Finally...

One of my bad crafting tendencies is to get all excited about a project, going out and buying all the supplies... and then leaving them to sit in the (overflowing...) craft cupboard while I move onto something else :-) I've had the material for these cushions for about 18 months now. My original plan was to make this zigzag pattern from A Quilt is Nice - which is probably why it has been sitting there for so long. Cutting out is definitely my least favourite part of sewing. I'd rather just get straight in and sew. Anyway, I looked through the Sewing Bits and Pieces book that I received for Christmas and found this cushion cover pattern and decided that it looked much easier :-)

The material I've used is a fat quarter bundle that I'd found at Spotlight - I think there were 5 co-ordinating materials, and used a navy cotton fabric for the plain rectangles and for the backing.

(Just ignore the baby bottle lid in the photo...)

I'm really happy with the way these turned out. And I have a little bit more room in my craft cupboard now that the cushion inserts are gone :-)

Softies for Smiles

Christy from A Christy Production came up with a wonderful way to help kids who had been affected by the Queensland Floods back in January by inviting people to make soft toys. I was so glad for the opportunity to help out. So here's my contribution :-)

First up is a couple of Oopsie the Octopus from the Moda Bake Shop. You could probably just make one of these out of a fat quarter - I couldn't quite fit all the legs on the blue FQ but I managed to get them all out of the red FQ.

Then I made some of these Snuggle Bugs from the Blinking Flights blog. I normally have a lot of trouble embroidering faces but I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out :-)

I hope they do bring a smile to a child's face :-)

Card Catch-Up

Its been quiet on the crafting front lately. I started back at work from maternity leave, and was working extra shifts to have some extra spending money for our upcoming family holiday to Tasmania :-) Here are a few cards I managed to finish though...

(sorry for the bad photos... I hope to learn photo editing someday soon...)

A card for my niece's baby blessing. I've used the Baby Tees wheel, the Nursery Necessities stamp set (retired), pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon (also retired), pink pirouette and pretty in pink cardstock, the scallop border punch, the oval and scallop oval punches, and Crystal Effects.

Thank you cards for my flood auction winners. I've used Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze cardsotck, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Elegant Soiree DSP, Soft Suede ink and Endless Kindness stamp set (retired).

A birthday card for my sister. I've used an acetate sheet (well... actually an overhead transparency...), Basic Black, Melon Mambo and Whisper White cardstock, Melon Mambo and Basic Black ink, Cute by the Inch stamp set (Hostess set) and Melon Mambo polkadot ribbon (Unfortunately retired)

And finally, an engagement card. I think the blue/vanilla/brown combo is one of my favourites at the moment - I seem to use it a lot :-) I've used the Elegant Soiree DSP, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Cardstock, Top Note die, Happy Everything (retired) and Punch Potpurri (hostess) Stamp Sets and Full Heart Punch.