Thank you!

Wow, what a fabulous blogtoberfest it's been! I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you all for stopping by, for your comments and reading my little contributions to the event, I really appreciate you all! I also feel so humbled by those of you who have become followers, either with the google friend connect or through any other blog reader now or previously, your loyalty and regular visits make me so happy. I've enjoyed discovering new blogs this month, thanks to all who joined in, it was totally ace.

I'm melting... melting!

I've been doing a few more stencils today. I designed this little sad melting ice cream for my niece who has her first birthday this week, happy birthday S! This photo is actually an extra I made for my little one on the way, the one I printed for S has a smilie face. My favourite flavour is rum n' raisin, but strawberry comes in close second! Whats your favourite flavour?

Paper pinecone tutorial

I made a few of these little sweet vintage paper pinecones as gifts last year. They are a little bit Christmassy and a little bit cute!

You will need::

Styrofoam egg shape

Paper cut into 2cm squares

Pins (if you can get short pins, or bead/sequin pins even better)

Some pretty ribbon

Step 1: Fold in the top 2 corners of your paper squares to form a point. (note: my photo shows rectangles, but please use squares as it works better)

Step 2:: Start at the pointy end of your styrofoam egg. Pin 2 paper pieces facing and touching each other, then 2 more a little further up the egg in between the first 2 pieces (at 90º).

Step 3:: Keep layering paper pieces, as you go try and fill in the gaps in-between the previous row. If possible cover any visible pins with next paper layer.

Step 4:: When the whole egg is covered, make a bow or loop your ribbon decoratively on the top to cover any last pins showing. Add a larger loop for hanging. I did this using pins, but alternately you could use glue.

Enjoy!

Canister love

Badskirt has started a new cute blog called flour, rice, sugar which has inspired me to show you my much loved Capri white and silver canister set. I think they are fab and handy to boot! I picked them up at a garage sale a few years ago and they are still in near perfect condition, a bit of gold showing through on the 3D silver type, but not too shabby seeing as the old girls are about 50!

Bellerive beach

We had Bellerive beach all to ourselves. Being a stay at home Mum - best job in the world.

Flickr faves

1. stool / sidetable, 2. pine cones!, 3. eggs4, 4. www.flickr.com/photos/fresherthanfreshsnowcones/276787918..., 5. thrifted cal-dak highchair, 6. UPPERCASE magazine issue 2, proofs, 7. on my way, 8. ~a new hobby, 9. The Stash

New bag, new bag!

My beautiful sister in-law Erica made this amazing bag, I'm so in love with it. She has made it from fair-trade coffee sacks and material she sourced when she was in Kenya. So far I have managed to whack myself twice in the nose with the bell, I assure you this is not the fault of the bag, but merely proof of how un-coordinated I can be! Plus she is making them to raise money for TEAR Australia, it's all round fab!

Shell stitch beanie

I crocheted a little beanie gift for a new little baby boy (a huge congratulations to L, A and A on their new baby O!). It's a little big for a new born, so I'm thinking it's always good to have something to 'grow into'! Pattern over here. It's a really straight forward pattern and super quick to make.

Fish and chips

What a beautiful sunny day for a public holiday! Technically it's show day, but seeing as we weren't attending the show, what better way to spend it then to sit down on the beach and gorge ourselves on tasty (and unashamedly unhealthy) fish and chips.... mmm!

Kingston Beach, you are a winner!

Brooch

The school I went to didn't allow jewellery, or makeup, or nail polish, or hair colours that were deemed un-natrual... I could go on, but it's a long list finishing with ribbons which had to be a regulation 1.5 cm wide. When I started at uni I was so excited to be able to wear jewellery, I got a few more piercings and coloured my hair regularly (I've never been much into makeup, but ribbons wider then 1.5cm... what a thrill!). It's funny how things come full circle, I rarely wear jewellery now, I don't like the sensation of nail polish and my hair is a la naturale, BUT, one thing I love are brooches. Love, love, love! Above are a few of my favourites.

It's a wrap!

I've been getting amongst some sewing today, making some skirts for my two eldest nieces. The top picture is a double sided wrap skirt for a lovely little girl turning four (the opposite side is pink with white spots).

The skirt below shows the two sides of a wrap skirt for a smart cookie turning six. I made up two patterns to give each skirt a different look; one being cute and girly and the other starting to look more a-line and sophisticated (well, that was the idea anyway!).

I also managed to whip up a maternity skirt for myself out of the left-over fabric. It's amazing what you can get done when you haven't got a maniac soon to be two-year-old running around the house!

Note:: The madness didn't end with pre-washing my fabric either... I snipped threads as I went! I feel somewhat relieved that I made up my own pattern and didn't pin the fabric...phew!

De-stashing 2

My fabric collection is not small, but not as large as it could be (I adore fabric, but I'm trying really hard to only buy it for a specific purpose and not just because it like it). I have a system which is supposed to prevent me from going overboard with my fabric fetish, whatever I can fit in my fabric box (a little bigger then a shoebox) and no more. Of course the problem is this only applies (in my mind) to my quilting fabrics and not to any other fabric (it's nice to have a loop-hole sometimes).

I entered fabric adulthood today, a place where I actually pre-wash fabric and iron it! I'm worried though, this might be the slippery slope towards pinning fabric when sewing, following patterns and snipping threads as I go... scary stuff!

De-stashing

I've been working on a few hoarding issues today. I actually think I'm not too bad when it comes to hoarding, but then again, maybe it's because I think that, I actually do have a problem!

Above is an image of my T2 tea collection this time last year. I have been very good and not added to it myself at all (I have been given a few gifts from lovely folk though, yay!). I've been madly drinking them because A: tea doesn't last forever and B: I don't want to cart them all with me to Melbourne! I'm pleased to say I'm down to 6 open boxes and 3 unopened. There's hope for me yet!

I was having a quick look at what I was writing about this time last year in blogtoberfest and was totally blown away, I forgot my nursery had been on Design Sponge! Now I'm nerding out all over again!

The end of a era

I'm a bit sad the lipton vanilla teabags have been discontinued. The husbeast and I have drunk many many of these over the last few years, good times. Also recently Bushells discontinued their instant tea, which was an integral part to my chai recipe!

...grumble, grumble.

Oh, bless

Here is my completed blessing way square for Lauren. It was such a fun project! I really enjoyed having a go at embroidery, it's not perfect, but it is made with a lot of love.

Lauren sent out calico squares to be decorated with red and a wish for her little one due soon. I illustrated a few different designs, but this is the one I couldn't wait to bring alive. I am actually so happy with it I was thinking about doing one for my little baba on the way too!

We had a check-up today and our little baby is growing well with a strong heartbeat, I feel so thankful and blessed, I can't wait to meet her!

Self-portrait

Phew! I needed a few days off, blogtoberfest was getting a bit much for me! After only two days away I have so many new things to show & tell you, but instead I thought I might play along with today's - self-portrait challenge.

I have found showing pictures of myself and my family in blogland a challenge. I think mainly because I worry about what happens to content once 'it's out there' and particularly for The Boy who has no ability to have a say in what I do with images of him, which make me feel uncomfortable. On the flip side I want to be open and honest about my life and the people in it.

How do you feel about sharing photos of yourself, family and friends?

Lovingly handmade No.3

I've been meaning to write a lovingly handmade post for an age, so thank you blogtoberfest for getting me into gear!

The Boy's Auntie Erica is very talented at many things, one of them being crochet. She inspired me to pick up my very first hook and is a wonderful encouragement to me. She crocheted this cute keenie beanie for him and I think it looks adorable with the added bonus that he actually keeps it on his head for more then 10 seconds. Thank you Erica, we love it.

Buttons, buttons everywhere

Thanks for the positive comments yesterday, I feel much better about the cardigan! I just need to sew on a button and el completeo!

Above is picture of my button collection, no wonder it took me so long to find the right wooden button!

The red cardigan

A little while ago I had big plans to make small cardigans. So far I am way behind my target of three (2 of which would have needed to be finished in the next week or so, whoops!)

Today I was putting the finishing touches on the first cardigan, it was to be a delightful red and white number, but in reality looks suspiciously like a santa suit.

Any suggestions on how I could fix it? Scalloped edging? A white crochet flower? A different colour perhaps?

What every typography lover needs

By the talented Marc Johns

Walktober

There are a few parks within walking distance of my place and one of my favourites is Cascade gardens. Not only is there a fun little playground for The Boy, but also huge garden filled to the brim with hellebores, camelias, rhododendrons, cherry blossoms, daffodils and trees coming into leaf. I love the rolling hills of grass, the occasional duck, Mt Wellington towering above and the soft gurgling of the rivulet which runs through it all. This is a fabulous time of year (plus today was a balmy 24ºC!) to walk through the gardens but today it made me a little sad, I will miss it next year when we move to Melbourne. I'm trying my best to soak all the goodness in without letting myself worry about the future.

Here and now - it is lovely.

Foodie flickr faves

1. blue eggs again.., 2. Figs, 3. Making a Cake, 4. sweet, 5. pretty little cookies, 6. 2 poires, 7. Coffee for one, 8. ., 9. Tomato No.1

On the mend

It's always the way isn't it. You feel rotten all weekend and make an appointment to see the Doctor first thing Monday morning, then of course while you are in the waiting room you stop coughing, your ears unblock, your pounding headache disappears and you can speak again (symptoms may vary from person to person), by the time the Doctor calls you in, you can see the look of "fraud!". I find this particularly annoying when it happens with The Boy, "No really doctor, he was spiking a temp, he had a rash or a cough or some other symptom, I know he's bright as a button now, but you should have seen him an hour ago, I'm not making it up, I'm not an overprotective hypochondriac!". I should really be happy that we are all feeling better and I am! I vote no more colds or infections for the Adamczewski household!

We did have one brief excursion on the weekend to the church fair. We came home with a delicious orange and poppyseed cake, some knitted goodness and a retro lamp. I always have mixed feelings about buying knitted goodies from the church fair, on the one hand fabulously cheap, and on the other I get the guilts, little jumpers ($4) and booties ($1), I think that is too cheap. One of the other things I love is the freedom with colour, colours I would never put together always look so wonderful to me when they've been made with love.

A stitch in time

Today I discovered embroidery is not like riding a bike.

It was a skill I learnt from my Mum growing up, but it has been many a year since I have picked up a needle and floss! With the help of diagrams and youtube I have been working away at the square I've designed for the lovely Lauren's upcoming blessingway. I can't wait to show you the finished piece (minus my attempt at french knots, does anyone else have trouble with those?).

Below the {seat}belt

Yesterday we test drove a Hyundai ix35. It turns out it is not the car for us, however we were very amused (childishly sniggering) at the name up-side-down.

Home sweet home

Welcome to my home! I've been taking photos for potential tenants today (we are moving to Melbourne in the new year, if anyone is looking for a 3 bedroom home in SoHo let me know!). There are many many things I would like to change (teal carpet, flowery curtains) but all in all I love the character of my 1950s home, it's a keeper. Below are some photos from previous posts about my place.

Happy Blogtoberfest everyone!