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...