New Project

Now that i've finished the baby quilt, I have started my next project already! Hows that for lack of procrastination! lol

Its my Mums birthday at the beginning of October, so I need to get moving, hence the speedy jump from one project to another, as post takes about a week to get to NZ so I need to post it before the end of this month!

Saw this project, Moda's Ruffled Jelly Roll Table Runner, ages ago & thought it looked like an easy thing to start with for using my Ruffler foot for the first time! I asked my Mum if she was game to let me make her something so I can try out my new foot that I bought a few months ago ... yes she was! The reason why I wanted to ask her, was I needed to know the kind of colours she wanted since its a table runner - theoretically, its going to be on her dining room table for all to see often! So I couldn't just choose colours that I wanted. So anyway, thats all sorted I have the fabric etc all ordered 2wks ago & now have it in my hot little hands.

I have to say, I LOVE the colours that they have used on the sample. If I could find this collection, then i'd probably have made it like this, but its proved rather difficult to find (I have found it, but not at a price I want to pay!). So thats OK! We will get over that hehe.

Can't wait to start 'ruffling' my tail-feathers! ;) Must hem up hubbys work pants this afternoon, so I can change the foot to the ruffler! Its a rather slow process to change to this foot, hence why I haven't used it before now! I tried it on the day I got it, but then had to change back to normal & haven't tried it again since!

Happy Crafting!

Baby Playmat ... COMPLETE!

Completed this quilt yesterday (Sunday) for a workmate of hubbys, whos partner just had a baby boy at the end of August.

This is my first time making one from scratch - from choosing the fabrics, cutting it out myself without a pattern & just going with the flow so to speak.

Pretty happy with it, but now I have to give it away :( I'm not sure I want to lol. but I will!

Polar Fleece Backing of playmat

Happy Crafting!

Eeek, it's all happening!

Today was my big appt! The big appt to find out if I could possibly hear again, my last option at the end of the line after trying every other option...

And my ENT said YES! I am eligible to get the Cochlear Implant! All my bones & brain are in the right place ... well, he never actually confirmed that I had a brain in there ;P but if it is, then its not in a bad position or preventing the implant to happen!

Incredibly excited to say the least, for the chance to hear my baby girl talk, call my name, giggle! I can't wait! Obviously, surgery has its usual risks involved in any surgery. I am well aware of any risks, especially ones that involve the head! Been there done that! The implant may not work for me, that is another possibility. But I have the right stuff to be eligible for it to get the chance to find out if its going to work for me or not. So I have to take that!

My specialist said that I may be "switched on" before christmas! How awesome will that be!!! I think I may go a bit overboard on presents this year just in case, so I can hear my baby girl squeal with delight when she opens those pressies! ;)

We went out to celebrate for dinner & bought Nando's. Thats pretty classy for us lol. Usually its KFC lol. So Nando's is a step up ;) Now we begin the waiting period, waiting til my next appt (which we have to wait for THEM to ring us up). I'm very impatient at the best of times, so i'm hoping it all goes quickly!

Now, what colour aid should I look at ;)

Just one of the many options I could choose!

 
Happy Crafting! 

Combining my crafts together

As i've said before, I love all sorts of crafts. I hope that I can continue to love them too. I have been a bit absent from my Papercrafts after I dropped out of being a Kazazz Independant Consultant in May last year. I think I got a bit burnt out while trying to build up my customer base etc. I spent a lot of time making up kits & classes, which meant using the products to showcase them. After spending a long time making them, I was still not getting any customers & my limited levels of communication being deaf, meant I didn't go out into the public to show off the products or even drop off flyers in letterboxes around the neighbourhood.

So after dealing with all that & not getting any success, I dropped off on the papercraft side of my hobbies & went into my Quilting/sewing & woodcraft / renovating/recycling whatever you want to call it lol.

But earlier this month, my Mum asked me if I could sometime make her some cards so she has a stash of birthday cards to give to her friends. Now my Mum is a mad Quilter & many of her friends are quilters / fabric addicts too. So I decided to do a google search & find some inspiration for my cards that I would make ... One of the blogs I came across is ...all things Moz which has this gorgeous Quilters Birthday Card made my Moz, the blogs owner. It was made using an embossing folder & I thought that folder would be absolutely perfect for the cards that I could make for my Mum. Moz very kindly responded to my comment on her blog which asked what folder it was. I then had to find the folder in online shops in Australia ... guess what, I couldn't find anyone!! Found 1 shop in Australia, but they were sold out, so I emailed them & their reply was that they had contacted their supplier but were advised that they would not be restocking it. Arghh noooo!

So I had to look around elsewhere & find an international shop that stocked it & who were willing to post to me in Australia. I didn't think it would be that hard - but apparently it is lol. Especially when its just a little embossing folder! Several places had minimum order amounts before you could checkout. Thankfully, I found a website in the UK & emailed them for a quote for postage. Fantastic! Worked out cheaper than what it would have cost me to buy it in Australia & get it posted lol. All done within less than 24hrs. Signed sealed delivered ... its on its way to me! Now I just have to wait for the postie to deliver it.

Now I will have the perfect embossing folder to make some cards for my Mum, which is the least I can do for her since she's the worlds best Mum & has never said no to anything i've asked of her before. So it feels great to be able to do something for her like this when she asks :) She's actually a bit like me, she does have her papercraft stuff after learning some stuff from me ... but she's just so busy with her quilting, not to mention having a full time job, so time just disappears & her papercraft stash just sits in its drawer waiting & waiting lol. I'm sure the time will come one day when she will realise all the yummy stash that she has & really doesn't need to be asking her only child to make her some cards hehe. But still, as I say, i'm always happy to do something for her & really excited that I managed to find this embossing folder which really suits her friends too. :)

And in other news: I have added a widget to the right hand side of my blog which shows my "2012 Reading Challenge" which I have set myself up for through the Good Reads website. My initial goal is 60 books for 2012 & as of today I have currently read 40 books so far this year. I am addicted to books. We have boxes & boxes stored in all rooms of the house full of books. There just isn't enough hours in the day / night to get through them lol. Since having my daughter I think before this year, I had probably read about 2 books since her birth in May 2010. It didn't help that she was in our bedroom til just the other day either! So I couldn't lie in bed & read like I have always done in the past. But somehow, this year, 2012, I have been able to find time to read lots of books. Mainly free ones from Amazon & read through the Kindle App for my Android tablet, which I read all my books on now. So some of them have been just little short stories maybe. Maybe that is how i've read so many this year compared to last year. But anyway, I am really enjoying reading again & am totally in love with my Acer Iconia tablet ;) I have broadened my reading genres too since I started downloading free ebooks that I have found through Amazon & showcased on Pixel of Ink website & daily email.

Happy Crafting!

From TV Cabinet to Miss2's Wardrobe!

In September 2011, we bought a 2nd hand TV cabinet that was bigger than our usual one. After buying it, I had an idea. Could I make the old TV cabinet that we bought back in 2001 when we first moved in together, into a little Wardrobe for lil miss!? I had visions of it running around in my head for ages & really wanted to see it through.

The problem with wanting to do this was the weather was really terrible this summer with so many wet days. We have no garage, so I couldn't do it inside a garage or anything. The only spare room we have, which is meant to be the room that lil miss sleeps in (she's still in our bedroom at the moment!), the room that lil miss is meant to have, is the only room in the house which gets any sun if it ever appears even for a little bit. So, thats where the clothes rack sat all winter drying clothes! So I couldn't put the cabinet on the floor in there & dry clothes at the same time.

Finally though, its all worked out & as of today ... it is complete! I have taken so many photos throughout the process, but basically here is the before & after photo :)

Before: TV Cabinet that we bought for our first home back in August 2001

AFTER: Wardrobe for lil miss on the right & one for her doll as well on the bottom left! And above that 2 shelves which i'll put some baskets in when I find some the right size lol

I felt my Daddys presence throughout the project. He was a carpenter & I know he would be thinking this was a pretty cool project. So i'm pretty happy with it & have already got plans for my next 'upcycle' project ;)

Happy Crafting!

What i'm working on: Baby Quilt

Went to Spotlight today to get the final pieces of fabric to finish off the baby quilt i'm making for one of my hubbys workmates who's missus is due next week! I've made the blocks, just needed the inbetween colours & the backing, binding yada yada lol.

Currently looking like this:

Baby Quilt Project using Crazy 9 blocks

Happy Crafting!

Decisions decisions

One of my next reno challenges is making this chest of drawers into a fun cute chest of drawers for lil miss 2yr old.

 The inside of the drawers ...

At the moment I have got as far as deciding that the colour of it is going to match everything else that will be in her room. So that will be white. Reason being is that as she gets older she'll be able to tell me what colour she wants it, so for now i'll leave it all just plain white & then we can get into the fun colours later on. No big deal.

But, the handles that are currently on it are old & since this photo was taken 2yrs ago, its now missing 2 handles. So i'm replacing the lot, which means surfing the net for some fun but cheap handles or knobs! I love this part!

So far i've found some crystal like ones that would give the impression of princess, girly kind of drawers. But then I have to decide which ones would be better out of the 2 photos below?

So that is where I am currently at for this week. Tough decisions to be made ;) I hope I make the right one!

Happy Crafting!