I'm going to miss Cecilia

It's hard to believe anything worthwhile can actually come out of this room.

But just before Christmas, I did manage to turn one terrific Able and Game Tea towel(pic from Able and Game on etsy)
into a cushion for Miss 19.


and in the spirit of Christmas and the fact that she is leaving home on the weekend-I did not add "except when you are being a selfish cow!" to the back as I had originally planned.

But you have to know I thunk it !!!

got a sec?

From me and mine to you and yours.

I hope whatever and however you celebrate in the next few days goes off like a frog in a sock.

(providing the said frog actually wants to be in a sock of course, and that the sock is cleaned to regular hygiene standards and that the appropriate forms have been filed with the relevant Frog-Sock-Going-Off authorities)

Personalised Christmas decorations in ten minutes or less.....

Just find a blank cassette image or take a photo of a cassette and add some text to it.

Print it out on Ink jet Printable Fabric. Sew it onto felt and add a ribbon for hanging.

How about Uncle Trevor Sings the Blues......

Or Aunty Edna's Greatest Beer Hall Tunes.....

or

Xmas Chaos by the Dysfunctional Family Singers.....

time

One more day

and then I shall revel...nay ...I shall wallow in six glorious weeks of holidays.

Consider yourself warned -wallowing ahead.

Options

There are just so many things one could embroider upon ones underpants.....

One could get quite carried away with ribald lady parts type jokes.......

One could even embroider some ribald lady-parts type jokes upon underpants to gift to appreciatively ribald friends, but one would not always blog those ones would one?

Preparation............

Leaning to the left

I find myself quite busy with an unscheduled day-job induced breakdown at the moment so please pull up a chair and talk amongst yourselves. Feel free to craft and look at the pretty pictures.

Designed by the wonderful Ms Zombie,

Bought from the Drapers of Mt Macedon.

Sewn whilst at Sewjourn with a raucous riotous bunch of wonderful women

If you notice excessive weirdness or drooling, I just ask that you make sure I am wearing good undies before you call the men in white coats.

I am happy enough to go stark raving bonkers but I refuse to do it in loosely strung, thin of crotch , bad day underwear.

I am a woman of principle.

To whom it may concern :

This blog will undergo a period of induced slumber until early next week.

There is no reason for panic or concern, the blog owner is off on yet another crafty jaunt to sewjourn.

Please feel free to express your hatred in triplicate in the usual manner.

Blogless

Teenagers who use up all of their mother's Internets, rendering her almost blogless for a week do not actually deserve the quilt that said wonderful mother is making for them.

(and were the same thing to occur next month, there will a gnashing of teeth and a roaring of roars unlike anything said teenagers have ever witnessed)

One hour plastic wallet

I have finally added the paper and plastic wallet tutorial link over on my sidebar.

I called it a one-hour-wallet but I think you could easily do it in less. For ease of sewing I recommend you get a Teflon foot for your machine, for sewing plastic. It makes a HUGE

difference.

Surely you know someone who needs their school report refashioned this Christmas ?

Resin casting

Yesterday I attended the first part of a resin jewellery workshop at Threadneedle Craft in Daylesford.

Our teacher Sylvia Nevistic was great, sharing heaps of info and generally letting people just give anything a shot. Sylvia has a great website showcasing her work and also a blog !

We'll be heading back next week to decant our pieces from the moulds and do lots of sanding.

This is not mine but I just love those little paper-clips ! its good that the work is in Daylesford, if it was here I'd be unable to resist poking at it all the time to see if it was ready yet.

and a small dot point summary

• the five-million dollar dog is feeling much better thank you
• he is extremely unimpressed with the ear drops though, and frankly finds the associated muzzle quite humiliating. ( He doesn't mean to snap but it really really hurts)
• After getting my stitches out on Tuesday (small nothing-to-worry-about-blob-removed-from arm-) I rolled over in bed this morning and hey presto ! busted wide open ! If only I could figure out the 1/4 seam allowance, I reckon a nice tight ladder stitch would have been the way to go.
• Friends for dinner last night with the unexpected bonus of two very crafty women - SCORE !! No idea what the blokes talked about.
• mini shop update later today
• Executive decision that dressing gown is de-rigueur for Sunday crafting.

(ha , just check out the date on that last link- it is still un-hemmed)

5 minute Christmas craft

All you need is some glass baubles with removable tops, these came from Lincraft via a friend

Pop in an old tape measure,

or make some tiny knitting needles by pulling the ends off and old pair, chopping them shorter and glueing the ends back on.

Now what will I do with the remaining empty bauble? If only I could crochet?

(and for far far better executed ideas - go and visit my crafting hero )

When will I learn?

So, that last smug little comment on my blog ? yep ! You guessed it ! The weekend fell apart after that. We had to take our dog Ruben to the after-hours five million dollar vet yesterday and today he is back there having a "procedure".

Even though he was in heaps of pain yesterday with a massively swollen mouth abscess, which exploded and had him dribbling blood - he had the time of his life in the back of the Ute , cocker spaniel ears flapping in the breeze, tail wagging and sloppy, blood drool flying everywhere. Who cares if we thought he was knocking on deaths door - he was having the time of his crazy life! He is going to be fine, but somewhat disappointed because I have to pick him up in the regular car this afternoon.

In unrelated news, I decided a while ago that I wouldn't be doing a market stall this year, the whole whooping cough thing really slowed me down, and there is no way I can generate enough "stuff" for a stall. But I figured I can just have a mini market on Etsy instead. All the bits and bobs I have made throughout the year that get popped into the 'market tub' will be popped on Etsy instead.

I'm not going to do a huge update, I'll just add things as I go and as I finish things.

Today I'll be adding some gocco panels and a message-bot or two and maybe a zipper mouth monster.
There will be elephants and robots and I have no idea what else by the end of the month.

So there you go a bit of shop talk , a bit of dog talk and someone who should learn to keep her blog mouth shut!

Mr Gocco

Yesterday I spent some quality time with Mr Gocco and once again rekindled my love for him.

I seriously love that machine.

I printed some little girl panels

I printed some badge panels
and I printed some little owls.

Today I was invited to go and talk to the group at the Ballarat Quilt -In .

I had a blast ! They were a very fun bunch of people and they kindly laughed in all the right places ! I raved on and on about craft and blogging and even did a bit of shopping before I left.

Now if only I could manage a crafty finish tomorrow, without any major mishaps......I could be heading to weekend nirvana !

Make it Perfect by Toni Coward

A wee while ago I got an email from Chloe of Penguin Books, asking if I would like to review a craft book.

Hello???

Books and craft? way to make a librarian crafter's heart flutter !

Last week I received Toni Cowards book, Make it Perfect and it is a seriously delicious craft book featuring 21 women's and children's clothing patterns.

At first glance the book is very well bound (trust a librarian to notice) . It folds out so that the book part with the instructions sits perfectly flat-important if you are following instructions while sitting at the machine. There are also heaps of diagrams to illustrate anything mildly tricky.

The pattern pieces, in a variety of sizes, are all folded in an envelope at the back and they are printed individually so none of that annoying printed over the top of each other rubbish.

You guys know I am not a garment sewer but I have read through a couple of the patterns completely and they seem so easy. The language is simple and straightforward and there is some helpful hints at the start as well as a really nice intro .

I especially loved that Toni thanked all her pattern testers . Bonus points for that ! and she mentions waking her kids up to get them to try on her designs !!

I'd buy this book for someone just venturing into garment making, or even for someone who already makes clothes but wants to lift their clothes to another level.

So, If you would like this book, just leave a comment - no jumping through hoops, no extra bonus bookface points, just a comment !

but wait ! There's more.

One very small very excited girl.

One very long plane ride.

Hopefully one very happy winner.
Lilly is off to live with the Silverpebbles !

and in a bizarre twist of timing Penguin have sent me a delicious craft book to review and giveaway, how cool.
But first I must head out and slay dragons and chase ogres

so tonight I'll tell you all about it !

Lo !

And so she entered the kingdom of sewing and saw that things were good.

The sewing gods smiled,

and lo - she stitched a shoe.

and it sucked

This week , that is...On the suckage scale , it was like a supercharged Hoover with extra built -in suck.

But, I'm ignoring it and getting ready for tomorrows garage sale.

A number of crafty friends have joined forces and de-stashed in a big way. If you are local to Ballarat , pop along, it'll be in tomorrows paper or you can email me for some details. There is loads of fabric and wool and buttons and craft books and just about everything!

and Sunday....come hell or high water, come rain , sleet , snow or the end of the world. I am going into my sewing room and I am making toys......

(and just very quietly, present company excluded of course - at that point, the rest of the world can go stuff itself )

Christmas ? Are you serious?

When Kerryanne asked me to join her 'Simply Christmas' at Shabby Art Boutique I had to put my thinking hat on ! In light of yesterdays craft disaster its probably good that I prepared this tutorial a little while ago.

This wallet, made of PVC and paper is a really really quick make.Right now, my guest post and links to this tutorial are up on Kerryanne's Blog. Pop on over and check it out and have a look at Kerryanne's lead up to Christmas, there are giveaways, tutorials, guest posts and all sorts of handmade and home baked Christmas ideas.

and because its getting close to Christmas, its time for a giveaway. Miss Lilly is looking for a new home. If you think there might be someone at your place to lover and care for Lilly all you need to do is a leave a comment - that simple....

(and just so you know, Miss Lilly hates peas but loves jam. She hates spiders but loves ladybugs, she talks a lot and sings a lot and asks approximately 5 billion questions a day.)

winner drawn randomly next Wednesday.

Joke's on me !

Yep, I was totally cracking myself up over this......

I wordled and steam-a-seamed and stitched and stitched....and worked on my chain stitch....and then gave it a gentle squirt to remove the water soluble pen......

and the bloody thing ran.........................

Ironic really........

Pikelet

You know that thing, with new parents, where you have to sit through endless photos of their child? And how new parents think that their child is the most beautiful / special /talented child ever to be born?

So I may not be a new parent.....................but look at this guy would you?

That tummy just kills me.

Pikelet came home with me yesterday from the Craft Hatch Market. I was hoping all day that he would still be there when I got there.....and there he was just sitting by the biscuit bowl quietly waiting for me.

Pikelet was made by the talented queen of wonk herself,

Jess of teddybearswednesday. Jess make the most perfect characters , beautiful mohair boys and tiny crocheted characters as well.

Tomorrow Pikelet will be coming to work with me-and that alone makes the start of the working week bearable.....

(snort ...bearable)

Guterman

Guterman, the youngest of the trio.

Not so much brave...as going-to-be-brave when he grows up.

Fiskar , Olfa and Guterman

The Knights of the sewing table.

Fiskar

Fiskar, the younger

and slightly more hirsute brother of Olfa.

Olfa

Olfa.

A knight renowned for his bravery, gallantry

and severe case of only-blog-finished alopecia !