Just a minute.......in August

Sheesh...time flies when you're having fun.
August is nearly over already so it's high time for Just a Minute....

Reading

.....at the moment absolutely nothing except for about 150 blogs and the online newspaper. I have an appointment next week that lasts for a few hours (and so requires a book and MP3 player while sitting there). I'll be raiding the bookcase Wednesday night to see what I can find.

Listening

.....it's been a weird mix this week. I've listened to a few cd's while sewing...George, Kasey & Shane, Ministry of Sound (no rhyme nor reason nor theme nor consistency) with this lot.

I also listened to the Emily Martin podcast yesterday courtesy of the link that I found on Michelles blog.....then the weirdest thing happened today, I had the Sunday morning Marthathon going in the background while I was cutting up fabric in the kitchen, and they just so happened to replay the episode where Emily was featured.

Watching

.....well, I watched a lot of the Olympics (tv on in the background while doing other things). The channel 7 coverage was abysmal as per usual. When did Peter Colquhoun and Tom Williams become qualified to commentate sports like kayaking and BMX racing??? Why did we have to sit through so much mens gymnastics when there weren't even any aussies in the finals?

I'm still loving Project Runway Australia and Flipping Out and Dexter. Last weeks episode of Dexter was fantastic...looking forward to tonights!

Eating

.....I bought some nice Danish Butter cookies from the supermarket, they are lovely with a cup of tea in the afternoon. I really want to make some of the yummy carrot cake that Sherrin bought along to the Thornbury Sewing Bonanza. I bought the White Wings Organic flour that has the recipe on the back....but I just haven't got around to actually making them yet.

Making

.....with lots of encouragement from others, I'm currently making some baby items for The CurlyPops Shop and more kiddies pants for my nephews. I still need to make myself a bag with the beautiful piece of vintage fabric that I received from Cathy.

To join in Just a Minute, head over to visit Jen and sign up!

Sorry about the weird spacing...blogger is having a coniption!

This is......my favourite fabric/craft supplies store

1. 101 things, 2. pillowcase 4, 3. trims, 4. sheet, 5. trims close up, 6. pillowcase 2, 7. pillowcase, 8. zips, 9. Complete crafts book, 10. plate set, 11. Vinnies 050208, 12. buttons, 13. Op shop 2 19032007, 14. Op shop 19032007, 15. fabric & book, 16. trims, 17. op shop finds, 18. vinnies yarn, 19. vinnies fabric, 20. teatowels, 21. tablecloths, 22. oppy - fabric & zips, 23. oppy - felt scraps, 24. Vinnies goodies

My absolute favourite fabric/craft supplies shop definitely has to be the Op Shop. I love the excitement of rummaging through the piles of stuff and searching for the gold. Then there's the flicking through all of the clothes on the racks and imagining them being refashioned into handbags, kids clothes, softies, or blankies. This week I found a large corduroy mens shirt for $1 which has enough fabric in it to make a pair of kiddies pants and a large womens denim skirt also for $1 which has enough fabric for a pair of kiddies jeans. You could never buy the fabric at that price. The oppy is also a great place to find bargain zips but it's much harder to find buttons.

For lovely new kids fabrics, my favourite place is the Retromummy Shop and for arty/crafty supplies, my new favourite place is Moopoo Art Supplies. I also love wandering around the aisles of the local hardware shop (especially in the nuts/bolts/washers department) and imagining what I could make....I also always check out the mistints in the paint department (you never know what you'll find for a bargain price) .

Thanks so much to Sharon from Handmaiden for such a fun theme this week and of course head on over to visit Angela at Three Buttons to play along!

Prototypin'

Well the weather was absolutely miserable today....so what better thing to do than snuggle up inside where it's nice and warm for a spot of crafting.
I spent the afternoon, cutting, sewing, unpicking, more cutting, more sewing, more unpicking etc until I found a shape that was a bit different and that I liked.

Then I decided that I also wanted it to be reversible, so this is where I ended up. I stiffened the boxy bottom by adding some denim between the bottom layers.

I shall christen this bag Prototype 1. The next prototype will have some pockets and a neater strap. If you look really closely, you'll see that the strap is actually attached using curtain rings....it's the only thing I could find for the job today.

I made my very first sale in The CurlyPops Shop today (thankyou Liesl). A very big thankyou to everyone who checked it out and left me a message....I really appreciate the support!

By the way, I've just read a post by Sharon on her Handmaiden blog regarding costing and pricing for online selling....definitely worth checking out.

The CurlyPops Shop

A great big thanks to everyone who provided feedback and sent emails regarding online selling.
I've decided to start The CurlyPops Shop using Made It. If I don't sell anything, then all my friends and family can look forward to handmade gifts from me for Christmas!

The shop has some aprons.....

....in my favourite colours of course....

....and some tote bags

....and some brooches.

I'll be adding more items once I've finished them, but I would love it if you could all hop on over to The CurlyPops Shop for a little lookie see and tell me what you think!

Have a lovely weekend....

Love Fridays

Todays reasons to 'Love Fridays':

I have a beautiful orchid stem on my kitchen bench from my mums garden....

The herb garden is slowly springing back into life......

The sky is a beautiful shade of blue....

The Tawny Frogmouths are perched in the tree over the back fence.....

.....and today they have a friend visiting.

For more of Love Fridays, head over to Big Cat's Emporium and play along!

Compo!

Who do I talk to about compo around here? I've been sewing in a frenzy all morning, and so far I've managed to burn myself with the iron, cut my hand with a rotary cutter and stick myself with pins! Sewing is a very dangerous sport.......

On My Desk.....on a Wednesday

On My Desk today is:

• Some beautiful morning sunshine
• My lovely journal from Serena
• Brooches and tags for The CurlyPops Shop
• Bib patterns to send to Serena and Juddie
• a bottle of varnish

Don't forget to go and visit Kirsty for more on my desk loveliness....

Karma and Thrifted Tuesday

I had a very strange day today....

I had a hospital appointment in the afternoon and I parked my car on one of the side streets which has ticketed meter parking. As always with these types of appointments, I paid the maximum amount for the maximum allowable time which was 2 hours, just in case they were running late (which is quite the normal practice).

Suprisingly, things were running on time, and by the time I returned to my car, there was still another hour available on my ticket. I waited until I spotted someone who was parking their car, and said "Excuse me, would you like my ticket as it still has another hour left on it". It was an older lady and gentleman and they were chuffed that they didn't have to trot off to find a ticket machine. I smiled to myself and thought, 'well, that's my good deed done for the day'.

I decided to drop into Vinnies on the way home to have a look around.... and lo and behold, this is what I found!

After my 'This is' post on Sunday, where I mentioned Roald Dahl books and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, these books were all at Vinnies for 50 cents each.

....and this cool knitting patterns book named Oddies (for odd bits and pieces of yarn), a childrens pants pattern, and some self cover buttons.

It must have been karma....

Baa Baa Red Sheep

Look what arrived in yesterdays mail.....this package of loveliness from Stacey at Sheeps Clothing. A beautiful beanie with detachable flower brooch, scarflette, and yummy chocolate.

It's a perfect size for my weirdly small head. I would have included a photo of me actually wearing them, but it would have been mighty difficult to photoshop my head out in-between.....

The wool is sooooo warm and soft......

The scarflette is such a fantastic idea because it's small enough to wear on a chilly day and then take off and fit into your handbag. I'm going to wear it on my little outing later today.

Stacey makes lots of other beautiful woollen items that you should definitely check out....

Thankyou so much Stacey, I absolutely love it!

Super Duper Giveaway

No, not here....there's a super duper giveaway over at Hokey.
Hollie is also having a super sale in her Etsy Shop. Check out the blog for details....

Even more fabric

This sweet little package arrived in my mailbox on Friday from the Retromummy Shop....
I'm dreaming of all the lovely things I'm going to make....the robots are definitely my fave!
Thankyou Corrie...

This is.......my favourite childrens book

It was really really hard to choose just one.....so I managed to choose this 3-in-1 book.

I always loved Enid Blyton books when I was younger but these three classics are my absolute all time favourites. I always wanted to live at the top of the Faraway Tree too....

There are also some honourable mentions that I cannot forget:

• Roald Dahl - The Twits
• Sue Townsend - The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4

Ahhhhh...memories....

Thanks to Pottymouthmama for this weeks fab theme and to Angela for hosting!

The Big Cat Bonanza!

I had a lovely crafty day out at the 'Thornbury Sewing Bonanza' courtesy of the very generous Cathy and Ms L. It was great to catch up with Serena again and to finally meet Sherrin and Juddie...

We began with a table full of scrumptious food (photo here on Cathy's blog).... and we ate and we chatted and we laughed, and in between, we actually did some sewing too!


... and with some help from Serena, and a zipper foot courtesy of Juddie, I managed to sew my first zipper...yippee!


I made this little zippered pouch which is fully lined (the lining is actually a bit too big but it's not bad for a first attempt). Sherrin made a lovely denim zippered pouch too ....great photos here.

I didn't get photos of everybody's creations...but luckily the hostess with the mostest did!

I also managed to bring home some of Cathy's textured canvasses to hang on the wall in my half craft room / half spare room..... and some of Ms L's choc chip biccies (which I'm going to have for brekkie in the morning)

....and I had soooo much fun that I came home a little too late to go to the supermarket, so the cat is getting lemon pepper tuna for dinner!

Just in time for.....errrrr Spring?

It's taken me quite a while but I finally finished this scarf for my little sister....... I think the weather will stay cold for a little while yet so she might actually be able to use it this year.

I think this is scarf number seven. I've lost count. One of these days, I'm actually going to sit down and tackle one of the knitting patterns that Jess sent me. Another one to add to the 'To Do' list!

Also found something interesting in the paper today.....check out this article

Love Friday

Today it's easy peasy to 'Love Friday' because look what arrived in the mail.......

A thankyou pressie from Cass at Snailblazer just for mentioning her giveaway on my blog. It's a gorgeous reversible 'Grab Bag'. This side is warm and soft material, perfect for autumn and winter.....
....and the other side is a lovely pink floral (I love pink and I love flowers) perfect for spring and summer.
Also in the package are these delightful little storybook envelopes.....

.....and storybook gift cards and a magnetic bookmark.

Wowee that's a lot of goodness in one package! Thanks so much Cass....I am absolutely amazed by your generousity and craftiness.

For more of Love Friday, head on over to Big Cats Emporium and check it out (don't forget to grab the code for the Love Friday button while you're there).

To and Fro

I finished making the brooches that were in bits and pieces last Sunday. I've used new and recycled vinyl, leather, felt, and buttons......

I've been thinking of maybe opening up an etsy shop to sell a few of my creations....

I'm thinking of making simple things such as brooches, aprons, simple tote bags.....

So I really need some advice....

I love making things but I don't want it to end up feeling like work (if that makes any sense at all). That's why I thought an etsy shop may be a good option for a start. If it's a dismal failure, then it really doesn't matter so much as there isn't a huge capital outlay. I did read a great post over at Michelle's blog a couple of weeks ago regarding costing and pricing and postage, so I would of course have to work all of that out first. I would be very interested to hear about others experiences in setting up an etsy shop, successes, failures, etc, yaddah, yaddah.....over to you!

Finally! A pair of cords

It's taken me a while but I've finally made some corduroy pants with the gorgeous fabric that Sherrin so generously sent me aaaaaages ago. I probably should have ironed them again before I took the camera out.

I overlocked all the seams before sewing them too, so there shouldn't be any fraying..... and I actually remembered to add the star embellishment before sewing the legs together this time.

I did somehow manage to overlock two wrong legs together at one stage and had to go back and unpick everything.

They'll be facing the fitment test on Moo Moo and Nico tonight. They are around the same size except that I just shortened the legs for Nico (which means that they're just not as flared at the bottom). Here's hoping that they fit!

Owl House

The apron made it!

This was the starting point for Stacey's new apron....... 3 different fabrics and a piece of jumbo ric rac (I've never seen ric rac that big)!

.....and this is the finished product - front side....

.....and it's reversible too (please excuse the horrible un-model-like poses....I hate having my photo taken, even when I know that I'm going to photoshop my head out)!

I also added a very large detachable flower brooch to the front, just for a bit of extra girlie glamour in the kitchen.....

.....and there was enough leftover to make a little potholder. I used every last scrappy bit of the retro ric rac fabric to make the binding.....there was just enough with about 5cm left!

On My Desk......on a Wednesday

On My Desk today is Hokey Mail that arrived in my letterbox yesterday!

Hollie made some sweet pendant necklaces on the weekend and I love her resin roses, so I asked if the rose could be made into a necklace. Voila! Quick as a flash, she made me a rose necklace and popped it in the mail as a gift. How sweet is that?

Thanks so much for the gorgeous gift Hollie.
Don't forget to head on over and visit Kirsty to check out who else is playing along.

Anniversary

Today is my 15 year anniversary (wow that makes me feel old) with Mr CurlyPops. We never got around to getting married so we count our anniversary from the night when we first kissed.

I was still sound asleep when he left for work thismorning, but I found a little package wrapped up on the kitchen bench next to the kettle (he knows that I head straight to the kitchen to make coffee when I wake up).

I unwrapped it and found this gorgeous pendant necklace.......I love it!

If you're reading this Mr CurlyPops, thanks for putting up with me for this long (he he he).....I love you.

Thrifted Tuesday

I popped into Vinnies while I was out and about last Friday and picked up a few goodies. I remembered my trusty shopping basket this time so it made life a lot easier......



I picked up a bit of fabric and some more zips (one of these days I'm actually going to learn how to sew zips so that I can use all the zips in the stash).



A brand new single sheet set with a pillowcase for $12. I actually bought it for the fabric because it's a much heavier cotton than a normal sheet set.

A bag of felt bits and pieces that will be perfect for making some softies for The Toy Society.

....and these groovy books.

The inscription inside this one is really sweet.......