Rabbits, Bear, Birds and a Pincushion.

My family of rabbits. The bright green one is Fred - he likes fishing and has had a little green fish added to his hands now. I finished him of at midnight this weekend as I promised Luke I would be finished it by the next morning. He belongs to Luke. The fishing rod can be removed for bedtime!

The white bunny with pink face sitting amongst my corn was my first bunny - she isn't with me any more she is on a plane to Australia....(I am in a swap of amigurumi croche.)

The pink bunny with a white face is Anna-Kate's her name is April - no I mean Annabelle - Anna-Kate changes her mind every few minutes so I call her Freda.... she is actually sitting next to me right now on my sofa!

I like making these bunnies so much I made one for me .... I call her Inspiration. She needed a friend so last night I made a bear ... Bear is called Butterfly - you can not see from this photo but Bear has a Butterfly on her tummy. They hang about my sewing machine and keep me company while I sew.... in front of Inspiration and Butterfly is my new pincusion in matching colours ....

I have started on a pink animal this evening ...not sure what it will become yet.

My crocheted Eastern birds - kind of earthy and cool ....

Getting ready for school ...

A lunch bag made to Anna-Kate's exact instructions. I was in a Candy swap - one of the items I made was a bag with I heart candy written on... so Anna-Kate wanted one with LOTS of hearts.

I received this fabric on Tuesday morning - Anna-Kate made her decision and it went into the wash... and now on Wednesday evening there is no more bright stripes left !

The material is really bright - very bright. Anna-Kate wont lose this bag!

The set includes a pencil case - made with scraps - not lined and closes with velcro so stiches are every where... this side says Candy to link it in with the candy theme !

This side has a heart on a pocket - not the best sewing ever - but I was getting tired...the littlies often have to take money into school so the hidden pocket is a good hiding place !

Anna-Kate posing with the backpack. Excuse the mess but my lounge is my work room !!!

On her back - on the second pink horizontal stripe there are five hearts in bright candy colours.

From the side .... Anna-Kate is still smiling so I think the set has passed the test ...

Luke was not left out - so at 9-30 this morning I went to my shed with Luke and we chose material for him.... he reallllly wanted a backpack set made from material with crocs on - but I had none. So the second choice was octopus... here is his backpack.

Luke is off out with two of his three crocs... yes he went out to play just like this - Bless him...

Applique, pillowcase, cushions and cutting out !

Last night I went into Luke's bedroom when he was fast asleep. I took a photo of him using his spiderman blanket. He looks nice and cosy!


This morning Anna-Kate said she was feeling cold last night ... so I dug through my FULL airer and found an old cream fleece I had already. I modernised it a little with some applique in lilac ... so she will be happy tonight.

Anna-Kate has been asking me for a pillowcase for ages now - so this morning I made her one.

Here is Anna-Kate posing ! She was really happy!

Day four of the sofa makeover - I made two cushions this afternoon - the big one at the back and the pink one at the front.

I have also spent some time cutting out the scraps for a quilt to make into a throw for the sofa ..... all very exciting! I even managed to look after my two today and mowed the lawn. I think I will sleep well tonight!

Bonza Blue Backpack, Spiderman and a Cushion Cover !

I found this spiderman material while rummaging through my stash in the shed - and really wanted to make Luke something out of it while he was into spiderman ! So I just backed it with a fleece blanket I had already it is folded in half in this picture. I promised them pillowcases too but they will have to wait until tomorrow !

My sofa is starting to look a little brighter ! My third cushion cover in three days not too bad ! Still have a few more to re-cover ...and then quilt a throw.... the redish one I have now kinda clashes !

A friend also asked me to make her daughter a named Bonza Blue Back which I did first thing this morning ... well after the Monday Morning grocery run !

Decoupaged Desk Chair - Day one.

This was my desk chair when I lived at home. I studied long and hard on this chair! Greg had to fix the leg - one of the only things that broke during the big move over here almost 8 years ago! I sanded the chair, painted it pink, sanded it back again then dry painted it green so some pink still showed through. But realised I was wasting my time when I sorted out my decoupage papers and decided I would cover the chair with them instead!

View from the top ...you get an idea of what it will look like when it is finished...

From the left - long way to go still....but my back and knees were saying (shouting !) that they had, had enough!

From the back...

And from the right....

The end of day one ! One cushion sewn, one Bonza Blue back pack begun and my decoupage desk chair started.... oh and I painted this table bright orange !!! I made this table for Anna-Kate's nursery. Time for change!!

Second cushion completed!

Made out of a brown pillowcase and scraps of lilac Amy Butler material - my first attempt at applique - the circle I just pinned but the leaves I stuck down correctly - and the result was much better... So two down and how many to go !

Thank-you to my SP12 partner !

We came home from swimming and we found this lovely parcel waiting for us (well I really mean me !)

A bright orange dishcloth (very well knitted!) I have already used this - but used it to dust - does anyone else have pangs of guilt to use lovely cloths?

A knitting book - allegedly it is summer - and I do most of my reading in summer - so this will come in handy!

A beautiful handmade card - now hanging on my new memory board! So I see it everytime I sew!

One bead bracelet - already wearing it .... perfect colours thank-you sooooo much!

And last but definately not least a lovely scarf ...now I am not sure if it is crocheted....but the hand work is exquisite !!!

I have hung it up in my room....once again the colour is perfect and it will be worn often !

Thank-you very much ..... off to try and find your email so I can say thank-you !!!

I have had a busy Saturday....

Sigh - it is raining again. Luke and Anna-Kate are happy playing with their friends so I decided to use up some more of my fabric stash.
I eventually started to use up my Amy Butler material.... I have been too scared to use it !
Here is one of my favourites made up into my Sewing Memory board - it now sits behind my sewing machine. In my BIG tisy up I found an extra wedding invitation of ours so I have pinned that to my board!


The children were inspired by my memory board. They received a white board / cork board from Father Christmas and they have seen better days so I covered them too.

Anna-Kate chose strawberries (Boden fabric) with red ribbon.... it is already hanging in her room.

Luke had my batman material with blue ribbon - this photo shows it already hanging in his room!

My sad and tired cream sofa. Greg and I bought this sofa with the money kind people gave to us as wedding gifts. So it will be 10 years old this December!

Watch the cream cushions they are going to change colour over the next few days / weeks !

The first change ... material matches my memory board. Sherrie (my cat) was not as impressed as I was with the new cushion cover !

A close up of my cat and cushion .... more to come..... but not tonight as I will be crocheting now (after dinner!)

Amy Butler Rocking Chair Make-over.

I was just wondering this morning when the last of my Amy Butler would arrive from the USA and what did my lovely postman deliver at about 1pm today?? But my fabulous material !
BUT I decided that I do not need any more clothes (shock!) nor does my daughter - and my shed is full to bursting of stash so I decided to make over my lovely rocking chair!
I have had this rocking chair since I was pregnant with Anna-Kate (Christmas present from hubby Christmas 1999). He had the choice of this blue tarten or zebra - I would have gone with the zebra but hubby is FAR more conservative than I am so he went with the blue - here is a picture of the fabric ....



Then after the make over - I am so glad I have done it ....it matches my lounge MUCH better ! and is a project I have been meaning to do for AGES!



So now I am going to do some cushions - well tomorrow I will !!!

(Thanks Terri from the USA for the material ...and the motivation to make change!)

Our visit to Great-Grandpa.

We went up to Coventry to visit Great-Grandpa the first weekend Greg was back at home. HE is in a lovely looking Nursing Home there - in a quiet village.
Here he is with his Great-Granddaughter, Anna-Kate. I made her outfit - she chose the fabric!


Greg, me, our children and Great - Grandpa. The first thing Grandpa said to me was how South African I sound (I agree after listening to my voice on Luke's camera - which can take videos!) He also liked my dress I made .... I knew he would like the fabric.... not sure how! There was an old lady sitting on the porch with Grandpa when we arrived and she was very happy that a 'young' person was sewing and crocheting (I had made another blanket for Grandpa!)

My mum, me, my littlies and Grandpa - the helicopter was a new toy from a market we popped into on the way to Coventry - Luke loves it ! I made his shorts too !! He asked for the shark material!

Some old photographs !

Me on the beach - I must have been 6 or 7 at the time ... love the view of Table Mountain in the background.

Ben and I playing in the sea - we used to play this game for hours!

Me and Greg beig brave / stupid on the rollercoaster at Thorpe Park.

Me and Abs screaming VERY LOUDLY !

Sports Day

I didn't get many photos of sports day this year as I was sitting in the wrong place !

But here are a few pictures ....

Wacky Hair Day at School.

Here is Luke - he wanted to have a spider web in his hair. So I crocheted a 'hat' which kind of looks like a spider web if you squint - with a huge spider attached ! He still wears it now and it sits on my dress makers dummy quite a lot !

I crocheted a bunch of flowers for Anna-Kate, plaited her hair and used loads of bobby pins to hold her hair up. She was happy !

They had a lot of fun - and the school had a lot of wine for the school fete too...