New things I’ve been having fun making lately…

…a penguin softie – an order for a work collegue. I designed him from scratch and I am actually amazed at how well he turned out!
…a beautifully soft angora wool cot blanket – an order for a friend for her soon to be grandson.

…another soft wool cot blanket – available for sale.

…a fabric rocking horse for Khye. This is a sneak peek as I haven’t finished him yet. I am making him from a pattern from a 1970’s magazine that Mum collected when we were kids.

…a soft fabric portable house/garage/barn/building for Khye. Again a sneak peek as I haven’t finished it yet. Here is the tutorial from UK Lass in US.

More on the horse and the house later when they are finished.

What new things have you been making lately?

Callignee 4 months on

We visited Mum and Dad in Callignee on the Queens Birthday long weekend. It was a nice relaxing time as always. I took my sewing machine and got a bit of sewing done. Sean helped Dad get the new fence posts in for the front gate. And Khye had a great time exploring Grandma’s garden which is starting to look beautiful once again.


Dad’s cars change colour every time we visit. They are now this rusty orange colour which looks brilliant against the bright new green growth. There are some beautiful things happening amongst all this devastation.




The bush is starting to recover well now. Seedlings are popping up all over the place, trees are sprouting lots of new growth and the bracken is carpeting the ground.


Trees are shredding old burnt bark and revealing beautiful orange trunks.

And the roadsides are looking really fluffy now too.

Yay we finally have broadband!

Its only the prepaid wireless broadband but at least its better than dial up. Hopefully it will be much easier and quicker to blog. So far so good!

And now we're flying!

(Mum made these cute ladybugs - both gone to good homes!)

Khye’s Birthday

Yes, yes I know his birthday was months ago (in March), but I have been meaning to show off the handmade gifts he received for his birthday. His grandfather made him this fantastic 3 piece wooden truck, trailer and bulldozer.



They have been made with love from recycled timber. The first few nights after his birthday, Khye had to take them to bed with him. There wasn’t much room left for him with all the trucks, teddies, pillows and blankets in the cot!

Khye also received for his birthday a playmat I made to go with the train set we gave him. I drew the design onto an old sheet and used remnant fabric from my stash to appliqué the hills, roads, water etc to the sheet. I then backed it and used bias binding to bind the edges.

And it folds away neatly with all the toys inside.

Nice, quick and easy pack up!

Happy birthday 2 year old!

New Life

On top of all the things that have been happening in the last crazy couple of months, I have been struggling with morning sickness. Yep I’m pregnant and due to give birth to our second child in September! Here is one of the first pics.

(Sorry its a bit of a blurry photo of a grainy ultrasound scan)

I have been starting to feel a lot better in the last couple of weeks and now have a lot more energy, time and motivation to blog and sew. I didn’t go to the March market ‘cos I wasn’t feeling well, but I did go as a visitor. It was cold and wet and a good market not to got to! The April market went well though – it was warm in the sun and no rain. I will be at the May market, the last market of the summer season and my last market till after the baby is born. But I won’t be far away as I intend to open an online store soon – so stay tuned!

Callignee is experiencing some new life now too. The birds are starting to return, Mum’s garden is looking green and I have been told there are even some flowers coming out now!

Mum and Dad kept this bank of garden really wet in the lead up to the fire and although all the plants were either burnt or cooked in the heat, the roots were kept damp in the soil which meant the plants were able to regenerate quite quickly. The mint was one of the first plants to grow back amongst the molten metal “sculptures” from the burnt out cars.

The trees around them though have been slow to reshoot. Some have a few new green shoots but there are also many that aren’t showing any signs of life yet. Eucalypts are usually pretty quick to reshoot after a bushfire –goes to show just how intense the fire must have been. Dad was outside as the fire front passed through and he recalls that as it came up over the hill it was a wall of flame from the ground to the top of the trees and the flame then curled over the top of the house by another tree length! Very scary. Here is a photo of Mount Tassie, just a few kilometres up the road from Callignee.

The TV towers you can see, supply Gippsland with TV reception and were damaged by the fire. In the foreground is a pine plantation which the fire ripped through very, very quickly.

Now I do tell a small lie when I say I haven’t been doing any sewing lately. I have done a little bit of sewing bringing new life to fabrics in my stash and creating gifts for Khye’s cousins who recently turned one. The first is a soft, pretty dolly. She is my own design with a bit of inspiration from the More Softies book.

Khye’s cousin looked at her for a bit after she was unwrapped, then gave her a big cuddle and chewed her cheek! I guess she liked her new dolly.

I made for Khye’s other cousin a Humpty Dumpty. He again is my own design with a bit of inspiration from the Play School Humpty.
Khye’s cousin was more interested in the curling ribbon around the present than in Humpty himself! Hopefully with a bit of time he will like Humpty and have some fun with him.

Just been busy...

So busy I haven’t had a chance to blog (or sew) lately. We have been busy with Sean’s Dad’s 60th birthday, spending time with the in-laws, attending a textiles course, and visiting my parents in Callignee. They are doing okay and slowly getting the place cleaned up. But the area has been absolutely devastated by the fires. Here are some before, during and after photos of the Callignee fire.

I don’t even recognise the area anymore and its going to take a long time for the community to rebuild both physically and mentally.

On other news, I won’t be at the Gisborne Market this Sunday. I need a break – it’s Sean’s birthday this weekend and we are all in need of some quality family time. But check out my friend’s stall, EcoToys, at the market on Sunday – she sells a range of fair trade and local handmade toys made from eco friendly materials. And don’t forget you can contact me anytime or I’ll see you again at the April Market.

Bushfires

For 20 years and 10 days my parents have been living in Callignee, preparing for bushfire and waiting for this very day to happen. In the evening of Saturday 7th February 2009 fire ripped through their property. They managed to save their house and the big shed but everything else has gone. The wood shed, the garden shed, the lawn mower, some cars and even more devastating 20 years of gorgeous garden all gone in a few very frightening minutes. There is no power and there's not much water left in the tanks, but at least Mum and Dad have their home. If anyone was going to survive and save their house in bushfire it was going to be my parents.

20 years and 10 days they have been preparing to battle this blaze and they won. Most of their neighbours weren't so lucky. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and with all the people across the state who have lost their homes and loved ones.