A doll bag, a doll quilt and my little doll!

I have a little bit of crafty stuff to show you that is completely unrelated to a swap or Audrey and Maude.

Chloe was invited to a Birthday party tonight at a ceramic painting shop. They had to wear their pj's and make icecream sundaes! So what to buy an eight year old girl that is not Smiggle or Build a Bear?? After wandering around for ages I suddenly realised it would be quicker and easier to go home and make something.

So, inspired by a top of Chloe's, I whipped up this little number this afternoon and I LOVE it!!



Chloe and I went through the ribbon jar, the button jar and the fabric stash and together came up with this colour combination.

You can see I was interrupted - check out how I sewed on the buttons!



I added some ribbon to the straps for a bit more detail.



And gave her a little happy face.



I might have to make some more of these!

But that was just a little break from doing my doll quilt for Doll Quilt Swap Four and creating my latest Audrey and Maude pattern. The latter is a secret but here is a teaser of the doll quilt.



It is due to be finished this weekend so other than going to work tomorrow, you know what I'll be doing.......

I leave with you with a snap of my other little doll who just looooves the camera!



How I wish I had those eyelashes!!

Cheers!!

It's a very festive time in our household.

Yesterday we drank champagne to celebrate 11 years of wedded bliss.



I can't believe it was 11 years ago but we have certainly done much since then.





We all had so much fun that day, two churches and all!



So last night we had a lovely dinner at the Stokehouse, one of my all time favourite restaurants.

Happy Anniversary darling husband!!



And today we celebrated his birthday with a little champagne and cake in the garden - looking slightly more ordinary!



Tomorrow we will be having a few friends around to bring in the New Year and the following day is my husband's name day!

And it is the same every year - lots of champagne, fine food and wonderful company!

Today we had a visit from my dear friend Elizabeth so I can now share with you the present I made her as it has been very happily received.



It is nice and long to put on her bed and as she has a bad back she is thrilled with it's possibilities as a lumbar support!



I love the colours, they remind of the sea.

I also found time to take a photo of this fabulous bag my sister made me for Christmas.



And it has really lovely lining.



I can't wait to use it but I think it is more of an autumn bag.

Thanks so much everyone for your support this year. It's been so encouraging to receive all my lovely comments and feedback. I have much to achieve in 2008 and have much to look forward to.

And to all the lovely bloggers out there who provide so much entertainment, laughter, a few tears and who inspire me endlessly, cheers!! I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Christmas Wrap Up

So Christmas is over for another year. I hope you enjoyed a lovely day with family and friends as I did. We all ate way too much and my goodness the presents were never ending - not sure where everything is going to go!

And what a few weeks it has been. I did try to do a post last week but blogger ate my photos and I didn't have the time or the inclination to redo them. So here it is - the last couple of weeks activities and some of the crafty projects I completed.

The 15th brought a mad weekend with lots of Birthday parties including Daphne's.







And look at this gorgeous creation!



A stunning bolster cushion made by my girlfriend Michelle.



Isn't it just fantastic!



I love the colours and all the little yo-yos - a gift to absolutely treasure! Thanks Michelle, we really love it.

We finished the weekend with a big Christmas party on the Sunday with my Mother's group. We provide a Kris Kringle gift for the children and I made these for two lovely sisters.



This is my more basic version of Renata Segtowick's wonderful idea. Renata's are so beautifully detailed - go have a look.

The week following was all about kinder parties, school parties, reports and finishing up the year ready for a good break. I made three tote bags for the girl's teachers but didn't have time to take photos.

Then I finally finished a commission I'd been sitting on for AGES!! Two aprons for my girlfriend to give to some special girls for Christmas.



A frilly smock for the little one.







And a frilly apron for the bigger one.





I discovered the new apple fabric at Amitie and it all went from there. It's the most lovely linen weight and just perfect for aprons. I'm really pleased with them and will definitely be making more.

And finally some gifts for my family.

A scarf for my Mum using some gorgeous Japanese fabric I had in my stash.



And a bag for my sister-in-law Sacha.



I LOVE this bag!!



I cut it from a bag I received in a swap which I think is an Amy Butler pattern (anyone know?). Then I just patched part of it, added some flowers and quilted the edges.

I also made some cushions and did a pin cushion swap with my girlfriend but have no photos yet - show you next time along with some photos of the gorgeous ornaments I have received for the Freshly Blended Holiday Ornament swap. But this lot should keep you busy for a while!!

By the way, before I forget, my pay it forward recipients are Fiona, Beth and Ginger. So can you all email me and let me know if you wish to participate and provide your address if I don't already have it.

Bugs, Bush, balls and a bag!

Why hello! It feels like I haven't been here for a while. In fact it even looks different as I type this in. When did the posting graphics change I wonder!! How bad would I have been at posting every day in November....

We have been through the wars in this house this week with a stinking dose of gastro affecting every member of the household! But after a couple of days of loafing about at home we're all back to normal.



Nothing a little dancing to Hi-5 won't fix!

Before we succumbed to the nasty bug, we had a very busy Sunday with two big family functions during the afternoon.

The first was a large gathering at a park with my Mother's family to celebrate what would have been my late Grandfather's 100th Birthday. My Aunt has put together an amazing booklet filled with our family history dating right back to the 1600's. I discovered that aside from English, Irish and Scottish ancestry, my maternal Great Great Great Grandfather was an American. Would you believe I share a common ancestor with the current President of the USA!

From there we rushed off to McClelland Park. My Brother-in-law Nik was one of 35 finalists in the McClelland Sculpture Award whose winner was announced shortly after we arrived. Sadly I missed the announcement as the little darlings needed to go to the toilet!



We did a brief wander around the gorgeous park but everyone was wilting under the very, very hot sun.



After checking out Uncle Nik's work 'We Refugees', we decided to take off.





The sculptures will be there until July so if you are in Melbourne go and have a look. It really is a beautiful gallery and park and the sculptures are wonderful.

I have found some time to do a little bit of crafting.



This is for my other Brother-in-law's girlfriend whose Birthday party we're off to tomorrow night.



Carol is a beautiful Lebanese girl so I wanted to make something really striking. The floral is from one of the new Kaffe Fassett fabric ranges which are just stunning.



I have many projects underway including aprons, christmas ornaments and other gifts and will hopefully have more to show you soon. Enjoy the weekend!

Post Holiday Chaos

Well what a busy start to Term 4 it has been. Not only did school and kinder go back but we had swimming, tennis, violin and Greek school and to top it off a whole school concert (500+ kids) last Friday night. I was so tired on Saturday I wanted to cry and the kids were also a bit worse for wear. I think part of the problem is that it's getting light really early now and they are awake at the crack of dawn.

Then on Tuesday Daphne came down with croup which is just horrible. She had a barking, painful cough and laboured breathing and was utterly miserable . All she has wanted to do all week is sit on me so I had to organise lots of help with school and kinder pickups - aren't Grandparents wonderful! She's getting back to her old self slowly but it seems to have really exhausted her.

So, sorry for the gap in communication. I know some of you have been waiting to see some holiday snaps so here goes.

A great view.



A bit of lounging about.



Some swimming.



A bit of sandman building.



Some shell collecting.



Cheeky kangaroo feeding.



Spiky echinda patting.



And Daphne made quite a few discoveries.

Playing with wet sand is lots of fun.



Eating icecream in a cone is very yummy and very messy.



And that the world looks really good from this angle.



Really good!



A great break for us all.



I started knitting a skirt for Chloe while we were away and must have been channeling the lovely Leslie because I finished it just after we arrived home. I finally found time today to sew in the waistband and add the elastic.



I had to increase the needle size to get the right size and I think it may still shrink a bit. I like it as it is but I think I will have another go at one for Lucinda and add some more stitches on the increase row to make it a bit swirlier. I'm sure she'd like that being a five year old girl.

And look what other little project I have been ploughing on with.



Now to quilting it. I have had some great chats to the girls at Amitie and come up with some really cool quilting ideas - you will have to wait and see though.



I have two or three (or four or five) other quilting projects waiting so I want to get this finished and to its new owner as soon as I can.

I have also whipped up a bag for a girlfriend's birthday.



I enjoyed a great night out with the girls from my mother's group last night and gave it to her then. Enjoy it Reggie, I hope you like it.



I'll leave you with a snap I took earlier this week while at a friend's. They were looking after Daphne and brought out all their dress up jewellery which is one her favourite games. She's had such a tough week since then poor little girl and this photo just makes me smile.