Still here but tired....

I know I've been neglected this blog lately but life has been a little busy around here lately. I have just survived a sleepover to celebrate Caitlin's 11th birthday. I initially agreed to her having 2 friends for a sleepover which then increased to 4 friends because she had trouble narrowing her friends down to 2, then it somehow turned into a party as well. It all went off smoothly though and I've got to say it does get easier as they get older. They even organised  a treasure hunt around the house and garden on their own.

Here are their beds all lined up right next to each other complete with a quilt each. Love to see my quilts put to good use!

No girls party is complete without pretty pink cupcakes.

I made a gathered clutch for each of our little guests from Noodlehead's tutorial. Needless to say I'm getting quite good at making these purses now!

Each purse contained some lollies and chocolates, lip balm, mini highlighter, pencil and a pad. I think they were pretty pleased with these party favours.

I'm going to finish this post with a sneak peek of what I've been working on for the last week. I finished this project tonight and hopefully will be able to take photos tomorrow although we do have rain forecast so I'm not holding my breath. I must say my garden has had enough of being hammered with rain lately!

Floral inspiration........

My garden is full of pretty spring flowers that I just can't resist photographing so I thought I'd share some of these pretty blooms with you all. These freshly picked flowers are brightening up our home this week.

Love the way this Camellia has darker veins on its petals.

This white Camellia with a centre like a chrysanthemum.

Love the simplicity of this single pale pink Camellia.

These sweet smelling freesia's are just coming into flower.

And you can't beat Daphne for it's heady perfume that fills a whole room.

Picking flowers to fill a few vases is a simple pleasure that makes me happy.

My weekend.........

My excuse for acquiring this little bundle of happy fabric could be attributed to the fact that our weekend here was really wet and miserable and I needed to brighten it up somehow? No not buying that one? Well maybe it was because I found myself in a new quilt shop and this little bundle whispered "buy me Catherine".

The new quilt shop is in Waihi, a town 30 minutes drive south of Whangamata and also where my parents live so I think this quilt shop is going to be my local, finally I have a local quilt shop.

The shop is stocked with lots of beautiful fabrics and I was only going in for a look but I just couldn't resist this bundle of 'Hunky Dory' by Chez Moi. I'm justifying my purchase by making up some pretty pillows with it to sell in my etsy shop.

I also manged to get a little more crochet done.

Not quite a blanket yet though but looking nice and colourful.

So my Saturday ended up to be quite a pleasant day despite the rain but come Sunday this old cat on the quilt above died.... I'd like to say peacefully in his sleep but it seems he had one of his 'fits' outside on our deck and didn't survive this time. Unfortunately he wasn't a pretty sight when I found him.

He'd had a pretty good life at 18 years and was a pretty tough cat with jagged ears to prove it. He was my father-in-law's cat for 12 years and then when he died he came to us to live his final years at the beach. He was the grumpiest, impatient cat I've ever known but I'll miss giving him his 'vacum' every week. Yes he was a cat that liked to be vacuumed.

Luckily we have two other much younger cats that will take his place on his sheepskin rug in front of the heater. Rest in peace Flicker.

Matching sets..

I've been waiting for an excuse to make these little clutch purses ever since I saw this tutorial on the blog "Noodlehead".  I decided after making Caitlin's new bag that one of these clutches would be the perfect accessory for it.  And just to even up the score I made one for her older sister Amelia. These purses came together really easily especially the second time round. The only thing I did different was to add a handle to slip on your wrist.

Amelia's is made in some Heather Bailey 'Pop garden' fabric to match her bigger bag which is an Amy Butler pattern, 'the Sophie carry all'. Amelia wasn't sure at first whether she needed another bag but hey a girl can never have too many bags right?

Each purse has a divider and a pocket on one side divided into 3 smaller pockets for cards, not that my girls have any cards yet but I'm thinking of the future here.

A new bag for Caitlin...

So this is what I've been sewing this week, a new bag for my youngest daughter Caitlin. She decided she needed a bag to carry around her things and it needed to be big enough for a few books and some art supplies because drawing and just being creative is what keeps Caitlin happy.  We decided to make the 'taxi tote' from Anna Maria Horner's book "Seams to me" but made it it a couple of inches longer.  I let her loose in my sewing attic to choose some fabrics and together we chose 2 batiks for the outer and inner and added some bright swirly blue for the trim and some green and aqua hand dyed cotton for the pockets.

I added an extra pocket on top of the larger pocket because extra pockets are handy in a large bag. This bag came together really easily and I found the instruction clear and easy to follow. I probably could have done it in a day if I'd had a whole day to spend on it.

A nice big button to close it! I'm feeling very proud of this button because it's the first button I've made from scratch using this tutorial. Thanks Michelle for the easy to follow instructions!

I'm linking this post up to Sew'n'tell friday . Head on over to Amy's blog to see all the other fabulous finishes this week!