a friend for Ruby

I was very excited a friend asked me to make a softie for her friend's little girl. I'd made this pattern from Wee Wonderfuls as a Christmas present last year and it was so much fun to do again, this time as a brunette. 

I really love making softies, whether it be my own pattern or someone elses. I love knowing that it will become a little person's best friend to tell their secrets to, cuddle when they are sad or scared and just have someone to be by their side always. My best friend softie when I was a little one was a scruffy looking monkey with a red singlet and big ears. His name was Spunky Monkey. 

cushion making

I know I am pretty late on this one but I recently discovered the Design Love Fest blog by Bri Emery. I love everything about it, especially her fun tutorials. Last week's was a tasseled cushion. Needless to say I put that on my very long to do list - and shortly after bumped it to the top! 

 I decided on a bold black and white chevron cotton, mixed with a hot pink cotton for the back and some mustard yellow yarn. 

 Making the tassels was a little tricky at first but once I got the hang of it, it was lots of fun!

 The finished tassels.

 The actual sewing of the cushion is super quick. It look me longer to choose my fabrics than it did to whip it up. 

I do love the finished product!

beads

My lovely friend Michaela and I have been making lots of beads with Fimo lately. Its so much fun! 

lately...

Its been a while since my last post. Here's what I've been up to...

 A very dear friend moved away and this was her parting gift, inspired by the wonderful embroideries of Whiskers Lane.

 Cross stitched some iPhone covers.

 Received the cutest Easter gift!

 Bought some dahlias.

 Ate too much ice cream.

 Decorated cupcakes with my girlfriends.

 Made a dress for my best friend's engagement party. 

 Made a cute cake for my boss, Julia. 

 Played with yarn. 

 Got some fishies!

 Ate some cheese!

 Started this super dooper project - more to be revealed soon!

 Fell in love with Mollie via a special delivery from the world's best sister in London. 

And hung out with my favourite feathered friend. 

out with the old

Are you a hoarder? I would like to say I'm not but I know a few people who would disagree. I prefer to use the term, collector. Sounds more impressive, like its a bit more legitimate. It sounds much nicer to say I collect paper, fabrics, tools, beads, tapes, paper scraps, wrappers, buttons, ribbons, toys and books, just to name a few, than to say I hoard them. 

Whatever you want to call me, its time for a clean up. Lots of busy weekends, too many projects on the go and a busy work schedule have left my beloved craft room a little disheveled. I am slowly cleaning it up and going through some of my "collections".

 As you can see, its still a mess. 

And with all this Pinterest love going on, I've neglected my actual pin boards for about the last 3 years. A couple of nights ago I took everything off and decided to start over to reflect my current inspirations. Crochet, colour and pattern are playing a big part in my creativity at the moment. 

pinterest

Do you use Pinterest? I do and I love it. When trawling through the inter-webs I tend to save lots of images to folders on my desktop, though I never do really remember where I got them from or who belongs to the photo. What I love about Pinterest is that I can save them and access them from anywhere and also simply by clicking the image I can go back to where I found it. Genious!

 My boards.

I'm currently planning a baby shower brunch for a friend of mine and Pinterest is helping me catalogue all of my inspiration for food and decorations. 

valentine garden

For Valentine's day, I decided to create the little outdoor garden/seating area we have been talking about for a while. It was lots of fun!

 We have a jade plant, a "no kill" plant which we have successfully killed part of, parsley, mint, a very cute succulent, a raspberry plant and some lavender.

 We also have some lemon thyme, sweet basil, chives and off to the right is a lemon scented conifer.

We also have some ferns, a strawberry plant and this little one above, a Thai Chilli plant.