More finished projects

Over the past couple of weeks I have been really busy trying to do projects that have been sitting around the plce for some time. The suitcases I have had for several years salvaging them from my sisters home when she moved houses they were destined for the rubbish dump. I felt they needed a breath of fresh air and so got to painting them in these pretty pastel colours with the help of my daughter Danielle (who loves painting). Now they look so great under the stairs with one of my very own bears sitting atop.



I have been looking for one of these laundry baskets for quite some time and was fortunate enough to find this one at the North Rocks markets for a bargain price of $40. Up until then had not seen anything under $80.-$100. There were multiple layers of paint which I patiently scraped away over a few days with a scraper and sander until I could then paint. The cane was in really good condition for its age and I am just so pleased at how it now looks with the new padded top and original handle.

New craft items I've made and finished

Recently I finished this Silk embroidery and had it framed. The embroidery came in a kit with threads and beads and was so enjoyable to do. I just love it.
Not the best of photos unfortunatly.

I attended a Quilt Camp earlier this year and I attended a class to do embroidery. I made this beautiful Hasif or Sewing Keeper. The blackberries were black glass beads. I also made the accessories a round pin holder and a thimble case.

The next item I have completed recently was this cute little sewing bag. I really do like doing embroidery I find it quite relaxing and doing smaller items I know I will get them finished.

Great day out

Well what a great day we had on Sunday. Firstly my 84 year old Dad had a ride on a Harley we gave this to him as a gift for Fathers Day. He used to ride bikes especially when he was in the Army in his younger days and I am sure this ride bought back lots of memories. After the ride I had organised a lunch cruise on Sydney Harbour. The weather was perfect and even my Mum enjoyed the cruise even though she confesses to not liking boats.

These were a few of the photos of our old biker Dad. Don't you agree he looks so cool in leather.

Mum and Dad on the Catamaran on the beautiful Sydney Harbour
My Dad and me and the Harbour Bridge

Postcards

Today I have been able to get my "School Days" postcards completed. With these cards I printed an old school photo onto fabric then added an abacass made with beads. I really enjoy doing these postcards for members of the artsnthemail online group. The photo in the background is my son Joshua in his Navy uniform

Another Padfolio Gift

I made a second padfolio also from my hand dyed fabric then embellished it with flower stitching and whispy threads. This is a gift for a friend of a friend who will be visiting Australia from England for a holiday.
I hope Barbara likes her handmade gift.

Making Gifts

During this week I have been making gifts. This is a padfolio I have made for my very dear friend Rhonda. I found the pattern for these on the Fibre & Stitch site and Sue Blieweis. The fabric I used I had hand dyed myself then I embellished the front with threads,wools and beads and lastly added the beautiful flower which I created. I was very happy with my efforts

Big Spiders

My Grand Daughter Kaitlyn was not too sure about sitting on the old outside dunny with these really large Red back spiders. They almost look real.

Budding Photographer

The weekend Josh was home we all went to the Australian Reptile park at Gosford. while we were waiting to see the extra large crocodile my Grandson Ryan decided to click some photos. Here he is with Sheree and his Mum Danielle. We had a great day at the park not often do we all get together for a lovely family day. Thats Ryan's Dad Matthew in the background.

Brotherly Love

My daughter Sheree and her loving younger brother Joshua. Josh is in the Royal Australian Navy and we don't get see him too often these days and this weekend he was home to go to a friends wedding. They very rarely have photos taken together I just happened to be ready with my trusty little camera.

Once a month I go to a class I call my "Arty Farty class" where we experiment with different textile mediums. Barbara my tutor comes up with some of the strangest things for us to try, we really do have great fun.

Some months ago after we had saved lots and lots of used teabags we emptied these and then glued them layer upon layer into sheets of teabags. I have finally created the teapot below from my teabags. Very fitting I thought. The handle and knob on the top were made using beads and wire. The little flower was created from fabric and washaway. I had so much fun making this I hope Barbara gets a giggle from my creation.

The second card is "Something beginning with J" I did "A jug of juice"
This card I ironed plastic cling wrap to the fabric and added beads to look like water drops

I really don't know where bloggers find the time to blog. These days seem to just fly by so fast and here we are in October already.

Over the last week I have made postcards to send overseas. I am in a Postcard swap group with Artsnthemail. These are some of my first cards
The first card is a "Sunflower" theme

My delightful Grandchildren

Recently we took our 2 grandchildren on an adventure. We left home at 9am and ventured into the city. They had no idea where we were going and were very excited. Our adventure was to walk across the Harbour Bridge and go on a ferry ride to Manly. Neither of them had done this before so it was great fun to watch their expressions each time something exciting happened.

Kaitlyn is 6 and Ryan is 3 with Gregdad on the Harbour Bridge.

This is Ryan hanging out of the ferry window. See the Harbour Bridge in the background

And this is Kaitlyn having a great time. I think they enjoyed the ferry the best we actually went on 3 ferries during our adventure.
Here we are at the end of the day. "Do we really have to walk up this steep hill?" Everyone was very tired and ready to go home.

Postcards

I have recently been doing postcards to swap and have been swapping with other postcard artists. These have been so much fun to do.

Flower Garden Postcards

Fireworks PostcardsKoala Postcards

Daisy postcards
Chocolate postcard

Ladybug Postcards

Another Christmas gift finished.

I have now finally finished my 6th Christmas stocking. I have made this one for my son-in-law Matthew. He was feeling a bit left out last Christmas when he saw only 2 hanging, Danielles and baby Ryans and asked if I could do one for him. I was happy to oblige. I hope he will like the finished stocking.

Hand made flowers

I have recently been experimenting with different fabrics and found this technique on a site I was searching. These are made from organza ans a washaway fabric, stitched around the edges with satin stitch I was very happy with my first attempt. I then made the leaves with the same technique.

Our Cat Bobbin

This is our gorgeous cat Bobbin she is a Scottish Fold Ragdoll. She is now 11months old and has full run of our house. She stays indoor always and loves to sleep anywhere and everywhere.


isnt she the cutest ever.

Postcards

I have joined a postcard swap and have made my first set of 4. I chose Autumn as my theme being Autumn here and these cards are going to America. I have enjoyed doing these cards and hope to get some nice ones in return.

Coloured Pencil Roll

When my daughter said she had bought some pencils for her scrap booking I thought it a great idea to make a pencil roll I had seen on the net. I ended up making 2 as my grand daughter wanted one the same as her Mum. Certainly makes it easier as all the colours roll out flat and are easy to see in their coloured sections.

Altered book

Every first Saturday of the month I go to do an Arty Farty class with some friends. At our last class we did an Altered Book. I found this to be a fun class. I chose to do my book on flowers so used lots of cards and flowery things that had been given to me over the years I was quite happy with the way it turned out and now I have a book of lots of treasured memories.

another UFO completed

At last another quilt out of the UFO box and completed.
The top was sewn together about 4 years ago and in November of 2006 I machine quilted the quilt with stippling and hearts. It is now on my bed as a throw.

Ballerina Teddies

Finally I have finished the Ballerina Teddis.
The teddies are made from felt and dresses in pink organza and blanket stitched.
The centre piece was made about 3 years ago and just recently I framed it with the blocks to make it into a wall hanging for my grand daughter. I did the machine quilting adding little teddies and hearts around the pink borders.

Christmas Challenge

I have been wanting to finish some of my Christmas UFO's so this challenge enabled me to get them out of the closet to be finally completed.
The angel wall hanging I originally gave to my daughter to do about 4 years ago I recently found it in her cupboard still in its unfinished state. Now it is finished.
The Christmas tree I saw at a craft show and thought I could do that without a kit so managed to make it from memory and am pleased with my effort

Fibre Postcards

I enjoy being in the fibre postcard swap on the Craft Forum
These 2 postcard were my latest. The themes were "Carnival" and "Me"
For Belle I did "Fireworks at the Carnival"
For Margaret I did "Me the Patchworker"

Dancing Teapots

For the past 24 years with three of my very close friends we have had a monthly luncheon, meeting at each others homes. For each of these friends I have made a 50th. birthday quilt.
This quilt was made for Debbie the youngest of our small group she turned 50 in May. At our lunches we have lots of cups of tea and good food and lots to talk about so I made this Teapot quilt to represent our wonderful friendship. The four teacups on the bottom of the quilt is one for each of us.
A poem above the teacups reads:

At my table sit with me
I'll pour some coffee or some tea
Perhaps we"ll share our tears and laughter
And be friends for ever after.

Quilters Tote Bag

I have made this Quilter Tote bag this week for a class I am teaching.
The bag is to carry your cutting board, ruler, blade and other crafty items to sewing classes.
I used some of the blocks I collected from the 61/2" block swap I participated in on the forum last year. A good way to use up orphan blocks.

Button Collection.

I decided to make this little wall hanging to show of some of the buttons I have collected through the button swap with Miss Nance on the forum.I still have lots of buttons but it became too heavy to add too many more.

Gemma's Christmas stocking.

I have made this Christmas stocking for my God Daughter Gemma. This is the 5th. stocking I have crossed stitched in the past 2 years. I started this one in November of 2005. They are great to do for a special gift.

Tablerunner

This is the tablerunner I did with my patchwork group. It was so pretty I couldn't resist making it. Unfortunatly one of my UFO's had to be put aside but as least I did finish this one.

Whacky disco

My darling grand daughter went to her first school disco all dressed up quite whacky
I think she looks a lot like Cindy Lauper. LOL

Birthday Gift

This is a photo of the great gift my wonderful kids and husband gave me for my birthday last week. I have a collection of old standard sewing machines but have always longed for the small childs sewing machine. It is in perfect condition and with the original box. My daughter bid for it on e-bay from America and was lucky to secure it. And I am lucky to have it.
What a wonderful surprise it was.