Day to Day

Stitchery progress.

 

Bella has been making quite a bit of progress on her stitchery and it's looking so gorgeous.  I'm really proud of her for persevering and continuing stitch by stitch.  The mad hatter took her so long, but it was totally worth it - he's my favourite square.  Only two squares to go and then we need to decide what to do with it.  I'm thinking that I might even take it to the framing shop and have it framed professionally as I think it would be a shame to turn it into a pillow - let's face it, pillows get grotty and I might cry if her embroidery came loose or started to pull here and there.

Mine is still being turned into a pillow though!  I've done a couple more squares and hope to squeeze in a few more over the Easter break.

I'm also having a little blogging break over Easter, but I've pre-loaded quite a few posts in advance (sometimes two per day) which are supposed to magically appear while I'm gone starting from tomorrow (hopefully, fingers crossed).  So, really I'll still be here :-)

Happy Easter everyone!

Flickr favourites

I love being inspired by yummy images over on Flickr.  Here are a few of my favourite ones:

 

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

A sweet pattern for printing and sewing your own rabbit softie. Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.

Image from HERE.   

Fabric album tutorial

Just popped in really quickly to say that my Love Notes fabric album tutorial is up over at Quilt Fabric Delights.  You can find it HERE. 

Thanks so much for all the skirt love too :-)

The Saturday Market Skirt

Bella has been requesting a really long skirt for the last couple of months, only we've never quite found a pattern for the exact idea that she had in her head.  A week or so ago I came across THIS gorgeous tutorial (Saturday Market Skirt) over at Portabellopixie and knew it would be perfect.  I showed Bella on the day that I found it (BIG mistake) and not a day has gone by that she hasn't asked when I'm going to make it for her.  Today I caved and started cutting out squares (56 of the suckers) and before I knew it I was also sewing it up.

I altered the directions slightly as I went, choosing to overlock all the squares and not top stitch them.  The other thing that I changed was the waist, going with the waistband pattern from my recent pyjama making effort (Oliver + S bedtime story pajama pattern).

The fabrics are just a mish-mash of leftover prints from other projects.  It could have done with a quick press before I took these photos, but Bella was desperate to wear it and the sun was going down fast, so excuse the crinkling. 

I now need to stop sewing and get stuck back into those embroidered squares!  

Hello Easter

After all that Easter pyjama sewing yesterday it seemed like a good time to pop up the Easter decorations.  We only have a couple, some bunting and a a few eggs, but Bella loves to help me pull them out each year and put them up on display for a week or so.

 

Then, I found the cutest craft idea a couple of days ago over on Alpha Mum making sweet salt dough vases.  Seriously they are SO gorgeous and such an awesome idea.  Go HERE to see.  We set about making a batch of salt dough and then Bella set to work on her vase:

Oh and see the super cute apron?  It was a gift from one of Bella's penfriends. 

I forgot to take a photo of the cute face that Bella fashioned onto her vase before it went in the oven, but I will tomorrow before she paints it. 

So, that was pretty much our day (with a 2 hour game of monopoly thrown in there).  I hope yours was a good one!  Thankyou all so much for the lovely comments on my last two posts too, I swear that I have the sweetest readers :-)

Just in time for Easter

Today I really felt the urge to sew up another pair of pyjama bottoms for Bella.  This time I used a fabric from the beautiful Folksy Flannel range by Anna Maria Horner (purchased from HERE).  I really loved the fabric when it arrived, but oh my goodness, it is seriously gorgeous sewn up into pyjamas.  So, so good.

I went with the purchased top option again, which is so much more affordable than using 3.5 metres of flannel to make a complete matching set of pyjamas, although it's ever so tempting to lash out and do this. Self control Mel, self control....

After sewing up the pants I kept thinking that they looked incredibly Easter-ish, perhaps the colours or the large round flowers reminding me of Easter eggs, I'm not sure exactly.  

Anyhow, I remembered THIS sweet bunny pattern from Betz White.  I made a few of these bunnies last year using a red felted jumper and they were super easy.  So, I set to work and sewed up one out flannel.

It all made a lovely little after school treat for Bella to find in her room this afternoon. 

P.S. James didn't miss out either....I went pyjama shopping for him this morning and popped them in his room with a packet of his favourite chips.  As I type they're both snuggling on the couch together in their new pj's watching Astro Boy.  Cute :-)

Love Notes fabric album

Back in early February I read over on the Quilt Fabric Delights blog that the lovely Sarah was putting out a Design Team call.  I seem to be spending a lot more time lately playing with fabric than I do scrapbooking, so I decided to apply.  

Last night it was so nice to find an email from Sarah welcoming me to the team (thankyou Sarah!!) and today I thought I'd share a few sneaks of the fabric project that I submitted in my application.  It's a Love Notes fabric album using the gorgeous range of 'Oz by Sanea for Moda' fabrics.  Inside are pockets to store special notes, cards and other treasures from your loved ones.

There will be a full step by step tutorial for the Love Notes fabric album over at Quilt Fabric Delights soon (I'll let you know when it goes up) and also lots of other gorgeous tutorials from the other Design Team girls.

I'm really looking forward to creating more projects over the next few months :-)

Sponsor spot - April

Hi, just popping in quickly - I'll be back later today :-)

I have one sponsor spot left for April.  $25 AUD which includes a blog button displayed for the full month, an introductory blog post for your store and a follow up blog post linking my favourite products.  Please email me at goodsellmx@internode.on.net if you are interested or wish to secure a spot for the following month (May).

**Spots available for May only now**

My WIP's - the long list

Work in progress! Ughh, I have so many of them.  It's quite embarrassing and annoying that I haven't forced myself to actually finish these projects.  Maybe posting them here will kick my bottom into gear.  Perhaps?

Let's do a recap:

 

Bella's So Called Scarf...the most recent addition to my WIP pile.  I started this in January, just after her leg warmers.  The pattern does my head in a little, but I really want to finish it.  Infact, I WILL finish this for autumn **cough cough - okay, at least in time for winter**

Bella's crocheted blanket for the camper.  Commenced in April 2009 (eek that's nearly a year ago).  She asks me ALL THE TIME to finish it. I want too. Maybe this winter?

James' crocheted blanket.  I started this in June 2009. I shouldn't have started it until I finished Bella's blanket, but the idea was itching away in my head and I couldn't help myself.  Do you ever have moments like that?  Um - I'm not putting a completion date on this one because.......

 

Oh my goodness...February 2008 I started this one!! It's really gorgeous and I still love the simplicity of it.  But, I accidentally changed needles half way through (don't ask how that happened) so when I went to stitch it up a lot of the squares were bigger than the orginal ones.  I really, really want to finish this. Oh, so much!  But, I need to unpull all those chocolate crocheted seams and start again. Ughh.  I'm even thinking about mixing it up with the crocheted blanket above somehow and having a mix of crocheted/knitted squares.  I'm just not sure?

My most embarrassing WIP - a Grace Kelly cardigan for myself.  The Sublime yarn cost me an arm and a leg. I know that I'm going to positively love it when it's all sewn up, but I haven't sewn it up yet.  I finished it last year.  My Mum even knitted the last bit of it for me because I was struggling.  She asks me weekly if I have sewn up my cardigan yet!! LOL.  However, it's not all bad....I'm going to visit my brother and his family in Goulburn at the end of May and I will have it sewn up by then to wear over.  I will, I will !! 
 

August 2007 - yep.  How cute and tiny does Bella look here by the way?!  A spring quilt that I found in the cupboard on a recent clean out.  It's 3/4 quilted and I had completely forgotten that I even had it.

So, there you go. It's all out in the open now.  I am definitely finishing my current 49 square embroidery project.  I have too.  There's not an ounce of room left here for any more WIP's!!

and still stitching....

I admit that I'm kinda finding it hard to stay focused on this project.  Not because I'm not enjoying the stitching (I am), but because I usually only work on short term projects and this one is taking a lot longer.  I'll be stitching along and then other things start popping into my head - knitting, crocheting and all the other unfinished WIP's that I could also be working on.

I know, focus Mel, focus. I really want to finish this.

What has been keeping me motivated though is looking at all the other squares in the flickr pool and also the yummy ones that Suzi, Beth, Tamar and Annette have been busy working on.  Check out those links if you like, there are some yummy designs there.