Quilting progress

For a hand sewn quilt, I'm quite happy with my progress actually!! I only have around 15 days before neicephew is due, so i need to get a wriggle on!

I roughly laid the plan out on the floor last night and I like the way it's going to look. The cream squares indicate where the Beatrix Potter "scenes" fabric will go. The "scenes" are gorgeous and are basically taken straight from the books with tales of Tabitha Twitchett, Jemima Puddleduck and others.

The background will be a cream or cream check material to match the alternating diamond in the leMoyne star below.

In the middle of the star I've made a yo-yo with a well-sewn in button from Grandma's stash. The yo-yo protects the button edges so neicephew doesn't pull it off!

I needed the central yo-yo (or Suffolk puff - i think i like this name better!!) as there was a gaping hole in the middle because the template I used was for "folded" machined edges, but I used it for paper piecing instead which meant there were no "points" to match up in the middle

i LOVE my life...

Saturday night.........Sitting on the balcony with Mr Honi, while he stoked the fire and Buttons (the cat) wandered around our feet. I sat with my scarf and uggies on, reading Frankie with a glass of Red, while Regina Spektor’s new CD played in the background.....

My life can’t get any better than this moment....

The picture above is a collage i made of all the special things from our relationship....the first flower Mr Honi picked for me, the Moet lid from the night we got engaged, 2 sparkly hearts from our engagement party and the newspaper clipping from our engagement announcement.

Super Duper Blogtastic Giveaway!

Mr honi and I had another CRAZY weekend cleaning out my Grandmas place. We ended up with council clean up pile that this lovely girl might lust after!! This was ONE DAY's worth. There was a lot more!!

So, rather than stash all the treasures for myself, I’ve decided that this blog will host a blogtastic, super duper giveaway for the next few weeks. The lovely Kirsty started a “deal or no deal” giveaway a while ago, so I’ve decided follow her game. So here are the rules…

I want it - what do I do?

Leave me a comment on this post & I will randomly select a winner which will be announced when I post the next offering

What's the catch?

Some items may only be available to Aussie guys and gals, or even just Sydney due to postage weights.
If you are outside the area I have listed for free postage, but you REALLY want something and are happy to cover the postage costs let me know and I’ll estimate the cost for you.

Whats up for grabs??
We’re starting small today, with a lot of 2 pieces of Vintage wrapping paper that I believe are from the 1970’s.

I will also be updating my Etsy shop every couple of days so if you’re looking for vintage items, have a peek!!

My Creative Space Thursday

For my Creative Space today, I could show you the complete mess that is my craft room.......with everything that was on our shelf, that is now sprawled all over the bed.....

Or, I could show you my poor old dining table that has been converted into an office / craft table / sewing table / Etsy shop storage......

But I'd much prefer to show you my crochet project which will be another blanket for Neicephew.

We're moving house in less than a month, and the place is starting to look like a bomb hit it. We are also in the process of cleaning out the place we are moving into, which is my grandparents place. We have funky vintage goodies coming out our ears!! Sooo......

Stay tuned for a Vintage, blogtastic giveaway!!!

PLUS, there are new Vintage items loaded on my Etsy shop!

I love this time of year...

....when the early morning fog starts to clear when you get out of bed. Very early in the morning as the sun is rising is my favourtie time of the day.

This picture is actually from last Saturday as the fog was starting to roll in about 4.30 in the afternoon.

It's eerie and spooky and I love it!

Neicephew's Potter Quilt...

I’ve made a start on neicephew’s quilt (I’ve named bubs "neicephew" as we still don’t know if it’s a boy of a girl!)

I’m going to do a leMoyne star in the middle alternating cream checked material and Peter Rabbit material, flanked by pale green triangles and I might add a yo-yo in the middle of the star. Then I’ll have squares around the star that are little scenes from the Beatrix Potter books. It’s a lot of fussy cutting and I’ve decided to sew it all by hand doing paper piecing.

In the long run I actually think it will be quicker, as I don’t have to spend time fixing up wonky edges and different seam allowances from when I use the machine. I MIGHT even try to hand quilt it.....ooooo....a bit daunting!! Doing it all by hand also means I can just pick it up at any time and do a bit. With machine quilting I tend to do it in spurts - i'll quilt every night for a week and then not do anything for a month. PLUS hand working it means it's perfectly neat too :)

On my mat you can also see my new leather thimble and a blue leather needle case that was my grandmas which I just love

Berfday spoils

Yesterday I turned one year older and darling Mr Honi spoiled me with 2 pandora charms, a RM Williams belt buckle (made out of broken vintage china) AND the Material Obsession book!! All bought by himself, with no hinting at all!! He's a damed good shopper if you ask me!

The whole family spoilt me actually -but i'll post those pics later!

My Creative Space Thursday

Today, for My Creative space I've decided to post my English paper piecing that Amy taught us at Brown Owls, AND the baby quilt I've been working on (as I've missed several "creative space" days!)

Here's my very first paper pieced shape. I still need to remove the pink tacking thread.



I thoroughly enjoyed paper piecing. It's time consuming but you end up with perfect pieces and you it's a "take anywhere" kind of craft. I bought a great jelly roll at the Craft fair, so I think I'm going to use it to make a whole "grandmas garden" quilt done by hand.

Then there's this quilt top that I've finished.


Amy's quilt was my inspiration for this one as I finally let loose with my quilting (rather than having everything perfectly even). It was meant to be for my soon to be niece or nephew but I think it's just too bright for a newborn bubba. So I'm going to finish it and put it away for a while then give it to them when the baby's 1 or 2 and they can use it as a bright floor mat or something. I love it, but when I saw the colours of the room (pale greenish and cream) I decided to change my mind.
Plus they love Peter Rabbit and I found a whole heap of Beatrix Potter fabric at the fair:)


EDIT: I was taught to paper peice by this lovely girl whose tutorial can be found here

Engrish...

We bought these sponges at the little convenience store a while ago.

I read the label on them and nearly wet my pants raughing ahem I mean laughing......

Best seat in the house

Yes, that is P!nk.
Yes I was THAT close- no zooming at all.
I swear she looked at me! Mr honi says she looked at him though!

I was lucky enough to score tickets through work to her concert, and they were very,very front row!
What an amazing performance filled with great songs, circus trapeze acts and a bit of raunchy dancing.

Arrrr...that be tray-shure

(if you speak in a pirate voice, that heading DOES make sense!!)

I was going to buy some lovely yarn and wool at the fair, but I decided against it as it was all very beautiful wool and I felt I just couldn’t do it justice with my amateur crocheting. So, I was planning a little trip to Big W to stock up on a heap of coloured wools- until I found this!!!

Our Family is in the process of cleaning out my darling Grams place (she's ok - just in a nursing home for the permanently bewildered) . Anyway I was going through a cupboard and I hit the mother-load treasure. 2 whole boxes full of wool for granny squares!!! There’s a heap of baby wool too which is very handy as my new brother-in-law’s wife is due in July!!

Craft Fair Goodness

The long awaited craft fair was back in town this week. I was like a child at Christmas on Friday night, and could hardly sleep. I’ve been saving my pennies for a few months so I had a nice little wallet of cash to spend at the fair.

Last year I was all about the beads. This year – my purchases were mainly fabrics and a few embellishments. Plus, I bought the most amazing set of Derwent Pencils (from this lady)that allow you to draw on fabric then they turn into ink when you use a fabric painting medium. (here's a quick one I did yesterday)

I have an obsession with coloured pencils. My Dad surprised me with my first set of 12 watercolour pencils when I was very little and I have adored them ever since. I still have the set he gave me and I treasure them. I was one of those kids who always had perfectly sharpened pencils and rarely let anyone else use them for fear of breaking them. I'm so glad I was like that because now I still have my lovely sets of pencils that I can still enjoy!! (Amy – if you’re reading this, you’ll see that my pedantic, perfectionist tendencies started VERY early!!)

Then in the afternoon I met-up with 2 sweet Brown Owls –Louise and Jess and we had a lovely Devonshire tea together.

So here’s a piccie of all the goodies I bought….

2 jelly rolls, Swarovski "hot fix"crystals, English paper piecing squares (I'm TOTALLY hooked now! Will post some pics of my Brown Owls effort soon), kokeshi doll robber stamp, Lots of cute frabic and then a few things for framing our wedding pics.

I'm already starting to save up for next years fair now!!!! ;)

uumm..hello..is this thing on??

It's been a bit tricky trying to get back into the swing of posting on a regular basis. We've settled back in to our daily routine so things are starting to return to normalcy.

The good news is that Mr Honi and I bought a new computer for Home on the weekend - which means I don't have to a) drag my laptop home from work each night or b) use my coffee / lunch time at work to post!

I still haven't managed to read all of the posts waiting for mr in bloglines. I will get there - I promise!!

On a side note - I'm now a total whizz at crocheting granny squares (if I do say so myself) but I can do it watching tv! I'm going to try and branch out to some trickier patterns this week. Here's a pic of my 1/4 done scarf





Plus, I am SUPER excited about going to Brown Owl this Thursday!!