Post Christmas - Post!

These were some of the lovely presents I received for Christmas - lucky lucky me. The burgundy reversible grab bag (top left) was made by Katherine - out of some gorgeous Asian fabric that she got me to choose, at the Craft fair in Melbourne. The Babushka has 7 dolls and was given to me by DH. My MIL gave me 'Seams to Me' by Anna Maria Horner & my Mum bought me the Favorite Things 'Cute Skirt' pattern, the 'Vintage Home' book and 'A Family Gathering' by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched (plus the Gutermann tin & threads). I feel very blessed to be given all this crafty goodness - Thanks everyone.

 

 

Here are the cherubs opening their new Playstation 2 (complete with SingStar - Yeah Baby!), and a photo with Grandma.

 

 

 

Whilst DH watches the cricket, and the kids are entertained with their Christmas presents, I have managed to get in a bit of crafting :) I have made ANOTHER 'Pleated Beauty Bag', this one is for my SIL Gillian - a belated birthday gift that I promised to make her. It is made out of 'Pop Garden' fabric by Heather Bailey.

 

Santa said I have to work on DH a bit more to get a new camera, I will keep you posted...

 

With Love

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas to All

What a wonderful year we’ve had in blog land.  Thank you to everyone who’s visited and left a lovely comment or been lurking behind the scenes!  We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. Take some time out over the break to relax and put your feet up, enjoy the buzz and excitement of the season.  After all it’s Jesus’ Birthday, have a party and celebrate!

God Bless,

Kylie and Janelle

Prezzie's given and received

These goodies were in the parcel that I posted off to Angie (no blog - yet!) - my swap partner from the Secret Santa Honeypot Swap @ Bee Sew Whimsical. I thought I'd include some things from WA, the chocolate heart is from Whistlers Chocolate & the pattern is from Mary Anne Day (a WA designer). I made the card at a Christmas craft night.

 

All these goodies came from Rebecca @ IchnoArt - Thank you ever so much Rebecca, you have really blessed me :) Have a look at this fabulous decoration she made - complete with photos & verses.

 

Then last Friday, I had the Joy of meeting up with Lisa from A Spoonful of Sugar again, for another coffee & fabric exchange - some of which was in the '23 flavours of fabric' in Kylie's last post :) She gave me these gorgeous goodies too - Thanks Heaps Lisa.

Last Day of School yesterday - Yay! These were the bags I made for the Teachers prezzie's."School's Out for Summer".

 

One last photo, below is my beloved Nativity Scene from Demdaco by the Willow Tree artist Susan Lordi - Enjoy!

With LOTS of Love & Many Christmas Blessings

Delicious

Isn’t this delicious.

Thanks Janellybelly, you’re my favourite personal fabric shopper.  I want to leave it on my desk just like this and drool over it, but oh the possibilities :)

Love

Weekend away…

Ahhhhhh, another sewing weekend away was wonderful.  Katherine and I managed to head off early before lunch on Friday this time which gave us a few extra hours stitching in.   We had wee Abigail with us too which was lovely, she happily gooed and gahed most of the time and fitted in around Katherine’s sewing plans!

First priority was a friends 40th birthday quilt that we worked on together, here’s a sneak peek but you’ll have to wait till after the birthday until the reveal.



I finished off my Bears Paw Quilt, The range of fabrics were Mother Goose & Friends by Terry Clothier Thompson for Moda.  The photo is not the best as the sun was actually out the day I took it!  Which is a bit different to the last few days here in Melbourne where it has rained and rained, I know we need the rain but the carols by candlelight had to be cancelled today which made us all a bit sad.  We love to pack a picnic and head off to sit on the picnic rug at Come Celebrate light our candles and sing carols, it’s a real family event.  It’s the first wet one in 10 years so I guess that’s a good record.



I also started a Christmas Stocking for a little girl I mentor through the Kids Hope Aus program at our local Primary School.  She’s in Prep and we meet once a week to have fun, chat, do some school work and self esteem building stuff. It’s a lot of fun and I wanted to make her something special.  This was a stitchery I came across on the Wee Wonderfuls site, designed by Hillary Lang, it was a joy to stitch and to see the look on her face when she opened the parcel last Friday brought tears to my eyes. ( It does have her name stitched on it but I’ve removed it here for privacy reasons )

I also made a covered notebook and a library bag but haven’t taken any photo’s of those.  All in all it was a very productive, relaxing and fun weekend.  All we need is a tea lady and a personal chef and the weekend would be perfect!




I had to put a few shots of our kids at Church this morning, we had a lot of fun with a Christmas theme and a bit of silly fun.  There’s nothing like being a Kids Church leader to keep you young!!

Till next post, stay happy and don’t let the Silly Season wear you down!

Christmas Gifts

I can finally show you what I made for Sabine in Austria. She was my honeypot swap and I had such fun putting a gift together for her.



A handmade tree ornament, it had to have an Aussie theme since it was going so far from home and a strawberry ornament.  I seem to make a few strawberries each year and give them away, I love them as they remind me of Christmas, red and green and all piled high on top of a Pavlova on Christmas day!! 

We had to make a handmade card for the swap too.  I must admit I’m not a big card maker.  However my Mum’s neighbour used to make these lovely stitched cards and that was my inspiration.  I really enjoyed it, you punch all the holes first according to a pattern and then use a rayon thread to thread a pattern. Just like those nail and string pictures back in the 70’s!

I received my lovely swap parcel too which was very exciting. I was from Lyn Rigby in NSW.  Thank you so much for the cross stitched ornaments they are on the tree and looking great!

 

My Crazy elfs….

The tree is up and the Christmas decorating has begun, I really need to get stitching and finish all those handmade gifts I’ve started. 

One gift is ready to go into the post today, Terri was the lucky winner of the bag giveaway.  Here is a sneak peek at her fabric combination, Merry Christmas Terri, it’s on it’s way!!



Teachers presents are always something I seem to leave to the last minute, but this year I’ve got them all sorted out early. I’ve enjoyed making quilted notebooks,they are personal and useful.   I think I’ve made nearly 10 so far, can’t show them just yet as some of the recipients read this blog!

I have started another blog post all about my sewing weekend away with Katherine, that will have to wait until tomorrow, we were very busy! 

It’s so nice to be at the end of the year, I’m feeling a little weary but looking forward to having the kids home on holidays. Sleeping in, Pyjama days, going out for lunch, the beach, sewing, crafting, walking the dog, shopping, bbq’s, baking, catching up on my very large pile of reading material!!

Sending some Christmas cheer your way

PS: Forgot that I was going to include the 6 random things about me….
1. I am a natural blond, no colouring here!
2. I love beetroot jaffles, you know those things where you toast the outside and seal in the stuff in the middle, yum!
3. I wear an insulin pump
4. I cry every time I watch Anne of Greengables, and that must have been a dozen times at least
5. I’m married to the “Blogmaster” :)
6. After many years of disliking Earl Grey tea, I now love it, but ONLY Nature’s Cuppa Organic

Thanks Kerryanne for the tag! :)Kylie XO

I just LOVE my job!

I went to work today and spent 3 hours sorting and putting away the new shipment of craft fabrics - it was so much fun! If you live in WA, it's time to hit the Textile Traders stores for some yummy fabrics. Look what I bought today...

Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner and Robert Kaufman for $10.99 & $9.99 a metre - plus my staff discount! I think I earned what I spent :)

Look what the Postman delivered to my house. My fabulous 'May Your Dreams Come True' Kit in a card, that I won from Janet at Wildcraft Farm - thank you so much Janet!

Kylie & Katherine went away for another productive, and rather enjoyable, 'Sewing Sisters' weekend. Kylie is going to do a lovely newsy blog post complete with 'show and tell' very soon.

Kerryanne from Shabby Art Boutique tagged Kylie & I with this award

Now I have to reveal 6 random facts about me

1. I have just read a book called 'The Shack' by William Young, & loved it.

2. My nickname at school was Chuck - my surname was Norris!

3. I can only watch scary movies with the sound off, not that I watch many anymore.

4. I met Tim Brooke-Taylor from 'The Goodies' at Perth Airport.

5. I have a scar on my ankle from playing with glass coke bottles when Mum told me not to - 7 stitches later...                                        

6. I watch 'Charlie and Lola' with my kids and love it as much as they do.

TAG, if you want to play along too.

With Love

PS Santa, I would like a new camera for Christmas please...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The countdown to Christmas day has begun in our house - with the setting up & decorating of the Christmas tree, and putting up the advent calendar (complete with chocolate coins). The advent pattern is an adaption of a Nancy Halvorsen of Art to Heart pattern called Glad Tidings, that Katherine and I made in 2001. I made the mistake of using 'Heat and Bond' Ultra for the blanket stitched pieces and nearly gave up crafting because my fingers were so sore. Katherine was even scared to give me anything crafty for Christmas, just incase I threw it back in her face :) It is now a treasured possession that we enjoy bringing out every year at Christmas.

Pocket 25 is the manger, can you see who is hiding?

My Secret Santa from the Bee Sew Whimsical Christmas swap was revealed yesterday when this fabulous parcel arrived containing these marvelous goodies.

My swap partner was none other than the gorgeous Kylie from A Bite of Country Cupcakes. Thank you ever so much Kylie for all my wonderful swappy goodness, I love your faux creations.

I have been busy sewing and creating too. I made 40 of these flat Babushka/Matryoshka angels, to give out as prezzie's, at our Christmas 'Chick Chat' girls night - at Church last night.

I am looking forward to seeing how you've all made your homes look & feel 'Christmassy' too.

With Love

When Janellybelly met A Spoonful of Sugar

These creative hands belong to the lovely Lisa from A Spoonful of Sugar. We met up yesterday at Dome in Hillarys for a coffee, a chat & a fabric exchange - which lasted for 2 hours, 2 tall latte's and a Florentine! It was so much fun to meet a fellow blogger in person :) The book she is holding up is a new cookbook called Du Jour, and features quite a few of Lisa's recipes. The book, & her recipes, are just delicious.

 

My 'Santa is Watching' pattern, that I won from the lovely Evonne at Hilltop House, arrived yesterday. The parcel also included some lovely Christmas gift tags and a handmade card. Thank you ever so much Evonne, & get well soon!

 

Another Prezzie!

This gorgeous Raggedy towel & card came from the lovely Bev at Kainga Happenings. She popped in to see me at my new workplace, but we just missed each other by a few minutes - Oh well, next time Bev! Thank you so much for my prezzie.

 

Speaking of my new job, I am loving it! The only downside is that I seem to be spending my money on fabric as fast as I'm earning it - what a delightful problem to have :)

 

With Love

 

 

High Tea Anyone?

 

I have arrived home from a delightful afternoon of High Tea at Leaf Tea Merchants in Mt Lawley - to celebrate Traceylea's birthday. I promise you - I made sure I held my pinky finger up every time I drank my Earl Grey tea :)

 

Before we left to go to Leaf, Traceylea proudly showed us her completed sampler quilt - 3 years in the making. Well done babe!

 

I have my trial day at Textile Traders tomorrow. I thought I'd show you one of the reasons why I love shopping there.

'Farmers Market' fabric by Sandi Henderson of Portabellopixie for $8:79 AUD a metre (after 20% off with TT Customer Reward Card). Lisa from A Spoonful of Sugar put me onto this amazing discovery.

 

Happy Day's

 

With Love

 

 

UPDATE - I had a great morning at TT, and I have a casual job - YAY!