Patches

Remember these patches?

Our beach bag gave up the ghost last weekend so I decided to turn those patches into a new one. The patches aready had interfacing on them because I used the Posy Gets Cosy patches tute so it was a really quick make. I'll do a tote tute if I get around to making another one as a gift.

Postscript:

Here are some great tote tutorials from the web:

Non-lined tote with pocket and french seams... great tutorial! http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=514

And a slightly more complicated lined tote bag http://mamaspocketbook.com/freepinkoctpattern.htm

Jammies

I found some beautiful vintage sheets and pillowcases at the op shop which I had intended turning into market bags, but when it came to the crunch they turned into pyjamas instead. The top is from Kwik Sew 3169 which I use a lot (it's easy to lengthen and widen it to make summer dresses) and the shorts are from a vintage pattern. Any shorts pattern is good. These really are a quick and easy project so if you are a beginner sewer you should definately try these!

So tired Mummy... I'll just twirl my hair and go to sleep here.

Dolly heaven

I went op shopping (thrift or charity shopping for you non-kiwis out there) on Tuesday. I got some wondeful stuff including about 3 metres of pink flesh coloured stockinette fabric perfect for making dollies. I went on a hunt last night for some online inspiration and came across these amazingly gorgeous free patterns.

Baby Bows

Dolly Hugs

These beautiful felt dolls by Mimi Kirchner over at Purl Bee

This Waldorf/Steiner typed doll from good old Martha

and of course these fabulous instructions on how to make a Waldorf doll which I will definately have to try.

Echoes of a Dream

Good job there's a lot of fabric to play with!

Sleepytime Bunny up on Felt

I just spotted my Sleepytime Bunny up on the front page of Felt. Yay!

Thanks so much to Cat of Cat Taylor Design for grabbing the image for me. I am so technically challenged and she always bails me out! She has a fab tutorial up at the moment for a zippered pencil case. I found some fab school print fabric in the op shop today so I will definately be using it. Thanks for sharing Cat.

Giveaway and poster

The poster I designed for the March 7th Devonport Craft Market is finally finished and has been uploaded onto the blog. I have absolutely no graphic design skills whatsoever but I can take a photograph, so I went for a collage approach. I'm quite pleased with it.

The fantail is embroidered onto a teatowel which I am going to give away to one of you lovely people along with one of my tape measure brooches. The teatowel isn't quite perfect as I originally embroidered the name of the market on the towel and then unpicked it because I didn't like it. If you look closely, you can see where it was but its still perfectly useable or you could turn it into something else.

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If you want to go into the draw for the giveaway,all you have to do is to start following my blog (click on the "follow" button in the right hand column); if you aren't already a follower and leave a comment answering the following question:

"What is your favourite New Zealand native bird and why?"

I will pick the winner's name from a hat on Tuesday 2nd March.

Easy Peasy Bread Sticks

Guess what? I didn't get very far tidying my studio today. I remembered a recipe that I saw on the Make it Do blog the other day and had to give it a go. I made them for lunch today (a scrummy lunch is all part of a good pottering day as far as I'm concerned!). They are soooo good. You have to try them.

When I took the bread sticks out of the oven, I was so impressed I said "Wow, check out these puppies". Miss 6 was walking passed at the time looked at me with eyebrows raised. A few moments later, when Miss 3 joined her at the table and said "What are those?". Miss 6 proudly answered "They are puppies."

The recipe and instructions for the bread sticks (aka puppies if you are a child in my house) are here.

I've adjusted it slightly for Kiwi users. Recipes always seem to work differently in different countries.

Here's the sightly adjusted version of Calli's recipe. This one makes 18-20 bread sticks (I made mine more like baby baguettes than sticks):

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tsp salt
1 Tbsp red cap yeast
4 cups plain flour
1/2 cup parmasan or tasty cheese, finely grated
1 tsp garlic seasoning (optional, or use seasoning of your choice)
1/4 cup melted butter

Equipment
2 greased baking sheets
measuring jug
measuring spoons
mixing bowl
fork
knife
cheese grater
pastry brush

• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (fan forced)
• Put your water into your measuring jug and add sugar, salt and yeast. Put to one side for 10  mins until it is bubbly.
• Grate your cheese and put it to one side
• Put your flour, 3/4 of the cheese and your chosen seasoning into a large bowl and pour in the yeast. Use a fork to mix it together and then use your hands to knead it into a large ball.
• Tip the dough out onto a floured bench/board and pat it down. Using a knife, cut it into 18 skinny and even portions.
• Roll each portion of dough between your palms to make a snake. Pop it onto a greased baking sheet. Continue to do the same with all your dough. I got 9 bread sticks on each tray.
• Melt your butter and using a pastry brush coat the tops of all the bread sticks. Turn them all over and do the other sides. Carefully sprinkle the remaining parmasan over each bread stick.
• Put them into your oven for 12-15 mins.

We ate ours with homegrown/homemade leek and potato soup (Edmonds cook book) with a dollop of low fat ricotta cheese floating in the middle... yum!!!

Pottering

We're having a day at home today. Just pottering. I love lazy Sundays.

I'm taking the opportunity to tidy up, finish some projects and do some mending.

I've just sewn the buttons on to a cardigan and hat destined for an old friend in America who is about to become a Mummy for the second time.

The yarn is Patons Bluebell merino 5ply from Spotlight and the gorgeous shell buttons are from Wild and Wooly in Devonport. The pattern is a Debbie Bliss one that I got from one of her knitting for babies books in the library. I'm afraid I can't remember which one it is but I think that fairly simple cardy is in most of her baby books.

My Mum sent a cardigan for the baby to be too. We don't know what flavour it is yet so she chose a gorgeous red and knitted it in a larger size.

I'm off to tidy my horribly messy studio now!

Crafternoon Tea tomorrow

I'm all packed up and ready to go first thing tomorrow morning.

It's Crafternoon Tea time again.

Come along if you are in the area. It's great fun and there are lots of yummy cafes/restaurants nearby for lunch.

Knitty genius

I love where I live and I love the people even more. Have a look what our local guerilla knitter did last night on the bench outside the ferry terminal in Devonport.

Pure genius Knitty! Have a look at more of her wonderful work on her blog here.

Sneaky peek

I'm doing the Devonport Craft Market poster this month. Here's a sneaky peek. There's a little fine tuning to do and it will be ready for download. I will be running a giveaway on my blog related to the poster. Watch this space.

It's horribly muggy today and we are suffering inside with the all the window and doors shut up. Our poor cat Kipper has been in a fight and has a nasty eye injury as a result. He's on home detention for two days and let me tell you he is NOT happy. Just look at this grumpy face.

Leaving the house involves a great deal of cunning and speed to avoid Mr Grumpy-Pants escaping. I had to wait for Richard to come home to bring the washing in. I couldn't quite work out how I could get a full basket of washing through the door whist preventing the slippery-as-an-eel Kipper from legging it.

This little piece of gorgeousness was waiting for me by my washing line so all the shenanigans were worth it.

Little artist

My six year old wants to be an artist when she grows up. Or a doctor. A doctor-artist she says. 

She made this for us yesterday.

                                                  

It was her idea and all her own work. It spins around if you hold it at the top. We didn't know she was making it and it was a wonderful surprise when she presented it to us. I love it!

I found this beautiful art print by Sarah Jane Studios. It reminds me so much of my own little artist. If only we had wallspace to add it to but funnily enough, every inch of my little artist's room is filled with her artwork! You can buy Sarah Jane's beautiful artwork at her Etsy shop here . I love her use of colours and the nostalgic elements of her work. I can feel a card shopping spree coming on.

Market day tomorrow!

It's the first Devonport Craft Market of the year tomorrow and I'm pretty excited. Looking forward to catching up with friends and having a great day. Hope to see some of you down there. 32 Clarence Street, Devonport, 10-3pm. 

Happy Valentines Day!

Things for babies

I've been a busy girl over the last couple of days making things for this Sunday's Devonport Craft Market.

The lovely (and very kind) Sarah of Songbird Designs gave me a huge bag of fabric yesterday which I was thrilled with. I made the onesie for her little boy as a thank you. He's so gorgeous and really into his cars at the moment so this was quite appropriate.

I finished a new baby gift too. This is for good friends of ours in Sydney who are expecting their first baby in a few weeks. They have a gorgeous pooch called Mario so I had to make this doggy set for them. If you are reading this J&P the outfit is on its way to you!

Feeling Green

I had a bit of a stash busting day on Friday. I have all my fabric scraps colour co-ordinated in vegetable racks and I was in a green kind of mood. I grabbed an armful (yes, my scrap bins are pretty full!) and decided to have a go with Alicia Paulson's patchwork technique. These large patches are the result.

I'm not sure what they are going to be yet. Possibly bags. Possibly a big picnic rug (I've got some more green patches to use up). Any suggestions?

I also finished this too-cute-for-words embroidery. I got the pattern from this fab blog. It's going to be a peg bag when I get around to it!

It's been divine weather over the weekend and we've been picnicking at the beach and listening to great music here.

(This is a view of Rangitoto Island from Cheltenham Beach at 6pm. The tide is right out and the girls had a great time picking up beautiful starfish and showing them off before returning them to the sea)

Finally, the girls and my wonderful resident obsessive gardener have been hard at work picking lots of scrummy veggies this morning (and making a little art with them).

New stuff and yesterday's market

Here are a few photos of my stall at yesterday's Anniversary Day Art and Craft Market on Selwyn Reserve including some shots of my new design kids tees.