Redwork Cushion Swap ~ Thanks Julia!

Ayden's back from camp now, and so is my camera. I could hardly wait to show these beautiful gifts from Julia as part of Maree's Redwork Cushion Swap!

Julia's stitching is fantastic and the combination of the red fabrics look so happy! I've photographed the cushion and the needle case, but there was also a pattern and variegated thread in the package too. Lucky me! Thank you so much Julia, and to Maree for organising this swap.

This week I was desperate. I'd finished off my Santa stitchery but I wasn't going to start anything new until I had put the binding on the Loose Change quilt.

Unfortunately the quilt was still wet and I can't watch tv in the evenings with empty hands can I? I got the unpicker out and went to the "unpick in progress" pile. It's such a sad pile. But I finished off this sewing bag designed by Rosalie Quinlan and replaced the ric rac that I didn't like and dragged out these fabric baskets. When I washed the wash away pen from these the cotton/linen fabric shrank a bit and left the linings bagging. Since they were supposed to be for my mum's birthday in January I will be pretty happy to get them finished by Mothers Day.

I hate unpicking :( but I do like to finish!

This weekend..

This weekend was cold and wet. Swimming lessons were not on with the ANZAC day holiday so we stayed (mostly) at home. There was an emergency run to Just Jeans to buy Ayden the only pair of jeans in his size because he was down to one pair that fit him - not enough to pack for his geography camp this week!

I finished off some not exactly perfect quilting on my Loose Change quilt .. Hooray. It needs to be washed now.... I completed this little bag by Cinderberry Stitches that had been sitting around as a stitchery for awhile. It can now go into the "ready gift" stash.

I've done the maths to increase the size of this quilt pattern to make Maya's quilt. I bought this pattern that I had seen in a magazine as soon as she was born. I just love the scalloped edge to the heart border. So pretty. Just a little peak of the Santa I have have been working on by Bronwyn Hayes too.

We also made Honey biscuits from Spoonful of Sugar and Kathryn's Pizza Scrolls. Both fantastic - thanks girls! Back to the packing now ...

Feeling Zippy!

I think I have the zips under control with this little pattern! Phew .... enough little make up bags made for the mothers days stall and a couple of gifts too. I can't decide which one I like the best..

Maya and I popped into Ballarat Patchwork at lunchtime today to pick out the fabrics for Maya's big bed quilt. Here are our choices - mostly fabrics from the Lucien "Flower Sugar" range. We thought we had better get in quick before they all sold out.

It's going to be a very cold weekend in Ballarat so hopefully I will be able to work on finishing off a couple of small projects and make a dint in my Loose Change quilt. Poor Maya is going to have to wait and stroke her fabric for a little while yet!

Thanks!

Thankfully I faced my fears about stippling and zips, and have stippled this table runner and now I just need to hand sew the binding on. I've practiced with zips in the hope I can make some cute little makeup bags for the boys to donate to the mothers day stall from this sweet pattern from Nikki.

Thank you for blogging friends with this stunning scarf and art card arriving from Catherine. Thanks Catherine! Maya hasn't pinched it yet to "make her bear cosy".

And thank goodness, the braces are coming off!!! I'm counting down to the Orthodontist appointment next month. Hooray!!

They rode the ponies!!!!

Sorry about the very dodgy photo of a photo, but just in case the clown doesn't want to be recognised I thought this would be best :)

6 year old Kane has been practically drooling ever time he saw the ads for the travelling circus on tv, so off we went this afternoon for the show. They loved it. So exciting, each of them liking something different.

And as this is a record for me, and maybe doesn't sound that grand, it makes me really happy.

In the intermission and after we had the photo taken, Kane asked if he could go on the pony ride. Our kids don't naturally go for animals. Yep, they like kittens (Maya's sort of getting used to them) like insects, moths and tiny lizards and our rabbit but that's about it. Then Maya asked if she could go too. They both lined up with Ayden while I stayed with Callum (ready to take a sneaky banned phone pic if they made it onto the ponies). And they did it. They loved it. And it really made us smile. I was waiting for the last minute backout, especially when a man had to lift Maya onto that pony.

I think the monkey riding the ponies gave them confidence.

Cute Buttercup Bag ..

Poor Maya wasn't well on Wednesday night, so on Thursday we spent a carers day together and we made up this very cute little bag. It's from the free buttercup bag pattern and we just added a fabric flower to it. The bag just uses a fat quarter for the outside and a small piece for the lining. Great! A very quick project too.

I'd bought this cute Kooka fabric from Ballarat Patchwork a little while ago but the heavier weight fabric needed a special project for it to work. It was fantastic for this little bag and I didn't need any stabliser with it at all.

Ayden's Goodie ..

Who says 15 year old boys won't do anything?

Ummm, me sometimes :) but here is the Goodie that Ayden has been working on for the past few weeks. He is part of his silver Duke of Ed challenge, and for 6 months Ayden will be making soft toys for children in local foster care. And of course, he is from Jodie's very cute "Goodies and Baddies" pattern.

I've done a bit of sewing in orange fabrics over the weekend.

I hope everyone had a great Easter. We have mountains of chocolate to get though, and a badminton net set up on the front lawn. Have to use up all that extra energy somehow!

Child with a lizard .. and other gifts

Here is very serious Maya patting one of the tiny lizards that live in our garden that Kane caught for her.

A perfect way to spend Good Friday. Great weather and Matt and the kids have been outside working on our garden while I finished off some sewing. It's been another week of deadlines, both crafty and corporate so to be with my family in the sunshine has been such a pleasure. The hot cross buns were good too!

Yesterday my Spring Swap parcel arrived too!. It was from Stephanie. See Stephanie's name on the big box was enough to make me smile. Maya is pretty happy too.

Stephanie sent me a Darla wallhanging. The detail on Darla is just amazing, with beautiful quilting, lace edging, prairie points and the cutest buttons. Stephanie shares my love of polka dots and pretty colours and sent me all this flannel fabric and heaps of floral fabric too. It was packaged up so, so cute, but I couldn't wait to get into it.

There were also sweet cupcake patty's for Easter and flower shaped buttons. I've already been into the buttons :) Thank you Stephanie. Your gifts are just beautiful and so thoughtful. Thanks too Linda for hosting another fantastic swap.

And I won this beautiful quilt pattern called "the Nature of Love" designed by Linda too! It's stunning Linda. I will enjoy making it.

Have a wonderful Easter xx

Playing hookey..

I've had so many deadlines over the past week, both with craftiness and the real job and the family too, that today I gave myself a bit of a break in the afternoon and started this table runner. This is just a peek of it, as it will be a gift, and I used Rachel's tutorial for a disappearing 9 patch and really enjoyed making it.

This weekend has been great. Matt gave himself a day off from the nursery and went off to Melbourne to the V Festival with some mates. I caught up with Jodie, Annie and Emma, and met Catherine, who made it down to Ballarat for the weekend from Swan Hill. That's just over a 3 hour drive. Lovely to spend some time with some of the blogging girls.

The kids did a bit of paper craft from the link here. It is really worth a visit, especially for the school holidays. The kids just amaze themselves with what they can achieve and the results are just beautiful. We have quite a few paper animal treasures around our place ..