Yippee!!! Australia Post delivers eventually...

Today I received my package from the lovely Lesley for the Show Some Sewing Love Swap. I am very excited to recieve this beautiful package which it appears has been sitting at my post office for the past month.. needless to say I am not happy with Australia Post, especially as I have recieved several other parcels in this time and I have asked about this one on more than one occasion! Next time a package is not delivered in a reasonable time frame I may not be so polite about it. I recieved some gorgeous goodies including chocolates, a note pad and Ghiradelli chocolate flavoured coffee and best of all some hand mades by Lesley. Above is the complete package and below are the beautifully made items, a patchwork basket, a mini cushion with applique and embroidery and a purse sized tissue holder. Just look at those gorgeous red and pink fabrics - mmm... beautiful.

I can't thank Lesley enough for the Love she showed in putting this package together, and Kris for organising such a fun swap.

Happy Crafting

Happy Easter

With Easter just around the corner I packaged up some goodies and sent them on their way across the waves to my Easter Swap recipient. Well lets just say in this instance the Postal service have done their thing and the package has arrived safely at its destination. You will need to go visit Fiona to see what is inside. I packaged up my goodies for the Paper Bag swap and sent those on their way today, I'll have to wait and see how long they take to reach their destination across the waves. Smile for Friday. Happy Crafting

The Mailman Came!

Friday brought the mailman - first was a gorgeous Thank You from Leah who was the recipient of my package in the Sewing Love swap. She sent a beautiful card and some gorgeous scraps for me to include in future projects. The other was this gorgeous fabric from Sandy Hendersons Farmers Market range, I was very restrained and only ordered two pieces, though I am sure there will soon be more of this range in my collection, the colours are very vibrant and suitable for various projects. I had a couple of friends visit on the weekend and we did some stitching in between eating and drinking. I finished these three animal stitcheries whose pattern I found in an old Handmade magazine. I used variegated threads the cat and dog are DMC's and the rabbit is an Anchor thread. They are to be made up into bookmarks according to the pattern.

Hope your Monday was a good one.

Happy Crafting

Introducing Becky Bunny

This is what I did with my day off today and I am so happy with her I just had to come back and introduce her tonight. Okay, so really I started on Tuesday when I was home, I organised a pattern, read - I modified my bear pattern - so the head and the paw pads are the same as the bear pattern. I found some lovely soft Minki fabric in my collection and played. Rabbits really are taking over my place in time for Easter celebrations. I finished another bunny pouch today, and there is another almost done. Big smile for Friday! Happy Crafting

Craft show and progress

I had a very pleasant, if wet day, at the Stitches and Craft show on Saturday. I met the mother and sister in law for some serious girl time, but as I was too busy catching up I did not take any photo's. I liked the new concept and the space was big enough that we were able to get around easily and see everything, the variety of stalls and displays was fab. I played button bingo and won a bag of buttons, that was a lot of fun. The hands on spaces in the main hall were very busy and it was good to see people trying out new crafts, or just taking some time out to practice what they may already have some experience at. The highlight for me would have to be seeing all the selvedge projects in real life, oh and of course all the other amazing creations of the ladies in the indie crafts row. My purple ladies stitchery had an unexpected visit with some relatives at the Homespun stand, which turned out okay as there were no retailers with purple fabrics like I am looking for anyway. I only purchased two fat quarters and they have already been used, one is the blue which appears as binding on the following projects. The last two easter themed stitcheries became a fabric postcard and a needle book.

This is a progress shot of my cross stitch project, the stand where I purchased this kit five years ago still had the incomplete sample displayed at the show. Taking another look at the almost complete version though made me want to get it finished now! I am still working on it regularly but have been making time for the rabbits which are still multiplying and in various stages of production, maybe I will get some completed today.

Hope your week has been filled with crafty pursuits.

Happy Crafting

Shopping and Sewing

Not a lot happening here this week with the day job getting in the way again. Below are fabrics which I have been collecting for the quilt with the Red Brolly Ladies I stitched in Purple. Now I just need to decide on a design for the quilt and start cutting. The above fabrics were purchased from Primitive Patches at Mentone and the fabrics below are the ones I brought from Quilters Bazaar at Gisborne last weekend.

So far I have used the rabbit and chicken stitcheries in a patchwork bag and to decorate a journal cover. The bag is a design by the ladies at Pieceful Hearts printed in Patchwork and Stitching Vol7 No1. I have made this bag a number of times with different themes and all of them are so very different. It is an excellent size small carry bag, I use mine for taking hand sewing projects to my sewing group. My mum uses hers to take essentials when she is going market shopping. Below is a picture of the back which is also patched.

I am looking forward to heading into the Stitches and Craft show tomorrow to check out all the goodies and the talented local crafters displaying there.

Enjoy whatever your weekend brings.

Happy Crafting

Busy stitching and sewing

It is amazing what I can achieve while waiting for the call to work. Last week I started a new routine of getting up when the alarm went off and working on my cross stitch project for two hours each morning while waiting. So this is how much I achieved, I have almost finished her face and hair. The name of the project is Guardian Spirit by James Himsworth, I brought the kit five years ago and started work on it a week and a half ago. I am liking it a lot. I have made a good start on Easter projects having completed these simple stitcheries from The Red Brolly book Miss Millies Flower Patch. I will be using them to make up into gifts for Easter, hopefully I will be at the sewing machine this afternoon putting some of those together.

The pictures do not do justice to the beautiful Threadworx thread which I used it is in pastel shades of pink, mauve, green and lemon.

Finally some pictures of the pouches which I made last week. I tried something different with this red one - it has a box bottom and is a bit bigger than the size I usually make. The red bias tape is the old fashioned stuff that came from my Grandmothers stash. I like the result I just need to refine the process, I can see more of these in the future as gifts.

Now for the rabbits - these are zippered pouches also, I made several of these for my nieces at Christmas and they were much appreciated. I had some requests from friends so there will be more of these to come before the month is done. The pattern is from Craftzine and can be found here.

Time to get back to the cutting table and get some sewing done today.

Happy Crafting

Quilters Bazaar

Yesterday myself and two friends finally visited the new Quilters Bazaar shop in Gisborne. Our planned visit last month was postponed due to the adverse weather conditions which led to the destructive bush fires which continue to burn. After the rain and cooler conditions this past week we felt it was safe to venture out yesterday. The shop is a treasure trove of fabric and threads, with a good selection of patterns and books.The beautiful Recipe for Friendship fabrics greet you just inside the front door, oh that is after the coffee tables, yes you can get coffee here too. The colours in this fabric range are vibrant and the theme make it perfect for a kitchen quilt.

Look at all that delicious thread, a whole stand of Threadworx overdyed embroidery threads from the USA.

A gorgeous dolly among some more of the beautiful fabrics. The bolts of fabric which line an entire wall of this light and spacious shop are organised by ranges with a good selection to suit all tastes. Dolly was just beautiful with a wig knitted from a shaggy yarn and very cool bloomers under her dress.

We spent a lot of time in the quilt shop and all came away with some gorgeous purchases to compliment future projects. I will show what I got later when I take photo's of what I have been working on this week.

This beautiful rose was one of many on a large bush growing in a lane way off the main street.

Happy Crafting

AQC and breeding season

Well last week turned out to be busy. The day job got in the way of crafting and then I got to do something completely different on Friday. I worked on one of the stalls at the Australasian Quilt Convention which was held here in Melbourne last week. I enjoyed being there and the opportunity to talk to lots of creative people. The main feature of AQC is the amazing quilts in the displays. I really appreciate all the work which the artists put into their exhibits, they are just amazing, you can tell I can't find the words to decribe how completely in awe I am of these creators and what they achieve with fabric, paint and thread, oh yeah with beads and buttons thrown in for good measure. Just for a change of pace last week I began work on a cross stitch kit which has been in the cupboard for just a few years. I used to do a lot of cross stitch when I travelled regularly as it is compact and kits are perfect as everything is together. I have a couple still in the cupboard or the warehouse as a friend recently described the room in my house where most of the craft stuff lives. I will take a photo just as soon as it starts to look like something? Today I got to work on some Easter projects and I feel like the rabbits keep on breeding, it started out as one or two but somehow there are more than that in progress. I don't have any photo's yet as they are still in progress and I ran out of daylight, maybe tomorrow will be another sewing day? Happy Crafting