Too cute!

I made a couple of owls this morning for a little girl who likes pink and navy, they turned out so sweet I think it would be hard to choose just one!

It's been a huge week with all sorts of things going on around here, I noticed that the bricks have been delivered to our building site which means things are moving there too.

Now I have to get ready for next week because it's going to be massive on the sewing front, it feels as busy as christmas, how does this happen when it's only September? 

Hope you all have a gorgeous weekend!

Owl Mobile

This is where my little owls have been hanging out......

 in a beautifully padded and linen wrapped ring, ready to hang just like you would a mobile.

 I'm sending these 4 mobiles to Shop Handmade this week, it's going to be the only place you'll be able to get them for a while as I've put my madeit shop into holiday mode for a while.

 Hopefully not for too long, I just need to take a bit of time and get through a few things, so for now I'll use what energy/time I have just for stocking Shop Handmade.

Talk soon

Flea Market Finds!

I've decided to join in with Sophie and her Flea Market Finds today and share something Orange!

I was at a garage sale a while back and I spied a splash of Orange out the corner of my eye, I love orange so I wasn't going to leave these two Pyrex dishes behind. Even though only one of them has a lid I thought I'd still be able to use the one that doesn't. I scored these juicy Pyrex dishes for only $3.50.

 They remind me of my mother every time I use them because back in the 70's she was an orange lover. She still has quite a number of vintage pieces in use throughout her kitchen and pantry, you can see that there is a definite orange theme going on. I remember she had orange curtains in the dining room, she loved those curtains and it seems the donkey did too because when she hung them out to dry after washing our pet donkey Genevieve ate them! 

 The gorgeous tea towel my dishes are sitting on is a new one which arrived from Yardage Design. Nic had a sale last weekend and I was wanting to get some more fabric for cushions and a chair and a couple more tram roll tea towels. Don't you love the way she wrapped all my goodies!

If you want to see some more treasures head on over to Her library Adventures and take a look.

Working on......

a new place for my little owls to hang out!

I've been wanting to create a place for my owls to hang out for a while, just wasn't quite sure how to go about it until one night last week when I couldn't sleep (  it was 3am ) and my mind was going over all the things I wish I had the time to make and how I'd go about making.

I have quite a list of things I'd like to try happening in my head at the moment....... I wonder what I'll be adding to that list tomorrow morning at 3am???

Today I'm grateful for....

Remember this! Well after the gorgeous Rosalind from Grace Designs asking me if I had gone any further with the little birds I thought that a rainy day like today was the perfect time for round three!

And you know what..........I think I've almost got it the way I want. It's amazing how stepping away from something and trying at a later date actually works!

 All I need to do is just tweak my pattern just a little as I'm not completely happy with the shape, but as you can see it's almost there.

 I remember I had a big issue with the legs. Truth be told I think I was over thinking them too much, trying too hard to get them like the real thing........I remember it gave me a migraine and that's when I walked away. Since then I have made countless little owls with wire feet/legs so all I had to do was keep it simple like the owls.......it worked and this time the bird can actually stand alone.

So today I'm grateful for time, grateful for the lovely Rosalind who asked me to revisit the birds, and I'm also grateful for gorgeous rainy days.....the kind of days which inspire me to sit and create. Most of all I'm grateful this time there was no sign of a migraine!

If you wan to join in please visit Maxabella Loves.

While the end of last week was about completing many small orders .......

today was mostly about creating one of my favourites in a few different colours!

I'm totally smitten with the natural on black, it's a nice to change things up a little don't you think!

I'll be sure to take some real nice pictures of them when finished.

Thanks for stopping by.



Self Covered Buttons!

I love making these self covered buttons, they are so beautiful and unbelievably easy to do. These pretty buttons were made up for the finishing touch on a few linen draw string bags I made for Shop Handmade over the weekend.

And this is my new favourite linen draw string bag!

These bags should be arriving at Shop Handmade today, so if you are wanting one go in and check them out.

Just in case you were wondering this post was done on Monday...... I'm not home yet, maybe in another few days. Wonder how those kids are going? How many times have they had takeaway? Are their uniforms neat? How is Mark going to do Megan's hair for " Crazy Hair Day" at school? 

I need to stop stressing!

Special Order.

I finished the custom order of Pirate bunnies which I did a trial run on last week.

I love them all, each has it's own personality!

 Each of them has a girl too!

My weekend was  bit full on, I had loads of orders to finish........I have made a huge dent in my half finished projects and it feels good to have some space on my desk again.

It won't take me long to clutter it all up again, I think I work best when I have a few different things going at once........keeps my mind ticking, and I can switch projects when it suits.

I'm going to take a week off this week ( hence the rush to get everything done ) as my father has an operation tomorrow and I'd like to be there for a bit of support. I'm leaving the kids with Mark so that should result in some messy pony tails for Megan and a few dodgy looking lunch boxes. I don't know why I'm worried about leaving them for a few days, I know things might not be done as would do them but I know they'll survive.

See you later in the week!

My Creative Space....What's on the go!

I just had a look around my sewing table and noticed that I have so many projects on the go and things are starting to get a little cramped in my tiny work space!

I know that I should only work on one thing at a time, but I find that it drives me crazy if I haven't got any hand stitching to do of an evening so I tend to save those jobs later on. This allows me to get stuck into all the other bits and pieces throughout the day when the kids are at school.

Today I stitched up all the ruffles ready for piecing together the draw-string bags.

 I have a new favourite.....the linen and dark blue one, it's so pretty!

 There is a big basket full of body parts, I just have to stitch some eyes on the heads and I'll be able to shift this lot.

 I usually stitch my pears of an evening, it's real easy to stop and drop if needed.......relaxing too!

There's also a bunch of Pirate Bunnies on the go as well as two quilts.........all that should keep me busy for a while!

If you want to see some more creative spaces head on over to kootoyoo and say hello to Kirsty.

Linen Love!

Most of you already know that I love the natural look of linen, I use it in most of my creations.....I don't see that I'll tire of it ever!

I have a customer interested in a pirate bunny I made about a year ago using felt, this morning I thought I'd try and update it a little using you guessed it........linen!

Ryan might think he's a little too big to have something like this on his bed, but I think I'll leave it there for now just because it's so cute!

 I've been busy making some more bird brooches for the lovely Nat at Nest in Tasmania.....oh look! More linen!

I'm off to cut out some draw-string bags this afternoon and put some mileage on my sewing machine. What are you up to?

Black Bird Cushions

Today was so nice and cool, it was an absolute joy to sit and create something without sweat dripping from my brow.

I made these four little cushions for a special order I've been working on. Loads of fun, I really enjoyed making something I haven't made for a while!

 Because these cushions are so small ( 20cm x 20cm ) I had to make the inserts to go in them.

 I also made this set of Love pears in red, I was thinking of making a few more for Valentine's Day or any time of year for that matter!

So sorry about the brightness in this picture, I don't know why it is but I can never get a nice picture of anything with red in it! These pears aren't fluro red......it's just my crap photography skills!

Thanks for stopping by.

P.S. The air-con man came and fixed my air-conditioner a short while ago! Woooohooooo!

I love a pretty bag with so many uses!

Remember way back about a month ago when I was playing around with frills? These are the new creations I was working on............Draw string bags!

 I couldn't reveal way back then because I have been waiting on a shipment of self covering buttons so I could add that little extra touch to finish them off!

 They are all fully lined in a coordinating fabric, have three rows of frills......all of which were done by hand as I don't have a ruffler. The frills are all sewn in.......you won't see any raw edges on these little beauties!

 They are all just the sweetest, so pretty to look at.....yet so useful.

 For the first time around I have only made them in with 4 different coordinating colours......I just need to see how they go at Shop Handmade before I dive into full scale production!

 If you are interested I'm more than happy to make you one........I am selling them for $39.95 plus a bit of postage.

 If you like bright colours or soft and pretty that's not a problem.........I can do either.

 I love my draw string bag........I can keep my copy of Handmade Living in it for safe keeping, kind of like a library bag.

 Or I can put my favourite pair of shoes in it when I'm travelling.

When my bag isn't in use I just hang it on the door, it looks so pretty and always makes me smile every time I glance across and see it. Ahhhh!

There will be a shipment of these very useful yet pretty draw string bags arriving at Shop Handmade early next week so keep an eye out if you are down that way.

Thanks for stopping by.

My Creative Space.

I'm so pleased that My Creative Space hosted by the lovely Kirsty is back......such great fun to join in and see what everyone has been creating.

Although I have some orders I should be working on this morning I decided to experiment on something new.  I wanted to keep the sad eye theme going ...........it doesn't mean that I only like sad things, I just like the look of the over-sized eyelid. I wanted this item to be washable ( gentle hand wash not tortured in the machine with everyone's socks and jocks), but I had to come up with some way of putting the eyelid on with no raw edges. 

 I don't mind the idea of raw edges myself, I like hand stitching to be visible, I think it gives things a more used look, rustic handmade......I don't know, I just like it but if this item eventually has to be washed........there might be more than a few sad eyes!

 A few cups of coffee later my new little friend has eyelids and a nose........finally starting to get some personality, don't you think?

Now all I have to do is figure out how to attach it to a body!

For many more Creative Spaces head on over to Kootoyoo and say hello.

Time for something with frills!

I had the urge to make something different today........ something with frills, I wanted it to be pretty yet useful. I decided to stop with all the other goodies I was making ( more stock for Shop Handmade ) and have a trial run!

So far it's looking just as I pictured!

I can't wait to give it a go in some brighter colours!

Hanging Bird Ornaments.

These little hanging bird ornaments are for a special order, shortly they'll be flying all the way to Tasmania to adorn a Christmas tree or two.

I took a bit of trial and error to sort out the whole wing thing.
In this trial one I stitched down the silver feathers........very time consuming and not quite the smooth finish I was after.

Then I had a go at using applique paper to put the silver feathers on, this gave the finish I was after and combined with some pretty string I think I'm done with the trial and error bit!

I'm having a lot of fun with this Blogtoberfest challenge, I've caught myself calling it Octoberfest a few times and had a bit of a giggle ...........I don't think drinking copious amounts of beer and blogging would work now would it?

Ok, I'll be back tomorrow with day 5, see you all then.

Clearly I have a problem!

Is there such a thing as "AA" for people who don't have the ability to walk past a fabric shop with out buying something? Maybe we could call it "FA" for fabric addicts!

Yesterday I took the kids to see Legend of the Guardian in Tamworth, afterwards I had an urge to go down town and have a look around .........knowing that at some point I'd have to walk past a fabric shop! I feel compelled to walk in and touch and examine all that I can, all the while thinking.........Oh I love this! What could I make out of this? Oh this looks fantastic with this! Meanwhile the kids are rolling their eyes.......well at least Ryan is, Megan has found a cave under a pile of fabric rolls and has made camp!

So here is the latest addition to my fabric stash, and here is what they are from top to bottom.
Ticking ( so gorgeous it matches beautifully with linen ), Linen, more Ticking ( can't ever have enough of something you love ), and finally the bottom one is Matka Silk ( so beautifully soft you could sleep on it).
I think I was more excited than the kids about going to see this movie.....can you guess why?

Oh the owls! Beautiful beautiful owls! It was an extra surprise to find out that it was one of those 3D movies as well, don't the kids look excited?

I highly recommend this movie for both young and old, I think I might even have to go back and see it again.

See you all tomorrow!