Goodbye Google reader...

So of course spending so much time away from this space has seen some changes occurring with the old google reader that even though I knew about, has sneaked up on me very quickly!

I've signed up with bloglovin, as it seemed to be the one most people are going to be using, and I'll add the little widgety thingy on the sidebar so you can all follow me with bloglovin too. I don't even really know what any of this means, and I don't even know if any of you will even see this post as I've been away so long! I did actually think about not even bothering with any of this and just sort of fade away, but I don't think I'm quite ready to give up the blog completely just yet. I do really want to try and bring you some posts very soon, things have just been so very hectic lately!

xx

2013

 
 Every other year on my blog I have written a summary of my year on New Years Eve and the things I hope to achieve for the year ahead. 2012 I didn't. And as I sit here and think of the year that was 2012, not doing that summary post really summed up my 2012! I just plain ran out of time. I felt like 2012 was running at full pace and I just couldn't keep up. Only 24 blog posts for the whole year. 24?! I had said at the beginning of 2012 that "yes" was something I needed to explore more, that I needed to say yes more, and I think that may have been my downfall! Towards the end of the year I learned that "no" was probably a little better for my sanity!

The beginning of 2012 saw me saying yes to way too many hours at work. Way too many. Then Easter crept up and my facebook page went nuts with so many people wanting custom bunnies and I just kept on saying yes. While still saying yes at the day job. So mid way through the year I felt as though I'd already done a whole year, I was exhausted! It saw me then in hospital and struggling for months to get back to "normal". Then the unexpected surgery really forced me to slow down and that's when I realised that "no" was a much better word for me! Having that forced time away from work and left to potter around at home helped me get back some perspective.

So 2013 will once again be the year of me I've decided! I'll say no without feeling guilty, I'll do what makes me happy, and I'll try to live in the moment and enjoy those little things much more. Here's to a great 2013!  

Bunting crazy!

  I have gone a little bunting crazy lately! I've even taken to replacing swear words with the word bunting! Yeh, I'm bunting crazy (see what I did there?!).

Anyway, I had this idea floating around in my head and I had to let it out. I must say, I am a little proud. It's a little wonky, but I love it. I bunting love it.

Rose

 
 Remember me mentioning the auction for Rose over on facebook? All money raised goes to cystic fibrosis. The auction started yesterday and she is going great guns! If you are interested in bidding on Rose or any of the other fabulous items up for grabs, pop over to the Team Ruby facebook page now!

I'm back! And, ho, ho, ho Merry Kitschmas!

Yes, I'm back! My surgery went very well and I'm spending the rest of the month at home to recuperate. Thank you for the well wishes, they really meant a lot.

I'm just popping in quickly to say I'll be joining in with CurlyPops and her Merry Kitschmas challenge. I think this is one I should really be able to stick to as all the social media bases are covered, and most of my time these days have been split between instagram and facebook, so I can't really fail! Yay! Pop over to the CurlyPops blog and see what it's all about. If you're on instagram, feel free to add me, I'm @selinasvintage (what else!).

Blogtoberfest day 13

 I'd probably say this will be my last post for blogtoberfest. Tomorrow I head into hospital for my surgery next week and I don't think I will have much of a chance to blog before the end of October!

I wanted to leave my last post with a bunny I have created for a charity auction for cystic fibrosis. Team Ruby on facebook are holding their auction in November and I thought I would whip up a very special bunny to be auctioned. Her name is Rose. She is made almost entirely of rose themed chenille and rose appliqued doily pieces. I've also decided on a secret bidding amount that once has been reached I will be adding some extra goodies with her!

Pop over to Team Ruby, like the page and keep an eye out for the auction details, I would love Rose to raise a heap! 

Blogtoberfest day 9

 

Busy busy!

Blogtoberfest day 4

 
 What I'm working on right now. Custom order for a bunny, bear and quilt. The only brief was for them to match and be funky. I really hope I pull it off! Trying not to give too much away until the customer has seen them all.... and approves!

my creative space.

Blogtoberfest day 3

 
 Wordless Wednesday

October.....

Oh October, I had such grand plans for you. 

This was the month I was going to reclaim my sewjo for myself, not just for making bunnies. I was planning on heading to the craft and quilt fair in order to snag myself a show special on my dream machine and start sewing up a storm. Clothes for myself, cushions, maybe even a quilt.

This was the month I was going to reclaim my blogging mojo (blojo?? that just sounds wrong on so many levels) with Blogtoberfest.

This was the month I was going to start making also for a Christmas market, and give that whole market thing another go.

Then I get given a date for some unexpected surgery (the 17th of October) and the whole month goes to hell. Sigh.

I hope to have other fun things to blog about before I head off to hospital and not just fill this space with my brain dumps. In the meantime, here are some bunnies. 

 

Blogtoberfest!

So, who's joining in with Blogtoberfest this year?! I was going to use Blogtoberfest as my return to blogging after being away for so long (over 2 months, gasp!), but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to follow it through.


Well, actually I know I won't be able to follow it through. I've had a few little health troubles and need to have some surgery this month, which will see me out of action on many fronts for a little while!

There is a new host to blogtoberfest this year, so be sure to pop over to see Kat to check out the changes. I hope to have some posts to contribute as I've missed this piece of my world. Thanks everyone for not deserting me and hanging around, hopefully I'll have some fun things for you soon!

XX

Flea Market Finds

 I am in desperate need of an op shop fix! The only time I had for a fix this week was in between errands at my very tiny little local. Sometimes the pickings are slim, sometimes it's a gold mine. I love to sit on the floor of the shop and go through all their patterns, I have snagged quite a few gems this way!

For my money this week I think I scored well! A couple of vintage teatowels and quite a few vintage patterns. Some of them are mail order ones, I love the envelope almost as much as the contents! Look at that address, and the postage date!

 
 It actually wasn't until I was snapping some pics this morning before I realised how well I scored. This dolly pattern was in the same envelope as the kitty pattern, it is super sweet! The patterns were marked 50c each but the lady decided she couldn't charge that as "they're not real patterns". So, $3 for everything. I must admit I threw another $2 in the charity tin, and it seems good karma paid off.

More finds here

Finding things to blog....

I guess the one thing about my very infrequent blogging is that when I do get the urge I have a few things that I've yet to share with you!

I'm going to start with a bit of a collaborative quilt project that my Mum and I did. Now when I say collaborative Mum actually did most of it. I'd bought most of the fabric for this particular quilt about 10 years ago, back when that 1930's fabrics were hard to come by. Over the years I have added more actual reproduction 1930's to the stash and so those got thrown in too.

 

A couple of years ago while whinging to Mum that she had made everyone else a quilt and not me (she had even made my husband a quilt!!) we decided we would work on this one together. So we had a sewing day together...... and then it got a bit stalled. Anyway, Mum decided this year she would finish it up to pop into the Ipswich show. That obviously got her moving! We sent it off to be quilted and it came back just gorgeous. Mum got it into the show, unfortunately didn't win anything, but I don't care, I love it and it's a winner in my eyes! Now I finally have my own Mum quilt.
 

photo stolen from Mum's blog

For some twins..

 

Agnes and Edna!! That is all.

Flea Market Finds

 

Trying hard to get back into this blogging thing! Thought I'd show you a flea market find from a couple of weeks ago. Not really flea market, or for that matter too much of a major bargain (though the gorgeous man behind the counter did give me "the nice lady discount"), but I love it just the same! Purchased from my favourite little vintage shop in Ipswich when birthday lunching with Jennie. I'm assuming it's a biscuit barrel, though it is a tad small for one. So ridiculously cute I could not leave it behind!

other finds here.

my creative space....

Finding this vintage pattern very confusing! Does anyone else find that with the vintage patterns?

more creative spaces here

My return....

Wow, can you believe it's been over 2 months since I have blogged?! I feel like I should be in confession or something! It has been a busy and tiring couple of months for me, professionally and personally and it has really taken it's toll. It also feels a little weird just popping back in here, where do I start? What do I blog about? So I thought I would start by showing off a crafty purchase I made that I had been after ever since the first day I saw him.


 

I put the call out to Jess from Teddy Bears Wednesday to make me a "Doug", and make him she did. I really have no words for how completely amazing Jess' work really is. So detailed, so unique, so wonky! If you had ever considered getting one of Jess' creations, I can not recommend her work highly enough, my Doug truly is wonderful!

 

The facebook thing....

I tell you, it is so hard to keep up with all this social media stuff and still manage to blog! Things have taken off over on my facebook page recently and just trying to keep up with all the emails alone is almost impossible, let alone managing to actually make things as well!



I thought I would take a few minutes this morning to show off here the bunnies that I've managed to do so far for Easter, there are more to come!



While it is exciting to get a big influx of orders and requests, the stress that goes along with that is most unwelcome.



I do appreciate all the orders and all the bunny love, who wouldn't, but at times this week I really have just wanted to tell them all to go away and leave me alone! Please tell me that's normal?!



At one point the other night I actually panicked and thought I would run out of chenille before I could finish all the orders! That was a weird feeling! Late night panic buying of chenille on ebay of course fixed that problem (for the time being anyway!).



So I'm sorry if I've been neglectful of this space for a bit. I do love my blog and I hope to get more exciting things to share soon. I am sure all of you are sick of seeing bunnies by now!

Some news....

Finally today I get a chance to sit down, write a blog post, and share some exciting news. Well, I think it's exciting anyway.

As you're all probably aware by now, if you've been reading my blog for a bit, I really do love a bit of recycling. I love taking the best pieces from some very well loved bedspreads or linens that have seen better days, and turning them into something new with many more years of love ahead of them. It really does give me a bit of a thrill. So recently I've taken that idea of recycling just one step further. With this latest batch of bunnies I have started using stuffing that is made from recycled water bottles. This stuffing performs exactly like the polyester stuffing I was using before, but instead of being made from virgin chemicals, I'm preventing plastic water bottles from going into landfill. In fact, every bunny or bear will be preventing over 23 bottles from clogging up the environment. Isn't that exciting!

I'm using Innergreen's 100% PET toy fill. It's hypoallergenic, washable, and Australian made. Got to love that! In changing to this product I can now say that each bunny or bear is roughly 99% recycled. The only thing that is new is the thread used to sew them together and the ribbons around their necks. I'm so very proud of my little guys, doing their bit for the environment.

oh, and I've turned comment verification off. that captcha thing was driving me nuts. if I get too much spam, I will have to turn it back on again, but we'll see how we go!

Gleaners....

Have you heard about the latest fabulous exhibition opening next week at Gleaners Inc?

That is where my newest bunny "Audrey" is headed. Off to join all the other gorgeous doily creations. I only wish I was heading down too!