Down Under Doll Quilt Swap 4

Being that I’m a swap addict, I participated in the latest Aussie doll quilt swap on Flickr.

There were two parts to the swap – one was the regular doll size quilt swap and a second swap (for anyone interested) was a Christmas runner swap…well yes, two swaps at once… how could I resist?

The regular doll quilt swap – my partner was a little quiet on Flickr and even now, I’m not sure if she has received her mini quilt. I couldn’t hold off any longer and decided that it’s time to share.

 

 

This is the doll quilt which I sent to my partner. It’s 4 x NY Beauty blocks and I have to admit that it was difficult to part with this quilt. For the longest time I wanted to try to make these blocks and this was the perfect excuse. The fabric is called Baby Jane by Eric & Julie Comstock of Cosmo Cricket for Moda.

I was so lucky to have an amazing swap partner and someone who I’m friends with on social media. For the longest time, I’d been drooling over the doll quilt which Jess of Scrappy n Happy was making.

Can you imagine my surprise when I received my parcel and saw that it was from Jess!?!?! Yay!!

Here is the beautiful quilt which Jess made for me. The applique is just amazing.

 

 

Isn’t it just stunning? Not only did I receive this beautiful quilt, but Jess also sent me a gorgeous little zippy pouch made with fun owl fabrics. Yes, she knows me well. Thank you Jess. I loved it!

Receiving this doll quilt inspired my wall of mini quilts – here are many of the doll quilts and mug rugs which I’ve either made myself or received through swaps.

 

 

There area couple of others, but they’re being used in other areas of the house.

The second part of the swap was the Christmas runner swap.

This is the Christmas runner which I made for my partner Nora of iQuilt.

 

 

I used some of my favourite Aussie Christmas fabric for the star centres. Christmas koalas are just cuteness!

This is the runner I received from my partner Kirsten of Gemini Stitches.

 

 

And lucky me, it’s double sided. I can’t decide which side I like more, so I’m alternating it every couple of days.

 

 

Thanks to Kirsten of Gemini Stitches and Nora of iQuilt for organising the swaps.

Okay, back to the sewing room. I have a few more cushions and a quilt to finish before Christmas and then I’m freeeeeeeeee.

Crafty Books for Christmas

It’s not a secret that I love, love, love books and magazines. I have an ever growing library of craft books and enjoy flicking through them when I’m in need of some inspiration. Is there anything better than flicking through a beautifully photographed vintage stitching book, with your morning coffee?

Gifting books to friends and family is also something which I love to do. Books are a gift which keep on giving, right through the year. Especially if they’re filled with lot’s of projects that inspire creativity.

Here are a few books which I’ve been reading, flicking, exploring, enjoying, ooohing, aaaahing and which are currently inspiring me.

 

Celebrate with a Stitch

by Mandy Shaw

 

This beautiful book is contains a collection of projects to help make your family celebrations, extra special. There are so many celebrations throughout the year – birth, birthdays, weddings, Christmas, Easter – and this book is about the making of decorations and gifts for these events.

Celebrate with a Stitch is a beautifully photographed book. But, as well as beautiful photos, the book has excellent images to teach the reader some basic embroidery stitches. Stitches which are the foundation of most stitching projects. What is extra special is that there are images for both right and left handers (something which we don’t see very often).

There is a section in this book, dedicated to bunting. Yes, all about bunting! Nothing says celebration like a string of bunting and after seeing all of the pretty examples, I was inspired to create some of my own Christmas bunting.

 

 

Celebrate with a Stitch is available at Booktopia or CanDo Books.

ISBN: 9781446302644 / Format: Paperback / Pages: 128

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

101 Ways to Stitch Craft Create Vintage

by Jane Trollop (Editor)

 

This is a book filled with a collection of vintage inspired craft projects. Fun and practical projects that are simple to make and perfect for anyone wanting to embrace a vintage lifestyle.

101 Ways to Stitch, Craft, Create Vintage is divided into fashion, food & drink, gifts, home & garden, techniques and offers the reader the opportunity to try something new and expand their crafting skills.

Fashion includes projects like a vintage fabric corsage, a vintage print quilted make-up bag or a broomstick crochet scarf.

Food & Drink is my favourite section and includes some delicious recipes which I am hoping to try over the next weeks. Recipes such as, lemon and sultana shortbread, crystallized rose petals, egg custard tarts and strawberry vodka.

The gifts section has some lovely ideas to make for friends including some vintage button signage (using mismatched buttons – which we all have in our craft rooms), pretty floral bunting and an embroidered sewing needle case. There is also a pattern for a crocheted tea set, which is just perfect for a child’s play set.

 

 

Home & Garden includes some lovely vintage inspired projects, which will make you want to start working on them immediately. Some of the projects in this section include a pretty teacup candle (remelting wax into a vintage teacup to make a pretty up-cycled candle), antique doily cushion (a great way to use precious gifts, handmade by grandma), a chair back tidy (great idea for the sewing room) and a polka dot pan holder (which is part sewn and part knitted).

This stunning collection of craft projects will inspire you to stitch, craft and create your very own vintage lifestyle!

101 Ways to Stitch, Craft, Create Vintage is available at Booktopia and CanDo Books.

ISBN: 9781446303726 / Format: Paperback / Number Of Pages: 128

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Stitching for the Kitchen

by Gooseberry Patch

 

Home is where the heart is, and the heart of every home is the kitchen.

Stitching for the Kitchen includes 30 easy projects to make for the home. You will be inspired to sew, patchwork, applique, crochet and embroider beautiful handmade projects, not only for your kitchen, but for your friends and families too.

This book is beautifully photographed, with excellent step by step instructions on how to make each project. The embroidery patterns are printed on the last few pages and there is a large folder in the back with the full size patterns for things like aprons and bags.

Not only does this book have wonderful new projects and ideas, you will also find some delicious recipes sprinkled within the pages. The Warm and Toasty Toaster Cozy is accompanied with a recipe for Irish Caraway Bread.

 

Stitching for the Kitchen is thick cover, spiral bound book which is just fantastic – especially when you’re trying to follow instructions, as it won’t close itself and you lose your placing. How many times have you been following a pattern and the pages just flip closed?

Honestly, the ladies at Gooseberry Patch have thought of everything when creating this book and it’s a wonderful addition to the sewing library. I highly recommend this book – especially if you love to make handmade gifts for your friends and family.

 

 

Personally I have followed a some of these patterns and made a few things to gift family this Christmas. I won’t show you just yet, as I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise for them.

Stitching for the Kitchen is available at Booktopia and CanDo Books. Do yourself a favour and add this one to your Christmas wish list.

ISBN: 9781936096572 / Format: Paperback / Number Of Pages: 144

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A Sewn Vintage Lifestyle

by Verna Mosquera

 

 

Verna Mosquera of The Vintage Spool pattern company and fabric designer for Free Spirit, shows readers how to add a romantic, vintage charm to their everyday lives through 20 charming, useful and beautiful sewn projects.

A Sewn Vintage Lifestyle has instructions for everything from bags, aprons and patchwork pillows to applique quilts and embroidered wall art. Readers will love creating a handmade vintage lifestyle.

 

 

The projects in the book are grouped into Entertaining & Gathering, Refreshing & Rejuvenating and Relaxing & Resting.

There are so many beautiful things to make and the reader will not be short of ideas or inspiration. Verna has assembled excellent step by step instructions for applique and embroidery plus guides for cutting and piecing. The instructional photos are clear, concise and perfect for the beginner or intermediate sewer.

 

 

A Sewn Vintage Lifestyle is a wonderful book for the crafter who enjoys creating beautiful, appliqued or stitched projects. Many of these projects aren’t quick finishes and will take time to complete - but the end results will definitely be worth the time and effort.

Available at Booktopia and CanDo Books.

ISBN: 9781440230424 / Format: Paperback / Pages: 144

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Stitch it for Autumn

by Lynette Anderson

 

 

Transform your home with beautiful, seasonal craft projects to stitch and sew. Lynette Anderson has some quirky designs and a very distinctive palette which are the perfect combination for creating beautiful Autumnal projects.

Lynette is a well known Aussie designer. She has a fantastic blog where she shares her work and adventures. Lynette is very generous lady and has many free patterns on her site too.

Stitch it for Autumn is a fun book filled with seasonal stitching projects. The 8 projects are warm and help welcome in the cooling weather. The book features a General Techniques section which describes the basic techniques needed to make and finish the projects in this book. It’s great for beginners who have an interest in stitching and country inspired projects.

 

 

The projects in Stitch it for Autumn include a quilt, purse, tea cosy, pillow and even a punch-needle design basket.

The back of the book is where you will find the patterns to transfer onto your own fabrics and work with. Lynette includes the embroidery thread colour guide for her projects – with both Cosmo and DMC thread codes.

Stitch it for Autumn is available at Booktopia, CanDo Books or Lynette’s own store,The Little Quilt Store.

ISBN: 9781446303207 / Format: Paperback / Number Of Pages: 48

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Quilt Improv

by Lucie Summers

 

 

Incredible modern quilts from everyday inspirations.

Quilt Improv is a fun book by Lucie Summers. It’s bright, colourful, happy, improvisational… and fun. That’s the word which comes to mind when I flick through the pages of this book.

Lucie Summers, who blogs at Summersville, has created a wonderful book, sharing her improvisational style. Admittedly, improv quilting isn’t for everyone, but in a lot cases, it could be that the quilters aren’t sure of what to do, where to go, or how to create a quilt without a pattern sheet to follow.

 

 

Quilt Improv is divided into a couple of main sections. The first main section is called The Building Blocks. This section describes in step by step details, how to create the 13 base block units. Most of these are can be traced back to traditional blocks, but with Lucie’s improvisational twist. I absolutely adore her take on the Log Cabin block and the Chevrons.

The second section of the book is where we find Lucie’s larger quilts. Here she shares the inspiration behind them and gives guidance on making them, using the blocks (in all sorts of combinations) from the first section.

It truly is a vibrant and enjoyable book with a tonne of new ideas. If you know a quilter who likes quilts which are non-traditional, a little quirky and who likes to try new methods, this is the perfect book for them.

Available at Booktopia and CanDo Books.

ISBN: 9781446302941 / Format: Paperback / Pages: 128

 

Disclaimer: I received copies of these books to review.

All thoughts are my own and any links provided are NOT affiliate links.

Time...

Time is flying by - and so much of it is a haze.

Weren't these two only born the other week? And then suddenly, here we are at the end of year school Christmas concert...





Life is just filled with so many commitments and activities, I fear we're not taking the time to appreciate the little, everyday things.

Are your days filled with too much? How do you combat that feeling of 'time slipping away' too fast?

Raising the Roof…

In Partnership with Monier

As you know, we’ve just built and moved into our new house. We’ve been living here for about 2 months and at times, it’s still hard to believe that we’re actually here. Finally here.

FlyBoy has been hard at work in the back yard. He’s been building a huge retaining wall over the past couple of weeks and it’s looking fantastic. Yesterday, the back turf was laid and it’s now looking like a home, not a building site.

Now that the back is just about finished (and all of the heavy machinery has finished cutting through the front yard - making an awful mess - we can start working on the front garden and making it look nice.

 

 

We need to plant some lawn seed and some flowers (I’m thinking white iceberg roses and gardenias) to make the front look nice. Better. Finished. Homey. You know what I mean, yes?

We spent a lot of time looking at and choosing the right bricks, roof tiles and trim colours. I actually really enjoyed the process of choosing the right colours for our new home, but I know that it can seem like a daunting task. A lot of friends and family, tell me that they’d never build a house because they don’t want to have to go through the process of deciding on colours or styles.

When thinking about the colours for your home, it’s important to consider all the products that make up the external façade. The roof for instance represents around 30% of the look, the walls 60%, and other elements like fascia and gutter represent about 10%.

 

Image Source

We had two options for roofing when building our home – the more traditional roof tiles or steel roofing sheets. As our home is quite traditional, we knew that we wanted roof tiles. Did you know that roof tiles come in many colours, shapes and sizes? Honestly, roof tiles aren’t something I’d really thought about in too much detail – that is until we had to choose them for the house.

Monier provides a range of roof tiles to suit your home’s individual needs. As one of Australia’s most diverse and experienced roofing companies and with an extensive range of colours and materials, Monier is the top cat in Australian roofing.

Monier can help you combine the right products, colours and textures to create that perfect scheme for your home with the help of their online interactive tool - ‘Colourclick’.

Since choosing ours (which was very early on in the building process), my parents have had their roof re-tiled. Helping them choose the new roof tile shape and colour was fun. They went from the traditional red terracotta roof, to a chocolate brown roof, which has given their house a whole new look.

If you’re building a new house, or looking at re-roofing your current house, Monier have solutions with their extensive range and experience. Visit www.monier.com.au for more details.

Is your roof in need of a fresh new look?

And most importantly, is it Christmas light friendly?

FlyBoy is getting up onto our roof, over the next week to place some Christmas lights… Griswold style.

 

Image source

Sweet & Savoury Food Gifts

I love Craftsy. Love, love, love it. I often have Craftsy classes playing on my iPad when I spend time in my sewing room.

My classes have all been sewing related… that is, until now. As a Craftsy affiliate, I was offered a free food class to try out. Being that I love to cook, and I adore cooking shows, it was certainly not a hardship. With Christmas just around the corner, I chose to try out the Sweet & Savoury Food Gifts with Diane Morgan.

 

 

Diane shares some great recipes, which are perfect for preparing at home and giving to friends and family this festive season. We watch Diane make some savoury food items and then we move onto the sweet items. Peppermint bark or Limoncello anyone?

In the final chapter, Diane shares ideas for presenting and wrapping the food gifts. Some fun printable tags are also included in the class to add lovely personal touch.

As soon as I saw Diane making her Famous Holiday Pecans, I needed to make them. I didn’t have any pecans in my pantry, so I improvised with what I had... hazelnuts and pistachios. I’ve since made another batch, and this time with pecans which work a lot better than hazelnuts as they have more little cracks and crevices to absorb to sweet coating.

 

 

Diane takes us step by step on how to make a  brown sugar meringue (my first time ever making meringue). Once it’s ready, melt some butter on a baking pan and stir the nuts through the meringue mixture.

 

 

Lay out the nutty meringuey deliciouness on the buttered tray and bake, stirring the nuts every 10-15 minutes until they’re golden.

 

 

 

Let the nuts cool before packaging them in a lovely jar or cellophane bag.

Honestly, once you taste one, you won’t be able to stop yourself from eating another and another and another… I plan on sharing some of these with family. A jar of holiday pecans with a nice bottle of bourbon and it’s the perfect gift for an uncle or brother.

Do you like giving and receiving food gifts?

What foodie items do you like to gift?