Op shop finds and a couple more blocks ...

One of the weekend's garage sale was more like an English jumble sale - in a church halls and mostly clothes piled high on trestles.  Unlike an English jumble sale there was no queue to get in, no entry fee and you could fill a bag up for $2 - how can you not like that.  Most of the things I found are to be used for the material - silk, linen, wool and a couple of stripy jersey tops to make some trousers for the girls.

a small selection of my finds!

and a couple of items were put in the bag solely for the buttons!

Some vintage embroidered doilies from the local op shop

Embroidery detail

Now you might be asking isn't the second photo just another close up shot?  Well you would be right!  But it's the BACK of the doily.  Can you believe it?  The neatness of the work is amazing - and I got the whole set for 50c!

I'm still working away on my quilt top from the ANZAC Bee - it's maybe about 2/3 done now!  A couple of extra blocks I've made:

appliqueed tumbling hearts block

paper pieced heart awaiting border

I can't seem to be able to get into anything but the heart quilt so I had better get it finished soon to allow some other creating into my life!  (And also get the kitchen table and spare bed back!!!!) xx

What a wonderful weekend ...

including lots of my favourite things.  

Saturday was filled with:

garage sales

op shoppping

coffee

clear blue sunny skies

washing drying outside in winter - including some of my garage sales finds

outside playing

being able to have the windows and doors open all day

our beautiful rosemary which will be full of the beautiful flowers from now until December

playing about with my ANZAC Bee blocks

sewing

Sunday dawned grey and wet so a day inside was called for, including:

cleaning

friends for morning tea and playing

sorting through my op shop finds

reading the Sunday papers

more coffee

a little bit more sewing on my quilt top

cooking something new for tea.

chicken and mushroom pie followed by ice cream - delicious!

All in all a lovely time had by all.  How was yours? x

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

Maia made ...

On Good Friday we were given a very large bag of apples and I decided to stew them.  There were still some left on Easter Morning so I sat at the kitchen table to peel them and Maia sat with me.  She drew the picture she saw - how cool is that?!

An impromptu picture for Mum - the kind I love the best!

The bag that was started here is almost finished - the button is yet to be sewn on.  The girls were great and I thought they created really good bags.  It's quite amazing just what children can do when given the right environment and encouragement.

More sewing.  Amazing to think that Maia did all the sewing herself.  At first I didn't know whether I should sit there besides her but then I knew that I would find it VERY hard to stop butting in so I left.  Maia would call me when she had finished the bit she was working on and together we would look at the book and see what the next step was.  I sewed on the brooch fastening on the back  and cut out the small corners of the M but apart from that it is all "Maia Made"!

You might not know what this is!  Maia asked if she could have a couple of zips and off she went.  She made me a pencil case out of a zip, paper, felt tips and sellotape!!!

It now is now on my desk and houses a very special  thing - a piece of glass I saw blown at Poole Pottery just before I got  married!  Who knew I needed just such a pencil  case?!

Some people!

And now for something Mama made for Maia ...

I had found a linen/cotton shirt at the op shop that I never wore and, inspired by the creations over at Wardrobe Refashion, I thought I would make Maia a dress.  No pattern, no instructions just plain sewing.  I was really pleased with how it turned out, although I certainly didn't like using the bias binding (which I just happened to have in the same colour - amazing what op shops and hoarding can achieve!).  However, I have one small problem - she doesn't like it and won't wear it, in fact won't actually try it on .... and neither will her sister!  Oh well hopefully I'll have more luck next time. x

A new addition to the family ...

well 4 in fact! They came to us via the Sallies for the princely sun of 50c. Mum has unfortunately lost an arm and a leg, and the way my children play the other members of the family may soon follow suit. They are settling in nicely and have been happily adopted by Maia and Cassia. Cassia is so taken by them that one or other (or all!) sometimes end up in bed with her! x

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!

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!

Welcome winter!

Today heralds the official start of winter, and with the snow coming down on the mountains all around us it certainly felt like it yesterday. Some things that we're going to count on this winter. First and foremost is this:



Generally New Zealand houses don't have central heating so you rely on the woodburner a lot. This is the first house where we've lived in in NZ that has such a great fire - and we've a woodshed full of dry, seasoned wood to boot! However, the fire is only in the living area so for the bedrooms you need these:


flannelette sheets! I tried my best to find some second hand but the local op shops were not forthcoming, and when it gets so cold at night you can't really wait for them to turn up. So these are new but so worth every cent when you get into them at night! However, I was more imaginative when it came to Maia's bed:



When Maia was born we had brushed cotton wraps which we used for wrapping her. They were then used for Cassia and have now been re-invented into a patchwork top sheet for her bed and a pillowcase. I was pretty pleased with this little conversion - it cost me nothing and it took about 10 minutes! Even with flannelette sheets you still need lots of these:



the left one has such beautiful colours that I would really like to turn it into something but it has only been loaned to us so it just looks pretty on the bed! The right one was an op shop find and has been cut up into a single blanket and the other half will be used for something, eventually!



The pink blanket is one I made for Maia when she was born - it took me months - what was I doing? The bottom one was one my mum nade to use up her scraps and which Maia took possession of when we were home recently!



This is still a work in progress but may be called into action if it get too much colder!




And this is one I relieved my mum off when we were back - daughters are good like that I find! It was crocheted by my Nan and I hadn't seen it before. It's lovely to have something made by my Nan in my house. In fact there's three generations of crochetetd blankets in my house - pretty cool eh? So for outside of the house we'll need these:

these (with not a handmade one in sight unfortunately!):

these:

and these:

And finally if all else fails this little lot can help boost you up!