The beanbag that’s not a beanbag creative space

Finally it’s finished – the beanbag that’s not a beanbag. It took a lot longer to make than I had expected. That seems to be a very familiar story with me. I start things expecting to whip ‘em up in a couple of hours and when I don’t finish them they get put away for another day hence the millions of half started projects everywhere and hence the WIP challenge. Speaking of which, this is another WIP down – only one more to go!

So anyway back to the beanbag that’s not a beanbag. I love how it has turned out. I love that the kids love it. Although I really have to keep an eye on Maya when she’s in it!
I love that the kid’s friends and cousins love it. I love that I have inspired a friend to try making one herself.

All I did was sew up a beanbag using denim and upholstery fabric with some extra strong upholstery thread, hammer in some eyelets at the top (that bit was fun!), cut a door in the side, place a hoop inside the bottom of the beanbag to help keep its shape, put some cushions and blankets inside, hang it from the eyelets on a hook and voila, a fun swinging hideaway for the kids!
It looks so fun and comfy that I want to get in there myself, but I think I’ll leave the fun to the kids. I don’t want to break it! My Creative Space is a little bit later than usual this week. I’ve seen a bit too much of the bathroom in the last 12-24 hours, after eating a bad batch of food at the food court at work yesterday. Lets just say I won’t be eating any of that impossibly red sweet and sour pork again anytime soon!

WIPing up Triangles

Remember those triangles I was crocheting here and here and here? Well I have finally finished them and have used them to make some things. Here they are sewn up into a couple of cushions for Khye’s bed.

I’d finished the crocheting and sewn up a couple of cushions ages ago, but I’ve been really procrastinating on hand sewing up the stuffing holes and stitching the crochet to the cushion. Khye’s been bugging me for his round cushions and now they’re done he doesn’t really care…sigh…

And with the other half of the triangles, I added picots around the edges and chained them all together to make some flags for his room. I don’t think he has noticed them yet and for some reason I haven’t pointed them out to him. Here’s hoping he’ll be a little more excited about the flags than he was about the cushions.

Hmm these photos of the flags are a bit crappy and I’m not sure why but they’re twisting out of shape now that they’re hanging up. I have ironed them, but maybe it’s something to do with the way I’ve joined them together with the chaining???

Anyway, I’m counting this as two more WIPs down in my WIP challenge. Only another two to go. Geez this challenge can’t go fast enough for me. I’ve got so many ideas for new projects but I just have to patient and finish off my five first. And to think I was originally thinking ten WIPs. I would have gone crazy!

Opping the blues away

Friday was a freezing, foggy day and I didn’t want to face the thought of spending the afternoon saying “Khye get off Maya” and “Khye don’t pull Maya’s fingers” and “Khye take the blanket off Maya” and then finally cracking it with frustration “Khye just leave Maya alone”!!!!!! I’m sure I sound like a broken record and that he doesn’t even hear me anymore. But that’s another story for another time … sigh ... So anyway I packed up my winter blues, my hopes for a peaceful afternoon (and my cash) and took a little trip to a couple of neighbouring little towns to visit their fantastic country oppies. And rather than enjoy the afternoon on our own I invited a friend and her two kids to join us for some op shop fun.

There’s nothing quite like a bit of opping with a friend to cure those gloomy winter blues. Not only did the fog clear, the skies open up and the glorious sunshine warm us, but I found some op shop gold.

First were the brand new, still in packets, never used, all cotton vintage sheets.

Then there was the dear deer that the kids spotted, looked at briefly then returned to the shelf. I couldn’t let her go, particularly seeing as though she was only 50 cents. There were these little golden books. My favourite is the growly bear book, published in the early 60’s, and it’s beautiful illustrations. There were lots of other bits and pieces – fabric, wool, doilies, more books, kids shoes, embroidery hoops, stranded cotton, a kids coat, wire bowl for my market stall and lastly there was this. Oh my how gorgeous! And then to discover it was only 50 cents too!

Thanks AM for coming opping with us. The kids managed to entertain each other and they were even pretty well behaved, except when they ran around the shop shouting and laughing with that huge purple teddy that was bigger than them. The “Pru and Tru” ladies behind the counter weren’t very impressed though, glaring at them disapprovingly over the tops of their glasses!

Anyway hope you all found some op shop gold this week too! Check it out over at Sophie’s.

Not just another kids drawing

I know what you’re thinking - “Just another kids drawing.” But this one is special. It’s Khye’s first drawing of something recognisable. And look at that, it’s a picture of me! Khye tells me I have 4 legs and the thing in my left hand is apparently daddy. Poor Sean, all he gets is a scribble!

PS. Did anyone see the crocheted granny blanket in the combi on Dr. Who last night? I only got a glimpse of it but didn’t it look great on the backseat?! Can you believe it, it was Sean who noticed it first! I’ve never been so excited about Dr. Who before!

Thread Sorting

Do you sort your sewing threads? A bit like button sorting? I do. I need to otherwise they become a huge tangled mess in the top drawer. I asked Khye to help me sort them out. How would you sort your sewing threads? Most people would sort them by colour I would think. Not Khye.
It took me a while to work out what he was doing.

But it wasn’t until the piles got bigger that I worked it out.

He was sorting by reel type!

Flea Market Finds

My find of the week is this cute little kids chair. It only cost $1 from a garage sale.

It took over an hour to clean with a toothbrush.

It has come up nicely now.

And most importantly Khye loves it!

Other finds this week include this gorgeous green tablecloth to add to the collection of tablecloths.

Some more sheets and pillowcases to add to the collection of sheets and pillowcases.

Some more doilies to add to the collection of doilies.

A lovely peachy chenille bedspread I plan to use as a quilt backing.

And a basket to store it all in.

But I think the basket may have become Igglepiggle's boat!

Check out Sophie's for more great finds.

Flea Market Finds

I didn't think I was going to play along with Flea Market Finds this week. My great run of oppy finds over the past ... few ... weeks finally came to an end. Nothing jumped out me saying "buy me, buy me" this week. All I found were a couple of pieces of clothing for Khye and Maya, and this pair of too short jeans in My Creative Space.

Yesterday I had both kids with me so I wasn't planning on going garage sailing, but something told me to drop by just this one garage sale nearby. Boy am I glad I did!

- 6 large pieces of fabric with about 4m in each piece,

- about 15 - 20 crocheted, knitted and embroidered doilies,

- a large embroidered tablecloth,

- and a stack of embroidered, cross stitched and appliqued napkins.

All this for only $5! Bargain!

Oh and they gave Khye this cute yellow teddy who he has named "George the teddy".

Don't you dare call him just "George". No, no, no he is "George the teddy".

What bargains have you found this week? I'm looking forward to checking out the finds over at Sophie's place.

My Creative Space

Although it's nice having Khye back home again,

it also means I have less creative time.

But I did actually finish something this week - my retro swap.

He is made from materials reclaimed from wool jumpers and the floral heart is a piece of 1970's cotton fabric from my mum's stash. What do you think of him? Let's hope my swap partner likes softies and likes owls and likes purple and green and orange. I'm going to miss him sitting watching over our house. Lucky he can't talk 'cos he would have a few stories to tell!

For more creative stuff, head over to Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space

When your darling 3 year old is on holiday at Grandma and Grandad’s house for the week, and you find yourself with some extra time, what do you do?

Sew of course!

I’ve been in a bit of a pincushion frenzy lately. There are so many ideas flitting about and now I’ve got a few pincushions on the go. This one is finished. What do you think? Sean likes it. “That’s really good” he says, “That’s one of the best things you’ve ever made.”

Huh? I looked at him puzzled.

“It’s the label” he says, “The label really makes it.”
“And the blanket stitch” he says, “The blanket stitch looks good too.”

Considering I’ve been making things for as long as I can remember and considering I didn’t actually make or stitch the label and the blanket stitch, I’m just not quite sure whether to take this as a compliment or not.

“You’ve gotta keep this one” he says, “You’re not allowed to swap this one.” Guess I’m keeping this pincushion!

Other things in my creative space this week:

I finally sewed a zip on this crocheted cushion cover – an old favourite from the op shop that kept loosing its cushion insert until now. My retro swap is nearly done. It’s looking good and I hope my swap partner likes purple!

There’s also been lots of spunkee sewing but nothing to show for it yet.

Khye is due back from holidays today so next week is not going to be quite so productive. Until then happy creating!

Head over to Kootoyoo for more creative spaces.

My gorgeous babies

Just thought I would post a beautiful picture of my babies, Khye and Maya. My mum, Merrilyn Ward, painted this for us. I have hung it in a prominent spot so we can see it and admire it every time we walk past. Thanks Mum. I love it.

My Creative Space

It was fantastic having Mum here for a few days to help me out with the kiddies and get the house organised. No photos though ‘cos it’s already starting to look messy again. I can’t believe how quickly the housework piles up when you have kids.

There’s been lots of sewing this week though, but I have nothing finished to show. I can show my actual creative space though...... a tiny desk in the corner of the dining room.

My pincushion for the swap is coming along okay and I hope my swap partner likes it. I’m also looking forward to upgrading my old tomato pincushion that I got for my 21st many years ago!
I also "dabbled" in a bit of cake decorating this week. I made a chocolate ripple hungry caterpillar cake for Khye's 3rd birthday. Yes it looks a bit odd (and the photo is not a good one).
My excuse is it was made at 10pm. Somehow I don't think I'm cut out for cake decorating. But I think Khye enjoyed it ... if he could see it through his glasses! (They’re vintage showbag glasses, about 25 years old!)
Check out other creative spaces at Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space

Thanks for your comments last week. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one juggling lots of things and trying to find a good balance between them all. I am trying to limit my computer use to one hour a day. We’ll see how it goes… How much time do you guys spend on the computer?

This week started out so promisingly. Khye asked if we could make some muesli bars. “Is that a good idea mummy?” he says in his 3 year old talk. “What a fantastic idea Khye!” So we mixed all the dry ingredients together. Khye was being a Really Useful Helper (just like Thomas the Tank who is a Really Useful Engine) and used his spoon to stir everything in the bowl. It was looking so yummy, so colourful, so promising…After mixing with the wet ingredients and smoothing the mixture into the tray we put it in the oven. That’s when things went wrong. I forgot to put the timer on. About 2 hours later I noticed the oven was still on. Another couple of seconds and I remembered the muesli bars were still in there too…No more needs to be said.

On the sewing front though, I did manage to get a stack of cutting out done.
Hopefully next week’s creative space will see me sewing this lot up.

Head over to Kootoyoo for more creative spaces.

Fun things to do with kids #3:- A Bus

I was about to throw this biscuit packet into the bin (the recycles bin of course), when I had a sudden thought of "I can't throw this out, look at those great little compartments, perfect for sorting or something." After a couple minutes I decided it would make a great bus for Khye!

We made it together - Khye chose the wheel colour and he did the taping, while I did the cutting and as you can see by the photo it was pretty simple to make:
- tape 4 plastic bottle lids as wheels to the biscuit tray
- cut out a rectangle of cardboard the same width as the tray to make the windscreen
- cut a smaller rectangle hole on one end of the cardboard so the bus driver can see out
- cut a piece of clear plastic from some discarded packaging and tape to the cardboard to make the windscreen "glass"
- tape the entire windscreen to the biscuit tray and voila!

What fun, creative things do you do and make with your kids? I’d love to see your ideas and creations. I’m always looking for new things to do with Khye.

PS. Start saving all your plastic bottle lids. I use them for sooo many things. They make great wheels, eyes, lights, heads, ears, for threading, mobiles etc.

And don't forget the Baby Show Ticket Giveaway!

Op Shop Treasures

This week I’ve had a good run with the op shops. Apart from picking up some practical things like a hat for Khye, some clothes for Maya and a wasp trap for Sean (which I hope will also trap some of those darned flies), I also found some “treasures” for myself.

This lovely fabric covered Address and Telephone book.

I love green – I’m always drawn to green stuff.
I love the inside too. The index letters down the side almost look hand stamped with their imperfections.

But I have a dilemma, as I always do with these sorts of things. I don’t know whether to actually use it or not. If I use it the beauty of it might be spoiled but then what’s the point of having it cluttering up precious cupboard or bookshelf space. What I’ll probably end up doing is putting it away to “think” about and then forget about it! What do you think I should do – use it or not?

This beautiful silky scarf which Maya loves when I drape it over her. She loves the silky smooth texture on her hands and feet… and tongue!
And I love the orange and pink together with the black. It reminds me of this scarf I bought a few weeks ago.
I found two of these linen tea towels and although I’m not a huge fan of pink I really like these. I think it might actually be the greens that I like.
And the squirrel is my favourite panel.
I also found this yummy pure wool blanket. I love the woven pattern – it’s the same as a couple of other blankets we inherited from Sean’s grandparents and although they’re pink, I love them.
And lastly I picked up this kids wooden kitchen. I’ve been looking for a kitchen for a while and have resisted all the plastic kitchens I’ve seen and I’m so glad I did ‘cos this wooden version is great. The oven door is missing but that’s okay – I don’t think Khye has noticed. Last night he cooked us some yummy playdough pizzas!
I’ve been having lots of fun playing along with Sophie’s Flea Market Finds each week and checking out all the treasures other people have found.

Until next week, happy treasure hunting!