fabric find

Came across some fantastic fabric today
at the most unlikely place
it was at a really unusual bric-a-brac shop
and they had a basket full of really
nice fabrics all measured and wrapped in plastic...
all be back to say the least...

and all these buttons only cost $2-00
love a bargain...

***

but of course on arriving home
I was slightly possessed
and sat at the machine turning
half of this fabric into a bag...
I even put a pocket in it...
I know I'm out doing myself now...

I picked up a few "cane" handles last time
I was at spotlight...
well they did have 20% off
another bargain...
now what to do with the rest???

Coaster Tutorial

Here is a easy way to make a great
gift for your family and friends...
or whip some up for your next stall or school fete...

Cut 2 (12 cm) squares of denim
and one (12 cm) square of patterned material
one square (11 cm) of cotton wadding
***
they will be set out in this order
when you put them altogether
and the wadding sits behind the patterned fabric...

Cut out a heart shape in paper
and pin onto the facing denim
it should go through 3 layers
denim(face up), patterned fabric(face up),and wadding
but do not pin on the denim backing...

Machine stitch around heart
so as to get the right shape
and take paper off when finished...

Pierce a small whole only through the denim
(a un-picker is helpful)
be careful not to cut the patterned fabric...

then carefully use your scissors and cut
around the inside if the heart
leaving a small inside boarder...

using clippers or scissors
clip around the inside edge of heart
(about every 1/4 cm)
so it will fray when washed...

Now place denim backing on
facing the right way if you were to turn it over...
matching corners etc...

and stitch all the way around
leaving a 1 cm boarder...

Now using scissors or clippers
cut through all layers
around the edge...
be careful not to cut the stitching and watching fingers...
use a nice even spacing about 1/2 cm...

To rag the edges you need to put it into
the washing machine
(no hand washing)
and then place in dryer...
you may even need to do this twice
to get it to rag well...
this will depend on the material used
but denim works really well...

repeat all steps another 4 times
and now you have a set...
make them up for gifts by tying them up
with a pretty little bow...
now don't forget to add the poem...
***
I'd love a cup of coffee,
I'd love a cup of tea.
Pop it on a coaster,
But there’s no guarantee’s.
Cause you know...
That I will drip it and spill it
and make such a mess.
But, I REALLY need to sit
and have a well-earned rest...
***
if you are making these to sell
please refrain from using this poem...
but if it is for a gift please feel free
to cut and paste and print out...
HAPPY SEWING...

cupids arrow

I'm trying to get back into the swing
after christmas...
and really need to do a lot more sewing...so after a bit of thought
i decided to get a few valentines things
done for the next market
which is the week before valentines day...
and as usual a little poem to put on the cards...

LOVE CAN BE SWEET,
LOVE CAN BE BLUE,
WITH CUPIDS ARROW
THROUGH MY HEART,
LOVE IS ALWAYS TRUE...

And this is a new cake you will find on
sugar rush
the roses are gorgeous
and it was more than a shame to slice into
it and eat it...
but it did taste as good as it looks...

new keyboard

Just a quick post to let everyone know
that i have now got a working keyboard...
My husband of course spilt coffee on mine
then i did have 2 going
but the old one the space bar didn't work
but did on the newer one etc etc.....
But that all fell apart when the sitter throw a toy
and it landed on the kids drink
and fell on the old keyboard as well...
We don't seem to have much luck with drinks and keyboards...
so now i have a brand new one
it happens to be spill proof...
or so it says...we will see about that?
But just to let everyone know i have not been slack...
i have read all the lovely blogs over Christmas and will try
to get to everyones and leave a comment...
and hopefully catch up on a few posts myself...

pressies

bell girl
has sent some wonderful pressies...
my keyboard is worse than ever
so not much typing yet
will get a new one soon...
have to cut and paste just this amount
and spell check...

Merry Christmas...

wishing you all a
"MERRY CHRISTMAS AND VERY BRIGHT NEW YEAR"TO ALL THE WONDERFUL NEW FRIENDS
I HAVE MEET THROUGH CYBER SPACE...
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR

INSPIRATION
COMMENTS
ENCOURAGEMENT

AND WELL JUST BEING THERE...

blogging with 2 keyboards?
can't stop me...

and safe in the arms of her new friend
"Betty Jo"
she made it in time for Christmas
and i could not resisted a poem
to make her feel right at home...
click the poem below to go to Betty Jo's post...

My nom de plume is Betty Jo
I live in a land of vintage Lino,

A haven of plenty that I source,
a magical enchanted forest of sorts.

Where squirrels scurry to their door,
And owls and swallows swoop and soar.

As you can see I do not mock,
for what you want in my shop.

I will make them all up in my head,
whether orange or green, purple or red.

So come and visit if you like,
And take one home for your delight.

madly sewing...

still trying to finish some very last minute
Christmas gifts...
i really wish i had more of these
"granny "cane handles
cause i could have whipped up a few more of these...
i just cut out a shape that looked right and sewed
it up...
then unpicked and re-sewed up...
you know what it's like...

so now i will have to just wait until the new year and
make them up for birthday pressies...

hoping that i can still put up one more post tomorrow
so until then...happy sewing...

Coasters...

coasters...
sorry about not putting up a post
but my keyboard is playing up
after my husband spilt his coffee on it...
i have a old keyboard sort of working to put
this post up...but the space bar
isn't working so i have 2 keyboards connected!!!

so of course in honour of my husband
who constantly spills his coffee
a little poem to go with them...

I'd love a cup of coffee,
I'd love a cup of tea.
Pop it on a coaster,
But there’s no guarantee’s.
Cause you know...
That I will drip it and spill it
and make such a mess.
But, I REALLY need to sit
and have a well-earned rest...

in the new year i will put together a easy
tutorial...

great tutorials...

Some very last minute Christmas gifts...
I really needed to do these a month ago but
yes I'm very disorganized (slack)
but yah! there done...
and of course i could not have made these without
the help of great tutorials
so thanks to PINK PENGUIN
for the great "basket" tutorial
that i converted into a bag...I have also added the yo-yo's
love them...

And here are some very quick and easy draw string bags
that i have made into shoe bags
thanks to CURLY POPS great tutorial...

these were the easiest thing to do and i will
be sure to make some more for other
gift ideas...

so check out the links and most of the tutorials you
will find in their right hand sidebar,
and give them a go...

Christmas dining...

I thought i would share some pics
of the dining room
all ready for Christmas...
the tree is huge and i often think
if we ever left the pub i wouldn't be able to fit
it into a normal house...

we have lots of royal stuff around
and love collecting more to put up...
it makes a good talking point...

I hand painted the royal names around the second year
we were here and they are all in order
and it took me quite a long time to finish...

I first printed the lettering out from the computer
then positioned them around
and placed carbon paper underneath,
then traced over all the lettering...
once they we all traced i had a very fine "folk art"
brush and hand painted the lettering...
it amazes me now that i did it, i certainly wasn't sewing
anything at that point...
but people do comment on it and seem to like
looking at all the names...
we also have a very large framed poster that a friend
brought back from England that has
all the royal lineages on...i catch quite a lot looking at that...
and find i need to keep up with "royal affairs" to

to answer there questions...
but it's all fun...

Fit for santa...

After adding a bit of Christmas cheer
the mantle piece is almost fit for santa...

I made these stars last year
and just used scraps of matching material
and felt backing
i very roughly sewed around the edge
and added a bit of stuffing...
cute little star buttons hold it all together...

What to do...

What to do with a fireplace
that's seem better days?grad a couple of sample pots
before you go to work
and when you get home
turn the blow heater on and spruce it up

A work in progress...

love sample pots!!!
colour "red rum" by taubmans
by the way i serve quite a lot of rum
and I'm sure if they ever made a red rum
the colour would not look even close to this...

"my shadow"

We are wrapping up our year for home schooling...
in only a very short time doing it
"my shadow" can now read a book to himself
and is doing so well...
we don't have any stress and tears...
and i think the weight off his shoulders has now
lifted and he can actually learn things and they are sinking in...
we have spent the whole of his school life with
an amazing amount of anxiety, sickness, tears and more
and i kick myself all the time that we didn't do it sooner...
"my shadow" has been sick since really i suppose
before he was born and life can hand out hefty blows
but it is always so upsetting when there babies...
over the 11 years or so we have seen
and meet wonderful parents and children from all walks of life
and spent far to much time in hospitals
and as Christmas approaches i remember them all with fondness,
and wonder how there all doing...
and hope they are all doing as well as "my shadow"
our little guy turns 12 at Christmas
and i know that is a wonderful miracle
that we all only dreamed of coming truethis is a photo of me and him when we could take him home
unfortunately we had to take him back again
but it is a lovely shot because he has no tubes sticking out of his nose
we had to tube feed for 6months after that shot was taken
and so there are not many shots without it...
it will take me a bit to really go into it all
but i feel that there are still so many families
out there still going though it all
that it is hard for me to pretend it didn't all happen
and still isn't...

"our wonderful little guy"
was born with complex congenital heart disease
and has four open heart surgeries and so much other stuff
that i really choose not to remember...

All i can say is i love Christmas day as it means
"my shadow" is another year older
and he is with us...

Kings...

After a wonderful start to the week...
I found myself agonizing over a name for
these special little guys...
yes you heard right
"guys, men, brothers, princes, kings"

The problem started when i could think of heaps of "funny" names
It all started with Disco Stu, then Mr Magoo, and even
Jughead...the list went on and on...
but nothing came to me that really was "royal" and original
what to do...

in the end I came to the conclusion!!!
There are plenty of guys out there
that call themselves Queens...

So why can't there be guys who call themselves King's...

And so King Rupert it is...
he enjoys a spot of golf
and loves hitting a "birdie"
which luckily is not very often...
one of his favorite charities is
"Fairways not Freeways"

And King Cedric...
he likes photographing endangered species,
and has just released his first book...entitled
"If I can see it, So can you"
available at all small out of the way bookstore...

Welcome my good men...
Welcome to the world of Royalty...

Prancher...

Meet Prancer...
when she isn't busy helping out Santa at Christmas...
she likes clopping through the new leaves in spring
or nibbling on new clover...
she loves snuggling up when it's cold,
and loves children of all ages...

if you would like to give Prancer a home before Christmas
e-mail me and she will
Dash away, dash away...right to your door...
special blogger price of $40-00
which will included postage...that's a $20 saving!!!
only for Australian...sorry to my overseas friends...

Also I have been very busy on a very new "look"
can't wait till i have it completed...
and i think you will all have a shock....