The Sew Mama Sew Winner

I think I'm a little early, but it's a bit confusing trying to work out the different time zones.



So with 268 comments registered for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, I'm using Random.org to pick the winner.

....and the winner is number 137 - Michele from Carolina Ribbons

Congratulations Michele - I will send you an email to let you know. Thanks so much to every person who entered.

Even if you're not the lucky winner, there are a still a couple of aprons along with some other lovely crafty bits and bobs in my shop!

Just a minute.....in May....

Reading

High Potential by Bec Carroll - this was a christmas pressie from ex-Mr CP, so I hadn't started reading it until now. It's actually a great story and I'm about two thirds of the way through.

Great easy read, chick story with a bit of ambition, friendship and love all thrown into the mix.

Eating

Far too much chocolate this month.... I think if I can count back correctly, I must have consumed at least three blocks of Cadbury Peppermint, a bag of Haighs Dark Chocolate Peppermint Frogs, some scrumptious chocolates from Koko Black, about ten small Cadbury bars from my nephews creche fundraising, and I topped it off with the block of Green and Blacks that Jemma sent me!


Then there were also various afternoon tea delights that consisted of tim tams, chocolate teddy bears, and chocolate scotch fingers. There was probably a box of TV snacks in there too.

Making

Lots of small bits of couch crafting during the month. The lurgy hit and zapped all of my crafty mojo early in the month, but I'm slowly getting back into it. I missed going along to some craft markets because of the lurgy which was a bit disappointing too. With my multiple medical problems, I'm trying to avoid crowds at the moment because the swine flu and the normal flu are on the rampage! I think there'll be quite a bit more couch crafting in front of the foxtel box this coming month.

Watching

I promised myself that I would save money and not get Foxtel installed when I moved.... but watching the drivel on commercial tv was killing me, especially when I was stuck sitting on the couch with the lurgy.

My Kruddy bonus finally arrived and I took advantage of the Happy EOFYS sale... so my $900 will pay for approximately 18 months of entertainment.

I've been catching up on all of my favourite shows - Selling Houses Australia, Martha, Various daft craft shows on How To, Suze Orman, Til Debt do us Part, Wife Swap, Come Dine With Me, etc etc (I could go on and on and on).


I'm addicted to Masterchef Australia now too. I love watching the masterclass episodes where they show how simple recipes can be used to create great food.

Now I'm thinking about food.... it's time for some vegemite toast!

For more Just a Minute - head over and visit Jen at August Street

In my mailbox

I was lucky enough to recieve two amazing packages in the mail this week!


On Thursday, the postie arrived with this wonderful pile of goodies from Amanda at Krafty Panda - beautiful tea towels and sweet little cat doiley (putting my thinking cap on to work out what do with that one)!

....and then on Friday, another package from Linda at Two Pink Possums. This one has tea towels, lovely fabric, and some new sewing needles (just what I need actually).

Thankyou so much Amanda and Linda - as usual I'm completely blown away by the generousity of all the crafters out there. I've received so many lovely things in the mail - I'd love to know what my postie thinks I do with all my packages!

Have a happy Saturday...

Pretty Flower Garden

So, this is the closest thing you'll ever find to a flower garden if you come and visit my house.

Lots of pretty flower brooches ready for new homes - I've listed a few in the shop, so you can pop on over and buy one if you like them. If not, I can just keep admiring them on my pretty vintage floral plate on the kitchen bench.

Mr X and the Manbag

Mr X (my 10 year old nephew) has been staying with me this week while my sister and brother-in-law move house.

After dinner last night, he was bored, so I suggested that we make something. My intention was to keep it simple.... maybe some pencils, texta, and paper.

He kindly reminded me that I'd promised to make him a manbag just like Moo Moo's, so we decided to make it together (very quickly so we could finish it before his bedtime). I sent him out to the laundry to choose two fabrics from the stash, and he returned with skull and crossbones for the outer, and a camo print for the inner bag.

I let him use the rotary cutter (under very close supervision) to cut out all of the pieces that we needed. One piece went in the bin as it was just a bit too wonky to actually use, but the rest were absolutely fine.

Even though my machine is in for service, I still have my little sisters machine on hand, so we used that for this project.

We used clips instead of pins, and I marked the sewing lines with a fabric marker. Mr X then just had to follow the lines. He got the knack of it really quickly, and learned how to stop at the corner, put the needle down in the fabric, lift the foot, turn the fabric, put the foot down, and keep sewing.
It was a great combined effort and he's very happy with his new Manbag!

My Creative Space

My creative space had become one giant dumping ground lately, which in turn, made it completely impossible to be creative, so I decided to have a huge clean up.

I went and bought some cheap and cheerful containers, and I've sorted everything so I can find it. I have separate containers for Handbag Supplies, Cutting Implements, Pens Pencils Markers, Pins and Needles, Stamps, Buttons, etc etc. It's still a work in progress but I'm slowly getting there.

I even finally organised for my sewing machine to go in for a service! It had gotten to the point where it wouldn't go any faster when I pressed down on the presser foot, and it was making a horrible noise. Luckily I found a local service that picks up from home and then re-delivers when it's finished and it's cheaper than the local sewing machine shop too.

On my cutting bench - a stack of bibs, cut out and ironed and now just waiting to be sewn up.

Play along with My Creative Space at Kootoyoo...

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

The time has finally arrived for the worldwide Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway Day (in Australia anyway, I'm probably a bit early for the US).

I'm giving away one of my Vintage Tea Towel aprons, and I will post to anywhere in the world.

This vintage teatowel is from Magnetic Island and has Australian Seashells. The neck is fully adjustable with snaps to suit different heights.

The rules are that you must leave me a comment on this post by 8.00 PM May 31st (Melbourne time) and I will draw a winner using the random number generator.

The good news is that even if you don't win my giveaway, you can pop on over to The CurlyPops Shop and buy one for yourself.

It's Tuesday and I can't wait to....

.... wear my new scarf

Tinniegirl gave me this beautiful scarf that she crocheted (It took a close up shot to show the wonderful pattern detail); and ever since, the weather has been mild, and even sunny and warm.

May in Melbourne.... it should be scarf weather!!!

Can't wait? Play along at Buttons By Lou Lou

The latest boom

Another wave of new babies are on the way. Requests have been flying around thick and fast for bibs and blankies for the new arrivals. Was there a special event nine months ago, or was it just really cold in August / September???

It seems like it's been a long time since I've made bibs, so I altered my template slightly to make the newborn bib a little bit longer. I still need to make some little boy options, and some toddler sized bibs too..... better get to it!

Irresistable...

On the premise that I was buying a birthday pressie for a friends daughter, I just couldn't resist this beautiful Tinniegirl collage.

But of course I'm keeping it for myself instead....

You can pick one up for yourself right here!


PS - If you need a customised stamp, Jemma has opened up an etsy shop.

Saturday

Stampin' it up in the sunshine...

Thanks Jemma!

Some extra information

I received quite a few questions about the doiley rings after my post yesterday, so I thought it would be easier to explain with some more photos.

I found two matching doileys at the oppy - the photo above is the doiley that hasn't been cut up yet. Each ring has a hard plastic centre, and I can't work out why there are the three extra rings at the top....

I separated each ring, but then I needed to colour them. I didn't have any fabric dye, so I've used watered down acrylic paint, waited for it to dry, and then applied a clear coat of water based varnish. Of course, this method would only be suitable for items that are not designed to be washed.

I hope that answers all of the questions!

Is anyone else having blogger problems at the moment? I can read all my favourite blogs in Google Reader but when I click over and try to comment, I keep getting the message - Internet explorer cannot open the site - operation aborted... gggrrrr

My creative space

Today, it's creativity on a plate....

I'm making more flower brooches in lots of different colours. As the petals and flower centres are completed, they're added to this plate, where they wait until their next transformation.

Lots more inspiring creative spaces at Kootoyoo

Where it ended up

I love it when I giveaway one of my crafty creations and the recipient has the chance to use it....

I couldn't resist but show you this fabulous photo of Tania from Myrtle and Eunice in her new apron which she wore to make this amazing beer bread.

This shot could be straight from the pages of an expensive glossy cookbook!

Watcha Wearin' Wednesday

I haven't played along with this one for a while.... mainly because I'm usually wandering around the house in a pair of mocassins on Wednesdays.

But, today I'm wearing my lovely Lauren Williams button necklace, which you can find here.

All can be revealed

This story begins a few weeks ago....

After receiving the most amazing birthday gift from Tinniegirl, I was racking my brain trying to think of the perfect handmade gift for her birthday yesterday. It had to be something different, something that she wouldn't make herself, something that she would love.

As usual, all of my best ideas spring into my head in the middle of the night when I'm trying to get to sleep, but my brain won't switch off.....

I made a mental note before going to sleep - she likes accessories and jewellery.


So I decide to test out my big idea for a crazy stiched yarn scarf, but I need some more water soluble stabiliser to turn it into a reality.

Just because it was a good idea in my head, certainly does not mean that it was a good idea in practice.

It turned out to be more like a thick piece of felt, rather than a nice soft drapey scarf!

Note: It was originally twice this length, but this reject has since been recycled into new projects - waste not / want not.

After that little disaster, I needed to come up with a new idea - hence, the no knit woven scarf.

I wanted the scarf to be an everyday accessory, not something only to be worn in winter to take away the winter chills. I made it quite narrow and not chunky at all.

It's nice and soft and drapey, just like it should be.....

The felty scarf has been recycled into flower brooches, along with some dismembered crochet doilies (sorry to the nana who made all of the lovely rings and joined them together), and matching buttons.

I really like the way it all turned out in the end, and I think it would be a great project to use up all of those leftover balls of yarn from finished knitting projects. I'm predicting many more woven scarves in my future (but maybe I should actually finish everything else on the TO DO list first)!

Dead Horse

After reading this post over at Loz and Dinny a few weeks back, I was lamenting the fact that I'd just run out of homemade tomato sauce.....

The manufactured stuff that you buy from the supermarket is just not the same.

Then lo and behold, Gemma offered to send me a bottle, all the way across the Tasman Sea once she'd bottled it all up to Glad's recipe.

I decided that the first meal with my new sauce should be good ol' bangers and mash. It was so delicious that I had bangers and mash two nights in a row, with a limit of three tablespoons of dead horse (I'm rationing it to make it last as long as possible.... sad but true)!

Can I tell you a secret?

It's my crafty parter-in-crime's birthday today...

Head on over and say Happy Birthday to Tinniegirl!

Confused...

I'm dogsitting at the moment.
The dog is inside. asleep on the couch.
The cat is...... confused.

Take two

Crazy stitching makes way for crazy weaving....

No rhyme nor reason, just random. Ssssssshhhh it's a secret!

Oh so quiet...

Here's something I made earlier....

There's been a serious lack of crafting in my house this week, no energy, no mojo, no new ideas - but I think that I've finally turned the corner today!

After my rant about Spotlight, and lots of comments regarding very similar experiences, I must thank Nikki for letting me know about Embroidery Source. I ordered some water soluble stabiliser on Wednesday and it arrived yesterday. Now I can get back to some more weird and wonderful crazy stitching ideas!

I'm having a few internet issues at the moment (Telstra wireless is extremely slow in the evenings), so I haven't been commenting as much as usual, but I'm still reading.... just very s.l.o.w.l.y

My creative space

In my creative space - more experimentation with crazy stitching... this time with different types of yarn.

More creativity here.

....and random.org declares

That the winner of the shirt apron is number 4

Tania from Myrtle and Eunice - congratulations Tania, and a huge thanks to everyone who entered!

Time for another giveaway

Inspired by Sharon's wonderful giveaway over here at Handmaiden, I'm joining in with another giveaway to celebrate the launch of the new SEWN website....

You can also enter another fabulous giveaway at Sewn, sign up to have your own giveaway, and check out who else is having a giveaway (I promise that I won't be entering and winning all of them)!

I'm giving away one of my new flower brooches.... you may remember the crazy stitching from last week.

I've used it to make flower petals for brooches, and then I've stiffened them and shaped them to look more flower-like. This brooch is approximately 7cm x 7cm.

To win, you just need to leave a comment by June 8th - which is the official SEWN giveaway date.

Don't forget that I'm drawing the winner of my apron giveaway tonight too!

PS - There's another fab giveaway at What Katy Did

And the joy never stops

Unless your the poor postman who has to deliver parcels to my house.....



Picture this if you will..... I'm lying in bed fast asleep (even though it's already sometime after 9 AM and I really should be out of bed).



There's a loud knock at the door.



I wake up and think that maybe someone is knocking on the door, but maybe I'm just dreaming.

There's another loud knock, so I yell out - "WHO IS IT?"

No answer, so I get out of bed, stagger to the door and open it.....

I'm wearing pink flannelette pyjamas with printed green frogs wearing crowns, I have crazy bed hair, sleepy eyes, and possibly drool....

.....and I'm greeted by my postman

I'm squinting because the daylight is so bright. He smiles at me and hands over a huge parcel. I apologise for still being in my pyjamas... what else could I say, as I embarrassingly slink back inside and close the door?

I won this amazing box of goodies from Jemma's 100th post giveaway over at Amityville Boronia. Every single piece inside the box was separately wrapped so it was like 20 pressies in 1!

Did you notice that one of the parcels is clearly marked OPEN ME LAST?

There's a craft book, vintage patterns, vintage fabrics, buttons, trims, my favourite chocolate,

some beautiful quilted coasters, embroidery floss, and embroidered doiley....

But, the mystery of the OPEN ME LAST parcel and the piece de resistance, is this amazing handcarved CurlyPops stamp!

It completely matches the font that I use on my header and my business cards. I'll be stamping everything in sight.... don't stand still for too long if you happen to come over!

Thanks so much Jemma!

Sweet parcels in the mail

I arrived home lastnight to find two parcels waiting for me squeezed into my little mailbox (I might need to do something about that).

I was the super lucky winner of the Selina's Vintage mystery giveaway. Well, the mystery parcel included vintage fabrics, vintage pillowcases, chenille, beautiful trims and buttons, and the cutest magnetic postcard for my fridge.

Thankyou so much Selina.... I'm imagining some gorgeous creations as I type!

.... and in the other parcel was the fabulous 1983 teatowel in brand new pristine condition from Jannimary, who won my embroidered doiley giveaway.

Thanks so much Janice!

I'd better get back to working on my Snailblazer swap goodies.... I'm running late (and blaming the horrible lurgy).

For Sarah

While I was at the market the other weekend, I was next to a lovely stallholder named Sarah who was selling the most gorgeous shower caps (there's a photo here at Finki).


Sarah had a teatowel at home that was calling out to be transformed into an apron..... so she popped it into the post and it arrived at my house. The only rules were to stick to blue and black tones and definitely no floral!


Although 90% of my stash could probably be classified as floral, I did actually have some fabric in the stash that matched perfectly.


The moral of the story is - just because you don't cook, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't look stylish in the kitchen!

The most useless fabric shop in the world

Everyone in Australia knows exactly which shop I'm talking about...

I drove to Spotlight today to pick up some water soluble stabiliser so that I could do a bit more crazy stitching. I have a project in mind that I'm going to make, but it just won't work without using stabiliser, and I don't have enough in the stash.

I'm apologising in advance for the excruciatingly bad grammar but I'm too angry to add any!

I arrive at the haberdashery counter and take a number and wait......

15 year old girl calls my number
I ask for water soluble stabiliser
She asks me to repeat what I want
I ask for water soluble stabiliser
She says she doesn't know what it is.... and asks how to pronounce it
WATER SOLUBLE STABILISER
She asks the other 15 year old girl behind the counter and she has no clue either
She then says that they probably don't stock it
I say I bought some here less than 2 weeks ago, so you do stock it
She says I should try the dress counter
I say I bought it at the haberdashery counter less than 2 weeks ago, and tell her to ask a supervisor
She finds and asks a supervisor who also has no clue....
They then proceed to tell me that I should just come back during the week when the full timers are working, because they'll know what I'm talking about!

WHAT THE????

Can somebody please (pretty please) open a proper fabric / haberdashery shop in the Western suburbs? I promise I'll be your best customer.

The Wonky K and the Loot Glorious Loot Grand Finale

I suddenly remembered yesterday morning that I hadn't organised a mothers day pressie for my mum, so a quick flick through the ever mounting stash, and I found that I still had some of this lovely kitchen themed fabric that I received from Ingrid, and insulbright from Liesl.

So I whipped up a quick potholder and quilted (very haphazardly) a very wonky K.

I hope she likes it!

Then yesterday afternoon, all of the lovely Thornbury Craft Bonanza ladies came over to visit.

Liesl arrived bearing Loot! This beautiful tealight candle housewarming pressie with a battery operated candle (perfect for me because then I can't burn the house down)!

There was a bit of sketching, cutting, collaging, sewing, quilting, brooch making, crochet... I think we ended up convering nearly every category of craft over the afternoon - all washed down with lovely crafty conversation and yummy food. There was also planning for our upcoming crafty weekend away at Sewjourn!

PS - I'm not sure who left behind an entire packet of unopened tim tams but thankyou!

Serena took Charles and Di off to their new home in her kitchen, where I'm sure they'll be very happy...

Now, I'm off to have a cup of tea and one of Liesl's leftover cupcakes...

I promised a giveaway!

I'm a week late on my giveaway promise, but better late than never!

I saw this post over at Quilting Mick during the week, and got all inspired to whip out the mens shirt that had been hiding in the stash (my BIL didn't like the colour of the stripes so it ended up in my chop up pile)

I haven't seen the Betz White book, so I just split the shirt at the seams, and reconstructed it to create a half apron.

Frances is a bit too skinny to show the proper proportions, but the apron body goes all the way around to her back, and the straps are extra long. This apron will fit any size.

If you would like to win it for yourself, just leave a comment by Wednesday night - 8 PM Melbourne time..... simple as that!