Peach Patterns

Sew Make Create

Last year I went along to, but never posted about, a morning tea at Sew Make Create, a fabulous little gem of a craft studio/workshop space/ shop tucked away in the streets of inner city (yet very leafy!) Chippendale.

SMC is run by Melissa Tan, who is a lovely person and truly passionate about creating a wonderful experience for everyone who teaches and attends the range of sewing, crochet, papercraft, art and other classes on offer.

Finders Keepers blog has a great in depth post here where you can see some photos and get a feel for the studio.

The event I was at was called "Handmade Business Stories" with the theme of sharing stories across a range of creative small business owners.  I snared a great parking space (and a great coffee from the cafe across the road) picked up lots of business tips, made some lovely contacts, consumed tea, cupcakes and lollies and left feeling really good.

The pretty ribbon brooch pictured above is one of Melissa's little creations, and it tones beautifully with quite a few of the fabrics I've pulled out and used at the moment so thought I'd post a pic of it here....

Hope you've had a great start to the week....

Dreamcatcher

I snapped a couple of photos of this pretty dreamcatcher in the afternoon light.

                    

This one was bought from a local children's store but they're easy to make and a great idea for a crafty afternoon activity.  

My Poppet and Decor8 both have gorgeous handmade dreamcatcher ideas.  

Hot air balloon mobile

A few months back the lovely Claire of Craft Schmaft was looking for pattern testers for her new "Hot Air Balloon Mobile" pattern.  As I've always had a teensy bit of a "thing" for hot air balloons I immediately put my hand up and said "Pick me! Pick me!"  Well, it's taken me a while to post pictures of my finished mobile but here they are finally:

The girls think this mobile is very cool and also, of course, can't resist any opportunity to jump into frame.

             

Reasons why this pattern is so fabulous:

• If, like me, you normally "stuff up" when stuffing, this is the pattern for you as there are no small, awkward nooks and crannies to fill and the balloons take shape so beautifully.
• There is a lovely balance of machine stitching and hand stitching and the latter is not too challenging (the cute little baskets just call for an easy running stitch).
• The mobile is perfectly adaptable to suit either a boy's or girl's room.
• The little clouds and the teeny-tiny bunting are probably some of the cutest things you'll ever make.

So that's my 20c worth!  Hop over and check it out!

Off to the footy

Who says craft and football don't mix?  Cee Cee set off to the football with Dad yesterday decked out in a ribbon scrunchie in team colours.

This was hastily put together 15 mins prior to departure by knotting some lengths of ribbon around a piece of hair elastic.

This is an idea we saw at a local school fete where the mums had made up batches of these in the school's house colours.

Am rugging up today along no doubt with all you other Sydneysiders....It's cold out there folks!

The reading corner

This play mat or "reading mat" has been playing host to gatherings of kiddies, soft toys, dolls and books in a corner of Miss Wink's bedroom for some time.  Here it is in its WIP stages.

It was going to be donated for a kindergarten fundraiser but that didn't quite pan out so we kept it here at home.

Having never made a quilt and having no real idea how to photograph one properly I've just left it scrunched up hoping that you get the general idea.  You can also see some bookmarks that Cee Cee made by lining up fabric scraps and sewing them to bookmark sized pieces of felt.

I added some plain and contrast strips to the main zoo animals panel and quilted it with both straight and wavy lines.  I also used Rita of "Red Pepper Quilts" unbound quilt tutorial as a guide - quick and easy. 

Back to school

Good luck to all those with back-to-schoolers....

Merry Christmas

Signing out until the New Year.

Hope you and yours have a happy festive season.

See you soon.

Christmas circles

Have been inspired by lots of embroidery hoop art I've seen around and decided to make a little Christmas scene of my own with some felt, vintage trim and little house buttons.

The Little Bits Quilting Bee book is an early Chrissie gift to myself.  I love the circles quilt featured on the cover.  It has a 2 star (easy-ish) rating so maybe even the quilt-challenged amongst us could tackle it?!

Felt & ribbon birds

I discovered a lovely UK blog a while back called The Linen Cat which belongs to a very creative lady called Beth.  Beth works magic with fabric, felt, ribbon and beads - her soft toys are amongst the most gorgeous I've seen.

I particularly love her Lavender Birds (which she sells ready made) and contacted her to ask if she'd mind if if I used hers as inspiration to make a few for my girls.

Beth graciously said yes and here are the ones I made.  

I didn't have lavender so just stuffed these birdies with polyfil (they probably could have done with a bit more stuffing).

They look cute either hung singly or in a group, mobile style.

Aren't those pirate mice just amazing?

And, by the way, eek, it's December already!!  We put up our tree on the weekend so it's all starting to look very business-end of the year!  Hope you have a happy Monday....

Roxy Longsocks

Lisa of theredthread recently asked me to test a new doll pattern & kit for her and as a result we have two new members of the household.  

I tried to keep this little duo under wraps for possible inclusion in the Christmas stockings but Roxy Longsocks is no shrinking violet and she made herself (all two of her!) known around the place:

 

Although it looks here like Miss Wink has claimed both the Winter and the Spring Roxy, this is not the case.  She has graciously agreed to surrender Winter Roxy to her big sister.  But it was a perfect Sunday afternoon to play with both new friends in the garden.

 

As usual, Lisa's pattern and kit is a delight to make.  This one had comprehensive and beautifully laid out instructions plus some excellent tips on stuffing (I finally managed to make a softie with no crinkles around the head - yay!) and a clever little tute on invisible ladder stitching.

Highly recommended as a super-duper handmade Chrissie gift. Go Roxy!