Lovely weekend

I had a lovely weekend away with my sisters.  Just a girls weekend, lots of love and laughter.
We stayed at a beautiful apartment on Lake Mulwala, this was the scene from our door.  Stunning

At dusk the lake was magical and this black swan made the perfect backdrop to the ripples in the water.

Alas, back to reality today, and back to work.  But great memories and fun times.

Judy

Birthday Card

I can show this card now, I made it for my sisters birthday . Magnolia Lane papers and embellishments were used. Another 'pretty' card, so unlike my usual style.  I love the lace behind the embellishments, it seemed to really suit the layout

I want to make some more Christmas cards, so that I have them ready when December rolls around.  The way this year is speeding by, it will be here before we know it.  Do you plan this far ahead for Christmas?

I love this next graphic from Heartfelt Creations ... I can really relate to it!  I can only imagine what is hiding in my craft room.

Enjoy your day

Judy

Bandana Bibs

Well, I did get some sewing completed yesterday - more bandanna bibs for this cool dude. My niece's son Finn. He is wearing one that I made when they came for a visit last month.

I have just used some basic "boy" type fabric from my stash, although next month I will look for some more trendy pieces of fabric.  I just need to sort through ALL my fabric a bit better.

The next job on my list is to make up 10 Elf kits for a workshop to be held at the end of April.  If I start now, I might be ready by then! ha ha.

Till next time

Judy

Another member of the family

Our family has increased with the arrival of my Great Nephew Finn Lucas Lonergan

He is the first child for my niece Kate and her husband Matt, and also the first grandchild for my sister Sue and her husband Wayne.  So a lot of firsts.  I may be biased, but he looks so cute, I hope it will not be too long before I see him in person.  

Another photo, his first sleep in his own bed ..

Still no craft, but exciting news on the online store.  I am now stocking new product ranges for cardmakers, scrapbookers and stampers.  Pop across and look at all the new products here.

Have fun

Judy

Babysitting

I have been busy babysitting various animals/pets lately as well as looking after gardens in the hot summer, therefore not much (or not any) craft time.

These lovely brown hens are waiting for me every morning to let them out - 9 in total.  They are great layers, and one of the benefits of caring for them is fresh eggs!

Then these cute little silkie hens, one mother hen and three chicks, although the chicks are growing quickly.

Next comes the blue budgerigar, I must admit he is a favourite, although he is a little cranky.  Not sure of his age, but he loves his apple treat each morning.

Then the cockatiel, he did not want to have his photo taken this morning, fluffed up his feathers as if to say, "get out of here"!

He loves to be hand fed sunflower seeds, and gives me a "wolf whistle" every now and then.  Good for the ego!

Now for a funny sight this morning, when I went out to change my dogs water, a little frog was taking a swim.  I do not know where he come from, but he was set free in the garden

He is a little hard to see in the dirty bowl, and it was only 6:00 am, but it was such a surprise I had to get my camera.

I will be having a trade table at the Murrumbidgee Quilters Exhibition at Griffith on Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th March, so if you are in the area, come and check out all the great quilts as well as saying Hi!

Until then

Judy

What A Week

What a week!  It started with all good intentions until I came down with a head cold.  I had a sore throat on Sunday and by the time Monday evening came around, I was feeling terrible.  I spent the next 4 days in bed, yes it was that bad!  I detest late winters colds, everyone around me seems to have it, and I thought I was going to get through winter without one, no such luck.  I am still a little congested, mainly when the cold evening air comes in, but definitely on the mend. 

Yesterday, Saturday I actually stayed up for the entire day, I sat in front of the TV and stuffed my "old St Nick" Santa from my last post.

I finished him off today, and although he doesn't look like the pattern cover photo, I was happy with the end result

 

 

Another Christmas project crossed off the list.  This is my next one - from my own  Cat 'n Cart Crafts designs, Xmas Elf.  A quick and easy project -  as there are no arms and legs in this pattern, you actually just stuff the shirt and trousers, sneaky!

 

Also - CONGRATULATIONS to Kate & Matt (my niece and her husband) who announced that they are expecting their first child.  Fantastic news.

Hope you had a great weekend and I certainly hope this cold will disappear completely this week, and I will be back to my normal self

Judy

Sunday Sewing

I am nearly a week late with this post, no excuses.  Last Sunday my sister Sue & I had a day in the craft room.  The weather has been unbearably hot - 43 degrees, so since my air conditioner was now working it was an ideal place to be.



Sue's Sewing

My Sewing

We were testing out some small gift ideas, and we each completed four little items.

1.  Heart Pincushion from Moda Bakeshop
2.  iPhone cover
3.  Chapstick Cover
4.  Little Bunny Bag - seen on Selina Quilts Blog last Easter

The Heart Pincushion was quick and easy and used 2 co-ordinating fabrics, therefore both of ours were the same.  Nice and thick and will be capable of holding a lot of pins.  This would be an ideal little Valentine's gift for a sewing friend.

Front

Back

The iPhone cover, fits the phone snugly and securely.  It was extremely difficult to sew the final two seams on each side, due to the thickness of the wadding, fabric, interfacing as well as trying to contend with the seams. 

 

 

Chapstick Cover - don't we all need one of these.  Makes it easy to find and can be clipped onto the inside of your handbag.  This is a little different design from the ones I made here.  I think I prefer these ones.

 

Finally the little Bunny Bag - this was very easy to make, even if I had to pull out my sewing machine instruction book to check out how to sew a buttonhole.  It only uses 4 x 5" squares.  I can see these filled with little Easter Eggs for my nieces this Easter.

 

 

I will certainly be making more of each of these items, for the upcoming Red Carpet Market Day in Leeton.  Today, I started ... I made four more heart Pincushions and finished off another two little fabric boxes.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, and for the next week actually the heat wave conditions are going to continue, so I guess I will get a lot more sewing finished. 

 

I hope it is cooler where you are

 

Judy

What a Week This Has Been ....

 

Fires, Tree Branches Falling, Sickness, Unexpected Travel, Flat Tyre, that is ENOUGH!

 

Till next week

Judy

More Fabric Boxes

My sister Sue came over for a sewing night, last night.  She wanted to make some of the Fabric Boxes.  She completely finished 1 and had another 2 completed to the sew on the buttons stage.  I loved the colours of her fabric.

 

 

 

This is what the box looks like before folding down the corners.  Looks a little like a crown or a noodle box (?)

 

 

The next photo is of my sister, concentrating hard on her hand sewing.  She is going to kill chastise me for putting this photo up, but it is all good fun.

 

 

I was supposed to be sewing, but could not settle on anything.  I tried to work out how to cut triangles using the 60 degree line on my quilters ruler, and it was not working.  The more I tried to figure it out, the more frustrated I become ... this morning, it worked like a charm.. Just goes to show what a good nights sleep does for your concentration.

 

Until next time

Judy

Reindeer Craft

I managed to get a little craft making into the day, especially with my nephew.

Firstly we made some "Twig Reindeers" - as my brother lives on a property there was no shortage of branches / twigs to choose from.

Just choose some that are a "Y" shape and this is the result after adding a couple of google eyes and a pom pom nose.

Next we gathered up some more twigs and toilets rolls and made these two reindeers - they look so good!

 

Both the above ideas were sourced from Pinterest.

All the children participated in  making the Christmas Tree decorations, however I was too busy to take photos.  By far the favourite was the "bird in the wreath" - see here for the original post.

I am not sure if I will have time for any more craft before Christmas, although I should of taken photos yesterday of the inventive ways we were wrapping gift vouchers - I can tell you, that not one of the finished gifts looked like a gift voucher. Maybe it is better that I did not take photos, as family members read my blog.

Hope you are all organised for Christmas? For the first time in many years, I am not at all organised, so I had better get a wiggle on ...

Until next time, Take care

Judy

Did you know I am a "GREAT" Aunt?

I love being called Great Aunt Judith, doesn't that conjure up a ancient old lavender smelling person that you have to visit and let kiss you ... it gives me quite a giggle that these two little rascals call me "Great Aunt Judith"

These two are my eldest sisters', youngest sons' children, Clay & Brooke

Ann (my sister) has dressed them up for a 1920's birthday party, and she sent me the photos which I had to share.

 

 

Don't they look adorable?

 

 

Lots of new products being ordered for my online store for Christmas, so I am being busy, although I would love to take time to make something for Halloween.

 

Judy  (aka Great Aunt Judith)

 

 

Pink Ribbon Gifts and Birthday Party

As mentioned in my last post, I finished off my guests pink ribbon gifts .. now I am not going to show you what I made until after the dinner as I know a couple follow my blog, he he

The first photo is a easy one - Pink Ribbon Water Bottles

All I have done is here, is printed out the pink ribbon graphics, and just wrapped it around the bottle. I think it looks effective.

Next is the mystery bag of gifts

I can tell you there are three little gifts inside these cute pink candy striped bags tied off with pink tulle.

All Done ...

Then last weekend, we went to Tumut to celebrate my nephew Thomas's 9th birthday.  I have to tell you after playing a game of soccer with the family, I am absolutely sure I am not as young as I used to be ... boy, I ached the next day, and that is not just because I had football stud marks in my ankles, ouch!

  

Close-up of the cake, I did not feel at all guilty having a slice with all that fruit on top .. it was delicious.

Until next time

Judy

I'm Back

As you are aware, I have been away for a few weeks.  I attended my niece's wedding at Maroochydore, which was wonderful.

She looked absolutely gorgeous - the bride and groom

The bride with her parents

As you can see from the photos, the weather was fantastic, although we did have some doubts about rain showers early in the day

I used this occasion to stay longer in Queensland and have a "well deserved" holiday - it was great just to laze around, walk on the beach etc.

However back to reality and the COLD weather - hope to get back into my craft soon so that I have something to show you

Enjoy your day
Judy

Busy weekend

Did you have a busy weekend?  I sure did!
A couple of birthdays, online store to be updated, dreaded housework to be done, a little sewing

Congratulations to my nephew Ryan, he turns 18 today... HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  He had a party last night and everyone was very well behaved, which is a relief when you hear of so many horror stories of young ones gatecrashing parties and causing mischief.

I remembered to take a couple of photos of my yarn eggs - I like this one of the little chick poking his head out.

 

This one looks a little spooky with the owl eyes being quite dominant

 

Displayed on a platter

 

I think they would also look great filled with little chocolate Easter eggs, however I did not want to tempt myself, once the photo session was over

I finished sewing another 4 little wallets, two from last week have already been relocated.  I just need to sew the press stud closure on these ones.

 

 

Until next time

Judy

Sewing Time

Gosh, it was good to spend some time in the craft studio today.  It has been about 2 weeks since I have sewn, and I was having withdrawal symptoms!

I needed to make a small gift bag for a family members birthday this Tuesday, so I quickly made this one from some beautiful Satin fabric.  Nothing too fancy, just sew the sides, box the bottom, hem the top and then sew a ribbon to the back so that you can bring it around the front to tie a bow  ... easy!

 

Filled with goodies, ready for gift giving.  Much better than a paper gift bag!  Soft and flexible!

Then I decided to make some "Little Wallets".  This is a pattern my sister Ann sent to me, designed by Valori Wells.  These wallets have a number of uses, for your business cards, credit cards, drivers license, cash, anything you want to pop inside.

   

 

The wallet has three generous sized pockets inside, which can hold all your cards, and then keep them safe with the press stud closure.

 

They were such fun to make, and they may be another small gift that I can add to the Breast Cancer Drain Bags.

Also drying today, are some Yarn Eggs.  These are a Easter version of my String Balls, see here.

Excuse the mess in the background of this photo ..

The yarn was strung around a small water balloon, this was great for the sizing, however it was much harder to keep the yarn even as the bottom portion is so small.

I will show you the end results once they have dried.

Hope you have been able to get some time for your favourite craft this weekend

Judy