Pay it Forward

I've signed up for a Pay it Forward challenge on Bec Clarke's blog - http://becclarke.blogspot.com/
She has another one too - http://becclarkecreations.blogspot.com/
Check them out because she has some great jewelry and soap, and several great give-aways at the moment.

Here is the text from her 'pay it forward' challenge:

I found my idea here: Marianne's Art Blog.
I am entering into the following contract with the first 5 people who comment and then commit to do the same on their blog.
Just read below and if you feel up to the task copy the following into your blog and leave me a comment.
I am willing to post overseas (I am in Australia), but remember you must committ on your blog to do the same to others.
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.

Right, so I commit to sending something handmade to the first five people who comment here. However, maybe five is a bit much for you to commit to, so as long as you pay it forward to at least two people then that's fine. Just leave a comment, put a link back to this along with your own Pay it Forward post on your blog and wait for me to be in touch!

My baby boy is TWO today

When did that happen? Amazed at how quickly time has flown, these last two years have been the best and hardest and most fullfilling of my life.



Humpty Dumpty was the favourite present for my little Playschool fan. He even got to help blow out the candles.



As part of his present I've got tickets to the Playschool concert in July and can't wait to take both Jack and Humpty. I think he'll love it.

Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway Day - Bella Bear needs a hug!

The Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day is on May 27th and I'm joining in the fun.
Here's the link if you want to join in too: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=805

Here is the sweet little Bella, looking for a hug to call her own. She has been keeping me company in the sewing room for a while except for the times I've had to rescue her from the toy box, cot, clothes hamper or assorted other places that Jack likes to stash pilfered items.

Lately she has been a bit neglected and I think it is time she was adopted by someone with more time to share secrets with her. (Jack just saw this picture and raced down to the sewing room to find her - I think he might miss her a bit even though his own bear hug is rather large)

Bella is the third bear I've made so she is not perfect but she is very charming and has been stitched with love.
The lovely Bella is about 25cm tall. Her fur is fuzzy felt (I think polyester) in a dusky mushroom pink with a fuzzy rather than furry effect. Her filling is polyester fibre fill. Her arms, legs and neck have timber joints and are fully poseable. Her eyes are plastic safety eyes. She is safe for gentle hugs from little ones (and enjoys them very much) but I'm not sure if she will stand up very well to rough play. Her burgandy bow is a bit of ribbon used in my wedding decorations, so it brings good luck and fondest wishes with it.
If you would like to share your own secrets with Bella and think you could give her the perfect home then leave a comment here by 31st May and she could be yours.
I will draw a winner at random on June 1st, so please remeber to tell me how I can contact you. Bella wouldn't mind a plane trip and is happy to move overseas (as long as she sends a postcard home when she gets there) so international visitors are very welcome.

Jack's swap clothes

Finally, Jack has been well and happy enought to co-operate with a photo of his swap clothes. This arrived in the mail just as we got home from NZ but because we've all been sick (and I've also been a bit lazy) I'm only just blogging it now.

This is a pic of the pack that Lil Frankie sent us for the EB clothing swap - a pair of beautifully made PJs with brightly coloured tractors/diggers all over them, a cute singlet and a board book about cars/trucks/planes which was a good choice for Jack. Jack took one look at the PJs and said 'Dig Dig' and took off with them.

Here he is curled up in my bed reading his book, which is a firm favourite. The top is a little big now but will be perfect by the time the weather warms up again.

And here is an action shot - 'Big Jump!' as he shows off the singlet and pants. The pants fit perfectly now and by summer hopefully he will be TT and nappy free so we should get a full year out of them.

Jack loves his gifts and I'm pretty happy with them too. Bring on the next swap now I've recovered from this one!

Happy birthday to me...

Look at the fantastic fabrics I received for my birthday. These came from the girls in the EB fat quarter birthday swap - I asked for black and white so it isn't a spooky coincidence. I had in mind a black and white quilt but some of these are encouraging me down different paths.
One of these parcels has been sitting unopened in my sewing room teasing me for a whole month. The others arrived during the week and I held out until Sunday but then I caved and opened them even though my birthday wasn't until Monday.


The four folded fabrics at the bottom are from the lovely Kelly over at Purple Paisley Patch http://purplepaisleypatch.blogspot.com/. Aren't they sweet! The top one with the prints of the little girls has caught my eye - it reminds me of the fairy pictures by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite (sp?) in a book I had when I was little. I think it was called the Enchanted Forest.

The checkered one on the right is from Sam and it tones perfectly with Kelly's ones. I might do something with these and fussy cut the girls as features and the other fabrics as patchwork blocks.

Caryn sent me the next one in from the left - white and grey star-bursts on black. As soon as I opened this it started screaming "I want to be a bag!" so maybe that's what I'll do with it, but it will definitely be a keeper for me. There was also a big pile of black buttons (I think they were in this package) that I'm itching to play with.

The one at the back with mushrooms and deer is decorating weight fabric from Kristi. The design is in stripes so it is calling out to be used as a trim on something - overalls or a dress maybe? And certainly some covered buttons!

The two vine print fabrics are from Kylie and they are right up my alley. They look so nice together that I think they are destined to stay that way, so where ever I use one I'll have to use the other too.

Yep - still alive, AND I've been sewing!!!

It's been a while since I've posted and need to do some catch up posts about our New Zealand trip, my cute swap clothes that Jack got from my swap partner and my birthday FQs from the swap I'm in (that one will have to wait till Monday because I'm not allowed to open them until then). We've all been sick and I had Jack home all week with a chest infection so there has been very little time-out over the last month.

Last weekend I forced myself to get everything done so I could sit down and sew for a few hours and I've finally got my first little bags finished. These were started as part of the EB March sewing challenge. I'd already made the big version of the bag and wanted to try some samller evening bag styles. With the help of the lovely Kate (here: http://ernstfamilylife.blogspot.com/ ) who drafted a small pattern and sent me a copy, I've made these two little bags.

I call them my Maggie-Kate bags.

Hard to get good pics of the fabric, and please excuse the background. The blue fabric was bought before Christmas to make a bag for a friend and as it never got made she may get this one. I love the button - the blues sparkle and catch the light. It was hiding down the bottom of my button stash and looked better than a covered button.

The brown is made from a fabric a saw and just had to have. it isn't quite a paisley but that's the easiest way to describe it and has a green and ochre pattern on a lovely brown background. It doesn't have shiny gold print but sort of gives the impression that it does. I've got this fabric with a burgandy toning too and can't wait to use it. It worked so well in the bag. All the girls at work loved this one - I'm tossing up about giving it away or keeping it. This one has a button covered in the same fabric.

And here's the tricky bit. Turn both bags inside out and you get a totally diferent one. The brown is on the left and the blue on the right. Both have special vintage buttons from my stash.

I've got some altered versions of these on the go. I'm trying them with heavy weight interfacing on one fabric as well as the light pellon I used on the other fabric. I'm narrowing the handle slightly. I'm going to make one without pellon and one without the pleat.

I'm also wanting to make another version of my Margaret Bag (in my January post) but add some zippered pockets to make it a bit more user-friendly. It went all around New Zealand with us and I got some lovely compliments and handed the pattern on to quite a few people. I'd also like to make a mid-size version for when I don't need to cart nappies and toys with me!