Hemming....check!

Club Quilt last Sunday.... unfortunately nothing exciting to show for it as I spent the whole day cutting out so that I'm prepared for our upcoming sewing retreat. I'm looking forward to being better prepared this year so that I can make the most of my sewing time and get lots done.

When I got home I managed to get six pairs of the kids pants hemmed and ready for the winter and I just had to share this great method of hemming jeans which allows you to keep the original hem. You can find the tutorial here at Sew Much Ado. I usually procrastinate when it comes to hemming jeans, (once I left it so long that my daughters jeans no longer fit her by the time I got around to it...ooops!) but not anymore....this method takes about 5 minutes and I did it with no broken needles and no SWEARING! Unbelievable!

The seam lines are quite obvious in these photos but when they're on you don't notice it at all!

Until next time....

Weekend project

Last weekend Miss 13 and I spent some time putting this mini drawer set together to match her newly painted and re-furnished room.

We purchased the little Kaisercraft draws years ago at a craft fair but never got around to doing anything with it. The frame is timber but the little drawers are made from a heavyweight cardboard and it all just slots together really easily.

I think it's designed to use with scrapbooking paper but we used Riley Blakes 'Sugar & Spice' fabric that I'm planning on making a matching quilt out of later. We painted it in 'Tapioca' first before adding the fabric to the top, sides and drawerfronts and giving it a coat of Mod Podge to protect it.... and voila!

Perfect for holding all those girly bits and pieces!

This is what we started with:

and you can find them here.

Until next time....

A finish for Aunty Lin

I was so pleased to finally get one of my quilts back from the quilter this week... this particular one was started by my beautiful Aunt who passed away before it was completed, you may remember it from my earlier post here.

So, I spent most of yesterday getting it bound and now I only need to add a label before it can be sent off to one of my Aunts very special Grand-daughters. I'm sure little Karlie will treasure it!

Until next time....

Hunger games party success

A couple of long overdue shots of the Hunger Games themed Birthday party for Miss 13.... it was a great night and the movie didn't disappoint:

Choc mud Mockingjay cupcakes with buttercream icing....

You can find the cupcake recipe in my earlier post, here.

Movie Snacks.... I purchased a digital file from Olivia's Collection for the invitations and water bottle stickers which I adapted to make the lolly bags.

Bit blurry unfortunately....but the girls (and boy) all looked great in their Hunger Games tees!

Until next time....  :)

Upcoming Hunger Games party

To celebrate Miss 12 turning 13, next weekend we're taking a group of teenage girls to the movies to see the Hunger Games..... If you haven't yet read the book, then you're really missing out!

So instead of the usual party favours, this is what I've been working on.......

A big thanks to Jess of Craftiness is not optional for her great inspiration!

My first attempt wasn't so successful but after that I decided that unlike Jess I would use heat 'n' bond to attach the applique (I just used a pressing cloth so I didn't stick to the shiny fabric). I also used clear thread on top and was much happier with the result.

My daughter is thrilled and can't wait to give the shirts to all her friends. :)

Hippy pants

Miss almost 13 has a school social coming up next week with a 70's theme.... she has the coloured glasses and peace necklace and earring's sorted so all she needed were some groovy pants to wear.  I think these should do the trick (although I probably should have flared the bottoms of the legs a bit more) and when the social is over she can use them as pyjama pants!

Miss 12 decorated an old pair of thongs (flip-flops) with some flower trim to match.

I used the Lounge pants pattern from this book, which was recommended by

 Lisa of A Spoonful of Sugar. They were really quick and easy to whip up and fit Miss 12 beautifully.

I can see myself making more of these soon!

A Christmassy finish!

Club quilt today over a week ago now..... and I've finally done a bit of sewing!

Four little Christmas stockings that have been incomplete for two years now.... I usually never think of sewing Christmas things until the festive season is well and truly upon us and then there's no time get things done. I'm still not 100% happy with how the white on Santa and on the snowman doesn't show up very well but I'd already re-stitched them once on darker background fabric and wasn't going to do it again. I may still whip stitch it or something to make it more visable and then I just need to get some rusty bells to stitch to each of the points on the scalloped top.

The Reindeer is my favourite.... so I think that one will be mine and the rest of the

family can fight over the others :)

The pattern is called 'A little bit of Christmas' by Annie Downs

Nice to finish something for us!

Until next time....