A few big days.....

We had a fabulous Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The kids woke at 5.50am jumping on our bed with immense excitement and it continued for 2 days!! Santa was very generous this year and the boys were very thankful they had been relatively well behaved for the year (as much as two boys can be!). For the first time in many years, it was hot on Christmas Day. Last year we had hail!

We had a yummy lunch at the in laws - Turkey, Ham, Pickled Pork, Chicken, breads and salads then Plum Pudding with Brandy sauce as well as Chocolate Torte! Oh, and there were lots of little temptations on the table as well - shortbread, chips, nuts, chocolates, lollies.....I could go on and on. You can imagine how hard it was not to go crazy with all that glorious food, but I was very good. I still felt like I had eaten too much though.

That is all part of Christmas I keep telling myself!

Then we did it all over again on Boxing Day with my parents. Needless to say, we haven't eaten much in the last few days and we have started going for a few long walks!! It was a wonderful few days and I am thankful for having such a wonderful family and great friends.

I haven't any photos to show for Christmas Day (I know - isn't it terrible! We do have some video though, so all is not lost!), so I thought I'd share a work in progress. I have started another quilt! This time, for me and in pinks and whites....

This is my Union Jack pillow which I finished yesterday. I have wanted to make one for ages and found some fabric that was traditional in colour but still slightly shabby/vintage looking?

The creamy backgorund is Mary Rose and it has little red flowers all over it. I just have to sew around the edges of the second one, then we will have two. I used "Vliesofix" for the strips to make it easier to sew and keep straight, then used blanket stitch on the machine. It was time consuming to do because you have to layer the strips and sew as you go to get a neat finish, but well worth the effort. And yes, I should have made the diagonal strips thinner, but hey!!

We are off to the local pool this afternoon for a swim. The boys want to go to the beach and try out their new "Boggie boards" at some stage too....Aren't Summer holidays great!

Kathryn. XX

PS. Check out this pretty treasury on Etsy.....Eye spy a handbag doorstop!! Thank you to Sweetscarlett

"Happy Christmas" from Our Shabby Cottage...

To all of you out there in blog land, a very big "Happy Christmas" goes out to!

Here are a few things from around our home....

Cards, reindeer (from Shannon) , Matryoshkas (Kylie's choccies in the tree dish too)

Lots of handmade decorations from the boys!

Angel, my childhood Santa Candle, Macaroni art, cupcake patties art!

Nativities - Playmobile, and one my Dad made from wood - yep, he's clever!

From all of us here at Our Shabby Cottage, we wish you all a fun filled, joyous, safe and Happy Christmas.

See you all again soon, Kathryn. XX

What a sight to wake up with.....

Ever woken up to the sound of purring???

One very good reason why I would like the weather to warm up a little ....PLEASE!!!
Now, hang on, it is MY bed not yours.....

Oh, I'm terribly sorry, did the flash disturb you? Good, now get out of my bed.....

Kathryn. XX

Take two humble tea towels.....

Remember this post months ago?

Well, these wonderful tea towels have gone from this........
To this, in under 10 minutes! Yes, you have read correctly!
It was the quickest project, I think, I have ever done. So quick and easy anyone could do it.
1. Fold your tea towel in half, right sides together.
2. Sew in your zipper with which ever method you use.
3. Open your zipper with a quick unpick.
4. Place right sides together again and sew down the sides so your zipper is in the centre back of the cushion.
5. Turn your cushion right side out, and stuff!
Voila, a wonderful, unique "London Underground" cushion (or two, or three, or four....) in under 10 minutes!
Yeah for tea towels! Go on try it, it's easy!
What a great, unique, quick and simple idea for a gift/Christmas present!
Kathryn. XX

Boxer, dog....

A few more pressies done for a little boy we know.....

I always find it hard to sew for boys for some reason!

Even though I have two boys, it's hard to know what other boys will like.

Boxer shorts and a Poochikins!

Fingers crossed!

Only 2 more presents to make then I can breathe a sigh of relief!

Have a lovely weekend, Kathryn. XX

Our Christmas Tree....

Well, this is it! This year it actually looks half decent!

Usually it looks very poorly and in need of help. But with a few more decorations and tinsel put on it, it looks OK.

Glad you can't see the back of the tree becuse it's bare. Because its shoved in the "Christmas Tree" corner we tend to just decorate the bits you can see! How lazy is that - and we don't have many decorations!!!

It is certainly nothing fancy like a lot of expertly decorated trees I have seen on blogland!

A lot of the decorations have been handmade over the many years of Kindergarten and school.......and, it would not be the same without them!
Master 6 made this at Sovereign Hill recently! I think she looks quite......um, pretty

Master 7 made this one a few years ago - I think at Kinder.....she looks like she could do with a make over...... But hey, they were made by my boys and they are so proud of their "Angels".

I love them too, yes, really I do!

Oh, and here is the cat........she has been very restrained this year. Just look at her watching the twinkly lights!!

I have only caught her in the tree once, but she has taken a liking to "boxing" a few of the baubles!!!! Thank goodness they are only cheapo ones from the Reject shop!

Thank you to everyone who left a suggestion on what to do with her, but it seems that now, being an outside cat she has mellowed! Miaow!

Kathryn. XX

Running out of time.....?

Is there anyone else who feels like they are running out of time when it comes to Christmas? Well, I most certainly do! I still have 5 presents to make. So, I need some gifts that don't take much time to make.

Here is 1 I finished this morning....A wristlet.

It's for a friend of mine who is always carrying around her keys and mobile phone because she hates handbags!!! Can you believe it? Well, I hope this will help make her life a little bit more hands free!!

This is a quick and easy present to make - this one took me only 1/2 hour from start to finish.
This one is made with some Amy Butler fabric I have had for ages and not known what to do with it. IThey aren't really my colours but I loved the combination together and I know "she" will like it.
It measures 8 1/2" x 6 1/2", I used an 8" zipper and cut 5 strips, 2" wide and 8" long.
Too easy!!! There is a tutorial on my sidebar if you'd like to know how to make one for yourself....You will just need to add the handle.

I think I'll make some more!
Kathryn. XX

Edit note: I just noticed that this is my 100th post!! How did that happend so fast?

Pictures of you...Pictures of me..

Ever since yesterday morning I have had that song by "The Last Goodnight" in my head - "Pictures of you, Pictures of me, hung upon your wall for all the world to see" and so on......

You see, I met a blogging buddy yesterday. Kylie from "A bite of country cupcakes" suggested we should meet seeing as how we only live about 20 minutes apart! So, we did! It was a wonderful morning sipping coffee, eating cheesecake and laughing our heads off together!

So.......I was thinking, what sort of blog title I should give our "meet post".....

A "Picture of you"
A "Picture of ME!!!!" Yep, that's me!!!

"Hung upon my blog for all the world to see"!"

We had pressies for one another - I came home with the most delectable faux chocolates (master 6 nearly had a tantrum because I told him they were not for eating just looking!) and two of the most pretty and girly faux cupcakes (of course!!!)

Thanks so much Kylie for a lovely morning. IF you haven't popped by Kylie's blog make sure you do and say "HI". She has more photos from our morning together and her gorgeous kids with their pressies!!

Kathryn. XX

How gorgeous is this......?

I could not wait to show you all this....

It is my mini quilt which arrived today from the lovely "Swap Momma" Tracy from the "Challenge in a bag mini quilt swap".

How could Tracy have known me so well to have made this?

It is just so beautiful Tracy, well done!

I know that I picked the fabrics to send to Tracy but isn't it amazing what a creative mind can do with it?
I love the little dresses with such pretty details, the roses, the pearl around the neckline....
Then there's all the handstitching for the quilting......

To use a bit of everything I sent to such wonderful detail is fantastic.

I absolutely LOVE it!!!! Can you tell?

Right, I'm off to add it to the flickr group pool and make everyone jealous!!!!!

Kathryn. XX

One very good reason why you should never......

....leave your "quick unpick" or seam ripper lying around with a very naughty master 7.....

"Oh, but it was an accident!" MMMMmmmmm

I made this slip cover for our footstool (which incidentally i picked up at the op-shop for $12!) earlier in the year and I was thrilled with how it turned out. I knew exactly which fabric I wanted to use and when I finished I only had a bout 10cm letft! It was meant to be.........

But, now it looks like I had better start thinking of another fabric to recover it in......

Maybe next near when we have decided on colours for the new house.....

I have learnt a very valuble lesson! Have you?

Kathryn. XX

Mini quilt swap....

Remember me mentioning, a while ago, that I had joined a swap entitled

"Challange in a bag mini quilt swap" hosted by Tracy (From my Scrapbag)?

Well, the challange was to create something from the fabric your partner sends to you.

I actually had the pleasure of swapping with the "swap Momma"herself.

Tracy sent me two pieces of lovely fabric, and I am pleased to say she has received my parcel and was thrilled with her mini quilt (few!) and the other goodies I sent too.

So, without further ado, here it is....

I mentioned in this post that the next door neighbours flowering gum tree had insipred me.....

I needle turned the applique, then added the felt gumnuts then embroidered the blossom on with little french knots at the ends...

Finished with a little someone hanging on to the side. I also sent Tracy some Australian craft magazines as well as some Vegemite and Cherry Ripes (my favourite)

Tracy didn't mention ifshe had tried the Vegemite yet!!!! Mmmmm

Kathryn. XX

Countdown....

A few years ago my Mum and Dad made this beautiful Advent Calender for us. Mum did the quilt, Dad did the boxes and together they put together a little surprise inside - buttons, shells, bits of old jewellery....

My two boys were so excited to put it up, on Sunday night, to begin the countdown to the big day...

Inside the boxes are lollies for them to enjoy as well as a little something to hang on it afterward....

We haven't put up our tree yet. We can't decide whether to buy a real one or put up our "fake" one - due to the stinking cat wanting to climb up it last year and make a real mess of both the tree and the ornaments on it!!! Any suggestions???

Sophia's mini quilt is finished
(yep, couldn't sit still last night so I sewed on the binding and handstitched it down)
and ready to send with some other little things including Sheepskin booties to keep her little toes warm for their winter!
Haven't done anything today except had my hair cut. I feel like a new woman now and less like a wooly mammoth!!!!
Kathryn. XX

Frantic!!!

Crickey, it was crazy here today.

As soon as I walked in the door, after dropping the two munchkins off at school, I received a phone call from a friend who lives around the corner. She was in a right state because she had locked herself out of their garage and couldn't get her two boys to school, or herself to work!

So........

I raced around, picked them up, took them all to school/work then had to go up to the University to watch master 7 at swimming. Then it was home to finish off some faces for some more Pussikins, which were on order, and some dolls, sewed up the Pussikins and two more dolls, listed them all on Etsy, picked the kids back up again, made dinner, now here I am absolutely exhausted!!!!

In between all of these orders that have been happening lately I have been desperately trying to finish off a baby gift for a lovely little girl who was born to some friends of ours in Seattle. I decided to make her a mini quilt with her name on it.....

The fabric in the Pussikins on the left had to be purchased in a hurry yesterday afternoon.

I had an order from a lady who really liked this fabric but I hadn't any left.

So, a quick email to Ballarat Patchwork and the lovely Emma emailed back to say they still had some of it!

Ok, panic over..

Whilst at the Patchwork shop, I noticed they had 20% off at the moment so these lovely fabrics came home with me too..... and turned into this....

Annika is in my Etsy shop now....

And so is Maria!
FEW!

I'm off to have my dinner and then do.....NOTHING!!!!!

Kathryn. XX