Pinterest Projects...

I love to travel and our little family try to get overseas once a year for a family vacation.  Sometimes they are big adventures and other times just a week or so somewhere nice.  No matter where we go though we always need our passports and I don't know about anyone else but I am the person for our family to carries the passports and fills out those tedious border control forms.  What annoys me the most about having to do it is constantly finding my passports and then having to open every one to see who's is where so when I found this link on Pinterest I decided to adjust it slightly to suit my style and make myself one.

This is the picture of the one on Pinterest.

And here is my one.

And the inside.

I used my bright coloured chevron fabric and I quilted along the zig zag lines.  I used a velcro closure and I interfaced all the sections with padding on the cover.  It was really thick and heavy and hard to sew a top stitch around the edge when it was complete.

Then I decided to alter it a little and make one for the lovely Toni for her adventures.  This time I used a Paris print that I love with chevron inside.  I changed it so it is not interfaced as heavily as the first so it was much easier to sew (and therefore not a little bit wonky like mine) and I used a magnetic clip for the closure.  I also made the back pockets shallower so the passports can't slide down out of sight.

Now I am happy that when I travel next I will know where my passports are and who's is who's and it might make those annoying forms just a little bit less tedious.

I have one more Pinterest project to share.  

Emma dances and whenever she completes exams or stuff like that she earns badges.  I knew that we had to have them somewhere special or they would get lost and I didn't want to tuck them away I wanted her to be able to see and enjoy them so when I saw this project on Pinterest I knew I could make it work as a wall hanging for her badges.  It was perfect with a little square for each badge.

This is the photo from Pinterest. It is a square that you make towards a whole quilt.

And here is my wall hanging for Emma's badges using the same pattern as above.

I used pretty colours and added some binding with some fabric loops so it hangs on her wall.  If you look closely you can see that she has 4 badges on there so far.  I didn't take any pictures but the backing is a plain fabric. I think that this pattern would look nice in cushions too.

So there is my Pinterest love for now, although I have a few more projects I am itching to have a go at soon.

Catching up with friends and what I made them...

A few days before Christmas the kids and I headed off to see my good friends and their kids for our annual Christmas get together.  The kids always have a great time playing together and we chat and catch up after what is usually a really busy term for all of us. 

This year I remembered to get a photo of us.

We always give each other a hand made present for Christmas and we always do a secret santa for the kids.  These are all our presents waiting for us under the tree.

We do different things for the kids each year and this year decided that their gift did not have to be handmade (due to our lack of time) but each child had to get a minimum of 3 small gifts; one to eat, one for school and one to play with.  They all had to fit into a shoe box.  All the kids were really wrapped with their presents this year.  Here is Nathan and Emma with theirs.

And the other kids too.

As my special present for my favourite friends I made them each a little wall hanging which I appliquéd and embroidered.

And I paired it with a little bird Christmas decoration for their tree which I made out of felt.

  

They were pretty cute!  It's always such a pleasure to make things when it is for people who you know will love what you create.

 

Swap goodies...

We are well and truly back into our normal routine and school life around here.  I actually can't believe we have been back at school for two weeks (only 8 more to go until the end of the school year, eek!)

A few new things have happened with Emma, she did really well in her dance exams which I posted about a while back and because she did well she now dances an extra day the dance school's performance group which she loves.  She also started at Cub Scouts and this weekend had her investment ceremony and her very first camp. 

At the end of the holidays I got together with my good friends and we had our little swap which we do every school holidays as a special treat for ourselves.  This swap had guidelines like the others we have done.  

The guidelines were:

• a minimum of 3 gifts
• one gift had to be handmade
• one gift had to be for sewing/crafting
• one gift that our partner would love

My partner was my lovely friend Suzy and she loves red so most of my gifts are based around that.  Here is what I gave her.

For her sewing present I made this cute little sewing kit along with a pincushion and a felt needle holder.

I added a little hand made clay birdie decoration.

Suzy has some big single coloured chevron cushions in her house so I thought I would make her this smaller cushion (it's 16") to go along with them.  I sewed Chenille Tape along the zig zags for that fluffy, frayed look. I have to say that I love this cushion so I think some more will be coming!

And then I added a box of chocolates and  a set of little serving dishes, in red of course.

All together my little package for my Suzy looked like this.  

It is always so nice to do these swaps with my friends, I really love putting them together, thinking about what they would love. 

I have already started writing a list of ideas for Christmas presents for these special friends, we always give something hand made and it needs to be special.  I'll share some of my Pinterest favourites soon.

Quick share...

I thought I would quickly share a few of the favourite things I have sewn lately.  All of them are super simple and I have wanted to make them for ages I just didn't have the mojo to do it.  Now I really need to make some more!


I got this fabric only a short while ago and really fell in love with it.  The colours are beautiful.  So I wanted to make something that I wouldn't stuff up and that I could look at, so some pretty pillowcases it was!  

This was one of my pot holder transformations, it's a little wallet with snap lock bags inside to hold stuff I might need.  I am still deciding what to put in here, I'm thinking things like bandaids etc for the car glove box or things for those soccer trips we seem to do every day of every weekend in winter.

And this is the most exciting one for me.  My lovely friend Kristie showed me how to crochet on the weekend and I've been at it ever since.  I'm attempting a big blanket for one of the beds in the caravan.  I'm doing pink and brown.  I really love it.  I am working with acrylic wool when I would prefer pure wool but as it is my first attempt I went with the cheaper option in case it didn't work out.  

I'll definitely be back to update on this one, I wonder how long it will take me to make?  


I nearly forgot another one of my favourites - this cushion I put together.  I've blogged before about a new product (well new to me) that I got called Chenile Tape.  You just sew it onto your fabric up the middle of the strip and then wash and dry it and it frays and becomes fluffy.  I chose three colours and pinned them alongside each other on my fabric and then sewed up the seams etc to create my cushion cover. It was really easy and really quick.  I love the finished product and I used hardly any tape.  I will definitely be making more of these.  

My poor old sewing machine is feeling tired at the moment, it's not sewing properly so I think my crochet blanket may take over my crafting for a little while.

Swap goodness and Nathan heads off...

During our weekend away we participated in a swap between ourselves.  We were given our partner in April and the rules for this swap were:

1. Minimum of 3 gifts
2. One gift must be hand made
3. One gift must be for the home

Pretty simple.  My swap partner was Katrina to I set to work making her special gifts.

I made her a rag quilt as my first present.  I used  blues and reds with a bit of black. 

 I bought her this cute little owl.

I also got her this bracelet.

And lastly I made her a set of placemats and coasters which you can see below.

This is what my little package looked like before I wrapped it up using tissue paper and mini pom poms (which I totally forgot to photograph).

 As an extra treat for everyone I made up these cute little packages using paper bags, doilies and some punches and alphabet stickers.

I filled them with a handmade soap that I bought at a local market and I appliquéd a very simple bird onto a washer.

I actually made a few other gifts for my other swap partner but I can't find where I put the photos, so when I find them I'll post about those ones as well as the gorgeous swap gifts I got.

On another note:

I have been feeling very strange this weekend.  On Saturday morning I farewelled Nathan off on his first ever big camp.  He headed up to Cuboree which is in Rockhampton (about 8 hours away) for 5 days.  I have never had any trouble with Nathan leaving before but it is so far away this time and he is on his own and for a long time that I find myself wondering about if he is OK. If he's warm enough, dry enough, finding friends etc all the time.  I am excited that he get to go on this awesome experience but I will be very happy when he is home again.  And I have to say that the Cub Scout Movement have been really wonderful constantly posting on Facebook and on their blog with updates and photos of what all the kids are up to.  Anyway here are a few photos of him before he left.

It will be an experience he will remember for ever so I am grateful that he was able to go.