My creative space.

In my creative space this week I am working on the teacup dress.

I have finished the scrappy applique, sewn together the dress and now all that's left is some crochet embellishments, a ruffle or two and some crochet ric rac for the hem.

I love making up little dresses like this one, but I also am a bit obsessed at the moment with using up all the little scraps that I have been collecting around the place. It feels wonderful finally to be making use of them and to justify keeping them in the first place.

To check out what's going on in the other creative spaces this week, click on over to Kirsty's.

Tree dress & bloomers.

After a visit to the hospital this morning where I breathed in as much of that new baby smell as I possibly could and after all that boy baby crafting yesterday, this morning I came home and made some very girly stuff.

A tinsy winsy tree dress.

I printed the tree way back here.

I used vintage sheets, thrifted bias binding and button and I crocheted the ric rac.

And some tinsy winsy bloomers.

Miss Pepper is desperate to try the bloomers on, so I'm off to make her her own pair of fancy undy bundies, as she calls them.

I hope you have a great day. XX

Boy babies.

My gorgeous cousin Romy asked me to make her some baby presents for her friends' soon to be born boy babies.

I made some bibs,

in very traditional boy blue, green and reds.

And I made a pair of pants out of an old pillow case.

I'm not very good at boy stuff.

I have three sisters, three daughters, three nieces and lots of girl kids around me too.

What do you make for boy babies?

The simple life dress.

Its Saturday today.

Its cold and blustery outside.

Bren and I have been having lots of conversations about life, our business and our family's journey lately. Lots of conversations about the simple life and sustainability and lifestyle.

The pattern for this dress came to me in the middle of the night the other night after one of these discussions. While its not quite Little House On The Prairie, I am going to call it The Simple Life Dress.

I've made it from odds and ends of cord, some elastic in the sleeves, some thrifted bias binding and a zipper in the back, a crochet doily and some crocheted ric rac.

Its comfy, its warm and snuggly and its great for jumping in puddles.

Also today we are eating roast vegies and salad for lunch made entirely from Daylesford Organics ingredients and we are watching Indi's best friend (who was dropped off here at 3am this morning) very carefully, to see if we can pick the exact moment where she goes from being an only child to being a big sister.

I hope that wherever you are, you are having a simple, uncomplicated Saturday with the ones you love. XX

My creative space.

Last week at craft night you should have seen the look of horror on Peta's face when I admitted to her that I'd never done any machine felting.

Needless to say, in this week's creative space I am experimenting with some machine felted (that didn't really felt) woolen blanket.

First I cut out the shape of a dress and then I crocheted some trim and pinned it around the neckline.

Now I'm experimenting with gathers.

And layering the gathers.

Hopefully I'll have something more to show you in the next few days.

Check out today's list of creative spaces over at Kirsty's.

Name tag swap!

Made by me and sent to Sophie of Her Heart My Hands.

Made by Ms Tinnie Girl, Cathy for me. Yay! How amazing is it!

I'm not sure I can wait til the Sew It Together dinner to wear it though.

Thanks Cathy!

Thanks so much Gypsy for organising the whole swaperama thang. I'm so looking forward to having a drink with you and the other name tag wearers on the night.

Blog land seems full of swaps at the moment.

I think my favourite part of a good swap is how it opens up the blogging community. How it encourages you to get to know the blogger you are creating for and then there is also the relationship formed with another blogger who made you your special gift.

Of course you can't forget the lovely package in the mail either.

I hope you are having a lovely sunny day. XX

Maisie Cardigan.

How great is the internet?!

Before I start this ramble, I should tell you that I am pretty useless at it. My sister set up my blog for me and told me how to work it, I have a flickr account but I'm not sure what to do with it, I can't play with my photos or the layout of my blog and I have never bought anything on line.

BUT!

I can email.

The other day after crocheting the top of the Maisie cardigan out of vintage crochet by Susan Cropper, I got stuck on the exact placing of the stitches needed to make the dress bit. I had a few tries but I didn't feel confident.

So I put it aside for a few days and started something new, but then I remembered the baby due any minute and decided I had no choice but to finish it.

So I went back and had a look at the pattern and saw that the designer of the pattern was Alicia Paulson. I then checked the designer biographies at the back of the book and there I found her blog address. Once I found her blog Posie Gets Cozy, it was easy to find her email address.

So I emailed Alicia, she emailed me back and I finished the cardigan.

What would have happened in the days before email?

Would I have sent her a letter all the way to America and waited for her reply to get back to Australia?

Would I have given up or made it up?

Who knows. But its pretty cool that in 24 hours I can have personal advice from the designer herself don't you think?

This Maisie cardigan was crocheted from eight ply cotton found in the bargain room at Bendigo Woollen Mills. It was crocheted for a baby due last Friday, a baby that will make Indi's best friend a big sister.

Wrist warmers for Indi from this wool from Purl's Palace are my next crochet project.

Does anybody have a good pattern?

Have fun out there. XX

I'm a little teapot!

After my month of crocheting pot holders last October, the natural progression was to have a go at hooking a tea cozy. The result was the Rosy Cozy Tea cozy. Although I found the pattern a bit tricky, I loved it and thought I had many, many crocheted tea cozies ahead of me.

So I started to collect tea cozy patterns in my bookmarks, and I started to collect plain tea pots in op shops and garage sales.

When I got to five though I stopped, because the truth is I don't drink tea from a tea pot I just collected them so I could play dress ups with them.

But since then my crochet projects have taken a different direction and four of the tea pots have stayed nude on the side board staring at me waiting to be dressed.

So the other day when I was at the garage sale of the woman who had crocheted these herself, I knew they had to come home with me, and not a moment to soon, as the nights are starting to get a bit chilly in these parts and those tea pots did not look happy.

But look how good they look now, all dressed up and ready for winter.

And one day, if the urge comes upon me to crochet another tea cozy, I'll just have to look around for another.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

To check out some other Flea Market Finds, head on over to Sophie's.

Giving & receiving.

Today on the last official day of the Great Pin Cushion Swaperama I can't stop thinking about giving and receiving in blogland.

What type of giver are you?

Do you love to send little packages to perfect strangers?

Do you send exactly what is expected or do you like to add in some special little extras like packets of pins, bars of chocolates and other little goodies?

If you were in an op shop and saw something you know your blog friend would love, would you buy it and send it to them?

...I wonder.

And then how are you with receiving?

There are so many giveaways and swaps and competitions and pay it forwards in blogland, how does it make you feel to receive a package in the mail from someone you are never likely to meet in person?

I won the package above full of stunning goodies all adorned with Luisa's fabulous little people in a giveaway at her fashionfuscia blog. What a fantastic and generous prize! Thanks Luisa, I LOVE it all!

I feel happy about winning giveaways because I feel like I give as well as receive in blogland, but I do like to play by the tradition of mentioning it on my blog.

And then there are the random gifts, the just becauses.

The lovely Deb was at a garage sale recently when she spotted the yellow pot holder and knew that it had to come across the ocean to live with my pot holder collection. Before she sent it, she gathered all the amazing goodies in the above photo to keep it company.

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you I was overwhelmed and even a bit teary when I opened this package. What an wonderful and kind and generous thing to do. Thanks Deb.

One of the most amazing side effects of recording my crafty creations on my blog, has been the incredible friendships I have made. But one of the most unexpected lessons I am learning is how to say 'thank you' without feeling like I am always obliged to give something in return.

I got a gift in the mail from someone today who asked me not to mention it on my blog (hope this doesn't count) and not to give her anything in return.

That's a hard one.

Its fascinating isn't it?!

So where do you sit in this whole bloggy give and get adventure?

And before I leave you let me just say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you swappers out there for your kindness and thoughtfulness and generosity. Its been fun!

I hope you have a great weekend. XX

My creative space.

In my creative space this week, as with most other weeks too, I am dreaming up uses for my fabric scraps.

I have such gorgeous scraps. The bigger offcuts get popped into a big filing cabinet drawer and then some of the tiny bits get taken to the child care centre and the rest get thrown in the bin.

I hate throwing the pretty scraps out and I am constantly thinking of uses for them so they don't have to go into the big bin and then to the tip.

Now that I've worked out a smock/dress type pattern that I'm happy with, I thought they could be used like blank canvases and I could sew some of these scraps onto them. Applique sort of thing.

Contrasting patterned cord for the back, some vintage sheeting for the sleeves, some crocheted ric rac and a big button.

With some jeans, boots and a cardi, I think this will be her winter uniform this year.

I hope you are having a creative Thursday today.

Check out what everyone else is up to at Kirsty's.

School Dortjes.

I've been the mother of a school girl or two for the last four and a bit years and one of the things I struggle with every year is the winter uniform.

The brief from the school is that the girls must wear a tunic and tights, which is not great for the monkey bars, or navy pants.

I cannot stand the look of trackie pants and navy pants can never be found in any shops, except for shiny polyester ones which I cannot stand either.

So this year I decided to have a go at making my own.

I used navy cord and the Sewing Clothes Kids Love pattern and went to work.

I did have to sneak a bit of patterned fabric in the inside of the pockets for a bit of fun and yes, I did forget to hem them before I sent her off to school this morning. Oops!

Two more days until the swaperama deadline.

PLEASE don't disappoint your partner who is giving her postie the eye and checking the mailbox every ten minutes waiting for her's to arrive.

Have a great day. XX