Blogtoberfest day11

Today was clean up day in my work space. It was a disastrous, when I needed to find something I'd have to rummage through bags and containers, It drove me crazy! I wouldn't say that it looks like an amazingly organised sewing space ( one can only dream ) but atleast the desk is clear and I can find things.

I received this cute little fella in the post today! It came from my sister who saw it in a cute shop and thought I'd like it........she was right!

Can you believe christmas is only 10 and a half weeks away!

Thanks for stopping by

Blogtoberfest day 9

Yep I totally missed a few days of blogtoberfest, but I kid you not I have been sewing like a mad woman for the past few days.........the crazy christmas rush is starting a little early.

I sent a huge box of goodies including these advent calendars off to Shop Handmade on Friday, hopefully they'll arrive safely tomorrow or Tuesday.

 I made this one for the boys!

 This one for the girls!

 And this one is a bit neutral!

 The lining on this one looks amazing, the skinny arm belongs to Megan not me!

 I'm going to try to get a few more made over the next month, not sure if I'll do the same colours or not. What do you think, should I do a different colour theme?

Even though I have a few things I need to finish off today, I need to devote a few hours to preparations for school tomorrow. I need to do some baking and ironing of uniforms!

Thanks for visiting.

Red Stitch Designs Giveaway!

Now that Father's Day is over ( hope you all had a lovely time ) and this week the shops will probably start to stock their shelves with some christmas gear, I thought it was time to have a giveaway! Besides it's my birthday and I feel like it!

I'm giving away these two hanging owls, perfect for your christmas tree or to hang anywhere around the house.

All you have to do to enter is follow Red Stitch Designs on Facebook.......easy peasy!

I'm going to leave this open for 2 weeks, I'll draw a winner on Monday the 19th.

Good Luck!

Today is the day!

It might be the first day of spring but it's also my first day back at Shop Handmade after my time away!

I have posted off a few big parcels of goodies so there should be plenty of stock, some familiar items and a new one. So if you are in Canberra and looking for some lovely handmade goodies please call in and have a look around.......it's the kind of place that you won't leave empty handed or disappointed.

 There will be a load of Christmas items posted shortly so keep an eye out for them.

Today I'm working on....

.... another two advent calendars, this time they are done in more boyish colours as my last two had a girly thing going on.

I love the whole process of making these calendars, they are a bit like piecing a quilt together, the only down fall is they are just as time consuming.

I hope you are all enjoying the the sun shiny days we've been having!

Thanks for stopping by.

Red Stitch Designs is now on Facebook.

My Creative Week.

I'm having alot of fun sewing and being creative again, and I know these aren't your traditional Christmas colours but I like them, they're a little bit whimsical and fun!

I have so many projects on the go at the moment, things that are bound for Shop Handmade over the next week or so, I have pears half done, owls, cushions, advent calendars, heart ornaments, I also have things on my to do list which might have to wait a while.

 Earlier in the week Megan's school was celebrating Book Week and the kids were allowed to dress up as wither villains or superheros. Megan chose to go as one of The Incredibles!

 She had so much fun with this character and she was even given an award for her efforts!

I hope you are all have a great week, thanks for stopping by.

Taking inspiration.

Last week some time I had a weird dream about how incredibly busy I was with all my Christmas sewing last year and how I vowed to be more prepared this year. I'm thinking it was a message to pull my finger out and squeeze a few Christmas items into my sewing list. I know what you're thinking, she's crazy it's June, who thinks about Christmas in June!

I'm trying to think ahead because I know that our house will almost be finished around this time and my energy is going to be needed else where, packing, cleaning and organising all that stuff we've accumulated over the years, I know that there is going to be limited sewing time!

So because they're so time consuming I made up a few advent calendar bases last week, now all I have to do is come up with a few different colour schemes......some traditional and some a bit whimsical.

I love this little make-up bag I bought Megan last Christmas and I thought I'd take a little inspiration from it for my first calendar. I can't wait to get stuck into it in between orders which are starting to flow again after my short break.

I'd just like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of my lovely blog readers concerning my last post........your kind words mean so much XXX

A Merry Christmas was had by all.

For me the best thing about christmas is the look of surprise and total excitement on the kids faces as they discover presents which have appeared under the tree overnight, and the sparkle and joy on their faces as they open each and every one!
This big boy was super impressed when he opened this.........

As was Megan when she opened hers......

I just had to share this picture........this is the kind of picture you get when you interrupt someone for a nice christmas shot who is having the best time ever with her new toys and doesn't want to be bothered. It was all a bit funny I thought.

Santa bought the kids scooters this year so after a massive lunch and a little rest to recover we went and found a bike path....... we only have paddocks and rocks at our house for the kids to scoot up and down on, until our slab is poured that is!

They went up and back trying to do little jumpy skip things on them for quite some time. Megan skipped a little too hard and fell......she got a bit of a sore wrist out of it, so I had to put a bandage on it to fix it all up!

Ryan had a fun time, it was like he had owned a scooter all along and knew exactly how to do little jumps and things.

Overall we had two very happy little kids, Megan could hardly contain her christmas excitement......

and Ryan he's too cool to look as excited as Megan!

The kids also got and iPod each and because I'm technically challenged and have not idea about these things ( it doesn't help when the dick at Harvey Norman sells you the wrong charger ), I told the kids they'll have to wait until I hunt down my little IT expert Sarah, she can sort it all out for us super quick and easy I'm sure! They didn't mind having to wait which is so nice of them, if it were me I'd probably chuck a tantrum! Just kidding!

I hope you all had had a fantastic day filled with laughter, good food and family .......just like ours was!

It's almost time.....

time for the kids to open their gifts under the tree.
I've been away for the past week with my family, we went to a lovely christening and afterwards my husband came home ( for work) while the kids and I stayed with some special friends. Our friends have kids the same age as Megan and Ryan so they had an absolute cracker of a time, there was daily trips to the pool, camping in the back yard, cricket at the park.......the big boys went to the pictures.... twice! We ate beautiful food as there happened to be a chef in the house.......I even picked up a few tips! We relaxed, crafted, chatted for hours......if it wasn't Christmas and I didn't have a hair appointment today ( booked 2 months ahead ) I would have stayed on another week!

A dose of retail therapy is always good and something I love to do when I go to Goodiwindi, there are only a few small boutiques there and I always find something unique. We turned a 3 1/2 hour drive home into a 7 hour trip because we stopped in both Moree and Narrabri for more therapy.........the shops are simply beautiful this time of year all decked out for the festive season.

So now it's back to reality.......unpacking, washing, ironing, cooking, I even had a flat tyre this morning.....the first one in about 7 years. Mark spotted it on his way out to work and changed it before I was even out of bed........isn't he a darling!

Well I must be off, I have a huge basket of washing waiting to be hung out before the rain appears again......take care and have a lovely day!

Last Custom Order.

This cute little fella is the last custom order I'm doing for the year! It's getting to the point where it's almost physically impossible to have something made and posted for a safe arrival before Christmas. I have a few things I have to do today and that's it......phew! I can't believe the pace I've been working at for the past few months.......trust me I'll be better prepared for next year!
A few weeks ago I spotted these gorgeous red moose .......so it's out with the reindeer and in with the moose for this year. They are so cute and I think at some stage they might be spray painted white and kept up all year round.

I caved this year and went with the big tree in the corner of the lounge room as opposed to the stick tree I had last year.........which took up very little space! I sat it up on top of a giant trunk and now it almost touches the ceiling, it looks massive and quite dominant in the small room, but the kids love it and that's all that matters!

I told them what colours to put on it and they decorated it all by themselves, they even had the ornaments spread out evenly and not in big clumps! Now we just have to wait for Santa to visit and put some gifts under it.

Rudolf is on his way!

Where did the time go? Christmas is upon us and I'm so looking forward to spending a bit of time with the kids and not having to worry about homework, sports activities and having to put a bit of spit and polish on the kids every morning as they adorn their uniforms!

I think the kids sometimes have a better social life than their parents. This time of year there are plenty of christmas parties to attend and today Megan was having her class party at school. I wanted to do something special for the kids and I have to admit that I totally copied this idea from Melissa Goodsell over at Day by Day, there is a picture of these scrumptious reindeer treats in her festive blog banner and I fell in love with the idea!
So because we had an end of year school mass last night and we didn't get home til late, the kids and I were up at 10pm cutting, slicing and piping to get these done for school today!

They looked gorgeous as they just kept multiplying and multiplying.......I found it hard not having a little taste, Megan didn't find it hard resisting, she jumped at the chance to accidentally destroy one so it had to be eaten!

So here is the difference between my two kids......one wants all the bells and whistles while the other is content with a bag of corn chips for his class party ( which happens to be at the pool ).

I hope you are all enjoying the end of year festivities!

Thanks for stopping by.

Brown paper as gift wrap!

This morning I had an idea to make some of my own gift wrap, I'm a total fan of brown paper.......the colouring is just like linen which is my absolute favourite, I wanted white spots and a big ribbon!
These are the goodies I used.......

I started by painting large circles all over the paper. I think that stars and snowflakes would have looked gorgeous......I'll have to find myself a stamp or two for that one!

Then I filled in the spaces with some smaller white circles.

Now I have some pretty gifts under my tree, what I really need to do is start the rest of my chrissy shopping.......so far I've got nothing for the family, although I have a list!

Hope all your Christmas preparations are coming along beautifully.

Off to Market I go!

It's been one of the busiest weeks I've had so far this year with my sewing, it feels so good to get so much done and sent to various customers, and to finally be ready for the first of my Christmas markets in the morning..........I've already been to town and set my stand up so I won't have to rush too much in the morning, how good is that!

This will be the first time the people of Gunnedah ( apart from close friends ) will be able to see what I spend most of my time doing.......I hope they like what they see!

There's mostly all the items I've been making for a little while now and a few new ones.......sorry haven't taken as many pictures as I should have, here are just a few of the items I'll have on my stand tomorrow.
Some pears all done up for Christmas and some of the originals without bells and ribbon.

Loads of these little cuties!

I've taken my tree which will be adorned with gorgeous Christmas ornaments.

I think there is about 60 of these in various colours........all ready to hang!

Babushka hanging ornaments galore!

I had loads of fun making these and watching them all come to life!

I even set up a table in my house and set out some of the items to make sure everything would fit on the tables supplied and that it all looked nice.

These would have to be my favourites!

Fabric boxes made from linen and lined with some of the most gorgeous ticking I've ever seen...... all with a touch of Aunty Cookie on the front.

It's going to be a fun day and I'm really looking forward to meeting some lovely local people.

I must go and get some dinner......think I'll be having an early night tonight!

Thanks for stopping by.