twolittlefishes

The Fishes have returned!

2011-10-10T11:08:00.002+10:00

I'm back! After having a bit of a break from blogging and just doing stuff without thinking about keeping a record of what I'm doing I have returned.

It was good to have a break and just focus on little things and to be honest I had lost my bloggy mojo for a while. Now I've had a break from it, I'm keen to continue on and get back into it.

So does anyone remember the cupboard I was going paint an eternity ago? Well it is done and is in the dining room being used. It now contains all the fishes playdough, paper, pencils, craft stuff, painting gear and other bits and pieces. It had a couple of coats of Antique White U.S.A in a semi gloss and I changed the two door knobs in the middle (they are the same ones the buffet/hutch thingy got when it was painted).

I finished quilting my three hawaiian quilts finally and they now hang above the cupboard in a row. I enjoyed doing them but was glad to have them finished as they had a lot of stitching in them. I hot glued some balsa wood to the back and hung them with those sticky velcro picture hanging things.

The darker turtle one below has been very lightly padded in the turtle bodies. It is very hard to photograph it but it has a slightly raised effect that gives it a little depth. I cut a slit in the back and poked some stuffing in then stitched them up again.

They are all raw edge appliqued and I went around the edge twice to make sure it was nice and secure.

So there you go, one painted cupboard from the tip shop all finished and put to good use. I made the runner from squares of blue and green batiks and its longer than I normally make to cover nearly the whole length.

Hope you like it! I promise to be back very soon!

Around the Block

2011-07-07T12:25:00.004+10:00

Before I get to carried away here's a squizz at a recent make for a special little girls first birthday pressie. The horse is from a pattern in the Scandinavian Stitches Book and I had to use the beautiful border fabric from the hideaway range (Lauren and Jessie Jung I think) because it is sooo lovely. She's a little small to actually have an opinion on whether she liked it or not but her mother seemed to think it was great so I'll chalk it up as a success!

I been watching the latest series of The Block on channel nine (well taping, then watching it really) and I have to say that I am liking the extra challenges and segments where they learn some new skills to use.

I would much rather see the contestants tackle some real renovation work and not just be involved in the decorating side of things, if they are getting builders in to do nearly everything then the builders might as well be the contestants. And I'm especially loving the second hand challenge though buying an ex floor stock piece of furniture is not exactly my idea of second hand. I'm liking Josh and Jenna's style the most (at the moment) as it's the closest to mine, and I was a little amused to see Polly's heart rate go up upon entering a second hand shop from being stressed. Mine does the same thing but for the opposite reason! Second hand shops are awesome! The lack of enthusiasm the contestants had for the trash to treasure challenge was a bit surprising. I know that they have $100,000 to spend transforming their little terrace houses but they would not have had that in their real life renovating to spend on whatever they fancied, so I thought they would have been a bit more familiar with using things that are not brand new. If I wanted my home to look like a furniture showroom then I would just go and live in one! It is very easy to go and buy everything brand new from a shop, but much more creativity and thought is needed to transform pre-loved pieces into something new to treasure. And really, who spends $250 dollars on one cushion! Maybe it's the sewer in me but the thought of spending that much money on a bit of material and stuffing, now that makes my heart rate go up! So producers of The Block please keep giving the contestants challenges that make them think about recycling furniture into new pieces and thinking outside the square (or block!). It's much more inspiring to viewers (me) and much more realistic in terms of budgets. And just in case one of them actually reads this and is thinking "well what did you have in mind?" (cause that is really likely to happen!)

Here's some examples-

Little fishes bed is a good one. Remember it cost all of ten dollars from an op shop and after a sand and a paint with some glossy white, it looks brand new. It's solid wood and is so much lovelier than a cheap crappy bed made from chipboard or laminate. It can always be painted or sanded if someone draws on it and made to look new again so it's perfect for a kid. Here's another example- I recently bought a TV cabinet from the tip shop ( it's like a giant op shop) that has been turned into a low line cupboard. I wanted a low cupboard or buffet side board thingy to go in the dining room and wanted something wooden and solid to go with the other hutch thing and our table and chairs that are in there.

It was difficult to find what I was after (remembering that I'm not going to spend a fortune on a cupboard) so some clever thinking was needed. The TV cabinet was perfect, it was basically two sections that were easily separated and the bottom section became the new cupboard. (Apologies for not remembering to take a pic of the TV cabinet, you should all know I'm crap at remembering to take before shots by now)

It's solid wood (yay!) and sturdy so if a little fish climbs on it, nothing will break or collapse.

Mr fish kindly removed the top of the cabinet and made it the top of the cupboard for me (with eyes rolling of course) as it was in better condition than the piece on there and fixed a broken door insert with some panelling from the back of the unwanted section. None of this was difficult to do and we only needed some nails and a jigsaw to transform it. We broke down the remaining pieces of the cabinet and put some bits aside for disposal and kept some bigger pieces for use later on. The spare top piece that got replaced will make an excellent mobile work bench when put on a pair of saw horses.

So there you have it, a new piece of furniture made out of an unwanted one. It's being painted at the moment and then I'll show you how lovely it looks! So come on Block people, inspire me! Apologies also for the terrible photos, I forgot to take one when the light was better.

Our Edible Garden

2011-06-26T19:00:00.002+10:00

As well as working on our vegie patch at home we have been busy establishing one at school. We had a working bee a few weeks ago to clear out the few plants in the courtyard garden and get it ready for planting. The folks at the community garden came to give us some pointers and steer us in the right direction as we are aiming for an edible garden with a bit of permaculture thrown in.

So far everything that we've planted has grown and is looking healthy so the kids are very happy. We have some compost bins and a worm farm and have set up a garden club for the interested kids to do a bit in their lunch break. It's early days yet but the aim is to get it up and running and have the kids (and teachers) using it for lessons and making it part of their everyday school life. It's amazing how keen the littlest kids are to have a go and plant some seedlings, they have been so excited. Oldest fishes prep class have been growing things from seed as part of their science lessons and then planting them into the garden .

It's made the fishes very keen to get into the vegie patch at home and plant some seeds, so we have done a bit of maintenance work on it and have things starting to flower now. they have planted seeds, planted seedlings and watched them all grow. It's become part of their day now to go down to the patch in the afternoon and check on the plants and give them a water.

The pictures above are of the awesome mural that the students did on the wall to brighten the garden up. The grade sixes and seven designed the mural with one of our clever, artistic parents at school and then painted it on Friday. All the kids got to come out of class and do a part of it so the whole school was involved. The older kids partnered up with the smallest kids and gave them some help which was lovely to see. The older grades are really wonderful with the littlies and were so good with them.

The kids that were part of the design team stayed for the duration and saw it finished and they were so proud of themselves.

Does your local school have an edible garden or some great artwork?

Little fishes new bed.

2011-06-17T20:59:00.002+10:00

It was decided that littlest fish needed a big girl bed. She was just growing too big for her toddler size bed and as handy as it was given her room is rather small, it was time to go. So off to the bed shops we went! And then we came home.... All the beds that we saw were made from "timber veneer" or "laminated stuff" or other rather blaghhh materials. All we wanted was a wooden bed painted white. But they don't seem to exist in our town. So then we decided to search the op shops to see if we could find an old bed to fix up and, lo and behold we found one! At the second place we went to there was an old timber bed that looked to be pretty sturdy and apart from being old and a bit grotty it was just what we were looking for. And it cost all of ten dollars! Not $399 or even $250 just ten. dollars. Sold!

We brought it home and gave it a clean then sanded it and after an undercoat it was looking better already. Both the fishes had to help with the painting and after three coats of white semi gloss paint it was ready for action. Mr fish took the metal springs off the base and replaced them with timber slats for a firmer base and we gave the frame a coat of silver spray paint to brighten it up.

So now little fish has a lovely new bed that can be re-painted or touched up should anything get scratched or 'decorated'.

And after we took out the change table that was hogging the space in one corner there was quite a bit of room, a lot more than we thought. I'm not sure why it didn't get the boot earlier, I'll put it down to slackness.

She insisted on wearing her singlet on the outside of her pj's, she's just that kind of gal!

Some new prints and some b-b-bunting!

2011-05-17T19:04:00.002+10:00

As well as a new bedspread oldest fishes room has had some other new additions. (That's little fish on the bed, she HAD to be in the photo). This is her birthday bunting that I made for her out of assorted pink and green prints with some rainbow ricrac to hang it off. I cut two triangles out of each print and sewed them together (wrong sides facing) and pinking sheared the edges then stitched them onto the ricrac. Quick and easy and pretty.

The other new addition is a group of various prints in some white frames. I have been accumulating white frames for a while as there was a plan in place to make a display wall out of them but since deciding on a different idea for the wall they have been sitting in a box waiting for inspiration to strike.

I got a bunch of them out and played around with positioning them (using pieces of paper the same size and some blu-tac) until they looked okay and then filled them up. Having the bits of paper on the wall made it easy to position the nails/hooks/sticky things that would hold the frames up. When she came home from school and found it she was very impressed. I got bonus points for putting some mermaids in the mix.

Have you made any little decorative changes lately?

Soul Blossom raggy quilt is done.

2011-05-10T12:48:00.004+10:00

Here's a bit of a squizz at oldest fishes raggy quilt that was finished recently. I started out with a soul blossom designer roll (like a jelly roll) and pondered what to do with it.

Oldest fish has now decided to be a bit girly and is getting a bit obsessed with all things pretty and pink.

Her mother is not a big fan of pink and so we reached a compromise. The walls of her room will NOT be painted pink or any shade resembling pink. She can however have some accessories and bits and pieces in her room to increase the pinkness of it.

So the idea for a bed cover was born. The roll was chopped up into pieces that would be made into a very simple log cabin block. (I threw some other fabrics in to make up the number of blocks we needed). In between the log cabin blocks we put a square of printed fabric and after laying it all out and moving blocks around for a while we had a plan.

We then had to cut out the backing squares before sewing them all together. Being rather slack the raggy style of quilt rather suited this project as it was quick and easy. For anyone who hasn't made a raggy quilt before, it's pretty easy. Instead of piecing the top together first then basting your layers of wadding and backing together and quilting the whole lot, you make up your top in sections (blocks) and cut the backing blocks out the same so you can sew them as one layer, wrong sides together. The seams are left exposed on the top of the quilt as you sew one set of top/backing to the next set until you have sewn a row together. The rows are then sewn together and voila! You have a quilt! (you can put a square of wadding in between the layers if you like but since we rarely turn the fans off here it's easier to leave it out as it is not needed for warmth)

After the blocks were all sewn together I went round the edges of the quilt with a 1/2 inch seam to finish them off and stop them fraying too much. Then comes the fun bit.....

You have to get out your sharp scissors and make little snips in the seams all over the quilt and around the edges so that when it is washed (and preferably tumble dried) they look all raggy and fluffy. This takes a while and you will get sore hands if you try and do it all at once so pace yourself!

We don't have a drier so I just washed it and shook it a bit before hanging in the sun. You will get bits of thread in your machine filter (make sure you clean it out afterwards) and all over the floor if you flick it in the house so don't do that ;)

I made the sides wider than normal as I wanted it to nearly touch the floor and hide the spare mattress under her bed.

She likes it and the fact that it is pinky looking and pretty. I like it cause it was easy to make and means I don't have to look at pink walls. She got the bunting made for her birthday and now it hangs in her room to add a bit more pink and some green to the mix. Will show you a close up in the next post.

So we have used up all the soul blossoms roll now and oldest fish has a new quilt for herself.

Oh and she now has a hot pink cast on her arm. And because it's made from fibreglass she can get it wet! How awesome is that! Bath time is so much easier now.

She did really well at her hospital visit and had to get 2 xrays to check the cast was positioned correctly, walk to and from the different departments about 5 times (they are a looong way from each other) and have her old cast removed (no saw, just snippers) and the new one put on.

I am very proud of how good she was with all the things that we had to do and waiting at each department without complaining or whining, and most of all how good she was getting her cast redone. (I think the thought of a pink one helped).

She had to go back for another xray on Friday and if it's all good she will have it on for about 5 weeks.

Whoops!

2011-05-01T20:52:00.002+10:00

Oldest Fish has now had a turn at being in hospital. The sore arm that we thought was sprained was actually broken :(

She fell off the trampoline while it was being moved last weekend and apart from saying it was sore when she put pressure on it there was not a lot of complaining about it. She went back to school after the holidays and was okay except for falling over at lunch time and hurting it. I had to go pick her up from school the next day when they rang to say she had fallen over in PE and landed on it. So a trip to the doctor followed. Then we had a trip to the x-ray place. Then another trip to the doctor to get the results. Then a trip to the hospital to get it fixed. We should have just gone straight to the hospital and saved ourselves 4 or 5 hours of running around, will remember that for the future.

The doctors and nurses were AMAZING and I can't thank them enough. The break was just bad enough for them to discuss straightening the bones, it was borderline but they decided in the end to do it as she is only young and it was going to be pretty easy.

It all happened pretty fast once we talked to the doctor, it was all systems go!

The only traumatic thing was that she wouldn't let the doctor put the drip in to give her a sedative so they had to knock her out very quickly with an injection. That was the worst bit. Once she was knocked out they got to work and that was where I should have exited the room.

The clever nurse knew what would happen so she got me a chair and a drink of water. Then she got me a bed.

I don't think I'm a squeamish person but when it's your little fish and its all happening so fast, it's probably best not to look.

Anyways I got back up after about 10 minutes (she was in a bed about 3 meters away so the nurse was keeping me updated) and got to sit next to her while she was waking up. It's really weird watching your little one wake up from being knocked out. She was quite funny a few times and said some strange things that lightened the mood a bit.

We had to stay til she was completely okay and could get up so we were there until dinner time.

I asked the nurse who was admitting us if it was strange that she didn't really complain about being in pain considering the break she had, but apparently kids react in strange ways to pain and don't always associate the pain with the area that is affected. So I guess the lesson learned was to get anything checked out that could be serious even if the reaction is not as big as you might think it should be. Once she had a big sleep that night she was really happy the next morning and didn't remember anything from the hospital. We have to go back next week to get the temporary cast off and a new fibreglass one on. (it's going to be pink)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-26T20:24:00.002+10:00

Happy Easter to you! I hope everyone had a nice long Easter break. We had some surprise visitors come to see us for a few days. The little fishes got to spend some time with Nanny and Poppy Fish (Mr Fishes parents) who were on their way home from a month long road trip around the centre of our great big country. They were very excited to see them and we had a lovely few days of catching up. The boys even went out fishing one day and managed to catch enough for dinner! (That only seems to happen when Poppy Fish is here, he needs to come for a visit more often). Mr Fishes mum likes to have something to do so we got to work and finished painting the last wall of the house that has been waiting and waiting to be done. And we even managed to get the carport painted and some plants moved around. Apart from that we ate scones and pikelets and went to our favourite restaurant for a roast one night (our restaurant is my mum and dads place, all the grandparents get along really well and like to catch up when they can).

The fishes of course were beside themselves with excitement with the idea of the Easter Bunny leaving them with a surprise and wanted to stay up to catch a glimpse. Littlest fish even left a carrot out for it. The Easter bunny was then in the bad books for leaving the loot in a spot that was not immediately apparent and not leaving a trail of little eggs! The egg trail trouble was sorted as the Bunny had planned to have an egg hunt outside once it was considered to be morning and the chocolate bilbys and bunnies were quickly discovered. I guess the Easter Bunny better lift its game next year!

Oldest fish had a bit of an accident on the trampoline and after a few days of being rather sore we are pretty sure she sprained her wrist. It is much better now and she is going back to school tomorrow with strict instructions to try and be careful. This is a girl who rubbed her elbow on a tree because it was itchy and ended up needing a bandaid to cover the nice bit of blood that resulted! I'm ever hopeful. She is not as accident prone as her sister but has her moments.

Not much sewing has been done but I'm keen to get back into it when the routine gets back to normal. Hope everyone has a smooth back to work/school day!

She loved it!

2011-04-22T08:16:00.004+10:00

We had an early start to the day on Saturday. Someone was very excited and couldn't wait to get up and turn 5. After lovingly patting and sitting on her new bike for positively ages she managed to get the rest of us up and in present mode. I was very happy that she liked her princess and the pea play set and book, phew! We had to read the story and then she went off to play with it for a while. I managed to spread the present giving out a bit and gave her a little parcel every half hour or so in the morning to keep her busy and interested. She got some books and a new moneybox and cute purse and some card/board games to play. Then she had to wait forever til her party.

Thank goodness she has a super cake making nanny! When a castle cake was requested we got out the old women's weekly cake book and also the new one to see what ideas we could find. Luckily there were two castle cakes to pick from and super nanny got to work.

We had a bit of a pink thing going on as it is now her favourite colour so a cheap plastic tablecloth was found and a pretty table runner (in pinks of course) livened things up a bit. We had the amazing cake, tea cup biscuits, pinwheels, lollies and some savoury snacks for the grown ups. And lots of fairies (not to eat, they were on everything). After a play with some little friends and lots of eating everyone was exhausted. We practised riding and hopping on and off the new bike and then relaxed for a while.

The next day we went down to the park for some bike riding and practice using the brakes. There's a nice flattish walkway that is perfect for riding on when you're a little kid. She got the hang of it pretty fast and remembered how to brake when going down a little slope.

Miss fish had a lovely day and I'm getting pretty good at playing kids board games!

Now I have to figure out how to make a mermaid cake for her little sisters birthday......

The Princess, the Pea and the little Fish.

2011-04-15T20:36:00.002+10:00

It's oldest little fishes birthday tomorrow. She's gonna be the big 5! The last five years have really flown by, I can't believe she's at school already let alone turning 5. Anywhoo, as well as getting a bike for her birthday (she's been asking for a big girl bike for ages) I've made her a princess and the pea playset from the book 'more softies'.

She is into pink now. This is the girl that played with Thomas the tank trains and was a complete tomboy until not that long ago. Now she likes pink and princesses and fairies and unicorns and mermaids and especially likes pink pony unicorn mermaids. They do exist, go have a look at the my little pony section in the toy shop.

So we had to have some pink in the mix and for good measure we threw in some green and purple.

The pattern is pretty straightfoward and the cutting out took the longest, once you have cut lots of rectangles out you just sew them up and make a cute princess and a pea. Couldn't be easier!

I found a book with the story in to give as part of the pressie, it was suprisingly hard to find. I couldn't get the story on it's own but managed to find a book of princess stories that included it.

I'll let you know what she thinks of it!

Projects a go-go (or it's been raining a lot)

2011-04-03T16:45:00.002+10:00

It's been raining a lot, hence quite a lot of things have been started or cut out or planned. After the boring stuff (housework) is done there's really no choice but to do a bit of sewing or crafting. What a shame! All the nearly finished outside jobs have been abandoned until the muddy bog outside has a chance to dry out. Should be a while since we're still waiting for the rain to actually stop. So meanwhile...... Littlest fish is getting a mermaid/underwater stitchery similar to the one I made for her sister a while ago (hers had a bit of a woodland critter theme). I'm using a beautiful mermaid pattern I found on little dear tracks etsy shop for the centre panel. Then I'm using some cute under the sea patterns from her lovely book Doodle Stitching (the motif collection) for the smaller panels around it, except for one which is a mermaid I found in Badbird's free stitchery patterns on her blog. The surrounding fabric patches will be made up of some much loved and hard to get hold of mendocino prints by Heather Ross. I'm going to very carefully fussy cut them out to get the best bits. If there's a bit left after this I'll make a cushion cover or something with the leftovers. Will show you some progress shots as it progresses.

I have aquired an interest in hawaiian applique and tivavae (similar but from the south pacific). I'm not sure how I aquired said interest but there you go, it's here so I may as well explore it.

I found a great website that sells patterns for cushion size projects up to giant Queen size beds (Poakalani, just google the name) and ordered a few to try. The first one is a 22" turtle pattern that I'm going to raw edge applique. I want to try another pattern using needleturn to give it a go. The turles have been cut out and pinned on to the backing fabric and so far so good. I'll try to remember to take some pics of the different steps as I go. Hawaiian applique in a nutshell is like those snowflakes you make out of paper when you're little. You fold up the paper and cut bits out then open up the paper to find a pretty pattern. Except with fabric. And a bit more thought out.

Next project a go-go is a planned quilt using this awsome pattern from Chasing Cottons, Who doesn't love sandcastles!? And they're fabric ones!

I'm going to first make a block up as a cushion cover for a little girls birthday pressie as after sifting through the stash I found some fabric that is sand looking with pretty little shells all over it, perfect for a sandcastle. You could do a fairytale theme or make it a bit boyish if you preferred, the fabrics on the picture are Heather Ross' far, far away prints which look beautiful.

And to finish off here's a pic of something that's just about done. I cut up a design roll (like a jelly roll but not from Moda) of Amy Butler's Soul Blossom range and did a sort of log cabiny thing with squares of other stuff in between. This lot was sewn together rag rug style and super quick. I'll post some more detailed pics and info in a separate post as soon as I find the other pics I took of it.

So there you go, heaps of things are on the go and with all this wet weather it's keeping me out of trouble. Now to figure out how to keep the rest of the fishes out of trouble.....

Stairway to heaven? Depends if you like fabric...

2011-03-24T16:03:00.003+10:00

I'm still here. We've been a bit bust lately so the poor old blog has been neglected. The house (outside) is painted on three sides. If the rain would go away it would be painted on four sides.

We have been doing some major pruning and cleaning up in the garden. It just needs some new mulch to finish it off (if the rain would go away it would be all done).

I've been helping out in Stacey's prep class with some literacy activities and some pottery, I have to act surprised when I get my Mothers Day present.

And in between all this I've made a couple of table runners to fill up my ladder.

I made this ladder ages ago out of some cheap pine and dowel with an idea in my head that it would look good leaning against a wall with some table runners draped over it in the dining room.

It's now full but that probably won't stop me from making more when I feel like it.

I like table runners, they are quick and don't take heaps of fabric and they are easy to quilt!

So we now have some nice runners to hang on their display ladder and add a bit of colour to the dining room!

Here's another new addition to the dining room, she's is hanging above the doorway to the adjoining sewing/computer/TV room. She's wooden and comes from a shop here called The Inner Labyrinth. I wandered in on one of my infrequent visits (not a shop to visit with a two year old) and saw her hanging on the wall and next thing you know, I'm taking her home.

She is lovely and I'm glad she came to live here. Stacey thinks it's cool having a mermaid hanging on the wall, Mr Fish just rolls his eyes.

I've got plans for one more wall in the dining room and then I think I'll be done with the main decorating. I'll show you when I get around to doing it. Promise.

What can you do with a jelly roll?

2011-02-14T13:27:00.002+10:00

Remember this jelly roll I got ages ago? Well it is finally all used up. All I have left is a couple of little scraps that I just can't throw out but I've managed to make three things out of the roll with hardly any wasted. Here's a looksy.

This one I've shown you before, it's a table topper for a little cane side table and was made with a wedge ruler.

This one is a table runner I made with the leftover bits from the throw pictured below. I used the greeny blues and the dark blues/navy that were left and just stitched bits together after laying the fabrics out in a nice way. The outer border was made with some batik fabric that went with the prints.

This throw is made with the jelly roll and a charm pack I managed to hunt down. I just cut the strips up to make a square around each charm square and sewed them together.

So there you go, three items from one jelly roll! How many can you do?

Super Sweet Slipcover

2011-02-08T13:52:00.005+10:00

So I found this chair at the tip. (In the recycling shop, not on an actual pile of rubbish!). It was looking a bit sad and worn out so I scrubbed all the flaky bits of varnish off and cleaned it up, then gave it a spray with a can of white gloss spray paint. It was in good condition structure wise so that was all it needed to look a bit happier. Since then it has been sitting in the lounge room with a cushion on it waiting to have some kind of transformation happen. Well, I finally got around to it and here is the result.

First I took a few measurements and made a pattern out of some light interfacing to get an idea of what to cut out. I got some foam from SL and cut the shape out using the interfacing as a pattern. I cut the foam in half across the spot where the seat bit meets the back rest so that once it was in the slipcover it would be easy to bend to fit the shape of the chair.

Then I wrapped some wadding around each piece a few times (just a thinnish wadding, nothing too thick) and secured it with some tacking stitches. I snipped bits of wadding here and there to fit it around the shape of the foam.

Once both pieces were wrapped I laid them down in between the fabric I selected (Amy Butler, Temple somethingorother, off Etsy) with right sides together and pinned around the foam shapes as close as I could get. Then I very carefully pulled the foam pieces out of the pinned fabric and stitched around the shape following the pins, leaving an end open for turning.

I ended up overlocking the edges after I trimmed the seam allowance back a bit to keep it neat.

Then it was just a matter of turning it right sides out and slipping the foam bits back in before slip stitching the opening closed.

The chair seems a bit happier and brighter now and I love looking at the colours on it!

Oh Dear!

2011-02-01T16:55:00.002+10:00

This is headed towards the Queensland coast at the moment.

Like we really need it after the floods and all the devastation that hit the the bottom two thirds of the state.

Now the top third will be joining in.

Do you think someone is out to get us?

Good luck and stay safe everyone.

Holiday Adventures.

2011-01-17T20:02:00.004+10:00

We ventured down to the Sunny Coast for a holiday over the Christmas break to catch up with Mr Fishes side of the family (and only just made it back before the highway was cut at several places). The Fishes nanny is a dedicated wildlife carer (she was awarded a pride of Australia medal in 2010 for her many years of looking after little furry and feathered critters) so they are always excited to go for a visit and help feed whatever is in residence. Oldest fish is especially taken with feeding the wallabies and can now feed two at a time, a feat she was rather proud of.

Littlest fish seemed to enjoy having staring competitions with the wallabies just before feeding time.

We had promised the little fishes a trip to Australia Zoo on our trip and despite it raining A LOT we managed to get a day of light drizzle (not technically rain) and so off we went!

Littlest fish was happy to sit on the tail of a giant crocodile sculpture and look happy but despite being quite alright with walking all over it, oldest fish was not keen to have her photo taken. At all. She pulled what can only be described as a rather evil looking, scrunched up face and we put the camera away.

She was however quite happy to let me take a picture of her feeding an elephant.

We also got to see the show at the Crocoseum and after watching Bindi sing many, many, many songs (the young girls loved it but all the men in the audience looked like they would rather feed a crocodile or catch a snake or something) we got to watch Terri feed a croc. The Irwin's were all there and were in the show (and Wes, can't forget him) which is pretty good considering they are not there all that often, so we timed this visit well.

The little fishes got a puppet theatre for Xmas which they LOVED. We had to watch lots and lots of puppet shows put on by all the kids (some not so small ones as well) and it was a big hit. It was quite funny watching them as the storyline was quite similar in all the shows that were put on one after the other by the little kids. They seemed to take whatever the first show was about and run with it.

Both the fishes were very taken with Lulu the possum who was a very patient little thing and let them pick her up and have cuddles all the time. We had to hear about Lulu tickling little fishes tummy about 1000 times.

They both loved feeding the wallabies and even though it took longer than normal and little fish had to be constantly reminded to hold her bottle up so they could get the milk, the wallabies were all lovely and didn't complain too much.

Lulu and her biggest fan.

Lulu trying to get in on the wallabies dinner.

We had a lovely time and got to see all the other fishes and even though it rained nearly every day, all day, we managed to have fun and play in the mud. Our trip home was decided rather suddenly when we saw the flood waters making their way towards Rocky and after checking the RACQ website to find out if the highway was open at GinGin (which it was not previously) we decided to make a run (drive?) for it.

It was lucky we decided to as we made it home late that afternoon and the highway has been closed at various locations up til today. So despite driving past some very flooded areas (not over the road, mostly paddocks) we were very glad to get home and not be stuck on the highway somewhere with two little fishes. We had decided to try and make it home and if we struck water anywhere over the road then we were just gonna turn around and head back again. (It is not cool to drive through floodwater, you just end up needing rescuing and heaven knows, the rescue people are busy enough). So we have been at home and watching the horrible floods destroying whole towns out west and submerging our states capital city. The waters in Rockhampton are only just starting to recede now (think two weeks with your house under water) and the clean up there has only just begun. It will take our state many, many months (probably years) to get things back to some sort of normal again but the willingness of complete strangers to lend a hand and shovel mud for hours to clean up someones yard and house that they don't even know will surely get our state through this. The huge number of volunteers that have been out in force helping to make things just that little bit easier for people who have lost everything has to be something that we will remember for a long, long time.

Don't forget to hop on over to Make it perfect to check out the master list of bloggy peeps having auctions and raffles to raise money for the flood relief appeal. There are some amazing things on offer and all the proceeds will go to the flood relief appeal to help people get their lives back to some kind of normal.

Qld Flood Relief Appeal Auctions

2011-01-11T16:55:00.002+10:00

As many of you already know our lovely state of Queensland is being devastated by floods at the moment. A lovely crafty lady called Toni of Make It Perfect fame is organising crafters to auction off some goodies with all the funds raised going to the flood relief appeal. She is currently getting things organised so head on over to her website for up to date info on what's happening if you are interested.

Some things I made.

2011-01-08T14:44:00.002+10:00

I know these are a bit late but I thought I'd put them on here anyway. Out of my stash of driftwood that is currently in the front yard I made a little tree to go on the table for Christmas. It was easy to make with a bit of wire and some wood glue. I just drilled a hole through each piece and threaded them on the wire with the larger pieces at the bottom and the tiny bits at the top. Some little shells were hung as ornaments (they even had holes in them already, no drilling needed!) And it's finished off with a starfish on the top. I also made a couple of new baubles for the tree. I found the clear plastic balls at spotlight that you can put stuff in. (One of the only things I managed to find when I went in there, everything else on my list was either sold out, not arrived or mysteriously vanished.) After collecting a little bit of sand and going through our shell jar to find some teeny tiny ones, it just required a bit of glue to hold together and some glittery string to hang on the tree. Most of the other decorations we had this year were glittery, feathery, sparkly creations that the fishes made at Kindy. (Littlest one got to make some as well, she wasn't going to miss out on using glitter and glue!) I just had to throw in a couple of beachy things to balance out the sparkles!

These other bits and pieces are pressies for various people that have now received them so I can show you. Mum likes my sea fan that I framed and so when we found this one I thought I better make her one too. I managed to get a few shadow box frames from Big W (thanks to Claire for her very good finding skills) and painted the matts in a nice sea blue/grey sort of colour. Then with the help of my trusty toothpick I stuck that sucker down. You could make a nice display of shells or bits of driftwood or anything else that tickles your fancy, as long as it fits in your frame.

This pic is of a throw for the lounge I made for Aunty Sand and Uncle Brian-man as the fishes call them. As you can see it is being expertly modelled by littest fish (not sure why she has gumboots on). It was going to be made in fabrics that matched the table runner and wall hanging they have in their house but do you think I could find the photos I took to check what fabrics were used? They loved it and Sand reckons it will match perfectly so it turned out

A-Okay.

This is a monster shirt I made for a little man who likes transformers and robots and other boy things. I was a bit unsure as to whether he would like it (being handmade and not a transformer) but was assured by his knowledgable aunt that he would like a monster shirt.

He did in fact like it and even wanted to put it on so that was a bit relief. And being the lovely boy that he is, he even told me he liked it so that made my day.

We went away over Christmas to visit Mr Fish's parents and all the various Fish relatives down on the Sunny Coast. It rained nearly the whole time time we were there but despite the rain we still had a good time. I'll put some pics of the little fishes feeding the wallabies and the things we did in my next post. Hope everyone had a nice break and a bit of a relax :)

Happy holidays everyone!

2010-12-19T12:39:00.000+10:00

This little kitchen is done!

2010-12-01T21:03:00.003+10:00

Remember this? The original kitchen when we moved in.

This was when the hutch still lived in there (yes this is that nice looking white hutch I blogged about recently)

The second half of the makeover is now finished. After changing the bench top on the sink side and getting rid of a cupboard at the end and replacing it with a set of drawers the first half was completed. (forgot to mention the new sink with 1 1/2 basins, loooove the extra 1/2 basin)

And now the cupboards for the other side are in and the bench top is on! It was fairly easy to put together once we'd done the first set of drawers. We didn't get the flatpax ones from Bunnings for these drawers (the new drawers under the other bench were from Bunnings and were very easy to put together). These new ones were chosen mainly for the under bench microwave configuration as the flatpax ones didn't have that.

If that wasn't a factor I would have preferred to go with the Bunnings ones, they had far better instructions and were very easy compared with the others. But we figured it out in the end and it's all done! Now there is heaps of space to fit everything and it's great to have the microwave not taking up bench space yet being so handy (as opposed to being in the laundry)

Here's a nifty idea for all you beachy people out there, I've found a way to bring the beach into the kitchen! Get yourselves some glass coffee jars with the lids that have a bit of space in them (I think they might be moccona ones, mine were pinched from mum's house)

After cleaning the jar and soaking the label off, remove the plastic seal from the lid. They should pop right off, and fill the lid up with some little shells, putting the plastic seal thing back on of course to hold them in there.

And then fill the jars up with your choice of product! I imagine you could do this with all different size jars and have other things besides tea and coffee products in them. I've seen them at the op shops so non coffee drinkers could get one from there instead.

And this is a little idea for keeping things easily accessible yet looking okay as well.

I found this woven tray at spotlight (I think) and thought it would be good to keep all the bits and pieces contained in one area.

We have the phone there as the wall plug is just below the bench and other stuff just ended up next to it as well. So the tray now is home to the phone, some notebooks, my sunnies, a bowl of pens and pencils and a key bowl. I have managed to get everyone (mostly) to put the keys in their home so we never have to look for them.

And it's handy to never have to scramble around for a pen when you need one.

So there you go, a nice bit of extra bench space that has heaps of storage underneath and it somehow manages to make the room look bigger!

The Neptune table topper is done!

2010-11-13T15:23:00.003+10:00

At the end of the kitchen where the dining table used to be (it now has its own room) is a spot I've made into a little relaxing area. I found the cane chairs at target and got some nice bright coral coloured cushions to add a pop of colour to that area. The little round table was mum and dad's and it's been around for a long, long time, except I recently painted it white.

Anyway I thought a little table topper would be nice for a bit more colour and the Neptune jelly roll that has been sitting in the sewing room being admired for a while had just the right colours in it!

I used some strips with coral, blue and green to match the cushions and kitchen that it's going with and sewed them together lengthwise.

Then using my trusty 10' wedge ruler I cut 36 wedges (10 times 36 is 360 degrees) going up and down the fabric so as not to waste any.

Then the sewing begins and 36 wedges were quickly sewn together to form, you guessed it, a circle!

I cut out a circle of pellon and backing and pinned them together (right sides together) while slipping in some ric rac so when it was turned right side out (through the circle in the centre) the ric rac would be around the edge in a wavy pattern.

Then after a good pressing I started quilting a spiral pattern all the way round and then went up and down all the wedges so it was very quilted and flat.

After this I cut out a circle using a saucer (it was just a little bit bigger than the hole it had to cover) and turned the edges under and quilter another spiral pattern to secure it.

So there you have it, a Neptune table topper and now that I have opened the jelly roll I am keen to make something else. It's a bit addictive!

Highs and Lows

2010-11-07T21:34:00.002+10:00

This week has been a rather eventful one. One of the highs has been this lovely torch ginger finally deciding to flower after about 4 years of living here. There are 3 torches on it at the moment and hopefully we'll get a few more. It has moved spots a couple of times before we found the best place for it and more seems to be happy and thriving.

One of the more lowish sort of things to happen was that we got this new teddy. Well the teddy itself isn't bad (thank you Red Cross) it's the reason we needed one in the first place.

Littlest fish had a bit of an accident on Wednesday and ended up in the hospital emergency dept. for half the day. It seems that diving on your sister who is perched on the side of the lounge and knocking yourself and her over the edge is not a good idea.

Especially when you both fall over the side and one of you lands on the corner of a step - with your face. After a trip to the local doctor who told us to go to the hospital as they could fix the gaping hole in the side of her temple in a kinder and less painful way than the GP could do, we set out for the emergency dept.

Some numbing drops and 2 local anesthetic needles later and the stitches were in.

Littlest fish was very good and managed to keep still mostly and I managed to not faint as I held her head steady and had to watch everything the doctor was doing. She had to have a couple of stitches to put her back together and some steristrips and a big band aid type patch to cover it all up but is now on the mend. In fact the next day she was up and playing and I had to explain to 21 mums at Kindy why she had a huge patch on her head when we dropped her sister off.

The stitches come out on Tuesday and she should only have a tiny scar that should fade to nothing so that is good.

Her face is a bit bruised down that side which looks a bit yucky but it's getting better each day.

The steps have now got plastic corner things on them and the furniture has been moved a bit so there is a side table between the step and the lounge. All lounge diving has also been banned, lounges are for sitting on only.

Her sister was not hurt at all and was very helpful when I was shouting at her to get me a washer and the phone.

To leave you on a more pleasant topic, here is a little sneak peek at something in the works at the moment - I finally undid my Neptune jelly roll! (I was a bit nervous as it looked so pretty)

(In case you aren't familiar with them the teddy is called a trauma teddy. The hospital gives them to kids that are in need of something to cuddle while they are being fixed up. The nice volunteers at the Red Cross make them and donate them to the hospital, yet another wonderful service they provide).

TaDa!

2010-10-20T15:38:00.002+10:00

Remember this dark coloured hutch thingy that was going to get a makeover? Well it has!

After taking the glass doors off to paint and then deciding they could stay off and they could take their vertical supports with them (after checking with Mr Fish who said they were allowed to go too), it looks a lot more open and different.

The vertical pieces were surprisingly easy to remove with a bit of tapping using a rubber mallet (thanks Mr Fish) and the shelves had hardly any damage to them where they were nailed in.

After coating the top half in a generous slather of zinser and filling in a few nail holes we were ready for painting. ( I did the painting in top half and bottom half to break it up a bit)

A couple of coats of Antique White USA in a semi gloss and the transformation was almost complete. Add in a few new door knobs and a nice bit of duck eggy looking blue to the back of the shelves and we have ourselves a new looking display piece which is now conveniently located under a down light to give it a bit of a fancy look (pure chance that the down light thing happened, it was already there). I only put the pretty things on display as there was too much stuff and it was getting pretty crowded in there before, only the best op shopping finds made the cut!

(Don't tell Mr Fish that all his beery type stuff will not be going back on this lovely new looking hutch, he probably won't notice unless it's pointed out to him)

The helpers and the next room getting prettied up.

2010-10-10T22:52:00.003+10:00

Don't you just love helpers? They were very keen and didn't cost much. We paid them in strawberries.

The other half of the kitchen is getting the star treatment at the moment. The buffet/hutch thing is going into our new dining room (new for us, the rooms always been there we just like to move around a lot).

It is getting painted at the moment and will look a bit different when it is all finished, and yes you can have a look when it is done.

This is oldest fish "helping " to drill the screws into the new cabinets that are going in the kitchen.

This is what her sister did the whole time I was trying to take a picture, she just stands in front of me and does that. As if to say 'I'm ready for my close up'. So I had to take one of her as well.

This is the kitchen minus the buffet/hutch thing (I never know what to call it so apologies if it's got a real name).

It is getting a new benchtop to match the other one and the drawers will be painted the same once the wood putty sets properly. It would more than likely help if someone stopped poking the holes and ruining my putty applying skills. The poker has little fingers so I've narrowed down the suspects.

Very observant people might have realised that the wall has been painted and is now natural white instead of pacifica. This has brightened up the room a huge amount and there is now no need to put a skylight in ;)

And I even painted the cupboard doors as well. I'm thinking I'll leave the alcove where the fridge is the Pacifica colour as it looks okay.

So there you go, more work is being done and now oldest fish comes up to me (usually standing on a chair) and says "are you painting again?" in a sighing sort of voice. I promise I'll be finished soon....

Revealed!

2010-10-05T19:24:00.003+10:00

I was going to do one of those sneak peek type of posts but couldn't be bothered with revealing bits at a time so here it is!

The new room is finally all complete and moved in.

Most of the stuff in there is what we already had so as things wear out they will be replaced.

Pretend the lounge is a nice neutral colour instead of green and you'll get the picture. The bookcase was a bit of a pain to make (thanks Mr Fish!) but it worked in the end and holds heaps more books than our old one.

The tv stand was one we picked up at the tip shop that was in pretty good condition and just needed a bit of a sand and paint and some new handles. Our other tv stand has been cut in half (shock!) and is going in the new rumpus/sewing/computer room. It had been cut in half neatly so it still looks good, I promise!

The curtains are made of poplin so they are a bit floatly without being sheer and are nice and light. Concealed tab tops are my favourite as they are so easy to make and look nice.

There are still a few things to finish off and make like a couple of footstools (think beanbag for feet) and some cushion covers and I've got a wall hanging in mind for above the tv (dancing jellyfish, in a non tacky way) so they will get done gradually but for now we are DONE!

Neptune is hard to find!

2010-10-03T22:07:00.002+10:00

I know I am a bit slow and the Neptune range by Tula Pink has been around for a while and is now oldish but I only really discovered it and desperately wanted some recently.

It is rather hard to find nowdays and it was quite a few google searches before I managed to track some down. So now I am the proud owner of a jelly roll and charm pack with 3 half yard pieces on the way. The tricky bit is thinking about what to make and deciding on a pattern. Decisions, decisions.

I love the prints and colours and am thinking a throw for the lounge would be nice and maybe a runner also. It's the perfect range if you like all things ocean related.

And a little parcel arrived recently from equilter with some bits and pieces for some sewing fun. There's nothing like getting a parcel in the mail, even when you have to let the little fishes open it!

sneak peeks at the finished room coming very soon!

Well that didn't take as long as I thought!

2010-09-30T22:35:00.003+10:00

Thanks to a week of very wet weather our reno is finished!

Mr Fish had last week off and we got stuck in and the last few things to do were actually done.

The bookcase was made with some assistance from the little fishes (they have quite good hammering skills) and when that was in place and secured we thought "why not put the floor down while we're on a roll". So we did.

Once we figured out the correct way to click them together the floorboards went down pretty easily. And watching a 'how to lay a floating floor' dvd that came free with a handyman magazine recently certainly helped.

The floors took a day to do and we were a bit buggered by the end of it (since it was raining we had to move the bench saw out the front to the verandah that was dry and go through the house each time a cut was made).

The next day we put the skirting on and I managed to get most of them painted before they were nailed down, and then had to go round and touch up the paint around the nail holes and where some grotty hands had left dirty marks on them.

So we are now moved in and loving it! There's just a little bit of tweaking and decorating to go and then all will be revealed!!

(I never thought I would say it but I'm a bit over painting)

Only one room left in the house to paint and then sewing!

I've been featured!!

2010-09-21T13:25:00.003+10:00

Some of you may remember this little sea fan I framed a while ago..... Well it got featured on the lovely Maya's blog - completely coastal and I was a bit excited when I found out!

I've been a fan of her blog for a while and love all the beachy ideas she gathers for us to look at so when I was checking out the latest posts I hadn't read yet and saw a picture that looked a bit familiar it took me a minute to catch on, then I did a little excited dance.

So there you go, a lovely suprise and it made my day!

A quick update on the mess that is our reno, we have had a bucketful of rain and the last bit is taking a bit longer than we thought. All that's left is to finish building the bookshelves and put the floor down and then all will be revealed! (might take a while so don't hold your breath)

Then I am itching to get stuck in and do some sewing as I have some gorgeous fabric that's waiting to be made into a throw and a table runner and there's also some curtains to be made.

The list just keeps getting longer!

It's getting there!

2010-09-13T14:56:00.003+10:00

Most of my days lately have been filled with painting, Kindy stuff, painting, sanding, painting and working. We are on the home stretch now and only have a few things left to do before the great build a room of 2010 is complete!

The ceiling went up a few weekends ago with much huffing and puffing and made it look more like a room. Before that we had been putting the walls on and trying to remember to mark the bits where the power points were so they didn't get lost. There were a few tricky bits as the roof is sloping but it came up pretty well.

The ceiling took a lot of paint but once it was well covered it looked great. And I've learnt that beading is really good as it covers the bits where nails went in funny and where the hammer missed the nail and got the sheeting instead! (it wasn't me)

Once the trims went on it started to look like everything was coming together and was actually working out so that was a relief. This weekend we boxed up the steps and clad them in the floor covering (had to do that before we put the floor down) and finished boxing up some pipes that are to be hidden in a built in seat near what's going to be the library wall.

I am discovering I am quite handy at putting dress timber around windows and hanging concertina doors by myself. If only I was not a little bit terrified of the bench saw or nail gun or I could have built the whole room myself and had it all finished!

My new rule is only do things to the house I can do myself as waiting on Mr Fish to get tasks done takes too long and he can only do things on weekends so it feels like an eternity before I can move on to the next job and I am too impatient to do that!

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside....

2010-08-19T20:19:00.004+10:00

When you can't be right next to the seaside all the time here's the next best thing!

A nice reminder of what's nearby waiting for our next visit. I had made one of these a while ago that I gave to kindy for the Mothers day hamper we raffled and wanted to make another one for our place. This time I changed the colours from deeper blues to more bluey greens to more closely resemble the water around our area.

It has some little shells sewn onto the sand at the bottom that finishes it off nicely and a piece of driftwood to hang off.

(Pattern is from a book called Skinny quilts and table runners that I found in our local library)

Bugs Birthday Bash!

2010-08-04T21:20:00.003+10:00

Littlest Fish (who is known as Bug) turned 2 on Sunday. After persuading her big sister to let bug open her presents by herself we ventured over to Nanny and Poppy's house for some morning tea. (cheese, gherkins, strawberries, biscuits and some kabana thrown in for good measure. These are all bugs favourites.)

After that we thought a trip to the beach was in order before lunch. It's only 2 minutes down the road so we had plenty of time. The water was so lovely and warm that a swim was a must. It started off as just paddling along the edge then quickly turned into jumping over the "waves" then just became getting wet.

They had lots of fun and were nice and hungry when lunch time came around. And we made sure to leave enough room for some cake. Bug was more interested in playing with the figures on the top so we saved her a piece for later.

So bug had a lovely day and slept very well that night!

Not much has been done around here of a practical nature lately as the most I've managed to do is some Kindy paperwork due to contracting a horrible case of man flu. (it was more than just a normal cold so it must have been man flu)

Hopefully next week will see us back on track with the painting and lining of walls!

Build a room update part 1

2010-07-28T19:24:00.003+10:00

I thought that since there has not been a great deal of creating being done here lately I'd show you part 1 of the build-a-room saga.

The outside is pretty much finished now, maybe just a few little things to finish off and I can't wait to get moving on the interior.

It feels like it has been ages since we started and it will be great to not have dangerous power/sharp tools around (makes playing out the back a little risky for the little fishes) so I'm hoping the next phase doesn't take as long.

I'm quite good at using a saw and a caulking gun and have discovered that air compressor tools are pretty cool. Next I'll be learning how to line a ceiling! We have done all the work ourselves so far with help from my dad (thanks dad!) and if nothing goes badly wrong we should be able to do the rest ourselves as well.

we found the 3 windows at a secondhand shop but had a lot of trouble finding a door. Mr Fish really wanted a sliding door and we were going to have to settle on a normal door as they are as rare as hens teeth around here (possibly rarer), then he decided he really, really wanted one so we ordered a new sliding door and I'm glad we did as it lets a lot of light in to the room. The door along with the big windows along the same wall make it almost an entire wall of glass so the light will be lovely and the view out to the backyard will make it easy to keep an eye on the little fishes.

We made sure to have a decent amount of wall between the windows as that's where the TV and cabinet are going and we didn't want to have it squashed in. So the view from the lounge (when it finally goes in!) will be out towards the garden as well as the tele!

My next job will be painting the outside (yup I'm the painter at this place) and eventually the whole house will get a fresh coat but the new cladding needs to be done soonish and then the rest will get done in good time.

I have been doing a bit of sewing and am halfway through a square table topper for a friend. The princess dress for little fish is all sewn up (I did a trial with some test fabric as the pattern has not been sewn before and the trial one is quite nice so she can wear that too!)

Will try to remember to take some pictures ;)

What the?!!!

2010-07-18T16:04:00.002+10:00

This funny red thing is a starfish! We hit the jackpot at the beach this morning and found not one but two lovely starfish. We have seen them on the beach before but they are not something you come across very often. There is a particular spot that is exposed at low tide where the more interesting creatures seem to gather. As well as getting to check out these beauties we found quite a few large sand dollar shells (none of them had anything in them, they hide in the sand when alive) and an interesting looking sea slug. It was really exciting for the little fishes to see the starfishes and we watched the star shaped one bury itself back in the sand without noticeably moving, it just seemed to magically sink before our eyes. This was definitely a special beach walk.

Now for something completely unrelated, a cot quilt for a new little baby that was born recently!

Little Ebony arrived a few weeks ago and had to have a pretty quilt for her cot so out came the rotary cutter and the ruler and this little beauty was put together. It didn't take long to make and is a simple 9 patch block alternated with a feature block. It was nice to sew something again and a princess dress has just been requested by oldest fish so it looks like a bit more sewing will be done!

Ain't Life Grand!

2010-07-13T10:31:00.002+10:00

The weather has been quite lovely and we have been spending a bit of time at the beach enjoying the sunshine. The sea was sparkling yesterday and looked like lots of little glittery dots were dancing on the surface. We had a big play and littlest fish decided to have a faceplant in a puddle so since she was all wet they ended up having a nice little swim. (luckily I am a most talented see into the future type person and had spare clothes and a towel in the car)

The park that we like to go to is right on the beach so we normally go and have a few slides and swings before heading down onto the sand for a bit of treasure hunting. Then on the way back we have to stop again for another play. We are back to normal today after having some time off over the school hols to play with our visitors and hopefully after some cleaning and boring housework type stuff is taken care of the painting and rearranging can recommence!

Hallway is complete!

2010-07-07T15:05:00.003+10:00

The hallway walls have been painted and the trims all finished for a few weeks but because it is a hallway and is rather boring to look at I have been waiting til it has something in it to make it more interesting before I show you!

There have always been 3 holes in the wall at the same distance apart and on a slope and because someone took the time to measure them and get them lined up I figure I'll take advantage of that and keep them where they are! So thank you previous house owners, you've made hanging things a little bit easier. There used to be 3 little wall hangings in the hall but they were a bit not beachy and a little bit daggy (I can say that as I made 2 of them).

I wanted to hang some different things after painting and decided to do one frame and two other things (not that I knew what the other things were when I decided this - details, details)

The framed picture is one we were given last xmas from Sand (little fish calls her that so she shall now be known as Sand, plus it fits with the beachy theme!) It is a very nice photo of us (the Fishes) at her wedding and as we don't have that many photos with all of us in (someones got to take the picture!) it is nice to have on display. It is also a good reminder that we scrub up alright when we bother to get dressed up, despite Mr Fish being the only one to have any shoes on, well it was rather muddy! The frame was a standard 8 by 10 that I painted with a brown paint then one called shell white which was rubbed back giving it a distressed old timber kind of look.

The other 2 things turned out to be a lovely "shells hanging in a net" type of thing that I found at a shop called Inner Labrynth (I was nearby at the bank doing some Kindy banking and it kind of beckoned me over to look at it). It clearly wanted to come home with me as I had to take the two little fishes into a store that should only be ventured into alone (lots of lovely but breaky items that little fishes should not stand close to, or even breathe on). They managed not to break anything, though there was some touching of some items and I held my breath for the duration of time we were in the shop.

And the other thing that was to hang in my hallway thus making it interesting again was a driftwood hanging made on the front lawn with Poppy's drill (or a driftwood xylophone as little fish proclaimed) which was very easy to make. I'm still not sure what I am going to do with the wheelbarrow load of sticks left over so I forsee some more projects (maybe another mirror?) to use them all up. The little hanging is made from some short sticks and is hanging off a curtain rod bracket in the kitchen (the curtain was taken down for painting and I kind of like not having one there now, though the brackets can stay as they make good hanging spots.

So there you go, now I just have to figure out if I can make a toilet look interesting enough to show you! (that's the other room that has been painted recently)

Winter? What Winter?

2010-07-04T21:19:00.003+10:00

Apart from a chilly breeze that had us looking for a jumper this morning it has not been very cold here yet. We're still waiting for our winter to turn up and give us a chill. The beach has been lovely lately and there is still a bit of driftwood left that hasn't been washed away after the cyclone left us a giant stack to sift through. So we'll keep enjoying the mild weather and hope all you folks down south can manage to keep warm somehow! (some driftwood creations are in the making and will be posted soon!)

painting update and some driftwood letters

2010-06-23T16:08:00.003+10:00

Remember my kinda recent post about our bedroom transformation? Well I finally got around to taking a pic of the other wall in there. There are four 8 by 10 prints hanging up (one set either side of the big window, the other set either side of the mirror) that are all handmade. The two prints by the window are shots taken on the beach (blogged about earlier, one is a heart drawn in the sand, the other a heart made with cowrie shells on the sand). The other two are simply word prints done in paint shop of things that are relevant to us (one is a humerous quote about our family and the other is a list of the places we have lived).

We already had the mirror sitting on the drawers but it seemed a little dark after our nice calming makeover so a friend suggested I dry brush a little silver paint over the frame to lighten it up. It worked so well I dry brushed all the black metal draw pulls as well! And the silver works well with the soft blues and greens. So that's our bedroom transformation complete now!

Onto some other random stuff now, Here's what you can do when there is a huge stack of driftwood on the nearby beach. I managed to find some funny shaped pieces to form a word (okay I cheated with the 'E' and had to use a bit of glue) The possibilities are endless once the glue comes into play but I wanted to try and make something as 'natural' as I could.

And finally, this is what has been keeping me busy of late. It's called shorewood and is a lovely grey/brown/driftwoody sort of colour. The main living areas are going to be painted this colour as I continue on my tranformation efforts. So to recap for anyone who is interested (that's you family and friends!) The bedrooms are all some similar shade of pale green/blue now (biggest fish didn't get a paintover yet cause her room was done fairly recently). The rest of the house will be shorewood and the kitchen is white and pacifica (turquoisey green blue) for a pop of colour.

The room out the back is being worked on (slowly) but I'm hoping to get most of it done in the next 2 months as I don't have to work weekends as much for a bit. Will show you some pics when there is a bit more progress made.

That's all for now! Happy painting/crafting/blogging!

Littlest fishes bedroom is done!

2010-06-08T15:45:00.004+10:00

Littlest fishes room is finally done! It took a while as after the painting I had to get some other jobs finished before I could do any more. We got rid of the bright aqua turtle curtains (which lasted thru 2 fishes so they did alright) and gave the room a change from the 'white that looks a bit grey' paint. She recently graduated to a toddler bed from a cot so that was a bit change in itself, the room looked a lot bigger without it. (if you look really carefully you can see my cutting in work! As usual I forgot to take a proper before pic)

The bookcase was handy but a little messy as she liked pulling large volumes of books out to look at. The change table is a bit full as we have some bags of clothes under there waiting to be given to a friend. (hopefully it won't be around for too much longer!)

The blockout blind on the window has been letting light in the gaps at the sides so we had to fix that problem quick smart.

Here's the solution! I got a longer blind that would cover the gap where the light was coming in and hung it from above the window to make sure no light came in above. I also put the brackets for the curtain rod up near the ceiling and as you can see they are in funny spots.... That is because I have hung the curtains to balance the wall and make the window look a bit more centered instead of nearly in the built in! (you'll see a bit further down)

Here's her new little art gallery! I've been collecting lots of cute prints and cards for a while and thought they'd look good as a group. Most of the frames were cheap wooden ones that got painted white so they all matched and the larger frames were hung with a picture hook. The smaller ones were attached with stick on picture hanging strips that can be pulled off. If we find some more lovely pictures we can add them to the collection!

We swapped the bookcase for these cubes that were in the other fishes room. So the older one got the books (which is fine with her) and we just put the age appropriate ones back in here along with her favourite toys.

Here's what happened with the curtains. They cover nearly the whole wall and by hanging them evenly along the wall with just half the window showing in the centre, it looks like the window is in the centre of the wall, which made centering the bed a bit easier so it looks balanced. And you can't tell the blind overhangs the window on one side as the curtains cover it. (curtains are made with white cotton) And the paint is a very pale aqua/blue/green colour called Nippon 'seabird'. It's pretty without being too obvious.

lastly the little nook where a chest of drawers used to be now houses a little chair and a treehouse with a one woolly wombat wall hanging above them. (made by nanny fish of course) So there you have it, one little fish makeover. We bought the paint and the cotton for the curtains and a new blind. Swapping bits and pieces around meant we didn't have to buy any new furniture and her room looks bigger and brighter. The next thing we'll have to work on is where to put a single bed when she needs one!

That's a shell of a lamp!

2010-05-24T21:39:00.002+10:00

This is one of a pair of lamps that came to live here after I spotted them at the tender center. They had rather ugly shades on them and looked a bit sad but I could picture them with a fresh new shade perched atop them and hey presto, they are now lovely again! They are pretty old judging by the wiring on them but in good condition and now they have lovely new hats on, they are just perfect. And they look just grand sitting on the bedside tables. Don't you just love it when you find a great bargain???!!!!

(and yes they are real shells in there!)

(Lovely new shades are from Tarjay people, they have some seriously nice shades at that shop)

I know it's a bit sad.....

2010-05-16T22:53:00.002+10:00

I scored these two beauties the other day after swapping a friend an old tv stand for her young un who is soon to be moving out of home and I think I might have got the better end of the deal here- according to me anyway! Now they could be filled with lovely magazines or even some toys as they are sitting in front of the window in the living room (sorry, took the pic at night so the blind is down) but in true "I'm a busy person and I can only paint stuff at night when the fishes have gone to bed" style they are of course filled with paint tins and my drop cloth so I can get paintin' in a hurry and have everything handy. It's a bit said I know and Mr Fish just shakes his head but it works for me and one day they will be a nice home to something a bit more glamorous than paint tins. So there you go....

Kids beachy chair revamp

2010-05-15T20:09:00.002+10:00

I found this lovely cane chair at a recent trip to the tender center (it's a kids size one) and thought it would look great with a quick makeover. It was in great condition and just needed a bit of a dust then on went the paint. One coat of zinser and two of antique white U.S.A. and it was all done! (I forgot to take a pic before I started painting hence the white bits on the legs)

After all that lovely paint it of course needed a nice cushion to go on it so we (me and the fishes who were strangely on their best behaviour) braved going to Spotlight and found a square of foam to cut up. Some careful cutting and a bit of nice beachy shell fabric later and we had ourselves a cushion!

Both fishes have claimed it so I'll let them battle it out though it does look lovely with littlest fishes (aka 'bug') nice new paint colour in her room. (more on that later....)

Transformation is complete!

2010-05-04T23:09:00.004+10:00

After we moved in to our house about 5 years ago we painted all the apricot walls white to keep things simple and I am finally getting around to painting each room and adding a bit of colour. There are major plans for the whole house but until the rumpus room is finished the bedrooms are the only rooms I can fully transform as the living areas will be moved around a bit. So here you have a hideous picture of just after we moved in, note the shiny green curtains and mushroom coloured blinds! Those along with the apricot was just too much so the walls were painted white almost straight away. The lovely bedspread was the very first quilt I ever made, so even though it doesn't match anything it got to stay on the bed awhile.

Next pic is just before painting began, see the green curtains were replaced with white sheers which lightened things up a bit. And even though you can't see them there are white blinds on the windows.

Here's another angle from just before painting, and no that sheet is not a bedspread. it is covering the bed to protect it. The room is a little brighter but still quite plain and boring.

These next two shots are after the painting has begun. I mixed up a colour that consisted of a tin of Dulux 'white on white' and a sample pot each of Nippon 'pool' and Wattyl 'academy grey'. It's a sort of duck egg bluish kind of colour but a bit more green if you can get your head around it. It is sooo soothing and I feel relaxed just looking at it. Note the trims have been painted a gloss white but the curtains are not up yet....

Tada! The sheer curtains were replaced by white cotton (okay it was white calico) and hung higher than the window to make the ceiling seem higher (and it really worked!) and the rods are a black metal that I dry brushed some silver paint onto to lighten them up a bit. It's hard to see but they look a bit like brushed metal only they were a fair bit cheaper! I was going to just let them hang but I had some shell tie backs that I wanted to use so they were just tied loosely around the curtains.

The other window was a bit trickier as the air con sits just next to it and the window is off centre which was a bit annoying. After much talking to myself and anyone that would listen, I thought that keeping the curtains floor length and the same width as the main window would at least add some balance to the windows. We couldn't cover the air con as it sticks out a bit from the wall and would probably look like we were trying to cover it up so it was just left alone. the curtain covers the cord that runs down the wall and even though the bed is not centered under the window (impossible), it still looks okay.

So there you have it! We've gone from a bit of a mess to quite relaxing and soothing. And it might be hard to see but the fan also got a makeover and the new one is sooooo much quieter. All in all it was an easy change and was done on a budget but I love the result! I'm tempted to paint the furniture white but don't think that will fly!

linked to-

Some beachy finds!

2010-05-03T21:14:00.002+10:00

Here's a couple of recent finds from our nearby beach. The Nautilus shell had me jumping up and down when I found it. It was hidden under a huge pile of driftwood that we were looking in (that was the reason we were at the beach, after the cyclone came through our beach is covered in mounds of lovely driftwood) and I poked it with a stick as it looked a bit like an eyeball all half hidden by everything. Then when I realised what it was, I did a little happy dance! I don't know if they are a common sight further south but this is the first one I've ever seen up here and boy was it a great find!

This sea fan was also found recently and after letting it completely dry out, I cleaned it up a little (brushed off loose bits of outer coral stuff) and framed it in a shadow box frame. I had to glue it onto the backing with a tiny bit of glue on a toothpick and waited impatiently for it to dry to check if it was held on enough.

More beachy finds are still to come! And there has been some major painting going on around here lately (pics to come soon) as well as some mega news (well I think so anyway).....

The building has begun on our rumpus room out the back!!!! Yay!!!!

Mr Fish and Poppy Fish started on it today and put the framework up on one side and a window in. I am sooooo excited that it has begun finally and hopefully all the wet weather is finally behind us.

Pillow gets a makeover

2010-04-28T16:35:00.002+10:00

Little fishes favourite pillow (called rock for some reason) needed a bit of sprucing up. The Dorothy cover was looking a bit old and grotty so we decided to give it a makeover. We found some cute fabric and set about making a new cover that would bring a bit of zing to rock.

Instead of adding a zip around the edge like Dorothy had we simply overlapped the back pieces cause that was much easier and I had no zip anyway so it all worked out quite well!

She was quite taken with the new cover and rock is back on the bed where it/he/she belongs.

Littlest fishes new bed

2010-04-22T21:25:00.002+10:00

Littlest fish recently graduated from a cot to a toddler bed and after spending a few nights with a bed rail in the open bit in case she fell out, I thought we could try and pretty it up a bit. So down came the rail and in its place is a nice bit of fabric (I guess it's a bumper of sorts) that ties to the bed to make a little barrier.

So far so good, which means she hasn't rolled out (yet!) She can climb over to get in and out but it seems to do the trick and keeps her in while she is alseep which was the main goal anyway. Plus looking a whole lot nicer is always a bonus.

Yay little fish! Next job will be painting her room and new curtains so stay tuned for some makeover fun!

Before and After

2010-04-18T20:02:00.004+10:00

I found some photos on the computer recently that were taken before we bought our house (I think we got them off the property listing online when we were looking) and was amazed at how different it looked. I sort of forgot how apricot the walls were and how much varnished timber there was in the kitchen. So I was very happy to find some pics that showed the changes we have made (and are still making). The apricot is gone and part one of the kitchen reno is done, we can't do much of part two until the extra room out the back is built then it will be all systems go! So the point of this post dear bloggy friends, is make sure you take some photos every now and again of your house (and garden) to document the changes that have occured because they may seem like small differences when they're happening, but the end result can be huge! Happy photo taking!

Drift, driftin' away.....

2010-04-12T15:55:00.005+10:00

Okay, so I haven't been doing much sewing but I did make something instead of painting another piece of furniture (you can hear Mr Fish breathing a sigh of relief in the background). I saw a gorgeous mirror with driftwood around it in a Better homes and gardens mag a while ago and kept it in the back of my mind. After about 3 trips to the beach recently we had a bucketful of driftwood (had to be fairly straight bits) to get started. First I painted a square canvas that was lying around a brown colour, do you think I can remember what I originally bought it for!?

Then I stuck a mirror that used to be in littlest fishes room in the centre with double sided tape. It's one of those cheap mirrors from the warehouse so I wasn't worried about wrecking it if things didn't work.

And then I started playing around with how to put the sticks on. I had in my mind a round looking shape (a bit sun like) but quickly decided that required to much fiddling with angles and was a bit tricky so I went with a simple square shape instead. After snapping a few to fit them in the gaps I glued them down and added a few more pieces to the sides when the top was dry.

The finished mirror came out pretty good and you can't really see the canvas unless you're really looking for it. Being on a canvas it's not as heavy as it would have been on a piece of mdf or ply.

(the picture you can see in the mirror is on the opposite wall, I thought it framed the painting nicely!)

Posted on My house of giggles

This could get addictive

2010-04-08T13:44:00.005+10:00

I found a new place to put a table runner the other day. They are very handy for moving around and making little displays on. The little white thing in the front is an oil burner that you put those wax melt things in, I bought a lemongrass and a honeydew one and they smell divine. I'm a bit slow with these things, I know they've been around for a while but til now I've been a 'put a few drops of scented oil in some water' oil burner kind of gal. So I'm starting to catch up now. The cupboard everythings displayed on is from a garage sale a while back and I don't think it will get painted as it's in really good condition and I'm a bit scared to change it. (this was a bit of a posh garage sale) But after painting the cabinet in the last post I thought the side table in the lounge room could do with a makeover. It's another tender center job (in case you don't know, a tender center is sort of like a second hand shop where people bring things in and you go and bid on what you might like and the highest bidder wins! It's mostly junk but sometimes there are little gems up for grabs). Anyway this little table is made from cane and a bit of chipboard and was looking a little worse for wear so a paint job was just the thing it needed.

I have learnt through trial and error that two decent coats of primer make a huge difference to the finished look of the paint and would highly recommend priming first when painting furniture. I used zinnser 3 in 1 primer (after a few people suggested it) and it is amazing! As long as the surface is clean and free of flaky bits you can paint it on just about anything. Can you imagine how much sanding this table would have required? Why bother when you can paint the primer straight on and get to work. So it got two nice coats of zinnser and then two coats of semi gloss and that was it.

So now we have a nice little side table that looks pretty and can stay around for a while. The inside of the drawer was looking a bit sad as it is made of some cheap chipboard/mdf stuff so I painted it as well and then glued some paper to the inside to spruce it up a bit. It's just scrapbooking paper and I used some spray adhesive to hold it down.

So there you go, another cheap and cheerful makeover. I wonder what will be next? Maybe I should go and do some sewing before the whole house gets painted!

TV cabinet transformation

2010-04-07T15:23:00.002+10:00

This is what we bought home from the tender centre a little while ago. (The broken glass panels were removed straight away as the little fishes like to touch everything). Apart from being filthy and covered in dust and grime and having a missing door handle and the broken glass, it was in suprisingly good condition. So after a few coats of primer (after being scrubbed clean) and some paint (antique white USA) it was looking a lot better. Add in some MDF pieces with grooves routed in them (do you think I could find any beadboard!!!) and the transformation was nearly complete.

After buying some new magnetic closure thingies and deciding to stick with the original hinges all that was needed was some new knobs so a trip to Vast (interior) was in order. And really, who actually needs a reason to go looking there! I found some lovely off white knobs with a bit of silver in them to finish things off and had a good look around as I managed to go without the fishes. Honestly I could just live in the store they have that much nice stuff in there.

I bought a bamboo placemat to put under the tv so it has something to sit on and looks pretty and protects the lovely new paint job on the cabinet.

So there you have my project from the long weekend, now all the wooden furniture is starting to look like it wants some paint. Next might be a little side table, I'll let you know!

Easter at the beach

2010-04-06T13:25:00.002+10:00

Things are back to normal now (almost) after having a 4 day long weekend for Easter. We went to the beach a few times over the break as the sun was out (sort of) and it hasn't been raining. Oldest fish was delighted to see her park was almost back to normal after being trashed by the cyclone (tree fixer people and swing fixers must have been working hard) and apart from feeling like the roof is gone because the canopy that shaded the park has been stripped pretty bare it is all good. It was a bit overcast when we went but that was great because it wasn't blindingly bright. Littlest fish had a ball playing in the water and tried to put all the sand balls the crabs made in the collecting bucket. We did some drawing on the sand and found lots of driftwood and bits of coral. All in all it was nice to go back to the beach after all the wet weather.

Homemade Artwork

2010-04-04T22:10:00.002+10:00

After spending a bit of time lurking around Etsy and some other sites looking for some artwork to go in our bedroom after I give it a makeover (don't worry, it hasn't happened yet) I came to the conclusion that a lot of the prints I liked were fairly doable and thought I'd give it a go myself. The first two prints are ones I made up in paint shop pro and were very basic. The home one is just a simple quote that is sweet and true and the other one is a bit unique.

Anyone with an interest in home design mags and websites will know that the old bus/tram rolls are in big demand as artwork. I've seen a few around that have a London theme as well as Sydney ones so I thought I'd borrow that idea (I like the layout and look of them) and make my own with a twist. Instead of doing bus stops I did a list of places where we have lived since we got married. So It's a one off unique list that no one else has! And I love the coloured background instead of the black that the bus rolls have.

The beachy pics were done when it was a bit overcast and not so blindingly bright. The sand heart was simply drawn near the water and the shell one was done with some cowrie shells from home (collected on a previous visit) and arranged nicely on some drier sand.

So there you go, a few pieces of easy to do art that will be a bit special and unique so all I have to do now is print them! Oh, Happy Easter everyone!

Table runner madness

2010-03-29T14:19:00.002+10:00

Despite the dramas of a cyclone and the hustle and bustle of Kindy fundraising (!?@#$) I have managed to do some sewing. I found a book at the library called 'skinny quilts and table runners' that had quite a few nice patterns in it. The beachy quilt is from the book and I liked making it. It was fairly easy to do, the hardest part was selecting the colours.

The middle pic is a runner made from a charm pack of Amy Butlers 'Love' range that is simply squares sewn together, 'bout aseasy as it gets really.

The last one was the most involved runner, it's from the book as well and was not hard to make as the instructions were easy to follow. It requires a lot of little strips cut out then sewn together and needs a little bit of concentration.

I have plans to make a few more and recently discovered there is a skinny quilts 2 that has been published and it's now on its way here! Have you noticed a bit of a theme with a lot of the things I have been making of late? I am slowly turning our little house into a bit of a beach cottage meets the tropics kind of dwelling and will post pics as things get madeover. The painting (walls)that was meant to happen a few weeks ago has been delayed because of all the wet weather and humidity so hopefully we can get stuck in soon.

Phew!!!!!

2010-03-22T21:40:00.002+10:00

Well we made it! After a very sleepless night and some very scary wind and rain we are now back on track. The power came back on about half an hour ago and you could hear the cheering from the neighbourhood in all directions. It went off about midnight saturday when the winds really picked up and stayed off til now. Having two little fishes in stinking hot humidity for a couple of days with no power is not my idea of fun, but there you go.

The Ergon crews have been working round the clock to try and get everything fixed but there was a fair bit of damage and they still have a lot to fix so we are very happy that we now have power.

We only had 4 trees come down and none of those fell onto anything important so, yay!

Oldest fish is a bit devastated because her favourite park has been smashed up pretty badly. All the old paperbarks and other gums around the playground all were either badly damaged or snapped off at the base and fell on the playthings. We told her that it would be okay and the tree fixer people would come and clean up the trees and the playground fixers would come and fix the swings so she seemed happy with that.

I am still amazed the sheds didn't fly away, I was really expecting to lose them. Apart from the huge amount of vegetation that is everywhere and the fallen power lines I think our area did pretty well. We discovered our fence is a bit stronger than we thought it was, it had two bottlebrushes fall on it and it stood its ground. It is like heaven here at the moment as the fans are working again! I could live without the lights but the fans, they are a must. I have a mountain of washing and cleaning up to do, but it doesn't matter because the fans are on! And the kids can have a good nights sleep! Yay for electricity!

It's a bit windy today!

2010-03-20T13:59:00.002+10:00

We are sitting at home impatiently waiting for Cyclone Ului to make up its mind about where it's going to go. This week has been a waiting game and seems to have gone for a long time with everyone wondering is it coming? going? Do we have to run around putting things away or will we be okay? At the moment it looks like crossing just north of us so poor old Proserpine will cop most of it. The toys have been put away and the sheds are full of garden stuff and the table has been turned upside down (the outside one) and the chairs tied to a pole so now we just have to do some more waiting...... will let you know how it goes!

A very hungry caterpillar likes to drink tea.

2010-03-12T20:20:00.002+10:00

Well not really but I do! My very clever, bargain hunting friend took me to a place she goes to where there are bargains to be had on Thursday morn. It was a place Mr Fish has been before but he told me not to bother going there as there was nothing to be found! That's the last time I listen to him!!!!! It was none other than my local tip shop recycling centre! It's across the other side of town which may explain why I have not bothered to go there myself. (I usually only venture to the local green waste facility which is nearby) There was a shed full of old dressers and hutches and wardrobes, which were full of old tea sets and china and vases and glass wear and lots of other things. Then you go outside and there's a huge yard full of other stuff that won't fit in the shed! I picked up these lovely tea cups and saucers which are both bone china from England (I normally get things cause they look nice, it doesn't matter where they come from but you might want to know! And they cost $2 per set!!!!!!) The yellow saucer and plate didn't have a cup but they were too lovely to leave behind. So now I have a new place to lurk in the hope of finding some treasure and next time I'm going without the kids and without Mr Fish! Thanks Trine for taking me :)

This bunch of squares have been cut out to make.......

This very hungry caterpillar cot quilt! It's for Mr Fish's cousin who is due soon. I kept it simple and quilted wavy lines across the quilt instead of going around lots of squares. The parents to be like bright colours so hopefully this will fit right in.

Really quick plastic bag holder tutorial

2010-02-22T15:52:00.002+10:00

After Ashleigh left a comment on my last post about making a plastic bag holder I just had to get stuck in and make one, couldn't resist you know! This is my version of one with a bit of a water/beachy theme. I cut out 6 rectangles of fabric, the top and bottom ones are 5" by 16" and the four middle ones are 4 1/2" by 16" (I made the top and bottom ones slightly bigger as they have the drawstring and elastic in them) This was just measured roughly against a tea towel to get an approximate size. Sew all the strips together along the 16" sides to make a big rectangle like the one above. I topstitched each seam and overlocked around the edges to keep it neat.

Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise and pin along the edge matching up the seams. Measure down 1 1/2" from the top and put a pin in then measure down another inch and put another pin in. Sew all the way down the side leaving the space between the pins unstitched (this is for the drawstring) make sure to anchor your stitches either side of the space so they don't unravel later.

You should now have a tube that is starting to look like a bag holder. Finger press the side seam open at the top and fold the top edge down to just above the space. Stitch the hem of the casing all the way around the tube just under the space. Your drawstring casing is now done.

Sew a hem on the bottom edge of the tube to form the elastic casing, leaving a little gap to thread your elastic through ( about 8" of thin elastic). I tied mine in a knot instead of sewing it but that's up to you. Thread some nice looking trim (rope, ribbon, cord etc) into the drawstring casing and cut off a whatever length you want and knot the two ends together so it can be hung up on a hook. That's it, now you have a nice plastic bag holder to replace the old yucky one that you keep meaning to get rid of but never do!

There you go Ashleigh, my plastic bag holder! Hope you like it :)

Kitchen Makeover part 1 is complete!

2010-02-17T13:55:00.003+10:00

we had a pretty busy weekend in the kitchen putting everything together in part 1 of our kitchen pretty up. I started a while ago by repainting the cupboard doors and putting a new set of drawers together ready for use. We put it in place and put the new bench top on along with a new 1 1/2 basin sink (they rock!) it was a bit tricky but everything worked out by the end of the day. Next morning the tiles went on and a bit of a clean up was done, then the grout was put on the next day and the wall repainted! I think Mr fish has had enough for now but i've only just begun!

This is why not much sewing has been done lately though i am keen to make some placemats and a table runner and a new plastic bag holder to go in my nice shiny kitchen!

My little fish started kindy!

2010-02-03T19:36:00.005+10:00

Oldest fish started kindy this year! I can't believe how fast the time has gone, it seems like she was only a little baby fish yesterday. She was really excited to go and settled in really fast on the first day, she even told me I could go as she was fine! (she might have been but I'm still in shock)

So well done Stace, you handled it better than your parents. Hope school goes as smoothly!

Some more sewing stuff....

2010-01-28T14:34:00.003+10:00

I just made this bag for a friend who is going to a baby shower and wanted to get a practical, yet funky gift. She liked my bag that lugs all the kids stuff around so we raided my stash and got sewing! The pattern is called Quilters Carry All by Blue Willow Designs, and even though it is designed as a quilters bag it makes a great nappy bag with all the pockets it has. There's a bit of binding involved and I found that it was pretty easy to follow the instructions even though we changed a few things. It came out looking funky and nothing like a quilters carry bag! I just hope the soon to be mum likes it!

Here's some pics of my lovely new sewing machine cover that was mentioned with the overlocker cover last post. I bought some gorgeous gnome and mushroom fabric a while ago and have not been game enough to cut it up, until I thought it would be awsome as a machine cover so I could see the gnomes all the time! Now I get to gaze at it everyday and see all the cute gnomes working hard. (except the one having a snooze!)

Let the sewing begin!

2010-01-19T15:04:00.002+10:00

Here's a pic of some table runners I've just finished for a few birthday pressies. Mum taught me a way of slashing squares of fabric to make blocks up (like stack and slash) and we had a mini tutorial/sewing day to make them up! And I even learnt a new way to put the binding on which means no more slipstitching the back!

Okay, so I have actually done some sewing lately, it's too hot to do much else at the moment.

I saw some really cute pincushions while scrolling through Whipup the other day and thought I might like to make one! It was very easy as all you need is a teacup (or other cute thing), some fabric and some wadding and glue. I added the mushroom and hedgie for a bit of cuteness.

What do you get when you have a whole heap of little squares sewn together and some wood grain fabric?

A cover for your overlocker of course!

I made the sewing machine cover (with the gnomes on the front) from the tutorial on the Spool website and figured the overlocker shouldn't miss out. I just measured the overlocker and adjusted the pattern pieces to fit (apparently there are not many overlockers which are the same size, they are all different!)

I thought it might be nice to make a patchwork cover so I made enough squares to cover the pattern and then sewed them together and cut the pattern from the patchworked fabric.

I might make myself a table runner now, I quite liked sewing them!

The sewing room is tidy!

2010-01-14T15:44:00.002+10:00

Not much actual sewing has been done lately, though I have a couple of birthday pressies to make for the end of January. We've been having a bit of a cleaning blitz around here and have painted the kitchen cupboard doors, finished tiling the bath and changed the shower curtain rail, cleaned out the linen cupboard and tidied up the sewing/computer/toy room! We are planning to build a rumpus room out the back sometime this year (hopefully soon!) and I am taking my impatience out on the house. I still don't like doing housework but I like doing other jobs around the house (rearranging, painting etc) so that will have to do 'til building begins. Since most things I ramble on about are craft related I thought I'd post some pics of my crafting space while it is clean and tidy and you can actually see the surface. I have one wall in the mutipurpose room which is all mine to fit as much as I can in. If the toys or other books creep over they get put back on their side pretty quickly. I have an old wooden wardrobe that is now home to my stash, but it is rather tricky keeping it all in there and not having it spill out everywhere! The softies have to fight the books for some shelf space but mostly they get along pretty well. The corkboard above the machines is my ideas and inspiration board and the stuff changes fairly often depending on what my latest interest is. (Claire, if you look really closely next to the thread stand you will see the little owl that you so nicely parted with, he's the quick un pick holder! Much better than toothpicks I say!)

This little frog has taken over the big pottery mushroom in the garden out the front and uses the trap door to go in and out, how cute is that! Biggest fish goes 'exploring' every night with her torch (and Mr fish) in the front yard and looks for frogs and geckos and whatever else is vaguely interesting. They came across this little guy last week and so far he seems to be staying put. The frog is normally sitting on the top of the mushroom but they were lucky enough to see him creeping out one night.

What we've been doing lately

2010-01-06T14:04:00.005+10:00

There has been a bit of action around here lately despite the yucky, humid heat we are experiencing. Mr fish was doing not much in particular the other day so we convinced him to build a bird feeder to hang out the front! He did a rather good job of it considering all he was told was 'it has to have a roof and be able to hold a tray for easy cleaning'. He even put a little twig perch on the side for the birds to sit on. And oldest one had a great time 'helping' to build it.

The fishes got a new trampoline for xmas and it has been getting a fairly good workout though Mr fish is not that impressed with having another thing to move around when he is trying to mow the grass (which is quite often at the moment as we have had a bit of rain so it just keeps growing)

Here's a better pic of the treehouse with the elves in residence, we have made them some bedding and a rug and they have some little kitchen type thingies that are called re-ment (it's something japanese that is basically miniature bits and pieces that dolls would like to play with)

And finally we bought some fish. It has been the most exciting thing that has ever happened in the history of the world (according to the chief fish feeder) and they get kissed and cooed over every day. I think they are the most spoilt fish in the history of the world but what would i know! Good thing we kept out old tank in the shed all this time, knew it would come in handy one day!

So that's a bit of a round up of what's been going on here lately, how about you?

Happy new year!!!!!

2010-01-01T20:11:00.003+10:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and got to relax a little bit! We went down to the Sunny Coast to visit Mr Fish's family and had Christmas at Nanny and Poppy fishes place. The girls had a lovely time and were kept busy helping to feed the animals. (the list includes 3 wallabies, lots of birds, a few possums, the dog and the extra human visitors) We went to the Big Pineapple (haven't been there since i was little), and the Ginger Factory (we go there every visit as it's nearby) and generally just mooched around eating. We got to catch up with lots of rellies and a few friends that are down that way.

I haven't done much in the way of sewing lately, it's sort of nice to have a break and think about the garden and other interests. We got a Wii for xmas (the silliest name for a machine as it makes you sound like a little rude kid when you talk about it) but I think I may just become a wee bit addicted as it is so much fun! From using the fit board thing I have discovered that i have a good center of gravity and balance but am appallingly uncoordinated. So I will work on that and see if it improves. I even liked playing the Diego game that came with it. And you have to move sooo much when you play things, it's great.

Littlest fish decided to share her bottle with Shamus the wallaby as he has a bottle too!

Biggest Fish LOVED feeding the older wallabies and we were told daily that they 'just loved her' and she was a good assistant.

and Poppy Bob did come through and produce a lovely tree house! (sorry the pics not the best, will try and take a better one with the elves in residence), he even made another one for em as well! (I think there was a bit of grumbling and maybe some choice words used at various times during construction, but they were lovely and the kids loved them).

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree....

2009-12-15T13:12:00.002+10:00

Apart from wrapping pressies and put decorations back on the tree after littlest fish has pulled them off, I've been making some little stitchery decorations for the girls.

Last year I made two little ones for them and thought it would be a nice idea to make them one each year. This years are a little deer and a little penguin, both the designs were from here and were quick and easy to make so this could become a tradition.

Oldest fish also has a half dozen pairs of new shorts as she has grown so much since last summer that we had to make some new ones.

And i've traced out a few stitcheries to take with me to do over Christmas (going to the inlaws for a holiday) as it is nice to stitch at night once the kids have gone to bed. they will be for littlest fishes wall hanging which will be similar to the woodland hanging I did for oldest fish. I had so many lovely designs left over that another one is needed to use them up. I started on the first one already and have a few more ready to go.

The seamstress and the calendar

2009-12-03T12:53:00.002+10:00

Just a quick post to show you two things we have at the moment that are lovely to look at. I got an advent calendar panel from Kristen Doran and made it up for the little fishes. We managed to find a 24 piece puzzle and put a piece in each pocket with a couple of xmas stickers (it is waaaayyyyy too hot here to put chocolate in the pockets). So far it has been a success with a bit more puzzle put together each day and a sticker stuck to something in the house. The other lovely thing we have is a print I got for my birthday called 'the seamstress' by thepoppytree which is in the sewing room so I can look at it when I get the chance to sew. Oldest fish and I just made some haybales for littlest fishes barn that she is getting for xmas. We made them out of matchboxes and covered them with some thin pellon and then some hay looking material. Now we have to figure out how to build a fence and it will be all done!

Two more T's

2009-12-01T19:07:00.002+10:00

Just finished these two t's for two special little people. The pixie is number three in a series of pixie type creatures that I've been playing around with and Rudolf is for an order from a crafty mama. I've actually managed to get all my intended xmas sewing done and am now contemplating making some things for me!

Rudolf and the pixies

2009-11-27T09:25:00.002+10:00

I had a spurt of enthusiasm and got these shirts finished yesterday. The rudolf version of antler boy turned out pretty well and the pixies got the thumbs up from oldest fish. I bought the pinkish shirt a while ago but couldn't figure out what to put on it as the red capped pixie had the wrong colours to go with the shirt. Then I noticed the stack of other coloured dots that have accumulated in my cupboard and realised there was a reason I bought them! I have little dots in quite a few colours as they are just so cute and now they have a use!

It's a bit hard to see but green pixie has a little frilly lace collar that sits over her neck and looks rather fetching. We are off now to see some baby horses in a paddock down the road and then to go find some tiny buttons.

Antler boy trial 1

2009-11-25T21:45:00.006+10:00

There wasn't much on tv tonight so I got stuck in and had a go at my first trial of antler boy who is disguised as rudolf for the purpose of me needing a christmas shirt for littlest fish and him being vaguely christmas looking with the addition of a nice red nose.

He looks quite nice with a chenille body though for non christmas versions cotton fabric would be fine too. I haven't stitched him on yet so will post another pic of the finished shirt soon. I have also been playing around with some little mushroom people and will try some appliques of them as well.

one little Doll

2009-11-23T12:29:00.004+10:00

One little doll sleeping in the grass. And she even has her own blankie to keep them warm. I used a doiley for the frill around little reds face instead of sewing lace around and a little button made a nice dummy.

I like making the blankies to wrap the dolls in so they are nice and snug til they reach their new home.

Next on the neverending list is to finish a baby quilt and make a couple of pairs of shorts and maybe if i get time before it's too late there will be some little tiny tree house accessories for the little gnomes to furnish their house with. (I'm thinking a rug and some blankies and maybe some sleeping bags). Am in the middle of trying to draw a reindeer kid for a t-shirt applique so if that works i'll post a pic and let you see!

Shirts and some wee little people

2009-11-18T21:19:00.011+10:00

Here's some pics of some things that have recently been completed, Christmas is creeping up ever so quickly so I am trying to get everything at least started so I am not sewing madly on Christmas eve!

These shirts are for a couple of boys I know and boys like monsters and robots, don't they? I hope they do as that's what I've been told (my very tomboy like girl thinks they are great, along with dinosaurs and trains) so hopefully the boys receiving the shirts like them as much as she does. (otherwise they will no longer be for the boys!)

The little gnomes have been sitting on a shelf looking at me for a while, waiting patiently to be placed ever so carefully in a box for their long trip at Christmas time to their new home. They had to be up quite high so other little people would not play with them beforehand, despite a few efforts to reach them. Hopefully Poppy Bob has their new treehouse home nearly ready for them to move into or there will be trouble of the 5 year old kind!

On another note, I went to kindy night at my little fishes kindy she is going to next year to get all the info needed for enrolment. I know she is going to love going but it is a bit sad too. I can't belive she is going to kindy already, the time has gone so quickly and she will really be grown up then. But at least there will be chickens to feed and paintings to paint and songs to sing and I will get to hear all about them when littlest fish and I pick her up at the end of each day. (That's a platypus in case you didn't know.)

The McClymonts Rock!

2009-11-13T14:46:00.002+10:00

I went to The McClymonts concert last night and boy was it great! Those girls are amazing , not only can they sing (beautifully) but they can also play instruments and are very funny.

And after the show they hung around and signed autographs and had their photo taken with everyone. It was a great show and I hope they come back. Their new album is out next year in January and it should be awsome if the new songs that we heard are anything to go by. And they even spelt my name right on the photocard! You girls rock!

Just listed some things!

2009-11-13T13:30:00.004+10:00

I just put my first listings on madeit.com.au! After much umming and ahhing about Etsy or madeit I decided to go with the smaller local site to start with as the whole thing is a bit overwhelming. Made it is getting bigger day by day as more people check it out and it was very easy to go through the listing process.

So now I'm all excited and want to make more stuff to sell!

I have only listed a few things and will hopefully add a few more each week as I get the time to get on the computer and not have little fishes trying to 'help'.

Market round up

2009-11-10T18:26:00.003+10:00

Well, I had my first market stall on the weekend at the baby and toddler market run by the lovely Christine. It was a bit scary setting up and wondering if anyone would like the stuff I make but I got some lovely comments and a lot of "wow, did you make these?" so my confidence got a bit of a boost. The only thing that was a bit annoying was that people seemed a bit preoccupied with looking for pre-loved goods and some commented that they didn't realise there would be new stuff there. It was mentioned on the flyers that there would be a few handmade and new product stalls but I guess people don't always read the details.

Apart from that I had a good time and got to chat with my stall neighbours who were lovely and had beautiful things to sell. I think selling online will be a good way to go in the future as it was a lot of work to get ready for the market and I can just sew at my own pace if I put things online. If there was an art and craft market in our town it would probably be worthwhile having a stall as people would know what to expect but most of them are flea market type set ups so they're not ideal for handmade stuff.

Silly me forgot to take my camera so I only have these pics that I took beforehand of some of the stuff I had.

P.S. if you like softies check out 'theneedle's' blog for some amazing creations!

Noddy and the doll quilts

2009-11-06T15:56:00.004+10:00

Over the last few months I have managed to find these Noddy figures at the local op shops. They are soooo cute and remind me of when I was little and loved to read Enid Blyton books. I have no idea if they are just a cheap cereal box type toy or one you can actually purchase but they are all in great condition and I love them for the memories they bring to mind.

These two doll quilts have just been finished, they were super quick and easy to make, I didn't even bother with wadding as they are not needed for warmth. I top stitched around the blocks once they were turned right side out so they look a bit 'quilted'. They are for xmas pressies for two little girls but I won't mention names in case their mums read this.

Market day is tomorrow so wish me luck!

Dum Dum Da Dum

2009-10-30T15:51:00.008+10:00

The cake is all finished! This is the fabric cake I made for the girls I work for in the wedding business. I left it plain so they can decorate it with different colours and themes depending on what display it's in. I ended up using polar fleece instead of felt as the felt at our local SL is pretty crappy and the fleece had a slight stretch in it so it came out nice and smooth, The lace and ribbon were just stitched on around the seams to hide them and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I got some foam from Clark Rubber and Mr Fish was conned into cutting out the rough circles for me before I cleaned them up with the scissors. Not too keen on their complex calculations to work out how much off cuts of foam are though.

I took a piece up to the counter which looked about the right size for what I wanted to do and asked how much as there were no prices on any of the pieces. Here's me thinking the guy would just glance at it and say "oh, ten bucks will do" , when he gets out a tape measure and calulator and takes five minutes to work out some kind of magical way of pricing an offcut! It was dearer than 10 bucks but by that stage I just wanted to get out of there before he found another surface he forgot to measure.

On another note I ordered these lovely season cards from thepoppytree on etsy for my birthday (yes, I buy my own pressies, at least I get something I like!) and was trying to think of what to do with them when I found a pattern for a wall hanging I am determined to make sometime next year from the book 'material obsession 2'. The wall hanging has 4 blocks of a tree with the seasons determining the colours used in each block, much like the cards I got. So I thought the cards would be a nice piece to have in the room where the hanging will go to show the seasons in various ways, one on paper and one on fabric.

More sneaky peeks

2009-10-30T15:35:00.005+10:00

Okay so I might have forgotten to post the picture of the bag I made in the last post, I had a wriggly fish on my lap 'helping' to type and the other one explaining to me where quolls live! (I'm glad someone in this house knows). The bag is from a Janelle Wind pattern called 'Thelmas day out' which also has a journal cover pattern included. It was really easy to make and the instructions were pretty straightforward and easy to follow.

I finished the fabric barn as well, once I got started I couldn't stop so it's all ready to go. I really love this fabric house tutorial as you can turn it into anything you like. Biggest fish now wants a house for her little animals (sylvanian families) so maybe if she behaves herself we might work something out. She loves to help whenever I'm in the sewing room so we may do this one together as a project for when littlest fish is asleep.

Sneaky Peeks

2009-10-29T14:46:00.005+10:00

I've been rather busy of late, last weekend was full of work and I even had to work Thursday and Friday nights (haven't done that in a while) and littlest fish and I had a lovely night on the lounge on Tuesday night as she decided she was sick and therefore could not sleep in her cot but would instead recline on me. I have managed to get a few things finished in the last few weeks and will give you a look as I like to share.

I have been a bit forgetful and am behind on my quilts of love challenge of one a month for a year so I made 2 this month and if I do 2 next month I'll be caught up again. This should probably be an ongoing thing and I will endeavour to keep it going as it's really suprising how many the hospitals need (we only have 2 in our area) as they are regularly requesting more. Makes you thankful for what you have.

I have also ticked a few xmas pressies off the list including a bag and a little needle case and made littlest fish a shirt with some babushkas and a cute little crochet flower that Aunty Jude made. (thanks Jude!) The little hair clips are the start of lots of little hair clips that I am in the process of making for the markets. I wanted some little things to have on the stall and my girls like them so I thought others might too!

Works in progress

2009-10-13T19:40:00.005+10:00

The latest bunch of things I have started are a quilt for Mr Fish's cousin who is having a baby next year, a new doll that sort of looks like a butterfly (that's what it will hopefully turn out like) and despite having other stuff that I should be doing I couldn't help but to start on the barn house that's made from the same tutorial as the gnomes home 'cept I did it 1.5 times bigger to fit all those farm animals in (they like their space apparently).

The butterfly doll is being made because oldest little fish informed me that her doll called Sabine (that is taken to bed each night for cuddling) needed a cuddle doll of her own so she wouldn't get lonely when she is lying on the bed during the day all by herself. (This actually makes sense to me, I don't know whether to be worried by that or not???!!!) And a butterflyesque doll was picked because Sabine likes butterflies. So there you go.

The barn is coming along nicely and I am now putting the windows on (if only real housing was this easy to build). The animals are waiting in the linen cupboard til they can move in, though oldest fish did find them and sneeks a peek at them when she thinks I am not looking. The barn is for littlest fish so this is okay as she can't actually open the linen cupboard door yet. Plus she is only 1 and doesn't seem to care.

The quilt has been fun to do as it required actual sewing on the sewing machine, which I haven't done much of lately so it was nice to take it for a spin. Anyway better get back to sewing on barn windows!

More Gnomes Home Pics

2009-10-03T11:01:00.005+10:00

Ok my lovelies, I went a bit snap happy this morning and took some more pics in the nice morning light. The gnomes have met their new neighbours who happen to be a cute little fawn and a nutty squirrel as well as a resident duck who has taken over their pond. I will put the rest of the pics up on flickr if anyone is interested as there are probably too many (told you I went snap happy!) to post. I am itching to get going on a barn now but have a few other things to get done first. Must say a big thank you to uklassinus for posting such a great tutorial on her blog, check it out if you haven't already.

Also if anyone has ever made a wedding cake out of foam and felt (obviously not to eat!) please feel free to give me some tips as I volunteered to make one for my friends wedding decorating business, for display purposes, and am kind of winging it. Eeeekk!

I am trying to get a bit organised now and work out what xmas pressies I need to get started on so they get finished on time as I am trying to make most of the gifts this year. The kids are easy, it's the adults that are tricky.

Also I just found out that we are having a big baby and toddler market here (finally) and it is on the 7th of November at the seniors hall near the entertainment centre. I am finally going to be able to try and sell all the stuff I have made for it so hopefully it will be a success!

The gnome cottage

2009-10-02T18:54:00.004+10:00

It is finished! Finally I have finished making the gnome's home. I have been working on this for a while and am pleased to say it is done and the new tenants have moved in. The tutorial for the house is on this blog and I am going to make a barn for littlest fish for xmas.

I really liked making this and decorating it and am going to keep it for me though I'll let biggest fish play with it when her sister is asleep (it has some tiny bits in it). The teeny tiny kitchen wear is from bunnysdesigns on etsy and is possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen, it really is soooo cute.

And you can't go wrong with mushrooms can you? The light wasn't the best when I took these so I will try to get some really clear close ups tomorrow of the little stuff.

Some more shirts and a funny softie

2009-09-25T20:17:00.003+10:00

Here's some more shirts that I have been busily making, they are getting a bit addictive now. I love this deer applique that is from an ottobre pattern and Stacey actually liked it! And she has already worn this toadstool shirt that I based on Tabitha the toadstool softie. It's quite strange that she actually liked all the shirts I made her as she hasn't liked anything for ages. Maybe the 'I don't like it' phase is over? I surely hope so.

Can you guess which remote isn't real? I really hope so! I finished it the other night and have to say even Mr Fish commented on it and he NEVER says anything unless forced to (except grunting, but thats just a male thing isn't it?) So now I have to keep it safe and try to get littlest fish to not chew on it.

Some T-shirts

2009-09-24T16:19:00.005+10:00

Here's a couple of pics of some shirts I have just done for a friend of mum's grandkids. I love the mushroom one so much I am going to make another one for one of my fishes and will probably end up making the others up again too. I really enjoyed doing the appliques as I haven't done any for ages and got a bit sick of making pants so it was nice to have a change. Am slowly getting myself ready to put some creations on Etsy and will work up the courage to do it soon. It's a bit daunting thinking about it so i'll keep not thinking about it and it will be fine!

more shirts to come soon!

And the winner is........

2009-09-24T16:09:00.005+10:00

Ok, so it's not a hat but I figured a nice tea cup would be much prettier to draw a name out of.

The winner and Willemina's new owner is....... Tzel!

Thanks so much to everyone who left such lovely comments and Tzel, if you could drop me an email at joelywhiting(at)hotmail(dot)com With your address info she'll be in the post to you straight away!

Happy sewing everyone :)

p.s. the next post has got lots of shirts in it!

Some new houses.

2009-09-21T10:35:00.006+10:00

Here's a couple of pics of what has been keeping me out of trouble lately. I have been busy making some new houses! the toadstool is from a free pattern from here and the tree house is from a tutorial that can be found here . They are really fun to make and I am now wanting to make a little village.

In other news.... my cotton reel holder is done! Mr fish got busy and I have a nice place for the threads to hang out when they are not working. No more tangled threads courtesy of the littlest fish, yay!

And this here is a rather unusual project, I am making a softie remote control for someone for xmas. They are rather attatched to their remote and insist on holding it even when they are asleep on the lounge so no one else can use it so now they can cuddle this one instead!

Giveaway!

2009-09-10T12:19:00.003+10:00

I am celebrating 100 posts with a giveaway!!!!!!

( I think I am a bit over but who really cares right?)

This is Willemina the woodland Girl and she is keen to find a new home. She likes playing in the garden and has a habit of collecting strange looking sticks. Willemina gets along well with most people but seems to get a bit cross with people who tell her she looks like a monkey.

If you would like to have Willemina come and live at your place please leave a comment on this post and I will get the random number selector, I mean the hat, to draw a new owner out. I Will let you know in a week or two who has to get another bed organised for their new house guest.

T-shirt dude and some lovely wooden folk

2009-09-10T12:04:00.004+10:00

Here is a pic of some recent crafting. The shirt is for Liam's birthday (to go with Super Liam) (Claire look away if you want to be suprised) and was inspired by the amazing Sam's shirts over at Jetta's Nest (see Blog list at side). She does marvelous shirts for boys and I need all the help I can get given I have two girls! I can't do the incredible faces on mine like she does so Buttons will have to do.

These little wooden folk came in the mail today from a store on Etsy that has a whole range of little peeps waiting to be dressed up (or left plain I guess) and our lot, I think we have about 20, are destined to become elves/gnomes to live in a treehouse that Poppy Bob is going to lovingly make for his grandkiddies for xmas! (there's no backing out now is there!) Next post will be a giveaway!

'Super Liam' and 'Monkey girl'

2009-09-08T11:33:00.003+10:00

Look, up in the tree. Is it a bird? Is it a Monkey? Is it a Super Hero? Well yes it is actually!

Here are the latest additions to the softie gang all finished and up to mischief already. Super Liam is for a certain little boys birthday that is coming up very shortly and the rest of his pressie is nearly done. 'Monkey girl' (who really does need a better name) is staying at our place as she is the very first one of her kind that has been made so far. Will have more pics of finished things soon and coming up very soon is a giveaway to celebrate 100 posts! Stay tuned peeps!

p.s. I am a bit excited as I have convinced Mr Fish to make me a cotton reel holder to hang on the wall! No more hunting for threads!

Sneeky Peeky

2009-09-04T15:38:00.005+10:00

Ok here is a little sneek peek at some things I am currently working on. We have a half completed super hero who will be known as 'Super Liam' (said in a deep super hero voice), a little doll that my lovely daughter told me looks like a monkey, and this other thing is going to be a little cabin in the woods doll house that has a pond and mushroom patch out the front and a garden path to meander along. I have loved working on this and the embroidery is coming along slowly (well slow for me, I am impatient to finish it). I am very reluctant to give it to my kids to play with as a lot of work has gone into it and it feels more like an art piece than a toy. So I thought I'd keep it for me and make the kids a more child friendly version that can get a bit bashed around. When it's finished I will post some pics and show you the details.

I got a parcel in the mail yesterday from E-Quilter in the U.S. with some fabric I ordered and a magazine called 'Stuffed' that I had heard about. It's great and is full of softie makers and ideas and I really enjoyed getting other crafters stories and how they go about creating. If anyone out there is a softie fan you will probably enjoy reading this mag (as far as I know there are only 2 issues out so far and it comes out every 6 months).

Visitors and a finished present

2009-09-03T10:14:00.003+10:00

We have had a busy few weeks of late and I have been busily stitching away on a few different things. The wall hanging stitchery I have been working on is finally finished and I am happy with the way it turned out. I hope you like it Sylvia (stace said she will have it if you don't!) (sorry the pic is looking a bit wrinkly, I didn't remember to iron it)

We had a short but lovely visit from my s-i-l and the kidlets for a bit of a crafty holiday. We did lots of sewing and thought of more ideas of things to sew and went op-shopping and actually found some chenille (it's harder to find chenille in Mackay than to win lotto) and had a general crafty time full of crafty gooodness. Claire got her sew-jo back and is keen to get sewing again and I now have even more things on my list to sew. (cause I really needed more things to add to that list). So a big thanks to them for driving all that way to see us and now I can't wait for xmas when we are heading south to see them and the rellies and hit the oppy's down there and of course the fabric shops!

I have not got any pics as most things I have been working on are still half finished but in the works at the moment are- a super hero, a dolly softie, a cabin in the woods, and in the planning stage are some xmas pressies involving little houses and cute stitching! will give you a peek soon.

I Actually Won Something!

2009-08-18T10:52:00.003+10:00

I entered a funkyfabrix giveaway the other week as the fabric was cute and you can't win if you are not in it!

And..... I actually won!

It is the cutest range (I think it's aimed at boys but my girls like boy stuff and play with trains and dinosaurs and love thomas) and the animals in them are super cute.

So I was very excited to get an email telling me I'd won. I haven't been in a lot of blog giveaways, mainly because I usually don't discover them til they are finished!

Now to think of something great to make!

I've been playing around with transfers and t-shirts lately and have been going through the kids books for some cute pictures to put on them. Bambi is a favourite though the story is pretty terrible and the little golden books have proven to be good sources of cuteness.

Some recent projects

2009-08-13T11:23:00.003+10:00

These are a couple of things I have been working on lately that I thought I might post.

The first one is a skirt I made for Stace out of some super cute elephant material we got off the Stash Queen (a.k.a. Claire) and some red I had in the cupboard. I really love it and think it's great but she won't have a bar of it! She seems to be going through a stage of not liking anything new or unfamiliar and it's driving me batty! I hope she grows out of it soon as I really like making things for the girls.

The wall hanging in progress is something I've got planned for my M-I-L who has a birthday coming up. It took me a while to do the stitchery in the middle and now I've just got to finish some embroidery on the first border and slip stitch the binding on. I decided to do a sea dragon as we went on a trip to Underwater World last time we were down there visiting and she really loved them, so I thought I'd make a wall hanging to remember them.

And I have been playing around with iron on tranfer paper and came up with a cute bambi print (from a little golden book) and think I might do some more, it's really quick and easy and fun! I can picture some birthday pressies in my head.

Have also been busily sewing up chenille pants and have a pretty good stockpile now. I am keen to get back to making little things and working on whatever takes my fancy as I am now a bit sick of chenille! Am in a sewing kind of mood (not clothes sewing) so will have to see what happens.

Happy Birthday Little Fish!

2009-08-02T10:04:00.001+10:00

Littlest fish turned one yesterday and I can't believe a year has gone by already. She has such a great personality already, I can't wait to see how it develops in the next year. She is a ratbag one minute then cute as pie adorable the next. Happy Birthday Little Fish! Hope you have fun being one :)

Woodland wallhanging is finished!

2009-07-29T14:41:00.007+10:00

Well, it is finally done! After taking a few months to get all the stitcheries done, the wallhanging came together suprisingly quickly. The fabric squares are from two ranges that I love and had to use as well.

One range is Wildwood by Erin Mcmorris and the other is Woodland Wonderland by Jay Mcarroll. They blended together quite well!

The stitcheries are (clockwise from top left)-

1. Clip art deer off internet (sorry I can't for the life of me remember where exactly)

2. Tabitha Toadstool by me (pattern in earlier blog)

3. Acorn Cap by Cate Anevski

4. Gnome by Badbird

5. Love Bear by Badbird

6. Beary Much by Nicole

7. Is a mix of The parties over by Tamie Snow and Mushrooms by Doe-C-Doe

8. Squirrel by Annieoakleaves

9. (Centre) Spring Pixie by Badbird.

The finished size ended up being just under a yard square so it's not huge.

It's currently hanging in Stace's room and looks lovely. Now I'll probably have to make another one for Zali!

A big shroom and some new fabric!

2009-07-27T14:46:00.005+10:00

I had to put this pic in of Stacey with her big mushroom. We have been growing mushies in the pantry (deliberately!) and she was so excited when this whopper came up she demanded a photo be taken. It is suprisingly easy to grow your own mushrooms and they are much fresher than the ones at the supermarket.

On a more craft related note, we got a lovely parcel in the mail this morning that had some fabric in it mum and I ordered off Etsy.

I got these lovely Michael Miller prints which are fat 1/4's and mum got some funky xmas prints and a fat 1/4 set of Erin McMorris prints. I have an idea of what I'd like to make with mine and I am itching to get started but have some other things I have to get finished first.

We have picked the first snow peas off our plant and they were quite delicious!

Holiday!

2009-07-22T14:25:00.005+10:00

We just got back from a lovely weekend in Mission Beach for our 10th wedding anniversary.

We stayed at a beautiful place that has the bungalows set in tropical gardens and a giant free form rock pool in the centre. It is a lovely place to visit and they even had markets on the weekend we were there! I managed to convince Mr Fish to take a trip to Paronella Park and am very glad I did, as it was awsome! If you don't know what it is just google it and you'll see, it's well worth a visit.

We got some very nice port at Murdering Point winery that is made from mulberries and black sapote fruit. And we managed to find a toy cassowary to bring home for the little fishes. (unfortunately, the real ones were hiding and we didn't get to see them )

Back into the sewing now with a few projects to finish off and lots of pants to sew.

A sneaky peek and some owls

2009-07-16T14:50:00.004+10:00

Zali's little name owls are all finished and ready to be strung together. They were very easy to make and I am rather pleased with them. The hardest part was trying to find some matching buttons for the eyes.

And here is a little sneaky peek at a wall hanging I am nearly finished. I have been stitching the blocks for a while now and finally got them all done so was itching to get them sewn together. They are surrounded by little squares of fabric and I only stitched one in upside down! (I did unpick it and put it the right way round)

It still had to be quilted and the binding put on and then I will reveal all!

The story book print from thepoppytree (etsy) arrived and it is as lovely as I hoped it would be. We also got a bonus card and bookmark and a book label in the parcel.

We (Mr Fish and I) are going away this weekend to Mission Beach for a 10th wedding anniversary holiday. We have not been away on holiday except to visit relatives since I don't know when and we are really looking forward to a little break and a sleep in. Nanny and Poppy are kindly looking after the fish for us and they should have a great weekend at their house.

Sleepy Sabine is ready

2009-07-07T15:01:00.007+10:00

All the sleepy Sabines are finished! They have been stuffed and are now sitting with the pirates, bunnies and kitty cats ready to go. Now I can get back to sewing pants and the million other things I want to make.

It is littlest fishes first birthday in August and we have been finding it hard to think of something to get her as she has all her older sisters toys to play with. So I thought it would be nice to get her something a bit special instead that she can have to keep as she grows up. I found a beautiful print on Etsy by thepoppytree (don't you just love trawling through all the fab stuff on there?) that is called the story tree. it is a tree/girl thing reading a story to all the forest animals and I think it is lovely. So I am now impatiently waiting for it to arrive.

I also found a cute idea off a blog called moonstitches which is an owl banner with a letter printed on each owl to spell whatever you like (a little fishes name perhaps?) So she might get one of those made for her. it is rather difficult thinking of things that aren't toys (like we really need any more to clutter up the house) to get for little kids but I am doing my best to give handmade pressies to everyone this year and I better do the same for my kids too!

This is what I have been doing lately

2009-07-05T16:35:00.003+10:00

Besides doing a bit of work in the garden lately, I have been getting a bit of sewing in when I can.

The Babushkas are going to be for a stall that is slowly starting to get a bit of a stockpile in readiness for the day. Stacey has one that I made a while ago for her and these are almost the same, just tweaked a bit. Her doll is called Sleepy Sabine and I was told these new ones are named that too, so there you go!

All the chenille pants have been made over the last few months and I have some more to go yet. I have been sewing some other pants from cotton fabric as well and hopefully will have a decent amount in various sizes from 00 to 3.

It is a bit scary sewing so many pairs of pants and wondering if anyone will actually buy them! Hopefully there will be some chenille lovers out there. We are getting a visit from Nanny Sylvie on Thursday and Stacey is pretty excited as seeing her other nanny again. back to the sewing machine I go!

Some kitty cats and a gardener

2009-07-02T10:12:00.006+10:00

I think we are turning biggest fish into a green thumb. We have to go out everyday and water the new plants and check if the vegies are growing. She is on to watering can number 2 as the first one was left out the back and Oscar (the dog) decided to have a go at using it. It is now in about 50 pieces and strewn over the yard. She was just devastated when she found it chewed up and was very cross with Oscar for a few days.

I have managed to make some Kitty cats and am now onto some little babushka dolls. The pants sewing has been going well and i am slowing building up a little stockpile, now fingers crossed that i can sell them all!

Also have to say congratulations to some lovely friends Martine and Aaron who just had a baby girl called Michaela Jade. She is a gorgeous little thing and they are doing well (if a little sleep deprived). Of course she got some chenille pants and also a little doll softie and some other bits of clothing. Well done Mart!

We've got the gardening bug

2009-06-22T10:28:00.007+10:00

We seem to have caught the gardening bug of late.

Stacey has always liked helping in the garden but since we put in the vegie patch she has become obsessed. We have now got two patches as the first one was so popular. So now she has even more space to grow things ( well strawberries really as they are her most very favourite thing.)

The vegies in the first one are all growing well and get checked everyday. And the second one will hopefully grow things very soon. (we have to finish filling it first, the compost has never had such a good workout).

Not much crafting has been done lately. I have made up some more chenille pants for the stockpile and cut out a few kitty cat softies that need to be put together, but apart from that it has all been outside work. The dolls for my friends birthday were a hit and her little girl wanted to have them for herself so they may have to share.