Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition 2014.

My Umbrella Prints Trimmings project for 2014 is complete and I'm so happy with how it turned out!  I started with a pack of Trimmings in Soft.  Below is what I was sent...

And this is what it all became... Ready for a visual overload?

Clearly I'm not a photographer, and this in particular was super tricky to photograph in a way that captures the beauty of the teeny tiny hexies as well as the quilting and the table runner as a whole.  If you're on pinterest you may like to check out what everyone else has been making, and also vote for your faves here by commenting on the images.  I'm so pleased with how this finished up, and now just need to refinish our very old table and reupholster our very old dining chairs in some delicious Umbrella Prints too!!

Read on for details on how it all came together and more pics of the process...

I wanted to learn English paper piecing and decided this would be a great opportunity to give it a go, and after reading countless online tutorials settled on making some half inch hexagons {each side of the hexie measures half an inch or 1.25cm, they are one inch across the widest part - yes super tiny!},  made as many as I could {114} out of the fabrics received and played around with various layouts.

Then it was onto sewing all those teeny tiny hexies together before one of the kids destroyed the placement!  This took h o u r s...

Followed by basting and stitching to the backing fabric, which I ended up doing by hand and machine as this piece is quite delicate, and I really don't want it to fall apart after all this effort.  Though, I would've loved to keep the puffy handstitched hexagons for more of a vintage feel.

And finally quilting {hexagons + triangles} and binding using natural linen to tie in with the linen fabrics in the Trimmings and frame the whole piece.  Have I mentioned I love it? I do!

Umbrella Prints Trimmings.

It's on again, the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition. Hoping I'll be a tad more organised with it this year, but I do love a deadline to get me moving!!  I want this year's attempt to involve a bit of relaxed creativity, so I've already begun working on it, and it's certainly a labour of love.  Below are the fabrics I received...

My photos don't do them justice, but believe me, they are all gorgeous, the colours, textures and the way they all work together.  I also decided to learn me a new skill and give English paper piecing a go, so after reading countless online tutorials these have been turned into a stack of teeny tiny little hexagons.  The plan is to turn them into a placemat or table runner... I always think I'm planning something simple but it turns into something of epic proportions.  I'm wishing I'd kept track of the many hours that have gone into these tiny hexagons, just for my own interest, but I'm loving it so far and I can't wait to see how it finishes up!

Sad Neglected Blog.

 

 Image from here

This little space has been so neglected lately, there's just so much going on and I'm behind in everything I'm doing.  I pin the blame on a new job, keeping me busy while trying to juggle all the other balls. On the upside I get to work with fabric in this new job and that's always a good thing, right?!

Giving :: Rum Balls

My mother-in-law makes the most delicious Rum Balls!  They are not too squishy, not too rum-my, and freeze really well, which can make for an organised lead up to Christmas.  Perfect for gifting to friends, neighbours, colleagues, and teachers, the only downside would be all the rolling involved in making enough for all those eager recipients!

Rum Balls
1/2 pound dark chocolate, melted
1/2 tin sweetened condensed milk
4 Tablespoons chopped walnuts
4 Tablespoons chopped glace cherries
4 Tablespoons dessicated coconut
12 Nice biscuits, crushed
2 Tablespoons rum
optional - a little preserved ginger, finely chopped.
chocolate sprinkles

Melt chocolate in the microwave in 30sec bursts, stirring after each zap. Did you know that chocolate can hold it's shape even when melted, so you could end up with a burned mass of chocolate (that doesn't look melted but really is) if you don't stir it?
While that's happening I crush my biscuits in the food processor, then add to melted chocolate with the condensed milk.
Then I whizz the walnuts and cherries in the food processor and add to the other ingredients in the bowl along with the dessicated coconut, and rum. Stir well until combined and roll into walnut sized balls, then roll in chocolate sprinkles.
Place them in an airtight container in the freezer for storage and remove as needed for guests or gifts.

Notes

You can make these as big or as small as you want, my MIL makes small ones, just a little bite. While I get impatient with rolling and make slightly bigger ones! Just remember that they're quite rich so a little goes a long way - I've seen some huge rum balls in cafes but haven't ever tried them, these would be too rich if made that size.

Hello 2014!

We're almost a month into the new year and it's been too long since I popped in here!  Our family has been busy enjoying the summer, taking things slow, heading to the beach, parks, pools, cricket and catching up with friends.  

 

It's been delightful and I'm reminding myself to enjoy the chaos and mess from having all five of us home because before long the boys will be back at school and work, there will be uniforms to iron and lunchboxes to fill, notes to keeps track of and schedules to keep!

I have also used the last few weeks to finish up projects that I started during the previous year, and ended up relegating to the WIP pile.  I've finished crocheting a lap rug, and quilting and binding two single bed quilts for the boys, during hot summer days and nights.  I am so very thankful for air conditioning as most of it has been done while sitting right under the cold air, and now we're all ready for some cooler weather!

They are far from my best work, and quilting them was one of the most frustrating things I've ever done. I have so much respect for those makers who churn out quilts each week, I don't know how they do it! These have taken me months to make, in between sewing for Indigo Elephant, and working on other bits and pieces, but it's definitely rewarding to see them finished and know that the boys love them!

Giving :: Rocky Road

Rocky Road is a favourite treat at our place during Christmas.  Super easy to make, loved by all and so great to customize to the recipient's tastes!!  The kids have been gifting their teachers this for the last couple of years and it's always been well received. 

There's no real recipe for it, just melt two blocks of your favourite eating chocolate (white, milk or dark), then stir through enough additions to achieve a lumpy finish, pour into a lined baking tin/dish and refrigerate until set. Cut into logs or squares, wrap and gift! Too easy!!

Some combinations of treats to include in the rocky road are below, but really you're only limited by your imagination...

White chocolate, marshmallows, raspberry lollies
White chocolate, marshmallows, cranberries, pistachios

Milk chocolate, turkish delight, marshmallows, macadamias
Dark chocolate, marshmallows, hazlenuts, coconut
Dark chocolate, choc coated ginger, pistachios

And The Winner Is...

Brittney December 12, 2013 at 9:33 AM

I would definitely turn them into a beautiful messenger bag

I had grand plans to make a pretty announcement for the blog, but didn't get around to it. So congratulations Brittney, I'm sending an email your way to get your postal details! Thanks so much to everyone who entered, I've loved reading all your comments and my little blog has loved the attention!  I wish I could send you all some fabric but stay tuned for the next installment of SMS Giveaway Day in a few months time!!

Pinned!

Are you a lover of Pinterest?  A dedicated pinner like me?  Such a wonderful site for procrastinating keeping track of kids party ideas, design and decorating trends, recipes to try, anything really!  But so hard to keep up with all the great ideas flowing around the blogosphere, which is why, when I finally try something I've pinned, I feel the need to shout it from the rooftops!

This is rosemary wreath, made with rosemary from our garden, but slightly wilted from the summer heat. At least I can add to it if it starts looking too withered. It was too hard to centre on the ugly screen door and the peephole, which drives me crazy.  But it smells so amazing, every time the door is opened you get a whiff of rosemary!

Giveaway Day! NOW CLOSED

Hello!! Welcome if you're here visiting from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, hi to all the regulars! I'm so glad you came by and hope you'll stay awhile.  This is my first time participating in Giveaway Day despite many years of clicking around blogland being introduced to new, creative blogs.

 

Having a little girl in the family this last year and a bit has seen a huge influx of girly fabric to my stash, not necessarily pinks and the like but for this giveaway it certainly is!  I'm totally crushing on geometric prints at the moment and these fabrics tick so many boxes. From the Simpatico range by Michelle Engel Bencsko for Cloud 9 fabrics, these organic cottons are great for a range of uses. I'm offering up half a metre (20 inches) of each fabric pictured above.

Here's how to enter:

* leave a comment on this post letting me know how you'd use this fabric.
* get a second bonus entry - in a separate comment let me know that you follow this blog, or become a follower and let me know.
Please be sure to have a current email address either in your comment or attached to your profile!

Giveaway open internationally!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Three Months Later...

And I'm baaaack... again! When life gets busy, blogging just gets pushed aside.  Things have definitely been busier than ever around here. Over the last few months we've celebrated two kids birthdays, my birthday, done a couple of local markets, made what feels like a tonne of stock for Shop Handmade and more recently been flat out with end of year shenanigans!

The cake from Miss J's first birthday!

Can you believe that Christmas is just a few short (and busy) weeks away?  As usual I have a huge list of sewing to accomplish in that time.  They're mostly gifts, though I'm really hoping to squeeze in a little selfish sewing too, perhaps a little ambitious!  Plus there's all the food gifts to make and the last few school functions to attend, oh and a short break to the beach for some rest and relaxation pre-Christmas!  I'm hoping to share some of my makes over the next few weeks, as they're gifted, though true to form one has already been given and I haven't taken any pictures of it!

Hope you're enjoying your lead-up to Christmas, do you have a huge list of things to do as well? Please share and make me feel a bit better about my list!

Winter Begone...

It's been a long painful winter around these parts, not that it's been particularly cold, but because since mid-June at least one of the five of us has had a bad cold with four weeks of flu shared around as well. We're well and truly over it and looking forward to all being back to normal soon.  The silver lining is the break from all my regular busyness has allowed me to learn new things and improve old skills! One of which was learning to crochet!

Some weeks ago I was encouraged by one of my wonderful friends to try learning to crochet (thanks Lucy!). It has been on my list of things to try for ages and I've been following a few bloggers who crochet and admiring their work.  If you're after some inspiration go and check out Dover & Madden, Vicki is so so clever and her work is meticulous.  Definitely great for inspiration.

Head over and check out the Dover & Madden blog 

We're fortunate enough to own some of Vicki's knitted hats, they really are objects of beauty, extremely well made, and incredibly stylish. Jemima has been kept warm on crisp morning walks to school and windy afternoon pick ups with her Hilary hat. Vicki also crochets stunning baby blankets, with tips shared on her blog, which is full of inspiring photography.

Jemima rocks her Hilary!

Anyway, all the time spent cuddling sick kids on the lounge was put to good use and armed with a stack of youtube tutorials I set to work learning to crochet.  I'm by no means an accomplished crochet-er but love being able to work on something creative while unwinding at the end of a busy day, as well as the gratification of completing even a tiny part of something.  I've set myself the task of making a throw to keep us warm and toasty on the lounge, and the work in progress has become a favourite of our eldest as seen below!

Armed with tissues and less than half a throw, what more does a sick boy need?

I'm just hoping to get it finished before Summer begins, and with Spring just around the corner I need to get busy!

Just to make it clear this isn't a sponsored post, I haven't been paid for my opinions of Dover & Madden products, I just genuinely love Vicki's work!

Heading Back To Market!

If you're one of our facebook friends, you would've heard that we're dipping our toes into the market scene again, albeit slowly and in a small way!  So, this Friday, Sydney peeps can find us at a great initiative run by a local cafe...

Did you hear Air Coffee is going to be open on a Friday night for a special event? We're hosting Makers' Pop-Up on Friday June 28 (7pm to late).
Entry is free to all, just come along and:

PARTICIPATE: Bring your own small craft projects to work on in a creative space with like-minded people

APPRECIATE: Check out the pop-up stalls by local artisans selling a range of beautiful handmade clothes and products

EAT CAKE: In addition to our great coffee, our chef is also planning a special snack menu featuring winter comfort food and some of our favourite cakes

There's something for everyone, so make sure to tell all your friends. Hope to see you on the night!

So if you're looking for something to do this coming Friday, grab some friends, your needles, hooks, sketchbook etc and get yourselves to AIR Coffee 1/10 Salisbury Road, Castle Hill. Hope to see you there, I'm particularly looking forward to the 'eat cake' part of the night!

KCW Day 7 :: And on the seventh day she crashed!

Oh it's been a long week... The baby and I have been sick for most of it, with my antibiotics only just kicking in! So today was a bit of a fizzer in terms of sewing. There was lots to do to get the family ready for the return to school as well so all that was made is this last minute Oliver + s Lazy Days Skirt.

It doesn't use the full width of fabric so it isn't as gathered as it could be, but probably doesn't need to be for a baby.  Made using the same fabrics as the second Ice Cream Blouse, grey as main fabric though and the floral made into some binding for the hem. This was another one of those insanely easy and gratifying projects, and there will definitely be many more of these in our baby's future wardrobes!

Apart from sewing this skirt up, Day 7 was spent taking up hems on the big boy's winter school trousers. Needless to say, halfway through the term I had to let them down again. That kid is growing like a weed - but waay cuter!

KCW Day 6 :: Another Ice Cream.

During my break with knits on Day Two I decided to cut out another Ice Cream top! Yes before the first was even made, but my faith in Oliver + s patterns is so great that I knew it wouldn't be a waste! I started making it along with the first one but stopped part way in as I wanted to add some piping between the yoke and bodice.  Of course the fabric for the piping hadn't been pre-washed, so the top was put on hold while the piping was made!

Really happy with how this turned out despite having the same issues as the last one with the yoke attachment.  It was planned for the autumn weather,  to be layered with a long sleeve tee and worn with long pants or a skirt and tights, but we've had some really stunning days, with temps in the mid to high 20s (celcius), so shorts it was!  Now I'm hoping she'll still be wearing it come summer!

KCW Day 5 :: Pyjama Day!

The boys always seem to need more pyjama pants and each year I feel like I add a bigger hem , and each year they outgrow them. So this time I added even more length to the hem in the hope that these will last them just that bit longer.

Pyjama pants are so gratifying to make because they come together super fast, especially is you use a one piece pattern!  These were made with the pattern in Sewing For Boys, omitting the faux fly for even speedier sewing, but adding about 5cm extra to the length.

The fabrics are from Spotlight, sold as a cotton poplin but feels more like a quilting cotton. The boys love the fabrics and there's enough left to make them some pyjama shorts for Summer! Win!!

KCW Day 4 :: Apple Picking.

Day Four was all about the Ice Cream Blouse by Oliver + s.  Another easy to understand pattern with great results... Though I did struggle with one part! 

Those of you who've made an Ice Cream Dress will know the bit I mean, it's right at the end where you're trying to attach the back yoke to the bodice and it all gets a bit tricky. It didn't matter how many tips on blogs or forums I read, it just wouldn't work. So in the end I did it as best I could and then hand finished around the join to neaten it all up. 

Don't you think the French seams are beautiful! Love how neat and tidy they look!! Just need to work out what to pair this with, maybe we need some new pants?  I think the fabric selection was subconciously influenced by our recent apple picking adventure, we brought home kilos of apples and loved eating them!

Fabric: Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Farmers Market Apple Dot.

Pattern: Ice Cream Blouse - Oliver + S, size 6-12mth.

KCW Days 2 & 3 :: Skinny Tees Galore!

Days Two and Three have been all about the 10 - 15 minute bursts of sewing here and there and I'm ready to hurl these Tees in the bin!

The sleeves were set fine,  definitely getting better at pinning and sewing them in. Fixing the binding around the neck opening of one beat me for the rest of Day Two.  For a reason I'm yet to work out, the machine kept chewing up the fabric and not feeding it along, and after unpicking the first attempt I didn't have the energy to unpick the second. My long held dislike for knits curling up, stretching and basically not playing nicely has been lived out over the last two days but I'm determined to conquer these shirts. 

Version 1 :: made using an old maternity dress for the main body and some red ponte from the stash. He loves it, so a win there!

Version 2 :: another make from an old dress. The attempt to turn it into a dress wasn't too successful, the neckline is a mess and with a bubba who is still commando crawling the front is already pilling.  This one was definitely a learning experience!

Version 3 :: using up some more fabric from the stash, the most roll-y annoying fabric ever. Added a band at the hem for a bit of extra length (and because I couldn't get the hem to sit flat long enough to sew it!)!

Version 4 :: this cotton jersey was much easier to work with in that it didn't roll up but it also doesn't have as much stretch to it so the neck was a challenge. Appliqued some paper aeroplanes on it because who doesn't love paper aeroplanes? May need to make another  because the middle child has worked out that the eldest got two shirts!

All in all a huge learning experience for me. Still haven't come around to enjoying working with knits but I'll be back and work on some more {one day}... they will not get the better of me!

Umbrella Prints Trimmings Comp.

 

Above is what I started with and below is my entry into the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Comp. And as the saying goes, there's nothing like the last minute for getting things done... or something like that, and I'm still hoping I get it submitted in time!  The post might be a bit of a photo overload so apologies in advance.

I received my Trimmings ages ago and had an idea for what to make with them but the fear of messing it all up kept me from starting it till quite recently.  In fact, quite a few times through the process I was tempted to bin the whole thing, but persevered to get it done.  Of course as soon as I decided to push on, everything seemed to conspire against me finishing! And despite some sleepless nights with a sick bubba it was completed stopped being worked on so I could submit - reminds of uni in so many ways!!

From the beginning my ideas revolved around making a collage with something related to our family and some text. From that starting point it developed to what you see here. Everything is stitched by machine or hand onto a linen base cloth, though in hindsight I should have used something a little thicker and perhaps darker than this.  The people represent us, though we don't quite look like that exactly!

The text is classic Beatles, and something to hold onto through life.  I also loved finding a way to squeeze in a whole elephant into the type, you all know how much I love me some elephants!

The fabric is stretched over an 16" x 12" canvas, and it may one day make it's way to one of our walls. I'm more than a little tempted to cut it up to improve the layout, but haven't decided yet. Now it's finished I can think of so many alternative ways to have done this, different compositions, different text, maybe even a different pack of Trimmings... perhaps next year!