Wrapping Fabric

Hi peeps,

From now on, if you buy any of my handmade goodies, they will come to you, wrapped in fabric.

I love wrapping up parcels of handmade goodies.  Using paper and knowing most of it would be put straight in the rubbish really got to me though.  So, now when I wrap using fabric, it can be used again and again. No more rubbish.

The fabric I use is from the Sham Shui Po fabric street market.  I feel like I am rescuing the fabric.  Many fabrics have been there for a very long time waiting for some one to use them.  Now, these fabrics I buy have been sent all over the world and are being reused again (and again and again I hope)

I tie up each parcel with ribbon, no sticky tape is required (again, less waste).  The ribbon can be reused again and again also.

 

The beautiful handmade fabric cards by Here We Loopy Lou are a perfect match with my wrapping fabric (below).  I love Melinda's cards and must confess I have quite a collection of them now.

 

All the edges of my wrapping fabric have been overlocked (serged).

Last Christmas I wrapped most presents in fabric.

It feels good that my wrapping fabrics can be used again and that less paper is going into the rubbish or recycling bin.

Have a great week.

Cat xox

My (washi tape) Creative Space

 

 Hey peeps,

I hope you are all good?  Are you a washi tape addict? So many people are.  I do love the stuff.  Don't ask me why I only have a handful of rolls, I honestly have no idea (that needs to change!)

There must be eleventy billion uses for washi tape. This week, we discovered one more use for washi tape: decorated rocks.

Grab some washi tape and a rock.  Pre-cut the washi tape for little kids.  For Zoe, who is 3 years old, I cut many strips for her and stuck them on the edge of the table.  She could then easily use them to cover her rock. 

Bigger kids can rip it easily themselves or use scissors to cut their own strips.  Cover your rock with as much or as little washi tape as you like. Use the one type of washi tape or mix it up. My girls loved this activity. I know we will be making more of them soon. 

Ta-da, cute washi tape covered rocks. Matching outfits are optional (and were a happy accident)

Happy Creative Space day to you.

Cat xox

My (very first quilt) Creative Space

 

Hey peeps,

I am making a quilt!  Yes, I am.  I really am. It will be for my Grandma, who turns 90 next month.  She has recently moved into a nursing home.  She does not want to be there, she wants to be back at home. I can't blame her, but she needs lots of help with everyday things and the nursing home can help her with these.

We visited her in February when we were in Melbourne.  I immediately felt that her room needed some more hand made goodness.  She has been able to bring a few items of furniture from home.  My step-dad installed some shelves, and they have been filled up with family photos. I felt she needed a happy, bright quilt for her bed.  One made with love - so my mum and I got started right away.

I had "won" some fabric charm packs (pre-cut fabric squares) in the Let's get Maybelle to the Ellen Show charity auction.  We used two packs of "Honey Honey" by Kate Spain for Moda and part of a "Trade Winds" by Lily Ashbury for Moda.

The charm pack squares were all arranged and sewn together over a few days while I was still in Melbourne. I added the border to the quilt top when I got back to Hong Kong. The border is "Petunias" by Phillip Jacobs for Rowan, Westminster Fibers (pastel colour way)

Yesterday, I finally found the courage to make the backing.  We had chosen more of the petunias fabric (in different colour ways).

Today I will finish sewing the petunias backing together.  Then I will be ready to quilt this.  This is what I am scared about.  I have never done this before.  I'll read a few more (hundred) online tutorials.  I hope I'll be ready then to quilt.

If you can recommend any great online tutorials, please let me know.

Wish me luck!

Happy Creative Space Day to you.

Cat xox

I made a giant, stuffed carrot: it must be Easter soon.

 

Hi peeps,

Where has this year gone?  It is the middle of March already, how did that happen?  Easter will be here soon.  

Zoe's kinder is having a 3D Easter Decoration competition. I looked through Pinterest for some ideas, but nothing grabbed me.  All the ones I liked required craft supplies I did not have (like large polystyrene eggs)

I thought Zoe could take a few of my fabric carrots, but they are quite small (compared to most of the other decorations - yes, I did check out the other competitors!)  Instead, I decided to make a huge, fabric carrot and give it a happy face.

I know I promised way back in March of 2011, that there would be no more fabric carrot posts, after the carrots in the ear incident.  But that was two years ago and giant fabric carrots are a whole new type of carrot, right?

Zoe carried her carrot all the way to kinder, there was no way I was allowed to help with that important job.

If you want to make your own fabric carrots, get the know how here (thanks Clare).  If you are making large ones, I recommend adding interfacing to the leaves, it helps them to stand up and not be too floppy.  I don't have this problem with the smaller carrots.

Have a great weekend.

Cat xox

My (pink hexie) Creative Space

Hi peeps,

I post lots of photos to my Instagram feed and to my Facebook page.  If you follow me there, you may already know about my hand sewing project: hexies. I can't believe I have not mentioned this on my blog before now. Naughty me.

Way back in June of last year, I started to notice on Instagram that a few people were participating in this sew-along.  I was loving the photos, watching for a few weeks when I decided I wanted to join in the fun.  Right away I knew I had to use fabric from my stash.  After sorting my fabric, it became very clear to me how many pink fabrics I had, so, pink this quilt would be.

Early in July I started to cut up my fabric and on 5th July I basted my very first hexagon.  Only a few days later I had made my very first hexie flower.  I was hooked.  This hexie caper is very addictive.

I now take my hand sewing with me everywhere. I use the gorgeous Raspberry rainbow zippered pouch that Jennie from My Little Vintage made me.  I have made hexies in Hong Kong, Paris, all over Denmark, in London and Shropshire, in Melbourne and even while flying (I don't take scissors, just one sewing needle and many pre-cut threads).

After a few months of making hexies, I realised I did not want to make the quilt featured in the quilt-along.  I was feeling a bit despondent and not sewing many hexies.  Then on Instagram I saw another hexagon quilt, and knew immediately this was how I wanted mine to look (also shown on Carols blog here).   I arranged my pink hexie flowers out on the floor, and knew this was it.  This was how my pink hexie quilt was going to look.   My pink hexie quilt needs white hexies to make all the pink flowers "pop".

I still do not know how big it will be be, every few months I lay out all my flowers, and see how much it has grown. I am going to finish this project.  It will be a quilt for us.

In January 2013, I had 39 hexie flowers and it looked like this:

Today, I have 55 finished hexie flowers (yes, another photo is needed).  I am still making more.  I am still loving this project.  There is no hurry to finish it, it will come together in time.

If you would like to know more about sewing your own hexies, I have a board on pinterest here, with links to lots of different information.

Happy Creative Space day to you.

Cat xox

This (static) Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Joining in with SouleMama this week.

Happy Friday to you.  Cat.

My (Easter) Creative Space

Hi peeps,

I am still unpacking the last of the boxes from moving apartments last month.  I am almost finished, these last few boxes are taking me ages to finish.  My new sewing space is a cramped corner of our living/dining room, it is still a shambles, but I know I will get there.  Eventually.

But yay, I have finally found/made some time to do some sewing.  Well, Easter fast approaching spurred me on.  Abbey needs an Easter themed costume for kinder, so I made her some bunny ears.  I have attached them to a head-band.  If I can find any cotton wool at the shops later today, I'll make her a little fluffy bunny tail too.

Abbey wants to take a basket to kinder, so I made some fabric eggs to go in it.

I have started making some of Clare's gorgeous fabric carrots to also go in the basket.  I made lots of them last year, you can see them topless here, dressed here and in a toddler's ear here.

Have a great week, lovelies.  All the inspiring creative spaces can be found here.  

Cat.

Fancy a carrot in your ear?

OK, I may have to make a promise. No more fabric carrots after this post. First, we had them topless.

Then we had them with their tops on.

Now we have them with ribbons added, and they look even cuter (excellent idea, Clare)

If you like, you can put them in your big sisters ear.

Big sisters get rather cranky with you if you put them in her ear.

So, why not put them in your own ears?

Much more fun to put them in your own ears.

OK, no more fabric carrots from me.

But I can't promise you that you won't end up with one in your ear.

Cat

My (carroty, part 2) Creative Space

The topless carrots have been dressed finished. They are just a bit cute, I think. And squishy. I like squishy.

Clare's look really good with the ribbons added, but I did not have any carroty looking ribbon and had no budget to get any this week. All these carrots were made with fabric from my stash.

I had to make a Very Hungry Caterpillar carrot for our librarian, I know she will love it.

I survived kinder duty last week. It was exhausting and non-stop, but so much fun. I enjoyed chopping up the fruit, I had way too much fun arranging it on the trays artistically (I wish I had taken my camera to take a photo) The best bit was the singing and dancing to music while walking around the room. Yes I did join in, it was a hoot, especially pretending to be a kangaroo!

It was so special to see my big girl at kinder, playing, crafting and interacting with her her friends. Not to mention her new favourite kinder activity - playing in the mud pit. She comes home filthy, which is OK with me. Her pretty skirts are certainly not quite so pretty any more.

Want to see a whole lot of Creativity? Pop over to Kirsty's for some inspiration.

Happy Thursday to you.

Cat.

(If you don't want a carrot in your ear, don't look here)

My (carroty) Creative Space

I might be procrastinating here, I suppose I should be packing up our entire house to move to Hong Kong, but to tell you the truth, I'd rather be sewing.

Since Easter last year, I have wanted to make these fabric carrots. Then after the felt fruit and vegetable caper of last year, I wanted to give Clare's carrots a try even more. Fabric carrots look so much more appealing than plain old orange felt ones, don't you think?

This is as far as I have got with them - they are all still topless. Feels a little rude saying that!

Wish me luck, this morning I am on kinder duty. 28 four and five year olds plus two kinder teachers who do this every day. And me. It will be crazy. But I know it will be crazy fun too.

I look forward to this afternoon, when I can sit down with a cup of tea and browse through all the Creative types over at Kootoyoo.

I hope you have a less crazy Thursday, Cat.

Nine years ago today......

Nine years ago today, the sun was shining, it was a warm autumn day in Melbourne. I was full of nerves. It was my wedding day.

I married my love, my Shropshire boy, in a small ceremony at the magical Montsalvat. Our reception was held Upstairs at The London. Rather fitting we thought, as we met in London. It was a wonderful day. I had so much fun celebrating with our close friends and family (also missing some special people who were unable to travel from the UK to attend)

These nine years have gone so fast. We have bought our first home together, we have made our own little family, two gorgeous girls call us mummy and daddy. I still love your English accent. We still love the same music. I look forward to being a family again when we are all living in Hong Kong together.

Happy Anniversary, my love. See you on the weekend.

Love from Cat.

Our wedding photos were taken by Ian Clark from Studio Imagery.

My (girly) Creative Space

This week I have had fun making a girlie birthday present. One of Abbey's new kinder friends celebrated her birthday today. Since they met just over a month ago, Abbey and her new friend Ellie have become almost inseparable at kinder. Abbey asks me many times most days what is Ellie doing now? Where is Ellie? When is kinder next? When I ask her what she has done at kinder, it always involves Ellie. It is so cute to see and makes me all squishy inside. My big girl, all 4 years of her, is making friends. I am so proud of her.

Ellie's mum summed it up perfectly - they are in love. And it is true, they both adore each other and play so well together.

This week I have been smiling as I was sewing, knowing these creations were for Abbey's dear friend.

I sent Abbey to kinder one day last week, and her mission was to ask what Ellie's favourite colour is. Mission accomplished by my little snoop, Ellie likes all the colours of the rainbow.

Abbey helped me choose which fabric's to use, and I made Ellie a zippered pouch and two headbands.

Little girls can never have too many hair bobbles (hair elastics), so I made some of these too.

To finish off our home made present, Abbey painted some brown paper with a colourful rainbow to use as wrapping paper and drew Ellie a birthday card.

Happy Birthday gorgeous girl! We had a wonderful time at your party.

Pop in and visit all the lovely Creative peeps over at Kootoyou on Thursday.

Cheers, Cat.

Monster Soup

The weather was spectacular in Melbourne over the weekend. To me, it felt like the last throes of summer. Condensation on the car and chilly mornings leading to warm, sunny days. A summer that I still feel never really started this year. But anything is possible, Melbourne weather is unpredictable, and I actually like it this way, it is never boring or dull!

We spent as much time in our back garden as we could this weekend. I had bought some goodies from the local op shops: a little saucepan, spoons, tongs, an egg whisk, a soup ladle. Abbey was so excited to try out her new outdoor kitchen equipment.

Right away, she made this Monster Soup. She told me a Monster would love this soup. A Monster probably would. Made with dirt, sand, rocks, weeds and some of my plants. There was also chives and parsley for flavouring (but not my Grandpa's chives, some other ones in the garden we do not use)

This is her outdoor kitchen, some upturned empty pot plant holders.

Both Abbey and Zoe had so much fun making a big mess.

I am sure we will be spending a lot more time out in the back garden while this warm weather lasts, maybe summer will hang on a little longer. I am hoping so.

Have a lovely week, peeps.

Cat

Joining in with Week-a-Boo and Point and Shoot.

My (knotty) Creative Space

In My Creative Space this week, I have been finishing Abbey's kinder blanket.

She needed a little pillow too, so I made one out of the left over backing fabric (Abbey chose this fabric herself, I wish I bought more of it now, I have grow to really love it)

Her name is a little wonky, the "A" especially. Why do I feel that the letters in her name have to be perfectly formed? It is all about embracing the wonk, isn't it? It is home made after all, I have to keep reminding myself.

The proof is in pudding, she loves it.

I was inspired to make one of these blankets after seeing this gorgeous version. Fabulous idea from this lovely book.

Have a lovely Thursday checking out all the Creative Spaces.

Cat.