Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Me...

I've recently been thinking about how I portray myself on this blog and wondering if maybe I've been a bit of a fraud. Everything I've put on here is in fact me and things I have done, but I've neglected to share a part of myself that has really made me who I am today. I didn't think this would ever need to be an issue that would come up, but found myself questioning that when a beautiful girl whose blog I have been following for a little while recently passed away. Her name was Eva, and she had cystic fibrosis. Although she was young and vibrant and gave everything she had to making people aware of this disease and seems different to me, we shared a common ailment, I too have cystic fibrosis. Her passing made me question why I have always kept this part of me secret. I didn't like to tell my co-workers and hated having to tell my new boss when she took over the shop 18 months ago. I have never wanted people to think I'm different, to treat me differently, I just want to get on with the job at hand and get on with the job of living.

I have seen many people wait for their second chance at life and never receive that ultimate gift, and I have seen the other side of that when people get that second chance and go and make the best of it. And while my health now is quite good, at some point in the future I too will need someone to offer up that gift, and the more people who are aware of organ donation and make the decision to become an organ donor, the better my, and others, chances will be.

Maybe it's time for me to just take a step back from all that and say, look at all I can do with this disease. My parents were told initially that I probably wouldn't live to see the age of 8. At almost 35 maybe it's time to reflect on that, stop denying this part of myself and look at all I've achieved, and look at all I've still yet to achieve. I'm not looking for sympathy, I just wanted to honour a gorgeous young woman who fought so bravely and made such a difference in her short time on this earth. Maybe by sharing this and making people more aware about an everyday person living with something like this, I too can make a small difference. If you've ever thought about becoming an organ donor, I urge you to at least discuss this with your family and let them know what you want or go here to sign up on the register (In Australia).

If you've got this far, thanks for reading, if you have questions you can leave a message in the comments, I'm happy to answer anything. Once this is out there, there is no going back!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Saturday Shopping List.....Bunnies

I have seen other bloggers do the Saturday Shopping list and I thought I'd join in with a bit of a bunny theme. Here we go!

1: Wabbit Joe. From chunkychooky. Found here.


2: Bunny. From edwardandlilly. Found here.
3: Mae A mini mohair bunny. From Tiddlywinks. Found here.

4: Jonquil. From teddybearswednesday. Found here.

And while I'm spruiking the handmade bunnies, if you're in the Ipswich area pop into Handmade Heaven for one of my vintage chenille bunnies.

Happy Saturday everyone!

and apologies if you popped by earlier and saw my very untidy post! Blogger was annoying me and doing strange things to my pictures. fingers crossed it's all fixed up now!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Bunny Friday - week 3

Bunny Friday! Yay! This week I want to show you the bunny I made from this fabulous pattern from Hop Skip Jump. This wasn't a free one, but for the small amount I paid for it, it was well worth it! Very well written and so easy to follow. Isn't she cute! This bunny is going to be a present for a very sweet little girl who just turned one. I hope she likes her!


And what self respecting rabbit doesn't like some carrots! The carrots I made using
this great little tutorial from Clare and the dyed chenille from yesterday. So easy and quick! Thank you Clare!

Go and check out these gorgeous little bunnies, the tutorial found here. I'm going to have to make me some of them!

Image from here.

And check out this super cute scrappy bunny, made using an old t-shirt!

Image from here.

I hope these bunny patterns don't give you a hard time! Come back next week on the Bunniest of Fridays, Good Friday, when I (hopefully!) will have the piece de resistance of bunnies to show you, fingers crossed I can pull it off!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

my creative space...


I had a rather debilitating case of E.I.T.T.T.S on Tuesday. One of my brilliant plans came about because I couldn't be stuffed leaving the house. I wanted to dye some chenille orange for a little something I wanted to make so I thought "why not use food colouring!!" ingenious...or not! After leaving the chenille in this beautiful pot of food colouring for over an hour it had turned the most gorgeous shade of orange. When I then proceeded to rinse, it all came out. Every last trace. Seems (after some googling of what the heck did I do wrong??!) that cotton doesn't hold food colouring. Hmmm.


Plan B on Wednesday. Off to buy some dye. This time it worked. Mmmm, delicious orange chenille. Come back tomorrow on Bunny Friday to see what I did with it.*

*Although I'm sure regular readers of this blog may already have an idea.

More creative spaces over here.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Flea Market finds

I had a very successful op shopping week this week! Along with some clothes I was actually looking to buy (big chunky cardigan for winter! Yay!) I found not 1 but 2 vintage chenille bedspreads! In colours I actually liked! I also found a very cute little 100% cotton sheet, not vintage but very sweet and perfect for the back of one of my little chenille baby quilts.


And my favourite find of the week, this very cute little jug with toadstools on it. $1.00!


Want to see other finds of the week? Head over to Sophie's place!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Bunny Friday - week 2

Yay! Bunny Friday again! I've found some simple knitting and crochet bunny patterns that are free on the net this week.

First this little crochet amigurumi bunny. It looks a little like Miffy! I'm not sure if this pattern is written in English or American (still unable to tell the difference!) if you know leave a message in the comments (Mum, that means you too).

image here

Then there is this simple knitted bunny. Very cute. I think even I could manage to knit this one!

image here

And this teeny tiny bunny from Little Cotton Rabbits. It is almost too cute for words! There is also a pattern for a teeny bear and a teeny iced bun! Too cute!

image here

Hope these bunnies keep you going until next week! I plan to have a bunny done next week that I bought a pattern for, it's very sweet. Fingers crossed I can find the time!


Thursday, March 18, 2010

my creative space...

This last week I was in lockdown to finish the little quilts and bunnies for Handmade Heaven, but couldn't resist making a start on one of my submissions for this years Ipswich Show. This bear is made from a very old and well loved (read: very tatty!) Grandmothers flower garden quilt. I bought this piece on ebay and it's just divine. It had been so worn in some spots the owner had re-sewn hexagons over the worn ones to get extra life out of it. The stuffing is going to be slow going, I don't want to poke a hole in him! I've got nothing else planned for the weekend though, so he should be all done by Sunday. (Note my very sophisticated stuffing tool!)

More creative peeps here.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I'm in love!!


With a boy named Mung Bean! Isn't he dreamy?!

Thank you Jess, I'm totally smitten!


Tuesday, March 16, 2010

They're baaaack!


The quilts that is! Just in time too as the nights start to cool down here in South East Queensland. These quilts, along with Bluebell and Violet, are on their way to Handmade Heaven. Make them feel welcome won't you?

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Flea Market finds


I have been wanting a chance to show off my favourite piece of furniture for awhile, so thought I'd pop it into Flea Market Finds for this week. This kitchen cupboard actually belonged to my Great Grandmother. It was in my Grandfathers shed up until he died 13 years ago. Then when my Grandmother decided to move out, my mother helped to clean out the shed. I had expressed interest in the cupboard, so my mother bought it for me from my Grandmother. It sat under my mothers house for a few years, then we had it for a few years under our house. That was probably the worst thing we could have done! It actually leaked under our house and this cupboard sat directly under the leak. When we had to move house 2 years ago, Mr Vintage opened up the cupboard and it stank to high heaven! It was putrid. he was on a chucking spree and he had it in his sights to chuck. Thankfully I convinced him to keep it and that we would do it up. The whole thing ended up being gutted and new ply was purchased for the sides, the top, the back and all the shelves. Luckily the front of it was all still perfectly fine. For three days Mr Vintage, my mother and myself worked on it. The handles had to be replaced and I found these gorgeous vintage green ones that matched it perfectly on ebay. So, not really a flea market find, but it's old. Does that count?

Friday, March 12, 2010

Bunny Friday

Some of you may have guessed by now that I do love me some bunnies. And what better bunny season than Easter right?! So I thought from now until Easter each Friday I would share some bunny making tutorials I have come across in my bunny searching travels. Feel free to join in if you've found some bunny tutes too!

Recently I have been searching for some bunny stitching patterns and have come across some cuties!


There is this one from the blog orange you lucky, which I think is so cute and is definitely on my to do list.


And these bunnies look awesome. This one looks super quick too.



And I found this pattern on Floresita's vintage transfers finds blog. Very cute!


I hope these bunnies keep you going until next Friday!


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I love this blogging community....

I just wanted to once again thank everyone for their kind words after the loss of my dog, China. I felt all warm and gooey inside. You guys sent condolences and links to beautiful poems that made me cry and some of you even sent me gifts, just because. I love this little blogosphere. Thank you everyone, and thank you Cam and Tracylea for the wonderful gifties, they really made my day. I'm feeling better everyday, I still miss her to bits, but it's slowly getting easier. I promise not to bore you all with this anymore!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Thursday, March 4, 2010

my creative space...


Slowly trying to get back in the groove after last week, so I thought I'd play along with my creative space.

As of the end of this month, the company I work for will no longer exist. This means this week we were to start throwing out all the display stock for the gift lines. I have managed to scrounge a few things I think I can recycle, and these canvasses are some of those. I plan to recover these in fabric, and I even have a bit of an idea for one with chenille and some other bits that I'm not quite game to reveal until I figure out the logistics of. You never know, if it works as planned it may end up in The Ipswich Shows creative crafts section. Second place wasn't enough for me last year, I want to win this time!!!