My New Favourite

Sandi Henderson has released her new fabric range!

Meadowsweet...

I love it!

I am so sorry Farmers Market, but you are out and this is in! Actually you will probably work together, so you can stay. I still have 2 metres of Vintage Cherries in my stash, one day I will hang it in my bedroom when the bedroom gets built...

This seems a bit more grown up but still so pretty. I love this combination (below) which Sandi says she has a dress combination cut out for herself in.

I have got a couple of favourites picked out, but a bit tricky to describe which ones for now without single images. And I have just had a teleconference with my best friend Kimmy discussing which ones we love the best, so Kelani you had better get these in stock ASAP! Please!

All images from Sandi's blog Portabellopixie.

Happy Anniversary to Us

I love you Stephen...

8 years ago today we got married!

It was a perfect day that day, as is today, as I woke up to Happy Anniversary wishes from you, Lilly and Joey! A bunch of flowers and card that you all chose together, how sweet!

Our wedding day was so much fun, esp in that wind at the beach. I'm cooking salmon for dinner and nutella crepes for dessert, hope you all like it...

xxxLeah

4th Birthday Boy

My little boy turned 4 on the 4th of July.

I just love him!

I made him Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcakes to take to kindy.


and a number 4 chocolate racing car cake for his Maze Mania birthday party.

This is my gorgeous boy... post party, filthy dirty, sweaty and fired up ready for more cake. He is wearing a Joey appliqued singlet, he looked cute, he is cute, I love him, said that!

Quilt for Violet

My cousin had a baby girl recently named Violet.This is a play quilt I made her, very quickly and very novicely!

I used Farmers Market, scraps from Nanny's stash including a little appliqued house she had made amongst it and some old embroidered doilies. I had to do a brick pattern since cutting the squares perfectly with the rotary cutter and being very careful didn't help when some of the fabrics were so loosely woven and put them all out of line!

The binding was again hand sewn down by Mum to get it done in time, thanks Mum! Oh and she also did the embroidered V for me and the roses since she is way better at embroidery than me.

giveaway prize!

This is the singlet I made for my first giveaway!

Aimee from @T was the winning commenter and she finally received her prize, yay!

and this view is not some weird artistic angle...if you look closely you can see a male King Parrot in the Jacaranda tree behind the clothesline! This makes me sooo happy, they come fairly regularly, always in pairs and eat the sunflower seed bells we put out for them. We watch them from the verandah, they are so beautiful and wild and flying around where they should be, I love them, said that!

Soon I will show you the baby quilt I made, quickly made, for my new cousin Violet, 2nd cousin, something like that, a daughter of my beautiful cousin Bek.

giveaway winner

Thanks so much everyone for entering, and for all the nice things you all said!

This week I have been busy with work but have managed to squeeze in a couple of gifts for little friends birthdays.

This 'm' singlet was for a little girl at kindy, dodgy photo of the back view sorry. I used some of the Sesame Street vintage sheet I've got left, I love this fabric so much.

Here is a 'b' singlet for another little friend using some Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market, a big fav of mine! That's the great thing about these projects, you can use your treasured fabric and still have heaps left!

So the winner is, with a very official draw from a container, since I had 18 entries I could afford the time to do this and I reckon its more fun that way:

@T, also known as Aimee I believe!

I've emailed you already and asked for details of what you would like!

I'll do another giveaway soon, I loved reading all the comments!

GIVEAWAY...first ever!

Yep you read correctly... a giveaway, why not, I'm sharing the love!

Get in quick and enter!

The prize is an appliqued singlet, just like this one.

Or maybe like this pink one, as long as the name is not longer than 5 letters, in which case you could have an initial or another cutesy word! I've got a few more examples scattered throughout my blog! There is even a very cute crocodile singlet that someone might like.

...either way it will be very cute, you'll love it!

To enter my giveaway, just leave a comment by clicking on the comments link just below and tell me anything, I don't mind, I will enjoy reading the comments, I always do.

The winner will be drawn next Sunday the 28th, so you've got all week to enter, goodluck!
Make sure you leave me your email address or blog link so I can contact the lucky winner!

Birthday Sewing

A couple of smocks I made for two little birthday girl friends this month.

This pattern comes from the stash of patterns in my Nanny's sewing treasures, it may have even been one Mum used to make up for me when I was little.

This pink one is reversible in soft pink cord and green polka dots for Eleni. The white applique piece on the front is vintage (op shopped!), I've got another ready to be chopped up. The green buttons on the front are not doing much for me, so I am changing them, yet another trip to Spotlight!

And this Sesame Street number was given to Kirsten, our adorable little 4 year old friend. The Sesame Street fabric (an old sheet I think or maybe even curtain) was given to me by Kirsten's Mum, she's a good girl. I made these shorts first up when she first gave it to me, thanks Mel!
The lining of this one is hot pink cord, it looks great over jeans with a long sleeve white top for winter.

my little artist

I bought little miss a learn to draw book as a reward for something well done she did.

This is her first drawing after receiving the book.

love

Sorting and organising my little girls beautiful art work.

This would be one of my favourite things she draws, we find this particular note alot, in random places around the house.

The new banner above is Miss Lilly's work also, thanks clever girl. I must turn some of this into wearable art for you!

Crochet

I've been into crochet again at the moment and am finally getting around to putting the finished products on here! This pink beanie is for Lilly using this pattern. But beware if you follow this pattern, it turns out super tiny, so I upsized it with my Dad's mathematical help. Later I found an Adults version, I'd say mine is in between the adult's and the child's. I think the flower is the pattern from Attic 24, have you seen her blankets? they are just so gorgeous. I love that blog! I used Jet 12 ply wool, so its quite thick and warm despite the granny holes.

This one is for Joe, in browns and creams, I've done a Jet blue version in 12 ply as well, but no pics of that one! I have used this pattern for both of Joe's beanies, and again upsized it to fit better.

So after all this crochet, I needed somewhere to keep my tools and patterns. I had made this bag pictured below earlier this year using this pattern, which I had seen on Lisa's blog and got all inspired and luckily was able to make it then and there with the bamboo handles I had in my stash, as you do!!!

I used some of my favourite fabric in Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party.

For the crochet tool organiser, I had no choice but to match it the bag and used some more. I think, possibly, this crochet organiser would be my most favourite 'thing' I've ever made. Not sure if its the fabric choice, the usefulness of the thing, the cute button loop or what,

but I love it.

Here is the inside of my organiser. It's got room for about 6 hooks even though I mainly only use 2 different size hooks, a pen, scissors, unpicker, needle holder, note book and a spot for the current pattern I am working on. I guess this is just a version of a crayon roll.

Mum has just finished the most gorgeous ripple scarf for Lilly in pink, purple, green, blue and orange and a bobble scarf for me. She's been busy, I only took posession of these items tonight, so stay tuned.

Berry Choc Chip Pops

its definitely not the weather for these!

Joe boy wanted icy poles, I had white choc chips leftover in my hand, a new stash of berries in the freezer...so this is what I came up with!

Berry Choc Chip Pops

1 cup natural yoghurt
2 cups vanilla icecream
1 cup mixed frozen berries (forest fruits pack: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cherries)or fresh berries if you have them
1 – 2 tablespoons agave nectar or more to your taste, but taste first after the choc chips go in
½ cup white choc chips

Process choc chips till crumbly then add remainder of ingredients and process to combine till the fruit is chopped up smaller. Pour into moulds, tap to remove air pockets and freeze, add paddle pop sticks when firmer.

Makes about 10 – 12 pops

Agave Nectar is delish, my friend Jen found it for me, you could use honey instead.

Rice Heat Therapy Bag

Made using red corduroy and some black and white spots for something different

The bag is my design, nothing rocket science about this! I make an inner of white cotton filled with rice with a few drops of lavender and the outer cover is easily removed so you can wash it, I used velcro on the closure. The poem is adapted from a few different versions floating around. This one was a gift for a Mum at school who has a sore neck.

I've also sewn some smaller square bags with inners filled with rice and peppermint oil, they are for the freezer for headaches and I can confirm they work..unfortunately I had to test one out this afternoon. Will post pics of them soon.

Kaffe Fassett Bag and Zippered Pouch

Kimmy purchased this absolutely gorgeous fabric recently in Sydney with no particular project in mind. She wanted a Glam Green Bag lesson, so this is what we did.

we had the smallest bit left so made a zippered pouch using this tutorial, it took no time at all and is so handy inside these roomy bags.
I love this Kaffe Fassett fabric and we used a favourite small leopard print for the lining.

Key Lockets

Lill's latest project...something very useful thanks little girl!

Gathering her supplies, we got the box of embroidery threads back from Granma.

We needed a keyring for our new post office keys to go on, something that would hang up in the car and be easy to find. Lill looked through her new craft book and found this great idea.

Pocket Lockets

* a cute little felt pocket with a ribbon attached to your key, the ribbon slides up and down to reveal the key.

This one is an owl and she picked the colours and did most of the cutting and stitched on the nose. I did the rest.

We made one for Daddy's car as well and Joe boy picked the colours for it.

So far so good in the car, no lost keys!

Sydney part Two

...here's a few quick pic's of Mothers Day in Sydney!

Tulips

my completely most favourite flower in the whole world, although these roses are up there! as are most things in Mum's garden.

But gee I love tulips especially when you see them in big bunches like this.

Moving on to the most deliciousness thing I've ever eaten on Mother's Day...

High Tea at the Queen Victoria Building.

Holy smokes was that the best thing I've ever had, nothing nothing was wrong or even a tiny bit wrong. We (Kimmy and I) sat in there for 1 1/2 hours savouring every treat on that plate, drinking 3 cups of tea each, watching all the goings on, marvelling at the sheer amounts of Old Country Roses strewn all over the room and most strangely having our voices change into new alter-ego's.... Sarndra and Sateen (the Prue and Trude type). Private joke.

We had sooooo much fun and spent too much money but gee we missed our children. Next Mothers Day I have promised Lilly and Mum I'll take them to Sydney for High Tea.

On the craft front here at the Mummy Made It house, its all crochet crochet crochet. I have done 2 beanies for Lilly, which are too small, they only take 2 hours or so to do and in my experience I need to follow the pattern exactly the first time before I go changing things to suit. So now I am working on the changed versions. When I get it right, I'll tell you all about it, including links to the tutorials I used and what changes I made to suit my kids heads! I've got Mum working on a matching scarf, a stripey ripple scarf to match some new pumpkin patch leggings I got Miss Lilly. And I've half done a beanie for Joe boy in some lovely Jet wool. We are headed to New Zealand in August so we need lots of winter woolies.

p.s. I've turned off the auto music so you need to press play to hear it now

and the new song is from the Tinkerbell movie and so sweet! We love it!

Sydney part One

I finally made it to Sydney! Yeah!

I had the best time, I went with my second best friend Kimmy (see pic below). We actually went to a 2 day Wound and Skin Integrity conference, which was very very interesting. I learnt so much and updated my knowledge on the latest trends in wound dressing selection and got a few new insights into everyday items, in particular - soap!

We managed to visit one fabric shop, The Remnant Warehouse, thanks to some hot tips from Cass, thanks Cass. We stopped here straight after getting off the plane. Material Obsession and The Craft Depot will have to wait till the next trip unfortunately.

No bargains were to be had, but it was just so nice to see our favourite fabrics in the flesh and not on the computer monitor! I bought 2m of Pop Garden and half a metre each of these cute ones below! No projects in mind, just couldn't go in there without purchasing something!
Proof that we were there, and yep we matched, actually we matched the whole trip. More posts to come of our adventures, so stay tuned!

Mothers Day Crochet

Nanny taught me how to crochet when I was 12 and that is probably why I can still do it, unlike knitting (another recent failure confirms that!) I love crocheting, I have never really done anything besides round and round blankets and granny squares blankets and those handy teatowels you hang in your kitchen. I saw a pattern recently in Better Homes and Gardens for crocheted flowers and got inspired to make some flower corsages, since Mothers Day is this week and I always try and make Mum something hand made to go in her present. This year she got a Pandora Bracelet, the I LOVE YOU charm, some blue tea towels and this gorgeous thing...

This pattern is from here, a new favourite blog to keep track of and the most gorgeous crochet. I added an extra row of petals (the darker purple around the outer edge). I also made one for Lilly's lovely teacher.

And since I am jumping ship this weekend and missing Mothers Day (don't worry I am sick to the core about it, truly I am) to attend a Conference in Sydney with my second best friend, I had an early Mothers Day with my little treasures.

This little boy couldn't wait to give me the present he made at Kindy, a gorgeous card with a photo of us on the front and a bag of homemade Coconut Ice! It was yum, we scoffed it down together, thanks Liza! I love the way Joey says Liza....Wyiza!


And today at Grade 1 the Mum's had a very special pampering complete with massage, manicures (my pink polish is still gleaming and its staying there for the trip to Sydney!) hair brushing, jewellery making, fruit kebab feeding, puzzles, singing, poems and lots and lots of love and hugs!

Happy Mothers Day to all my friends and family who are Mothers, Grandmothers etc, I will be enjoying this on the day with Kimmy and no doubt very very homesick for those 2 little people pictured above, and my husband of course!