Day to Day

Sweet dreams pyjama bag.

I thought you might like to see some more photos of the pyjama bag project that I created for Australian Homesewn. 

This pyjama bag was another one of my favourite projects from the magazine - I especially love that green elephant fabric that I picked up on Etsy quite a while ago.  I'm going to give it to my nephew Oscar for Christmas with some cute pyjamas, a nice book and toothbrush, toothpaste etc...  I also hope to sew another girly version for his sister (Bonnie) and include pretty much the same items for her.

Thankyou very much for all the lovely blog comments and emails you've been leaving/sending regarding the magazine.  I'm quite (actually a whole heap) behind on replying to them all, but will hopefully get there soon!

P.S.  I noticed in the magazine that the two step photos for this project are around the wrong way.  'A' should be 'B' and vice versa.

Zet the mini felt monster.

Although you can't really tell from the photo, this is a mini version of Zet the monster from Australian Homesewn. 

I reduced the pattern down to 69% and used felt, buttons and some cool embellishments (cupcakes & heart), all from the new July Tarisota Collection, which is on site now for you to drool over.  I know I've been doing some serious drooling over it this last week or so myself!! 

The monster was part of a birthday present for one of Bella's close friends, so he has already settled in with his new family - actually I'm thinking that this one might have been a girl monster - Zetty perhaps??

P.S. The cupcake & heart are an add on for the July collection, you can buy them seperately in a pack (with a strawberry, cherry, apple and rainbow) HERE.  I just peeled off their sticky adhesive and handstitched them onto the softie.

P.P.S.  See some more sweet felt creations created by the other Design Team girls HERE. 

Zet monsters (by Sheree).

The lovely Sheree just emailed me these cute softies that she sewed up using the zet monster pattern in Australian Homesewn.  They look so gorgeous and lovable!!  Their names are Belly, Racer and Jed and you can take a look at Sheree's post on her blog HERE, which also includes some pictures of a gorgeous crochet blanket that she's just started working on.

Thanks so much for sharing the photos with me Sheree :))

Fabric hopscotch.

Another one of the projects inside Australian Homesewn that I sewed and designed is this fabric hopscotch.  It's Bella's most favourite item from the magazine and she was so excited when it finally arrived back home for her to use a few weeks ago.

 

We're really looking forward to some sunshine in the upcoming months so that we can unroll it on the grass and play.  It's also perfect to play indoors on a carpeted surface (so it won't slip) but we only have floorboards, so inside play is out of the question for us.  Roll on summer!

The hopscotch is a mix of fabric and felt and quite an easy project to sew.  What I love most is that we can roll it up and pop it in the cupboard at the end of the day.  Here's the sweet shot from the magazine of the hopscotch:

While I'm talking about some of the magazine projects, the pattern for Kim's gorgeous finger puppets was accidentally left out of the issue.  Derwent Howard are currently working on a PDF for this and it will hopefully be up on their website soon (hoping very soon because Bella and I are dying to make a set!!) including the correct materials list for the puppets (thanks Cass for letting me know).

 

Jam drops

Bella came home from school on Friday requesting jam drops.  The cooking group had made some in her class at school and apparently they were 'so awesome' (Bella's words).  I searched high and low for a recipe and finally settled on this one from HERE.  The recipe was so good that we've already made three batches!

Speaking of Bella, I created this drawing book for her a couple of weeks ago.  She spends hours sometimes drawing pictures in her sketch books and I wanted to make her a homemade version that we could add and remove pages from as needed.

I included some nice thick papers inside which are always so much nicer to draw on than thin reflex paper.  The drawing book is part of post that I did for Aussie Scrap Source.  You can see the rest of post HERE including a couple of page layouts that I scrapbooked using a yummy Pink Paislee sticker book.

Oh and another project that I created for Australian Homesewn - a set of 4 coasters and placemats.

Australian Homesewn giveaway.

Time for the give away!  But first, I'm going to tell you about an error in Australian Homesewn regarding the fabric storage baskets on page 40.

The correct fabric requirements to sew the storage baskets should read:

30cm X 52cm piece of cotton fabric, outer fabric
30cm X 52cm piece of cotton fabric, inner fabric
30cm X 52cm interfacing

The storage baskets are simple to make and are great for organising craft and holding special treasures, but I created the pattern so that they were also the perfect size for Bella's 'Go Girl' books, her mini magazines (little angel, bratz etc..) and to keep her Playstation games nice and tidy.  When my sewing machine is fixed (or I take the plunge and buy a new one!!) I'm going to make up a boyish set for James to keep in his room - they are also just the right size to store DVD's, Wii & Nintendo games.

Now, onto something fun!

I have a spare copy of Australian Homesewn to giveaway.  If you would like to be entered in the draw, leave a comment here on this post.  Tell me if you have a favourite hobby and what it is (crochet, scrapbooking, cake making, sewing, anything!!). 

I'll close off comments this Sunday evening and announce the winner shortly after.

**Comments are now closed for this give away**

Meet Zet the monster.

Introducing Zet the monster!!!  He was the very first project that I created for Australian Homesewn and was inspired by one of our favourite stories, Where the Wild Things Are by Maruice Sendak.  He also made the magazine cover, which was lovely.

Here he is hanging out with his other monster friends in James' room.  Oh yes, they multiply fast too - it's a super easy pattern for the beginner sewer.

They do like getting into mischief!!! (fabric hippo by the lovely Kate).

He also has a button tail, but I didn't think to take a photo of that until I was typing up this post.

Just to let you know, I believe the magazine will  be available in newsagencies from this Monday.  Thanks for stopping by.

Australian Homesewn

Late last year I was contacted by Julia Matthews from Derwent Howard Media to ask if I'd be interested in working on a new sewing magazine/bookazine with her.  After several months of sewing, working on text and instructions I finally finished the projects, mailed them off and waited anxiously for the issue to arrive in my mailbox. 

Today was the day!!! I'm so happy with how the magazine has turned out and apart from the projects, there are some really lovely extra bits and pieces in the issue - an interview with the super talented Amy Butler, a 32 page pull out guide to organising your craft supplies and all the patterns and instructions that you'll need to complete the projects.

I asked Kim Archer and Fiona Carter to contribute some work to the magazine.  You can see Kim's projects HERE in her newest blog post.  She created a set of fabric house pictures, yummy hairclips and some sweet 'blossom friends' finger puppets that my Bella is dying to make a set of for herself (perhaps this weekend!).

I'll share more of the projects from the magazine over the next few days (including a give away of Australian Homesewn), but for now here is the Babushka Quilt Set (pillow and doll quilt) that I created as part of the 'kids' section.

 

P.S.  The doll in the pram was sewn using a pattern by Hillary Lang at Wee Wonderfuls.  The direct link to purchase the doll pattern is HERE.