Elliot.

I try to use this blog to pause and enjoy some of the beautiful moments that happen in life. The ones that pepper the week but you can miss them if you’re not careful- racing from drop off to pick up to the post office and getting half way through dinner prep before realising you’re out of passata and then packing the kids (post shower & in their pajamas) into the car to get to the supermarket (and that was just last week)!

Today I celebrate our cat, Elliot. We bought him as a 5th birthday pressie for the big guy and he has become such a beloved family member.

I bought a basket for the op shop bargain price of $4 with the idea of lining it and using it to organise sewing things- but Elliot has adopted it. I sit and work in the evenings with the basket on my desk and Elliot curled up inside, wanting a lap but settling for the basket.

I don’t think I’m getting it back.

He curls up next to me when I’m drifting off to sleep at night and his soft purring and warm body are better than the best hot water bottle.

He thinks he’s part human. Each morning I walk up to the corner cafe with my mini man and Elliot in tow. He follows along, mainly behind us but sometimes running ahead tail held high, trotting purposefully. I am amused that we resemble some kind of real life picture book illustration. I hope the wee one isn’t too young to have memories of this when he’s older.

He loiters outside while we get our daily coffee and hot chocolate order (2 marshmallows please) filled and then trots home, depositing us at the front door and disappearing back under the camellia shrub for a rest.

Job done. Rest break earned.

Thanks E. We love you.

A facelift for Papa’s Chair.

I recently inherited my grandfather’s chair. He died when I was an infant, but the chair was in our house throughout my childhood.

I remember many a night curled up in it or lounging over the arm of it watching Monkey Magic and Dr. Who.

I remember our small (but oh so terrifying) silky terrier would curl up under it and growl any time anyone went near.

I loved the idea of being close to the grandfather I had never known by sitting in it as he had.

I love the shape.

I love the fit.

I hate the upholstery. Especially where it was ravaged by my parent’s cat.

Before.

It sits in the corner of my bedroom and is still a haven for me. Especially when I am on the phone, trying to get a full sentence out before the kids find me and start talking at me!

Most of these phone conversations end with Papa’s chair holding all three of us (the kids always find me- blithely unaware that I have been trying to hide from them- and end up on my knee or the arm of the chair).

It was a labor of love, but I’m so pleased with the results. Not brave enough to have a proper go at re-upholstery, I settled on making a loose cover to go on top. Complete with velcro down the back for easy undressing and laundering! The fabric is Amy Butler’s Dream Poppies in Tangerine.

After.

As soon as I finished it, I clipped Elliot’s claws.

Fabric Mache Eggs.

Easter delights!

You’ll have to excuse me. I am easily overwhelmed when I have much to do. Easter is a busy time and I’m a little bummed I didn’t get to put this cute tutorial down before Easter. So you could, like, you know, make the thing before the holiday.

Easter was a craft-a-logical hoot in our house this year. We made an Easter tree, stitched up about 20 Trefle party bags and filled them with eggs and mini chicks for the school and kinder friends, painted little porcelain eggs (bought in a kit all ready to go, way cool)

20 Trefle party bags.

and made this ace thing below…

Fabric mache eggs.

I first read about fabric mache on Dear Fii about this time last year. She made these super sweet little scrappy bowls to pop easter eggs in. When I saw these foam eggs in the craft shop this year, I knew they were the perfect thing to try this out on.Click on the dearfii link to check out the bowls- they really are the sweetest things!

Ingredients:

Foam eggs (easily sourced this time of year from your local art supply store)

PVA glue

Scraps of fabric chopped up into little squares

Paint brushes

Water

Instructions:

I would rate this “lemon-squeezy” on the tricky-o-meter.

1. First water down some PVA into a small bowl- maybe roughly 1 parts water to 3 parts glue.

2. Grab your foam egg and paint a patch of egg with glue/water solution.

3. Lay patch of fabric down and then paint over the top with more glue solution, saturating the fabric and smoothing it to the surface of the egg.

4. Continue this process until the egg is completely covered and then spear onto a pin and wait ’till it dries.

5. I think at this point you should probably paint all over with undiluted PVA to give a glossy finish, but I was too impatient and couldn’t wait to see it in action so I skipped this bit (and it still looks fine).

These things look great in a patchwork of fabrics, but look even better (I think) with just one fabric (all cut up in pieces- same method applies).

I’ve made two that use turquoise and white fabric and I love them in a homespun faberge meets delft via belsize square’s kitchen table kind of way. Of course, if I took a photo of it and showed you, you wouldn’t have to take my word for it.

Pile them up in a bowl for a fun table centrepiece.

Or give them in an appropriately festive little egg cup wrapped up in cellophane as an alternative to chocolate (I’m thinking the ones with legs and mary jane shoes).

One last idea…

If you’re of the more-is-more-is-more school as I am, you might like to turn them into a necklace. Hot glue a mini chick on top and string onto a pretty ribbon with co-ordinating eggs or beads.

Hey Presto!

If only…

So many if onlys:

If only I had coltish legs (not coltish, sadly)

If only I had an unlimited clothing budget

If only I had somewhere important to wear heels and, like, a whole ensemble.

Then I would dress like this:

I am loving the brightly coloured legs and the rather structured A line skirt (knee length is my thing). I look at this image and long for winter!

Some Craft-a-rama.

Got my bike today. I love it I love it I love it. Now I just need a Mike…

…We like our bike. It’s made for three. Our Mike sits up in back you see. We like our Mike and this is why, Mike does all the work when the hills get high!

Read “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish” to Bubba J tonight and thought “Hey I need one of those!”

*

Here’s some of my latest crafty goodness:

So proud! As a self taught- anything I make that is functional and pretty like this dress (with most of the mistakes on the inside so you can’t see!) makes me all chest swelling with pride. It uses Bird and Berry Stripe and Grassy Plains. Both by Kokka and available in the shop.

This one’s a project from Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan- it’s called Snappy Fabric Bracelets. I’ve had terrible trouble applying the snaps though. I got one of those Birch pack from Lincraft with the tool shaped a bit like a set of pliers. Anyway, no matter how careful I was opening and closing the bracelets, the snappers kept separating. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?

This is one of those rare craft books where I want to make everything in it. The come along once in a while and are just so exciting to own. The pages are full of possibilities. The other one that jumps to mind is Meet me at Mike’s.

Sewing machine cover whipped up one evening. Made it with Cookies by Aunty Cookie (a fabric I could just stare at for hours- these attitude laden bunny girls sit next to me now while I’m sewing. Some tell me I’m doing great, some snigger when I reach for the unpicker.) Hey, my mum was right when she said I’d never be alone again! Only I don’t think she was referring to dolly pictures on fabric. She was referring to the person I had just birthed.

I didn’t realise at the time that she meant it as a threat.

See my pincushion in the foreground? Got it free in Mixtape a while back. Courtesy of Dear Fii. I luv it.

Other Stuff.

Ooh ooh, in other stuff I forgot to mention, have also bought myself one of these.

As a severe caffine addict, I think it’s about time I quit using so many disposable cups. This one gives me that whole baby bottle comforter thing that I get from sucking through a hole in the lid. Bubba J has one too and we get matching hot drinks in the morning (very naff, but I love it!)

Oh yeah, and it matches my bike!

Have been very busy on the crafty front. Now that I’ve gained ground on the whole “how to use a mac when all I’ve ever known is a PC” thing, it’s time to take some noice piccies and share.

Like my bike?

… It’s in my favourite colour and it has white tyres. I’m a gonna get a big wicker basket for the front and cycle around with a baguette and a big bunch of flowers and my Jackie O glasses. Do you get the idea it’s a little more like a fashion accessory than a mode of exercise/ transport?

Happy New Year

Goodness me, I’ve been a bit slack, haven’t I? I can’t believe it’s been so long between posts, but life has kind of got in the way. Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to.

We made cupcakes for Owen’s birthday…

Had a lovely family weekend away staying in this gorgeous little cottage in Daylesford.

Visited the mineral springs.

Made some cute appliqued napkins for my boys (really trying to cut down on the amount of paper serviettes and tissues that we use by using cloth napkins and hankies).

Took evil spiderman and his pirate friend trick-or-treating.

Had a weekend at the beach.

Made a birdie softie and birdie mobile as a special order (isn’t she sweet)?

And THEN we went on an ace holiday, but more about that another day. I hope your festive period was as much fun!

Creations and Inspiration

I have had lots of inspiration of late- from all over.

Of boiled sweeties (methinks pink grapefruit) in vintage jars.

Cakes on plates, with their exquisite chalky pastelness. Craft projects from some of my favourite books for sale in the shop:

Little Pup from More Softies. Made with our exciting new Organic Chocolate Cotton Canvas and some of the Aunt Grace collection (happy birthday little O).

Wheat bag from Meet me at Mike’s book. Made with Matryoshka Stripe fabric.

More Matryoshka, this time for cushions for some spring nesting.

Beautiful basket liners with troops of teeny tiny ants and apples (sorting my stash in style!)

Fabric for Spring!

Here is another wondeful new Moda Fabric range that has just arrived – perfect for sewing on a lovely spring day!

“Eva” by Basic Grey is reminiscent of the French court, a mix of the exotic and the dignified, the gracious and the gallant. Eva is a collection of fanciful flourishes, exotic birds and quaint, finial patterns Gloriously deep, rich jewel tones impart an air nobility to this crowning medley of extravagant designs.

You can find this fabric collection and more in the Belsize Square Fabric store.

More crafty inspiration.

It must be the spring air, something about this time of year really inspires me to get crafty.

I’ve been promising kinder some new art smocks for over a term now (I was going to get them done last school holidays, oops!) I made the first two fine and they are much loved and paint spattered by now. Well, finally here are the last two.

Plus, I have two quilts on the go (yes, now I know I’m just bragging, or rather confessing as I often start these things and then they don’t really get finished very quickly).

I hope all this creativity inspires you to begin a new project (or finish an old one!)

New season craftiness.

So much to share. I’ve been particularly crafty of late and doing my best to complete projects and not just start them and get distracted by making cups of tea, demands from the kiddies or distractions of little bits of fluff on my sleeve… oh sorry, now where was I?

I wish I was more organised and managed to ever take some before shots. If I had, this would be much more impressive.

These were little home made chairs that were sitting around my grandparents-in-law’s house. They were originally stained (a very pine-y yellow gloss) and had mustard yellow vinyl covers with these strange high backs. The new upholstery is a Moda Home fabric we sell in the shop, very durable heavy weave. I just love how they turned out (the kids are pretty happy too!)

As weak as it is- I do believe this constitutes an Ikea hack. Some Dulux spray paint in Volcano Orange and I’m very impressed with my glossy little kitchen accessory/ extra chair.

This one I did quite a white back, I just don’t think I ever got around to blogging it. I found the lamp base at Mill Markets in Geelong -oh how I love that place! The shade was a plain white one I bought for $2 (super bargain basement price) from Kmart which I recovered in some yummy Amy Butler Wildflowers fabric from the Daisy Chain range. It now graces the sideboard in my dining room.

It appears that I’m not the only one. The little guy has been painting to his heart’s content and is super keen to practise his newly acquired skill of turning one’s painting into a stamp (where you turn your painting face down and rub the back so that you get a mirror image). Only thing is, he doesn’t always have the paper lined up underneath.

Needless to say we did end up with some lovely reverse paintings directly transfered onto the table top.