A basket to hold the blocks I picked up at the op shop (before my op shop swearing off of course!), which I made from lots of my red/pink scraps of fabric, I think I got a bit inspired while I was making the patchwork horse from the Softies book. I loosely used this pattern/tutorial from The Stitchin' Chicken.

And finally something for the baby from the Softies book, this is Mama Bear and she was designed by Nest Studio.

And cupcake booties, which my Mum crocheted for me after I gave her this US pattern, which she had to translate into her Australian crocheting knowledge.

And another pinafore, which is a bigger size than the others I made. I made it well before Christmas but I didn't have any nice buttons for it, so after looking everywhere I knew to look from Spotlight, Lincraft & HobbySew, to all the op shops in the area, as well as a few vintage clothes shops, and then to Etsy, I started to give up on the idea of really nice buttons… and instead started bemoaning this to everyone I know, which resulted in my Nanna sitting me down with ALL her buttons at Christmas time, and allowing me to pick out the ones I wanted. And I must have winged quite loudly, because when I got home, Joe's Mum had sent me a little parcel full of her old buttons as well. So now I can only complain that I have too much choice…

The old ones are sooo much nicer!

B.

1. world metro map PILLOW, 2. his rose garden is immaculate, 3. 1976 Ondori Simple Cross Stitch 4, 4. for miss ethel…, 5. needlefelted peach rainy cloud, 6. Art Wall, 7. ♡heart, 8. It's true., 9. Gnome And Mushroom Bee Modern Two

Sometimes when I'm bored on the internet, I like to go to flickr, and click on my 'favourites' in the 'you' menu. I pick a picture I love, and then I go to that person's flickrstream and click on their 'favourites'. And I pick a favourite photo of theirs and look at that person's flickrstream, and check out their 'faves', and keep searching and looking and I always end up with a whole bunch of awesome new faves in my stash.

This is exactly what I did yesterday afternoon, and even though I've had a tummy bug, a terrifying antenatal class and an emergency visit to the midwife (everything is a-ok, and was more panic related than anything physiological!), I ended my afternoon on the lounge with a bunch of felt, and a needle and thread sewing some stuff which had been in my head for a very long time, and which had gotten there via one such flickr expedition a few weeks ago…

These are my lazy, soft, freehand, but satisfying tributes to my following flickr faves:

Mobile by The Future Project, picture by Maayanpearl.

And to this awesome picture by Maggie & Sparrow which isn't sharable but it is cool- and it's the word that I like so much, but I've come up with my own…

B.

1. Fox and Owl 2. Mooshoopork 3. Robin and Mould 4. Made by Mosey

After spending 3 really full on, intense days cleaning the loungeroom in the most serious way we have ever cleaned, and I mean serious- we got all the light shades down and washed them up, and scrubbed the walls, and managed to remove 4 boxes of books and knick knacks from the cupboard, and reduced our art making clutter by half- I have somehow managed to end my afternoon looking on Etsy, at more stuff… but at least it isn't half made, half hearted, 'maybe-I-could-use-that-one-day', or 'maybe-I'll-read-that-one-day' stuff, like all the stuff that was removed from our tiny abode today! I'm feeling like I can breathe easier in here now, and I've made the pledge to myself and to Joe, that I am completely over op shopping. I don't need the clutter and I certainly don't want it. Unless it's something I'm actually looking for that I'd buy in a regular shop, there will be no opping around here. Kooky, vintage stuff is not as cool as space, glorious space, and this is the only way that I can comprehend the baby fitting into the flat…

B.

P.S. Happy New Year!

picture via

The winner of my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day prize was Bella, which is kind of nice because she's a reader and she's left some comments in the past, so it kinds of warms my heart to have sent Etta off to live at her house!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, mine was nice, but a little too rainy and humid for my pregnant self, I'm happy to be home in Wollongong where it's reached a max of 18 degrees so far today!

B.

It's about thinking outside boringness and blandness and thinking big, and it's been done in such a beautiful way.

You can read the whole thing here, and then I think you should buy it, and then buy one for everyone you know! I love it.

Thank-you Emma-Lee!!

B.

So, this is what I'm giving away:

Her name is Etta and she is 10 years old, she is a summer dew drop girl, and like all my ddgs, she comes with a personality tag, hers reads:

Likes: honey sandwiches, climbing trees, and practicing French.
Dislikes: broken umbrellas, long trips in the car, and rainy days.

She normally sells for $80 in the shops, and she could be all yours if you just leave a comment on this post. You have until the 17th of December- 18th if you are in Australia like I am, and I will post her anywhere in the world.

Until then, she'll just be waiting and wondering what her new family will be like…

Good luck!

B.

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GIVEAWAY CLOSED

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The winners are:
1. Sohpie
2. Suzy

I will contact you both soon and get some postal details!

And I'm feeling like a bit of a winner too because I finally managed to finish this horse I've been going on about. He isn't perfect, but if you look at him without looking at the picture in the book, he looks quite alright, even if I do say so myself!

I actually decided to make another one to keep, but this time I get to pick the colours, I had very specific instructions on the colours for the first one!

Happy Weekend!

B.

I'm not good at sitting still at the best of times, and I'm starting to get pretty excited about the baby, so I think that's what all the sewing is about, and this isn't everything… I do need to stop and sort her room out though because it is a mess- everything has been placed in there and left for arranging at a later date!

The pencilcase is for someone else, but you can get the pattern here. And the kokeshi doll is from 'Simple Softies' which is by the same people as 'Softies', but it's all completely kid friendly and hand sewing, and I made her up in a couple of hours- and added a rattle! And the burp cloths and bandana are from the Aranzi Aronzo book I'm loving at the moment.

And I've been doing the Christmas sewing that I promised some little people in my life that I would do, I just need to attach some legs to a certain patchwork horse and I'm all done. I'm really happy with how well this kangaroo turned out, but it was my second attempt- the first one just didn't look right. She is from the Softies book too, and the pattern is by My Little Mochi, and the joey is harder than it looks!!

And I'm going to draw the winner to my giveaway tomorrow night- and yes twitter entries count!

B.

There are only 4 of them in the world and they would look great framed, or hanging free on the wall like they do at my house.

And a freebie- I turned the doll picture that I made for my baby's room into a pdf so that you can print it out yourself. The page size is A4, and there is quite a sizable boarder so that you can either cut it down or use a large matt- it will print fine from a home ink jet printer. This is the link, and it's also in my sidebar under 'freebies'. I hope you enjoy!

And I hope you're not tearing your hair out at the impending festive season- I've discovered that Christmas shopping at 31 weeks pregnant is not my cup of tea, and that this year it all seems somewhat irrelevant compared with getting ready for the baby- but it will be nice to spend some time with my Mum and Dad before everything gets super hectic!

B.

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GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

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