Thursday, April 30, 2009

My creative space

My creative space today: Project number two will be finished tonight (Did I say THAT?!) and winging it's way to Melbourne tomorrow. Only one more on this list to go then I'll start a new one.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Finally done!

She gave me the pattern, I fiddled around for a few hours here and there and it is done. Why couldn't I have done it earlier? At least it is ready on time! I fixed that curved look on the bottom by dropping a covered base in, using three layers of thin, firm cardboard as stiffener.



Sunday, April 26, 2009

Giveaway winners !!

Well finally, Saturday midnight has passed and we can draw the winners. I say winners because DD2 and I had such a great time reading the comments of appreciation for these lovely vintage linens that we couldn't stop at just one winner. It breaks our hearts that you can't all get something!
There is also a consolation prize for Loz and Dinny who kept us laughing for a couple of days with her comment: 'Out of control - so good I could wet my pants'.
So without further ado here are the three winners:
" Gemma said I would wet my pants, and I nearly did. What an amazing find!"
Aunty Cookie said: I need those tourist teatowels!! they would be oh so perfect for my quilts..... "

"Look at all these BEAUTIES!!! "

Congratulations to you !!
Please contact me so I can send your goodies on to you.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Bloggy award

I'm not really an award person but I felt privileged to receive this one because it means that my efforts to comment are appreciated. Thanks Primrose Corner. I like to comment to give people encouragement and also often because I am overawed by what I see. In turn I appreciate each and every comment left on my blog even though I do not often reply. I want to hand this compliment on to others who have often encouraged me about my work.
Dawn from Sew Ritzy Titzy
Jacoline from Lovely Living
Bronwyn from Whippet Good
Cam from Curly Pops
Kimberley from Niesz Vintage Home
and for the best laughs my daughter and I have had in days

And a big thankyou to everyone who has ever commented here. The rules for this tag have been lost so you may do as you please when you receive it.

Friday, April 24, 2009

My creative space

All materials folded and squared away (except for the ones hidden away in the baby bassinet under the table!).
Sewing desk tidy for the first time in how many years? Can you see my threads all nicely hung up so I can actually see that I don't need to buy any more white but desperately need black? My daughter loves this new bit but I am not sure how it will go. It has to be bettter than searching around the bottom of a little basket and cutting those tangled threads all the time.

So now I can finally start on THAT bag that has been bugging me all summer. YaY!!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

More choices in giveaway !

Here is the rest of the haul from next door. This lady sure had good taste and although she didn't use most of these products we can now. Please calm down Emma ! ;-))

These three lovely ladies are a set.
Are you into stockings? I'm not - it's generally too warm here. This just needs a small wooden clothes hangar to make it complete.
Don't forget all comments must be in before midnight this Saturday Melbourne/Sydney time and you are allowed to tell me which piece you would like if you should win!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Giveaway !


For absolutely no reason (well almost none!) I have decided to have a giveaway. I was going to wait either for my hundredth post or 5000th visitor but I don't think I can. And the following pictures tell you why. The quiet old couple who lived next door have recntly gone into a home. Their family decided to either sell the house or rent it out but naturally that meant clearing out years of life. I thought no-one would be interested in linens so I waited until nearly 9 o'clock before I nipped across. This was just a small selection of what was left - the best bits had already gone. But whose complaining?

Actually it seems rather sad that so many of these items were brand new. The lady must have been a collector of souveneir linens and also of teaspoons (4 huge displays of them) but her children had no appreciation for any of it. I spent $15 and that included a plant for $3. I haven't even shown all that I got. They were willing to sell the teaspoon display cases for $10 and almost throw the spoons in. I am going to use the pillow slips at the back on my own bed but the others are up for grabs if your interested.There are tableclothesand teatowels.
So many items had never even been removed from their original cases or plastic bags. Some even had the prices.

Anyway so that I don't have to find space in my cupboards for all of these I have to decided to give a couple of them away. All you need to do to be in the running is to blog about this as well as leave a comment here (well, you don't have to blog but I would love you to! just a comment will do). If you absolutely love anything specific it wouldn't harm to mention that either. O, and people who don't have blogs can also comment. The more the merrier!

Psst! Forgot to say that the giveaway ends at midnight AEST (Australian time) this Saturday, 25th April.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Too much to do and not enough energy.

I was complaining to DD2 the other day that I never seem to get through all the sewing I have to do so that I can finally just sew for the love of it and create to my hearts content without feeling guilty. Of course she was right when she said that I wouldn't be in this predicament if I didn't offer to make things for people. Sometimes the creating is easy and just flows and other times I can't do anything right so I never get started. Asides of the bags that were meant to be made for my friends shop for the Easter holidays (too bad, now they will get done for the end of year!) I have three bags that need to be made soon because their owners have been waiting too long. So hopefully these will be the next three projects I show you. I have decided to do them in the order that the requests or offers were made.
Do you remember back in December when I made bags for the children from the never-never? Well this will be for the oldest daughter from this family. She has been back on the coast for nearly six months. During that time I have been buying all sorts of bits of material for her bag and coming up with loads of brilliant ideas in the middle of the night but have not been able to bring myself to start on any of them just in case they were not right for her. She is 14 if you know what that means! Anyway, to cut the story short, she was over for two nights on the weekend so I bit the bullet and asked her to design her own bag. Her are the results of her effort.

Now I just need to turn this into a bag before the end of next week so that she can use her school bag for it's intended purpose and have a seperate shoulder bag for her other things. Help!!!


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Just letting you know!!

The Farm Chicks are having a lovely spring giveaway but to win I have to share that precious news with you! Soo unfair - you might win instead of me. Hop on over and have a look. The prize is 2 yards of Pixie Dust fabric. Two yards in your choice of fabric!


You are supposed to choose just two of your favourite styles but I am finding that very hard to do. Don't forget to enter before Friday.

O and by the way loz and dinny are also having a giveaway!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Small tablecloth bag

I said I would make another bag so that my friend could pick the one she liked best. Well she couldn't pick and as she said "it's nice to be co-ordinated" so I gave her both.

This bag was made from half of a vintage tablecloth. I just love the pattern and colour combination in this cloth, another op-shop find from last year. I didn't have the heart to cut it up until yesterday but I am happy with the result and I still have the other half to play around with. While working on the strap I discovered a new toy - well new to me anyway, although it has been in my sewing machine kit since it was bought about 5 years ago. I think it is the blind hemming foot. I used this with blanket stitch to bring dark green to the edge of the strap and and join the edges. I was very impressed with the neat job it did. The lines on the strap were made with tiny bias bought from the quilt shop. I think it is made for stained glass applique but it is really easy to attach using a meandering machine stitch. A little bit of left over tassle adds to the fun.