10 years today!

It was Caitlin's 10th birthday today. I can't believe our youngest is into double digits already. She was super excited about this years birthday and has been counting down for a month. Instead of a party we are all going to Auckland Zoo plus one of her friends. Caitlin has always been into animals and even used to let grasshoppers crawl all over her when she was really little. Choosing a friend to take to the zoo was a bit of a dilemma as she has quite a group of close friends . After school today we had an impromptu afternoon tea with 4 girlfriends. I whipped up this cake this morning before work then decorated it this afternoon with a few lollies (actually quite a few lollies). The afternoon tea then stretched into dinner ( homemade pizza) then birthday cake for dessert.

The Tote Bag

Finished this Tote Bag today. It's good to get this bag finished as I've been working on it for some time now. I knew what I wanted it to look like but it took a while to figure out how to put it together. I kept putting it aside in the "too hard pile" as you do. Its the first time I've made something like this from scratch with no pattern to go by so I'm feeling pretty proud of my achievement. Its a nice casual bag made from my quite large collection of batik fabrics. As I wasn't sure whether it was going to turn out how I had envisaged I used fabrics that I wasn't too attached too. So maybe next time I might use some designer fabric. I think it could do with a couple of pockets inside and maybe a matching make-up bag.

As you might have noticed I've been 'renovating' my blog. I really wanted to have 3 columns but now that I have I'm not entirely happy, so it's still a work in progress. Any tips and hints would be gratefully accepted. Been playing around with 'html' but don't really know what I'm doing. Big learning curves happening around here. Have also added my photo so you can put a picture of me (and my girls) to my words.

Direct from the USA!

My husband's been travelling around the States for the last 5 weeks so I have been VERY busy looking after our 2 girls, working part time, cycle training for a 200km event coming up in 2 months and trying to find time to do a little bit of sewing when I can. I've been staying up way too late trying to get things done and to just enjoy some me time. We were expecting my husband to arrive today (Sunday) but he decided to surprise us by arriving home Friday morning. It was a lovely surprise although I had my suspicions when I hadn't heard from him for a couple of days. He got into town just in time to attend a funeral of a lovely old guy well known in our area for his generosity around our community. The girls were so pleased to see him when they stepped off the school bus that afternoon.

As you can see he brought me back lots of yummy fabric to drool over and play with. There is a great little fabric shop in Bakersfield, California called "Strawberry Patches" that he has been to 3 times now. They have got to know him (I guess because of his strange 'kiwi' accent) and are very good in helping him find what I've asked for . He got some gorgeous "Patty Young" fabric (above) from her 'Mezzanine' range and below is some sweet little fat quarter bundles. I love how they have used tulle to tie these fabrics together. Almost too pretty to use.

And of course I HAD to get some more "Heather Bailey" fabrics. These are all from her 'Pop Garden and Bijoux range except for the one hiding at the back which is from her first range 'Freshcut'. I actually ordered these from her website ( along with some 'trash ties' and some scrapbooking stamps) and had them sent to our friends in Reno, Nevada where my husband stayed for a few days. This way I saved on shipping costs a bit.

Noddy ( yes that's my husband's nickname) was over in the States to buy an old Buick and organise it to be shipped back here to NZ. This car is for the annual "Beach Hop" festival that he helps to organise each year in our little town. He had a great time over there driving this cool car around to promote the 'Beach Hop' at car events such as "Hot August Nights" in Reno and the Land speed racing on the Salt flats at Bonneville to name a couple. I am looking forward to this car arriving over here not only because I get to ride around in it until next years Beach hop ( where it will be given away) but it has some yummy quilting magazines and books inside it that were too heavy to be brought back in Noddy's luggage.

This week I'm looking forward to fitting in alot more sewing than I have been able to lately. Oh and more blogging time. I hope this extra long post made up for my absence over the last week!

Tea Rose Home Giveaway!

Sachiko from Tea Rose Home is celebrating her blog anniversary with a lovely and generous giveaway. This cute as a button pin cushion, a bag made from moda oil cloth AND a moda charm pack are being given away to 3 lucky winners. So go on over and have a peek around her lovely blog while you're there.

Spring Inspiration

Ahhh the first signs of spring. This is my favorite season in my garden and I love to pick these flowers for displaying inside and to enjoy their perfume. I love all these spring flowers, especially the tiny green dots on the snowdrop petals. They are all so dainty and full of beautiful heady perfume. I can smell the daphne in my garden from about 10 feet away. If I were a fabric designer (in my dreams) these flowers would be my inspiration for a spring fabric collection.

Zigzag quilt top!

Drum roll please................ The top is complete and I'm pretty pleased with it . So is Caitlin ! I'm not sure whether to put a border around. I'm kinda liking it as it and I want to break out of doing borders for all my quilts. It's bright, sunny, cheery and fun. This quilt contains 3 vintage fabrics that I got from my Auntie. I would say they are from the early seventies or late sixties. Oh and at the top right hand corner you can see Caitlin's cats tail which is kind of appropriate.

Now I have two quilt tops to quilt which is a first for me as I usually don't start another quilt till I'm finished the quilt I'm working on completely.

Little Hearts!

Have been doing a little bit of hand sewing at night. These are little felt heart ornaments that a friend asked me to make and this is the third one I've made for her. I think I'll have to christen them the 'Jayne heart". Can you guess her favourite colour? I'm not good at doing nothing while watching TV so hand sewing keeps my hands busy and makes for a more productive evening. I have other ideas for these hearts but I'm not ready to reveal them yet plus I need more hours in the day to do all the ideas swimming in my head. I'm feeling a little frustrated with my lack of time lately.

Zigzags!

I've been able to find just small pockets of sewing time this week. The zigzag quilt is coming along nicely though. Three rows are done, five to go.

You naughty kittens, you lost your mittens!

A picture of innocence? Butter wouldn't melt in our mouths? Mmmmm...... Went downstairs last night to do some stuff and I could hear these two little tornado's running around the lounge chasing each other. I thought it sounded funny at the time but I'd forgotten about the half-square triangles I had laid out on the floor. I had left them there to take photo a later on.

This is what I found..... They must of had lots of fun slipping and sliding on these around the room! Did manage a bit of sewing today and have made a start on getting the zigzag quilt top together.

Sweet little bag giveaway

This cute little bag is being given away by Amy on her blog Parkcitygirl. Isn't it gorgeous! Go check out her blog for your chance to win.

Giveaway time

It must be giveaway time. Sheree's Alchemy is hosting another very generous giveaway. The above photo is just a snippet of what she is giving away . So go on over and check it out.