Hair Bobbles go to Market.

Hello,

When Raspberry Rainbow goes to Market, there will be a huge selection of hair bobbles to choose from.

\\

You can buy one pair, or get them cheaper in a three pack.

Take your pick.

They make great stuffing fillers and are available in my etsy shop also, here.

They are perfect for big and little girls.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Cat xox

Wooden Beaded Necklaces go to Market.

Hello,

When I go to Market on Sunday 24th November, there will be a selection of beaded necklaces.

These are some that will be available on the day.

Hope to see you there.

If you want one of my rainbow beaded necklaces, there are three different types available in my etsy shop at the moment.

Have a great day.

Cat xox

Raspberry Rainbow goes to market!

Hi peeps,

Raspberry Rainbow is going to market!  Yes, next month on Sunday 24th November I will be at the Handmade Hong Kong market held at Discovery Bay in the Main Plaza.

I'll be there from 12noon to 7pm with a large selection of my hand made creations.  I'll show you over the following weeks what I have made and been busy making.

If you see any thing you want to buy now and can't be in Hong Kong on the 24 November, let me know by emailing me cat@raspberryrainbow.com or contact me through FaceBook.

If you are in Hong Kong, come and say hello.  Start your Christmas shopping.

See you there or on the interwebs!

Cat

Sausage rolls, quilts and ideas. And a picnic or two.

Hello peeps,

We are back in Hong Kong, it is always wonderful to be home after a trip away, especially after a long one.   Don't get me wrong, we had a lovely time away,  but I missed my sewing machine and crafting time.

Abbey has started school again.  Zoe will start kinder in a few weeks.  We are getting back into our routine.

My week looks like this:

• Cooking: yummy sausage rolls.  I love this recipe so much. It is easy and tasty and we all enjoy them.  They freeze very well (as either completed, un-cooked sausage rolls or the mince mixture by itself)
• Cooking: yummy pasta salad.  I made enough to have it as left overs one night, so yay, a night off cooking.
• Sewing: I have started another quilt, one for the Shropshire boy this time.  I'll share some photos soon.  I may be a little obsessed with it, no other sewing is happening.
• Thinking: I really should sew the binding on to my scrappy trip quilt, it is so close to being finished. So very close (but not happening due to the previous point)
• Eating: A precious bag of Burger Rings, brought back from Australia.  We can't buy them here in HK (probably a good thing!)
• Playing:  with Zoe, lots.  Play picnics, colouring in, puzzles, reading books.  She is missing Abbey now school has gone back.  
• Opening: My Etsy shop is now open again.  I have so many new ideas in my head and written down.  I better finish this quilt for the Shropshire boy pronto, then I can start on a few of these new ideas. 

How is your week looking?  Good I hope.

Take care, Cat xox

Shall I sew us a ric rac rainbow?

Hello peeps,

I am writing this from freezing cold Melbourne (Australia)  We are visiting friends and family as the girls are on Hong Kong summer school holidays.

It has been great to get some respite from the heat and humidity of Hong Kong.  I am missing home though.  We are all missing the Shropshire boy/daddy.  We will be home next week, and school commences again for Abbey in the middle of August.

I have to share some photos of a recent creation.  I joined the lovely Cam from CurlyPops to make a hot water bottle cover for the 2013 Hottie Challenge.  There was a recent exhibition of all the amazing hotties (see lots of photos here on Cam's blog)

The finished hotties are donated to the Margaret Pratt Foundation, so that they may be sold to raise funds.  The aim of the Foundation, as stated on their website is:

The Margaret Pratt Foundation Heart Lung Transplant Trust is a registered charity whose aim is to encourage, develop and maintain Australia's world class expertise in the field of organ transplantation by supporting research that addresses the problems faced by children and adults after heart and lung transplant. 

If you know Cam or follow her CurlyPops blog, you will already know she is the recent recipient of a double lung transplant.  She has been given the gift of a new life.  The hottie challenge is important to her.

My entry to the hottie challenge was an idea I have had rattling around in my head for months: to make a rainbow out of ric rac.  I love how it turned out.  This will not be the last ric rac rainbow you will see in the land of the Raspberry Rainbow.  When I get back to Hong Kong, I have plans.

Have a great week.

Cat xox

Let's take a scrappy trip, shall we?

 

 Hello peeps,

My Grandmother's quilt should not have been my first.  I had actually started another quilt before I made hers - this one I am going to show you now.  Back in late December of last year, I noticed on Instagram that a quilt-along was happening, called the Scrappy Trip Along. The blocks for the quilt looked so interesting, I was fascinated how they were made and I so desperately wanted to make a quilt of my own. I knew that I would soon be trying one of these blocks.  Of course, I loved making my first blocks, but I was not happy with using random fabrics.  Maybe the control freak in me did not like the randomness. I wanted more control.  I chose to have each block as a colour theme.  Six different fabrics of the same colour together in each block, kind of like a rainbow.  I do like rainbows!

By the end of January, I had 24 finished blocks.  All fabrics used had come from my stash. I was in love.  To be honest though, I had no idea where I was heading with this quilt.  I laid out all my blocks together, seen in the photo below, and I knew it needed to be bigger, a few more yellow and orange blocks too.

I took a break from my Rainbow quilt to make Grandma's.  I was itching to add more blocks, but I had the deadline of Grandmas 90th birthday party.  I had to finish that quilt before her party.

Finally by the end of May, I had 30 completed blocks.  As I was laying them out with much excitement, I believed I had finished all my blocks.  Once they were all together though, I knew immediately I had to make 5 more.  If this quilt was to be the one we snuggled under on our couch, it had to be longer.

So 5 more blocks were made.  I have yet to take a photo of all completed 35 blocks, it is getting more and more difficult to photograph as this quilt is so large and our living area very small.

If you want to make your own scrappy trip quilt, all the instructions are here.  It really is easy to do, the blocks come together quickly once you have all your fabric strips cut.  I used this photo as a reference guide how to iron my blocks before cutting (the photo in the instructions is not clear to me)

I have created a board on Pinterest with all this info together, you can see that here.  There is also a Flickr group with so many photos of gorgeous scrappy trip along blocks and completed quilts. Go check it out of you want some inspiration.

I am so eager to finish this quilt, but a secret project has been taking up my time, I'll share that as soon as I can.

Do you want to make a scrappy trip along quilt, or have you already made one?

Happy Creative Space day to you.

Cat xox

All stitched up with love.

Hello peeps,

I recently commissioned Sonia from Dandelyne to make our family portrait.  This is how we look, all stitched up.

It warms my heart looking at it, our little family frozen in time, made out of fabric and thread and stitched up with love by Sonia.

I supplied the fabric for our outfits, some of it sentimental.  The purple paisley fabric used in Abbey's dress is vintage.  I bought a remnant of this fabric at an opshop (charity shop) almost 20 years ago.  As a teenager, I made a mini skirt out of it.  Unfortunately, the skirt no longer fits, but I have kept it to re-purpose one day.  I love this fabric.  The fabric used in my dress is Liberty, I adore Liberty.  Enough said.

How cute are Zoe's pony tails?  Love them!  And the head band in Abbey's hair, perfect.

Sonia really captured us perfectly.  I have never met her, we do not know her.  She managed to make us perfect by looking at photos of us, how clever is that?

You can find the Dandelyn shop here and her facebook page here.  Do pop in and be amazed at what she can stitch up.

Thank you so much Sonia, you are one clever lady!

Happy day to you.

Cat xox