Wedding Belle

My beautiful daughter on her Wedding Day. We will be sharing some DIY Wedding ideas over the next couple of weeks. Staring with this very simple idea of sharing a history of both family Weddings.

Yes it does mean that you have to get out all the old embarrassing wedding albums and laughing your way through those stylised 80's shots or is that just me?

The only ones that looked truly stylish were my grandparents generation. Which lead me to the conclusion that you need to wait roughly 50 to 70 years to appreciate these photo's. Each photo was photocopied (the originals are just too precious) and placed into various size vases and recycled coffe/pasta jars. The vases/jars were then filled with shredded celophane, this helps keep the photo close to the glass surface so eliminates distortion.

The photo's were then displayed at the reception with scattered rose petals and candles. It really created lots of discussion, laughs and a fair helping of nostalgia and helped creat a sense of history for the newly weds.

Non fattening Easter Eggs

I have been lucky enough to find some really cute patterns lately and just in time for Easter. I often find seasonal patterns at the last minute and don’t have time to make them.

I found this pattern for material eggs from Retro –mama. It is a free pattern and so simple to make. Got to love that!

I used a couple of charm packs that I had stashed away and two charm squares makes one egg. I think I have to face facts and acknowledge that I am not the best stuffer around. I always seem to end up a bit lumpy and lopsided. Well I think I found a solution at least for eggs. When i had finished sewing them up I wet them in a bowl of water and shook them around in two plastic strainers that I attached together with a rubber band and well shook the crap  life out of them and wallah some nice shaped eggs.

I also made these felted eggs with some supplies I found at Spotlight i can’t remember where I saw the demo for them (sorry to that person) I read it late one night a couple of weeks ago so had to do them from memory and this is where I got the sieve idea from.

The bag I have the eggs in is from make life sweet blog. They have a club called the label crew which i joined and each month I am sent a pattern and some custom labels.

And with all the shaking to reshape the eggs I figure they are doubly good as you are exercising as you go.

Happy Easter if I don’t get back to blogland before then.

Annie

Not sure where February Went????

Hi Well I’m really not sure where February went and as for March I’m just catching up.

Not alot of sewing to report I have started some hexagons as an ongoing see where it leads type of project and I did find some cute doll patterns at Bit of Whimsy Dolls and at the moment they are having a 20% of sale when you enter the code: Spring2011 at checkout.

I have made Butterbean and Jean.

The other thing I have been experimenting with has been Soy Candles. Soy candles are both good for the environment and us so make sense to me. At the moment I am doing lots of test burns for fragrance and colour. I am doing this in conjunction with a friend and we are calling them Polka Dot Candles you can find us on facebook but I’m not sure how to link. We will have container candles, tea-lights and melts for sale but that is a bit down the track. With lots more testing to be done.

I will try to keep up with blogging and sewing and fit candlemaking and work in somewhere.

Best wishes Annie

Nearly forgot

Hi I nearly forgot my most important finish for this month. I have mentioned it in previous posts but forgot to post a photo.  I think the thing I love most about this quilt is that with the hand quilting it is really soft and cuddly. I made another one last year and machine quilted that one and although they were identical the machine quilted one was much stiffer, not quite the right word but I’m sure you know what I mean.

I can just imagine Immi cuddled up on the lounge with it as she grows. A lovely image!

The other photo I have is not craft related but just very beautiful and was captured in our garden last Thursday. This butterfly had just emerged from it’s cocoon on our potted orange tree.

I’m not much of a photographer, I only have the camera on my phone but I was so happy to see this. Do you get excited by stuff like that? I hope so.

Love Annie

Just so Sweet

Hi I want to start this post by congratulating all the craft bloggers and the craft community in general for so generously supporting the Qld Flood Disaster, almost $100.000.00 to aid flood affected people.

I love reading blogs and am always inspired by what other people are doing and quite often overwhelmed by their work load and creativity and sometimes I feel just plain overwhelmed.

I am sure that most of the time this is my place to just talk to myself as I don’t get many comments back and that is fine as I understand I never have anything that earth shattering to say but if you do drop by and read could you please just sometimes leave a comment because when you do I walk around with a silly grin for awhile.

Ok now down to business I found a great  little dress pattern through a link on 2 Giggle Boxes blog. The dress is called strangely enough “Sweet Little Dress Pattern” by Leila and Ben. I purchased the pattern in sizes ranging from 3mths to 5yrs, I hope Immi likes it.

These are the 3 I have made so far and then someone came up with the idea of matching headbands which of cause no self respecting 6mth old can do with out! Well the dress takes less than an hour to make but the headbands because I had to make them up as I go (please don’t laugh I am strictly a follow the pattern type of girl and not so good at that) took me hours and many prototypes to come up with the “simple little number you see above!

I also found another dress pattern really a girl can’t have too many dresses called “The Perfect Day” by Cuddles*n*Chaos  again a beautifully written and constructed pattern that is a print at home PDF.

It takes took me longer than the other dress but this could say more about my sewing skills than the pattern. I also used it as an opportunity to learn to make some continuous binding. I just typed continuous binding into google and looked at several youtube videos. I didn’t save the links but if you want to have a go I’m sure you can find a tutorial on the net to help you. This is not hard and a relatively small piece of fabric gives you a lot of binding.

Happy sewing, crocheting, knitting whatever you’re doing

Annie

PS Don’t forget OPAM is open for 2011 see sidebar

Let them eat cake

This is my first attempted at a cake stand that I found on Cindy's blog. This blog is full of clever handmade gifts that really would suit everyone.

Cindy’s blog gives clear concise instructions with lots of pictures to guide those of us that find written instructions a challenge.lol

I picked up these plates on sale and the hardware is pretty cheap so all up it probably came in at under $10. I can’t wait to try out more I think I would like to pick up some antique (old) bits and bobs to dress it up a bit, the possibilities are endless.

Imagine one using cute fairy plates to dress up a little girls party table, (sorry Sarah, i wish I had thought of that one earlier) or super hero plates for a little boy, oh my imagination is going wild.

I needed my DH help as no-one in their right mind would let me near a power tool or saw for that matter, but I’m sure most people could manage but it was fun to do something like this together.

I am pleased to also announce that I have finished the hand quilting on Imogen’s mini Dresden quilt (no photo’s yet) and should get to the binding tomorrow fingers crossed.

Well I still have another set of plates to experiment with so…………….

Bye for now Annie

Sushi

Ok so there is nothing remotely resembling sewing going on here today but my girls decided we would have sushi for lunch! It was just the 3 of us +Imogen home and i had to have some blood tests so they took over the kitchen.

I have only attempted sushi making on one other occasion and with only moderate success, but i had received a sushi making kit for Christmas and the girls were keen and I was hungry so really a match made in heaven.

I think I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think we can say success all round. This little gadget is amazing and it all took less than about 20min from start to finish.

Thanks girls love you.

PS Sewing tomorrow

Finally

Yesterday I decided it was high time that I did something nothing earth shattering just something.... But I felt that it would be wrong to start something new when I had so many unfinished projects, so that is how I spent yesterday. No not finishing them all ( I wish ) but at least making a start.

I had been working on this crocheted blanket since October I think. I have used my favorite bamboo yarn and a 5mm hook. The granny squares are about 4" and there are 4 rounds in each square. I used roughly 6 or 7 collude in total and finished each square in the white. I have used 80 squares in total.

This blanket started from reading Kelly's blog who was learning to crochet and although I am no expert  I have been doing it since I was a child off and on and this post really inspired me to give it a go. Granny squares were the first thing that I learnt to do and I had so much fun doing them again so many years later. There are some great instructions at attic24.typepad.com

 

 

My next finish is going to have to be Immi's Dresden Plate quilt I know, how ashamed am I that I am still not finished and I don't have a great excuse I think I just got waylaid and distracted.

I don't have any photo's as yet as I can't find my camera/phone cord but I will upload them as soon as I find it, it has to be here somewhere under this pile of mess right.

Found it! It wasn't that buried after all.

We also caught up with some friends and this was my contribution to a lovely afternoon drinks. Caramel pavlova.......... Yum

Have a great day from Annie

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Hello

Merry Christmas to all. We had a fantastic day starting off with us having our first Christmas in a while with a baby, so much fun. I didn't,t expect Imogen to be so into the whole thing but she was so excited and it was infectious. I think this photo says it all!




I haven't been sewing a lot lately which is a bit sad as Christmas sewing is my favorite kind, but sometimes you just have to accept that you can't do everything and a friend and I started a business venture (a grand title for a little thing) it is not sewing related and we both still have day jobs so life became a bit hectic leading up to Christmas. I am on holidays now and so i'm hoping to dust off the machine and see what I can do.




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Dahlia

Hi this is my second finish for this weekend this cute as can be doll is called “Dahlia” by Melly and Me. Dahlia is going to be a slightly late birthday gift for Abby who is also as cute as can be.

Abby is only two so I opted for Suffolk puffs instead of buttons for her shoes . I’ll hopefully send her off in the next couple of days.

Annie

Strike!

It’s amazing what happens to a ball when you cut it using the pattern directions! Sorry Melly I think I’m “patterned challenged” your directions are awesome it’s me not you! LOL

This may also explain pointy headed bowling buddies. Who knew!

Annie

Bowling Buddies

I recently purchased a pattern from the new Melanie Hurlston pattern range called Sew Little. It is titled “Bowling Buddies” and is so sweet.

She has used her new fabric range called "Little Menagerie" I haven’t been able to source this range yet in any local shops so will have to look further afield or online. I of course couldn’t wait to get started and so decided to use some scraps that I had lying around.

 

So this is my mismatched first attempt at “Bowling Buddies”. I am still working on the ball my first attempt looked more like a rugby league ball than a bowling ball so i am going to have another go at it, I think it’s all in the stuffing and my technique needs some tweeking, obviously!

The pins are not as straight as Mellies but I can live with that, they kind of look like they are peeking around corners or maybe hiding from the ball “don’t get me” I can hear them saying, their heads are also pointier than the pattern again I think it is the stuffing but they are cute and I love them. But the ball is  a whole other story and really needs work.

The pattern range is great and I would advise anyone who sews for young children to check it out.

Annie

 

Irene’s quilt

This is a project I have been working on for a little while and I was finally able to give Irene her quilt. Irene is my aunty and only 10years older than me and has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. The quilt has been a family collaboration, this picture shows part of the back of the quilt where family members from near and far were able to send Irene messages of support.

We all know that cancer is no match for the strength of Irene.

We all want her to know that we are there for her every step of the way and the messages on the quilt come from everyone's heart.

Love you Irene

Annie

loose Change

I think this pattern is usually referred to as a coin quilt? Or something along those lines. It came about when I was cleaning up my sewing room really it was just making new piles and moving them to a new place and then replacing that pile with another one, quite futile really. Anyway I came across a partly used “jelly roll” of this cute pink range and some Moda basic jelly roll in white and this quilt was made in an instant it felt, well the top was and as I’m sure anyone who reads this blog will know the finished product may take awhile I have called it “Loose Change” as it really just came together out of not much and I will use the left over rectangles to make a couple of quilts for the hospital delivery suite.

I have also been making some little fabric shoes for Imogen, I googled baby shoe patterns and quite a few came up but are often a repeat or very similar of the same pattern the one I ended up using was a “Kimono Baby Shoe created by Aimee Larsen from www.homespun-threads.com The other one which I didn’t use is called Cloth Baby Shoe but didn’t give credit to any designer, so I’m not sure I felt like I looked at so many it all became a blur. For the front pair I drafted a pattern from an existing pair that we had and made them a bit smaller. They were fun but fiddly to make but looked oh so cute on.

Oopps forgot to singe the ribbon!

Annie

Quilt for Sue

I read about this story on a blog friends blog and it really touched me. Lizzie's friend Sue is dying and she is putting a quilt together for her and is asking for "orphan" blocks of any size. Please visit and read her story it is not mine to tell and if you can help please contact her.
http://nanalizzie.blogspot.com/

Fabulous Friday Follow

" />Hi I have just joined this group and it seems like a fun way to get to see lots of different blogs and increase followers to your blog, there are more details at the bottom of the linky thing , so join and we can all join in the fun!

A bathroom update

You might remember this

 

Well now it looks like this

 

I can’t imagine what people go through renovating a whole house, I take my hat off to them, one bathroom was enough for me although we were so happy with the results that we are now contemplating a kitchen make-over. This is long overdue and apparently not as disruptive as a bathroom, will keep you updated.

I have decided to hand quilt the second baby Dresden quilt. I basted it together last Friday at the new patchwork shop in Raymond Terrace. Jenny the owner is very accommodating and the shop is well worth a look. My hand quilting is not that even or small but I can see some improvement as I am going along and I don’t think that Imogen will be a harsh critic and that is who I am making it for so i think i will be ok, She doesn’t look like she will mind, does she. In fact as long as she is fed i don’t think much worries this little doll.

So this is what i will work on this weekend and also finish the “mini Tote” which is the last project in the “bag sew along” hosted by Kelly. I didn’t get to work on Flirting with Flowers last week and I doubt I will get it done this weekend but It will get done, I promise.

Love Annie

Time wasters

Well I think that when people say babies are great time wasters they are really onto something. I am just so in love with Imogen and can’t spend enough time with her. She is now 3 and half weeks old and such a personality already. I think in this photo she is saying enough photo’s, it was about the 20th i had taken that afternoon. As a consequence of all this baby gazing I really haven’t done alot of sewing or anything else for that matter. i did manage to get back on track with the Make a bag sew along and finished the mini make-up roll and the glass case holder but haven’t got a photo to share. I am also crocheting a cot size vandyke patterned blanket for Immi. This is a good project because it is easy to pick up and put down. if you know what i mean. My intention this weekend is to get back on track with the Flirting with Flowers BOM. Vicki put the last block up a week or so ago. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Happy stitching, knitting, embroidering or what ever it is that you enjoy.

Annie