Weekend Sewing

Over the Easter Break I had the intention of finishing off Ellie's quilt, but I made a bit of a mistake on it, and then lost interest as you do when you are someone who likes getting through things quickly and then realise you now need to spend some serious time fixing it.   Instead I thought i'd have a go at designing and making a gift for someone special (she is yet to receive it).  Hmmm.  A name for it.  I think i'll call it my felt stationary wrap.

All went fairly well, just a few little things i'd change in the future (mainly placement of the pockets as they were a little too close to the bottom seam).  I made the centre pocket large enough to carry envelopes as well as an A5 notepad, so I hope she finds it useful!  I will find out soon.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter Weekend.  I'd love to hear what you made too!

Easter Reading

Ahhh. Don't you just love a long weekend? Especially Easter, because it's extra long.  I am really looking forward to celebrating Easter this year. I have four whole days to enjoy adult company and shared childcare (yay!).  Not that looking after our little munchkin is in any way resented, it's just nice to have a break in routine with my lovelies.  It also means that I might actually get some time to work on a few more projects and get some reading done. I still haven't read my latest issue of mixtape, which Mr Postman delivered in March! I'm also looking forward to cracking open this sublime stitching pattern which I received as my subscriber gift this time round. Nice one team mixtape. Thanks.

I think i'll take a little break from posting over the holiday weekend, so Happy Easter to you all. I really hope you enjoy a lovely weekend with people you love as we remember Jesus' amazing sacrifice and celebrate his gift of salvation.  G x

Free stuff I love: Wee Wonderfuls & Grace Designs

Hi everyone,

Today marks the first installment of a Wednesday Series I am starting for a while on "Free stuff I love" - a link to cool, fun and hopefully useful freebies online that I am hoping you will love as much as I do!  

Todays link is for a really cute little bunny developed by Hillary Lang at Wee Wonderfuls.  Isn't he gorgeous?   He is called Wee Bunny and you can download the pattern and instructions by clicking on the tab "freebies" at the Wee Wonderfuls blog here. I can't wait to make him.  A great gift for a little person.

[image from Wee Wonderfuls via Sew Mama Sew!]

Now, despite having prepared this above post and link for you yesterday, I cannot help but add another great free printable download I have just discovered moments ago!  Head over to one of my favourite blogs Grace Designs for your free tutorial and template for making bunting. This is a great pattern from Rosalind that is easy to make and will look great wherever you use it!  Check it out here.  

[image from Grace Designs]

So there you have it.  Bunnies and Bunting - two for the price of none!

Someone buy me: Meet me at Mikes

If you haven't seen this book by Pip Lincolne floating around in the Aussie blogs over the last few weeks I don't know where you've been!  I would LOVE to receive or purchase this one.  I have a growing list of lovely crafty books I'm wishing for, so i'm hoping that maybe sometime soon I might be able to get one of them ... 

If you want it too, then you can buy it here

Someone buy me: a giraffe please

I love giraffes.  Especially for kiddies.  I hope Ellie likes them as much as I do, although I think at the moment she loves puppies and birds more.  Oh well.  Maybe a Giraffe is a little too expensive.  I could get one of these instead:

Original Painting by Jessica Simanowski  'A Zoo Within'

Natural Giraffe by Happy Squash Toys

'All God's Children' Limited Edition Art Print by Robert David Bretz

Felted wool pouch featuring flying giraffe design from Out of the Box

New Donna Hay Store

Oh, Goodie!!  Look what I just discovered! I just received an email telling me about this new store from Donna Hay (thanks Greg!).  The store just opened a few days ago, so if you're in the Sydney area, perhaps it might be a nice place to visit? Sounds like it's not just full of Donna's usuals, but instead she's says "the shelves are filled with treasures I've collected from around the world.  It's everything I love, from hand-thrown artisan ceramics to a beautiful range of products for little ones and beauty for everyone.  Best of all, there's a confiserie with macaroons, truffles and more to tempt."  Sounds yum.  Details of the store are below or on Donna's website.

A thing for blue

Despite my recent love affair with red, I really do have a thing for blue, and I always have.   Here are some of my favourite purchases from March.  I don't know when I'll use them, but I love these fabrics from Leslie.  Check out the gorgeous double sided cotton/linen - the possibilities are endless.   I can't decide which one's my fave, I keep looking and gazing and looking...but it's been a month now, and I still can't pick.  Any ideas on what I could do with them?

I also decided to splurge on this art below from Jennifer at madebygirl (mind you, everything is a splurge at the current exchange rate!). It beautifully sums up the way many of us feel about this lovely world called blogs.  And you can never beat a good cup of tea - I feel particularly fond of it this year, because I had to give it up during my pregnancy due to terrible heartburn, and well, I come from a long line of tea lovers, so it is perfect.  I plan on putting it on the wall in our study/library/creative space/spare room (whatever you want to call it).  Cool huh? I love it.