Holidays No. 2

I have only been home for two days and tomorrow I am hopping on a plane again, this time to Queensland for some more relative visiting. I will be back on New Years Eve and by then will be rested and fed enough to get stuck into 2009.

Sunday Stash #5

I know I am early again but I won't be home on Sunday.

This weeks fabric I have had for quite a while. It is quilting fabric from Spotlight. I don't make quilts but I do make clothes so I thought it would make a good skirt or even a dress. I have 2m of it! If I don't have a particular project in mind when I buy fabric I tend to buy a lot just in case.

Have a Merry Christmas

Our Christmas cannoli. They taste as good as they look too.

I know it is a little late in the day but I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

And for those of you who read my blog thanks, I am still amazed that people take time out of their day to read what I have to say. I plan on posting more regularly in the new year (hopefully).

Sunday Stash #4

I love this Liberty fabric. It’s a cute little forest scene, and I have already made some brooches from it. If you look closely you can see wildlife.

Vintage Buttons

I am still on holidays in sunny (and hot) Western Australia, so as they say on TV - here is one I prepared earlier...

Here is my latest button purchase, a set of beautiful plastic vintage buttons still on the original card. I have no idea what year they might be from. They are 2.5cm in diameter and feature a lovely pierced design. They are a little dirty, but look like they will clean up very well. Now that I have them I don’t think I have the heart to take them off the card.

Sunday Stash #3

Here is number 3. I bought this fabric from Textile Traders in WA. I love it because it looks like curtain material. I made up a skirt out of it and every time I wear the skirt I get comments.

Check out other Sunday Stashers here.

On Vacation

I am hopping in a plane on Sunday, which will to take me to WA, Bunbury to be specific. I have a wedding to attend and am going to catch up with family, some of whom I haven’t seen for a year. I will be back on Christmas Eve.

I have been running around like crazy this past week getting ready. There have been Christmas presents to buy, a wedding outfit to organise, a house to organise (I have failed on that attempt) and day job stuff to get done before I go. I still have a shrug to make to wear to the wedding, but I have run out of time, so I will have to make that when I get to Bunbury. At least I have made the pattern.

My mind is just a little frazzled. There has been a lot of walking into a room and wondering what I am mean to be doing. I am looking forward to having a bit of a rest and catching up with some sleep.

Melbourne Etsy Swap

I am taking part in the Melbourne etsy swap. It’s a little like Kris Kringle, only you have to make the gift you send out. Melbourne etsy sellers participating were randomly given the name of another seller to make a swap present for. None of us were told who was making our gift. The theme for the swap was red and green, which meant we could make pretty much anything that was red or green or both.






So the reason I am telling you this is because my swap present arrived this week. I got a lovely surprise in the mail on Monday, an adorable little denim pouch from etsy seller NeverEver. It’s got cute red and white polka dot lining and closes with a red button. She has also appliquéd a kite design on the front. I wonder how she knew I loved red? You can see more of what NeverEver makes in her etsy shop. If you have little ones to buy for you have to check out her Dressed for Dinner Bib and if you don't, you might like her Supermarket Chic Shopping Bag.


I sent my swap gift out in the mail this week also, I won’t give away any details, but you can see what it looked like all wrapped up and ready to send out.

Sunday Stash #2

I am keeping with the bird theme this week.

I bought this owl fabric at the last Stitches and Quilt Show. I am not entirely sure what came over me because it isn’t really my style , yet I bought 2m of it!

I had a go making some sample brooches out of it but never got any further than that, so it is still sitting patiently in my fabric tub.

Speaking of birds...

We have an almond tree out the front of our house. At the moment the almond pods are still green. You have to wait until the pod dries up and cracks open and then you can take the almonds out, still in their shell.

This year we have had a flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos decide that they want to have the almonds for themselves. They have been frequenting the tree for the last week or so, munching on our almonds and letting the scraps fall to ground. They have made quite a mess. The little sparrows come and pick through the remains after the cockatoos have gone.

They are fun to watch, even if they are eating our almonds. They are quite big birds and they make a hell of a racket. You can tell when they are around because there is a lot of loud screeching going on.

Today we counted over 20 of them in our tree and on neighbouring powerlines. They were a fantastic sight to see. I didn’t get a photo of the 20 but I did manage to get a close up of one earlier in the day.

More Testing...

I did another test run of my bird design screen print but this time on real fabric. I bought some natural linen to make cushions with and I wanted to see whether the print would work on the linen. I bought the fabric online so I didn’t realise it had a lot of slubs on the surface and quite a coarse weave. Anyway as you can see from the photos the print turned out pretty well and I managed to avoid printing on any slubs.


I am going to team the linen with some Japanese fabric I bought on my last visit to Amitie to make the cushions. All I need do now is sew my sample up when I can find some time, life is a little hectic at the moment. I will keep you posted.

Oh, and if anyone has a source for natural coloured linen that they would be willing to give up I will be eternally grateful because I am not having a lot of luck finding any.