random catch-up in no particular order:: a bag for my mama

Last month was mum’s birthday so I thought it was about time to make her bag. This was one we had decided on together over a year ago which I had never found the time [or perhaps inclination to follow a pattern] to construct.

It’s from bend-the-rules sewing by Amy Karol [aka Angry Chicken], which I borrowed from Katie. It was easy to follow her instructions and turned out just perfectly! I only made a couple of changes: I used stiff sew-in interfacing to give it a bit of shape [because who knows what cotton flannel is or where to get it here - anyone?] and I stitched my own embroidery design on the front instead of the one Amy has in the book.

And my mama loves it!

some more brooches and a scarf

Some of my mini knitty bits have been turned into brooches and a simple blanket offcut from Waverley Woollen Mills transformed into a cosy scarf prettied up with some cute circles. The red brooch and scarf have been gifted to a darling friend on her birthday. Now to get onto some more for selling!?!

Blanket Stitch

A warm, woollen, stitchy blanket for my darling Immy. It’s been cosy in front of the telly for the past few nights with this blanket warming my legs as I stitch. Now she can snuggle under her new blankie in that chilly upstairs bedchamber.

look at what landed on my lap on sunday morning...

delicious blueberry pancakes

heart shaped shortbreads

lots of lovely handmade pressies and cards from my darlings

alannah and imogen both wanted to "do stitching" for mother's day crafting - the results: a bag and embroidered rabbit picture from alannah and a pink and purple stitches embroidery from imogen [who at 3 can already thread her own needle!]

what darling girls they are x

hope you all had a lovely mother's day too xx

A Bag and An Owl

1. embroidered tree bag:: a quick-I-need-to-make-a-present-right-now-and-I-only-have-an-hour-and-all-my-fabric-is-packed-away present for my darling aunty Christine [yes - it does get confusing when you are named after your aunty - we have always been known as Big Chris and Little Chris]

2. tea cup sock owl:: a gorgeous quick and super easy to follow pattern from Craft Schmaft - a pressie for my darling sis Mandy

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway - you've only got till Sunday!

thread sketching clutterpunk style

Inspired by the lovely Gina from clutterpunk, I did some sketchy stitching on my favourite green well-fitting-but-a-tad-boring-ish skirt. I loved her birdy design so much [I do have a thing for birdies!] I was inspired by sort of copied um, pretty much copied what she did [hey when you find something good why mess with it?]
It was so much fun to do and alot easier than it looks - you really must try it out!

P.S. I'm so excited by all the lovely comments for my little giveaway! [you still have time to enter] Who knew I had that many readers!!! Thank you darlings x

STUFF UP FOR GRABS [A.K.A. GIVEAWAY]

Yes well, I know I said a couple of days but whose counting? You should know me by now.

Looky at the goodies:

~Linen tree brooch [made by moi]

~Fabric pouch with thread sketchy stuff [also made by moi]
~Mini tote bag in mushroom print canvas [and you guessed it - moi made it too]
~Antique treasures retro print fabric
~Kikki k stuff: blank notebook, gel pen, coin purse

Ok, the rules for entering:
1. Leave a comment.

That's all you need to do.

I know there are alot of you out there who have never left a comment before, but it's not hard. You just have to click on the title of the post [in red]. Right near the bottom of the page it will say "Post a comment" - click on that. A new window will pop up with a comment box, so just type in your comment, then choose your identity - you don't need a special account - just choose "Name/URL" or "Anonymous". Make sure you've told me who you are though because you may just turn out to be the winner!

I'll give you till 3pm Sunday 21st March [2ish weeks from now] then we'll do the big draw!!!

UPDATE: Here's a close up of the brooch - just for Gina x


THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED - WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!!!

Making Stuff For Eamon

There's a new little cutie around these parts. Eamon Thomas is my darling nephew - a gorgeous son for Katie and Ben (my little brother) born three weeks ago now.
We had to get busy crafting as soon as we heard the exciting news. As all my fabric is in storage at the moment we had to get creative with what I had floating around in the studio scrap box. A boyish bib for dribbling on and an Alannah-designed teddy made their appearance by the end of the day. Just right for numerous drools and chewings-on.

Birthday Girl!

Our little darling Imogen had her third birthday a few weeks ago - my goodness that's gone quick! All of a sudden she's gotten all big and grown up!

I wanted to make her something special to play with, so Alannah and I decided on a princess and the pea playset - idea totally stolen from SouleMama. (we also gave her the princess and the pea book by Lauren Child - of Charlie and Lola fame)

Lannah was my helper - choosing fabrics, deciding which ones looked good together, colouring the paper princesses, sewing the felt pea [with a little help from mama], turning the mattresses and snipping threads.

Immy loved it! They've been playing princess and the pea all over the house. "MUM WHERE'S MY PEA?" is a common utterance around these parts nowadays.

I also whipped up a little tutu and she got real ballet shoes!

And a washing line to help mummy with the house work ;)

We had a yummy hedgehog cake created by aunty Liesey, dressing ups with little friends and treasure hunting - what fun!

Creative Update

So I've been a busy girl making lots of stuff!

Let me see... 15 little girls skirts, 8 marble bags, 2 pencil cases, a couple dozen button hair ties, ballerina tutu, a princess and the pea playset, and even a dress for me! Phew!

Plus there are a few half done projects that are still to be finished off: dress for a sweet little girl, few pairs of pants for Finn, bibs for Finn and I'm sure there are a few more lurking in the studio!

Things we made for Operation Christmas Child boxes we did last month. This was such a great way of teaching the girls about the huge need there is to care for poverty-stricken in this world.

The girls really enjoyed thinking about what a little girl their own age might like to receive and talking about how and why we should help, making a card and praying for the girls who would be receiving the boxes they made.

We are so blessed in our lives and to teach our children to share what we have with those who have nothing is so important to us. I highly recommend doing an activity like this with your kids.

And here's that gorgeous gypsy gal who sold skirts and button hair ties in the peddler's parade at the school fair.

Her costume was thrown together during a raid on my wardrobe - so much easier than trying to make something which was my initial lofty plan.

TOO. BUSY. CRAFTING. CAN'T. STOP. NOW.

Bit crazy round here right now. Making piles of skirts, hundreds of yums tags and gypsy-skirt-seller-peddler's-parade-outfit for school fair in 2 days. AAAARGH! [+ possible button hair ties and felt birdy ornaments if time allows - who am I kidding?]

Oh and kid no.2 has third birthday coming up in a week and a half - potentially not as quality celebration as first child's birthday parties - and I NEED (i.e. would like) to make her SOMETHING handmade [who knows what?]- eeeek! - control freak is freaking out!

See what happens when mama's not looking?

Two cheeky girlies with aprons on

Aprons that have been works in progress for the past 6 months - I finally finished them a few weeks ago. [there are still 2 more half completed - who knows when they'll be done!]

I did a bit of experimental decorative stitching on the pockets - 'it's only an apron' I thought - and wow it's a great way to disguise crooked top stitching! I needed to find a way to keep the top part of the aprons high enough to stop stuff falling behind - what would be the point of an apron otherwise? - so pop-studs on the neck strap it was. [who can resist having a good old bash with the hammer?] There wasn't enough length of fabric for Immy's so it had to have a ruffle which turned out just beautifully. I love it when things work out like that.

These are the best two pics of a dozen and a half - cheeky little rabbits! Of course it'd be just too easy to stand nicely and smile at the camera for mama. My own fault for doing a photo shoot right before bed time.

Loz and Dinny Challenge

A bit of fabric I had floating around, a thrifted floral pillowcase, fabric from a thrifted wool skirt for the button and the star of the show, the trim!

And so this little bag was born.

 I left it till the last minute of course [procrastinator that I am] but I got there - even on time!

And I didn't have to buy anything for this project [good guuurl!]

* Edited to add: To those who aren't in the know, sorry I was in a bit of a rush when I posted this and didn't think to explain.
Gemma from Loz and Dinny devised a cunning crafty challenge as a birthday celebration and sent a bunch of us a length of this goldy mustard trim to turn into some handmade goodness. Check out some of the other entries - so many amazing creations.