A Little Red Dress

what I love wednesday {no. 8}

2012-01-25T17:56:00.000+11:00

miss cam followed this guy around the enclosure...

I love meerkats! They are such tiny, sweet critters and for some reason they never cease to amuse me. If you're ever feeling low, just go visit some of these little guys and they'll be sure to cheer you up.

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

easy peesy holiday fun...

2012-01-23T17:47:00.000+11:00

It's so hot here in Melbourne today. That nasty, dry, too hot to be outside hot. Unfortunately that makes it kinda boring if you're stuck inside with Mum, are three years old and don't have anyone to play with. So... while Noah was busy immersing himself in the world of Minecraft and Gabe and his friend turned the living room floor into Lego City, Cameron and I made play dough!

One of my favourite bloggers is a bit of a Super Mum, who does lots and lots of fun, crafty things with her toddler that I don't normally seem to have time to do. I felt a little sorry for miss Cam today, getting continually told to go away by her big brothers, so armed with Emily's recipe {below} we whipped up some holiday fun, just for the girls!

Emily's recipe for easy peesy playdough...

Just put the following in a large pot:

2 cups of plain flour
2 cups of water
1 cup of salt
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon cream of tarter
essential oil/essence {if you want to make it smell nice}

Cook over medium-high heat, mixing constantly until it pulls together as a big lump {about 2-3 minutes should do it}.

As per Emily's suggestion, I split the dough up into four pieces, popped each of them onto a sheet of waxy baking paper and kneaded in different coloured food colourings to get several different colours for Cameron to play with. A little tip though, wear gloves when you do this, or you'll end up with pretty, rainbowy hands. Store in either an air-tight container or separate zip-lock bags.

2012 Reading Challenge!

2012-01-17T10:23:00.000+11:00

Last year I decided to just post a list of what I was reading in 2011, rather than setting any particular challenges or targets... but this year {as I'm now in a bookclub} I've decided that each month I will try to read my bookclub book, plus an extra one or two! That makes at least 24, with a challenge at 36. Whoohoo!

I've made a little button {that I'll be updating soon} which I'll pop on my left-hand side bar which links to this post so you can sneak a peak at my list whenever you like!

You can take a look here at my master list for 2011, and here is where I'll post my challenge list for 2012. I'll add to it as I read along... let me know if you're challenging your mind for 2012!

January
1. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern {b}
2. The Clockwork Prince - Cassandra Clare
3. Spin the Bottle - Monica McInerney
4. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry {b} *

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

* Currently reading these!!
** Read/Reading to the kids...
{b} Bookclub book

a real prince...

2012-01-16T19:11:00.000+11:00

I've just finished a great book in Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Prince. It's the second in her Infernal Devices series and I loved it. I know it's classified as "young adult fiction" but Cassandra has a very engaging writing style and her subject matter is very original and easy to relate to. I suppose {if you know anything about the books} that might sound a bit odd, considering the subject matter, but the characters are very three dimensional and you can quite easily imagine yourself among them.

For those who haven't had the pleasure of picking up one of Cassandra's books yet, do yourself a favour, they're great. In essence {and without spoiling anything specific to the story} they are about the fey creatures {vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, etc} who live amongst us and the race of angel/human warriors, called Shadowhunters, who police them.

The first series Cassandra published was The Mortal Instruments, which is set in present day US and the second is the Infernal Devices series which is a prequel and is set in Victorian England. I believe Cassandra is now writing the two series concurrently, with Clockwork Prince - book two of ID - having been released September last year and City of Lost Souls - book five of TMI - to be released in May of this year... yay!

I had the very great pleasure of meeting Cassandra {be it ever so briefly} back in May of last year at her "meet the author/book signing" event at Dymocks in Melbourne. It was pretty funny for Ariana and I who turned up all excited {because we both really enjoy her writing} to hear Cassandra talk about her books. With the exception of about three or four other "non-young adults" we were probably the oldest folks in the room. I think the average age of the crowd was 15 or so... ha ha! I have to say though, even though Dymocks ran some pretty geeky competitions during the event {and handed out way too many chupa chups, which should've been a clue} I still really enjoyed listening to Cassandra talk about her writing, inspiration, motivation and her life in general.

It's very nice to see that authors are real people, not just names on book spines and they think and feel the same things as we do, particularly about their characters. And while that sounds a bit geeky in and of itself, I think because we're always a little removed from the people behind the stories, meeting them face to face is very refreshing. You get to hear their voice and humour that you normally only "hear" in their writing which to me makes the books that much better because you know a little bit more about what makes them tick. I also managed to have my copy of City of Fallen Angels signed, which is another bonus!

If you're a Cassandra Clare fan, you might be interested to take a peek at these pages from her website where she lists who she {and fans} might like to see cast in movie versions of her books. Here is The Mortal Instruments imaginary castings and here is the Infernal Devices imaginary castings... all I can say is Gideon Lightwood, oh my!

For anyone who is interested, I've started a new reading challenge. Click the button on the top right of my blog to learn more {or join in}.

a bit of fun...

2012-01-09T01:27:00.001+11:00

I recently found a very sweet, little blog when I was {believe it or not} googling for pixie haircuts. Lisa from It Keeps Getting Better had her hair cut super short last November. Of course it was all in the name of haircut research that I read Lisa's posts about her new do, but then I found myself enjoying her writing and video's so much that I just kept reading... and watching!

Then the other day I received a comment back from Lisa {on my birthday, no less} saying she'd given me the Kreativ Blogger Award. How lovely is that? Not the award part persae, but to have someone acknowledge they enjoy reading your blog and post it up for all their readers to see? I think it's waaaay sweet and I'm very happy to pass on the love to my favourite bloggers too! I don't mind if they don't keep the award chain going, I just wanted to acknowledge them and let them know I very much enjoy their web spaces...

Here are the rules you have to follow when receiving this award {if you want to take part}:

Link back to the person who gave you this award
Complete the form below
Award 10 other blogs and let them know in a comment or email
Share 7 random thoughts about yourself

Form

1. Name your favorite song:
Very hard to choose, but I do love U2's Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses.

2. Name your favorite dessert:
Swedish cinnamon buns... yum.

3. What ticks me off:
People who like to make life difficult for others, just because it's within their power to do so.

4. When I'm upset I:
Depending on what/who's upset me, I'll either get very vocal or get very quiet.

5. What's your favorite pet:
My childhood cat, Fluffy. He was a pale ginger tabby and was the most "doggy" cat I've ever met. You know how most cats are very aloof? Well he was very affectionate, used to follow me everywhere, was very gentle and seemed to have a sixth sense to give me cuddles whenever I was upset.

6. Black or white:
Black

7. Biggest Fear:
Not being prepared or on time for important events.

8. Everyday attitude:
Life is good. I'm very fortunate.

9. What is perfection:
Watching my kids laughing and having fun together.

10. Guilty Pleasure:
Sitting quietly by myself with a cup of tea and a good book!

10 Blogs I love to visit
In no particular order or theme, I just like to read them and blather occasionally to the lovely ladies who write them... sometimes, if I'm very lucky, they write back! :)

Emily - Last train to pooksville
Tania - Ollie & T
Cam - Curlypops
Anna - Shiny Happy Art
Krystina - Lollypops
Megan - Silver threads of happiness
Kat - Petticoats & Peplums
Cate - Keep Cate Busy
Keera - Live.Love.Sew
Sophie - Her Library Adventures

Because it is really late {or early depending on your point of view} and I'm tired I've listed a really lame {but true} seven randoms thoughts. Here goes...

I'm very allergic to cats, but I love them... yes, I'm a cat person.
My favorite fragrance is J'Adore by Dior.
I would love to be a librarian or work/own a bookstore.
Like Lisa I have incredibly long arms {I call them monkey arms} and tops are usually too short for me.
I can't stand touching raw chicken.
I long to visit old romantic places in Europe like Juliet's balcony in Verona.
I have plans to get at least three more tattoos

Dreamy swimwear...

2012-01-03T20:34:00.000+11:00

It's been pretty warm here in Melbourne lately, with temperatures in the 40's {that's degrees Celsius people} and it's had me thinking about swimming, pools, the ocean, the beach and all of those other lovely ways of staying cool with water.

Then I spied something on instagram from Sarah at Finders Keepers and totally fell in love with THE most amazingly, dreamy swimwear ever.

'The Foxy' from Sirens Swimwear... I have to have these!

truly scrumptious!

2011-12-30T14:57:00.000+11:00

After an absolut-ly interesting Christmas Eve and a low key {let's recover from feeling ill} Christmas Day, we've spent the past week playing with new toys, sleeping in, relaxing, eating {lots of yummy things} and generally doing not much of anything.

I have spent a little bit of time dreaming and drooling over some lovely handcrafted items and decided that today I'd share a few of my latest very lovely finds from around the land of Etsy...

Clockwise from the top are 1. some gorgeous aqua beads, just imagine those in a necklace or multiple bracelets, 2. a pair of very sweet mint green heart earrings & 3. the most adorable velvet bow headband... can you tell what colour I love right now? And it does go so beautifully with red!

Clockwise from the top left are 1. a lovely grey bow bag, 2.a cotton, tunic-style bow dress in a gorgeous colour combo of cream and grey & 3. beautifully hand written note cards with one of my favourite sayings {to all three of my babies}. I realise that bows are a big feature here... who would've guessed? Maybe it has something to do with my current TV show crush, Snow, from Once Upon a Time...

Clockwise from the top left are 1. a scrumptiously crocheted bow headband in teal, 2. a little red ascot-style scarf wonderfully crocheted & 3. a pretty feathery/flowery-looking pair of the most amazing blue fingerless gloves! I realise that it's a little warm here in Melbourne to wear any of these, but a girl must always think ahead...

I'll leave you with these as I go off to do some more dreaming...

What I love Wednesday {no. 7}

2011-12-28T21:07:00.000+11:00

Beachy fun with friends!

I love spending lazy-day time with friends, chatting, relaxing and having fun.

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

spoilt some more...

2011-12-22T16:21:00.000+11:00

Cameron and I met the girls up at the shop today for a Chai and some lunch and we got to catch up with lots of lovely people while we were there.

Cam with her new pony...

Thank you to the very sweet Miss Tania who spoilt me completely with a gorgeous cushion cover she made up in my very favourite fabric... Bliss, by Bonnie & Camille for Moda. She also popped a little charm pack in with the cushy... a little ray of wonderful called Ruby {also from B&C}. I must apologise for the instagramy photos of late as my camera is out of commission.

A wonderful gift of lovely charm squares...

Look at this cushion by T! It's Bliss! ❤

I feel very blessed this year to have had the chance to meet and spend time with so many lovely people. I've been thinking about my one little word a lot over the past few weeks, and while I may not have "soared" ahead with a new career path, I feel very fortunate to have definitely done so on a social front and have enjoyed the company, cleverness, creativity, conversion, craftiness and challenge of knowing you all... both in bloggyland and in person. I hope you know who you are. Thank you all!

My creative space {no. 19}

2011-12-22T15:54:00.000+11:00

There is of course a lot going on at the moment... Mum and I tag teamed making the rest of this bright and beautiful Kaffe Fassett version of the lattice tote for Gabriel's teacher, Sonja. Sonja is knitter, crafter and generally very creative lady and I thought that she might appreciate the connection with another creative person like Kaffe. She's also a lovely, bright personality and these fabrics just about leapt off the shelves when I was thinking about the project I wanted to make for her. The handles though were a much prettier, teal colour than pictured here, but unfortunately my wonderful camera is currently out of commission, so I've been relying on my phone a little.

outside...

inside...

I've also been cutting out more little totes from some sweet Hunky Dory fabric which I'll start stitching up tonight and tomorrow. Then there's the matter of a little plum pudding which is overdue from a challenge a few weeks ago. He will find a new home on Saturday, but I can't say where just yet.

It's all systems go, go, go here. Although this meme is officially closed for the year, you can still enjoy all of the most recent christmas creativity if you click your way over here and take a look.

What I love Wednesday {no. 6}

2011-12-21T14:00:00.000+11:00

A lovely friend gave me this beautiful book for Christmas today. We recently read the novel, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh in our book club {which was a wonderful, wonderful book FYI}.

Thank you Miss Amanda! I really love it and can't wait to sit down and read through it. I also loved the beautiful inscription of feverfew, water lily and freesia she included inside the front cover.

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

Kaffe sneak peak...

2011-12-20T23:23:00.001+11:00

Another tote bag coming my way and this time including a gorgeous array of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Here is a sneak peek!

bits and bobs from the North Pole!

2011-12-19T23:13:00.000+11:00

I made these this afternoon. I was supposed to be at home sewing up bags, but instead I commandeered my Mum's dodgy sewing machine and decided to whip up some fabric cards. These were made from a sweet, little Christmas panel fabric and I think they're really cute. Panels on the fronts, calico on the back {left over fabric from swags used to decorate my parent's house on the day of our wedding 12 years ago} and some pellon in the middle. Stitched up around the border and trimmed with pinking shears. What could be simpler? Writing a special message on the back with my trusty Zig pen... I guess.

some Christmas card writing going on...

elements

2011-12-17T19:41:00.004+11:00

A new website I've recently completed was for a lovely beauty spa in Sunbury, Elements Spa & Skin Aesthetics. You'll find them in O'Shanassy Street if you're looking to have a facial, massage or maybe a pedicure, but you can also find them online and looking great at www.elementsspa.com.au.

Elements Spa site

About the design:
Using the logo and devices from the existing Elements Spa artwork, I customised a simple WordPress template, which really suited their menu-style content. WordPress is also a great way for small businesses to take advantage of it's simple content management system, allowing them to update content themselves without the need to learn html!

I added a taupe background to compliment their earthy colours of chocolate and green and a pretty handwritten script font {Pea Mariella} to contrast the clean and round Century Gothic used throughout. Adding an image slider to the front page to advertise their latest monthly special packages and utilising the blog interface for the home page, essentially allows the team to connect with clients and keep them up to date with current news. Elements Spa also engage with clients using social media, so Facebook "like" buttons appear on pages of the site and a link to their page can be found in the right-hand column alongside contact details and opening hours.

a makeover

2011-12-17T00:02:00.000+11:00

You might have noticed I've been giving my little blog a bit of a makeover. It's slowly changing as I refine my ideas, but essentially I decided it was time to simplify things and really put the focus back onto the content, such as it is {grin}.

I've always loved crisp colour combinations, so having a white background with touches of red and turquoise works really well for me. I've also started using my official little logo as well.

source: we heart it

In lieu of having my actual folio site ready to go {which I hope to launch early in the new year}, I thought I would post a few more of my freelance pieces over the next week, so that anyone clicking through could take a peek at what's been keeping me so busy... and why Miss Evelyn, my ufo list doesn't seem to have many items crossed off as yet!

kris kringle gift... done!

2011-12-13T16:00:00.000+11:00

Here is my little gift for my SS&Q Kris Kringle peep! It's my take on a little bag from a gorgeous book by Natalie Bird, called Tis the Season - Christmas Stitchings. There are many lovely little projects nestled within it's covers, but I chose to try one called the Chilly Penguins Bag, because I liked that it was crafted {partly} from paper pieced hexagons.

My KK's fave colours were deep rose and mauve, so rather than do the bag in the traditional reds from the book, I chose some colours more suited to her taste. I also decided that the chilly penguins {although super cute} wouldn't really add anything to my fabric selections, so I found a stitchery from another sweet book to put in it's place. Of course it was a little birdy design from Rosalie Quinlan's Gift, another favourite book of mine!

Here is the little tote bag for Glo... shhh!

I was supposed to give this to my KK last Tuesday at our Christmas party, but I was unable to finish it {or attend} because my little guy was in hospital again. He's fine now, thank goodness, but he does like to give his Mum a scare!

I hope Glo likes her sweet birdy, hexagon tote as I had lots of fun making it, particularly the hexagons... I see some more in my future these holidays! ;)

jolly fat man?

2011-12-10T22:53:00.000+11:00

Photo with Santa... Can you spot the big guy off to the side??

what's next?

2011-12-04T21:51:00.001+11:00

The next Sunday challenge is all about felt and Christmas! I've given the girls a choice of two different felty plum pudding decorations. The first one is a lovely tutorial from Laura Howard's blog, Bugs and Fishes.

Plum puddings... super cute!

Just as a side note {and because I love this book} four of Laura's designs were included in a totally gorgeous Christmas feltie book which I have, called Fa La La La Felt, published by Lark Books. If you'd like to know how to make one of Laura's sweet, little plum pudding decorations, just go here and take a look!

The second choice is so dang sweet, that it looks almost good enough to eat. It's a little, round pudding designed by the lovely Evelyn. If you'd like to make one, well you'll just have to leave a comment on this post, so that I can convince her to make a tutorial for you... maybe it will appear on the Sunbury Stitchers and Quilters website?! Who knows... :)

Yum! A little, squeezy pudding... way cute!

Anyway, there it is... the next Sunday Challenge. I'll post up the results next Sunday. I'm feeling a little hungry now, {and that has nothing to do with having just seen all the buff folks in the new Twilight movie} after all this talk of plum puddings, but it's late so maybe it's time for a bedtime Milo instead. Nite nite bloggers!

Sunday challenge {no. 2}

2011-12-03T20:28:00.000+11:00

Here is my sugar cube pincushion! Finished this afternoon with coconut shell buttons and a long sashiko needle.

It was a bit of a challenge to put the buttons on, as I enlarged the cube from the pattern's two inches to a tubbier four inches. I think I'll try it again with three inch squares, for a more manageable size. This one is a present for my Mummy.

It's my turn to think of another challenge... so, watch out for tomorrow when I do the big reveal!

*Edited to add:

Here are the results from my fellow challengers, aren't they gorgeous?

Gabbie's cushie... I Iove the colours in this one!

my creative space {no. 18}

2011-12-01T18:33:00.001+11:00

Today was... apart from being the first of December {eek} and the first day of a chilly summer {brrr} the first day of a lovely little fabric sale at GJs in Brunswick. I went along to peruse the pretties with my Mum, Miss Cam and my fairy god mother Sandy. Here are some of the goodies I came home with.

The larger prints are for outside, the smaller for linings...

I'm using these to make a couple more of the Sunday Challenge bags, as I loved how it came together so quickly, which incidently did surprise me!! They'll be Christmas presents, so I won't reveal any names just yet.

For more creative spaces - pop on over here and take a look.

We're also starting our favourite, annual Christmas story tonight. For those of you who love to read {to either yourself or to small people} When Santa Fell to Earth by Cornelia Funke is a great story. We particularly like it because the nice Santa character is named Niklas {which just happens to be my Mr's name}.

Cornelia's stories are always so rich and interesting, with wonderfully, believable characters and colourful plots. You can almost imagine yourself as part of the story, which always makes this one in particular, so much fun.

If you've read some of her other novels, for example, the Inkheart series {or ogled Brendan Fraser in the movie version} you'll understand what I mean.

Although this one is aimed much more at children than adults, I still thoroughly enjoy it and I think I've read it at least four times now. Look it up at your local bookstore if you're looking for a different kind of Christmas story... but if you do plan to read it to young children {or by yourself at night} be aware there are some pretty scary bad guys, who take the form of large, wooden nutcrackers and {oh my giddy aunt} a bad santa.

what i love wednesday {no. 5}

2011-11-30T22:30:00.000+11:00

I love drawing... and I love stitching... and I love making things that are squishy, cuddly and can make other people smile!

A little while ago, I proposed that I'd like to turn some of my random scribblings into stitchery patterns. The idea was to try to sell them to the lovely, crafty folks out there who appreciate and enjoy such things. After some more pondering and a little bit of playing about with thread and pretty fabric, I came up with "little miss".

She's a softie!

She's a cushion!

I have quite a few little misses {and misters} waiting patiently in my sketch book, but I decided that the first little miss to get all stitched up, should be this one. She reminds me of a wee girl I know who wears pig-tails and has a little curl in the middle of her forehead.

My inspiration... my ❤

So very soon, my lovely "little misses" will be available for you all to stitch up and cuddle... if you'd like to!

little miss softie & cushion

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

Woo hoo... and a bag!

2011-11-27T22:09:00.000+11:00

On Sunday morning, I woke up at 6:15am and still hadn't had a chance to start the first Sunday Challenge... whoops! At 7:30am I had drafted the pattern onto tracing paper, cut out my bag pieces and started sewing. By 9:30am, {after having a few little issues with turning the entire bag through a suggested 5cm gap, grrrrr} I finished!

The finished Sunday Challenge bag!

A close-up of the gorgeous fabric...

The new challenge as set by Miss Tania is the Sugar Cube Pincushion designed by Vickie E from the Moda Bake Shop. I'm going to make my pincushie a little bigger, by scaling up to 3" squares.

a challenge?

2011-11-20T21:46:00.000+11:00

After a bit of chatting about bag patterns over the past week, I decided to share one of my favourites with Miss Tania {one of the lovely ladies I work with in the shop}. It's a favourite, and has been for some time, but in true Kylie style, I haven't made it up yet. Soooooo, after a little wistful staring at these two fabrics...

Etchings by 3 Sisters for Moda

...I thought that perhaps it was time to give this pattern a whirl!

We looked at the requirements and noticed that if we wanted to make the bag up in the same fabrics, {which we both adore} we could split the listed 70cm pieces between us. I smelt a challenge in the air! So, with a nod to the many PIGs, UFOs and WIPs we're both responsible for, we decided to see if we could each bring back the finished bag the following Sunday. And thus Sunday Challenge was born!

I know what you're thinking... she won't do it, here will end the challenge because the week will get awfully busy and there will be no time. Ha! Lookout for the next installment folks, I dare you!

monday moment...

2011-11-14T14:55:00.001+11:00

I picked a couple of these from our garden last night and thought I should share them with you. They've really opened up today and I just love the colour. They're a perfect pale orange with darker tips on the petals which I think is really pretty. Like a little burst of sunshine on my dining table!

Happy Monday blogger friends!

my creative space {no. 17}

2011-11-08T19:26:00.000+11:00

This should really be called "our creative space", because we made funny faces today after school. It's a pretty simple idea. Take one packet of Marie {or similar} biscuits, then whip up some icing in a few little bowls and make each one a different colour. We had purple, aqua, orange and pink.

Then get yourself some lollies... we used jelly lollies chopped up into bits, but you could conceivably add choc bits, musk/fruit sticks, mini marshmallows, m&m's... the list is endless. Spread the icing onto the biscuits and get your little peeps to decorate them, making as many different, funny, little faces as they can.

Leave them in the fridge for ten minutes or so once you're done so they can set... then eat!

For more creative spaces - pop on over here and take a look.

Grandma's garden...

2011-11-04T14:01:00.000+11:00

Today we visited with Grandma who has an amazing little garden and very green thumbs. I love taking photos here because everything has such amazing shapes and colours... these were all taken on my iPhone for Instagram.

A blue bearded iris from above.

Another bearded iris. This time in pale orange. Don't you just love those ruffles?

I love the way the sunlight makes the petals on this rose look as fine as a porcelain teacup.

Fresh strawberries. They might look teeny, but they're always sweet and juicy.

Berry blooms. I love their simple, round petals.

This guy should've been pulled out, but who can resist making a wish or two?

Pale pink granny bonnets. So sweet.

One of my favourite roses, just because it's so unusual. Julia's rose.

What I love Wednesday {no. 4}

2011-11-02T17:58:00.000+11:00

I love Christmas decorations!
I particularly love felty handmade ones... and I'll be making some very soon in an effort to stockpile some pressies for lovely friends and family.

sources 1,2,3,4

There is really no end to what you can do with felt and your imagination! I have a wonderful book called Fa la la la Felt that has lots of pretty projects, but if you look around, there are tutorials galore!

And for those of us who are time poor {the reason why I need to start now folks} or would rather leave the crafting to other clever peeps, sites like Etsy, MadeIt, Felt or Big Cartel are home to many pretty stores.

sources 1,2,3,4

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

halloween-iversary!

2011-10-31T23:30:00.000+11:00

Married 12 years today!

my creative space {no. 16}

2011-10-27T23:40:00.000+11:00

I like to draw. Lately I've been drawing a lot of little critters... Moos, bahs, quacks, buzzes, flutters and even some ooh ooh aah aahs {monkeys}. Several someones have been telling me that I should make up stitchery patterns with my little critters and perhaps sell them to like-minded stitching people. I have to admit that I've toyed with the idea, but I'm still not convinced that they're good enough or would be popular enough to sell.

Hmmm... anyway, about three weeks ago, I was here and one of the ladies suggested we all design a quilt block. Very much off the cuff and just for fun, with coloured paper, scissors, glue sticks, pencils, textas and crayons {yes crayons} we came up with these. Of course mine included critters.

my block is on the far right...

now Mum's is on the far right... :)

And so it happened that on Tuesday night at stitching, one very talented lady presented us all with cushions {with one exception being a little wall hanging} that she had made up from these wonderful designs. Here is mine, complete with my little critters all stitched up... how dang cute is it? I love it, as does Cameron. She's added it to the cushion stash on her bed.

block design by a little red dress, cushion by evelyn!

So... what do you think peeps? Are these little guys marketable? Would a set of patterns like these or perhaps some little cushion kits catch your eye?

Whether they end up going any further than this beautiful, little cushion is anyone's guess, maybe they'll just keep piling up in my sketch book... whatever the case, I like them and they make my little girl smile.

For more creative spaces - pop on over here and take a look.

building...

2011-10-25T18:48:00.000+11:00

I've been busy building websites over the past few days... so my blogtoberfesting is falling a little by the wayside. I'll be back with a vengence very soon! Until then, please enjoy some interesting little images...

source - we ❤ it

on the buses... again!

2011-10-21T22:25:00.001+11:00

Tomorrow I'm going on the SS&Q's annual shopping bus trip {for the second year} and can't wait. I don't have anything in mind to buy, I'm just going along this year to see some shops I've never seen before, have a nice lunch and get chauffeured around for the day! If I discover any amazing bits and pieces along the way, that will be a wonderful bonus... :)

Echino bus fabric...

splish splash

2011-10-20T17:10:00.001+11:00

More lovely weather today and that together with some handy water bottles was too much for my cheeky pair! I only wish they had waited to change into bathers first... but where's the fun in that Mum?

Looks like an angel, doesn't he?

This one though, very cheeky... you just know he's up to something!

...splish, splash, splosh!

ahhhhh!

it's the drips on the glasses that get me... and those big, blue eyes.

What I love Wednesday {no. 3}

2011-10-19T17:22:00.005+11:00

We're having glorious weather today, with a lovely, sunny 28 degrees and a little bit of a breeze so, Cameron and I have been out in the backyard to play with some water {what she does when I water pot plants} and some swinging, sliding and running about. I love spending time with my girl and not having to worry or plan or be on time for anything {except the school run of course}.

technically this is the front porch, but she's just so dang cute with her pet rock!

I think these kinds of days are what I'll miss most about going back into the workforce. Although, with summer fast approaching, hopefully there will be lots of wonderful weekends just like today! What do you love?

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

a little red bunting...

2011-10-18T23:30:00.000+11:00

After a little bit of thought and a little bit of sketching, I decided how to add the little red dress touch to the bunting I'd been making for the bunting swap over at squiggly rainbow.

a little red dress!

before stitching...

I must apologise to my swap partners however, as these girls are going out in the post ~~a day~~ a few days late. When they arrive in your mailbox though, I hope you like them as much as I do... Thanks again to Rachael for organising such a sweet, little swap.

close-up!

five little flags... all in a row {well the end ones are a bit cut off}

spring carnival... gangsters!

2011-10-17T14:11:00.000+11:00

Just recently Cathie was looking for ideas for "gangster-inspired" cupcake decorations which got me thinking of one of my favourite invitation pieces. It was a custom invitation for guests to the Liberty Financial marquee at the Melbourne Cup several years ago. The theme was gangster chic and I think these very much looked the part...

I'm sure they went off with a bang!

About the Design
These invitations were designed to look like a gangster or "zoot suit" so that the shirt collar folded down over the jacket lapels and the tie acted as a latch to close the front. They were entirely designed in black and white, with the exception of the Liberty logo tie pin. I used a font called "Niteclub" to tie-in with the theme. This was the first time I'd created a form cut piece of art which was to be printed on quite a large scale, so it involved a lot of measuring, folding comps and checking and re-checking of trim lines!

Did someone say self-portrait?

2011-10-16T18:34:00.002+11:00

me!

Tinniegirl is hosting a self-portrait challenge, so of course I have to enter. This is a phone portrait from a couple of weeks ago when I was on holidays at the beach with the kidlets. I looked very much the same yesterday with my no-fuss, scrunchy curls hair day and not much makeup - today it's the same do, but twisted up in a hairclip. This is my current favourite top combo, because it's red {fave colour} and stripey. The Mr tells me I look like Where's Wally, but that's just because he's jealous... bwah, ha ha ha! {Just kidding darling...}

I'm also wearing my new {ish} Lisa Leonard necklace that I ❤.

Why don't you pop over here and see who else was brave enough to take the challenge?

getting organised...

2011-10-16T18:11:00.000+11:00

So, yesterday I didn't post anything as I was a little busy rushing hither and thither all about the place {sorry Tinniegirl, not very original or exciting excuse}.

I worked at the shop 'til almost three, picked up my Mummy and drove up to Kilmore to visit the Kilmore Quilters quilt exhibition. The ladies from KQ always put on a wonderful show with this year's theme being "Quilts among the GumTrees". There were lots of gorgeous quilts, a beautiful stage display, goodies to eat and drink {but unfortunately we got there too late} and some visiting quilt stores. One of my favourite quilts at the show was a sweet bunny appliqued one.

One of the quilts on display was this design from Bunny Hill Designs

I eventually got home {after stopping for some late afternoon tea at Mum's} around half six, so by the time everyone was fed, clean and sleeping it was pretty late. It was then that I enlisted the help of Nik {organiser extraordinaire} to straighten and help tidy my sewing/crafty shelves into some semblance of order. He did an amazing job, although it was a little scary for me to have him see just how much fabric I have... not to mention how many PIGs* were lurking among the shelves. Most of my projects are in more environmentally friendly, recycled, brown paper or cloth bags, but still, there are lots.

While Nik was busy re-arranging {and sighing} I printed up some little labels using one of my recently featured fonts {KG Luck of the Irish} and added them to the various boxes and shelves to make finding things a little easier.

Now all I need to do to finish things off, is to find a few larger, clear tubs to house fabric packs that I've purchased for new projects. My reasoning is that if I can see them clearly, I'll have a daily reminder that I need to get moving and finish some things off. It also makes the shelving look much neater and prevents small people from relocating things!

*PIGs - A little anagram from Tania that goes like this... Projects In Grocery-bags.

romance...

2011-10-14T22:30:00.000+11:00

A friend of mine and her hubby had their wedding anniversary today {congratulations Mr & Mrs M}, which made me feel all nostalgic about weddings and romance and all sorts of gooey things like that. However, it may also have something to do with my Mr and I celebrating ours in a couple of weeks time, but maybe I'm just a big softie...

source

Awwww! So, just in case you're a big marshmallow too, here are a few words for all of you romantics out there {or lovers of type}.

What I love Wednesday {no. 2}

2011-10-12T23:17:00.000+11:00

I've been thinking for a while about changing my hair colour and I'm kind of crushing a little on red. Mostly that lovely darker, coppery red. This folks, is a bid to keep myself interested in growing my hair longer and not going crazy and chopping it all off in a pixie again!

Here are some of the wonderfully inspiring ladies who have been swaying me!

Karen Gillan, Amy Pond from Dr Who...

more Karen Gillan... love her!

Bonnie Wright, Ginny from Harry Potter.

Emma Stone who may I say looks so much better as a redhead!

Emma again, but this time with straight hair.

The lovely Katie from skunkboy creatures

can't resist adding more of Katie as she always looks amazing!

Amy Adams, loved her in Julie & Julia

Christina Hendricks, a gorgeous lady with amazing style!

So what do you think peeps? Can I pull off life as a redhead? I do love it. What do you love today?

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

a little bit of bunting ❤

2011-10-11T18:35:00.004+11:00

Yesterday I picked up a huge stack of mail from our post office box and among the window envelops, package notices and magazines were two bits of bunting loveliness. The first {just because it was the first one I opened} was from a very clever lady over at beberouge. It has a little crochet and a little spotty fabric and a special little piece of embroidery in the pointy end. Obviously a lot of time and thought went into it and I love it! Particularly as I'm not that great with the hook myself!

baby blue and spotty with a little red heart - so gorgeous!

I've since been over to beberouge's blog and have fallen in love with her embroidered pin-up girls. They're amazing and I love the little personal touches she's included to make them her very own. Originally from a book by Jenny Hart over at Sublime Stitching.

Fan Girl by beberouge

Where to find those lovely pin-ups! A book I'm now coveting.

Thank you so much for the wonderful bunting beberouge and not to mention a look at this gorgeous embroidery book!

The second pretty piece of cuteness in my mail traveled a very long way to get here... all the way from over in Oregon, Ohio, USA and was made by Stephanie! How pretty is the wool Stephanie used to embellish her bunting? It was hand dyed by her and her lovely family and if you have a thing for wool or yarn you should go over here and read about how they went about it. As you can see from the shot below, it also came with a little note all strung with bunting too! ❤

rainbow yarn and crisp white bunting with sweet little button flower!

Thank you Stephanie! I'm really so surprised at the wonderful "bunting" interpretations that us crafters are coming up with. I'm also enjoying all of these little surprises in the mail. Almost makes me wish I'd signed up to make 10 or 20 rather than five! I'll be sending my bunting out to my swap partners very soon, but first I need to personalise them a little and give them my own special touch.

back from retreat!

2011-10-10T22:41:00.000+11:00

Mum and I arrived back from the "ladies what lunch" retreat Sunday afternoon a little tired, but because we had such a wonderful time, it didn't matter too much. Everyone here was very happy to see us again, as was I to see them. It's funny, but I always forget how much I really do miss my peeps when I'm away from them for a little while.

the garden gate at Craft Retreat...

If you're wondering why I've been an absentee blogger these past three days, it's because I had a little mini-break away from home and Blogtoberfest. On Friday afternoon the girls all drove off to Hepburn Springs on our little adventure to Craft Retreat. Hepburn Springs and Daylesford are truly lovely places to visit anyway and I highly recommend Craft Retreat as an amazing place for crafters to get a little time-out. It's a gorgeous house with every amenity that a crafter might need, plus a lot of extra little luxuries all over the place - comfy couches, spa bath, amazing kitchen, beautiful deckings, lovely cottage garden...

the table is set for a wonderful lunch!

Some sewing got done, see my bunting {look out bunting swappees}!? I also learnt an easy way to make fabric notebook covers and the cutest little fabric owls.

my bunting up on the design wall...

Some wonderful food was cooked and consumed... yum!

a pretty {yummy} salad...

yes, this cheesecake was delicious!

We visited a local country pub {more delicious food} and {until some party poopers wanted to leave} listened to some great local band play a few songs.

We strolled through the local Sunday market and perused quite a few of the stores in the main street {where I purchased the cutest, little brooch}.

handmade cuteness!

We also visited Threadneedle Craft, because of course who can pass by a quilt store without going in? Well, what quilter can anyway! Merrilyn has a little bit of everything {contemporary & traditional fabric designs as well as the usual books, rotary cutters, cutting mats, templates, hoops, bag handles, threads, batting, patterns & kits for quilts, cushions & pillows, handbags, aprons, soft toys} and is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about all things crafty. She's also a lovely person and a talented stitcher!

All in all, a wonderful time away... thanks to my fellow crafters for making this such a pleasant stay. You know who you are!

my creative space {no. 15}

2011-10-06T17:37:00.000+11:00

Just a little mini creative space update to say that I've cut out my skirt! Now all that's left is to sew it together.

skirt making...

For more creative spaces - pop on over here and take a look.

What I love Wednesday {no. 1}

2011-10-05T23:30:00.000+11:00

I decided to link up today with Krystina over at Lollypops for What I Love Wednesday. It was Krystina's post today that caught my eye because she loves fonts too! I can't help it, I really do love fonts. Just ask anyone who knows me or has worked with me. I collect typefaces like some people collect stamps or frogs or fabric... :P)

Type is a passion of mine and I thought I'd share a couple of fonts I really, really adore as well as some that just intrigue me and are itching for me to use them in a project.

FFF Tusj
It's structured and classy looking but a bit scratchy and grungy too. I used it to great effect in my son's birthday party invitations last year...

fontsquirrel

Scriptina
This has always been a good standby for anything that you need to add a little touch of elegance to. Love using it in a barely there opaque colour to make lovely washed out backgrounds. Also nice on certificates!

fontsquirrel

TeX Gyre Adventor
Some of my favourite sans serif fonts are very round, curvy, even shapes and this one is no exception. Very crisp and no-nonsense.

fontsquirrel

Luck of the Irish
There are some handwritten fonts that really appeal to me and I quite like that this one has upper and lowercase letter forms that are evenly matched in height. It's cute!

dafont

Feel Script
I love, love, love this font. It is truly beautiful and has the most amazing swashes and I just love it. Swirly, curly, big and sassy. Probably my favourite. I can definitely see it on my {40th} birthday invitations some day.

Veer

Come and link up with us for

and tell us what you're loving!

*Edited to add: I did cut out my A+ skirts pattern. I also washed, dried and pressed my Blad fabric. Hopefully I can cut it out today {Thursday}.

Skirting the issue

2011-10-04T23:28:00.000+11:00

Some of the girls I work with and I, have a running joke that goes along these lines... "Wow! This fabric is gorgeous! Wouldn't it make a great skirt?!" Unfortunately, I've become renown for purchasing lengths of said gorgeous fabrics to make into these great skirts. The unfortunate part being that I've got oodles of fabric, a couple of great patterns, but no skirts to speak of. Today I picked up some more fabric which, guess what...? Would make a great skirt!

Love these - A+ Skirts from Make It Perfect

I'm looking at using my A+ Skirts pattern from Make It Perfect, for this particular fabric because it's got a more structured look to it. I plan to open up the pattern and actually cut it out tomorrow {shock horror people}. I'll probably start with View A {above top left} as it looks the simplest for beginner dressmakers like me, but I do like View C {above bottom left} with the buttons too... I guess I could improvise and put buttons onto the front of View A, but I think I'll wait and see how the fabric comes up. It's a heavier weight than I was originally thinking of using, but in saying that, it should give the skirt a nice shape. The fabric is supposed to be beige, but I think it's more a warm grey/brown with a white print and I really liked the organic feel to it. What do you think?

Blad fabric in beige - IKEA

It also came in a few other colours and the royal blue, which isn't shown in the below pic was also gorgeous. With the Mr in tow though, I didn't want to get too ahead of myself, so I settled for just the "beige" for now...

Blad fabric, from top: beige, grey, white, black and red.

Because Mr was having lots of fun with the may I help you* computer touching, ie. weighing and making pricing stickers himself due to lack of service, I also picked up some 56% linen / 44% cotton fabrics in both natural and pale blue for making into scarves from this tutorial and a couple of smaller pieces of other pretties to make into bunting for Rachel's swap. The bunting is next on my to do list and I can't wait to try out these fabrics. Again they're a heavier weight than standard quilter's cotton, so they should sit really nicely.

*If you've ever seen Wayne's World, a 90's cult movie we were both big fans of, you'll be familiar with the May I help you? Riff. If not, it was a part in the movie where the main character Wayne {Mike Myers} picks up a very expensive guitar in a music shop and starts playing it to get the attention of the shop staff... in saying that though, I must add that Nik was actually weighing the fabric and choosing the correct fabrics and pricing them correctly. He wasn't being naughty at all! :)

Easy peesy lemon squeezy...

2011-10-03T20:37:00.000+11:00

Today has been a good day for hanging around the house, cleaning up, playing with the kidlets and just tidying up those piles of "stuff" that seem to accumulate everywhere. Several of those piles seem to spontaneously grow around my bench/kitchen area. You know the ones I mean... newsletters, magazines, letters, shop flyers, important papery info that you just jotted down but can't throw out yet? In re-distributing a couple of these piles and cleaning up the enormous jar of pens and pencils I seem to have gathered, I realised I also had a fair quantity of lemons sitting in my fruit bowl. I decided to squeeze them all into little icecube trays and freeze them for later.

source - alasam

I don't usually buy lemons, as I have some very generous friends and family who have beautifully laden trees. Or... I assume they're well laden as they're always giving me a half dozen here or there. Once you have all of these lemons though, what do you do with them all?

I've been trying to get into the habit of having a cup of hot water and lemon juice first thing in the morning, but so far I'm probably only averaging two out of seven mornings {I'm told it's great for your skin}. Another very yummy thing {but probably less healthy} to do with them is make this delicious lemony slice... recipe courtesy of a good friend.

D's Lemony Slice

Base:

1/2 tin sweetened condensed milk
1/2 lb Marie biscuits (i use nearly the whole packet) crushed fine
4oz butter
1/2 cup coconut
Rind of one lemon

Mix together dry ingredients.
Melt butter and when slightly cooled mix in the condensed milk, then add to dry ingredients and mix together.
Press into biscuit tin (rectangle lamington tin) and put into the fridge.
When hard, ice with lemony icing.

Lemony Icing:

1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture (or as necessary)
1 tsp grated lemon
30g soft butter
Juice of one lemon

The only thing left to do now is eat some! Yum!

*Edited to add that, in looking for a suitably fresh looking lemony picture for my post I came across some interesting information about Meyer lemons and now know that they are great in cooking and can be successfully grown in containers {which is great news for renters}. I've been thinking about getting both a lemon and a lime tree to grow in pots in my backyard as I love their fresh looking leaves and their sharp citrusy scent. They're also great added to a Corona on a warm day! :)

bunting ❤

2011-10-02T22:00:00.000+11:00

Quite a while ago now, I joined a wonderful little swap that was the very sweet brainchild of Rachel over at Squiggly Rainbow. Of late with my sporadic blogging, baby quilt making, school holiday fun and liptembering, I've neglected to mention it... which is all kinds of terrible because so far it's been lots of fun. You see, it's all about bunting!

source - Funky Shique

I love bunting and it's one of those crafty things I've been wanting to try for a while, but never seem to find the time. Well folks, now I have a deadline... so very soon you'll see my take on bunting! It may involve felt, flowers, raw edge applique and lots of pretty colours... but you'll have to wait and see!

Blogtoberfest is here! Yay!

2011-10-01T21:09:00.000+10:00

Oh my! It's October already.... and you know what that means? Yes! It's time for the fantastic, amazing fun that is Blogtoberfest!!!

Visit tinniegirl to sign-up and find out more!!

But first... to re-cap.

It's been a big week. It was the last week of Liptember. Thank you very much to the three lovely ladies who sponsored me in my endeavours to pretty my pout all September long. I only managed to raise $50, but I guess that it's the thought and the effort that counts, yes? Next year I'll try to promote the event a little better and hopefully that will do more to encourage family and friends to help out. Hee hee!

Mwah! Thank you Megan, Ness and T. You're awesome!

We made it back from our holidays in one piece and surprise, surprise... the nasty weather held out long enough for the kids to visit the beach and swim.

Well, the boys swam {because they're kids and don't seem to feel the cold} and Cam jumped in puddles, splashed, played with sand and generally all got wet and icky.

Red Rock Beach

splish, splash!

I managed to finish a book - the second of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, aptly titled Torment and get some of my Christmas stitchery blocks done for the SS&Q Christmas raffle.

One of my raffle blocks...

I also managed to resurrect my fire-building/starting skills from my former life in the country as the only heating available was a coonara wood heater... reminding me again why I love central gas heating!

Book two... if you like angels, romance, good v evil?

And then there was the footy grand final... while I officially barrack for the mighty Collingwood magpies, I've grown up with Dad following the Geelong pussy cats and so wasn't entirely crushed at the result. Both teams have had a pretty awesome season and the game was {up until part-way through the third quarter} very close and excitingly well-matched. If we had to lose at all, I was glad to see Geelong take the honours. I was just a little sad that our coach didn't get to see out his career on a high. Congratulations to all you cats fans and commiserations to all you fellow pies fans... we'll get 'em next year!

my creative space... more elephants!

2011-09-25T00:38:00.001+10:00

So this week I did slowly, but surely, finish off the baby quilt from my last post. On Monday {with some instruction and expert pinning help from Mum} I basted the quilt together. Never having done this before, meant that it was a great learning opportunity for me. And while I know everyone has different methods for this part of the process, Mum's method seemed to work really well for me! That was... masking the backing to the floor, spray basting the other layers together and finally pinning the sandwich together.

Tuesday involved lots and lots of free motion quilting. Squiggly, swirly, "e" shapes and curls and a few elephant shapes here and there to break things up a bit. I did find it quite challenging handling the quilt bulk with such a small sewing machine, but after a while I found I got into a bit of a rhythm. The stitches became more even and flowed really well and I became more confident with my "driving" of the machine. I'm sure Pauline {teacher of our SS&Q quilting workshop from last year} would've been proud of me!

free motion quilting...

I had a bit of a rest on Wednesday, because my wrists were pretty sore {from all that great driving} and my neck and shoulders were a bit stiff! Although I did do a bit of research for my quilt label... But on Thursday, I got back into things with a vengeance, trimming the quilt edges so they were straight and square, cutting and sewing the binding strips together {more tutorials from Mum}, machine sewing them on one side and finally hand-stitching the binding down to the back of the quilt! Whew!

Sewing that binding... probably my least fave part!

Thursday was also a really big night for my little guy who went for his yellow belt grading in karate. We were very proud of him, particularly as he's been practicing so hard every night this week as well as every week at training. Yay! Gabe!


He went from white...

To yellow!

After all the excitement, we came home and I finished the binding on the baby quilt and put together a label. The whole thing got washed, so that it was all clean and fresh with no running colours {thanks to the addition of Colour Catchers from Woolies in the wash - highly recommended} and smelling great!

Label... and oh so cute spotty, dotty backing!

The label had a quote from Winnie the Pooh that I love...

"Sometimes," said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."

And here in all it's finished glory is Amy's Elephant Walk... my first completed quilt {all on my very own}. The little feet sticking out of the bottom belong to my Mum... isn't she brilliant?

Here it is! Finished...

To see more amazingly wonderful creative spaces - pop on over here and take a look.

my creative space... a bit late!

2011-09-16T19:45:00.000+10:00

This week I've been working on my very first {start to finish} baby quilt. I've designed it, machine appliqued it and tomorrow I'll baste it and quilt it... binding might have to wait until Sunday, or Monday.

One little Ellie... prior to applique magic!

I was supposed to baste and quilt yesterday, but I chickened out. Eeek! I got as far as preparing the backing fabric, laying out the batting and top {to check for size}, but... never, ever having put a "quilt sandwich" together myself before, I just couldn't bring myself to cut the batting to size without a little head-nodding and back-patting {big chicken} from my quilting go-to girl {Mum}.

More little ellies...

Watch this space for more on Amy's Elephant Walk soon! Wish me luck...

I just love this shot of baby ellie Mali... my inspiration!

And for loads more amazing creative spaces - pop on over here and take a look. You'll be glad you did!

my creative space... who loves weddings?

2011-09-08T17:38:00.000+10:00

Me! Me! I do, I do! I haven't had the chance to go to a wedding for a while, but I really do love them. I've been hoping for a while now that one of my many cousins, who are now all in their twenties {and almost thirties} will take the plunge, but sadly... not as yet. While I love going along as a guest, I also love the excitement and fun of organising and choosing all the bits and pieces that go into making up the big day.

In the past year I've had the absolute pleasure of helping put together some of those bits and pieces for some lovely couples and I'm about to show you some of them now.

Lately my creative space has been all about putting together my professional portfolio, resume and business website, which is why I haven't been posting anything here! I've been too busy working on them to do much sewing or crafting and to be completely honest, I'm still putting the finishing touches on my website. I would like to share some of my favourite pieces though, and first up are a few things I put together for an old work colleague and friend Mel and her husband Andrew.

I had lots of fun with this project as I was given only the very briefest of briefs and lots of latitude. Mel told me that they didn't really have a specific theme for their day, just that she really liked a certain pretty, duck egg blue colour... hello Tiffany and liked the idea of making a feature of the typeface on her invitations.

Mel & Andrew's invitation, RSVPostcard and a gift registry card...

What we ended up with was an invitation, an RSVPostcard and a business card sized gift registry card in two shades of blue and white. I used one of my old faithful serif fonts, Adobe's Garamond Pro in a few different weights and styles and all together as a suite, they looked very effective. Below is a larger copy of the gift registry card artwork which was my particular favourite, in part due to the gorgeous poem Mel gave me to work from.

I told you it was gorgeous, not to mention a great registry idea!

For more creative spaces - pop on over here and take a look.

last week we...

2011-09-06T09:40:00.001+10:00

I've been a bit of a slack blogger these days, so thought I'd recap on our week all in one post... on Monday and Tuesday I worked on my SS&Q Chinese Whispers block swap block (due last Tuesday... oops).

Ooey, gooey wombat stew...

I flicked through a few new magazines, like the latest Homespun, Frankie and the new Ikea catalogue where I found a cute new word to add to my vocabulary.

I will thoroughly confuse the next person I ask out for a coffee!

I decided to support Liptember by purchasing a special Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm {in Hibiscus} and vowed to paint my pout with it for the whole of September to raise funds for womens health. So please support me in my efforts!

Here are my pretty pouty pics so far...

September 1 - Getting squishy with my little squeeze

September 2 - Mwah! Using my Burt's Bee's Replenishing Lip Balm

September 3 - Getting ready to go out to visit the Lindstrom clan... in Wallan.

September 4 - Happiness is a Melbourne Ice supporter!

Friday was walk to school day, so we drove down to Grandma's house in Goonawarra and then walked to school. I ended up carrying both backpacks!!

Cameron took a fancy to the little, life-saving rubber duckies the boys got as a going away present from their soon-to-be-retiring art/drama teacher Mrs Blogg!

Cameron and I made cabana and chutney rolls to take along to our family get together. Big thank you's to Miss Ness who told me in great detail how to make them as they were a huge hit!

Cameron counting the rolls!

Cameron watching the rolls cook.

We had a lovely time in Wallan town. Hope to see you all again soon. And on Sunday, the puck dropped, we watched {on Livestream} and wished we were there! Our fave ice hockey boys, Melbourne Ice, did it again... Yay! They won the Goodall Cup in a back-to-back victory and did it in fine style. Well done Ice! Can't wait for season 2012.

Melbourne Ice scarf close up...

Liptember, mwah!

2011-09-01T23:56:00.006+10:00

I'm not a big fan of lipstick, but when it comes to lip balms I can't get enough {just ask Mr who is convinced I'm addicted to them} so... when I read about Liptember the other day on Twitter I was intrigued. What is Liptember you ask? Well... it's a month long campaign run in September every year to raise awareness and funds for gender-specific mental health issues for women.

I decided it would be fun to take part and at the same time support a great cause... so I've ordered my special Liptember sponsored lip balm, the wonderful Burt's Bee's Tinted Lip Balm in Hibiscus {available from Myer} and as soon as it arrives I'll be wearing it every day throughout the rest of September.

If you too would like to have some lip-smacking fun this month, you can join in by getting your own lip balm and register online at liptember.com.au with your own sponsorship page or you can sponsor me! Yay!

Just visit here to help: http://www.liptember.com.au/profile.aspx?u=kylie.lindstrom

All funds raised during the campaign will be donated to the Centre for Women's Mental Health and Lifeline Australia and all donations are tax deductable.

The rules are simple listen here,
A month is all it takes my dear.
All you girls out and about,
Always display your Liptember pout.
Whether it be work or play,
The lipstick must always stay.
When the weekend comes around,
Show it off out on town.
But don’t forget rule number one,
Liptember is all for having fun.

Women participating in Liptember must wear the lipstick throughout
September at work and when out and about.

I'll try to post pouty pics every day on instagram, so you can follow along http://followgram.me/alittlereddress or check back here from time to time. Until I get my "official" lippy I'll be wearing Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm...

book review: Becoming Scarlett by Ciara Geraghty

2011-09-01T22:58:00.000+10:00

I finished this lovely little story on Monday night and truly recommend it to anyone who likes a sweet, sometimes funny, easy to read novel.

You know the basic boy meets girl storyline already, but this one has a few unusual twists! Wait for it...

Boy leaves girl {to join an archeological dig in South America} and after drinking too much, girl hooks up with new boy, in a bar. Much later, girl discovers she's pregnant {with no idea who the daddy-to-be is} and takes on a new client {in her job as a wedding planner} only to then discover that her client's fiancé is the boy from the bar! Oops!

Girl is one Scarlett O'Hara, boy in the bar is... Daniel "Red" Butler. Didn't I tell you it was cute?! Anything more is spoilers, so if you have time for a little more cute in your life, find a copy of Becoming Scarlett. It's nice... really it is!

Loving the Little Lady!

2011-08-13T22:03:00.001+10:00

Another busy day in the shop today, with more coffees made and no major dramas unfolding... yay! Although to be honest, I don't really mind it when things are quite hectic. Usually I find that the busier it is, the faster the day seems to go. Besides, when you have someone fun and interesting to spend your time with and are surrounded by lovely fabrics who can complain? Today was no exception with the lovely miss Amanda, who is not only good company, but a fellow bookworm. She lent me a big bag of books to read... which of course was wonderful!

I didn't get any sewing done when I got home this afternoon as I was feeling a little bit tired and lazy, but I did enjoy a cup of tea and the rest of Hester Browne's The Little Lady Agency. It's a lovely story, with two other volumes in the series, Little Lady, Big Apple and The Little Lady Agency and the Prince. I've read it a few times before, but it's one of those stories that is just so warm and fuzzy and so incredibly well written, that I find myself enjoying it every time I pick it up.

Fantastic fiction describes it as "a romantic comedy about men, manners and multi-tasking" which is actually pretty accurate! The heroine of the tale is Miss Melissa Romney-Jones who although very sweet, is incredibly naive and has an alarming tendency to be taken advantage of by all and sundry. Through the course of the story you get to see that she is also a bit of a modern-day Mary Poppins, with an amazing repertoire of skills in organisation, etiquette, party-planning, wardrobe-overhauling and gift-shopping... among other things. Along the way, she organises a wedding, lots of hopeless English gents and of course meets her handsome prince... but if I say any more, it would spoil the fun! If you'd like a bit of light-hearted, easy to read, fun, think about reading The Little Lady Agency. It was book 16 in my 2011 reading list...

lattice totes & lattes

2011-08-07T19:51:00.000+10:00

It was market day in Gisborne, so it was busy, busy in the shop today. I worked with the lovely Carolyn and was doing all sorts of different things, including a few barista duties. It's still a little nerve wracking as I'm a learner and there seems to be so many permutations and combinations that folks can order... but I guess that makes it a bit of fun too!

handles for the bower of greens and aquas tote

This afternoon I'd teed up my lovely Mummy to come up and have a little sew-a-thon. She had suggested that a lattice tote assembly line could be quite a productive way to get my totes all sewn up.

more greens and aqua action...

I have four totes that are promised to various folks for various reasons and it's really about time for me to have them all finished and shipped out! I'd already chosen all the colours, fabrics and ribbons, so it was my job to sit at the machine and sew my little heart out, while Mum pinned, trimmed and ironed {she's also a wonderful motivator}. We're a great team and I think I'd be lost without her. Thanks Mum!

a peek at the antique pink and a splash of red wine tote and the chooky tote

There is one more tote I can't start yet as I need a few more supplies {in the way of some wonderful Kaffe Fasset brights}. It will be a very early start on a Christmas gift for someone special. When I started thinking of things I could make for this person, Kaffe fabrics just popped straight into my head. She seems to love colour and is very creative, so I think these fabrics have the perfect personality to suit her.

a gorgeous range of Kaffe fabrics! - source

Delicious...

2011-08-05T21:04:00.002+10:00

I was at work today, so no more magoo updates, but I did make a couple of interesting purchases today. First up were a few fat eighths which will hopefully take me one step closer to finishing another one of my UFO's.

These little pretties are set to become sweet elephants trooping their way across a baby quilt... big thank you's to Mary for help and inspiration in choosing them too!

In other news, I picked up a lovely hottie {which will be adorning the study/sewing nook} from The Curlypops Shop. All proceeds going to The Margaret Pratt Foundation, so do go and take a squiz, as it's for a great cause!

by Jodie @ The Haby Goddess

Who could go past colour palettes and designer logos on cute selvedges and red polka dot binding?

Magoo part two...

2011-08-04T17:03:00.003+10:00

My creative space today only got as far as cutting out Magoo monkey...

Unfortunately we ran out of Magoo time today. Miss Cameron and I had a bit of socialising to do, a visit to the post office, a roast to prepare for dinner and a little bit of cleaning up. Oh... and we didn't get to watch Strawberry Shortcake or Winnie the Pooh, but there was a little bit of ABC kids action along with a little bit of reading "The Little Lady Agency"... again.

For some more wonderfully creative spaces, take a look over here...

Musing around with Magoo...

2011-08-03T20:13:00.002+10:00

Last Thursday I toddled off to the Quilt & Craft Fair with my Mummy and Miss Cameron and one of the lovely things I found {besides a lot of exquisite quilts in the exhibition} was the cutest little fat quarter of fabric ever! A little Magoo Monkey print by Melanie Hurlston. Here it is for those of you who {like me} have been hiding under a bush somewhere and haven't seen it before.

When I first spotted it, it was on a pink Magoo monkey in the form of boxer shorts. So very cute! Miss Cameron spotted it too and so of course I told her that Mummy would make her a pink Magoo monkey with Magoo boxer shorts! I've only had the pattern hiding out in my bookshelf since before she was born... but that's another story.

So far, I've found some pink fabric in my stash and have cut out the pattern, tomorrow will be all about cutting him out and sewing him up... most likely whilst watching Strawberry Shortcake or the new Winnie the Pooh flick, yay!

Fabric swatches for the whole 'Little Menagerie' range... so cute!

Over the past week I've also learned a lot about the band Muse. I really like their music {hence the supermassive ringtone on my phone} and had an inkling they were an English group of lads. Apart from that, I didn't really have a clue about their particulars. In helping Noah to research them for a school project, I now know just about everything. So, if you need to know anything about Muse, just ask... I'm your girl.

my creative space

2011-06-23T21:01:00.002+10:00

I was chatting to a {very talented} fellow stitcher last Tuesday night who mentioned she spent some time reading through my blog. Apparently she noticed I had an alarming tendency to show sneak peeks of projects that I've been working on, but never get around to showing the finished products... :]

OK, I confess! My secret is out. I start a lot more things than I ever finish... my UFO list is quite long and now I've been found out. Ahhhhh!

I've been trying very hard lately to take on things that I know I can complete over a couple of days {attention span very small} and have managed to finish my Chinese Whisper block {of which I'm very proud} and now this...

...my hottie cover for Cam's Hottie Challenge. Here is the sneak peek!

Here is another one...

And here is the finished item. Yay!

Front of my bookworm hottie...

There you go Evelyn. I do finish things. This little hottie is part of a group entry for an exhibition at Open Drawer to benefit The Margaret Pratt Foundation organised by Cam of Curlypops. Go here or here and check out a whole bunch of wonderful entries!

Back of my hottie!

This has gone off in the post today. Thank you so much for organising this Cam, I really enjoyed the challenge and think it's a great way to raise much needed funds for a brilliant cause!

Oh! And for more creative spaces - pop on over here!

my creative space

2011-06-02T23:12:00.002+10:00

I didn't have a lot of time to be too creative today {unless you count my imagination}, but I did have a bit of a think about a project that needs to be finished by the end of July. It's a sort of secret annual project that my stitching group organises and hands out at the end of the year.

possible fabrics to include in my project...?

Every year around October/November a pair of "Christmas Elves" are secretly nominated to serve out the coming year by the elves before them. The new elves then have some time to come up with a project or challenge and subsequently announce themselves and their elected challenge at our Christmas function. The results of the challenge are displayed for the group at our Christmas in July function.

This year's challenge was to create something using the stained glass method. Along with the challenge, the elves gave us a piece of Christmas green fabric and some black, iron-on bias tape to include in our finished piece. I've been thinking for a while now that I'd like to make something practical that I can use in my home rather than a wall-hanging or bag.

mmmm, love this book...

After my recent foray into cushion making, I've decided it might be nice to make a cushion cover. I'm going to attempt to adapt a pattern from a lovely book I have on Japanese quilt blocks. I've always liked the cherry blossom design, so I'll probably try out the technique with it and if all goes well, I might make a few more. The book has a number of floral designs which I think might translate well into stained glass, so I'm actually starting to look forward to giving it a go.

For more creative spaces - pop on over here!

the sakura or cherry blossom

it arrived...

2011-05-30T22:59:00.003+10:00

I checked my PO Box last Wednesday and... hey presto! One amazing cushion cover had arrived. This is the first chance I've had to blog about it, as there wasn't enough light left on Wednesday afternoon to take pictures and even less time since then for anything else....

As you can see, JulieAnn's design is lots of fun!

Big thanks to JulieAnn for such a bright, fun cushy. Not only did JulieAnn sew the cover together, but she designed and created the vibrant fabric as well! Wow!

This cushy has found a home in my two year old's bedroom {along side Tink and her teddies} and she loves it. More big thanks to Vic for such a great swap, it's been a real inspiration to see such wonderful talent and I've really enjoyed taking part.

happy birthday

2011-05-30T11:07:00.174+10:00

Today is a very special birthday of a very special friend... a special "0" birthday. You know the ones. Those birthdays most people don't like to talk about because they think it's too scary {ahhh! I'm getting so old}. Or as one friend's husband put it, your life is half over now... Well I'd just like to say that on the contrary {apart from 40 being the new 30, hee hee} I think it's a great milestone and you should be proud. Proud of who you are and what you've accomplished! I hope you have a Happy Birthday and are properly spoiled by your lovely family! xo

a surprise gift? - source

Even though I might sound a bit flip, over the past ten years I've noticed that my perspective has changed so much about so many things. It almost seems as if by magic that I've started to appreciate my own worth more and what others think a lot less {or maybe I've just developed a "healthy" disregard for over-opinionated opinions}.

It's a very liberating and somewhat exhilarating feeling to become more comfortable in my own skin. I admit I still have my days {who doesn't} but I feel more confident to say and do things now that would've absolutely terrified me in my twenties. I do things more on my own terms these days and not the way popular opinion dictates. I'm not as afraid to do things that I think are right or to try taking certain pathways in life, just in case they don't work out {or even fail miserably}.

Having said all this though, there is still a long way to go. More to do's to get done, more goals to reach, more things to master and lots more experiences to experience. But isn't that the beautiful thing about scary "0" birthdays? We've made it this far, imagine how much better the next ten years will be!

I love this much more eloquent list {on turning 40} by Christine... most of which I can attest to and a couple that I'm still working towards... :]

I have confidence. I even like who I am on most days. As I approach 40, I am learning to be more physically comfortable in my own skin. I have ended up with a very strong sense of self.
I have learned to love myself and to value the gifts I have to share in this world.
I have learned a lot about how to be a good friend and partner.
I have had the opportunity to work with people who have faced much greater hardships than I can ever imagine.
I have learned to treat my body with the respect that it deserves.
I have learned how to be grateful.
I have stopped living my life as a race and instead have learned to live each day like it is a privilege.
I guess it is true what they say about wisdom coming with age.

cushiony hugs & kisses...

2011-05-24T18:19:00.001+10:00

Always one to leave everything to the last minute {organisation is not my strong suit} here is my finished cushion cover, off in the mail today... oops! It doesn't really match my bedroom, but I still think it looks quite cute nestled there amongst the pillows.

kisses & hugs to you!

I had great fun taking part in this swap, and I managed to accomplish two things I've never tried before... raw edge applique and making a cushion cover. :]

Katie {my swapee} lives in a seaside town which inspired me to use a pretty, sandy homespun on the front. It also nicely balanced the bright red applique shapes... xoxo {kiss hug kiss hug for those of you like my Dad who guessed a noughts and crosses game}.

As I'm a novice cushioneer, I went with a simple envelope back in a matching red cord fabric. Here's hoping Katie likes it. My husband thought it was nice and cozy on our couch, so I had to sneak it out of the house when he wasn't looking!

Thank you very much to Vic for coming up with such a great idea!

giant chocolate freckles...

2011-05-20T18:15:00.001+10:00

A white choc freckle for Nik!

I bet that got your attention! My son Gabriel went to a birthday party recently and one of the brilliant things he did there was to make a giant freckle lolly instead of getting a regular lolly bag. I thought it was a great party activity and gave the Mum lots of kudos for thinking of it. So this afternoon when the kids wanted to go to the milk bar on the way home, I suggested we get stop at the supermarket instead and pick up some melting chocolate... mmmmmm!

What you'll need...

Bread and butter sized disposable plates, plastic
Cooking chocolate {I used 200g blocks}
100's and 1,000's or sprinkles
Small lollies to decorate with *optional*

This is what we did!

Using a 200g block of cooking chocolate{I used Coles brand}, break it up into a bowl and melt in the microwave using the instructions on the packet. I kept going until it was quite runny so it was easy to pour. {This was just shy of two minutes.}

We did this with both white and milk blocks in seperate bowls {as Nik and Noah prefer white chocolate}. One block will make two giant freckles, so you could use more or less chocolate depending on how many you wanted to make.

Cameron's milk choc freckle, with mini jelly beans!

Pour the chocolate over your disposable plates, spread evenly and let the kids decorate with sprinkles and lollies if you like.

Pop them in the fridge and wait until they set {which takes about an hour}, by which time they should easily pop from the plates. Be wary of loose sprinkles!

Gabriel eating his creation!

book review: Kaleidoscope by Melanie Hurlston

2011-05-18T22:49:00.003+10:00

Last Tuesday {the 10th} I borrowed Kaleidoscope from the SS&Q library because I really wanted to try making a few of the very sweet, kokeshi dolls on page 58. What I loved most about the book {apart from the gorgeous softies, of course} were the beautiful photographs and the little rhymes and introductions that accompanied each pattern.

The kokeshi dolls apparently symbolise love and friendship which made them appeal to me even more than their sweet little faces! Unfortunately when I went to raid my stash for requirements, I couldn't find any black homespun for their hair or any Japanese prints for their bodies... so I improvised and made one a brunette and one a blonde, then used some lovely polka dots and florals from the Bliss range by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics. I also made one a scarf and a flower for her hair and the other got be-ribboned pigtails. So while they're not traditional kokeshi dolls, I think the spirit is definitely still there!

Here is my little brunette kokeshi, which Cameron calls Mama {me}

My next project will be Bella-boo the pink rabbit softie... stay tuned for an update on her!

All in all, this is a gorgeous book of patterns by Melanie Hurlston {of Melly & Me}. Including 16 different projects that suit both beginner sewers {like me} and those of you who are more advanced; there are soft toys, bags and quilts to enjoy. For each project there are easy to follow instructions, pattern templates to photocopy or trace as well as several photos to inspire you along.

Whether you have little people in your life or are just young at heart, do look out for this book because it has been a real pleasure!

Happy stitching,
Kylie x

my family...

2011-05-10T11:04:00.004+10:00

clockwise from top: gabriel {home again yesterday}, cameron, nik & noah.

The wonderful folks in my life, who occasionally make me crazy, but mostly make me grateful for being alive. I love you all very much and thank you for being mine {and letting me be yours}.

Gabriel

2011-05-06T13:59:00.006+10:00

This is Gabriel, my little guy in the middle. He has a genetic condition called haemophilia, and most of the time you wouldn't even know it. He's just as cheeky, sweet and full of mischief as any other six year old little boy... which is just how we like him!

On Monday morning {at around six am} though, he woke up in lots of pain, the cause of which turned out to be bleeding into his hip joint. Ever since then he's been in hospital. I excitedly posted pictures of him standing yesterday, but forgot that no one in blog land would know why he was in hospital in the first place... whoops!

I'm hoping he'll soon be well enough to come home, because our house seems so quiet without him...

Yay! I can stand up!

2011-05-05T15:12:00.001+10:00

Here is Gabriel today (day four in the RCH) with the physio Nicola. He walked from his bed, to the window seat and back again. Made a Lego boat, ate his lunch and looked at the 22 cards made for him by his classmates. We also played a bit of guess who and connect four. His spirits are really up, which is great!

A bit later Janine (the haemophilia nurse) came by with a pretend arm so we could all practice our IV training. Gabe even had a few goes and is a bit of an expert with the butterfly needle! Look out, he might want to practice on you guys in the near future... :]

if you need me... I'm here

2011-04-30T21:11:00.004+10:00

A very good friend of mine and her husband welcomed their baby daughter into the world this morning. Normally this would be an incredibly joyous occasion, but so very sadly only two hours after meeting her, they then had to say goodbye.

image source

I don't know why such a cruel thing has happened to two such wonderful, loving and generous people {whom I care about very much}. I can't even begin to understand what they're going through, I just want them to know... {you to know lady} I'm here for you if you need me, for anything at all. I haven't reached out to you after hearing your news, because I don't want to intrude on your pain or presume to know how you feel. But if you need me, please, just ask.

“Sometimes love can last a moment
Sometimes love can last a lifetime
Sometimes a moment is a lifetime”
~Anon

creative space...

2011-04-28T20:11:00.004+10:00

Success! I finally managed to find some duck-egg blue/pale aqua, plain, cotton fabric. Yay! Now I can put my scrappy, quilt as you go, quilt together with this lovely fabric as sashing. Today I trimmed all of my blocks to down to 12 inch squares...

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."

...and tomorrow I plan to cut out the sashing and start sewing the rows together.

For some more wonderfully creative spaces, take a look over here...

hair update...

2011-04-28T18:45:00.005+10:00

"When the music changes, so does the dance"

Yesterday, I decided to have a side fringe cut in with my latest visit to the hairdresser. I'm liking it so far, but let's see how I go when I have to wash and dry it myself! :]

5 reasons why we should eat pancakes!

2011-04-27T23:29:00.001+10:00

In trying to convince his Dad why, Noah came up with the following... need I say more?

Chloe - part two

2011-04-19T21:45:00.003+10:00

Here she is... looking a little bit washed out by the flash, unfortunately. I think I might try re-taking the photo in the morning light tomorrow. My longer term plan is to incorporate her into a larger project a bit further down the track, but for the moment this is my Chloe all stitched in place. I added an applique heart and some texture to her hair, but she's essentially the same.

Much love monday...

2011-04-18T21:07:00.005+10:00

I've been sketching my girls for a while now, and most of them have stayed as just that, sketches, doodles, pencil-scratched musings... but today I spotted a sweet meme over on Her Library Adventures, much love monday and it got me thinking.

A little while ago my cousin Kirsten suggested I should make up some stitchery designs from my drawings. I really love to draw and I also love to do stitcheries. Putting the two together seemed like a good idea, but I was never really sure where to start. After looking through some posts of what folks love this afternoon and remembering Kirsten's idea, I came up with Chloe.

much love, Chloe by Kylie

Named in honour of one of my cousin's little girls, I can't wait to see what she looks like all stitched up. Pop back tomorrow to take a look! Oh, and thanks Kirst!

Much love monday is hosted by Anna at Much Love and is a really lovely idea. Why don't you join in?

simply do a blog post that includes a picture of a heart and mention something you love.

why, oh why?

2011-04-18T11:00:00.004+10:00

People have often asked me why a little red dress? It's cute, but what does it mean? What does it have to do with Kylie? Well… it’s not really that much of a mystery if you know me. It's a bit of a mish mash of special memories, favourites and things that inspire me.

I'm a designer and I guess I’ve always loved the colour red and it’s association to strength, passion and energy. There is always a little bit of red around or about me, in my designs *if appropriate* and even in my clothing. A brooch here, hairclip or scarf there… it has always given me that little confidence boost or cheered me up, so I guess it’s my happy colour.

The little dress is a reference to a gift my brother gave me for a birthday many years ago. It was also a favourite and has since inspired some of my *soon to be revealed* illustrated characters. It just so happened that it was red and polka dotty too! Yes, I'm also mad about polka dots!

a peek at the little red, dotty, dress

So there you have it. Probably not quite as exciting or cute an explanation as you were expecting, but that's it. A little red dress, Kylie style.

to valentine or not to valentine?

2011-02-14T18:14:00.006+11:00

I'm not really fussed with the {hearts, flowers, chocolates, teddies} thing that has become today's Valentine's Day and I don't mind if my Valentine gives me nothing at all.

I think it's always a fabulous day to remind people how much we care about them and is something I try to do and encourage my peeps to do every day. Whether that comes written on a card or whispered in the dark; is a big, baby bear hug, or smeary, vegemite kisses. Whether it's someone doing your washing up or cooking you dinner. It could be a sparkly, red paper pasting or an "I lub you Mummy". No matter what shape it takes, it all makes me happy to be a part of.

That said though, I do think it's a bit of fun to pop chocolate hearts into unsuspecting lunchboxes and it is a great excuse to surprise my Mummy with a little stitched up fabric heart...

Two lovely bloggy ladies, Maxabella and Felicity at Gifts of Serendipity are co-hosting the 'Bling On Love' linky here. All you have to do is show and tell of a special piece of love bling... so, here goes.

About twelve years ago, my Valentine bought me a beautiful, princess-worthy necklace. Not really what I'd call bling and not really for Valentine's Day, as we found it in the little boutique where we were having our wedding bands designed. It was something he thought would be amazing for me to wear on our wedding day (and I agreed). Something that would make me really feel like said princess, and I must say, I still feel special every time I wear it...

bags revisited...

2011-02-09T14:06:00.005+11:00

After all my excitement at sending off my first pay it forward back in October last year, I forgot to post an update of the finished gift. Well, here it is...

Sarah's bag...

I think it turned out really well, but then I'm a sucker for red and polka dots! Here are some pics of another tote I made for a very good friend of mine. I think it was a gorgeous combination of colours as well.

Ariana's bag

And here is the secret purple lining and the little pocket on the inside...

inside Ariana's bag

I have made about six of these totes now and still have plans for a couple more... which is your favourite?

sunshiny-ness

2011-02-08T13:40:00.004+11:00

Here I am, stitching away finally at a birth sampler. It took me ages to decide on the fabric I'd use, which in turn made it difficult to choose the matching thread colours. I think it's gorgeous... well, it's going to be! It's a Natalie Lymer design from Homespun Vol. 11, No. 10. Can't wait to see it all finished... let's hope it's new owner's Mummy likes it too!

{for Oscar}

Just because it's near me and looks so red and cheery, here is Gabriel's geranium. Soooo pretty!

my {one little word}

2011-02-05T13:34:00.000+11:00

I first read about Ali Edwards 'one little word' project back in January while I was away in Philip Island and I was quite taken with the whole concept. As a rule I'm not very good at sticking to my new year's resolutions and I think this is a good alternative to a similar idea.

As Ali explains...

A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything.

It's all about chosing one word for yourself, preferably in January or maybe before – a word that you can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as you go about your daily life. It's a word that sums up what you want for yourself for the coming year.

It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother’s word or your spouse’s word or your child’s word – this is YOUR word.

I took a while to decide on my word as I wanted something that really clicked with the way I was feeling. This year for me is a year of changes and new possibilities. Perhaps a new career direction or new employer. A time for spending more time with my family. A year to put some of my percolating ideas into motion and bring projects into being. I thought about my word being change, journey and possibility, but none of them quite captured the right feeling. Then a few weeks later, rather randomly I was reading a blog post about feathers and the symbology surrounding them and my word just flew off the screen at me... pardon the pun.

{penny mathews}

My word is SOAR! I wanted this year to be about me taking flight - creatively, emotionally and spiritually. I wanted this year to be about making a fresh start. For me soar is uplifting, it has a physicality about it and is a positive focus for my thoughts.

Do you have one little word that sums up your hopes and dreams this year?

terrific two's

2011-01-21T14:25:00.001+11:00

Yesterday my baby turned two. I still can't believe it... two! Funny how time moves so quickly one moment and so slowly the next.

It seems only yesterday that we met her for the first time. Only yesterday we decided that 'Cameron' was a beautiful, but strong name and that our family went from four to five.

Only two years, but amazing, fun, wonderfully busy, years. Can't wait to see what's in-store for us next!

red rocks, blue skies

2011-01-13T17:10:00.001+11:00

Yesterday we managed another trip to Red Rocks beach. The sky was a little overcast, but it was still a humid and fairly warm day.

Reading Challenge wrap-up 2010...

2011-01-11T18:44:00.003+11:00

In 2009 I took part in a 100 book reading challenge. Last year I tried to be a little more realistic and set my target at double my first year's effort, which made it the 42 book reading challenge... or, a list of what I read in 2010! Ok, I didn't quite get to 42, but came damn close! Yay me... I finished with 41 titles and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Here is my final list:

January
1. The Alchemyst - Michael Scott
2. The Magician - Michael Scott
3. The Sorceress - Michael Scott
4. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
5. Inkspell - Cornelia Funke

February
6. Fantastic Mr Fox - Roald Dahl (my boys love this one)**
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
8. The Witches - Roald Dahl**
9. The Girl who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson

March
10. The Girl who kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson
11. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke

April
12. Alice's adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll**
13. House Rules - Jodi Picoult
14. Battlaxe - Sara Douglass

May
15. Enchanter - Sara Douglass
16. StarMan - Sara Douglass

June
17. Triptych - Karin Slaughter
18. How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell**
19. Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
20. Anne of Avonlea - Lucy Maud Montgomery

July
21. Anne of the Island - Lucy Maud Montgomery
22. Annes House of Dreams - Lucy Maud Montgomery
23. Rainbow Valley - Lucy Maud Montgomery
24. Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
25. Rilla of Ingleside - Lucy Maud Montgomery
26. Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead
27. Frostbite: Vampire Academy Volume 2 - Richelle Mead

August
28. Shadow Kiss: Vampire Academy Volume 3 - Richelle Mead
29. Blood Promise: Vampire Academy Volume 4 - Richelle Mead
30. Spirit Bound: Vampire Academy Volume 5 - Richelle Mead
31. First Test - Tamora Pierce

September
32. Additions - Toni Jordan
33. Best of Friends - Cathy Kelly

October
34. The Winter Rose - Jennifer Donnelly
35. Pride and Predjudice - Jane Austen

November
36. When Santa Fell to Earth - Cornelia Funke**
37. The Gathering Storm, The Wheel of Time: Book 12 - Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

December
38. Clockwork Angel, The Infernal Devices: Book 1 - Cassandra Clare
39. The Necromancer - Michael Scott
40. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Chronicles of Narnia: Book 3 - C.S. Lewis**
41. Last Sacrifice: Vampire Academy Volume 6 - Richelle Mead

** Read to the kids...

my creative space, part one: a little early...

2011-01-11T18:17:00.002+11:00

Here I am, back to blogland finally, with a teensy bit of hand stitching. One of the lovely ladies from SS&Q is very ill at the moment and this is (or will be soon) a healing heart patch I'm making for her. It's one of the many projects we do together as a group and is also one of the reasons I love being part of SS&Q.... the wonderful people who love fabric, thread and each other's company as much as I do!

You can also see a couple of my very special Christmas gifts. To the bottom left is a very handy (and beautiful) little stitching purse which came complete with a scissor keeper, needle book, seam ripper and pinwheel. Thank you to my MIL! Peaking out of the top of the frame is my Kobo eReader, currently loaded up with a copy of Diana Gabaldon's 'Outlander' (one of my all-time favourites). Thank you to my beautiful Mr...

So, while it continues to rain at Phillip Island I'll be stitching, reading and sipping tea. Hopefully we can get to the beach again soon, otherwise I'll be adding "wet weather activities co-ordinator" to my repertoire too!

Come back on Thursday for part two...

Day thirty-one: Do you like piña coladas?

2010-10-31T22:04:00.001+11:00

Well, it's the last day of blogtoberfest, Halloween and my and my lovey Mr's 11th wedding anniversary! Noah also had his ninth birthday party today... busy, busy, busy!

So, to celebrate (and after getting caught in all that rain yesterday) I'm sharing my piña colada with you all. Cheers to you all and happy Halloween...

Day thirty! Under the milky way...

2010-10-30T23:14:00.004+11:00

I sat here at my Mac tonight listening to the rain absolutely pouring down, and wondered what to write about for today's post. I noticed my day was pretty busy and wet...

I took the boys to the hairdresser and we got caught in the rain heading back to the car (with a minor pit-stop at Lincraft to grab some Halloween goodies). I visited my Mum for lunch and got caught in the rain when we arrived and left again. I took Gabriel to the optometrist and we got caught in the rain, splashing through the carpark on the way there and back again. I went back to my Mum's house to collect Noah and both Gabe and I got caught in the rain again... totally drenched this time and needing a change of clothes! I made two awesome pincushions and drew up a few designs for our raffle blocks*. Then back home to help paint a paper mache jack-o-lantern and decorate for tomorrow...

Tonight though one of my favourite chill-out songs is now stuck running through my head as I just watched Aria Hall of Fame 2010 inductees, The Church perform it...

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty
Sound of their breath fades with the light
I think about the loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight...

*My stitching group sells 6 and a half inch blocks of fabric to it's members for 20 cents a block, which you take away and stitch a Christmas design onto. We all use the same brand and colour threads and when they're all done they go back to our Workshop Co-ordinator in time for our end of year Christmas party. Each block you buy is like a raffle ticket entry and at the party four names are drawn and win up to five blocks each. I won some last year!

Day twenty-nine: Reading list update...

2010-10-29T23:05:00.000+11:00

Well, I started my reading challenge this year hoping to double the efforts of last year and I'm almost there (36 of 42) already with two months to go, so I'm pretty pleased with myself!

I'm currently reading 'The Winter Rose', by Jennifer Donnelly and really enjoying it. Although I really hope it will have a bit more of a Hollywood ending than it has so far... you know the ones where the good guys win and the bad guys get their comeuppance. I'm about two thirds through and I'm still waiting for the good guys to catch a break. They seem to almost get there and then that elusive happiness is snatched rudely away!

Set in early 1900's London and later Africa, it tells the story of main protagonists India Selwyn-Jones (lady doctor from a privileged family) and Sid Malone (boss of a criminal gang known as The Firm). India defies society norms, her family, friends and her fiance (my least fave character btw) and finds a post in London's East End, where she meets and eventually falls for Sid.

I can't really say anymore as I don't want to give anything away, but so far, so good.

Day twenty-eight: grandma's garden...

2010-10-28T21:21:00.012+11:00

My creative space today involved me taking photos in my mother's spectacular garden. It's really beautiful and she is very creatively green-thumbed!

If you would like to see some truly creative spaces, take a look over here...

Day twenty-seven: I love Christmas!

2010-10-27T22:47:00.001+11:00

I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the cards, the food, the songs, the tinsel, the lights, the traditions and I particularly love giving out presents. Even though it's only still October, like lots of people, I've been thinking a lot about my Christmas preparations. It's kind of hard not to when every second shop you walk into is already up to their aisles in decorations. With only eight weeks to go, the countdown is definitely on.

From now I'll start to make lists of what gifts we'll be giving to whom, where we'll be going and what we need to organise for various celebrations and even which days we'll need to take off from work. And lets not forget the all important Christmas card list! I have a friend who is always talking about who is on and off his Christmas card list, but he never actually sends any cards out... it's just all about the list!

I do send out cards though, and I like to have them ready to post on the first of December. I feel you have to give people maximum card displaying time. I don't see the point in handing them out on the day. You may as well pop them straight into the recycle bin (sorry).

the red thread's Ooshka Babuskas!

Anyway, I've promised myself (and my poor Mummy) that I won't leave any gifts until the last minute. And as I'd really like for some of those gifts to be handmade items, I have to really get cracking now. With that in mind, yesterday evening I found the perfect thing for three of the little girls on my list... these Ooshka Babushkas. I don't know exactly what it is about them, but they look so sweet and so cuddly! So that's (almost) three down forty-five more to go! Ho! ho! ho!

Day twenty-six: On the buses

2010-10-26T21:36:00.004+11:00

I travel to work each day on our wonderful public transport system. I get dropped off in the morning and usually get picked up in the evening by some wonderful member of my family. I say usually, because tonight there was no one available when my train was due to pull in and so I decided to catch... da, da, da, dum... the bus! Yaaaaaay!

we heart it

Was it fate that no one could pick me up? Did the universe decide that it had heard enough of my "I'll start exercising tomorrow" excuses? I admit I've been lacking a bit of motivation to exercise lately and for one reason or another have either lacked the time or the energy.

I guess either way, a ten or fifteen minute walk home from the bus stop is a good start to get myself in the habit of moving. Maybe I'll get into bed a bit earlier tonight so I'll have the energy to work out in the morning. And you know, my little walk home was actually quite pleasant because of the whole daylight savings thing. Maybe I might try it again tomorrow. ;)

Oh, because of my missing lift, there was also a missing baby-sitter and hence I missed going to the Halloween night at SS&Q... so photos of ladies in scary masks and black hats are missing from my post.

Day twenty-five: busy bee

2010-10-25T21:20:00.001+11:00

Busy bee is me. Work is a little crazy at the moment with an upcoming marketing event and a new system coming online soon. I'll be back tomorrow with some pre-halloween fun...

we heart it

*Edit: My scheduling went haywire folks... here is my Monday post!

Day twenty-four: four things...

2010-10-24T08:05:00.002+11:00

Just so you can get to know me a little better, here are my answers to a little meme over at Chunkychooky I decided to play along with...

4 things that I always carry:
1. lip balm
2. hand cream
3. phone
4. water bottle
4 things that are in my bedroom
1. perfumes (j'adore my favourite, happy for when I need a pick me up and darling for always)
2. photos of my crew
3. clothes, shoes and the rest of my exploding wardrobe
4. an antique pirates treasure chest

4 Things that I would like to do but haven't done yet
1. travel o/s with my family
2. work for myself
3. build (or buy) a beautiful home of our own
4. turn my scribblings into actual things and set up an e-shop

4 things that you don't know about me:
1. I'm really, really, extremely good at remembering song lyrics (too bad I can't sing)
2. I'm mortally afraid of heights
3. Even though I'm mortally afraid of heights, I'd love to do a parachute jump
4. I can count to ten in five languages...

4 things I often wonder
1. why people prefer Edward?
2. why some children can be so terribly mean to other children?
3. why clothing designers put pockets on baby clothes?
4. do I really sound better when I sing in the shower?

Day twenty-three: sharing & fairies...

2010-10-23T19:38:00.005+11:00

font by Veer.com

I was emailing a friend yesterday about blogs and blogging and I'd asked why she didn't have any identifying images, names or details about herself on her blog. If I hadn't had a conversation about a TV show that she really loved just recently, I wouldn't even have guessed it was her blog!

She responded that she didn't want anyone to discover her secret likes and dislikes... which is fair enough. I think that's what's so great about blogging. You can be openly yourself or completely anonymous or anywhere in between. You can be a good writer or not, share images, feelings, reviews and experiences and meet some amazing people along the way.

I responded that as long as I wasn't upsetting anyone (which I hope I'm not) I wanted to share loudly and proudly the books, tv, music, movies, hobbies, food and clothing that I love and enjoy. I don't mind if people think I'm a little odd for my reading choices - very eclectic and quite a lot of teenage fiction this year - or that I enjoy sewing (perhaps a little bit granny), that I collect and appreciate beautiful fonts (like the one above) or that I think it's great fun to dress up. At the same time I love grungy 90's rock and pretty pop tunes, love tattoos, totally believe in fairies and my favourite movies include 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Star Wars' both the old and the new.

fairy Cam

So, happy day twenty-three of blogtoberfest fellow bloggers! I'm having fun, hope you all are too!

Day twenty-two: party on dude!

2010-10-22T23:14:00.004+11:00

Our little boy is turning nine soon! Can you believe it? I so, cannot... it seems only yesterday that our little guy was actually, well little, blonde-haired and slightly tubby. I've been reminiscing looking at old photos and a great movie my uncle took at his third birthday... (note to self - stay away from movie makers and don't talk too loudly around the camera, hee hee.)

At the same time, Nik and I have been wracking our brains the past few weeks (months) as to what we could do to organise a fun day out for him with his friends. I prefer "day out" parties, because it means there's no mess to deal with at home (particularly on my anniversary), but Noah has his heart set on an "at home" party. The trouble is what to do, what to do??? Is nine too old for pass the parcel and musical statue games? I thought probably yes, which is a little sad I guess, but what do you do instead?

Finally it struck me (after finding a site called the Art Factory) that I should maybe capitalise on his arty nature. So, rather than catching a movie, or going ice-skating, bowling or a number of other ideas we came up with, we're having a crafty afternoon (complete with snacks and drinks), where the guests and host get to make something fun to keep and take home. This will be followed up by dinner, birthday cake and maybe a funny movie (with popcorn, of course!) I'm actually getting more excited about organising it than I thought, so yay! Party on Lindstroms!

Day twenty-one: a sneak peek!

2010-10-21T21:44:00.005+11:00

Here is the result of my creative space today... a sneak peek at the first of my Pay it Forwards to be posted off tomorrow to it's new owner. I really hope she likes it!

This was the latte, polka dots and scarlett o'hara combination from last week. More will be revealed after it reaches it's destination. I'm so excited. I'll have to go off now and take a look at some more creative spaces here...

Day twenty: Turning to the dark side...

2010-10-20T22:58:00.006+11:00

Ok, here I am after a visit to the hairdresser. I was over my highlights in a big way and decided to turn to the dark side in time for upcoming Halloween festivities... no, not really. I just wanted a change and I like the way these dark colours make my hair look super shiny. I know what you're all thinking... not another self-portrait! Sorry. I'm somewhat obsessed with my hair.

On a side note, my lovely, long-time hairdresser Nerissa (who is on maternity leave which is why the equally lovely Tegan did my hair tonight) gave birth to her first bub last Friday. A little boy named Bailey. Congratulations Nerissa, you'll be a great Mummy! Best wishes and big hugs to you and your new family.

Day nineteen: bower bird...

2010-10-19T22:05:00.004+11:00

I know that birds and owls are everywhere in craft, but there is just something about that sweet little, curvy bird shape that makes me sigh and long for something like this...

pretty birdies clockwise from the left:
two kissing birds necklace, teak bird brooch, bird with a pearl,
flyaway in yellow, bird on a silver cloud pendant.

Maybe I should send this post to my beloved, after all our anniversary is coming up soon...
BTW, I will be getting the camera out tomorrow morning before work to shoot some red, crafty goodness, so keep an eye out.

Day eighteen: Head in the clouds...

2010-10-18T23:01:00.005+11:00

I imagine that at one time or another most people have probably lain on the backyard grass and found pictures and shapes in the clouds... here is a picture of a cloud describing my past few weeks blogging. Thanks wordle, I forgot how much fun this is!

*Edited: Oops! Forgot to mention that due to staying back late at the office there wasn't enough light to photograph my secret project. Soon...

Day seventeen: skirting the issue...

2010-10-17T23:00:00.002+11:00

This is the skirt I'm going to make from those gorgeous Moda fabrics I picked up on the bus tour yesterday. I bought it on Etsy a little while ago because it was a 'Mummy and me' pattern that I can make for both myself and Cameron. I think I'll buy something a little less extravagant to practice with first, but I can't wait to give it a go. First is sticking together the pattern. It was an e-pattern, so tomorrow night I plan to put the puzzle together, then it's time to pick some fabric.

I've also made some progress on my secret project. The red colour way is coming up a treat! I'll give you all a sneak peak tomorrow.

Day sixteen: a bus, four quilt shops and me!

2010-10-16T21:39:00.004+11:00

Today the ladies from SS&Q and their friends went on a lovely bus shopping tour of four gorgeous quilting and fabric stores. I had a great time and can't wait to play with my purchases.

Perhaps you've visited some of these stores or maybe not but they were all wonderfully full of pretty fabrics, patterns and stitching accessories. We started off at Patchwork With Gail B in Bayswater which is very individual by way of it's location - inside the middle of a big tile store! While there I picked up a copy of 'Gift' by Rosalie Quinlan. I've always loved the look of this book and its gorgeous projects, but had never actually gotten around to buying it.

I also picked up some companion fabric for some Maisy Mouse panels I got at the last quilt show to use in a quilt for Cameron and a piece of Freebird fabric by Moda for a skirt for me! Yay!

Next stop was Missy Moo Cottage Crafts in Croydon where I got a sweet little Christmas stitchery and a couple of pretty fat quarters of fabric. Then it was on to The Patchwork Tea House in Warburton for lunch and a leisurely browse. A Make it Perfect sunhat pattern was my next purchase along with some more Moda fabric from a new range called Bliss. I also couldn't go past a piece from the Lumiere De Noel range for another skirt. So red, so gorgeous, so me!

from Moda's Lumiere de Noel by French General

Last stop before heading home was Catharinas Country Collection Patchwork & Quilting Store in Wandin North. There I got a fabulous bargain in 4m of Moda's 5 Funky Monkeys (sock monkey) fabric at $5 a metre! As I had three little monkey's waiting at home for me, I just couldn't pass it by. And the colour way you ask? Banana of course! I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'm sure I'll think of something...

Day fifteen: splish splash!

2010-10-15T21:55:00.006+11:00

Probably understandable to those of you living in Melbourne that this morning I got dressed for chilly, rainy weather! I layered up with several tops, wore my heavy jeans, put on my big, puffy, Antarctic exploring, black coat and even tied a scarf around my neck. But, for some inexplicable reason my feet missed the boat. On them I slipped these sparkly, little flats.

so inappropriate for puddle splashing!

I guess I wasn't thinking straight, or maybe it was the first and easiest pair of shoes I could find as I was rushing out the door this morning. For whatever reason, I'd chosen the worst possible shoes for walking up a rain-soaked, puddle-pocked, awning-drippy, car-splashy Bourke Street. By the time I'd reached my office a couple of blocks later, my feet were absolutely drenched. My jean hems weren't fairing to well either... yuk! So let this be a lesson to ye all. Socks, tights, boots, laced up Doc Martins or even gumboots when the forecast is rain. Leave the sparkly ones at home in the wardrobe where they belong. :)