Holiday Fabric

I find it hard to believe that I actually went away on my holiday - it feels as if my time away went so fast and at times it feels like it was a dream, but I have fabric to prove otherwise!

I found it hard to find fabrics close to where we were staying in Phuket, the markets were mainly filled with various knock off designers bags and clothing. In the end I only found one 'real' piece of thai cotton, it was in a small little market where the Wat Chalong temple was.

wishing that I had found more, but perhaps now I have another excuse for a return trip!

Speaking of return trips, I really have to go back to Singapore - I was in fabric shopping heaven down Arab Street! The whole street is lined on both sides with gorgeous fabrics - I could have spent all day there, but decided not to kill my brother with boredom lol! In the end I was running out of space in my suitcase and also spending money, so was quite restrained. As it was most of my fabric traveled home in my brother's case.

Lovely Japenese cottons, ranging from $8 SGD to $15 SGD




Thai embroidered silk - planning a skirt or dress for Cheriese, I just love the pretty scalloped edge (no need to hem this one!)Pretty printed cord - I may make something for myself out of this, it was only $5 SGD a metre!

Hope to find the time to use some of it soon!

Natalie
xx

Fresh from the shops today

I had already intended on going to Spotlight today, so imagine my delight when I heard they were also having 20% storewide today as well! I had a detailed list, mainly supplies needed for Kellie's workshop at Hettie's Patch this weekend and thought that maybe an extra thing or two might come home with me as well. Somehow more than that ended up in my take home bag though......

This is what we will be working on in Kellie's class

and this is some of the fabrics I bought today that I plan on using - I will also be raiding my fabric scrap boxes too.

cake boards to make a cupcake stand for my friend's baby shower in a few weeks

these patterns were all $2 each, I just couldn't pass those up!

Suiting fabric in the remnant bin that will make lovely pants for Jai - I ended up getting these for $4.40 and $3.60 each!

These jacketing remnants cost only $2.40, $2.00 and $1.60!!! I'm thinking cute skirts and maybe a jacket out of one of the larger pieces, for Cheriese.

more extras.....

I know I keep promising photos of my new cutting table and work bench, but I just can't seem to get it all neat and tidy, maybe this photo will explain why:

as always, lots on the go - you can see the outfit for my friend's baby that I'm currently working on. I spent this afternoon sewing some more and hope to have a final photo in the next day or so, just some hand embroidery and the hem to do!

Natalie
xx

Swap goodies!

I did a swap with Cass and she sent me the most gorgeous package of goodies!

I had seen the travellers on her blog and immediately wanted one of my own -
I used it for shopping today, it was fantastic - I crossed off all my items as I went and didn't forget a thing, yay!

She spoiled me though by adding in all the beautiful fabric, srabble tile pendant and adorable key ring.

Thank you so much Cass!

While I was taking the photos, miss Cheriese grabbed the key ring and started dancing with it.
The tutu she is wearing used to be mine, it was the first tutu my mum sewed for me for my ballet concert when I was 3 years old. I'm sure I've seen a photo of me wearing it, I will have to look for it when I'm at my Dad's house next time.

Natalie
xx

Just window shopping

I'm on a bit of a fabric ban at the moment, I really need to use up some of what I have before I buy anymore. It's taking me so long to get what have all folded up and put away in my newly organised craft room. But this doesn't mean I can't go window shopping! I've just seen some lovely new fabrics on the Quilt Fabric Delights blog! Look at this gorgeous girly range:

you can buy it here

I can see so many pretty dresses and stip patchwork twirly skirts in these pretty prints for miss Cheriese.

I just adore this "Robots" range, so adorable for the boys:

You can get it here

I can see this being made into a lovely lap quilt for each of my boys actually....

Ok, off to go use up some fabric so I can be able to buy some more ;)

Natalie
xx

I love parcels!

especially when they contain my latest Crafty Mamas order:

and this wonderful purchase from Pink Lizzy Sews


I first saw a photo of this gorgeous skirt on the Crafty Mamas forum and fell in love with it. Then when I read on her blog that she had just opened an etsy shop, I raced in and to my delight found the skirt for sale there. I bought it right away and before I knew it, it was in my letterbox and being modeled by Cheriese moments later! Lizzy calls these "arty skirts" and I think that they really are a work of art.

and they are perfect for riding on unicorns too ;)

Natalie
xx

Kids Clothing Swap - sneak peak #1

I'm taking part in the EB Kids Clothing Swap, which in a nutshell means I'm making and sending an outfit to 3 children and my 3 children will get a handmade item sent to them! I love these swaps, nothing like a deadline, lots of chat, new ideas and sneak peaks on blogs to get you motivated.

I'm a little behind some as I have yet to start some real sewing, but here some photos of some of my fabric choices. So far I have decided that 4 of them are definite, the others I'm not sure if they will get used or not ;)



and one pinned and ready to go!
Natalie
xx

Haul photos!

I've become a slack blogger again..... I really want to keep this blog updated, but at the end of the day photo editing / uploading has become a low priority. Finally had a chance to get all the photos together of my recent hauls lol. First up was the Craft and Quilt Fair, which came to Adelaide on the 5th November.

1. Too cute fat 1/4 from Quilt Fabric Delights 2. ribbons 3. more ribbons
4. Advent calender panel (almost finished this too!) 5. bias tape maker (I had to get one after reading how much Cass loves hers! 6. large yoyo maker (I already have a small one) 7. 30cm piece of Heather Bailey Freshcut from Quilt Fabric Delights (thinking skirt for Cheriese) 8. Earring components (a couple for me, the rest for the shop) 9. Adorable little polymer clay rose beads 10. Wire Stars, my boys will love helping me thread these with crystals to then hang on our tree.

Then a week later my local Spotlight held a VIP night - I really wanted to get some fabric to make Cheriese a Christmas dress, and was quite proud of myself that I didn't go overboard on lots of unexpected extras, altough with 20% off storewide I HAD to get a few little goodies lol.

1. Fabric for Cheriese's Christmas dress, lovely quilting floral which had gone done to only $3 per metre, with some cotton sateen 2. Michael Miller also on sale for $8 per metre (think will make a gorgeous pinni for Cheriese!) 3. Felt for Christmas crafts 4. Christmas fabric for Christmas crafts 5. Another cute quilting cotton down to $5 per metre (thinking shorts and appliqué tee for Jai) 6. more ribbons (want to make some Christmas themed hair bows) 7. Ribbon storage box for my growing ribbon collection (this box is now jam packed this taking this photo!)

So lots and lots of lovely goodies, now I just have to hope I can find time to use them all lol. My advent calender is almost finished, just doing some quilting with silver thread to finish it off. I am in the middle of some hairbows and have some Christmas crafts, earrings and tracing off Cheriese's dress pattern on my weekend to-do list!

Natalie
xx

New Fabric!

I just love new fabric!!! I try to buy with an item in mind, but other times I see something that is just too cute and just have to have ;) Here's some of my recent lovelies:

All of these from Retro Mummy - Jack and the beanstalk I think will be some shorts for Jai (next year), lovely retro fabric for a bag for me, the skipping girl fabric (I already have the skipping boy one so want to make some matching applique tops for the boys and their sister!), Jungle fabric - mainly bought it to cut out for appliques, maybe some bibs too, and a cute little nursery rhyme print too.
And also this adorable cupcake fabric - one that I'm not entirely sure what I'll make with, but it was just too cute to let slip by.
I think it would look very cute as a little pini and maybe some bibs with what's left over.

Here's some from a recent trip to Spotlight:
This is a lovely knit that had gone down to only $6 per metre, so bought 2.5 metres. I plan to make the top and ruffle pants from the pattern first, and then look at the other items on there too with what's left over.

Unicorn flanellette!!! I just HAD to have this as I am doing a Unicorn theme for the baby's room. I'm a bit stuck as to what to make from it, only ever used flannel for pjs, but think I will start off with a padded change mat cover, maybe some bibs (looks like I'll be making lots of bibs lol!) and perhaps a few cushions to scatter around the room.

This was on the clearance rack for only $3 per metre. Think it will make a lovely dress and pini.

This shirred fabric was in a remnant bag with a few other pieces - will make a lovely dress!

I had intended on covering the baby bassinette I bought for Jai, as the one I got for him was all blue, so I went off to Spotlight, found the vogue pattern and then picked out the fabric and ribbon trim to make it. Unfortunately when Steve got the bassinette out of the shed we found that it must've gotten damp as it had gotten mouldy. So I ended up going out and buying a lovely plain white one, so will use the ribbons to sew around the top and bottom, just like the pattern and have decided to use the fabric to re-cover my glider chair cushions instead!

Lastly, the lovely Ingrid from Lottielulu had gone through her pattern stash and offered some up to us EB sewing girls. I was lucky enough to pick the Simplicity pattern, I thought it was just so adorable! We had gotten some bad news about Steve's job, along with 600 other employees nationwide, he was made redundant. So Ingrid sent along all these other lovely extras as a 'cheer up' package for me. It also ended up being a 'good luck' package as Steve signed an offer with a new company the next day!
I can't wait to use the fabric, it is all just so beautiful. Ingrid even included some of her postcards, magnets and calender too - I just love her logo. Thank you so much Ingrid, I'm lucky to have such a caring and thoughtful friend!

Natalie
xx

A catch up post.

Well it has been far too long since I have updated my blog, so I thought I would try to do one big catch up post and then try to keep up in here a bit more.

Firstly I can't believe that I didn't end up putting in an action photo of us all dressed up for the fancy dress party. We had to dress up as something that started with the first letter of our names, here are some photos:

Jai dressed up as James

Jordan dressed up in his jeep

Steve went as "Shaggy" from the Scooby Doo cartoon (yes, that is a wig!)

I decided to go as a ninja
(another wig, I used black hair spray on the front only and then spent about 1/2 hour in the shower trying to get it all out!)

After probably embarrassing all my boys to bits I thought I'd better add a nice photo of them all looking lovely together


NEW FABRIC
I was so excited to discover a new online fabric store - The Humming Mini. Here's the first of what I'm sure will be many purchases:

The MM cowboy prints will be for shirts for Jai, not sure what I will do with the dots but I just loved it, so maybe a shirt for Jordan, or might play safe and use if for pockets and trims etc. The two first top prints are stretchy fabrics that I want to use for me, but again not sure what to do with them yet, I was thinking a simple skirt with a soft waistband, but not sure if that will work. The other pretty pieces were lovingly included by the kind shopkeepers!

While working on the Bag Swap I ran out of both thread AND heavy weight interfacing! So of course I HAD to go to SL. While I was there I just happened to stop off at the clearance table and who could resist buying a few things when they have buy 1 metre get 1m free! Here's what I managed to find:
Way too adorable puppy printed denim (was $15 per metre, I got 2m for $10!), nice aqua drill that I will use for shorts for Jai, maybe Jordan (2m for $6), car print flanellete which I'll make into pjs for Jordan next year (2m for $4) and lastly Thomas flanellete which will pjs for Jai next year (2m for $8). I love it when you can get cheap like that!

And finally a small teaser shot of the bag I've made for the EB Sewing Group Bag Swap! I posted it off today so should reach it's destination either tomorrow or the next day.


Yay, I'm all caught up now! If you got this far thank you for your patience and I promise not to leave it so long between posts in the future.
Natalie
xx

Finally a sewing related post!

I have been so spoilt by the lovely Ingrid, just look at all the goodies she sent me for the Op Shop Swap:

All bundled up

Gorgeous velvety moss green blanket with sweet embroidery and finshed off with a grosgrain ribbon, a sweet spring floral pillowcase, lovely blue and white fabrics, fabulous patterns and look at all those books!

Look at the buttons, I think the small blue ones are extra cute!

Thank you so much for everything Ingrid, I already have a few ideas and am stitching, I mean itching to get started!

I also cannot believe that I haven't gotten around to showing off the gorgeous items I bought from Retro Mummy too!
As soon as I saw the clothing sewing book I knew I HAD to have it! I love the tunic top style, pretty cotton dresses and sweet skirts - I just hope the drawn instructions are enough for me to go by. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the "cheeky monkey" fabric, it was just so cute I HAD to buy it to make it into something for Jai as I'm always calling him my "cheeky little monkey". The lovely floral linen fabric is just begging to be made into a bag, I'm thinking either a cute clutch or wristlet. Thank you so much Corrie for including the extras too, beads in my absolute favourite colour and too cute owl print stickers too.

Now all I need is the link to the shop that sells hours, I need a few more in the day lately!
Natalie
xx