Things I like!

For those of you who were asking, or wondering about Christmas/birthday presents for me, here's a taste of things I like! Hardly prescriptive, though!

1. leyla necklace 2. PataPri teatowel 3. annacote maple notecards 4. marymarsh ponytail holders

Drink Me Alice - handcrafted vintage art resin jewellery (I like the squirrel!)

Hanging Tree of Life

I love the Bad Cat necklace, although it's kind of grim!

Lined coiled ring

Frankie magazine

Amazon WishList

Vintage tins, tea cups and platters (esp. with an orange accent)

Poppies for Grace Writing Set

Music: Whitley, Death Cab for Cutie, Angus & Julia Stone, bluegrass or latin in general, Missy Higgins, Xavier Rudd and heaps more

Themes/things in general that I look out for: matryoska/babuska dolls, squirrels, birds (esp. silhouettes of birds), vintage/retro stuff... and heaps more that I can't think of right now!

We leave for Canada on the 5th of December, and all our stuff goes into storage this Friday, so that's why I haven't posted for a while, and won't post for a while again, I don't think! I'm finding I constantly have to let go of my desire to make gifts for people, because I simply don't have time. I'm thinking I might make belated gifts during the Canadian winter.

I signed up for Nikkishell's swap a month or so ago, not realising that the timing would be particularly tricky! I have, however, managed to pull together eight postcards to swap. Posted them today - glad to get it out of my head! I had one idea, and one evening to pull it all together. They just had to work, and I apologised to the person who got my first one - the first pancake, if you will!
Anyway, I'll post again from Canada. Best wishes to you all. Hey, can you recommend any good Canadian craft blogs you've come across? Cheers....

More sewing (when I should be knitting!)

I whipped this up the other night, after having made a long list of all the people I'd like to make Christmas presents for. I know it's totally unrealistic, even moreso because I only have four weeks to work with, before we leave for Canada. But I just thought, maybe this bag that I'd seen in blogland, just maybe it might whip up quickly (seeing as it was posted on the whipup site -haha!) and it would be a useful gift...

Here it is, posing on the washing line with my bright nappies! (Well, mine cos I washed them, but Jasper's the one who wears them - just wanted to clarify that!) I used that ubiquitous apple fabric from Spotlight - not sure it's cut out to be a bag (pretty punny!), seems like it might work better as an apron, but anyway, this was just a prototype, to see how the pattern came together.

Came together okay, but as for creating a mass of gifts, I'm not so sure. I think I'll make some, but not the thirty that I originally planned, in my addled list-making state! I might just have to let go of the lovely idea of presenting ALL my gorgeous friends with handmade gifts... hmmm...

Presents for Anna

Well, now that I've finally finished them and given them to Anna, I can post a pic of the presents I made for her. The purse is the Artsy Clutch from Amy Karol's book. The bag I made from fabric I had kicking around in my stash, using Tiny Happy's tutorial. And the journal I covered using Lara's tutorial. Inside it, I stuck a photo of Anna and I together for almost every year that we've known each other, and given we've known each other since 1985 (Prep!), that meant collecting and cropping a fair few photos.


I've neglected to say that the the journal album was a gift for Anna's birthday in October, and the bag and clutch were actually very very very belated Christmas gifts!!!! That's pretty slow, eh! Thankfully, this year, I know what I'm giving her, and it doesn't involve quite as much making, so I might just get it done in time!

On a different note, yesterday I suddenly realised that the hoodie I'm knitting for one of Piper's friends needs to be done by the weekend. I'm onto the second sleeve, with just the button band and hood to go, but I just need to put the time in. Makes me realise how I usually spend more time on the computer - blogland and the internet in general are so distracting! I will post pics of the finished product soon, and also of the bibs in progress, and the cushion cover I want to make, etc, etc!