coming and going

Snail mail has returned to my life - and its all thanks to blogging.  Who knew!?

My lovely parcel from Emily!  With surprise Liberty fabric scraps!  eeeep!

Ella's giveaway parcel nearly ready to go.  There is an annoying little empty space in the box, so I'm looking around for something to fill it up...

My contribution to 'The Envelope Project' - go here to join in.
Had any goodies in your letterbox lately??

psssst.  I don't really want to share the news and lessen my chances of winning, but the lovely Stella is running a very tempting giveaway here!  You really should go check out Stella and Rosa-May's shops too.  Personally, I've got my eye on one of those little commissioned drawings...maybe of hubby and bub for Father's Day...hhhmmm...

lists

Image:  Weekend progress on the room

So I've been thinking about those lists of things to make. 


List one - Presents for others (Spoiler alert!  Family members, don't read if you want to be surprised.  But also don't get too excited.  I may change my mind.  Artistic license and all that.)

•  I don't even know anyone with a tiny baby who needs these but I want to make them!
•  Something ceramic with some of my designs for Mum's birthday.
•  Must make one of these for the babe, for when she's a bit bigger.
•  A good one for the kiddies.
•  This idea of Megan's is great, maybe for the kids for Christmas.
•  Good pressie idea for the girls.
•  Something for the boys out of this fabric.

List two - For summer markets

• Bibs
• Bags - library bags, beach bags and baby bags
• Baby muslin face cloths
• Crocheted baby hats (note:  get Mum to teach me to crochet!  ASAP!)
• Cards and gift tags
• Patchwork change mats and baby change wraps
• Brooches
• Toys
• Pinafores
• Knitted baby singlets
• Needle books and sewing kits
• Bunting!
• Knitting needle wraps
• Table runners and place mats

List three - For me when I have time!

• these wrist warmers.  I have about 5 pairs of wrist warmers already, but I think I need these too.
• love love love
• I want a big bowl full of these.
• oh yes.  I really want to make a quilt, but it's such a big project.  One day.
• this!  yes I think I need more than one of these.
• I think these would be great for Christmas.
• Plus I bought a whole lot of Christmas fabric on sale in January to make stockings for all the kids!
• AND since babies arrival I need a whole lot of breast-feeding friendly, hide my belly, beautiful and make-me-feel-good summer clothes!!!

Hmmn.  Over-committed?  Me?
Think I'll go have a cup of tea and a sit down.

(...but if you have any great ideas to share or cool tutorials you have found please feel free to share in the comments!  I can always add another idea to the list!)

The envelope project...

This is such a great idea!  Count me in!

drumroll please....

and the winner is...

Congrats to the lovely Ella from vannette

Thanks all for entering!  I like sending mail!  

And receiving it of course...

this sunday I love...

 :: Winter sun and my red toes soaking it up ::

giveaway! your last chance to enter!

So here's the haul:

A wee stack of vintage crafty mags, my favourite tea and favourite chocolate, along with a brooch, bib and some animal pegs all handmade by me!!  Remember comment here to enter!
Will draw a winner Monday morning xx

baking, lists and a song

Yeah so, I know I said I wasn't going to do anymore baking for a while, but this is different!  Its savoury and its low fat, so its ok.  Cause I said so.

These crackers are yummo in my opinion.  The recipe is Heather's and you can find it here.  My hint for this recipe is roll them really, really thin.  As thin as you can and then just keep an eye on them in the oven.  They are yummy and salty and crunchy!  I use fresh garlic in mine.

I would highly recommend clicking on 'taste' in her tags and checking out some of her other recipes, so fresh and delicious looking.

While we're talking about cooking I made the cheese strudel that Allie posted about and it was yum!  Although next time I'll have to be a lot more careful about sealing up the edges as I did have a bit of an explosion...!

So, in all my talk about lists and organisation the other day I have realised that I don't have lists for my crafting.  Well sometimes if someones birthday is coming up or things like craft-it-round I will write down what I'm doing, but I mean just in general.  Over the weekend, in addition to tidying 'the room', I'm gonna make a big list of things I want to make!  This should be a fun list, and I'll share it with you next week.  I'm a bit worried to imagine how long this list will be...I know that it will definitely include this, these, these and this and that's just for starters.

Here's a cool video I found.*  I can't believe someone made all that stuff out of cardboard.  So clever.
Have a nice weekend all x


*Note to my hubby:  don't worry honey I haven't got it in for you...I just like this video xxx

much better thanks.

Today has been much better, thanks for asking.  For a start I woke up to find a comment from the lovely Emily saying I had won a prize in her giveaway!  So excited!!  Then I took a relaxing walk, as the rain held off today.  Baby and I went to see her cousins.  And to top it off hubby is cooking tea tonight (well he actually cooked it late last night and its in the fridge) so I have a day-off kitchen duties!
So I'm going to challenge myself to tackle the BIG mess.  Usually this room is messy but its a 'messy but I know where everything is' kind of mess.  But lately I've been getting really frustrated and loosing things in giant piles.  So I hereby declare that this room will be tidy by the end of next week.  Proper tidy - not just chuck everything in the cupboard tidy.  Wish me luck!

ps. I'll be drawing the giveaway on Monday!

ugh, winter

Harrumph.  Having a grumpy 'I hate winter and why is it raining again and I'm bored and can't be bothered doing anything except drinking cups of tea and eating not cause I'm hungry just cause I'm bored' day.  Hope you are having a better day than me!  At least I can stay at home in the warm and don't have to go out anywhere. 
So I'm going to:

Clean this mess

 and clean this mess   

and finish these bloomers, to go with this dress 

and read this library book.

I hope you are keeping warm, and I'd love to hear what you are up to today, and whats for dinner at your place tonight.   

ps. don't forget to enter the giveaway

vintage magazines!

Oh my.  The hilarity!  A friend of mine dropped round some vintage treasures yesterday for me to peruse.  The titles are 'Golden Hands', and 'Stitch by Stitch'.

They are great!  So funny looking at the old fashions.  But man, those ladies had skills.  Makes me ashamed to call myself a crafter - these women were doing amazing stuff.

I mean, look at this yellow jumpsuit you could make for when you go rollerskating.  There is some tailoring in that outfit I tell you!  The pleats and the pockets...some serious sewing talent!

I might even finally teach myself to crochet...but I probably won't be making one of these stylish little numbers...I think I'll leave those in the 1980's where they belong.

 

Look at the huge pile of mags!  There must be about 70 or so...anyone keen?  Maybe I could share them out, if the postage wasn't too much...or do a swap?

I'll definitely put a few into my giveaway...along with a couple of my favourite treats.  Have you entered yet??

weekend sewing

During the weekend I finished off a wee dress for my niece.
I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

The corduroy is so soft, I really want to make myself something out of it now. 

Sunday finds...

Nothing like some 'window' shopping on a rainy Sunday.  Here's my felt fav's for today...

Heritage Blanket Bab...

sarahstitch

$85.00

Vintage Fabric Carav...

knickabocka

$25.00

Mend And Make Do - P...

sweetwilliam

$17.00

Cq Repurposed Envelo...

cattaylor

$10.00

Plum Rabbit Rain Cape

plumrabbit

$35.00

Hand Carved Stamp - ...

sandrawaine

$7.00

Silver Antique Spoon...

runrabbit

$28.00

Patchwork Button Nec...

littlegrubs

$20.00

When Life Hands You ...

dearcolleen

$29.00

Customized (mini) Mi...

frankanddean

$22.00

Red Rose Felt Hair C...

kakky

$7.50

Pink Fawn Appliqued ...

squidgyums

$25.00

Baking overload.

This cake just did me in.

I am swearing off baking for a while.  Its just toooo much.  I even gave half this cake away.  It is a good cake recipe and I've posted it over 'In the kitchen'. 
I've been breast-feeding for 7 1/2 months now and the weight should be falling off!!  It's all this baking I tell you.  *Sigh*

In other news, this brooch will be the first item of my giveaway!  Yay!  It's made from felt and vintage kimono fabric.

Plenty to keep me busy this weekend:

• finish pinafore for my nieces birthday
• go for a swim
• work on my craft-it-round pressies
• cook up all the vegies in the fridge...i feel a vege soup coming on
• work on some items for the shop

Hope you have a lovely weekend xox

oh internet how I love/hate you...

 I made this mouse-pad out of one of my most loved fabrics.  I was going to use just some other scraps, but I figure I'm gonna be seeing a lot of it, so I may as well use one of my favourites.

I love the internet. 
(I love cheese, cups of tea and the internet.  Sometimes all at once.  Oh and my baby and husband of course, they are pretty cool too.)
Anyway.  I do love the internet, and I can't see how anyone got anything done without it.  I use it multiple times a day, to find phone numbers, addresses and information.  It's where I get my news, my entertainment (your blogs!) and I listen to music.
But it sucks so much of my time!!!  I hate it!  If I spent 1/2 the time I spend surfing your blogs makin' stuff my shop would be much fuller!  Can y'all stop writing such interesting blogs?  Thanks.
Then there's facebook,  lets not even get started on what a time-waster that is. 
Oh to find a happy balance.

How much time do you spend on the internet in a day?  And what do you think is reasonable?
To tell the truth I spend probably about 2 hours at least.  That's most of baby's nap time (my free time), so what is suffering is my sewing and other craft.  This is not what I want!!  Arrrgh! 
Must. be. strong.  Must. have. willpower....

ps.  This is post 100!!  Woot!  Comment here for a giveaway xx 

ninety-nine!

Flowers in a pot on my deck :: just because I hate posting without a photo

So I just noticed yesterday that 100 posts is sneaking up on me!  The next post will in fact be number 100!  I can't believe this, seems like just yesterday I tentatively made my first shy little post.  So I'm gonna have a giveaway.  I have no idea what I am going to giveaway though.  So to enter my giveaway leave a comment on this post and tell me what you would like to win in a giveaway...hint - prize will not be one million dollars.  Sorry.

Edit, I've canned the facebook giveaway, as I'd rather do one really cool prize instead of two crappy ones and there's only so much a girl can afford.  I'll be revealing my surprises over the next wee while so stay tuned!

Leftovers

Best thing about having dahl for tea?

Having leftover dahl and cheese toasties for lunch. Mmm! Gotta love a good toastie.

 

I've also made Jen's yummy Oat Fudge Slice today.  Much much healthier than my usual fudge recipe!

she's a rebel

Yup that's me.  I'm going to try something outrageous!  Crazy!  Watch out, stand back!!
No sorry I might have over-hyped it a bit.  I'm going to try and follow a recipe.
What?  Sounds simple.  Well, yeah you would think so.
You see I have a habit of making the rules up as I go along when it comes to cooking.  I usually don't have all the ingredients, so sometimes add a little of this, and a bit of that, and that will do.  But husband has been known to say that sometimes my food tastes all the same.  Which may well be the case when one only has 3 spices in the spice rack.
So, I'm turning over a new leaf!  I will follow the recipe to the letter, at least the first time I make a dish, and make any alterations after I've tried it as it is supposed to be.
I've added some tabs to my blog, up the top there, see?  (By the way do you like the new layout??  I'm still not too sure...)  I will add my recipe successes to the 'in the kitchen' tab, so you can have a go yourself, if you like.
Tonight's extravaganza?  Lentil Dahl!  Now, don't knock it till you've tried it!  Or at least till I've tried it.  You'll know if it was good, it will appear 'in the kitchen' - if not, well, onto the next recipe.

overload

Man these new blogger template options are doing my head in!  Too much to choose from, and then when I change one thing something else doesn't look right!  I'll be back soon, when I've sorted it out.  Like she said.

Play time

Toys, toys -TOYS!  Sometimes I feel like I spend my whole day picking them up (or tripping over them.)
I thought I'd share some of our toy collection with you today, inspired by some others I've seen lately. Megan did this post about her collection, and Fran showed us the simple collection she has for her girls to promote active play.  I made many of these items before my baby was born, for my nephew to play with when he came to visit.  Some others have been gifted to my babe.  And yes, of course we have 'plastic fantastic' toys in our house too, but this post is about the simpler things.

Birds and a donkey, sewn by me

Knitted gifts

Things to throw around, by me

These gorgeous softies were handmade by a friend

Various containers filled with rice, stones and bells, great for shaking.

And some treasures from the op-shop.  

This is where they live - when not in use.

Happy weekend xox