I think she liked it!

Feeling the love :-) It is so nice to receive positive feedback on something you have made!

Friday favourites

One of my favourite local jewellery designers is Alexandra Freeman of Polka Luka. She makes very cool, contemporary pieces out of resin. I found her at a local market when we first moved to Canberra and kept her business card. About 6 months later (or longer) I went to her website and ordered a bracelet for my sister-in-law Liz's 30th birthday. I was very happy with the braceletand the price, Liz was thrilled and the icing on the cake was Alexandra dropped it off in person to my house! A lovely touch as I had a new baby at the time. So I was thrilled to see one of her necklaces in the March issue of Real Living magazine, under the editors "Things we love this month" column. Yay for local talent!

Australia

The funniest thing I saw over the Christmas holidays was my brother (Matthew Hills - pictured above) in the movie Australia with Nicole Kidman. Not funny - ha ha, but funny in a strange and wonderful way... I was sincerely chuffed to see his name in the credits (before Nicole's mind you!). Matthew did have a line or two but it got replaced with a voice over narrative. His name is now on the IMDB website! It is a blink and you miss it part - but special all the same :-)

Fresh white paper

{Image yvestown}

I saw this photo on Flickr and smiled as it reminded me of how much I love blank paper... beautiful white, unadulterated paper. I love to stare at it, draw on it, scribble, mess it up and then start again. It's the same with stationery and letter writing - oh how I love to get snail mail.

Birds for baby Marley

A girlfriend in Brisbane brought baby Marley Edith into the world last Friday. I had already bought this book for her (a tongue in cheek stab at the modern metropolitan mothers) and wanted to make something quick, easy and pretty to post with it.... so I used my good old faithful bird template I downloaded from Tara Dennis website ages ago and made a cute card and little mobile to hang in the window. The mobile has a few seed beads and sequins sewn on to catch the light, it was very simple! I thought I might try one in paper one day....

Another fabulous Grosgrain giveaway...

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

The talent and generosity of some people is simply amazing! I think if I went to all the effort Kathleen did to make this skirt I would be framing it! Especially if you read her post about how fiddly it was... I can certainly appreciate the work that has gone into this number. Kathleen has kindly provided the link on 'how to' and her personal tips on avoiding potential snags if you are adventurous enough to give this skirt a twirl. (Image courtesy of Grosgrain)

MACRO Monday

I heart nature.... I snapped this cute leaf at Canberra's botanical gardens. Sometimes you have to get in awkward positions, ignore looks from passers by and only then can you capture little hidden treasures like this one.

A book for Selma

This book is going all the way to Norway for a new little bub called Selma. She has an Aussie Dad, hence the connection! It has lots of tactile treats for the developing baby to touch and feel.

Friday favourites

I wake up happier than usual on a Friday knowing the weekend is almost here!!! It is one of my favourite days... so in honour of that warm fuzzy feeling, I am going to share a favourite post, picture or thing with you each Friday. There is so much creativity in the blogging world alone it is ridiculous... between that and flickr... it's a never ending readathon. I only wish someone paid me to keep up with my RSS feeds :-)

I can't tell you how much I love Ink & Spindle's work! 3 clever girls from Melbourne who screen print their own fabric in a very cool studio, something I aspire to do down the track. I love their birch design, especially in soft moss (I also love soft moss!!) Pop over and check out their work... I would love to have a lampshade or single cushion covered in this fabric.


Birch (small scale) in Soft Moss
{Image courtesy of Ink & Spindle}

Miss Buttons

A little lady from the Miss Buttons family came to join team Grace today... We might call her Grace to help Anya learn her surname. Grace is dressed in vintage fabric, either my sister or I had a dress made from it when we were little (I will try and track down a photo). The lace is from my sister's Grandmother in law. Thanks to my cousin Gret for sending the pattern to our place :-)

New arrival today

I was thrilled to get home from an adventure to the park with Anya to find this much awaited book on my doorstep, Lena Corwin's "Printing by hand". How excited am I!!!! The little one is down for a sleep and I am about to sit down with a cuppa, almond finger and pore over the pages!! I found the cheapest way to buy it was through Ebay's buy it now option! Thanks Nanna :-) I have spent my birthday cheque well.

MACRO Monday

Sometimes I get a little bit prickly but not today :-) I had a lovely weekend with my gorgeous two and have enjoyed dreaming up some fun projects and doing things I enjoy.

Flower brooch tutorial

I found this great tutorial on how to make these cool material flowers to use as a brooch/hairpin/Belt accessory, what ever you like really. Still dottie has a few variations on how to make them with some really helpful photos on Picassa.

Layered flower brooch

I love the texture of Muslin [finely woven cotton] it's great for making baby wraps the size they should be and for making pretty flower brooches!!! A nice addition to this plain singlet - it says summer to me :-)

By any other name

As cute as a button rose for your little ones hair

Reuben's rocket

I was commissioned to make a rocket wall hanging for my best friend's son - he loves rockets so she is decking out his room in a space theme. I based this rocket off a picture from his quilt cover. I really enjoyed making it although it took longer than anticipated... The dimensions are 19 x 22 inches. I inserted a small piece of dowel in the top but need to find some fixtures to keep the string in place to hang it up nicely! I also stitched the seam down but would probably use Velcro or press studs next time if I wanted to use a metal hanger from a craft store. I am once again being a naughty girl and posting photos of something prior to the recipient receiving their item. Well... it's not as bad as wearing a bridesmaid dress before being in the wedding yet is it?.... I have a girlfriend who has done that - I would be far too terrified that I would ruin the dress... eek.. anyway - that is a whole other post!

Left over felt

I cut a heap of small circles out the other week from left over felt to make Anya some jewellery or a garland etc... so I will post some little sweeties I have made from the scraps as they happen! (This is a hair band... clearly not for my bald girl!)

MACRO Monday

Love, love, love freshly squeezed OJ! I also love the tiny little segments in fruit, especially oranges, mandarins and the patterns on a kiwi fruit. We have just finished devouring a bag of fresh passion fruit and they are delicious! While posting on something trivial, I can't help but thinking of all the people in Victoria who have lost their homes and lives :-( I can't imagine the horror of what took place there over the weekend. The death toll is up to 108! If you want to donate you can find information here or contact: CFA bushfire hotline - 1800 240 667

A little thread and a lot of imagination...

This wall hanging was made for my sister Jenn and I by a family friend when we lived in Africa in the early 70's (that's me on the right.. loving my trousers right now!). It is completely hand stitched and has some fantastic detail which I remember studying repeatedly as a child, I found the whole picture fascinating and I loved imagining animals living like that. The picture includes some of our clothing scraps - the striped material was Jenn's school uniform and I remember the floral material under the top fence being a dress for one of us. The wall hanging is now in Anya's room - oh so Vintage and oh so cute!

I love that we kept it (thanks Mum) and I suspect it was my subconscious inspiration for my soft books and pictures over a year ago. I only just pulled it out of the cupboard and gave it a wash a few months back. I have also used the "clothesline" idea several times in my books.

Welcome to a new girl on the block....

A little red ribbon who joins us in the blogging hemisphere - WELCOME! I know we are going to enjoy following your creative path Gret...

I am busy sewing up a rocket wall picture, chain stitching a whale for a soft book, making flower hair bands out of felt scraps & beads... while TRYING to limit my time spent on google reader (great tool to manage your blogs)!

Since I have introduced a new friend, here is an old favourite which I visit regularly: Cakies by Rubyellen who makes some super felt crowns, some of these blogs are like keeping up with old friends, watching kids grow, seeing new creative avenues.. it's great fun!

One womans junk...

....is another womans treasure!!

Last Friday night I had a clothes swap party with a few girlfriends... These were some of gems I picked up for FREE!!!!!!!!! I love my photos of the Mexican ring particularly. I think the last vintage brooch is going to grace a clutch purse, I have had the material cut out to make one for 2 years now... one of those UFO's. I also scored some great clothes, a bag and a pair of shoes. *yay*

A bag for miss J

I made one of my nieces a bag for her birthday in December and knowing her big sister's birthday was a couple of months later, I knew I would have to sew her a bag too! So, I made this on Saturday night in the very hot sewing room... there was plenty of sweat but no tears.

It is loosely based on the birdie sling but much smaller and without the interfacing and handle etc... It even had gussetts :-) I was wishing I had thought so sew some buttons on for some detail for her but ran out of time! I popped one on her card instead.

MACRO Monday

We ran way over our monthly download limit an entire week early!!! For the first time in team Grace history. We attributed it to Google reader and all the blogs we have been reading. Do you get as impatient as me when trying to work fast online? My patience was tested last week with both the weather and the slow connection.... Anyway, we are all back to normal and I will be doing my best to even out my time reading creative blogs online with some of my offline joys - i.e: sewing, reading, pottering, drawing etc..