Lap Quilt

I got some scrumptious Flat Fats I've been eyeing off at Spotlight while I was there the other day and used this pattern from the very talented Amy Butler.

I wanted a 1930's feel with the bonus of it being dark enough to live on the couch and deal with any stray spills etc (you hope it doesn't happen, but with a 6,3 and 2 year old in the house, you never know!). So a few hours of cutting and stitching I went from this:

to this! Viola!

I love the simple almost monochromatic feel to it. Well, I suppose that should be duochromatic?!

I would love to stretch myself this year and branch into risk taking colour schemes. I adore Helen's work as she's never afraid of colour and it always seems to work for her. I am coming to love quilting above all sewing and hope 2009 is the year for me to learn to fly within the craft. I have been drooling over Kellie's amazing work and I am completely smitten with her applique work. I am thinking of making something with applique next up...

I have my Fat Quarter Swap FQs ready to go, I am just needing my little niceties to finish it off and it will be in the post! My EB haby swap is coming together nicely as well.

Finally!

I finally got some sewing done! I made this cushion for myself and Mum requested it in black to go with her room... So I've left it 'modern' and clean, without ruffles or anything else. I so hope she likes it. Please excuse the horrid photos and unironed finished product!

e made a trip into town yesterday to go to the Hatching Dinosaurs exhibition on at the Museum. We even went into the Art Gallery! The kids but they were fascinated by the war memorial on North Terrace and I took a couple of cool shots that I really liked there.

A New Bed

My old bed has served me for over 11 years and I love it. But seven moves later - the old girl had given up the ghost - slats would drop out in the middle of the night and it was being held together with half inserted wooden dowels.

After a good look around I decided to get a white bed and after a mammoth trip to Ikea yesterday, I came home with in excess of a hundred kilograms of wood & metal to be made into a new bed & TV Cabinet.

I woke up this morning in this....


And tonight I will be going to bed in this!!

It only took an hour to put together and I only swore twice, which was right at the end trying to fit the slats in. Now I am dreaming of girly quilts to make to pretty it up.

We take the ocean with us.

When a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her body, to grow in. The water inside her body is almost exactly the same as the water of the sea. It is salty, by just the same amount. She makes a little ocean, in her body.

And not only this. Our blood and our sweating, they are both salty, almost exactly like the water from the sea is salty. We carry oceans inside of us, in our blood and our sweat. And we are crying the oceans, in our tears.

¬ Excerpt from Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. An amazing work - please read it if you haven't already... I will go into more detail about my thoughts and emotions on this book soon, but I wanted to share the above excerpt as it prompted me to take this photo.

New Year's Resolutions

So I don't usually go in for the hype of NY Resolutions, but this year I have made one (that I am willing to share out loud) - I am wanting to get more involved in the Blogging Crafting community, push my boundaries and skills and make an effort to 'connect' with more crafters.

So my first little step is to participate in Ginger Monkey's Swap! Something nice and simple to start with :0) It's very exciting! I've done swaps with the fabulous EB girls but this is my first foray into Blog Swaps.

Menu Plan Monday

I have done my food shopping and come up with this weeks' Menu Plan

Monday - Satay Chicken with Rice
Tuesday - Moroccan Lamb Chops with Spiced Couscous
Wednesday - Chicken and Salad Tortilla Wraps
Thursday - Rissoles with Mashed Potato and Vegetables
Friday - Beef Mussaman Curry with Rice
Saturday - Ham and Cheese Quiche with Salad
Sunday - Leftovers, Toasted Sandwiches

Baking - Snickerdoodles, Pikelets, Banana Bread

Thanks to I'm an Organising Junkie for the great idea!

Wishing you a Merry and Bright Christmas. May you take the time to canoodle the ones you love and think of the ones who may not be here this year. From my little nest to yours, Merry Christmas. x*

Not Perfect, but Perfectly Beautiful....

Roar!

Argh! There's a tiger in my house!

Oh Cameron, it's only you -thank goodness!

Give us a smile Gorgeous boy! Come on!

Hey Cameron - I love you...

Too much for a manly tiger to take huh?! But I've not finished with you yet! Oh, okay then, maybe later?

Home Day

Between cups of tea and a little Bloglines, we are cooking trial runs of Christmas Cookies and a little glue & glitter action on pine cones.....

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients
250gms butter (2 sticks), softened
2 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
3 C flour

How To
1. In a medium sized bowl, beat the butter for about 30 seconds on medium speed. Add the sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar, beating until well mixed. Slowly beat in the egg and vanilla until well incorporated. Beat in the flour 1/2 C at a time.

2. When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC.

4. In a bowl, combine the *sprinkles* cinnamon and sugar. Take enough dough to shape into 1" balls.This is my kids' favorite part, rolling the dough into balls and then covering them with *sprinkles*.

5. Roll the dough balls around in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on a light, un-greased baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes.

6. The cookies will not appear done. Let cool for a minute on the cookie sheet and then move to a wire rack. This will yield a soft, delightfully chewy cookie. For a crisper cookie, cook about 12 minutes. If the cookies become golden, they will be very crisp.

*I am so sorry, I cannot find the blog that I got this recipe from to add - my apologies and thanks to the original author*

I am also cutting out a fabric nativity scene to get ready to sew & stuff for this afternoon's crafting fun.

What are you up to today?

Christmas Traditions

We've been in the midst of creating some new Christmas traditions and rekindling some old ones! Every year I buy a new ornament for my Darcy. This year it was a variation on my normal star:

I am in love with the champagne decorations that are the 'in' colour this year, I am hoping to snaffle some at the after Christmas sales.

My best friend Rachael had us around for the decorating of their tree, it was a lot of fun with the kids enjoying the angel hair placement the most. It was a nice reminder of the true meaning of the season:

And then we had a rip-roaring Gingerbread decorating afternoon! Who would think so much sugar, colours and sprinkles could make 6 kids happy & silly as a wheel?! ;0) No photos, we were too busy trying to contain the icing to one small area!

What are your special traditions? I have more to share about Christmas Day itself but that will have to wait - we've got pine cones to cover in glue & glitter!

New Nest

Sorry for the unintended bloggy break! I have moved home to SA and been busy setting up our new nest. Very sadly my husband and I have seperated, but it's not something I care to go into detail now. Suffice to say, I have been looking on the positive side of life and have been enjoying: re-uniting with old friends, Farmers Union Iced Coffee, Fritz, Gingerbread cookie decorating parties, putting Christmas trees up, Youth Service Mass, seeing Jaynie settle at her new school for the final 2 weeks and loving it, being able to use a hose; albeit only 3 hours a week.....



I hope to be back bursting with festive posts and high hopes for the New Year of crafting, family & friends.

Your friend and solo-flyer,
Leah
x*

For Karen of Little Owl

I met the most delightful sewist at Spotlight yesterday! We were eyeing each others fabric selections and a conversation was struck up. Karen, owner of Little Owl sews beautiful (I can tell they are by the fabric she picked - that lady's got style! :) ) little girl dresses. We started talking about blogging and I promised her I would put up some of the sites we were chatting about:

http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/

http://modkidboutique.blogspot.com/

http://www.oliverands.com/blog/index.phtml

I have to dash but I will put some more up this afternoon.
Thanks for the chat Karen and I can't wait for your site so I can see your creations! :)

*I have a little news...*

I have been asked by a dear friend if I would like to take a spot in their markets : Designers Emporium. So Peachy Keen is born, a stall devoted to selling delicious homemade delectables. I have spent the last few weeks in a cooking frenzy, plying friends and family alike with sweeties to taste test! Do you like my logo?

I am going to sell truffles, melting moments and other lovely biscuits and of course, cupcakes!

So if you live in Brisbane, be sure to come to the Everton Park Hotel on the first Sunday in October to see the launch of Peachy Keen! If you mention you read my blog, you will get a special surprise ;)

I have also lost my internet connection and am relying on dial-up at the moment, hence the lack of posts. Apologies to the EB girls, I will get in there soon, it just takes FOREVER with the ads and things!

I have done a little sewing, which I will aim to post tomorrow - you should see how long it's taken me to get this up!

Skirty Saturday

I've been busy today! I made Poppy-Mae 2 gathered skirts. They were inspired by the House on Hill Road tutorial, but I went the simple route and skipped thetop band and bottom hem and focused on prettying them up.I can't believe how quickly they came together. The strip on the bottom of the pink skirtwas leftover from the first skirt and I didn't want to waste it. I got the whole piece from the Op Shop in Bright for 50c.

I love when I can make something so pretty out of a cheapoff-cut.I have plans to use my Monday to make Jaynie a few skirts. They are so gratifying to whip upin such a small time.

Give-away!

So, only 3 takers for my pouch then? I'll be drawing tomorrow morning...
I have the house to myself this morning... Steven's taken the kids to feed the ducks. I suppose I'd best tidy this house while he's out or I'll feel terribly lazy.... ;)

Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens - Japanese Garden

We went to feed the ducks and the kids rode their bikes on Saturday afternoon. I love the Japanese Garden there, it's so peaceful. (Well, until we walk in there at least!)

I'd like to thank the Academy....

Well, check it out! I got an award from the gorgeous Karin! I met her through MISS and was so excited to discover she has a blog.

Anyway, talk about make my week! I love to think I have people who read what I dribble about. To celebrate, I will be making a zippered pouch to give away filled with some vintage and new goodness to brighten up a sewing day! If you'd like to leave a comment and I'll pick a number out of the hat on Sunday.

My picks to pass this award on for this week would have to be:

Tsk Tsk - Tiel does the MOST BEAUTIFUL artwork and she is just so lovely to boot!

Cass - What can I say to Cass that hasn't been said already? She is a very generous, kind and wonderfully crafty soul.

Nikki-Shell - Her writing is uplifting and again, her craft is great.

There are so many others I could share, my Bloglines stands at 89 so far and they're all great. But that will suffice for now.

We made some Teacup biscuits for Jaynie to take to school today for her classmates. They were a huge hit and even Poppy could get in on the sticky fun. Although I couldn't buy Tic Toc biscuits or musk lifesavers - what is the World coming to when they stop making staples like those!

Have a great weekend peeps! Much love to you and yours. x*

Zippered Pouch

Here's a zippered pouch to go with the bag! I love the shabby-chic flower on the outside. Even though the fabriv has a very Japanese feel to it when it is in a big piece, with the applique, it becomes almost country?!

I ironed the cut-out flower to I have 2 birthdays coming up in the next 10 days so I'll be whipping up a couple more sets. I'd love to find some d-rings and key chain rings to make them a bit more professional. Anyone have any ideas/suppliers?

We took Poppy to the ENT last night, she is booked in to have her tonsils and adenoids out and grommits put in on the 25th of September. It's so quick but we'll be glad to give her the chance to put on some weight and have longer than 5 weeks between anti-biotics.

Why I love bags - 30 minutes and you're fabulous!

I have finally got around to making myself another bag. The Jordy tutorial is the best first-stop for wanna-be bag makers. Then it's just so simple to tweak it to your requirements! Mine is perfectly suited for me to carry my mobile, keys and purse, no superflous pockets or additives as it's so itty-bitty they aren't needed!

How wonderful for crafters to share their expertise and allow others to see the how-to for things. Us crafters are a sharing, caring bunch! I only wish I had a tutorial to share with others. Maybe that could be a to-do?!