Our weekend ...

Finally got the top finished - woohooo!!!!!

Coconut, apricot and date loaves - delicious!

We had our fair shares of knocks and bumps this weekend

Drawing up a birthday list - and then literally drawing all over it!

A trip to the library yielded these lovely books

A little refashioning for Cassia

Hope you had a great weekend too! xx

So what's the news?

Well that break was a little longer than anticipated but here we go again!

So what was my news?  Well I've had my first order!!!!!!!!!  Now this is very exciting for me and a realisation of a long held notion.  Remember the market?  Well, the person sat next to me knew someone and that someone happened to have a shop in Palmerston North and the person who sat next to me talked to that someone who has a shop and hey presto!!!!

Obviously a little more was involved but needless to say the someone with the shop now has some little grubs clothes hanging in it!!!  Aaaaarghhhhh how excited am I?!!!!

The shop is Stork on George Street in Palmerston North - if anyone is passing have a look.  They have the egg Maternity franchise, stock truly beautiful merino items by Nature Baby and now they have little grubs!

There are more photos over on my flickr pages if you fancy popping over.

It's so great to finally be able to share such good news after all the support I have had on these pages.  Thank you so much once again! x

My creative space ...

has been very busy these last few weeks.  I'm heading off to a market tomorrow (well just going down the road really - Feilding Craft Market, Civic Centre, Feilding running from Friday to Sunday) and have been knee deep in preparations.

Wrap around reversible baby/toddler dresses

If you fancy seeing some of things either scroll down or click here for cushions, here for neckwarmers and pencil cases or here for bunting!  Sounds rather eclectic writing it down like that doesn't it?!

Made from linen/cotton mix fabric originally from a ladies shirt

The checked fabric is thrifted cotton

The buttons are vintage mother of pearl

And the hanger is thrifted!!!  

Hence why there is a little scrap cotton tie around the hanger - 

otherwise it keeps falling through the hole!

The idea was to sell children's clothes made from vintage and recycled material but as I was making them I realised you've no real idea what size to make and you only have a limited amount of fabric of each pattern.  I have a bit of a problem cutting into fabric at the best of time, see here, and so thought that if I had some clothes for sale but then advertised that I would custom make clothes from their choice of fabric. Don't know how that will go but here's hoping!

The beige linen is from ladies skirt

The floral cotton is from a vintage pillowcase

The buttons are from my stash

The little applique bird is on the back of this one as a little surprise!

For more market items you may like to click here.

In celebration I am running a giveaway, see here for what's up for grabs, but leave a comment anywhere this week for an entry!

Phew!  And of course one last, but very much not the least, link - Kirsty over at kootoyoo is the very lovely lady who runs this each week - thanks so much!  Pop over there to have a look at other people's lovely creative spaces .... x

I'm off to a market ...

the Feilding Craft Market in fact.  Now it is technically my first market (I try to forget the one I attended at the beginning of Decmber where no-one came and then I was surrounded by a motorcycle club - yes it really did happen and I really am trying to forget!!!).  So, allowing for my bit of artistic licence, this is my first market!!!!

Wonder what's being made here?!

I'm excited, nervous, busy, tired, challenged to name but a few.  I was feeling rather reluctant to tell you that I'm doing a market but then I thought that was ridiculous because you may just be able to offer me some advice, tips, support ..... a shoulder to cry on!

Rainbow bunting

I would really appreciate any comments or feedback on the items I show this week.  Of course, it's not all one-sided I will also be having a GIVEAWAY!!!!!  What's up for grabs?  Bunting of course!  There is the rather lovely rainbow bunting as featured above and below or you may choose a more calming bunting made from reclaimed embroidered linens and doilies, which you can see over here or down below.  The choice is yours.

So how do you enter?  Just leave a comment.  In fact, every comment left this week, on any post, will result in ONE ENTRY TO THE DRAW.  If you fancy a few more then why not mention this giveaway on your blog and get 3 extra entries!

Bunting made with reclaimed vintage table runner which was worn in places

Bunting close up

All clear?  Wonderful!  Well good luck with the draw and of course good luck to me!!! xx

PS For more bunting madness don't forget to click here!

Thinking about the good things ...

It's raining.  It's raining very hard and has been for a fair few days now.  Over the last month one or other of us has been sick.  The washing seems never ending .............

It could be very easy to dwell on 'bad' things but I have decided to think about the 'good' things and give thanks!

First up thanks to Pippa from When I Get The Time who has awarded me a Beautiful Blogger Award - more about that in the next post.

Thanks to my girls who are just wonderful!!!  They are going through a phase where they love being together, whether it is creating, playing, exploring, imagining.  This last week they have been very busy with imaginative play, using any and everything they find or make for their stories and adventures.  This last week we have variously been in fairyland (they got there on the 'family' witches' broomsticks because they missed the plane), mermaid land, princess land, hospital, pen school (this is featuring a lot at the moment and comprises of all the different felt tips being real and having great adventures!), dressing up land, at the vets, in a cafe .....  in fact now I think about it again I don't know where we haven't been.  All it takes is a little something to spark their imagination and off they go.

Yesterday Maia decided to make a treasure hunt for me!  Treasure hunts are great events at our house and the girls love them.  They started with photos and are now words and some very basic stylised drawings.  The girls have bags they collect up the clues in and I think the journey is more rewarding than the actual 'treasure' for them  (although the lollipops they found yesterday went down quite well!).

The little drawings on the right are Maia's clues (a chair and a newspaper if you can't quite make them out!) and they led to my treasure - this wonderful picture.  Not to be outdone Cassia made Mummy some treasure too.  Hers are featured on the left hand side and are a ring and then the tiniest piece of paper she had cut out and coloured.  Very special treasure indeed!

Thanks to Kellie in The Australasian Bee for introducing me to quilt as you go - it is my new thing!!!!  Yesterday I was able to make another quilt as you go block.  I made a 17" square to make into a cushion.

The coloured strips are leftover from Kellie's block plus a few I had in my stash.  The white border is old cotton sheeting which I just found this week in the op shop.  I love the feel of it - it feels so substantial and I love that I'm reusing someone else's cast offs!  I decided to try a buttoned up back and was very happy with the results.

I already had the buttons and I thought the different colours go well with the bright colourful front.  Just got to put it together and then I'll be sure to post a pic!

And then a thanks to me!!!  Yes I have actually made myself something recently.  The little bag I made here has come in very handy as a portable work bag.

It's small but fits in all the things you need to make hexagons perfectly!  It's had a few outings this week and more hexagon flowers are being produced!  Due to my impatient nature I needed to do something with a flower rather than just keep them all for a bigger project so I made myself a needlecase.

I've never had one before and hated never being able to find a needle easily, if at all!  Now they are all together in one place, by my machine, in a lovely new home.  Best of all it was made by me all from scraps!  x

They're multiplying like rabbits!!

Maybe that's because they ARE rabbits!

It started with this one:

and progressed to this:

which became these:

Please let me introduce 

Bemble Bunny

Belinda Bunny

Lucy Bunny

Bella Bunny

Bertram Bunny

and

Bouncy Bunny.

(All naming rights go to Maia)

The day started with making this:

Inspired by a bag I received in my first ever swap I wanted to make a pattern suitable for children for the homeschool sewing group at my house today!

Pattern decided, people arrived, 3 adults, 4 girls, 2 toddlers and 2 babies later we ended up with these:

Maia was the youngest girl who wanted to sew and I was so surprised at what she could do although I guess she's seen it enough times!!! It was great to see all three girls working at the bags. Lunch called and so we decided to leave the finishing off for next week when I think we'll have 3 very proud little girls. x

PS The other thing I'm all about at the moment is quilting - one of my blocks even made it onto someone else's blog today - check it out!!! From one very proud newbie quilter!

little grubs is 1 and I am having a giveaway!!!

little grubs turned 1 whilst we were on holiday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

I can't believe that a year has passed already - we sure have fitted a lot into that year. I've had a look through my posts and it has been great to have a record of our family life and things I've made and, of course, my various thrift finds! It would have been nice to have had a record of the move to NZ but only having dial up at the beach put an end to the blogging for a while.

I have come across many amazing blogs in my travels and never cease to be amazed by the creativity, love, passion for life that I see in the posts. And as for crafty inspiration ........ my poor little mind is in overdrive regularly!!!! I haven't met any bloggers in person but I've learnt alot about people from their blogs and have received much support back.

So a HUGE big thank you for anyone who visits this little page! It really is lovely to know that people pop over here and I truly appreciate all the comments. So regular commenters and newbie commenters alike maybe you'd like to leave a comment on this post and be in for a chance to win a Birthday Giveaway because no birthday's complete without presents!!!

I've got a little dress and matching reversible hat up for grabs. I made the dress from a thrifted sheet and added 2 buttons from my stash and used the same material for the hat with the other side from a pillowcase. It would fit a little girl upto about 3 and is great as a sundress or in the colder months with a top underneath. So with no further ado I give you the dress - ta da!!




And the hat!



Obviously I will finish this (having someone to send it to will prompt me to get it done at last!). And the dress in action? I have a willing model but one who doesn't really take instruction, who am I kidding she doesn't take ANY instruction - she's what you'd call a freestyle model!!!

I'll leave this open for a week and then pick a winner so leave a comment and be in to win!!!!!

My creative space

We're off on holiday (and a little bit of crafting is coming too!)

We're going away tomorrow for a week's holiday - hurray!!!! Up to the sunny Bay of Plenty (oh please let it be the sunny Bay of Plenty!). Although there'll be lots to do up there I still might have the urge to be crafty so I've packed a little case (in fact it's the first and only thing packed so far!).

The case's contents:

2 embroidery hoops

linen offcuts

embroidery silks

scissors

material marker

ball of chunky colourful yarn

bamboo knitting needles

And the best about it to me? The case was found at a garage sale for $1, the embroidery hoops, linen and silks were all received via Freecycle, the yarn is new but was reduced and the bamboo needles cost me 50c, yes that's right reduced to 50c. So a whole case of loveliness for very little money - what more could you ask?!

All packed and ready to go! Until we get back - au revoir! x

PS To check out lots of other lovely creative spaces take a peek over here.

I finally admit defeat!

I'm not very good at admitting defeat but these curtains have beaten me I'm afraid to say! I had 7 curtains of various sizes and conditions and I thought it would be more than enough to fit the windows in one of the rooms in the house. I thought, I measured, I thought some more and I finally thought I had it. The scissors got to work and I was happy. It was always going to be a jigsaw to get them done (they were too short for our windows and even a simple border top and bottom wasn't going to suffice) but I reckoned I'd done it. I even sewed one side. I assumed that both sides would be made the same (that's how I make curtains) but of course they weren't. The border they had put on was all out of pattern match. I could have carried on and I could now have something at our window BUT I stopped. I realised that no matter what I did I wouldn't be happy with them - they would always look like a botch job - and that although they only cost me $7 they were going to take a lot of time and energy. So back to the drawing board on that one and still very cold rooms without curtains!

In fact I was so fed up with them I have folded it all up and put it up in a high cupboard - I don't even want to look at the fabric at the moment! The only good use I can think of at the moment is if a local production of The Sound of Music is performed and I could make the von Trapp children's outifts to run on the hills!

A sucker for punishment ...

I finally got these curtains finished (apologies for the rubbish photos I just wanted to give proof!):



and I've now started on this material for another set!!!



A lot of ripping, washing, ironing and jigsaw piecing to see if I can use the material for any of our windows!

June is for finishing - crochet blanket

At the beginning of the year I read on someone's blog (sorry for no mention here but I can't remember whose!) that they were going to use up everything they already had before buying anymore (they were talking about wool I think but it really could apply to anything!). I thought this was a great idea and decided to use up all my wool bits to make a blanket.

Little did I know how much wool a single sized crochet blanket was going to take! Not only did I use up all of my bits and pieces I had to go and buy other people's odds and ends too! So it's finally finished:


To begin with I didn't know if I was going to like it. I'm not very good at doing random and this certainly was!



It was literally use up one bit and start with another. Sometimes I did finish on the end of the row but there are colour changes midway through rows too. When I ran out of yarn I kept thinking "Oh well that's big enough" but Maia had already taken a liking to it and had asked for it for her bed so I kept hunting for the yarn and crochetting on!


What a good use of odds and ends and practical too. Hopefully it'll be keeping us warm for many years to come. Do I like it now? I certainly do.


OK so I said it was finished but there are some ends that still need to be darned in but in my mind it's finished for now - it's on the bed, it'll keep us warm and that's all that matters for now.

This was a really easy thing to have on the go - you could just pick it up and do a few rows here and there, it came away with us a couple of times and it was something that you didn't have to think about - you knew what you were doing and there was no pattern - great for those evenings when you're brain dead after a full-on day with the children!

Now I just have to tackle all my other WIPs! x

Thrifting happiness ...

Yesterday I mentioned a 1/2 price sale at our local Sallies - so of course I had to buy!! Nothing like a spot of good thrifting to make you feel a bit better!

First thing I saw were these pretty little glasses at the bargain price of 25c each:


I aim to limit the amount of plastic in our house and certainly haven't bought anything plastic for a long time. Subsequently the girls have been drinking out of glass and china since they were old enough to hold it (I mean I hate the taste of drinks that have been in plastic so wouldn't little ones?!) so these are a great addition to our collection of 'small glasses'.

Next up were men's ties - 50c each.



Since I very quickly made this skirt for Maia for Kindy (JUST REALISED I NEVER SHOWED THIS SKIRT SO WILL HAVE TO POST LATER!!!) I've been on the lookout for some more because with a little thought, preparation and careful sewing I think I could make something quite nice! But the price of things, especially men's ties has stopped me buying any. The most expensive I've come across yet in a op shop was back in the UK recently - 2.75 pounds, that's about NZ$7.40!!!!!!!! Now I could have a huge rant about this but luckily for me someone else has done it!!! Take a look at what Steph at lovestitches has to say over here. Couldn't have put it better myself!

Next stop - the material/linen area and this stash of fabric:



And then to the last aisle where all the bedding, sheets and curtains are hung up and I came across all of this!!! A pair of unlined curtain in this fabric. Each one measures 3 1/2 ft by 11ft (no I didn't measure them but an old tag was still attached!). So skinny and long but I loved the fabric - not sure whether these are destined for curtains or alternative use yet.



And then this fabric - much heavier and warmer than the first:

and much more of it!

There are 7 'bigger' curtains and 2 'smaller' curtains, some have sun fading on some areas and some are made better than others! However, I'm sure that with all the fabric available I'll be able to make some curtains for somewhere! And for $7, that's right $7 it's not a fortune if they don't work out. I was talking to someone at the weekend who paid $32.50/metre for curtain material so I am very, very happy with this purchase. It may not have been my first choice of fabric if I had been in a shop but I think they will make up really nice ance suit our style of house (1930s Californian bungalow).

So to add it all up I got everything shown, oh and the little one below, for $21 - now if that wasn't good bargain hunting I don't know what is!