Sunday Stash

Whoops! I only realised after checking out all the other Sunday Stashers, that I'd joined up and completely forgotten about it!

Anyhow.... this is where my vintage fabric / sheeting obsession began. It was a completely perfect unopened set of vintage dri-glo sheets that I'm guessing were from the 1960's. I found them on Ebay probably about 4 years ago. I kept them still sealed in the packet for about another year before I worked up the courage to open the packet and chop them up.... and I've never looked back.

Thanks for hosting Tamara!

I spy....what I want for Christmas

Sadly This is...is no longer, BUT, Cindy has come to the rescue of all of us who can't think of anything to post on a Sunday, with a new meme.... I Spy.

This weeks I Spy is - I Spy what I want for Christmas

Other than health, happiness and world peace...what I really want is:

These beautiful hair elastics from Stacey at Sheeps Clothing. Anyone that knows me in real life also knows that my hair never grows long enough for pigtails.... but I don't care, I want them anyway!

I would also love this gorgeous pendant

and these tubeway armies would be perfect for next winter....

...and of course, I just can't go past these divine cupcake candles (and even in my absolute favourite flavour...or should that be scent - choc mint)

Note to friends and family: YES, I have intentionally included links to each sellers Made It Shop so that you have no problems in finding these and buying them for me!

The Kootoyoo ScheDUEL - Handmade Holidays

Beautiful handmade items and photo by Kirsty

Still feeling totally inspired by the handmade issue of mankind mag from my favourite design blog.
Q What is the blog author's first name? ANSWER: Erin Loechner
use the first letter - LETTER: E

We like to keep lunch casual, I've found some fabulous BBQ recipes for the big day.
Q What type of meat is pictured on the rotisserie? ANSWER: Lamb
use the first letter - LETTER: L

Getting some great ideas for upcycling (my favourite craft) & enjoying the revamp over at this fabulous craft website.
Q They list everyone's favourite Portland based author mama as one of their inspirational sites. Which Portland based author mama is she? ANSWER: Amanda Blake Soule
use the second letter of her last name - LETTER: O

Looking forward to being able to buy handmade at the shopping shindig with the craft book Queen.
Q What type of car is pictured? ANSWER: Volkswagen
use the first letter - LETTER: V

All these letters unscramble to reveal: LOVE
WHAT? is all you need.

A second adoption

The postie was nice enough to leave a big box on my doorstep yesterday afternoon.






I was expecting Jane the Kiwi to arrive.... so I was quite suprised when I picked up the box and realised how heavy it was.



Inside was this huge package of goodies!

It seems that Jane needed some nesting material to accompany her on her long journey from Sydney to Melbourne......

She bought along some very useful and very timely quilting magazines....

.....and some beautiful fabrics in my favourite colours!

I took Jane on a tour of the house and garden so that she would feel at home. Here she is checking out the potplants.....

....and getting acquainted with the cat

She even tried to jump the fence and go for a swim (I didn't realise Kiwi's liked water so much)...

But in the end, she found a nice comfy spot in the high chair in the kitchen with her new best friend Cherry. If you look closely, you can see that Cherry is even giving her a cuddle...so sweet!

If you love Jane the Kiwi as much as I love Jane the Kiwi, then you can head on over to Amy's Badskirt blog, or her Made It shop and adopt Jane's sister/brother/cousin etc....

Thankyou Amy.

Love Fridays

Today I'm loving Friday because I performed a rescue (of sorts).....


Somebody had worked really dilligently to make this perfectly straight and perfectly evenly stitched quilt top.....

Only to have it end up at the Op Shop....
So even though it's not really my style (I like random the best) or my favourite colours (pink, orange, red).... I just couldn't bear to leave it there, so for $4.50, it was mine.

I'm intrigued as to who made it and why it ended up where I found it. I think I'm going to try to make it into a quilt for the couch.... and hopefully the original owner will somehow know that it found a lovely new home.

For more of Love Friday's, head over to visit Big Cats Emporium.

A Toy Society Christmas

I've been meaning to blog about this all week because I'm so excited!

The Toy Society are planning a worldwide drop on the weekend before Christmas and I've signed up. All you have to do is head over to this post on The Toy Society blog and read the details on how to join in..... but get your skates on because you need to be signed up before December 1st.

Late for a very important date!

A long long long time ago (I think it was August), I organised to do a swap with Sharon. I've been on the lookout for the perfect fabric in black / grey / neutral tones that isn't too floral or fussy.

I just so happened to find this one which will be perfect for an apron. I should have finished it by now, but my normal procrastinating ways took over.

Anyhow, the most exciting part of the story is that I'm swapping my gift for a gorgeous pair of Sharon's handmade earrings. But even more exciting news is that Sharon has now launched her Silver Soiree Jewellery Collection and is having a launch giveaway just in time for christmas!

Just head on over to Sharons Handmaiden Blog and check out all the details.

A crafty day with Big Cat

I had a lovely crafty day at Big Cat's yesterday... just the thing needed to pep one up for the rest of the week.

I made some more heart brooches, and a nice bright yellow flower brooch for Cathy, while she was busily working away on all her Tinniegirl goodies. If you haven't had the chance to check out her shop, then head on over.
A tinnie makes a fantastic christmas gift!

A very special Hokey delivery

On our little shopping spree in the city a couple of weeks ago, I bought this gorgeous fabric fat quarter from Kimono House.


I gave it to Hollie and she has made this beautiful Hokey wallet for me....

....and I now have these fab Hokey resin earrings to match with my rose pendant and ring!

WARNING: Extreme Ear Close Up!

If you head on over to Hollies other blog, Vegan and Vintage, you'll find details of a special offer in her Etsy Shop....

On my fridge

On my desk is no longer..... so today Amy is hosting On My Fridge instead!

I don't like a lot of clutter on the front of the fridge......

I have a postcard from Venice from some friends who recently had a European holiday (lucky them), and the invitation for my nephews birthday party earlier this month.....

A mixtapezine magnet, and a thermometer....
.....and this is the side where I hide all the mess!

Photo Tag

Jess from Button Beauty has challenged me to a game of photo tag.

The rules are:

Go to your sixth picture folder in your picture file on your computer
Pick your sixth picture
Try to remember the details
Post it on your blog

This blurry pic is a scarf that I knitted for myself. This would have been somewhere amongst a few knitting lessons via Brown Owls.

This actually turned out to be a great scarf because the yarn hid any mistakes and the colour matches with anything.

Thanks Jess.... I'm going to tag Sel (she's a bit lost for blog fodder at the moment).

The Kootoyoo ScheDUEL

You may remember Kirsty's first round of scheDUEL, where the aim of the game was to pick the blog author that Kirsty was thinking of when she made this fantastically gorgeous pendant.

Well lucky me....would you believe that I am now the very proud owner of it! Yippee!


It matched perfectly with the jacket that I was wearing lastnight.... and it matches perfectly with the pink top I'm wearing today too.

I also picked up some gorgeous vintage fabrics that Kirsty was cleaning out. I'm thinking the gorgeous tablecloth at the bottom will become a lovely apron for me.

Thanks so much Kirsty!

Lighting up my night

Lastnight was another fun night at Brown Owls....and my last one for the year.... Boo Hoo!

We made these sweet tea light candle holders....

We very nearly had an entire table full of bloggers.... Liesl, Cindy, Lara, Steph, Hollie, Myself, and Kerry (who will remain blogless)! It was lovely to finally meet Liesl in person.

Gemma drew my name out of the magic prize barrel and I won one of Kirsty's fabulous swizzle stick rings....

....and this is Kerry modelling her fabulouso chain stitch embroidery!

Looking forward to next year.

Some new additions

My computer has been playing up for a while now, so it's off to be repaired, and I've borrowed the laptop instead. Some of the photo quality over the next few days may be a little dodgy as I don't have any photo editing software on this one.

I added some new items to The CurlyPops Shop.

This soft flannel baby wrap.... (I love the colours in this one but alas, I don't have a baby to wrap)

I've used vintage Sheridan sheeting for the body of this apron. It's an extra large size and should fit up to a size 22. I'm going to make some more in this size during the week.

A little stripey drawstring bag....

...and this lovely floral drawstring bag.

Drawstring Bag Tutorial

I often have scrappy bits of bias tape hanging around and this is one of the ways that I have found to use them. Note: The bias tape I've used is not actually cut on the bias....it is all cut on the straight grain. For more information on how to make bias tape, there are great instructions here.

Warning: There are lots of photos and lots of thread colour changes involved in this tutorial.

Disclaimer: I'm an aussie but this I've used quilting rulers to make these drawstring bags so all of my measurements are in inches (sorry about that)! I will try to convert to centimetres as I go along.

Step 1:

Cut 2 pieces of fabric for the outer bag - 9.5 inches x 9.5 inches - 24.1 cm x 24.1 cm

Cut 2 pieces of fabric for the inner bag - 9.5 inches x 9.5 inches - 24.1 cm x 24.1 cm

Step 2:

Place right sides together (separately) for the inner and outer.

For the outer bag, sew along 3 sides using a 1/4 inch seam (0.6 cm)

For the inner bag, sew along 3 sides using a slightly larger seam allowance, but remember to leave a small opening at the bottom, and backstitch at the edges of the opening.

Step 3:

Outer bag - clip the bottom corners to take away the bulkiness, turn right side out and iron flat.

Step 4:

Make bias tape following the instructions for your bias tape maker.

I cut a strip 2 inches wide (5.1 cm) x 18 inches long (45.7 cm) and used my Clover 25 Bias Tape maker.

Step 5:

Turn the ends of the bias tape over and iron flat

Step 6:

Pin the bias tape onto the outer bag (1 inch from the top of the bag) - 2.5 cm from top.

Step 7:

Sew the bias tape onto the outer bag along the top edge and the bottom edge. Don't sew along the end as this is where the drawstring will thread through later.

Step 8:

Place the outer bag inside the inner bag - the right side of the outer bag will be facing the right side of the inner bag.

Step 9:

Secure the top edges together using pins or clips.

Step 10:

Check that the layers are even.

Step 11:

Topstitch along the top using a 1/4 inch seam allowance (0.6 cm)

Step 12:

Pull the outer bag through the small gap at the bottom of the inner bag

Step 13:

Stitch the gap closed at the bottom of the inner bag

Step 14:

Push the inner bag back inside the outer bag and topstitch very close to the edge.

Step 15:

It's now time to make the drawstring. You can really use anything you like for a drawstring but I'm using bias tape again.

Cut a strip 2 inches wide (5.1 cm) x 38 inches long (96.5 cm).

Make the bias tape and then fold in half (keeping the raw edges inside) and iron flat.

Step 16:

Stitch the bias tape closed along the outer edge and the ends.

Step 17:

Attach a safety pin and thread the drawstring through the open channel on the bag.

Step 18:

Just to ensure that the drawstring doesn't get tugged out acidentally, it's a good idea to stitch it in place on the opposite side to the channel opening.

Step 19:

The drawstring is now securely stitched into place

Step 20:

The finished product!

These can be made in many different sizes so just scale up the measurements to suit the size that you need.