I ♥ hearts

This is the ornament I made for Peta for the Christmas Ornament Swap. The swap was for an ornament no bigger than 5x5" and a handmade card. The card was a simple watercolour of the ornament but I don't have a photo of it. The heart I made double sided. It was a lot of fun doing the swap and very manageable.

I do wish you all a very restful and merry xmas and a thank you to all of you who make blogging fun and for letting me know I am not talking to myself. See you on the other side

xxxxx
ps....no I haven't finished all the sewing I had hoped to, I still have a little time though and will do what I can. HoHoHo

a little progress

I have made a few things and there are a few more to go. Why did I do this to myself? I feel now I may have to make a mercy dash to the multi nationals to buy things which is not what I want to do.
I do know one thing though, that a chronic illness and pressure on oneself to make things by a deadline don't mix.
Next year I clearly need a better plan, to start earlier....like in June maybe. Probably buy mostly handmade instead of making it.
It is a wonderful feeling to make things for people but I think the main problem is leaving it so late I have caused so much stress on myself. Waiting for the days I feel really well......
So, next year I will be much better organised....I hope

...........

making a start.......

what xmas??

I know there are lots of things I should be doing. Shopping maybe, writing cards? nah not doing that anymore.... trying to help save the planet, so it will be ecards. I should be sewing all those zillions of things I told myself I would be making this year and I can't sleep at night because I haven't started them yet. How many sewing days left????

But I would rather put my head in the sand about xmas and go op shopping. A much better thing to be doing.......... and look, the suitcase fairies were with me again

this one is a large one with crazy expandable closures that extend so you can shut the case twice it's normal height.....
and this small one is actually what I was hoping to find.
I need another one of these for art supplies so I was stoked when I found it. (these two were found in two different op shops on two different days but within days of each other!)
and the tea towel fairies were there too....
I will definately start sewing tonight, I MUST.......

biscuits to bake....

A daily read of mine for quite some time now has been Down To Earth. A wonderful blog about living a simple and frugal life. It is full of ideas, recipes and patterns. There is also a Down to Earth forum which is great fun with community, discussion and ideas from other peeps.

Here is a biscuit recipe from Down to Earth. It is cheap and easy to make and can be varied in so many ways.

500g butter
1 can of condensed milk
1 cup sugar
5 cups wholemeal SR flour

cream butter and sugar add milk and flour, roll into balls and flatten, cook at 180 degrees for 10 minutes

you can add choc chips or top with sprinkles or indent with thumb and fill with jam, the variations are endless. In this photo I have white choc chips in them. This makes a huge dough and I divide it into 3 lots and bake one and freeze the other two then make a fresh batch every few days.

It really is a fabulous recipe. Of course you can make it with white flour and I make it with gluten free flour. I think they could be tarted up by dipping in melted chocolate for a gift or left quite plain for lunches or snacks.
A great recipe to try. You'll make them all the time I bet, I do now....

early pressie

Recently I had the wonderful surprise of winning Robyn of Daisy Quilts's giveaway. My goodies arrived this week and look they were even wrapped like a xmas present!

Everything is sooo gorgeous Robyn, thank you so much. It was such a lovely thing to receive these in the mail xx

sweet swap

I signed up for the Christmas Ornament Swap over at Daisy Quilts and my partner was Peta from Pippiwillow. My very sweet ornament arrived this week, it is so gorgeous. Peta has done such wonderful work, I love it, thank you Peta!

I can't show you the one I made for Peta yet, I forgot to take a photo in my haste to post it, so I will put one up when I get one off Peta.


Thank you to Robyn and Clare for all your hard work in organising such a fun swap!! hohoho

thrifted love

While dropping off bags of stuff to the op shop last week I thought "no I won't go in today, I'll just drop and go" but the temptation was toooooooo hard to resist, so I went in. It's always the way, I think. When you don't have plans to go treasure hunting that you find the BEST stuff...

a brand new crocheted blanket.........

a fab table cloth....more cushions are on the way with this baby. I can probably fit 2 out of it.

fabric OFF THE BOLT! doesn't happen often, about 2 metres of what looks to be original 70s fabric - heaven

and this little guy, just right to add to my others........

I need them for storage you understand....in the studio...they are all full of fabric and linens to be reused in some way.......
this trip was one of the best ever........total bliss for me

hot + not

I thought this week I would join in with Loobylu's what's hot and what's not.......

hot...

playing in my journal with ideas for new girls/fairies/angels......

starting a new journal.....Wreck this Journal

found some FABULOUS treasures this week at the op shop (have to take photos)

Dr Who Special on ABC1 tomorrow night

bought heavily reduced sweet fabric to make xmas presents

Our dog Ruby is fine after we found a scary lump on her

not hot....

the vet bill after Ruby's biopsy......

not being well enough to start sewing xmas presents

feeling totally over xmas before it starts, it feels so enforced and a hard thing to stop because the family love it

I have joined in a bit late I think but if you want to see who else is joining in pop over to Claire's place at Loobylu

happy weekend xxx

warm women

After seeing it on Gina's blog, I decided to join in and help with the making of scarves for the Warm Women Project run by the very thoughtful and sweet Claire.

I was hoping to knit a scarf but wasn't sure how I would go with my "knitter's arm" still tending to give me grief. But I had rested it a while since working on the Harry Potter scarf and decided to use 12mm needles and just go for it.

I made the purple scarf and with strapping my arm up it went well. The novelty yarn is soooo soft it is just divine. The scarf on the right I knitted a while ago and had in my gift stash so I wanted to donate that one too.

BUT, the one I love the MOST is the felted wool blanketing and fabric one made by the Eldest. She wanted to contribute too so she made this very sweet scarf. I would of loved it for myself!!
You can drop over to Claire's blog and see other wonderful scarves that have been made and check out the GORGEOUS felted one made by Gina.