Crafting afternoon

Abbey and I spent the most lovely afternoon crafting together recently. She was making a beaded necklace, and I was finishing off a few sewing projects. It was so lovely to sit together, in silence, and concentrate on our own creations. I hope we have many more of these sessions, it was pure bliss.

Patchwork door stops

I have never done any proper patchwork or quilting before. I have been getting more and more interested lately in patchwork. So I borrowed some books from the library, to at least learn the basics of how all the different fabric pieces are sewn together (so neatly!)

So practicing my patchwork, I made another door stop this one for my mum and step-dad . It was great fun. I can now see how addictive patchworking is.

Twirling

Abbey still loves her rainbow dress. She wears it at least twice a week. I'll take that as a lovely compliment, as I made it.

The dress is great for twirling in as the skirt part is quite full. Here is a video of her practicing her twirling, while putting on a "show" for me.

Note to self: next time, take video in portrait mode, not landscape.

Sorry if you get a sore neck watching the video.

Good bye, Guitar man

This week Chris had his last guitar lesson with Mike before he moves back to the USA. Chris has been having guitar lessons with Mike, on and off, for over 3 years now. I can tell he has learnt a lot as his guitar playing is so different now.

As a little thank you for Mike, I made these cushion covers for him. Good luck on your new adventure Mike!

Thank you

I am one lucky, and grateful, lady bug lady. Last month I opened the letter box to find this beautiful pendant, all for me. I have been wearing it all the time. It is perfectly me.

Thank you again Kris, for thinking of me.

Door stops

This week I have been sewing these door stops. Instructions from this lovely book which I got for Christmas off Chris. So easy to make. Lots of fun mixing and matching different fabrics.

The one on the left is for my Grandma. I like it so much, I may just make one or two for our house. Of course, the one on the right is for Abbey's bedroom, to match her pillow case, and made with fabric scraps.

Opp shopping goodness

I love opp shopping (opportunity shops) They are called charity shops in the UK, Jus :) I have been opp shopping since I was a teenager. I miss the days when I was a student and I could spend a whole spare day visiting lots of different opp shops (when I should have been studying!)

We are lucky that our suburb has three, yes 3, opp shops in the local strip of shops. One of them is my particular fave, and just happens to be the biggest one. Last week I had just enough time to pop into one, and one only. So of course it was my favourite one I chose to visit: and it did not disappoint. I got this huge pile of fabric for only $10. There was black, red and white linen, two different blue cord fabric, denim, blue fleece and the top two patterned fabrics. I did not buy it all either, left some there for someone else (I went back a few days later, and got some more coloured cord and a few other odds and ends)

I feel a bit humbled, as I must have bought some ones fabric stash. Why did they take their fabric stash to the opp shop? No time to sew, run out of inspiration? I'll never know, but I can wonder.

Reward Charts

We have had a challenging time toilet training Abbey. She was 2.5 when we started, and she got the wee bit reasonably quickly. But for over 12 months we have been working with her to know when she needed to do a poo. It was hard as she just did not feel it coming until it was too late.

When it got to January 2010, with 3 year old kinder starting so soon, we had to get serious. Luckily, she had started to feel when a few were coming, then within days, she seemed to know almost all the time. Using these fantastic (and free) Reward Charts has helped to keep more poo's in the toilet. Well done Abbey!

Lost in translation

In January, our good friends Jules and Ross's daughter, Jessie, turned one. I made this for her birthday present. It was supposed to be another shirred dress. It somehow ended up too short to be a dress, but is just fine as a little summer top.