Eurovision 2010

Well, my favourite didn't make it to the finals so thought I'd share it with you all...



I'll be watching the finals anyway, Germany's not too bad and Poland maybe. I quite liked Greece, very catchy.

Hope your all having a nice weekend so far.

Forebear Friday

From left to right this is my Grandfather, Pete, my Uncle Piers, my Mum, Julia and my Grandmother, Maureen. Taken in the West Indies in 1949.

My Creative Space...

Since I opened my shop yesterday I need to photograph some more things I've been making.

These are iPad sleeves.

It was Shane's idea for the simple design. I made him that black one because he's not a crafty/patterny kind of guy so all black was his request.

No, we don't have an iPad yet, but Shane made me a pretend one out of wood (how sweet is that). It's to the exact measurements of a real one so I could make sure they fitted perfectly.

They're made from old clothes and fabric I found at op shops and lined with polar fleece.

So photography is what I'll be doing today (if the sun comes out a bit more). Go and check out all the other crafty people at Kootoyoo.

I did it!

I opened my madeit shop today!

I put a link in my sidebar over there, under the about me bit, you know, just in case you want to have a look or anything.

I've only listed these five pincushions so far, but I'll add more to it slowly.

PS...don't ask how long it took to get these pincushions to balance on top of each other.

I made a seat cushion

This is the fabric that my sister gave me a few months ago. I've been thinking what to do with it and finally decided on a seat cushion for my desk chair. I did have a folded up quilt on it but this looks much nicer I think. Don't look to closely at the sewing, it's pretty bad. It's the first time I've put piping on anything and I was just winging it. I paper pieced the hexagon side and machine did the rest.

Forebear Friday

This is Ann and John, mother and father of James (along with 11 other children!). Taken in about 1911. These are my Great Great Grandparents on my Dad's side. John came over from Portugal when he was 21 or so to escape his very strict father (or so the story goes). Ann was born in England.

When I was researching the family history on Ancestry I kept seeing another person with the same family members in her tree as well, so I sent her a message and it's ended up that we're 2nd or 3rd cousins, but the funniest bit is, she lives just in the next suburb and we get along really well and have kids roughly the same age...small world. So these are Chantal's Great Great Grandparents as well. Chantal does lovely crafty things also, maybe it runs in the family.

Little notes

Joe got given this note last week from Susie, a girl in his Kindergarten class...

So the other night he wrote a note back...

She lives at the local cemetery so Joe's looking forward to helping out after school and running round all the gravestones.

Saturday night picnic

Last night we (me, the kids, hubby and sister-in-law) went down to McMahons Point for a picnic dinner (slow cooked chicken and pasta). The kids had a good play on the newish park and we went for a walk around the headland, then sat on a picnic rug and ate dinner looking out over the city.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Hexagon pin cushions

I made these last week for Danielle over at Itchin to get Stitchin.

Hope you're all having great weekends so far.

Forebear Friday

My Mum, Julia, and my Nanny (Dad's mum), Marjorie, the seamstress from this post. Taken in 1971.

My Creative Space...

Unfortunately there's not much creativeness going on here today but go and check out some at Kootoyoo.

Op shopping

I came out with this lot today, no more op shopping for me for a while I think. I'm going to use some of this fabric to make things for my shop (which isn't open yet).

Quilt

I haven't got anything crafty to show you at the moment so here's a quilt I finished earlier in the year. My very first quilt...very easy. I think it was out of Better Homes and Gardens. I used old jeans and shirts for one side and a big piece of fabric my SIL brought back from Africa for the other half. The only hard bit was to snip all the edges.

Forebear Friday

Here's a photo of my Grandfather, Pete, and Grandmother, Maureen getting married at St Peter's in Rome during World War II (apparently the first two british officers to get married there).

The story of the wedding was read on BBC Radio a few years later (in 1957) and we still have the transcript which is a great read. They both had two or three weeks leave from service and decided to meet in Rome and get married, but pete didn't turn up on time and so Maureen, who had hitched a ride on a plane from Egypt with only a nightie, a wedding dress and a toothbrush got some help tracking him down from some nice army men. The story goes on to tell of how they track him down in a field hospital with the flu somewhere in Italy and transport him to Rome. The story ended happily as you can see by the photo.

My Creative Space...

Yesterday me and my sister went to four op shops and I came out with some nice floral sheets to use for some skirts and dresses for Ella. Might get started on one today.

Check out some more creativeness at Kootoyoo. Thanks Kirsty!

If only the world revolved around a fabric economy

Today I got all this loveliness in the mail... (except the mug, that's mine)

It's from Danielle over at Itchin to get stitchin to be used to make her a couple of tiny hexagon pin cushions and guess what the best part is...I get to keep all the left overs, and there will be heaps because, as you can see, the pin cushion doesn't use much. Guess what else...it's all Liberty fabric! This is the first time I've ever touched any. There's also a gorgeous bag as well (did you make this Danielle? I forgot to ask).

No money changing hands at all, just fabric! I'm happy because I get more fabric and Danielle gets pin cushions in the fabrics of her choice.

This one's my favourite...

So, if anyone else wants a tiny hexagon pin cushion, let me know and you can send me some fabric to feed my fabric economy. I might regret saying that and have to renege at any moment but we'll see.

Followers gadget

I hadn't really thought about adding a followers gadget until a kind commenter mentioned it the other day. I never use them on anyone else's blog, I just subscribe through Google Reader so it didn't seem important. But after doing some reading about the followers gadget it seems to be a great way to get readers to come back (please come back!) and to let other readers find more blogs like yours, so I added one...look to the right under the archive bit.

Photo courtesy of Wood Cottage Farms

So, who's going to be my first follower? Come on, don't let me have none for too long!

Look what came this morning...

...my very first business cards!!

I looked around at a few places that kind people had suggested, but ended up getting them done at Dynamite Express Cards. I highly recommend them, it was very easy and a good price ($30 for 250, including postage) I ordered them on Tuesday, so not even a week to get to me and they're just what I pictured. I was a bit worried the brown would turn out a different shade than what I imagined, but it's perfect. If only someone had built a website where you could send kudos to businesses!

Now all I need is to make a business card holder. Might be todays creativeness.

Peg apron

I saw this picture in a book I borrowed from the library...

...and I just had to make one.

It's an apron to wear while you hang out the washing, so cute and so useful and it really does make the job go faster. Anything that makes hanging out washing go faster is a winner in my opinion!