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!