By the sea.

Sam xox

The "As Time Goes By" quilt.

Have you ever watched the English show "As Time Goes By"? My MIL adores this show, and has always wanted a quilt like the one that Lionel and Jean sleep under...

 So she is making one for her own bed...

Pin wheel blocks constructed,

combinations of light, medium and dark,

traditional reds, blues, browns and creams,

come together to bring this quilt to life.

It's going to be stunning!

Sam xox

Sophie.

For my birthday this year my lovely husband gave me two very generous and wonderful gifts (the sewing-related one I will get to later this week).

My first gift was Sophie, a kitten we rescued from the RSPCA on Sunday. She was previously named Meow and had been through a lot in her short 10 month life. She began life as a kitten at the RSPCA, and found a new home quickly with a family. However, after scratching one of the children (you know what children do to cats) she was quickly returned to the RSPCA as 'unacceptable'. She was in a cage with a sign saying "no children", and no one was even considering her for adoption.

We saw her photo online a week ago, and finally met her in 'person' on Sunday. We spent over half an hour in her cage playing with her and cuddling her, trying to assess her personality (which is very hard to do mind you, when the poor thing is surrounded by other cats in their cages, the sounds of barking dogs close by, and three massive roosters walking just outside her enclosure!).

It was agreed that she would become part of our family. We paid the money, put on a brand spanking new pink diamante collar, and brought her home to meet Prada.

So far things are going brilliantly. She is a super loving cat who wants to snuggle up to us where ever we are. Prada has accepted her quickly and day by day they are getting to know each other. We are still keeping them in separate parts of the house during the day when we are at work, but hopefully this can stop sometime next week.

Thanks again Jamie, she is simply delightful!

Sam xox

The teacher becomes the student.

Last weekend we had my sister-in-law Sarah and her partner to visit. Sarah and I spent Sunday afternoon sitting in the sun, drinking bubbles, and reading magazines as my chickens 'free-ranged' around our feet. About twenty minutes in Sarah asked me the magic question - "Could you teach me to sew?". A conversation rapidly followed that uncovered her plan to replicate a beautiful quilt she had found in an antique shop (the photos of said quilt were stunning!).

My brain clicked over as I thought of what sewing project she could embark on right there and then. I showed her the bikini I had made myself at the beginning of this year, and she was keen! We set ourselves up in the sewing room, and an evening and a morning later Sarah had her very own bikini. She did a seriously amazing job. There would not be many people who can sit at a sewing machine for the first time and manage to sew an elasticised garment using four way stretch fabric. She was thrilled to bits and I hope she has now been bitten by the sewing bug.

 ~ And sew it begins ~

 ~ Sewing elastic onto four way stretch fabric perfectly - and this was her first time sewing?!? ~

Monday evening I quickly changed from teacher to student as I began my 12 week sewing course at a local community centre. The course promised help with any sewing project I brought along. I decided on taking my scalloped jacket/skirt project as this little beauty has been taunting me for some time. I just have not had the confidence to tackle it yet. 

~ Light pink fabric is for the skirt lining, Liberty fabric is for the jacket lining, dark pink is the main fabric ~

~ The cutting tables were so roomy ~

During the class I was able to sew up a muslin of the skirt and have it checked by the teacher. The fit was perfect so I cut out my fabric. I was taught how to sew tailors tacks to mark the dart placement instead of using chalk. I have the skirt now all cut out and my homework this week is to sew it up to the point where the zipper is inserted, as I will do this in class next week.

Sam xox

A Sunday afternoon picnic.

Sam xox

Nested bibs.

This week I was lucky enough to meet my friends newborn baby boy. He is super cute and super tiny! I decided to give a handmade baby gift, and settled on making the Nested bib pattern. I really like Nested patterns, I have used them a few times now for baby gifts and they work really well and have a nice finish. This bib pattern is free and can be downloaded as a PDF. The printable size is best suited to a new born baby, but you can enlarge it on a photocopier for a larger bib.

For these bibs I used some blue and white striped fabric that I thrifted from a men's shirt. I like business shirt fabric from the thrift store as it is so much softer that shirt fabric purchased new. I am even making an entire quilt from vintage men's shirts. Click here to check it out.

I decided to sew the front and back fabric wrong sides together. I trimmed the edge to within 1/8" of the stitching line, then sewed some bias tape around the sides (the corners were a touch tricky). I decided to use buttons as a fastening rather than snaps as I think they give a nice touch.

I backed the bib with some plain muslin.

* * * * * * *

Life has finally settled down for us. After six weeks of living in two different cities, and only seeing each other on weekends, I have now finally moved into our new place in Newcastle and begin my new job tomorrow. I interviewed for two positions a couple of weeks ago. One with the organisation I am currently working in, another with a similar community services organisation. My organisations position was the same as what I work now, as a support worker working with people living with mental illness. The other organisation role was as an early intervention worker working with people who are, or are at risk of, homelessness. I was totally shocked when I was offered both jobs and felt really chuffed. It gave me a confidence boost knowing that I am doing well in this field, as it was only this time last year that I jumped into community services work from previously working as a primary school teacher! Although the early intervention role was a tempting one, I decided to stay with my organisation and accept the role within their Hunter Region. I am excited to start tomorrow and meet the new staff and consumers I will be working with.

This weekend has been lovely. We are in the middle of winter here in Australia, but you wouldn't guess it, as it's been so warm lately. Yesterday Jamie and I packed a picnic lunch and headed north to a beautiful secluded beach. We ate lunch on our towels in the sand, and I even managed to have a quick swim (the water was a little cool though!). I think I am going to get use to this beach lifestyle.

Now my sewing machine is (finally) unpacked, I will get back into my regular blogging.

Glad to be back!

Sam xox

We have settled.

Hi Everyone,

I feel like it has been ages since I last put up a post. It has been. We haven't had internet at our new place, so I have been using my iphone, which means I have been able to read all your blog posts but commenting is a little tricky.

In the last three weeks Jamie and I have moved house and have been trying to settle into our new routine. That being, we live in Newcastle on the weekends, then Monday to Friday I live off the kindness of friends and family, on a continual rotation of people's spare beds and floors while I finish off my position at work in Sydney.

I feel like I haven't really moved to Newcastle yet. I only spend two out of seven days here with Jamie. I have a couple of job interviews lined up, so fingers crossed that will yield some employment for me up here :-)

Now, on to more important things... like sewing.

I have not done any! I am having massive withdrawal symptoms from not being able to stitch when I want to. Currently my new sewing room is still a pile of half opened boxes and stacks of sewing magazines. I haven't had the chance to really get in there and sort it yet, but as today's weather here is looking dicey, I might be able to begin the sorting this afternoon.

Here are some photos of what the room looks like (before all the boxes and furniture filled it)...

It's the smallest of the three bedrooms, and I would call it a single room, as it is only like a half sized bedroom. The windows are my favourite feature, as the one on the left is where my table sits below, and it looks out onto our garden and veggie patch. I think this will be a lovely spot to sew. You can't see in the photo but there is also a wardrobe (out of sight to the left of the shot) which came with the house. It has a lot of shelving storage space in it which I think is going to be great for storing most of my sewing stuff concealed from sight!

Talking about storage, we have moved from an apartment with a huge lock up garage to a house with not even a car port. We desperately needed a shed, so that was our first homemaking project...

Jamie selecting sand for leveling the shed.

A shed we bought on eBay. We lost the instructions.

We were lucky enough to have two friends visit the day after we moved in.

We had our very own 'shed raising'.

The final result (Jamie has since installed the sliding doors).

The veggie plot in need of some serious work.

Last weekend I did some work in the garden. I have weeded completely the main part of the veggie garden, turned all the soil, and filled our compost bin to the brim with different bits and pieces.

At this time of year there is not a lot I am able to plant which means I have a lot of time to be able to spend on the planning of the garden. Deciding on the layout of the plants, what to plant, and when to plant them. I am going to keep some sort of gardening diary to help me with this. I am very excited to finally have the space to build a veggie garden that will hopefully provide us for most of our veggie needs. In my apartment in Sydney I was pretty limited to what I could grow. Now the possibilities seem endless...

Glad to be back!

Sam xox

Possibly the best landlord in the world.

Ok, so we went to pick up the keys to our new home earlier this week, and guess what was waiting for us on our kitchen bench...

A bottle of local wine, a hand written card, tin of fancy cat food and the local paper. Could this be the best landlord ever?!?

The big move is less than 8 hours away, with the removalists arriving at 7am - I better get to bed and get some sleep!

See you on the other side :-)

Sam xox

We're moving.

You may (or may not) have been wondering why on earth I have been so quiet on this blog lately, and more importantly why I haven't been getting any sewing done! Here's why...

Yep. That is my sewing room. Full of packed moving boxes!

Jamie has a new job in Newcastle and we will be moving house on Friday. This has all happened really fast for us. It is a change neither of us was expecting, but we are embracing it as a chance to begin a new chapter in our lives. Newcastle really isn't that big a move. It's not like we are moving interstate or overseas, but it is sad all the same. It is only 2 hours drive from Sydney so we will hopefully still be able to come back regularly and visit friends and family. But it is still far enough away to mean that all our casual catch ups with friends that we do during the week just won't be happening anymore :-(

I will need to find a job, which I am feeling pretty nervous about, and really have no idea what I will do up there.

This week will be a whirlwind of packing, finalising details, and saying goodbye to friends.

However, it won't all be doom and gloom and stress. There are two exciting things for me about this move!

1) The place that we are renting has a backyard and a veggie patch already set up!!! No longer will my veggie plot be a tiny piece of dirt three flights of stairs below my floor, with only half a days worth of sunlight. I am super excited about weeding the space, fixing it up, and getting a home garden growing.

2) I will have the chance to set up a new sewing room. Our place will have three rooms, so that we have a spare room for when friends come up and visit us (please come up and visit us). The sewing room will be the smallest room at the back of the house. I can only vaguely remember what this room looks like, but it does have a cool old wooden door. Just like in our current apartment, it will be called the sewing room but it will have parts of it used for storing other things too.

So, here's where you all come in. I am asking you all how you have your sewing space set up? Do you have any tips for how I should be setting my sewing space up? Have you/will you do a blog post about your sewing space? Do you have any links to websites that document cool sewing spaces?

I am in need of inspiration! The quicker I have the space set up, the quicker I can get back to stitching...

Sam xox

Blog love.

~ Source ~

In the past two weeks I have been chuffed to find out I have received two sweet awards from fellow bloggers. Reana Louise from Curves, Patterns and Pins gave me with an "I am All That" award, and Amy from Sewing Through the Motions gave me a "Stylish Blogger Award".

I am super excited that these sewers, who I find so inspiring, are reading my blog too!

So here goes for the first one...

The recipients of this award are asked to answer the following questions, link to whoever awarded them and then pass it on to five, no six people (who they think will actually be willing to answer these totally intrusive and possibly inappropriate questions). Feel free to snag the badge too, right?

Questions:

1) What size shoe do you wear? If you wear a size 7, can I borrow your shoes?

2) 30's or 60's?

3) Have you ever kissed someone you shouldn't have?

4) Have you ever been poisoned? Was it by the girlfriend of the person you kissed?? That isawesomely "Knot's Landing".

5) Who's on your "Celebrity Free Pass" list (top 5)?

So here are my answers...

1) I am an Aussie size 7, but no you cannot borrow my shoes (sorry).

~ My wedding shoes ~

2) 30's definitely, because my pear shaped body does not suit many 60's style outfits.

3) Yes, but I was young and stupid!

4) I have recently been experiencing poisoning via gluten! The horrid stuff that it is...

5) Don't think I will share it today :-)

The Stylish Blogger Award asks for 7 things about yourself...

1) I spend my week working as a Community Rehabilitation and Support Worker within the context of mental health. It is a totally awesome job that I find rewarding, challenging, and ever-changing (all ticks in my book).

2) I love camping, but it has to be on the condition that I get to bring with me my sheets, floral pillows, and bed quilt!

3) Wool makes me itchy. As a child I detested wearing the knitted jumpers my English grandparents would send me (sorry Nan!).

4) Speaking of grandparents, I love mine to bits and totally like the fact that there is only a 44 year age gap between my Nan and me.

5) I secretly like fishing. I am even considering buying my own beach fishing gear to use as a hobby. Although, I do wonder what an earth I will do with a fish the day I catch my first one. Could be a potential fad...

6) I am moderately introverted. When I reach my limit of social contact I retreat to my sewing room and spend hours sewing. I like to be quiet and alone sometimes.

7) I give in to my cats demand for high quality food... on a daily basis. Sorry dear Jamie if you read this post, yes I did feed Prada 'Kitty Gourmet' this morning!

Ok, so here are my awards:

The "I am All That" award goes to

Kim from Path to Living Simply

Jen from Pretty Little Pictures

Sarah from Ohhh Lulu...

Portia from Miss P

Sarah from Looking In

And my "Stylish Blogger" awards go out to my old quilt blog pals!

Angela from Country Scrap Quilts

Cheryl from My Creative Side

Erin from My Patchwork Life

Lane from That Man Quilts?

Hazel from Sew Crazy

Molly from Crocheting my best with my worst

Hope you all enjoy browsing this fantastic assortment of blogs.

Sam xox