SSCS 2011

So now that Christmas is over....I can show you the swap pressie I sent off to Kristi as part of Chookyblue's annual Secret Santa Christmas Swap for 2011.

I always have trouble deciding on what to send my partners but thought you can't go wrong with something Christmassy for a Christmas Swap......I settled on a wallhanging!

I can't seem to put my hands on the pattern at the moment to tell you the designer but I will dig it out if anyone would like to know.

Until next time....

Swap Parcels opened

It was very exciting to have a couple of special parcels to open on Christmas morning, both from swaps that I've participated in:

The first is from Tess of Raggedy Station who is also part of the Friends in Stitching online group. We each had to send five small parcels to be opened on the days leading up to Christmas and one main handmade pressie.

These are the five smaller items: Sewing pins, cute Christmas buttons, notecards, Joy Patch Pattern, Note pad holder and scented drawer sachet... there was also chocolate which didn't last very long at all!

The main pressie was this gorgeous sewing bag and matching needlecase....it's just so lovely!

Tess must have lots of patience to make all those sweet little yo-yo flowers with pretty button centre's. The handles are just lovely too and feel really sturdy so I can see this bag getting lots of use!

Thankyou so much Tess.... everything you sent is just lovely!

The second parcel I received came all the way from Sherry of Books, Hooks, Sticks Etc in the USA and was for Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas Swap that I have done for three years now. Sherry really spoilt me with lots of goodies:

So many things: North American national parks calendar, Quilting magazine, diary, candle, Capitol Building jigsaw puzzle, notepads and sticky notes.... and then there were the handmade things!

Lovely quilted table mat, wallet, needle case.... and the main pressie:

A beautiful table runner. The rustic colours will look lovely on my recycled timber dining table!

Thankyou so much Sherry... they'll all be put to good use!

And thanks to Chooky for organising another great swap.

Until next time.....

Swap Parcel Received

We've been away for a few days..... and look what was waiting for me when we got home last night:

All these lovely goodies are from my Friends in Stitching group Secret Santa Christmas swap partner... ???

It's an advent swap so we had to send 5 smaller parcels and one main parcel to open on Christmas day....you can see they're all numbered so I know which one to open first.

I opened the first one today but I'll wait and show you them all together once I've opened them!

Until next time.......

Year 6 Farwell dress

Remember that beautiful bright satin fabric I showed you back here?

Miss 12 chose the fabric and New Look Pattern no.6933 herself and I set to work....hoping that I could manage to pull it off since I'd never worked with anything quite like it before (I think Miss 12 was nervous too). I managed to finish it off last weekend in time for Miss 12's year 6 farewell on Thursday night....... what do you think?

Miss 12 was thrilled and it was definitely the brightest dress there! :)

Taylor Swift Love Story hair completed the look..... compliments of this Youtube tutorial Miss 12 had me watch (much easier than it looks):

Next step....High School!

Until next time......

SSCS 2011

I was very excited to receive my Secret Santa Christmas Swap parcel yesterday.....all the way from Sherry in the USA.

Just look at all these parcels...... Sherry has spoilt me rotten!

Boy, I think I'm going to have to get the kids to hide them so I'm not tempted to open them all before Christmas!

Although, I did get to open one straight away..... this cute little ornament, isn't it sweet?

Thanks so much Sherry and to Chooky for doing an amazing job or organising it all once again!

Oh.... and I managed to get my last swap parcel posted off today too! This one is for the Friends in Stitching online group that I'm part of. We had to send one main pressie and five smaller ones to be opened in the days leading up to Christmas..... I wonder who they're heading to, Hmmm??

Until Next time....

A pressie for my Sister

It was my Sister's birthday yesterday so I can now show what I made for her last week. I've been promising her a bag for a while now and since her taste is a little bit different to mine I had her choose the fabrics and the style of bag a few months back.... with no promises as to when she would receive it, lol.

And it's reversible.... so my Sis gets two bags from the one!

I did the handles in denim so that it would go well with both fabrics and I'm very happy with how it turned out.... She loved it!

The pattern for this one is the "The Reversible Bucket Bag" from The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam -

I just love this book with lots of tips and great ideas when it comes to making bags.

Now I just have to find time to make the other one she's picked out... :)

Until next time......

This and That

I have managed to fit in a little sewing lately but unfortunately nothing I can share as yet..... I've finished my SSCS pressie, also a pressie for my Sister's birthday on Thursday and both are now making their way to their destinations!

I wonder where this parcel is going.......??????

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it along to Club Quilt today as I've been busy baking for a Birthday Morning Tea that I'm providing at work tomorrow and I've also been working on another project that I need to get finished asap......isn't the fabric gorgeous and bright? It was chosen by Miss 12.

Hopefully I'll have some more show and tell for you shortly!

Spoilt!

Things have been so hectic here of late..... I have a list of things to do before Christmas that's a mile long! Normally I've finished all my Christmas shopping by now but not this time....I only purchased my first gift today!  Anyway, I've been a very slack blogger! I've had things to post, just no time or inclination to do it.

I wanted to show you the lovely Birthday gift I received last week from Leanne.... one of the lovely ladies in the Friends in Stitching online group that I'm part of.

Leanne is from Punchbowl...so all the items she sent had to start with the letter "P"

A very nice Pincushion

Gail Pan Pattern

Picnic chocolate bar

Spoilt!.....Thanks so much Leanne!

Until next time.....

Re-upholstery success!

I've been wanting to attempt to re-cover our old lounge for a while now and finally took the plunge yesterday. I'm pleased to say that the project was a success and I can now go and buy more fabric for the remaining two lounge chairs.... I wasn't game enough to do so initially just in case I couldn't manage it and I wasted money on all that fabric!

This is what I started with...... our poor old lounge had seen better days!

Please ignore that state of our lawn.... hubby has thankfully gone off to fix our mower this morning!

And here she is....new and improved!

I used a fairly heavy weight fabric which is almost like a canvas as I'm going to use them on our back deck and make a sort of outside room.... just have to save up for some bistro blinds now!

No mistakes hiding under the cushion either!

And this is why my fingers are sore today..... so many staples to remove!

Once my fingers recover.... I'll do the remaining single chair before I tackle the two-seater!

Until next time.....

Custom order finished!

I've managed to get the cute little Charm Square quilt I was working on finished and ready to pop in the post...... I hope the recipients love it as much as I do! I really do have a thing for the Verna fabric range....so fresh and pretty!

Complete with yellow polka dot backing, a striped bind and my own little label

designed by my very clever sister....shame I often forget to use them!

When I first made one of these I used the Charm square baby quilt tutorial from Moda Bake Shop Sew Mama Sew but enlarged it so that it was a better sized quilt. If you would like the measurements etc, please let me know!

Amended 05/08/12 - my apologies for the incorrect tutorial information

You can find instructions for the changes I made and the correct links here.

Until next time....

Custom order!

A while ago I made a little quilt for some dear friends when they had their first baby..... they loved it so much that they've now asked me to make one as a gift for a special friend of theirs who has just had a baby girl!

I don't usually do custom orders but I really enjoy making these little charm square quilts.... and when Kelly chose Verna as her fabric choice, I just knew it was going to be gorgeous and lots of fun to make:

The top is all together..... 

I just have to hand-stitch the applique before it's ready for quilting!

Until next time.......

"unfun" versus "fun" sewing

I spent a whole day last week sewing and don't have a single interesting pic to show for it..... I seriously loathe mending and alterations of any kind although it feels really good to have all these annoying little fixes done and out of the way!

This is what I did:
1) Mended Mother-in-laws sheets (Seriously?? who mends sheets??)
2) Mended Father-in-laws trousers - one of the few people I volunteer to mend for.... he really is a keeper!
3) Mended a cap for my friend Cath - This was in a bag of things she gave me around 12 months ago (could be longer) for mending and given how long it's taken me to get to the bag she probably wont ask me again (Should I be smiling at that thought?)
4) Mended a Top for one of Cath's girls
5) Mended a plastic covered pool bag for Cath
6) Looked at the denim skirt of Cath's and shoved it back in the bag unmended (hoped figured her girls would have outgrown it by now anyway)
7) Cut off and hemmed two top sheets that have always been too wide and dragged on the floor.
8) Hemmed the curtains in my bedroom that have been hanging with pins in them for about 2 years now.
9) Hemmed two sets of Curtains in master 9's room that have been hanging with pins in the bottoms for even longer than mine - he has FINALLY stopped nagging me! :)
10) And finally, I mended a dress - belonging to Miss 12 and I'm pleased to say that it still fits!

Then on Monday I moved on to some fun sewing and managed to get this little quilt top together:

Such pretty/girly fabrics

I have no idea what the fabric range is as the quilt was started by my Aunty Lin before she passed away last year.  Lin had most of the coloured blocks together but there weren't any instructions to follow so I hope she would approve of what I did with it. I tried to use up as much of the fabric as I could while still leaving enough to do a pieced bind. So now I just have to find some backing and I can send it off to be quilted before returning it to Uncle Ron for one of their Grandaughters!

Until next time....

Shaggy Rainbow Quilt

I just had to share some pics of the gorgeous rainbow quilt recently completed by Miss 12.... it's one of the many first place winners she entered into our local show a couple of weeks ago and she was delighted to take home the junior champion ribbon as well. Why not pop over to her blog "Little Miss Thimble" and tell her what you think?? She'd just love that!

Complete with cosy flannel backing....

We saw this quilt over at Kerri's blog a while ago and both fell in love with it straight away..... it was the perfect choice for Miss 12 as the only thing she needed any help with was the corners of the binding and she had the whole thing completed in just under a week....even the hand-stitching of the bind!

Until next time.....

For Master 9

Another lovely day at Club Quilt today.... I managed to get this little runner finished for Master 9. It's something I've been going to make for a while now as the top of his nice cedar chest of drawers (a gift from his Grandma) is getting a little scratched.

Very simple 2.5" inch squares, quilted on the diagonal.... nice and boyish!

Until next time.......