sending out an S.O.S.

inspiration quilt by oh-cherry-sew

image source

I know you're out there, fabric horders and stashers, I need your help!

A dear friend of mine has a daughter obssessed with mermaids. 

She is gearing up to moving into her own bedroom so my friend wants to decorate the room with a mermaid/underwater theme.

While discussing this with her one day I jumped on pinterest and showed her some of the beautiful quilts made with Heather Ross' Mendocino fabric. 

She fell. in. love.


inspiration quilt by Erica Randall
image source

So this is where I need your help. 

As we all know this fabric is rare as hens teeth, but I have cooked up a plan to make a quilt for my little friends birthday later this year, using as much Mendocino fabric as I can get my hands on. 
I am particularly interested in the aqua/orange colourway as in these gorgeous quilts I found on flickr.

inspiration quilt by theknicksofknacks
image source

If you, or anyone you know, has any fabric from the Mendocino collection you are willing to part with I NEED it!

Contact me

lovelylittlesweetpeas@y7mail.com

 and we can discuss prices.

I knew I could count on you ;)  !!!

Fabric choices and a little sewing project

I'm excited at the moment about doing one last little bit of sewing before my surgery next week. 

I went to my local fabric store yesterday to get some fabric. 

I was browsing through the quilting fabric (typically I steer clear of quilting fabrics for garment making but sometimes you just can't beat the beautiful prints and patterns) when I spied some of my all time favourite quilting fabric.

  Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet, Splashy Rose. 

I've oohed and ahhhed over this fabric ever since it came out afew years ago, and I used small bits of it that I received as a sample in this cushion cover,

but never jumped in and purchase any because I couldn't justify buying any more fabric when I have so much laying around not being used already.

But at $10 a metre I just COULD NOT overlook it.

I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I'm soooo glad I brought it home with me :)!

I also bought three other fabrics, hoping my girls would find one each amongst them to choose for this little project. 

Both Aimee and Bethany have become quite hard to sew for these days.  They have their very own definate opinions when it comes to style and fabric choices, so I was a little worried buying the fabric without them with me.

As it turns out I needn't have worried, Bethany immediately chose this lovely red fabric

and Aimee just as quickly chose this sweet fabric - a beautiful combination of black background with teeny, tiny flowers all over it.

I was also very relieved that they didn't both want the same fabric!

I also bought this lovely blue and white floral fabric, which I think has a very old world charm to it. 

I really thought Bethany would go for this one, and initially she did.  She did eeny, meeny, miney, moe between this and the red one, but when she landed on this one she said, "it's just too blue and white mum".  That made me laugh.  She obviously really prefered the red fabric.

I am still amazed at just how much joy and satisfaction I can get out of gazing at fabric................

Hope you're having a great day whatever you're up to

xo

my creative space

 I bought some Kona cotton solids from fabricdepot.com back in January so that I could make a number of quilts I've been planning for a while.

I have a stack of Liberty fat quarters, a hunky dory charm pack, a california dreamin' jelly roll and a Saffron Craig fat quarter pack which came with a quilt pattern Dandelion Window's. 

I have started the Dandelion Windows quilt, truly I have.  I'm using different solids to the pattern though.

Hopefully writing this and publishing it will encourage me to actually finish this quilt - and the others!

For creative spaces from crafty types who actually have something to show for their time, go here.

Feelin' hot hot hot.........................

So a couple of new summer frocks were in order.

Last week, as the school holidays were drawing to a close I got to thinking about when Miss A started school last year and just how darn HOT it always is throughout February here in Sydney.

Making the 10 minute walk up to school at quarter to three in the afternoon each day and feeling like I'm about to melt into the sticky bitumen beneath my feet is inspiration enough to get cracking and make some dresses already!

First up is a little Enid Gilchrist number.  

The pattern came from my MIL's stash back in July 2009 (woah, I didn't realise it had been waiting to be made for that long!). 

I bought the gorgeous Amy Butler Love fabric not long after, and earmarked it for this dress. 

As soon as I saw this fabric I had to have some.  It so reminds me of the fabric that a hat/handbag combo my older sister had back in the 70's was made from.   

The "Holiday Shift" pattern was printed in the October 1966 edition of New Idea, with detailed instructions on how to draft your own pattern. 

Luckily for me the pattern had already been drafted by my MIL - whoohoo.

I love the caption below the dress.  Part of what I enjoy about vintage patterns is looking at the styling and language used.  How times change.

  I made the dress last Friday and when I woke up this morning and it was already 21 degrees (celcius) I knew I'd be wearing it today. 

First day back at school.  First day in Year 1 for Miss A, and it is was scorcher. 

It was perfect. Light and loose.

I added a simple vintage button to close the back.

Love it!

I especially love the round yolk.

I made this shirred dress on Saturday, to wear out to dinner with a couple of girlfriends on Saturday night.

I bought the fabric from Spotlight last Summer.  I just loved the border print.

Again, I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to make with it, it was just a matter of getting around to it.

Shirring, how I love thee.  Easy, peasy yet so impressive.

As the fabric was a little sheer I decided to line it with some white cotton. 

I roughly followed this tutorial, treating the fabric and lining as one piece.  I only bought 1m of fabric though, so just made one seam up the back.  

I was feeling lazy, so rather than make shoulder straps I used some navy blue ribbon I had in my stash for the straps and as a belt to break up the white abit and give my waist some definition.

I took these photo's this afternoon when it was 35 degrees C, so forgive me if I look a little wilted!

And to mark the start of the school year.........

Day 1 - Year 1.

Milestones

So this is not the subject matter I was planning for my 100th blog post, but I just could not leave off posting about this.  Tonight after dinner Miss A lost her first tooth.  It totally amazed me how many emotions she (and I) went through in the space of about five minutes!

How it happened:

Miss A was, for some reason, biting on her pajama sleeve and the tooth just popped out.  It has been loose for over a month, but on close inspection earlier today I though it still had a little while left in her head............

What happened next:

Wailing, sobbing and quite abit of bleeding.  It took me a few moments to make out what exactly had happened.  But when she opened her mouth and I realised I just grabbed her and held her close.  She kept repeating, "I'm not comfortable, I'm not comfortable.  It was an accident".  After I stemmed the bleeding and she settled down she asked if she could go straight to bed!  The tooth fairy is Highly anticipated.  It was only after about five minutes that she wanted to go and look in the mirror.

What a roller coaster of emotions Miss A went through.  Freaked out, excited, sad (I miss my tooth, sob, sob) and proud. 

I was not expecting it, but there you have it.

On a crafty note, following on from my last post, here are some piccies of the pinny I made for a little two year old friend last week.  Exactly the same as Miss A's but with a couple of yo-yo flowers attached to the front instead of pockets.

I forgot to mention in my last post details of the fabric I used.  The solid colour fabric is the most gorgeous cerise pinwhale cord I picked up on the fabric expedition I had to Cabramatta over a year ago. 

It has been quietly sitting there on the shelf waiting to be turned in to something pretty and I knew it was just perfect for this project. 

The floral print fabric is a poly/cotton my sister gifted to me two christmas' ago, just when I was getting into the sewing thing. 

Again it has been sitting on my shelf waiting, waiting for the right project. 

What a lovely combination they make.

I have made a point of late to use up the fabrics in my stash. 

 Although I can oohhh and aahhhh with the best of them over all the gorgeous fabrics I drool over on the internet I just cannot justify (to myself or my husband) buying any more fabric when I have shelves full sitting there untouched.

Stay tuned for the planned 100th post, post.  A tutorial and a give away.................

One Per Month - March

Edited to add:  Thank you to the lovely commenters who have been emailing me with your comments!  Oops, my comments have been switched off again somehow :{  Should be all fixed up now.

This month I chose Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing for the One Per Month Challange, hosted by Chaletgirl.

Half way through March I realised I still hadn't chosen a book for this months challenge,

so I wanted something fairly quick and easy.  I settled on the Summer Blouse as I've been wanting something light but with longer sleeves for the coming cooler months ahead.

I was browsing through a small fabric shop not far from where I live when I happened upon this gorgeous green lightweight cotton.

 

I have no idea what it's called so if you can shed any light on it please share. 

When I asked the shop owner all she divulged was that it is 100% cotton!  I could see it was cotton but it has little bobbly bits all over it, surely this has a specific name??  Anyhow............ 

As soon as I saw this fabric I knew it would become my new blouse.  I am always professing that green is my favourite colour and yet I own very few items of clothing which are green.

 

I cannot tell you enough how happy I am with how it turned out - it is, dare I say it, perfect! 

Exactly how I envisaged it!!! 

I have to confess that although I love to sew and do make clothes for both myself and my girls, clothes making isn't my favourite kind of sewing.  But now I get why some people love to make their own clothes.  If you get the fit right, the colour, the style, the cut you love, well it really makes it worth while.

Now if you are at all familiar with the version of this blouse in Weekend Sewing, you will see that mine is somewhat different. 

After deciding on this project and buying the fabric I decided to do a little search to see what other sewist's/blogger's had come up with.  To say I was dissapointed is an understatement.

Most looked nothing like the version in the book, and many of the lovely ladies who had blogged about their Summer Blouses commented that the pattern/instructions were, how should I say it, in need of some tweeking.  Hmmmmmmmmm......yet I was determined to go on.  I had a picture in my minds eye which I didn't want to let go of.

So, I compiled a list of the various comments/issues others had about the pattern and set to work improving on them. 

So in short, I changed the neckline, moved the darts, took in the sides by about 5cm each, shortened the placket by half, bound the neckline differently than instructed, shortened the sleeves and finished them with bias binding as per the neckline and finally I finished the bottom hem just by overlocking the raw edge and turning a 6mm hem to keep as much length as possible. 

Phew, I know, can you believe it?? I'm almost tempted to rename it the Autumn blouse it's so different!

And yes dear friends you did read correctly up there, I overlocked the edges.  Thats right I now have an overlocker.  A Janome MyLock 204D to be precise.  Actually I've had it a couple of months but have been a little frightened of using it.  I decided this would be it's maiden voyage and boy oh boy am I happy.  I used it to make almost the whole blouse, only using my machine to sew the binding and placket. 

While that baby was humming along I felt love I tell you.

So I love every aspect of my new blouse, right down to the vintage, self covered button which I found amongst my button collection, passed on to me from mum.  So this little button, covered by my mother some forty odd years ago for some forgotten project has now found it's way onto my new blouse - finishing it off, well, just perfectly!

I also want to mention that I've just bought the make it perfect lazy day hat pattern from modern retro textiles.  

My nephew has reqested a hat for his birthday and I've heard only good things about the make it perfect patterns. 

I did a search and found that modern retro textiles not only had it the cheapest I could find but they also had free postage within Australia and super quick delivery!  As an added bonus Samantha also threw in ten little fabric samples from the Sandi Henderson Meadowsweet line - lovely!

my week $$$$o far

Monday's purchases from here and here

Wednesday's from here

$100 doesn't go far these days.... no wonder the bread winner of the family had a 'moment' (or two) when I got home. On the up side I had a lovely day on my own checking out all the stalls.
I met and chatted with Nicole from you sew, girl! (who I also gamely bought a pattern and some bits and pieces from her), Nanette from rummage who does the most amazing free motion sewing/writing (she happily shared tips with me) and I paid a visit to Claire from CraftSchmaft (a craftroom girl) - those little owlettes are adorable, well all her sock softies are adorable really!
I also got talking to the very lovely Cathy from audreyandmaude (loved their sausage dog with puppies) when I went to check out Belinda's (tuttifrutti) stall. I was very disappointed to learn Belinda will only be at the show from Thursday to Saturday - I just know her display will be beautiful. I bought the cute Japanese fabric from Michele of harper & edie , she had a great stall - very different from everything else at the show.
The red fat quarters came from a pack from HobbySew - I have grand intentions of making a red, grey and white quilt..........
Now the lace was a surprise purchase for me, not something I usually work with but it really caught my eye! I got it from the Starr Laces and Ribbons stall and they had some beautifully dyed lace trims sewn to simple white kids singlets that looked fabulous - so another project for the girl's summer wardrobe.....
What I really need now is to actually get stuck into some of these projects I have accumulating!

Feast your eyes....

Today I paid a visit to my in-laws. While this is always a pleasant experience today it was even more so. I went through my mother in-laws pattern stash and came up with these little beauties!

And there are more - but I thought I better pace myself as I'm not too quick in the old actually finishing a project stakes. I was also bestowed with some fabric - you can never have too much you know.....

I've spent much of the past two days (once again) perusing the many wonderful and inspiring blogs out there. There is a giveaway here, from this talented lady which I would really like to win - third time lucky maybe? Fingers crossed xxx.

A quick thank you to all you lovely readers who commented on my last post, your kind words and encouragement have inspired me to make some of my Versatile Shopper bags to sell, hopefully in the not too distant future - so watch this space. Thanks :)

and deeper I go...

You may remember I posted a little while ago about ordering some fabric online. Well it arrived rather unexpectedly on Saturday morning - hurray!!

l - r: Del Hi by Valori Wells - mediterranean FQs, Wildwood by Erin McMorris - lime FQs, Midwest Modern Fuchsia by Amy Butler FQs

l - r: petite Granville blue, Ohinasama Princess pink, spotted owl natural, all by Alexander Henry

Socialite dress pattern by Anna-Maria Horner

It was all I could do to contain myself while I was helping him with some work around the house (putting up picture rails no less!).

As soon as I had the chance I rushed into my newly set up sewing room, also accomplished on Saturday (no more sewing on the kitchen table) to open my package. Unfortunately my photo's do not do the fabrics justice.

What a delight - both the gorgeous selection of fabrics and the sewing room.

Then to top things off I spent the best part of Monday trawling the fabric shops on John St, Cabramatta.

WHAT an experience. The choice of fabric was h u g e.

Of the five shops I went into each seemed to have a different speciality, from bridal/formal to manchester to stretch. In each shop the service was attentive, knowledgeable, patient and friendly. When your only previous fabric shopping experiences extend to Spotlight this was certainly an eye opener! This was followed by a scrumptious Vietnamese lunch.

Alas I was enjoying myself so much I forgot to take any photo's.

I came away with a number of purchases which you can see in the photo above sitting in front of the sewing machine, which I have vowed to myself and him, will be my last until I have actually made something with all the fabric that is slowly taking over.

So keep checking back for hopefully some fabulous sewn creations in the not too distant future... this bug has bitten hard.

a bit of this and a bit of that

This week I've finished off a couple of things I hadn't posted about before.

modelled by a very reluctant miss A

I made a bag for my clarinet playing nephew, to carry around his instrument and all the associated bits and pieces. I was instructed to use up some left over green fabric from some placemats I had made for mum last year, but I couldn't bear to make such a plain bag so I ducked out and bought the only musically themed fabric I could find (trumpets), just to jazz it up abit!

I also made the swap item I will be taking to this month's Sunday session at the craftroom. Here is a sneak peek.


I've been thinking alot about this upcoming event. I don't think I have had five straight hours alone to sew, crochet or whatever since I had my first baby.

To say I am excited is a major understatement!



So, what to do with the time? I pretty much think I've decided to finally get on with making the quilts I've been dreaming of for my girls. I went to Spotlight and got a few more pieces of fabric for them today.


I hope to cut all the fabric beforehand so that on the day I can just sew, sew, sew.

I am hoping to be the lucky recipient of a very lovely owl made by Rachel, who is also a craftroom girl. The giveaway is still open for afew more days so pop over to The Two Windmills for your chance to win.