holy moly guacamole its November!

Woah, how did we get to November so fast!
This means it is only 8 1/2 weeks until Christmas!
woohoo I love christmas! I especially love the sparkly lights and twinkly decorations, actually if it was up to me, I would have my Christmas tree up year round!
Anyway, so what is the right time to put up your tree?
When we were growing up it was tradition to put the tree up on my birthday, 12th December, but now I just can't wait that long and we usually go for the first weekend in December, but I'm thinking this year I may go crazy sometime in November. It doesnt help that my daughter is also mad about christmas trees and anything that sparkles. ooh and I am thinking of treating myself to a white christmas tree too!

So of course I am super excited to be in the Sew Crazy Christmas Decoration swap, yay this is going to be super fun!

overlocker mode

Well, I have just spent this morning tidying the workroom (it seems to throw it's own party over the weekend) and I have just finished doing some bulk loading of bobbins.
I have had a good weekend though, I got an awesome package from one of my swap-bot partners and it had a heap of patterns in it, I have already made skylar a peasant style gathered dress from it (which came out awesome) and I finally decided to not be so scared of the overlocker and had my first go at it! I just wish i had tried it sooner!
I then made a very simple skirt for skylar from just a rectangle of fabric, I cut my fabric 40 inches (skylars waist measurement x2) by 14 inches (the length I wanted for her skirt), overlocked the top and bottom and the sides together, then folded down the overlocked waistband about 1/2 an inch and sewed around the top leaving a gap for the elastic, then threading through the elastic with a safety pin and sewing up the gap. all done! I will probably make a few more of these and add some cute pockets and trims. I meant to get sewing straight away this morning but I couldnt think because of the clutter! Now we are all tidy and I am ready to get going. yay sewing time.

random stuff

Yay the All Blacks won the rugby world cup, by just one point! and then the silver ferns beat aussie by just one point! Talk about the skin of our teeth!!!

Well I thought I would talk about our Workroom, I am lucky enough to have a quilter for a mum and we converted our garage into a sewing and craft room, It is brilliant to have a special crafting space but I do have trouble keeping it tidy, I sometimes get so involved in my sewing project that I pretty much let my Rambunctious 2 1/2 year old do her own thing, she is really happy in the workroom and has all sorts of toys to occupy her, but sometimes she gets up to mischief and pulls out all my fabric and hides it in her cupboard (she is a fabric hoarder like her mum! Here are pics of the workroom - both messy and tidy!!

i'm a lucky girl

So once again the weeks have disappeared on me, I have no excuses! Anyway 2 weeks ago I was lucky enough to win $25 on the lottery and what do I do with it? Yep straight to Spotlight to grab a few bargains, Then last Thursday my Mum and I went to a factory material shop in Otara and more bargains were found, I got 10 small zips for $1.00 and some great dress fabrics, yay! And to top it all off I won lotto again last night (last division again unfortunately), and I will probably spend it on fabric again! I am addicted, I can not get enough.

Keyka Lou Dumplings

I came across this zippy purse pattern on trusty swap-bot yet again, so before I signed up I thought I better do a test run, to see if I was up to the project. I totally fell in love with the design (and the name!) The pattern is super easy to follow and they are fairly quick to make.


http://keyka.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/08/lets-make-dumplings-free-zip-pouch-tutorial.html


I personally have a wee problem with bias binding (mine never looks neat enough, I really need to practice as I'm a little scared of it!) so I used a thin strip of felt to cover the unfinished ends and it works pretty well. I can't wait to try some more of her patterns!

Stash busting Pillow

This pillow was made for a swap-bot swap for the free pattern creations group, (I love this group!) I decided to do my pillow in a very bright bright pink Corduroy (as always, I struggle to stay away from the bright colours!) Anyway I love it so will most likely make another one, This is actually the first ever cushion I have made and I found the construction much easier than I thought. Here is the link for the instructions:http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2009/10/tutorial-scrap-buster-fall-pillow.html

what a bad blogger I am

Gosh, where have 2 months gone? I have completed heaps of projects and haven't uploaded a thing as my computer connection has not been the best and I have been relying on dial up. yikes!!
Fear not I have got a new thingameejig which should keep me more up to date: so I endeavor to post all my latest things asap!!! As always the longer you are away from something the harder it is to get back into it!
peace.