my creative space

I am determined to finish my Christmas project BEFORE Christmas!
At this rate, I am behind schedule. But I am taking the turtle approach- slow and steady etc so perhaps it will happen !
I am using the sweet Christmas BOM design from Gail Pan. 

See what other creative peeps are up to over at Kootoyoo

a love affair

I love church fetes!

I love vintage fabrics!
I love vintage prints!
also have a thing for vintage pillowcases!
for the princely sum of $2.. the lot ..WOW !
Absolutely gorgeous prints..I think a couple are Liberty ?

The little old lady thought the silk lined patchwork jacket would "look lovely on you, my dear! "

The clairvoyant in me is saying it will look much better deconstructed and sewn up into a gorgeous quilt!


What little treasures did you find this weekend?

x PJ x

my creative space....

It is my friend's birthday today and she is about to depart on a 3 week trip to Paris staying with friends whilst there, who's apartment looks out at the Eiffel Tower...What luck !!

She likes to keep a journal when travelling so could not resist making this fabric journal cover for her last night..
I only had a fat 1/4 of fabric and wanted to fit the Eiffel Tower on the front of the cover so it was a bit tricky. and scary....measure twice cut once and all that...no wine for me whilst doing this little number!

I laughed at myself when I made the fabric covered button. Why did no-one tell me it was so easy peasy..I think I shall make lots more of them..what fun !

I added her initials on the suitcase tag...wonder if she will notice?

I used this tutorial and apart from the mishap of cutting the pink elastic too short and having to resort to black elastic, it all went smoothly.

So shall go wrap it and take along for her Birthday get together.

Pop over here to see what other creative peeps are up to..

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?

love is the answer

I have been contemplating my navel, well metaphorically anyway, wondering what it is about sewing that can keep me awake until the wee small hours.Then it came to me…LOVE. I sew because I love it.I love the first seed of an idea…be it searching for a pattern or creating a design from scratch.I love to watch that idea grow and bloom. The sense of satisfaction from completing an item ,whether a small gift or a 70 inch square quilt, is amazing. Even better than this feeling though is when I gift the item to someone special and they LOVE it ! If you are a sewist, you know what I am talking about !

My latest project was born from my frustration at the selection of nightwear when searching for some PJs for my 4 yr old…not to mention the ridiculous price. Everything was polyester, not a scerrick of cotton in sight ! Off I trotted to the nearby Spotlight shop , purchased 2 meters of cotton voile -total cost= $8. Four hours later ( sounds a long time but I am a newbie to garment sewing ) and I had a shirred night dress and an appliqued PJ set. To top it off-they fit and Missy Moo loved them ! No pic of the nightdress yet !

The applique was without Viesofix as I wanted it to remain soft. The edges will fray over time but that is the effect I am wanting. Oh, and I made use of my stash of vintage sewing paraphenalia from my grandmother which provided the pink cotton ric-rac. A fab, cheap project that was useful and cute!

In case you were wondering, I used Simplicity pattern number 8493. A great unnisex design that has long sleeve and pants option plus a robe and a zip-up all in one style for the toddlers.

Happy sewing,

PJ

little tweetheart blogtoberfest giveaway

My parents travelled to Japan 10 years ago. Mum brought back some lovely pieces of vintage kimono fabric for me, which until recently have lay carefully wrapped in the original packaging.
3 months ago I unveiled them again and starting planning and scheming a quilt top design that I could best display these pieces in. I found the design needed a little more fabric than I had so popped it to the side until I had sourced more fabric.
Well...imagine my delight when I came across the giveway being hosted by little tweetheart as part of Blogtoberfest !! Fingers , toes and any other body part..crossed !!!
Pop over and have a look...and make sure you also visit her post about the Rainbow Present.
I am keeping that idea up my sleeve !
x PJ x

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

Unbirthday swap

The gorgeous Miya received her Unbithday swap package from me....and gathering from her comments..I'm pretty sure she liked it !!


I made her a Vampire Softie which I aptly named Vince. He has a green bow tie and buttons- Miya's favourite colour . The bow tie was the culprit I was having so much difficulty with-fabric was thick and the opening was small- it wouldn't turn through easily ! (read previous post )
Continuing on the horror movie theme , I made a set of coasters with horror movie posters and comic book covers..I LOVE printable inkjet fabric !!



or if Vince gets cold he could use one as a quilt ! ( as modelled in the photo..thanks Vince ).



A few pieces of fabric as well. Thanks Miya for organising the swap...let me know when the next one is !!
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 !!

Fabulous blog with a fantastic giveaway !

There is a fantastic giveaway over at Sew-Fantastic !
Terri is giving away 2 ( yes ..2 ) $20 vouchers for her etsy shop !
Go have a look at her blog and shop..you won't be sorry ! I love the crayon wallet with the glitter elephant fabric...and her latest creation, the Carryall Clutch , is available in a lovely array of fabric.
Terri was the organiser of the Kitchen Swap that I have participated in. She also has a number of great tutorials on her blog.

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 !!)

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!!!!

Picnic Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

I am in love with this dress !
Soft, romantic, whispy, could it be any more perfect ?
Only if Heathcliff came with it !
For a chance to win, pop over to Kathleen's blog ,Grosgrain. second thoughts..just stay here..I want to win, He-He.
Picnic Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Best friends.

So..what to do when your big brother has gone back to school and you do not have a buddy to play hairdressers with ?



Grab a bag of Schmackos and con your other buddy, Buzz, to sit quietly in the one spot for more than 30 seconds so you can brush his " golden rapunzel hair " .
Everything is related back to fairytale princesses when you are 3, did you know ?

Buzzy lives up to his breed's name....he will retrieve a toy and there it will stay in his mouth for the whole day- until food is offered of course !
Today's toy of choice was his Santa toy from this last Christmas...he had been a very good doggy and made it on the nice list .

Please note that choosing clothes was not this Mumma's role this morning.
Asserting her independence, Emily decided that stripes, more stripes and a splash of floral was a great fashion statement.....luckily no need to leave the house today...phew !

puppy love..........


On a crafty note...I would like to introduce you to Pointy Kitty.
Gotta be careful with the eye placement though or she will end up looking like Evil Kitty !
She is fun to make and can be found at her new home...purring...on Emily's pillow.




Like to make one also ? Here is the link at Wee Wonderfuls .

Next on my to do list ( just for the fun of it ) is the oh so cute Ruby doll
Jhoanna,from One Red Robin has some other cute friends to make too !

Must go op-shopping tomorrow...feeling the need...have not been since Monday - which proved fruitless.


Toodles,

x Peta-Jane x

Planning and organising

x PJ x

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 !

Now I can share...

the photos from the Maker's Swap !

Yay, Mari has received her parcel from me- I was starting to worry it had gone AWOL, seemed to take a long time to reach her !

So here are some pics of what was in her parcel.......

A fresh and bright Spring theme tote bag. I quilted the rectangles in the bottom section.



A seminole patchwork jewellery roll, with little zip pockets and a ring holder.



A doggy jumper for Buster...fingers crossed it fits him!


I hope Mari enjoyed receiving her Swap Gift as much as I enjoyed making it for her !

Off to the garden to enjoy the sunshine...and no doubt play in the sandpit....wonder if we are making a castle for Cinderella or Rapunzel today ?

x Peta-Jane x

Angels.

Two little angels for two little girls. One for Emily and one to send to Emily's cousin Alycia ...who is also 3 years old. I wonder if these angels are like their new owners? Angels in disguise !

I love the postman....

because he delivered my lovely swap parcel from Mari !!
( ok, so the postman love thing is in a fatherly kind of way...he is nearly 60 !! )
Look what was in the bundle of yummy handmade goodness from Mari...

a crochet soap holder for the shower...a lovely soft cotton with a gentle abrasiveness ( yes I have tried it already and it is great )
some yummy mint lollies...there were 3 ,but I did have to taste test you know !!

and inside the box with the sweet logo sticker on the front, were 3 (WOW) pairs of handmade earrings....I adore them all...but I think my favourite pair are the stone set in the photo centre.
Thank you Mari...!

I have thoroughly enjoyed participating in this Maker's Swap....I hope the postie soon delivers my parcel to Mari...then I can share my photos of what I made for her !