"Thank you" blog land!

A very big "Thank You" is going out to blogland today, to all those wonderful people who supported my auction to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer.

My little Matryoshka girl "Rose" raised $50.00!!!!

I was very impressed and very pleased that she caused so much interest and money for this wonderful cause. If it had not been for blog land I don't think she would have done so well. The donation has been made on the winning bidders behalf and is now on her way to the ACT.

Bye Rose, I hope you love your new home.

Kathryn. XX

PS. The meeting with the lady about a "horse" went well. I now have an order for 10 of my "Pussikins" toys, 10 "handbag doorstops" and I have to make a few little doggies too!

EDIT 1pm: just received a phone call to say the order has been scrapped.....and I'd started too!

Oh, well off to my shop and Etsy they go....

A great swap and more bags.....

I haven't joined a swap for a while and thought I would give another one a go as I really enjoyed my first swap (LInda's bag/bucket swap).

They are lots of fun and you get to meet some wonderful bloggers with similar interests. Anyway, I have just joined "The Challenge in a bag mini quilt swap".

It sounds like fun. You organise a bag of fabric and embellishments, send it to your partner, then they have to create a mini quilt for you using at least a bit of every piece you put in the bag!!

Signups end on Saturday the 1st November and you have until January to mail it out.

Go on join in!!!

I thought I had better restock my supply of tote/bag sets in Our Shabby Cottage this week.

I was inspired by Hen recently when she made some gorgeous bags with her Cath Kidston fabric.

I love the red one at the back - it is made with Cath Kidston's "Classic Rose".

I think I will have to make one for myself for Christmas!! Perfect for the party season!!!

Anyway, I'm off to see a lady about a horse today - more on that tomorrow.....

Kathryn. XX

How do you make a lined zipper purse? Here's how....

Have you ever wondered how to make a lined zipper purse? Well, here's how!

I know there are probably a lot of these tutorials out there in blog land but I thought I'd show you my version. I hope it makes sense?

I used a 6" zipper with fabric and lining measuring 8" X 6".

Choose your fabric, lining and zipper.

Place lining down first (face up), then the zipper, then the fabric (face down). Pin in place.

Sew along the edge of the zipper using a zipper foot if you have one.

Open out and do the same with the two remaining pieces of fabric. To start, open the end of the zipper, this makes it easier to sew.

When you have sewn to the zipper pull, lift your foot and pull zipper shut, lower foot and continue sewing. You should then have fabric and lining on each side of the zipper.

Topstitch the seams (this stops the zipper being caught in the fabric when in use)

Place right sides together and pin in place, making sure the seams match.

Make sure your zip is OPEN otherwise you will find yourself yelling and screaming at yourself for being so silly because now you can't open the zip once sewn!!!!

You can change the zipper foot over to your "normal" sewing foot now.

Sew down the side seams making sure that you sew near the ends of the zipper.

Check your seams are matched up correctly - this makes it look much nicer when finished. Repeat for the other side, the fabric end and leave a 3" gap in the lining end (this is so you can pull everything through to the right side).

Trim off excess fabric close to the seam and snip the corners

(This will make your corners nice and sharp)

Pull through the opening so you see the right sides of your fabric. This is the time to make sure your fabric corners are nicely pointed. Use a blunt pencil or your finger to push the corners out.

Pin the lining end shut, and either hand sew or machine sew shut.

Push lining into the fabric, add a ribbon or beads to the zipper pull and voila, your very own, perfectly sewn lined zipper purse!!!

Now give your self a clap and a pat on the back!!!

There will be no stopping you now!

Have fun, Kathryn. XX

Roses!

I spent some time this weekend, and this morning, making some pretty jewellery sets made from the most beautiful handmade clay roses and pearl beads....

This set is perfect for any shabby roses lover!

Or this bracelet....

Another set with smaller roses.
These ones are all for sale at "Our Shabby Cottage"

And now for a real Rose! I snapped these photos this morning.

This Rose was purchased after our eldest son was born and it is called "Centenary".

In bud, the colours are red/orange with yellow, then in full bloom it turns to this....

Pretty pink with a creamy centre.

We actually had some rain today!!!

Send some more down Huey!! (that's what my Mum calls "Him")

Kathryn. XX

Simple pleasures.....

Daisy chain making, after school, Friday evening.....

And a new bracelet for me!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

Kathryn. XX

This goes with that...Part 2

So, here it is and here I am! (well, part of me anyway!)

Scroll down for "This goes with that" - Part1!

It doesn't have sleeves so it will be nice and cool for Summer.

It fits well, didn't take long to make and goes so well with this little knit top.

I love the colours and the Amy Butler fabric feels so nice.

I think I shall make more things from her fabrics from now on.

Short one today as I have to go to school assembly, then I'm on canteen duty at school again and if I have time I shall go and watch master 6 at swimming (school again!)......

A busy day ahead.

Kathryn. XX

Some show and tell.....

My wonderful Mum and Dad paid a visit yesterday. They live an hour away so we only see them about twice a month. Yesterday my Mum mentioned she had seen an ad on the T.V for a little place near us that sold old wares, collectibles and antiques. MMMM, I wonder if it is the place I am thinking of but never been too? So, we left Dad at home, and we went for little "tattar".....and found the "Bowerbird" located on the highway between Magpie and Buninyong. Gosh, this lady has some beautiful things. Old Glass (which I love), jewellery, china, paintings, furniture, lamps...I could go on and on. But the best thing of all was that everything in her little shop is 50% off until Christmas. (I know where to send hubs now...hee hee.)

Anyway, I spied this lovely little powder bowl. I collect these pretties so I asked her how much it was. "$24" she said. I said "do you take eftpos?". "No, only cash" she said. I said "Can you hold it until tomorrow?" ...........My Mum said "I'll get for you and that will be your birthday present!" I LOVE MY MUM!!!!! Now it is sitting on my shabby table with my some of my pink glass collection. It goes nicely with this one too! so, if you live near Buninyong make sure you pay the "Bowerbird" a visit.

Now, this little bag was made by me a few years ago. It has only been used once and has been hanging in my cupboard ever since. I decided it was time for it to have an airing! ..... I thought some of you might like to have a look?

Ok, here is the story behing this little creation...

I, like I am sure many of you out there in bloggy land, have at some stage bought an item of clothing (because you just loved it so much and had to have it) then thought I have nothing to go with it. Well this is such a case. I bought it (A dark red vintage lace style top - for a Christmas "do") then decided I needed to have a bag to go with it. MMMMM....no bags to match in the shops, none at home.....I do have some pretty nice purse frames around somewhere....so I dreamt up this little number. Night after night I plodded along with it, sewing the beads on until it was finished. I was pretty happy with it when finished but it took me so long to do and if only I had the easy tutorial from Jodie that I had to make this one! Oh well, it turned out alright but I don't think it was worth the effort just for one night. At least I have something pretty to look at each time I open my wardrobe door!!!!

Kathryn. XX

A shabby girl's delight!

When I popped over to have a look at Andrea's ebay auctions the other day I immediately fell in love with this young lady. Isn't she just beautiful? I just had to have her so I made a bid and I won! Lucky me. I am delighted to have her in my home and I am so glad I popped over to visit Andrea. You can visit her too at her blog "The Pink Poodle" and ebay here. Andrea sells wonderful items from Cath Kidston, home decor items, magazines, patterns/crafty books and more....

She is a vintage print by Strevens called "La Petite Modiste".

These two litttle girls were finished yesterday.

Do you remember my bag swap partner from Linda's bag and bucket swap - "Passionate Purple Quilter"? Well, she asked if I would make a doll for her in purple.

I couldn't decide which colourway to do her in so I made two for her to choose from.

As well as purple, Pam also loves butterflies. I found the perfect fabric! If you look closely you can see butterflies all over the purple fabric! I couldn't have asked for a better fabric to make them from!

My parents are visiting today, so I had better make this a short one.

I will get started on the dress tomorrow...

After quite a few requests, I will be modelling it for you to see!!!

Watch out here I come!

Kathryn. XX

This goes with that....

Yesterday I had a little retail therepy.

I'm not one for shopping unless I really have to.

I don't go window shopping, I don't know every single shop in town - apart from the op-shops!! And, if someones says to me, "You know that shop in blah blah street that has all the blah blah's in it?" I politely say "No, sorry, I don't know that one".

But what I do know is Myer and Target.

Myer was having their "Take a further 30% of the already reduced ticket price" recently. Now, what girl doesn't like the sound of that? Well, I went in, looked around and couldn't see anything that I really liked for the price I was willing to pay.

Feeling a little let down, I popped into Target. Well, our Target , in town, has recently doubled (it seems) their range of womens clothing and they had "buy one item get the next at 50% off"....so I scoured around in my usual thrifty way looking at all of my options trying to work out the best bargain, if things would match or go with a lot of my other worn out rubbish at home......

Then I spied this little number......the only one....and in my size........ Yeah!!!! I went on some more and found two pretty tops and a T-shirt. Yep, I did well. When I brought everything home I realised that this knit top would go perfectly with the Amy Butler fabric I had purchased a while ago.....

But, I had to find out if I had enough..... 2.2 yards were needed. I had 2 yards....

But don't fret, I am a little short in the height department, I took a little off the pattern and voila!!! It all fitted. So now I will have a lovely summery dress to go with my little knit top. Oh, and yes, I did have enough to make a bag to go with it!

This is the pattern and yes it is easy.

I have made this one before and it only takes about 2 hours from start to finish.

Not today though as I have a few orders to finish off first....

At least it is cut out and ready to be sewn up.

It's just made it's way onto my "unfinished business" pile.

I shall keep you posted....

Kathryn. XX

Better late than never!

I did mention in my last post that "Rose" would be an auction at 9am....well - do you know what I will not tell fibs - I completely forgot!!! She has now been listed and is ready for your bidding consideration.

Please think of all the women who have fought, lost, won their battle with Breast Cancer and bid generously knowing that all proceeds will be donated.

Short and sweet today....

GO AND BID!!!!!

Click on the photo to be taken to her auction...

Kathryn. XX

"Rose" - Think Pink!

As most people will be aware, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

As so many of us are effected by cancer it is important to keep raising awareness (and funds) to help fight it and find a cure.

Shannon from "Paint Mine Pink" is hosting a special breafast on the 20th of October (Monday). As part of the breakfast she is asking everyone to offer something up for sale either on their blog, ebay, Esty etc... and donate the proceeds to any Breast Cancer foundation. What a great idea Shannon!

I have decided to join in and I am going to offer "Rose" up for auction on EBAY.

All proceeds will be donated to the (Jane) "McGrath Foundation".

The Pink Ribbon is an international symbol of Love & Hope.


Isn't she pretty! Don't you just want to take her home with you? "Rose" will be on auction on Monday at 9am.
Don't be shy - bid - it is a worthy cause!
(International bloggers: because our Australian dollar is down at the moment, against the US dollar, it is a great time to bid/buy too! you can save $$$$)
Every time you look at "Rose" you will know that you did your bit in the fight against Cancer.



Click on the button above to visit Shannons blog and to find out what you can do to help.
See you all on Monday for Breakfast for Breasts!!!
Kathryn. XX

I thought it was a good idea...at the time!

Yesterday, I decided to give the "Living Creatively" monthly competition a go.

This months theme is "PINK" - obviously because it is breast Cancer awareness month.

Well, I wasted a whole day on what I thought was a good idea. It turned out to be a complete and utter flop - yep, I do have them (occasionally! Wink!).

Today, I am in that "Oh my goodness - How can that have happened?" phase and now thinking about ways to resurrect it from it's "floppiness......"

Whilst dreaming up wonderful ways to "fix" this problem I have had to catch up on yesterdays household duties. 3 loads of washing later, an enormous pile of ironing, beds to change (yep, my kids still pee in them everynow and then...) and some grocery shopping. Not a fun day......

But I did manage to go to Vinnies and pick up a few things this morning!

The blue and white flowery fabric caught my eye straight away - I had a dress made from this when I was about 10 and it is exactly the same! And for $3 too! The photo frame for $2 AND.... the gorgeous beaded trim for $5. I could not resist it - now what to make with it? Any ideas??

Now, you will all know that I am no gardener. Well, i just had to show you this little pom pom of perfection! Isn't it gorgeous. I love the little hint of blush around the edges. Even though it IS from my garden, I cannot claim it's gloriousness.

And these.......
So,
with wifely chores,
a project gone belly up
and lunch to be had,
I say "bye" until my next post.
(hopefully with something accomplished!)
Kathryn. XX

Cats and Dolls!

After an extremely hectic weekend,

I ended up with a migraine on Sunday/Monday

(pounding head, throwing up...you get the picture...not pretty)

But yesterday afternoon, I managed to get some sewing in - with the help of drugs of course! Praise be for Panadeine...

Another Matryoshka doll and a custom order for a friend for one of my "Pussikins" softies.

meet "Katria" (meaning pure) - a variant of Kathryn!

I thought it appropriate, seeing she is made with pink and green -
my favourite colours! (Farmers Market and Anna Griffin fabrics)

And here is "Is that a mouse?" a custom order.....

......for a little girl for Christmas - who also loves pink!!!

Back to the boring old house wifely duties today, washing....
Kathryn. XX