Late Mail

Well actually, the mail wasn't late... I'm just very late in posting some photos!

I received some lovely packages in the mail last week. First up, a giveaway that I won on Bec's A Deed Without a Name blog - this fab shopping bag which has been made from a recycled pillowcase. There's also a link on my sidebar to the tutorial. I'm eventually going to get around to making enough of these for myself for grocery shopping.

Secondly, I was lucky enough to win one of Kirsty's Deal or No Deal giveaways. This fab ladybug tablecloth and napkin set. It's just sooo cute!

Thanks so much!

Conspiring

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like the whole world is conspiring against you?

After the six hour blackout Friday night, I then had no power at home for another four hours yesterday (some sort of fault with a high voltage underground transformer apparently).

So I thought that things would be better today. I tottled off down the street to post some parcels (no queue at the post office - fantastic), and then headed to Aldi to buy some groceries. I really wanted a tuna sandwhich for lunch, so I had the tuna in my trolley, and was heading for the bread aisle when....... THE POWER WENT OUT!

Everyone had to leave their trolleys and go home......

In desperation, I got back in the car and headed for Macca's drive through, and ordered a chicken fillet burger. The nice lady asked me whether I would like seared or crispy, and I ordered crispy...... what did I get?????

Saturday at Sewjourn

After the power blackout Friday night, Tinniegirl and I packed up our crafty baskets, and headed to Lancefield to spend the day in air conditioned comfort at Sewjourn.


Everything was absolutely beautiful....


There are handmade quilts...


Gorgeous chandeliers...


Craft tables in the studio made from reclaimed timbers....


....and personalised crafty touches

There were a huge range of crafty works in progress, from a bit of quilting,

to a bit of softie making and felt work,

photo albums and collage,

more quilting,

pinboards,
embroidery
more quilting
The day was filled with lots of fun and amazingly delicious home cooked treats. A huge thankyou must go out to Jan for her generousity and hard work in making the day so special for all of us.

We're definitely heading back for a full weekend later on this year. If you're looking for a weekend getaway or somewhere for your craft group to meet, then Sewjourn has everything a crafty girl could ever possibly need!

Moo Moo turns Two

It's Moo Moo's birthday today so I whipped him up a pair of superstar shorts.

I found this great corduroy at the oppy last week, and I used a bit of vinyl offcut for the star.
He opened up the package and was much more interested in the Freddo Frog that came with them!

And the skirt goes to:

There were 28 unique entries for my blogaversary prize.

Drumroll please........

The winner is number 7 which is Clare from Clare's Craftroom. Congratulations Clare - please send me an email to mscurlypops (at) gmail (dot) com with your details and I will pop your prize in the mail!

Lookout later this week for another giveaway.

Sunday Stash & a quilt update

Todays Sunday Stash.... little monkeys from Amitie. As per usual with my fabric shopping habits, I have nothing specific in mind for it. I just bought it because I thought it was cute!

Do you remember the gender neutral baby quilt dilemma? I just happened to mention to my girlfriend that I was planning on making her a gender neutral gift before the baby was born, as she wouldn't open the secret envelope with the answer inside! She then informed me that she actually love it if I wouldn't mind waiting until the baby was born, because she would prefer if I could make something specifically for a boy or a girl. So my plan for using the fabric that she had purchased and given to me went out the window.

After having a re-think, I'm now going to use it to make a cushion for her 2 year old son's birthday in March. I've booked in to do a cushion making course at Amitie, so I'm now going to make a patchwork cushion panel using the clown fabric, before the class. I'm thinking the clowns, red, yellow, and the stripes will be perfect a little boy.

Tune in for the winner of my giveaway later on tonight!

Eye Spy.... a small object

The theme was a bit challenging for my frazzled brain today. I couldn't seem to SPY anything small, as most of the little fancy things have been packed away for the move.


But then I remembered that I hadn't packed up my little inspiration shelves in the spare room. I have these little objects sitting side by side.... Mini Collage by Tinniegirl and Walter the Birdy by Ric-Rac

As you can see, the shelves were not really installed to the appropriate measurements.... postcards only fit sideways! I'll be making myself a wonderful inspirational wall when I move (where my inspirations can live right way up)..... I get a bit dizzy looking at them sideways.

Thanks to the Crafty Librarian for this weeks theme and head on over to Bug and Pop to play along.

Just a minute.....in January (just made it)!

January is about to end, so I've just made it in time for Just A Minute........

I had a lovely day out at Sewjourn today (photos haven't been downloaded yet), so tomorrow I'm going to sleep in, and then read lots of blog posts that I've missed during the heatwave, and just generally relax!


Reading:

I'm halfway through the follow up to Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs - Knit Two.
I've just borrowed some magazines and books from Tinniegirl - I'm really looking forward to reading 'Organising Your Craft Space'.... just what I need before I move house.

Watching:

I loved watching Jalena Dokic in the Aussie Open. There's something about the fighting spirit from the underdog which I find amazing.
I'm also extremely happy that The Bold & The Beautiful has returned to its traditional time slot of 4.30PM. I always have a cup of tea at 4.30 and watch Bold.... I was very upset when channel 10 put my routine out of kilter!

Eating:

Lots and lots and lots of chocolate..... vanilla slice, pavlova. There was also some real food during the month although not as memorable.

Making:

Stock for a market stall!
Valentines themed softie for a Toy Society Valentines drop next month.

Join in Just a Minute by visiting Jen over at August Street

We interrupt this transmission......

Six hours with no power lastnight.

There were no faults in my area..... just something the Victorian government calls 'Load Shedding'. It doesn't matter whether you have previously registered with your power company as having vital medical equipment.... you still get switched off. What year is it again?

Love Fridays..... and melting

Today I don't love the fact that it's going to be 43 degrees again...... enough already. Bah humbug to global warming.

I do love the fact that I have a pool in the backyard for another 5 weeks. I've just noticed that there's an inflatable pirate sword in the water (just in case you were wondering what on earth that was in the photo..... nephew droppings).

I also love the fact that I have an exciting weekend planned. Tinniegirl and I are heading off for the lovely day out at Sewjourn that we won during Blogtoberfest. We're going to sit in the lovely air-conditioned studio and craft away to our hearts delight!

My computer is not happy about being kept in a room that's 35 degrees and it keeps beeping at me to tell me that it's melting too...... so I haven't been visiting as many lovely blogs as usual but I'm hoping to catch up once the meltdown has subsided!

Hope you have a happy Friday too..... more Love Fridays here

Blogaversary

I completely forgot all about my blogaversary on January 15th! Oh well, better late than never.

To celebrate, I'm having a little giveaway. This is the skirt that I made in December which is too big for me. I keep moving it around the house, trying to decide what to do with it, so I've decided to give it away to whoever would like it. It's approximately an Australian size 14 - waist is 104cm.

Just remember that it's the first adult size skirt that I have ever made in my life, and you will probably need to wear a petticoat underneath as I probably should have lined the fabric (I'm still learning these things as I go along).

Of course, I'll also throw in some fabric and some crafty bits and bobs as well. Just leave me a comment and I'll draw the winner Sunday night (1st Feb) Melbourne Time.

My Creative Space

Today, my creative space is confined to a cardboard box....

I've been keeping an eye out at the oppy for unusual bits and pieces that can be re-crafted.
This was a belt, but now I've taken it apart with my trusty pliers and I'm going to make some brooches for the market.

Head on over to visit Kirsty to see who else is playing along!

All the way from the UK

An amazing parcel landed on my doorstep yesterday, all the way from the UK! It was huge, and jam packed with crafty goodness.

Lynsey from Swirly Thoughts and Cuteable had a stash of lovely touristy tea towels in her cupboard which she most generously offered to send me. It was a bit difficult to fit them all in for a photo but here's a list:

London
Poole Quay
Christchurch NZ
Fleet Air Arm (which I'm assuming is the British Forces)
Blackpool
Corfu
Operations Ovelord Commemorative (British Forces)
Lancashire
Cornwall
Vancouver Canada

.....and the piece de resistance


...this one which was actually designed and printed in Australia! It's been around the world and returned home again.

There were also some beautiful buttons and trims.....

....and this set of bird napkins. I've fallen in love with the blackbird in the orange blossom tree so I'm going to make myself something special with that one.

Thankyou so much Lynsey....keep an eye out for all of these beauties to be transformed into funky aprons! I just wish you could have included a bit of your weather....it's faaaaar toooooo hooooooot today.

A fork in the road...is worth two in the bush?

One very lonely fork at the oppy......

.....was calling out my name.

Stocking up

Any spare time that I have at the moment is being dedicated to actually getting some stock made for a market stall. Packing and moving house in the lead up to my first market stall is not the greatest idea..... but I just have to get on with it!

I'm starting with a few new curtain ring bags. This one using the lovely fabric from Amitie, which I now know is Ume Komachi (thanks Margaret), teamed with some denim and some orange spots.

After receiving some feedback from one of my lovely customers and from my mum, I've now added a mobile phone pocket and a key holder.

Triumphant

So here it is... my very first successful pavlova, and I owe it all to the magic pavlova plate from the oppy. I used Hoppo Bumpo's suggestion of trying to build up the sides to make it more structural and it worked really well (so I didn't get that flat pancake effect again).


Apparently the Peppermint Crisp topping is a Victorianism, but Wikipedia says that "The Peppermint Crisp is often used in Mint-Chocolate cheesecakes and slices. In Australia, it is almost solely used to decorate a 'Pav'"

Then of course, there's also the debate about whether the humble pav really originates from Australia or New Zealand. I'm very sad to say that Wikipedia believes that we aussies lose out in this regard... "The dessert is believed to have been created to honour the dancer, Anna Pavlova during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand. The exact location of its first creation and the nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two countries for many years, however more serious research into the matter indicates New Zealand as source of today's pavlova" - Sewfunky and Paisley Jade were absolutely correct!


Oh well...... here it is in all it's magic pavlova glory, smothered in whipped cream and topped with smashed up peppermint crisp......mmmmmmm

Happy Australia Day

It's another day dedicated to packing for me today, but I am going to reward myself with some yummy food at the end. The leg of lamb is in the fridge ready to go.... I'm making the traditional aussie lamb roast with three veg and gravy.

Depending on how the packing goes, I'm contemplating making a pavlova. I've only ever made pav once in my life and it was a complete and utter flat pancake inedible disaster.

But now I have a new secret pavlova weapon that I found at the oppy last week.... this plate might just be the answer to my pavlova dreams. Oh, and better still, it means less washing up!

It's just missing one vital instruction.... there's no mention of topping the pav with the traditional aussie crushed up peppermint crisp.

Sunday Stash

I'm taking a break from the packing.... perfect timing for Sunday Stash!

This is a fat quarter that I bought from Amitie last month. I'm using it as a panel on a bag which is nearly finished. It's much more orange than it looks in this photo. I have no idea who it is by, but I just saw a red version of it over here which is absolutely gorgeous. If anybody knows, please enlighten me so I can buy it again!


More Sunday Stashers can be found by visiting Tamara at Quarter of an Inch.

Eye Spy....something beginning with J

I wandered around the house looking for something beginning with J, but with all of the clutter underfoot, it was a little hard to find.

So I'm going with this: Eye Spy with my little eye..... lots of JUNK.

I have boxes of junk that haven't been unpacked since I moved into this house over 6 years ago. I have more boxes of junk from when I packed up the old kitchen to renovate two and a half years ago..... and then there's my tendencies to bring home even more junk from the oppy, or from the hard rubbish.

I'm hoping to do a little de-junking very very soon!

Head on over to visit Cindy for more Eye Spy players (and while you're there, check out her whizz bang binding foot.....eeeek I'm in love). Thankyou Lauren for making me see the error of my junk collecting ways..... ha, we'll see how long that lasts!

Me Too!

I spotted these brooches on TinnieGirl's blog a little while ago, after she spotted them over at Edward and Lily, and then I also had the chance to see them once they'd arrived in the mail.

So of course, how could I resist?

I headed straight over to Sophie's Etsy Shop and ordered my own..... she even made me one with my own custom label (I heart chocolate).

I was very careful not to rush and rip it open before taking photos of the most gorgeous packaging. I love taking the layers off and looking at the little tags and ribbons.

Thankyou Sophie, they're both absolutely gorgeous! Check out Sophie's blog for more of her amazing brooches, collages and artwork.