hello kitty

On a recent trip to Winterwood for some beautiful wool felt I stumbled across this gorgeous kitty pattern by Kristen Doran, well you know  cats have a mind of their own and you can’t tell them anything, so next thing I know he has jumped into my bag and come home with me.



I used an old pair of holey jeans, some Lara Cameron Houses and Bicycles fabric and a little wool felt for the tummy and voila, kitty….I think there may be a whole litter of kitties by the end of the weekend!

Keep Smiling (c:

Guess who just came to dinner!

TJ and her precious family came over for a BBQ tea tonight – and I did give her that big squeezy hug! They have been enjoying the lovely Perth Autumn weather, quite a change from the freezing winter they have just experienced in the UK. They have been busily sorting, packing and selling their things to head back to England for another few years (sniff, sniff). I HOPE to be able to visit them whilst they’re living there. TJ showed me her completed Big Owl cushion (with a little help for Cath), the pattern is by Hot Possum.

I did quite well at the markets yesterday, I tried a few new designs that proved to be popular. Remember when I fell in love with Paullina Simons' Valentino Rosier Taffeta Tote?

Well we got these great taffeta cushions at work recently and I refashioned one to make my own taffeta rose bag – it was the first bag to sell!

I was also inspired by the Melly & Me ‘Sherbet’ bag I made in Melbourne & came up with this.

The fabric is ‘Jitterbug’ by Cosmo Cricket

Time for bed, I have work tomorrow. I wonder if I’ll come home without buying any fabric :)

With Love

To Market, to market

The Inglewood Artisan Markets are on again tomorrow – Saturday 10th March from 9am-1pm. I will be sharing a bags and things stall with Leanne, one of the talented customers from Midland Textile Traders. This is the final market for the season, I will be searching for a new market/forum where I can sell my bits and pieces.

Other bits of news…

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Katherine (Krafty KJ) for the 2nd April – We love ya heaps :)

2. Both Kylie and Katherine have Big Brown Bernina Boxes!!!

3. Welcome Home TJ, Kev, Kaleb and Talia, enjoy your holiday and I can’t wait to give you all a big squeezy hug xx

Off to do some last minute sewing

With Love

a wonderful week

We simply can’t believe a week has flown by in a flurry of fabric, fun and frivolity…



We enjoyed a weekend away at the beach house sewing, creating and being a wee bit silly. Katherine was working on a number of beautiful projects, a quilt for her eldest boy, with gorgeous “Haul it” fabric by Michael Miller, a fabulous star quilt with Sandi Henderson’s Farmer’s Market, plus a quilt to bind, a Moda Charisma by Chez Moi quilt to finish (oops no photo, it was truly stunning).







Katherine and I worked on a hexagon quilt with our Michael Miller “Andalucia” fabric by Patty Young, that we received from Janelle last June, I think they worked out great, mine still needs a white border and Katherine added a striped boarder to hers.




Janelle, packed her Rosalie Quinlan “I Remember” block of the month quilt to piece together.  She did a wonderful job of piecing together her blocks ready to appliqué the pieces onto them.  This turned out to be a challenge, substituting some of the fabrics from those sent with her kit!

 

A lesson in needle turn appliqué, saw Janelle concentrating her way to a beautiful first complete block, it all looks so delicious!




I worked on a few purses, and covered notebooks, finished my Mum’s quilt finally, she will be pleased.



Monday we went to the Zoo and saw Mali the baby elephant. Tuesday saw us at Miss Marples in Sassafras eating scones, Hand Me Downs for some bargains, Geppetto’s for some special gifts, Savers in Greensborough for some more bargains, Katherine’s for chai and raspberry muffins.  Katherine opened that big brown box that came over from Perth with Janelle and we all oooohed and aaaaahed, I will let her tell you all about it.  We’ve just got back from a lovely dinner out together and are feeling sad that they’ll be heading home tomorrow :(  However we presented Janellybelly with a money box to save up for a trip back in September for the Spring Stitch-In, hosted by Rosalie Quinlan and Leanne Beasley.  She has started her fabric diet, keep filling that box Janelle :)

Well until next time, I’ll be waiting by my front door for a big brown box to be delivered to me!!!!

Happy stitching, love

Friends are Forever

Whoo Hoo, our wonderful friends from Perth have arrived.  Only having to wait 4 weeks from announced holiday to arrival made for a very exciting time!  The kids have been excited because the whole family are here and that means sharing a bedroom and lot’s of crazy fun :)

We’ve already managed to fit in some sewing, Janellybelly has already finished making Melly and Me’s Sherbert bag, she’s a stitching machine, and I’m sure you’ll agree it’s another beautiful Janelle creation.

This trip is especially exciting as Janelly has managed to visit over a sewing weekend at the beach house, so the sewing sisters, ALL THREE of us, are off tomorrow morning for a fun filled weekend of sewing and chatting and eating and sewing and….  we’ll update you on Sunday night with photo’s and a rundown of the weekends pursuits

We’ll be leaving the Dad’s and eight children home to fend for themselves, eat take away, go to see the doggies play the magpies, and generally let things slide into disarray until we arrive home Sunday night.  Thank you precious husbands of ours.

Here’s a photo of my finished zig zag quilt that we all started back in June when Katherine and I went to visit Janelle in W.A.  It look’s delicious on the wee princess’ bed and now I really should make a few matching pillows to finish off the look!

Today we met up with two beautiful bloggy friends Bronwyn and Jan at Handorfs chocolate shop for lunch, a chat, chocolate and coffee, yummo!  Thank you so much for taking a bite out of your busy days to catch up with us, it was lovely. Then we topped it off with a quick trip to Brandsmart outlet factory for a spot of shopping, new shoes, clothes, trinkets and other delights :)

Well, must be off, there’s fabric on the table ready to be cut up and packing to be done for the weekend (projects, not clothes, we wear our PJ’s all weekend anyway!) see you on Sunday…

Love and hugs

Friends, fabric and food.

I spent St Patrick’s day with 2 special bloggy friends, Lisa & Susan, traipsing around the West coastal suburbs of Perth in pursuit of yummy fabric and food – we were not disappointed! After starting our day at Lisa’s with a cup of tea and a nectarine cupcake (Mmmm), we headed off to Calico and Ivy in Mosman Park. I made my way to the specials cot (a vintage wrought iron cot, just gorgeous) and found some bargains.

These fabrics are from Sandi Henderson’s (Portabellopixie) first range called ‘Ginger Blossom’. She has a book coming out in May called

Sewing Bits and Pieces!

 

Lisa and Susan managed to drag me away from the bargains to look at the rest of the store. There was gorgeous stationary, lots of creative books, luscious wool & yarn and plenty of yummy fabric. We all walked out with a brown paper bag, mine also included these.

Some cute Kokka Babushka fabric – of course!

Our next stop was inspired by an episode of Poh's Kitchen (10th March) on ABC. My DH and I watched pastry chef Emmanuel Mollois make Chocolate Éclairs. I researched Emmanuel to see where his patisserie was located, thinking it would be in the Eastern States, and to my surprise found it was in Swanborne! We headed to the Choux Cafe for lunch and enjoyed a delicious meal – my taste buds were having a party. I even brought DH a chocolate éclair home.

If you would like to see my DH’s attempt at Chocolate Éclairs (and have a good giggle), check out his new blog called ‘The Parsons Nose’.

After the lovely comments about my fabric stash, I have decided to do a De-Stash and share the fabric love around. I sent my friend Jennywren, and her daughter Amy, home with a bag full of fabric to create with. I will also share some as a bloggy giveaway when I get back from Melbourne – 6 more sleeps!

Much Love

Butterfly Kisses

I love all things creative (though my first love is fabric), & I enjoy the opportunity to dabble in a wee bit of papercraft too. Yesterday I went to Tomorrow's Memories for a ‘Card Makers Tea Party’ with Suzitee. The cards had a butterfly theme and featured Bo Bunny’s Flutter Butter papers.

Susan was a very patient and encouraging teacher, she even included some sewing on one of the cards! The class included a Devonshire morning tea, I did have half a scone with jam and lovely cup of tea in a sweet china tea set. Thanks for letting me borrow some of your tools Susan.

We had a rent inspection this week, I thought I’d take a photo of my craft room to show you that it can look tidyish – approximately 4 times a year!

See that brown box on the floor, it’s not mine! It’s a little extra luggage coming to Melbourne with us :) I’ll let the new owner explain themselves (11 sleeps to go).

With Love