'm one wash cloth down and have casted on the second... I know that she reads this blog often so you'll all have to wait for a couple of week before the big reveal... Sit tight, I promise it'll be worth it... :)

Lovely Surprise....

Look at what came in the post for me today.....They're coasters from the swap that I joined on Amy's blog a while back... Aren't they GORGEOUS!!! They came tied up with a little bright orange polka dot ribbon to match the orange polka dot fabric that's on the reverse side of each coaster. Thank you so much Shannon, I just love them so much!!!! You can check out some more pic's of them here.

I also had this lovely fabric arrive by surprise with my mail today all the way from Hancock's of Paducah....It's to replace some fabric that I ordered a while back that never arrived... I just assumed that they had forgotten all about it.... What a bonus that they hadn't!!

I whipped up another one of these bib/aprons for my little princess using some Dick and Jane fabric that I bought from here. I couldn't resist buying the fabric when I saw that it was only $4.98 a yard, what a BARGIN!!!!

Jodie from Ric-Rac has posted another fantastic tutorial on her blog. If you haven't seen it yet I recommend that you pop over and check it out. It's for a super quick and easy tote. Here's my attempt at it.....I lined the outside of my bag with PVC.... Where I live you can't even turn around without getting covered in red dirt so I thought that the PVC might save me from having to wash my new little tote quite so often. I put some little felt yo-yo's on either side as I didn't have buttons quite big enough to make the right kind of statement...I got a chance to go to a clearing sale over the weekend. I bought some great old wooden screen doors that I'm going to sand back and lacquer. They will look just perfect on the NEW house that DH and I have bought......

Yes that's right..... DH and I have just purchased 'Darling Downs' station. A 33,000 acre sheep station in Central West NSW. There's a lovely old homestead on the property that I'm dying to renovate. I'm so very excited about the whole thing and promise to tell you all more about it very, very soon..... Until then, Happy Crafting ;)....

A Bit of Everything......

Look at what lovelies arrived in the post for me today.....
4 metres of lovely fabric and 6 metres of even lovelier ribbons from the Reprodepot Sale bin. I think that they'd all look great sewn up into reversible apron dresses like this one on my little princess..... I made it up on Sunday night while I was down at Cootamundra visiting my Mum for her B'Day. It was super easy and to start with we were following a pattern but then decided to change a few things about it and designed our own pattern. I think I might have to add this one to my list of 'to do tutorials' (along with the coasters) what do you think???

My basil is growing out of control at the moment, which I'm not complaining about, so I've been looking for some yummy recipes to make with it. Helen came up with a brilliant idea here and she also makes this great "poor woman's pesto" which sounds super delicious. You just blend kalamata olives, lots of basil, toasted sunflower seeds and olive oil together into a paste and stir it trough pasta or use it as a spread on sandwiches. YUMMO!!!! I have 3 huge bushes like the one below that need some serious de-leafing soon..... If anybody has a recipe idea I'd love to try it out. Have you ever grown little yellow cherry tomatoes like these before??I started growing them in my garden this year for the first time and they're absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can't remember the name of them and would love it if someone could help me out. My current plant is yielding about a dozen little treasures a day which is just perfect!! Not too many, just enough for a salad or to roast up and stir through a pasta sauce.

On the doll quilt front, I finished, yippee!!!! I was just about to post it off when I thought I'd go check out my swap partners blog just one more time..... WELL!!!! It turns out that I've been checking out the wrong persons blog, BUGGER!!! It also turns out that my real swap partner REALLY doesn't like the country/shabby chic style of quilting which I've used here, she's more into a contemporary/traditional styled quilt.... Oh No!!!!!

So I set to creating a new doll quilt for the swap. Thanks to Amandajean and her fantastic quilt-a-long I decided to fashion this block into a traditional doll quilt with a contemporary feel..... This is what I came up with.....
What do you think???? Hopefully it's loved by my swap partner.......

I've been seeing this gorgeous Japanese website around blog land lately and just had to share it with everyone. All Buttoned Up made some of the paper craft for her son over the weekend and it looks like he had a great time playing with it all, she's posted a pic on her blog. I'd love to make some for myself, they're just SO cute. I think that my little princess is a bit small for them at the moment but I'll make them up anyway.

Patricia over at A Little Hut is also loving paper crafts at the moment and has came up with a creative idea to turn old egg cartons into a cute gift for Valentine's Day. I'm going to give it a go with my little princess, I'm sure that she'd get a hoot out of painting the egg carton for me..... What crafting ideas have you got on the go for Valentine's Day???? I'd love to hear all about them....

I've crammed a bit of everything into this post today, hope it hasn't blurred your vision..... LOL!!!

YIPPEE!!!!! It's Finally Here......

Yes that's right, the Japanese fabric that I ordered last week arrived yesterday afternoon. Why is it that whenever you're waiting for something to come it always feels like an eternity before it actually gets to you?????

The following 4 fabrics are still $10 per metre and man-o-man they look and feel absolutely amazing in the flesh!!!!!

Now the next 4 are $12 a metre and are as equally divine.....The only fabric that I'm waiting on is Humpty Dumpty. My supplier accidentally mixed up Little Bow Peep with Humpty Dumpty and sent me out the wrong fabric, oh well I'm sure that I'll be able to find something to make with this gorgeous fabric, right????

Like I said in my previous post about this fabric, they're all 100% cotton Japanese prints measuring 115cm wide. If I haven't already been in contact with you via email and you'd be interested in buying some of this gorgeous fabric just leave me a comment or send me an email. I still have a couple of metres of all of the above fabrics left if anybody is interested in increasing their stash over the Xmas break!!!

Speaking of Xmas...... I joined an Ornament Swap this year. I've received 2 ornaments so far (I'll post some pic's later on in the week) and now my ornaments are finally ready to be posted, only 1 day late mind you!! 8 wonderful ladies out there have one of these ornaments heading their way to adorn their beautiful Xmas tree.

The initial of each lady is sewn onto the front of each ornament. I really hope that they all love them!!!

I made this little wrist pin cushion for one of my sisters for Xmas. She's wanting to learn how to sew so I'm trying to put together a little beginners sewing kit for her. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I should put in her little kit???? I found the tutorial on SewMamaSew, it's by Planet June. It was super easy to make I might have to make myself one.

Last but not least..... I made this little outfit for my little princess this morning before work, well I didn't make the shirt I just embellished it but I made the shorts.

Now all of you mothers out there of toddler aged children..... How the HELL do you take a pic of them standing still????? My little princess just wanted to go around and around and around in circles. It was as though she was doing it on purpose!!! So These 2 pics are the best that I could do in a bad situation.... LOL... Oh how I love my little darlin'...Take Care Everybody and Happy Crafting!!!!! ;)

FABRIC FOR SALE!!!!!!!!

I have some great news on the fabric front!!!!! I've stumbled across a supplier who can get me some fantastic Japanese prints direct from Japan. If anybody would be interested in buying some off me at cost leave me a comment or send me an email. Just state which fabrics out of the ones pictured below you'd be interested in and how much of each you'd be wanting. I have to buy them in rolls of 9-12 metres so hopefully at least 1/2 a dozen people out there would be interested in at least a metre of something each. I don't mind if I end up with half of the roll I'm sure that I could and will put it to some good use.

The first 2 pics have 2 different fabric in each of them, one with dragonfly's and the other with flowers. These 4 fabrics are 100% cotton and only cost $10.00 a metre. They measure 115cm wide.
The next 4 fabrics are a little bit dearer at $12 a metre. They are also 100% cotton and measure 115cm wide.

Sorry about the next 3 pictures, they aren't very clear, (edit... I've up loaded clearer pictures now!!!) hopefully you get the idea. The 2 directly below are little bow peep and nursery rhymes (like humpty dumpty etc).... This one is a little boy playing with his dog with houses and trees in the back ground.

If the pics above aren't clear enough for your liking, let me know and I'll try and get some better one's to post. edit..... I've uploaded clearer pictures now!!!!

Also.... my supplier emailed me through these fabrics this morning.....

The one above is russian dolls on black orburgandy and the one below is little bears on black or pink.....

They are both $12 per metre, 100% cotton and measure 115cm wide.

I hope you are all as impressed at these fabric and their prices as I was, like I said before I'm selling these at cost and am not out to make any profit what so ever.

As for freight, I think that I could probably fit 1 maybe 2 metres into an A4 envelope for $1. I'll inform you all of definite freight prices later on.

Take Care & Happy Crafting...... ;)

Loads of Goodies.....

I have heaps and heaps of pictures to show everyone so I won't bore you with too many words this post..... I promise!!! First up are some pics of the goodies that I picked up at the Vinnie's I visited in Cootamundra last Friday while I was at Mums. The embroidered stuff in the top pic cost 10cents each and the zippers and buttons cost $1.50. I just love Vinnie's, such great bargains to be found every time. Here's some of the fabric that I scored at Spotlight in Wagga Wagga.....It's not a very good pic, I know.... Spotlight is getting in some really fantastic Japanese prints at the moment which makes it such a pleasure to shop there even though it's a pig sty at the best of times. This is a pic of the crochet monkey that I'm making for one of my nephews for Xmas.....I only have 1 leg, 2 shoes, a mouth, an applique on his shirt and a seam in his shorts and his all done. I've got 5 nephews and have decided to make them all a toy similar to this one, each individual in some way or another to suit each of the boys personalities, with an applique of their initial on the them. I'll team it up with a cute little homemade bag filled with books. I think that they'll be pretty happy little boys, don't you?? They are all under 3 so teddies are still such a big part of their lives...LOL!!!!

My next project is some fabric softies..... I'll be trying to make the pattern up so wish me luck!!! I'll keep you posted on my progress. :)

And the WINNERS are.....

After thinking really hard about all of the lovely comments that everybody left me I've finally decided on the 3 winners. We have......

JODIE from Ric-Rac,

JADE from My art is my outlet, &

BIANCA from Hollabee

Thankyou all so very much for your wonderful advice!!!!!

Good karma has definately come my way after my blog giveaway.... I recieved this gorgeous bundle of fabric for the very generous Corrie over at Retromummy. Isn't she just a doll??? I love it all, especially the sweet strawberry one!!

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! Christmas is literally just around the corner and I really do need to get my AR#@ into gear. I've joined the 'Pledge to buy Handmade' this year which I'm really excited about. I read all about it on this post at Ric-Rac. Thanks Jodie!!! Just like Jodie, I will include a note in each present explaining why I've opted for handmade this year and as much info about the crafter/artist as possible.

I bought a beautiful shirt on Tuesday with some of the money I made at the markets. It's such a simple design I decided to have a go at reproducing it myself. I've got it all cut out and ready to sew up so hopefully in the next couple of days I'll have some pics to share with everyone. It hasn't even used 1/2 a metre of fabric, that means if the top turns out it will only cost me a 10th of what it did to buy the original, now that's pretty good!! Wish me luck......

I finally got around to putting the press studs on those overalls I made back in this post. This picture really doesn't give them much justice but what the heck.... What do you think?They'll be a great gift for my little princess come Xmas time. I'd give them to her now, I love them that much, only they're a bit too big. They should definitely fit her in a couple of months. Team them up with a little white peter pan collared blouse with short puffy sleeves and some Mary-Jane's and hey presto.... a gorgeous little outfit. I guess that means I have 3 months to make her a blouse.

It's my nephews b'day next weekend so I decided to make him a little doll quilt to go with his present to add that homemade touch. I've already sewn half of the front of his little quilt but seen as though it's supposed to be a surprise and I know his mother is an avid reader of my blog I'm unable to show you my progress. I can however give you all a sneak peak at some of the fabrics that I've used......

You're probably thinking - 'OMG what is this crazy lady thinking with that horrible selection of colours', but let me tell you now..... This quilt is definitely original and it's sure to make my little handsome nephew smile when he sees it. It's a real eye catcher.

My beautiful sister's wedding over the weekend was AMAZING!!!! And as we speak she's in a plane flying to London for her honeymoon. It feels like only yesterday that I was doing the exact same thing, jet setting around the globe on my honeymoon, 2 years ago as of the 3rd of this month to be precise. Boy how time just fly's by.

Home Sweet Home

I'm home at last, thank goodness. I must admit, I do love to get away for a little break every now and then but there really is no place like home. I just love my everyday routine and the way that my bed feels at night when my head hits the pillow. Everything is just perfect in my little home and I guess that trips away really make me realise that.

I'm so sorry about not being able to post on my blog while I was away like I promised. My laptop battery decided that it no longer wanted to work and that was that... So unfortunately last week there was no Flashback Friday pic, sorry.

While I was away I got a chance to do a LOT of shopping. I bought heaps of things for my little princess for her 1st birthday on the 3rd of September and I even got a chance to pop into a Spotlight store and pick up some fabric on special. Here's a pic of the fabric that I bought....You can't really see it all that well but they are all just divine!!! The one on the end at the right has little apples on it, too cute, it will be perfect for a summer dress for my little princess.

I received a parcel of fabric from America last week that I've been itching to show everyone. I picked it up on my way out of town on Wednesday afternoon and have had no blog since then to post any pictures. Well here it is...I got a couple of metres of each which I think will be ample. I've a use for the purple fabric, it will back a cot quilt, but not for the other two. I just saw them and thought 'oh what the heck'.

The online store that I bought them all from was Reprodepot and let me tell you now..... You really must go over there and have a look, it's just GREAT!!!! Her fabric is so cheap and the freight to Australia is really quick, it only took four days.

I can't emphasise enough just how happy I am with my very first overseas fabric order. I also ordered some fabric from another store in America at the same time but am yet to receive it. Hopefully it'll come some time this week and when it does I'll give you all a looksee and post the link to the site.

Latest Accomplishments....

O.K. as promised I've posted heaps and heaps of pictures of some my completed projects and some of my works in progress....

First up I have a knitted duck and lemon beanie. The duck is a pressy for a girl friend who has just had a baby, it has a rattle inside and the ribbon is sewn down so hopefully it will be baby proof. The lemon beanie is also for her....

I've also made her some little crochet booties and a matching bib. As you can tell I bought a lot of the yellow wool. It's just so super soft, perfect for the little ones.

Next pics are of 2 quilts that I'm in the middle of. They're made out of a heap of the scraps that I had in my stash. The first one only has to be quilted and then binded. As you can see from the second pic, I recycled some old bread bags for the back of this quilt. I've come to a screaming hault with the 2nd quilt (the photo is of the back side of the quilt). I'm unsure as to what I'm going to back it with... I'm thinking maybe recycled bread bags like the first one to keep with the scrappy/recycled theme. What do you all think?

Here's a sneak peak of some fabric that I purchased from the local fabric shop last week. I'm going to make a nine patch single bed quilt with it for my little princess for Xmas. I just love the purple fabric with the turtles on it.... Too Cute!!!!

I'm really loving this gorgeous purple pj fabric. I purchases this adorable little pj pattern a couple of days ago and I've decided to make a pair of pj's for one of my girl friends daughter for her first b'day. It's a month away so I have plenty of time.

I picked the next pattern up about 7 months ago from my local fabric shop with the intention of making oodles and oodles of these cute overalls and so far I've only managed to make 2 pairs, both out of polar fleece. The next pair that I'm going to make will be made out of this rich chocolate corduroy, the perfect colour for little babies that are crawling around and getting dirty.
Well I'm really going to be busy for the next couple of weeks now aren't I??? I can't wait to get started!!!!

I know, I know, I know.... It makes me look young, doesn't it? The hairdresser told me that fringes are making a come back. I still think that I look pretty funny!!! Like I said before.... It WILL grow on me.