FREE...FREE..FREE.....

Have you happened to stumble across the Book Depository website yet?
FREE worldwide shipping ! and the prices are lower than retail here...and NO..I am not on a commission for this recommendation ..LOL......Just wanting to share the love...
Yep...so I can purchase this fabulous Winnie the Witch 6 book set plus audio Cd and have it delivered to my door all for the price of buying 1 1/2 of these books here in my local bookshop!
Unbelievable! I already have the exact same set but I want to purchase another as a gift for my niece..she loves to read Emily's set when she comes to visit.
If you have not discovered the delights of Winnie and her cat Wilbur , see if you can find one of the books at the library..they are a great read with fabulous illustrations.

There is a well stocked craft book section as well.....hhmm....let's see what else I can order..!

x PJ x

my creative space

Tis the season..yes...Christmas parties! Quilting group Christmas parties to be exact.
So, on my desk this week are part of the Kris Kringle presents to gift at the parties. What may look like a pile of fabric,cardboard circles, felt and thread are the makings of a cute little Ready Threader.
I shall pop a reel of cotton and needle inside when gifted. Perfect size to keep in your purse as an emergency sewing kit.
The plan is to have these six whipped up plus a few other handmade goodies. Still looking for ideas though...any thoughts?

Seeing spots.....

These are the lovely goodies that arrived from Joanne, my partner in the Polka Dot Swap.
Dotty fabric, dotty grosgrain ribbon,cutest dotty Scotty dog buttons and a fabulous wallet with lots of room for cards!
Thanks Joanne !

And what did I send her ? well..this silly billy wrapped her parcel late at night and forgot to take photos.Duh !
Joanne has received her package and will be posting pics soon. I sent some fabric, buttons , cappucino set with spotty giraffes and a little quilt with cat applique for her cat's basket.

Mmmm..... coffee and chocolate.....Kitchen Swap !!

My partner Melissa received the little box of goodies for the Kitchen swap I sent her.
Melissa mentioned her kitchen was brown and cream, so when I saw some cute coffee themed fabric in those exact colours , on one of my fabric shop adventures...I knew I had to get it!
Apparently I chose well, Melissa and her husband both have a love of coffee!!
I made a set of coasters and a chalkboard fabric message board with the fabric.




What goes so well with coffee? .. ...chocolate !! ..so I included a Donna Hay Chocolate Recipe book, a spatula to help make some yummy chocolate cakes...and some cute stencils to decorate cappucino or hot chocolates with ...place them over the cup and shake the sprinkles over !!





Thankyou ,Melissa , for being my kitchen swap partner..it has been lots of fun !!

More Unbirthday swap fun!!

Hot on the tail of Miya receiving her swap package from me..I received my package from Miya !!
What a fabulous box of goodies !
A lovely handmade by Miya clutch purse and mini purse..( favourite colours pink and blues) with some yummy lip balm .

A vintage tin full of vintage sewing notions ...including wooden cotton reels...I LOVE old wooden cotton reels !!
oh, and see that little vintage wooden ruler in there, it is from a shop , Kramers' , in Cincinnati, where Miya lives...how cute !!!


AND...drum roll....this totally fabulous vinyl record box - screen printed and made by Miya...


one of the faces is Miya screen printed on it ...see her in the middle here ??
along with other notable dignitaries..hehe...



I had to hide it from my son after he wanted to claim it for himself...told me it was too cool for me and that he should have it ...hummph...I think not !!

As this was an Unbirthday swap..Miya had asked for a little info..one question was..what was the worst birthday you can remember ? ...well.......I wrote....


Worst birthday in my very vague memory was my 11th Birthday. Sitting on the side of Mum and Dad’s bed...Mum passes my present, a paper grocery bag ..( Mum being a trendy eco-reylce person way back then)...which contained one after the other of crochet covered coat hangers !!! What the ? !!
I started to get upset, cried and ran off ( I mean after the seventh ugly nylon crocheted coat hanger, wouldn’t you ?? ).
I eventually gave in to the calls to come back ( was sobbing on my bed in the next room ...thinking what horrible present givers they were and maybe I could trade them for someone else’s parents ! )
They convinced me to dig past the last 3 coat hangers..at the bottom of the bag was a box containing a watch ( some groovy brand that I can’t remember ) and a compilation music tape that had all the chart hits at the time.....Barry Manilow- Copacabana, 5- 7-0-5 , by an artist I can not remember, and Baby it’s You..by Peaches.
I quite liked the pressies ( not the coathangers ) and still have nightmares of giant crochet covered coat hangers taunting me !!

So, in the spirit of this piece of background information I give you the final item in Miya's swap package she sent.............





LOVE it all Miya...thankyou..yes....even the coathangers !!!!!


x PJ x

R- rated sewing

See the size of that fabric !! ...next to that bobbin...!!!.see how it got stuck as I was trying to turn it through....times like that I am glad the kids are in bed when I am sewing.. cause this was
R -rated sewing...few choice words being tossed around....

Eventually the little blighter gave in and pushed through...and this was all in the name of fun sewing for my swap partner ...well one of them anyway....

Will post some pics of the finished culprit when the swap package has reached it's recipient !!

Kitchen Swap

An early morning delivery man at the door yesterday had this box for ME !
My Kitchen Swap parcel from Melissa !
Let's open it ........

What a wonderful swap package...isn't that cake tester soooo cute....the handmade card was so pretty...
( Melissa is an independent dealer for Stampin'up .....check out her blogs here and here ...and she has a special going at the moment ) .
The chocolates were delicious - turned my head for a minute and there was only one left for me.....thanks kids!! must remember not to open my swap packages with the kids around !
See that black folder book...it is full of wonderful recipes for slow cookers..which I used today...made a lamb casserole...which has been devoured with gusto ...Melissa must have ESP..I was looking for such a cookbook on the weekend to no avail...but now I can stop searching !
The chook canister may look equally at home in my crafty room full of vintage buttons...and the handmade/ sewn hot pads will be very useful as well as decorative...lovely !
As for the wine stopper...well...better leave some wine in the bottom of the bottle so I can use it , huh ??? ( bad habit of draining bottle dry ...tsk..tsk..)

So , needless to say I am feeling very spoilt !
Thankyou so much Melissa...you have made my week !
( Melissa is far more organised than I, her swap parcel will be posted Saturday...I hope !!)

green sheep

Just a quick post today.
This book , Where is the Green Sheep ? by Mem Fox has fast become a timeless classic in the short time since it's first publication.
Simple in it's story line, the illustrations are fabulous and vibrant and my 3 year old still loves to read it almost daily.
This makes a lovely gift for a newborn...never too early to start reading to babies...!!

I know the book is available in most K-mart and Big W stores a lot cheaper than the bookshops.

Also available here... all orders over $50 in Oz are free shipping !!

x PJ x

Art Nest Pincushion RingGIVEAWAY!!!!

Kathleen at Grosgrain is busy with another fabulous giveaway.
Kathleen's sponsor, Susannah from Art Nest, is offering 3 of her gorgeous pincushion rings to 3 lucky readers .
These rings are not only a wonderfully practical sewing accessory, they are also super-duper cute !
They look good enough to eat !
Made of funky fabrics and lush felt , the rings are silver plated, nickel free and size adjustable .

Art Nest Pincushion RingGIVEAWAY!!!!

Quick and easy gift.

I came across this photo of the chalkboard fabric message board I had made as a gift for my Secret Santa last Christmas.
It is sewn in the same manner as a large quilt block. Here is the link to the tutorial I used ,( have a look around this blog while you are there it is gorgeous ! ) the only difference is the pocket along the bottom ( the pink fabric) that stores the chalk.
I made a pocket instead of the little holder that way I could use whatever thickness chalk I had at hand.
I happened to have the wire hanger in my stash. The chalkboard fabric was easy to sew with...only piece of advice with this one DO NOT IRON the chalkboard fabric, it melts !