Bloggers choice

Thers's a fab little give away going on over at quokka quilts (oh quokka's - making me feeling even more homesick than new year and january usually does in London, sometimes I just long to be back in Oz but enough of that...).

You can put together a bundle of fabrics from the Fat Quarter Shop and then, the most awesome part, have a chance to win not just a fat quarter but a HALF YARD of each of them!!!! Wowee!!! I just had to enter as I love, love, love putting fabrics together. I created this bundle while talking to my sister on the phone (for an hour and a half) while she was having a new year at home and describing the sydney fireworks to me. I'm calling it Spring Roses as I cannot wait for Spring and all its colourful glory. the greyness of January is quite hard to take sometimes and these would totally cheer me up massively!

Happy New Year everyone, have a great one, wishing you peace, happiness and joy for 2012.

Makes for Molly

My baby niece is almost twelve weeks old now. As she lives in sunny Sydney I thought I would make her some little baby sun dresses. I used a cute Butterick pattern and made these little sundresss with matching frily knickers. Ahhhhhh baby clothes sooooo cute!!!

This one is lined with a beautiful spotty yellow fabric

The back

Frilly baby knickers

Oh yes and because I am obsessed with matchiness I had to do a bib too.

And then I did a version in blue, no ric rac on the dress and no pockets, lets face it what does a baby need pockets for?

I love these sweet buttons

Aaahh I can't wait to see a photo of her wearing them.



A year of makes

As 2011 draws to a close I have been thingking about all the things I have made this year and how much I have enjoyed participating in the various flickr swaps and bees. I've (virtually) met some really lovely people, learned lots of new skills and tried things I would never have tried without being on flickr. The internet has been such a wealth of inspirarion, full of great tutorials, wonderful ideas and fabulous examples of craft. In 2012 I plan to finish up lots of outstanding quilt projects, develop my little blog further and try my hand at designing a bag pattern. I have the most ridiculous number of bags and keep making more of them so I am going to try and channel my energies into design although I'm sure this will involve making lots of prototypes too.

Thanks to all those I have met on flickr and who have let me work with their fabrics and contribute to their quilt projects in some small way. Wishing you all a happy and peaceful new year and a crafty and inspired 2012!

Some of my 2011 bee blocks

Baggie Pressies

December has been a blur. I've been pretty busy lately making Christmas and Birthday presents. First up is a knitting bag for my friend Amy who is an all round totally awesome crafty person. She introduced Crafternoon's to my life. We basically meet up do craft, eat cake and drink tea - bliss! The theme for her birthday is the completely inspired Krispy Kreme and Kava Ladies Tea party, the best birthday idea I have ever heard.

I made her this knitting bag using the Amanda's Knitting Bag pattern from the Sometimes Crafter's Etsy shop. I altered the pattern slightly to make the bag a bit wider so she could fit mor knitting stuff in and used some lovely liberty print fabric I had been hoarding.

and one without a kitty (not easy as they love being in the photos)

I also made this Nikki Tote for my sister with a mtching ruched happy pouch for make-up or other bits and pieces. I love this Joel Dewberry fabric and really want to keep this bag for myself but that would not be in the spirit of Christmas!

Goodie Bag Swap 2

For this second round of the goodies bag swap I had an awesome partner Aylin who made this great inspiration mosaic  creatively entitled "Bags I love or what I would love as a bag" she included this tutorial for a fancy folded star pot holder from the Moda Bakeshop. Before I knew she was my partner I had admired her mosaic and the folded star and mused on how I could incorporate this into a bag. My initial idea was a simple tote bag with a star on either side. I was delighted when I discovered she was my secret partner and went out and bought I bunch of Joel Dewberry fabric (any excuse to buy fabric).

I had signed up for the advanced category so a simple tote was ruled out. Eventually I hit on the idea of making a messenger bag with the folded star on the flap. I used a pattern from keykaloupatterns and enlarged it by 141% (no exciting reason for this number, just the A4 to A3 enlarger on the photocopier) and added a zipper pocket. I was so pleased with the result and it was well worth all the effort.

I lined it with my favourite print from the heirloom line, this woodblock print.

I also made a little snap frame purse with hand-stitched detail to go with it, also lined with JD fabric.

Just for good measure I made a little zipper pouch as I wanted to try out the Perfect Zip Bag pattern from Elizabeth Hartman at oh, fransson!

This is my whole little package for my partner. I'm so delighted that she loved it, I had a great time making it and learnt lots of new things and extended my skills. For me that is the whole point of a swap :)

Quilt for my Niece

When my niece was born six weeks ago I was delighted, not only for the safe arrival but also because I thought it was a fantastic chance to use up all my pink scraps. However there is something about the "pink for girls" idea that irritates me, blue is my favourite colour and it seems to me that girls don't have a choice these days, they have to like pink because they are girls. Anyhow ramblings aside I decided to go with a red and aqua theme for the quilt which I think is even prettier than pink. Here is the finished result.

I used my favourite print from Tanya Whelan for the back, it has a special significance for me. My Mum always loved roses and grew the most increadibly beautiful red roses. Since she is no longer with us I thought it a fitting fabric to use for a quilt for her first granddaughter who now carries her name. By making this quilt I feel I am giving a little bit of my Mum's love, I know she would have been busy making things for the baby if she was still with us.

My Mum would have also ironed this :)

Pretty Little Pouch Swap

For a long time I admired the pouches made over at Pretty Little Pouch Swap I finally decided to join up and I absolutely loved the last round. I made these for my partner

 It was the first time I had used any of the Heather Ross fabric and I can see why people love it so much, it really is gorgeous to sew with. The thing I most like about swaps is challenging myself to make something that I would not normally make and it was great to use colours and fabrics that are different to what I would normally choose.

My partner, Colleen (LuckyDuckDreams) made me the MOST WONDERFUL little pouch, here it is, all mine!!!!

I had seen it in the group and it was the one I admired the most, I love the DS quilts fabric in these colours and the little hand stitched bird is just lovely. Here he is in close up

On the back she also put a lovely little hexie birdie, it is these kind of little details that really make me smile.

And not only did I get this amazing pouch she filled it with gorgeous goodies including some really cool vintage sewing stuff. Thanks so much Colleen you are an awesome partner!!

I love rick rack and this jumbo rick rack in this lovely colour is just wonderful!

Beautiful quilting thread, cool graphic design!