Patty the Cow

Hello Blog World,

I mentioned recently I went the recent Quilters and Craft Fair, well one thing I purchased when I was there was this gorgeous material…



And the cutest little stuffed toy pattern from Funky Friends Factory



Isn’t she a darling??  Well guess what happens when you put them together?

You get Patty the Cow



She was a lot harder than I thought, a lot harder than Mrs.Perkins but after unpicking and realigning and some hand sewing here and there she finally came together.  I think she looks great, but I know there are a few imperfections but she is still the cutest!!

She thinks so too and is now found sitting in random spots throughout my house.



Just chilling on the laptop…

If you think she is cute, wait to you see what I did with the left-over fabric!!  More on that later.

Until then Happy Crafting

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Black and White Quilt Reveal

Hello Blog World

So after months and months of talking about it, I finally have the reveal for you!!

Remember this sneak peak way back in January…



Well I am happy to say that it’s finally finished!!! Weeks and weeks of hand appliqueing, losing a panel because my dog got hold of it and thought it would be nice to play with in the backyard (thankfully it wasn't ruined, only a bit dirty, nothing a good hand wash couldn't fix), and miscutting my original fabric and having to rush off to buy more before the fabric shop shut was well worth it.  I am very happy with the way that this quilt has turned out!




Black and white my favourite combo!! I bought this in a kit many many moons ago, I can’t even remember who it’s by.  But as I said I am absolutely delighted in the way it has turned out.  It’s going up on the wall and will be a major focus of my gallery wall when I get around to completing it.

Finishing this quilt and doing a gallery wall was part of my goals for this year, so I am glad to have one ticked off…woohoo!!!  It’s just over 4 months since I declared my goals to the world so I might do a quick update later this week to let everyone know how I’m going.  What do you guys think?

Anyways thanks for your patience with this reveal it took a lot longer than anticipated to complete due to not actually doing any work on it for a long while, but it’s finally done and as I mentioned before I am ecstatic with the finished project. (sorry I ramble when I am excited).  This is my third quilt ever and I really love making them, I will have to start planning my next one I think.

Until then Happy Crafting

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Fabric Flowers {Tutorial}

Hello Blog World,

Got the rest of my house cleaning done so after a lovely lunch with hubby, I dove into my craft room wanting to make something.  After pottering for a while and tidying I came across some magnet backs and thought hmm I know what I can do.

So I delved into my extensive fabric stash that I scored from my sister in law a while back, picked out some little scraps.



Looked it over and was originally going to make a flower like I did for my teacup, but realised none of the scraps were long enough, so I remember seeing a flower done with circles, so I went about cutting out a few circles about 2” wide out of these beauties, oh and some felt.



You then just grab one circle fold it in half wrong sides together and then fold it in half again.


And then just sew it down to your felt ( you could also use hot glue, but I prefer to sew it, I think it gives it a much nicer look and without the mess)



Then sew the other 4 circles on in the same fashion and then a button, bead or brad through the centre and hot glue a magnet on the back. Wah Lah



A bit of advice though, originally I cut the felt the same size as my fabric circles but it was a bit big and you could see it underneath the pretty fabric, so cut it a bit smaller than your fabric circles. 1/2” around should do it.

I was really happy with the result so I wanted to make another one but in a different colour.  So I went digging through my stash again and got out some blacks, but then found one that was long enough for my ruffled flower, so this is my second magnet of the day.



It’s scraps from the quilt I am making at the moment.  I love black and whites, very classy. This time I sewed a plain white button in the centre.  If anyone is interested on how to do this flower let me know and I will post a  how to, and if anyone has any questions about the circle flower just ask I am more than happy to help.

I will leave you today with a picture of both my pretty magnets that are proudly holding up my daughters soccer tournament info on my fridge.



Until then Happy Crafting

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Families are Forever

Hello Blog World,

First I have to say go check out Danielle’s Blog Blissful and Domestic, her blog is about a homemade year, with thrifty hints and lots of handmade goodness.  Her recent post is 25 wearable fashions and she has featured my Retro Ruffle Apron.  How awesome is that?  Now go send her some love!



Now on to me!  Still busy appliqueing (or not appliqueing as the case may be).  Finding it a bit hard with time and motivation to get some good craft on the last couple of weeks.  Time is the biggest factor but also money.  Got some big bills coming up so can’t go and get the paint I need for my hutch and until I finish this hand applique I can’t go any further with my quilt so today I will show you yet another before blogging craft!

This is one of the first things I ever sewed thanks to the help of my sister in law. I saw it at a craft fair and thought it was the cutest thing!



You can see my sewing is a bit off especially on the binding. But I was/am very proud of my first real effort in creating something. And the rules I think should apply to all families

1. Count your blessings
2. Be kind
3. Be honest
4. Forgive and forget
5. Be proud of each other
6. Keep your promises
7. Love one another
8. Comfort each other
9. Bear each others burdens

Simple but something we try and live by each day.
I also thought the people were very cute



And I had lots of fun with the hand appliqueing and hand embroidery on the words. (you think I would have learned my lesson)

The sad thing is this doesn’t really suit my decor anymore. But I want to keep it. Just need to find a new home for it somewhere. Or I could always redo it in suitable colours (there’s a thought).

So there you go another old project revealed. Hopefully I will be back soon with something new but for now check out Danielle’s Blog Blissful and Domestic

Until then Happy Crafting.

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Cowgirl Cushion

Hello Blog World,

I have been at another athletics carnival yesterday and today, so no time for crafting unfortunately. 

Yesterday I showed you the fuzzy monster cushion I made for my daughter’s bedroom redo to go with her fuzzy monster chair. Well we also bought some gorgeous material recently that we were going to make a laptop cover out of but since then she has been given a laptop with a you beaut case from school so I get her old one and will make a different cover for myself. But I digress, check out the material we bought.



Isn’t it cool! It’s a bit fuzzy but not as fuzzy or fluffy as the fuzzy monster cushion. Again since I wasn’t going to make a laptop cozy from this material we were at a loss on what to do with it. 

Originally we were going to cover the pin board with this but she decided she liked the purple better. So when I was gathering my supplies for the fuzzy monster cushion I found an old cushion form that I had put away for a rainy day and inspiration hit and Tiana agreed! I told you her choices were a bit out there!

Therefore the cowgirl Cushion was born!



This was run up in about 15 minutes not like fuzzy monster.  There were no mistakes as it’s all one piece, overlocked at the short ends, button holed then run up the sides to form the cushion cover.

Button closures are so easy (I am not confident with zippers yet), but I also think they look cool.



This one only has 2 buttons being a much smaller cushion.



So with athletics carnivals, hand sewing, work, exercise classes I probably wont have any new crafts to show you this week, so I will pop by with some before blogging crafts to tantalise your tastebuds so to speak.

I also have my first year bloggingversary coming up. I can’t believe that, it feels like yesterday I ventured into this wonderful world that lives inside my computer. I am trying to think of something special to do but am at a loss, if anyone has any ideas let me know!

Until then Happy Crafting.

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Fuzzy Monster Cushion

Hello Blog World,

Wow very busy work personal wise with work, healthy living etc... So I have not been on here as much and the weekend gone was all about my daughter (not that this weekend is much different with a 2 day athletics carnival) and changing her room about. Last post I showed you her pin board redone.

Well she also needed a cushion to go with her chair I did for her about 6 months ago.  Remember the fuzzy monster chair ??



We were just going to do a small cushion but we had so much fabric left over that I would never use on anything again I managed to make a cover for a European Pillow, these are about 35cm square, so quite big.





It was quite hard to get through the machine but with a walking foot I managed, the back isn’t fluffy, I just used a purple cotton drill and button closure. But in general for a cushion cover, it was more difficult than I imagined!

I did however forget to buy specific buttons for this project but luckily I had my handy jar of buttons on hand took out all the black ones the same size and managed to find enough to suit.



Don’t you just love buttons? 

Anyway here is the back of the cushion.



If you are wondering about my decorative trim on the back that was a craft fail fix up. I beautifully cut my material, overlocked (serger) the edges made a nice hem, did my button holes (thankfully I didn’t cut them open at that stage) pinned it all together sewed it up, turned it out and ooops I had pinned it on the wrong way!! The button holes were supposed to be on the top, they weren’t and because I didn’t want to change the cotton on the overlocker and it didn’t really matter because that was supposed to be on the inside I used white cotton, well because I pinned it wrong it is now on the outside.

So I did not want to unpick this and resew it so I just sewed some more button holes and found some contrasting ribbon and sewed it over top of the overlocking so you couldn’t see it anymore.  Wah Lah one craft fail fixed.

So I am still doing a lot of hand appliqueing not really going as fast as I hoped for being a bit slack to be perfectly honest, so I will pop by tomorrow with another item from Tiana’s new room and maybe some before blogging crafts.

Until then Happy Crafting.

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Teenager Pin Board Re-Do

Hello Blog World,

Still doing a lot of hand sewing but got a bit over it on the weekend and decided to do other things.  So the weekend past was all about my daughter, she swapped rooms and is now in my husband’s office and he is in her old room, it actually worked out well for her it seems a bit more roomier.  Now we get the joy of decorating it.

So first thing a teenage girl needs is a pin board.  She had one but it was pink and made for her when we redecorated her room when she was 7 and still liked pink. Now it’s all about black and purple and other weird teenage stuff! So she took the board down and decided she would re-paint the frame black a while ago, and there were a few bits she missed as you can see.





So I took it off again, got her to go through my material stash and we found this fab purple fabric. I fixed up her paint job and before I covered the board in fabric we decided that some pockets would be helpful for her.



So I grabbed some contrasting material and made two pockets, sewed them on and because she is into skulls (don’t ask) I printed out a colouring page of a skull and appliquéd it onto one of the pockets, then attached to pin board.

Wah Lah one new pin board completed for a teenager!




I also made some cushion covers, so I will be back later with those. Wait to you see her choices, she certainly is unique!

Until then happy crafting        

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Quilt Panel Sneak Peek

Hello Blog World,

Just a quick post to show you why I haven’t had any new crafts up. I have been doing a lot of hand appliqueing to 4 panels for a new quilt I am working on and I am pretty slow let me tell you.

It’s an all black and white quilt and it’s 38” square and will end up on my wall if it turns out!

So I present to you today my first completed panel!



Yes all those little bits have hand applique stem stitch around them!  Lots of work. What was I thinking??



I do have to make a birthday card, so I will try and fit that in this week and I did want to cover my daughters cork board for her so I think I will break up all the hand sewing with that. Plus I have to clean my craft room for my new hutch!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO oh and paint it first!!

Anyway that’s it for today, off to aerobics then hairdressers then more hand sewing.

Until then Happy Crafting.

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Retro Ruffle Apron

Hello Blog World,

I am a messy crafter by nature, also a messy cook, messy cleaner etc… and the one thing I don’t have is an apron. How absurd!!!

Well I thought I would rectify that especially when I saw this

Source: joann.com via Michelle on Pinterest

So off I went to spotlight to find some material that would scream out at me, I originally had a shabby chic theme in mind, but I just couldn’t find anything that screamed buy me!!!

Then I saw these beauties in the quilting section


Now this surprised me that I liked these as this is normally not my thing, but when I put the 4 bolts together I just knew I had to have them.
Now my apron isn’t exactly like the one above. It is loosely based on it. But basically I have just drawn an apron shape, then added ruffles and ruffles and even more ruffles.



I was originally going to put a pocket on the front bib, but when I saw this retro birdie motif and in matching colours I knew it was PER-FECT!!



So wah lah my new apron completed! Now I wear it all the time when I craft, wash dishes and cook!! I will be making another one though, in shabby colours just need to find the perfect material first.

The weekend has finally arrived and I need to do some housework!!! Might even tackle the pantry?  But I do need to make a baby card first. I hope everyone has a great weekend and get’s lots of crafting done!

Until then happy crafting.

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Tea Towel Tote

Hello Blog World,

Another weekend has come and gone and while I was supposed to start my quilt this weekend I got side tracked with another project that I have wanted to do for a while now.

I dashed into spotlight the other day for some material for my apron (more on that later) and I stumbled across this lovely set of tea towels on sale for like $4 for the set!!! I had been on the lookout for a nice set for a while as I had this project in mind.



Don’t you just love the trim on this one??



Now the hard part is to unpick all the seams on these as well as that lovely trim, fold 2 of them in half ( one for lining and one for the outside), sew up the long sides. Usually the third towel is put aside for the handles as well as a band along the top but because my towels had a lovely trim I unpicked the trim and used that instead, so that gave me enough room for a pocket and handles!!!

So just chop it all up, sew it all back together and WAH LAH a fully lined tea towel tote bag is born



I really loved the embroidery on this, it’s very sweet.



It has been very hot here about 42° C (108° F) so that is all I really achieved on the weekend. So I have to make a baby card this week, and next weekend I am going to get stuck into this quilt of mine, as well as start planning my craft room redo (oooh exciting!)

So until then Happy Crafting.

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I often link up at these parties