I've been too busy to blog!

And just what have I been busy doing?

Well, the obvious mad sewing of smocks and library bags... the Maker's Gallery Market was good, mainly for the promotion... and the Primary School has been steady.
Apart from orders, smocks and library bags are now all packed up to make way for the sewing of Christmas presents, which of course I am not going to blog about!

We (I mean boy 1) had the last kinder day yesterday, which was a dress up and party day. So I walked along the street to kinder with 2 reindeers! One on a bike!

We have started something new in our house for the holidays... I have written down ideas of things to do on small pieces of paper, and put them in a decorated box. That way, I can do something fun with the boys each day, but there are limits - I only wrote things down that Mum would be happy to do!
The first was a low energy one (thank goodness!) - choose 2 books each and Mum will read them to you. Wow! Not too hard.
The second lucky dip was quite different!
It was "bake Christmas biscuits", which therefore had a part 2 for the next day "decorate Christmas biscuits".
I made the mixture and got everything out ready, and then we started baking together (the word 'start' is somewhat variable because I had already been started for 1/2 hour! - a bit like - "we've finished" and then there's 1/2 hour of cleaning up too!). The kids each had their mixture to roll out with their rolling pins, and then we used Christmas cutters to cut out shapes.

The decorating this morning was quite hilarious - they both had a lot of fun... they each had a small tub of icing, some silver balls, some rainbow chocchips, some M&Ms, and we shared some small icing tubes. 2 year old decided to add his choc chips to the icing - interesting! 5 year old decided that eating M&Ms was preferable to using them to decorate, but all in all it was fun and enjoyable.
The hardest part was cleaning up - there was quite a mess - and of course they wanted to move on to the next thing... "milk please", "can we have morning tea mum?", "can I have some apple juice", "thomas please" etc. etc., while I thought it was important to clean up properly (we saw our first sign of ant invasion this morning)... multi-tasking to the max! PHEW!

Here they are all finished and waiting to be eaten!

Made by: back left - boy 1, front left and front right - boy 2, back right - mum!
Not a bad effort! And they taste good too!

Happy Christmas!

bianca has a give away!

bianca jae makes stuff is having a giveaway!

biancajaemakesstuff is the blog home of my friend Bianca... it's a great blog - very funny to read, and she has photos of her lovely sewing.

And now her blog is home to a giveaway... a winner will be randomly selected from those who post a comment on the giveaway post, to win one her beautiful texta rolls - you choose your fabric!

These texta rolls are just great for kids - in one neat package you have textas (or pencils) and a couple of notebooks. My kids absolutely love theirs, and they're a must for our car trips. Folded up they look like this...I got one of the very original few ever made - that's my claim to fame! And now Bianca is going public with her beautiful sewing.

She sells her texta rolls on made it website, and has done a roaring trade since launching her store. She uses good quality fabrics (denim for the outer, and designer fabrics for the feature), and the textas are FaberCastell triangular markers (textas which wash out of fabrics - yeah! - evidence that Bianca is a mum too!!). The pencils are also Faber Castell, and have two different colour ends (how fantastic!).
Here's my current favourite fabric...Check them out!

promo for Maker's Gallery Market

When I saw that my aprons made it onto the flyers for the Maker's Gallery market, I was excited... (second picture from left) but now I see that my cards made it onto the POSTERS for the market!!! (second bottom picture)
And not only that, but in the description of items for sales is the following - "... children's smocks and aprons, baby blankets, Christmas dog collars..." now, who do you know who would sell dog collars????? - ah yes, the old "Woof 'n' Wag is being resurrected for the Maker's Gallery market!

Now I wonder how many places I can find to put my posters??
I said "I might need to make more red cards", to which my husband answered, "now don't go into a card making frenzy next!!!!" (I think he might be referring to the amazing number of smocks and library bags that have been churning out of the sewing room!!).

to market, to market

the smocks are ready!
and here's the evidence...

This is what is going to Horsham West uniform shop tomorrow.
They're not even out the door, and already a discerning customer checks out the range! Little does he know that a gorgeous size 2 animal smock has already been tucked away for Christmas!

Library bag sewing continues - trying to get a good selection of boys and girls fabrics. All cut, just some sewing to do before tomorrow afternoon.

just for a change... gardening

The daisies have gone from...to this...A little heavy handed perhaps, but I'm sure they'll come back just fine!

The roses are not as colourful as they were a week ago,but also not as covered in dead flowers as they were a day ago...
Unfortunately we have lots of roses - still have the back and side yard ones to go! (see!)
I found an interesting spider when I was taking these photos - he's a bit weird looking - a yellowish body, red legs and hmmm... not that friendly-looking quite frankly!


Now for one last photo...
This is our Jacaranda, which we have protected so carefully from the frost through two winters (much to the amusement of our neighbours who thought it was very funny to see us throwing a cover over a "stick" with stakes around it!). Well guess what? If you look really closely at the photo - at the top you will see some flowers - YEAH! Hubby very impressed, and very proud!

library bags are multiplying!

UPDATED SLIDESHOW!!
See all my current sewing photos at the bottom of the blog.

also finishing aprons and packaging them...

when I update the slideshow, there will be a link to the old ones under 'photo albums' directly below the current slideshow.

happy handbag birthday Kim!

I made this handbag after seeing my friend Lyn's, which was made for her by a friend! It's a great size, and I've made a couple... this one was the first and still my favourite. The pattern is called "Naomi's Little Bag" by Rosalie Quinlan.


My sister-in-law Kim started sewing soon after Christmas last year... so of course I had to give her a sewing-related birthday present! I decided to make her up her own bag kit, with fabrics that I chose for her, and everything she would need included....
Here it is...
Happy Birthday Kim - happy sewing!

library bags and more

in the last 24 hours I have created...

These library bags will be part of the range available at Horsham West Primary School uniform shop! The multitude of smocks will join them!

This blanket is all packaged up and coming to Adelaide with me, ordered by my friend Monique. This blanket will be a special memento for the family of baby Alecs - he was born very young, and died on Wednesday. I hope that this blanket will be special to his family, and be a comfort to them.

happy birthday jacquie! and friendship quilt

Happy 40th Jacquie!


Jacquie is a great person - full of life, humour, warmth and honesty. I love her style, her wit and her grace...
Jacquie inspired me to sell on madeit, and has helped me all the way.
I always go to Jacquie's back door when I visit her, and the photo above is the block she stitched for my friendship quilt. How appropriate!
Happy 40th Jacquie!

THE COMPLETED FRIENDSHIP QUILTS...
my quilt:
Method: Everyone chose a block to stitch (8 times!). We gave the other 7 participants a piece of our chosen fabric and length of embroidery cotton. So I had 7 people's fabric and DMC, plus mine. I stitched my saying onto each square. We then completed the rest of the quilt ourselves. They are all so different!





other friendship quilts from the group... Jacquie's, Michelle's and Judy's.
Aren't they just great?

It's my dream to display them somewhere together!

I still need a photo of Margaret's to show.

Bianca's, Tash's and Louise's are still a work in progress...

Oh yes, just one more thing I need:
EVERYONE TO SIGN MY LABEL!
(I did a label where everyone could write a little message to me, and no-one will write on it!... I think because it's permanent... how is stitching less daunting than writing? I'll keep trying!)

current sewing

smocks galore...
a library bag...
some notebook covers...

To see photos of what I've been sewing for the last few weeks, there is a slide show at the bottom of this blog page - scroll right down, and the photos will automatically move through the slide show!

my first quilt - baby floor rug

This quilt has been used and used, and washed and washed!

in 2004 it was a new rug used by Boy 1...

in 2007 it was a well-loved rug, but new to Boy 2
(yes they are different babies - just look VERY similar!)


and in 2009, the rug is not at all new, and has temporary residence in Melbourne...
not used by my 'babies' anymore...


... but waits for Bailey to come for a play at Nan and Pa's... photo to come!

I have made lots of these floor rugs for friends babies... I'll dedicate an entire post to them soon, but here's a sneak preview of Bailey's...

our friendship is like a cup of tea...

Happy 30th Birthday Bianca!

I made this quilt / wall hanging for Bianca's birthday, and was so excited to be able to give it to her in person. The words read:

"Our friendship is like a cup of tea - a special blend of you and me!"

I planned it for ages, but of course finished it at the last minute!
The materials include the 'left-overs' from a blanket that I made for her 4th baby when she was born!

I love the concept of a friendship being a blend of two people - the time, gifts and skills that they share with each other. It accurately depicts the friendships I have with my closest friends.

Bianca - you are a very special friend. I hope you have a really wonderful "me: day... and... good luck with that!

You can visit Bianca here. This blog is often good for a chuckle and some great inspiration.

my first real quilt

I visited the Horsham Quilt Show soon after we moved here in Feb 2004. I was in the late stages of pregnancy, and feeling very bored and tired! I saw this quilt on display, and thought it would be a great quilt for me to make for my baby - and could be made for a girl or a boy! So I tracked down the pattern - it's called 'abc for Wylie' by Kaye Hoffman (a Horsham local!), and I spent lots of time tracing and cutting out all the applique bits while I waited and waited for my baby to decide to come (13 days over!).


I did lots of handsewing while my baby was young... blanket stitching around each letter and picture part with matching DMC thread. I then machine pieced it, and ditch-stitched it by machine (my first experience of the hair-like monofilament thread!). I quilted around each of the letters and pictures by hand in a navy quilting thread (ah those fiddly little 'betweens' needles which I have never used since!).

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process, and it cemented my love of sewing and quilting. It was a great way to pass the time... and along the way I met some great friends when I joined a sewing group... and that group continues still, more than 5 years on!

I was very proud of this achievement in my first year as a Mum, and I finished this quilt in time for Boy 1's first birthday - April 20, 2005.