So the man at my door yelled PARCEL...

...  i didn't want to appear too ambitious, so I left him drive off, and then bolted to the door!

georgeous knit fabric for the girls.

Mamu designs Deborah and Sabrina

Farbenmix Valeska  Olivia  and Imke for the boys

Im looking forard to getting my 'teeth' stuck into these, only my sewing machine is still not repaired, and most repair shops are working fixing all the school sewing machines!

Thank you Lisa! (Crafty Mama owner)

back to knitting

Inspiring blog award!

Julie- anne has awarded me one of her 7 inspiring blog awards!

now I have to name 7 that inspire me! And this may suprise some of you!

1. Tracy- who has 7 kids and a suportive DH, and has also been a great ear when I needed!

2. Peta- who always seems to have the kids, craft balance done so well!

3. Kylie - who always seems to get so much done

4. Solomon Sewing, who has little kiddies, yet seems to balance it well with crafts!

5. Karen- who is as calm as ever even when others would be stressed!

6. Sara- whos only limited by her endless imagination-

7. my little sister who brings perspective!

There are tonnes more of course, some that probably should come before others.  But these7 people I sure do admire!

These are the recipients of my award If your on the list just copy and paste to your blog and list 7 recipients of your own!

For those wh

January Challenge- time to show off your finished project!

At the time of writing there is 76 people participating!  What a fantastic effort of the blogging community!

So (sew) its time to show off your creations.

Feel free to add it to the flickr group, or post it on your blog. 

If you do add it to flickr, maybe add your blog addi to your comments so that we can stalk see what else you have been up to.

I am so excited to see what everyone has made.

Dont forget the challenge doesnt finish till the end of the week, so we still have time to wip up something if the rest of the time has excaped us (me included)

Now what we need to do is add another sign up.

If you have added your item to the flickr group and not your blog, please just put the user name as your name and the flickr group as your web address. 

If you have added your item to your blog, please put your preferred name and then the link to the blog post.

Feel free to blog about why you made this, what you learnt, challenges, frustrations, why its not completed, was it a challenge to have the space to think about yourself?

I believe that it is important for all of us to spend a little time spoiling ourselves. We often will go out of our way to make things for others and never have the time to enjoy our craft for us! This is why I chose this challenge for the 1st month. Christmas is often about family, making things for others, cooking for others and entertaining. Although this has its place, we also need a little space to think about no1, before we throw ourselves back into the year.

I hope you enjoyed making something for yourself!

Enjoy surfing!

PS I will draw the winner of the apron next Monday.

I finshed it! January 12 in 12 challenge

I finally finished my skirt!

Pattern is the Versatile Wrap Skirt from Make it perfect .

I used this pattern to try and highlight the fabric.  I also lined it, which is not shown on the pattern.  I just used a thin gauze and made a 2nd skirt, joining it at the waist and the ends. 

There is a lot of fabric in here, and had to re-wind my bobbin a few times.  Not to mention that my sewing machine decided not to work properly just as I needed to top stitch the waist!  So its off the the machine Dr this week!

Ill try and get some action shots during the week!

I just realised that I have a large butterfly in both the front and the back. 

January sign ups close tomorrow!

Just a reminder that this is the last day for January sign ups!

Show off week starts tomorrow morning, will have more details of the whos hows whys tomorrow.

so exciting....

 eta- tomorrow i will add another widget for people to show their projects, more of that tomorrow though.

Fresh Cut Soap Giveaway

Kelly is having a soap giveaway!

http://freshcutsoaps.blogspot.com/2010/01/giveaway-time.html

Now for those who have not yet experienced her soaps, they are worth it!  I have a few here at home, and its a struggle to pick which ones to use next as I just want to sniff and stare at them.

I think they call it soap porn.

Anyway pop on over to have a Fresh Cut experience!

yup- its my meme!

and I am yet to cut out my skirt....

Tonight!  I promise!

I just see that fabric sitting over there, and I feel kind of scared to bite into it!

Tonight there will be no WiiFit, there will be no cooking, and providing the little ones settle in their beds I WILL CUT OUT THIS SKIRT!!

Just a reminder for you all that next week we will start displaying our creations... so if you are like me and have not cut anything out... well you know what you need to do!

Also next Friday I will be drawing the winner of the blog giveaway too, so if you havnt entered, please feel free!

LOVE

The fabric designer Amy Butler has a new range titled LOVE, and really... I LOVE it!

This turned up on my door step on Monday (along with the orange and turquoise above)

Isnt it just beautiful!

now what to do with it?

43C today!

It was 43C here yesterday, got to 32 overnight then back up into the high 30's today.  So you can imagine the kids when it started raining.

They were actually running around and dancing in the rain, they were so relieved to finally feel some cold!

How to eat a Cornetto

2010 Challenges Flickr Group

If you dont have a blog, or would like to put add your crafty projects insired by this challenge- HEREis a Flickr Group:

Thank you to the many people who have signed up for the January Challenge! There are about 50blogs to sort through now, looking at everyones craftyness!  Its still not too late to sign up!

I just wanted to do a minik post to whinge about how hard it is to chose somthing for myself.  There are so many new and free patterns out there.

there is THIS one by Made by Rae , Spring Ruffle Top.

There is wrap skirt similar to the one that I am making, but its free, and not the convenience of being done for you. or this one as well

There is the 6 gore skirt

or I could just wait till the "draft a pattern" challenge and make it then...

2010 Challenges January Sign Up!

So the theme for January is

YOU!

You have to make something for YOU!

This really can be a challenge for so many people, especially us who have so many others in our lives who appreciate our sewing!

I sew for 4 kittle kids, neices, nephews, birthdays, Christmas, sister, swaps, secret swaps... blah blah, you get the drift, but no mention of me in there is there!

So this month I will be sewing for ME!

I have the versatile wrap skirt and this fabric:

Its been sitting in my stash for about 9 months now, and really needs to turn into a skirt!

As this topic is so broad (bags, tops, shkirts, pants, slippers) I wont be posting any links.  But if you need help there are a few web sites that you can try out:

Crafty Mamas  Sewn  Burda style  and I am sure that there are many many more!

so sign up int he widget below. Your name/ username will be displayed and then we can surf around the different blogs and see what others are creating.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing what YOU! decides to make for YOU!!

ETA doing foget to blog throught the month if you can, and then blog your finished product in the last week of Janurary.  I will be putting up another widget then for you to add your name to.

2010 Challenges giveaway!

So for you who want to participate in this meme- welcome!

I have a givaway for you!

You dont have to participate in Janurarys meme.

All i ask is that you pop the button into your blog.

In case your wondering, its an apron.  My sister and I are quite large busted, so we dont really give it much justice in the photos (but I will be making myself one!!), and also the fact that I had just got out of the shower.  Its made to fit from about a size 10 to 16 I recon, maybe even smaller or bigger.

The apron is made with love, not perfection.

To post the button in your blog, go to "Layout" (you can get here when you do a post).  Go to "add a gadget", press on "add HTML" then add the code into that.  The button will take you to the original post.

Please leave a comment and make sure that there is a way for me to contact you (ie email or where you are from)

Now for the Janurary sign up!!

ETA this wil be drawn on the last week of Janurary

just to clarify...

I will be putting a post up soon (once I finish the givaway) to sign up for Janurarys challenge.

But just to clarify Febs cahllenge, its aiming at sewing with knit fabric (stretch fabric).

I will post some tips for this come Feb.