To Market, To Market....

Yes - I'm off to our local 'Makers Market' next weekend.  If anyone is interested and lives close by it will be in Bairnsdale next Saturday the 4th of June from 9am to 2pm at Boucher Hall (cnr Wallace & McKean St, Bairnsdale).  I will have some softies and my patterns for sale at the market and I am sharing my stall with my lovely friend Lisa who has made some delightful softie's too.  These market are held 3 or 4 times a year and they are full of wonderful handmade goods made by some very clever people.  I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made and talking with some of these talented people.  So I've been very busy sewing and printing patterns and getting things organised.  Here's a picture of the neat end of my dining room table with some of the projects I've been working on. 

And as promised here is also a sneak peak of my project I'm working on for the Cookies & Cream Craft Christmas Club.  

Sorry I can't show you too much more - but if I did you would guess what it is and it's supposed to be a secret until those who have joined the club receive my pattern later in the year.  Sandy is still taking sign ups for this club which runs for 5 months - from July until November 2011 and when you join the club, each month you will receive an exclusive paper pattern designed especially for you by some wonderful Aussie designers, along with a special gift, and a bit more. Both pattern and gift will be a surprise until the postman visits you. The designers are: Gail Pan of Gail Pan Designs, Toni Alexander of The Red Boot Quilt Company, Michelle Ridgway of Rag-Tag Stitchn’, Jody Herbert of Jody’s Crafty Creations (YES - That's ME!!), and Bronwyn Hayes!

So if you wish to sign up just click on this link HERE and sign up!
Happy sewing everyone!
Jody

Friday Night Sew In results

I worked on my Woodland Magic bag, by Natalie Ross last night and today and it's finally finished!!!! 

I can't believe it's taken me so long to finish it!  You may have seen this as one of my FNSI projects from February - yes that's how long it's been since I last worked on it!  But I like use the Friday Night Sew In's as an excuse to work on something that is just for me, so now I've finished it I'm very happy!  At long last this lovely bag is finished and ready for me to use.  I plan on using it as an everyday bag to take with me shopping or running the kids around as it can fit heaps of stuff in it - including the kids drink bottles too!   It's a great design and very easy to put together and I think it looks great (which is the main thing as I'll be the one using it!!). 

Pop over the Heidi's blog and see what everyone else has done for the Friday Night Sew In.  She holds these every month so if your not already participating, sign up for the next one and get some of your unfinished projects done too!
Happy sewing everyone!
Jody

Back from holiday!

I'm back from our week's holiday at Phillip Island with my family and it was just fantastic!  I feel very much revived and re-energised and feeling very happy and positive about everything!  The break was just what we all needed.  I found my creative hat again and I've been working on some of my new designs this weekend.  So I will be able to show you some sneak peeks soon, I promise! 
Here are a few of our holiday snaps. 

Climbing the rocks and looking through rock pools

Fishing at the Trout Farm

Look what they caught!  They were so excited to have caught a fish each.

Feeding the pelicans, aren't they magnificent birds!

Hope you liked the holiday pics.  Happy sewing everyone!
Jody

Christmas Club!!!

I have some very exciting news!  I have been invited to be one of the Designers for the Cookies & Cream Craft Christmas Club 2011! 

This club will run for 5 months - July to November 2011 and when you join the club,  each month you will receive an exclusive paper pattern designed especially for you by some wonderful Aussie designers, along with a special gift, and a bit more.  Both pattern and gift will be a surprise until the postman visits you.   The designers are:  Gail Pan of Gail Pan Designs, Toni Alexander of The Red Boot Quilt Company, Michelle Ridgway of Rag-Tag Stitchn’, Jody Herbert of Jody’s Crafty Creations (YES - That's ME!!), and Bronwyn Hayes!
So pop over the Sandy's shop and sign up for the Christmas Club!  I'll be releasing some sneak peeks of my design very soon, so keep watch! 
I'm actually taking a very much needed break for a week with my family down at Phillip Island (our favourite Holiday destination) so until then - Happy Sewing Everone!
Jody

Hot Pad Swap

Look what I received in the mail today!  A Hot Pad from my swap partner Janet in Canada.  Isn't it fantastic!  I love the fabric and colours, and the cute little owls!  She has put such alot of work into it with all the piecing too!  Thanks Janet!  Also Thanks to Cheryll for organsing these swaps.

Jody

Monday's Show & Tell

Here is the Hot Pad or Kitchen Mat I sent my swap partner Natasha in Canada.  This is part of the 'Let's Exchange' swap that Cheryll organised.  She hold some great swaps so be sure to pop over to her site and join up in a swap.  It's fun!  

Sandy also has awarded me the Versitile Blogger Award.

The Versatile Blogger Award rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post

2. Tell 7 things about yourself that others might not know about you

3. Pass along the award to 5 newly discovered bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers to let them know they’ve received the award



  So Thankyou to Sandy for this award.  Please be sure to pop over and visit Sandy and say Hi! 

Now, for the 7 things you might not know about me....

1. I lived in Adelaide, South Australia until I was 10 years old and then we moved to Melbourne, Victoria.
2. I also lived and worked on a minesite on an Island in the Northern Territory for 12 months with my husband.
3. On our farm we run cows and calves and currently have 17 chooks and 3 kelpies and one lamb and the kids have 2 turtles.
4. I backpacked around Europe for 3 months with my husband before we got married.
5. I have flown a small plane (but decided not to pursue getting my piolots licence - although I did clock up 10 hours flying time - and it was heaps of fun!
6. I enjoy reading Australian fiction.  Some of my favourite Authors would have to be Tamara McKinley, Rachel Treasure, Di Morrissey & Tony Parsons.
7. I used to play Tennis regually - I must get back into that one day!

My 5 nominated award recipients are:
Farm Girl Stitching
Kiwi at Heart
Gone Stitchin
Enjoying Life
Nells Notions
Pop over to their blogs and say hello!

Until next time, happy sewing!
Jody

School Holidays and our Easter Break

School went back today much to the disappointment of my daughter.  I think she just had way too much fun over the school holidays.  Well, it was her Birthday for a start, and a party at the park (and lots of prezzies) and then several days of playing with all her new things. 

She got some great presents with lots of crafty things for her to do.  One of them was a pattern and material to make 'Bitty Bug' which is another Bit of Whimsy Dolls design.  Again this was a simple pattern and Samantha just loved deciding what fabric she wanted where.  After I pieced the fabric together for her she did everything else herself and just left me to hand stitch the last bit closed and stitch the face for her.  So she was very pleased that she could do this all herself and she loves the results. 

Here's her 'baby' as she now calls it!

We also managed to see the movie 'Rio' with a couple of her friends and then we also had a lovely day at the beach with her Mama & Papa too.  I just love the beach and so do the kids.  Luckily it's only half an hour from home. 

Our Easter was fun with lots of chocolate Easter eggs and hot cross buns.  The kids and I actually made our own hot cross buns this year too.  Nan & Pa also came up from Melbourne to have a 'sleepover' for 2 nights Easter Sunday and Monday which the kids thought was just fantastic.  

I did get a little bit of sewing done - I made a Little Ninga (Melly & Me design) while Samantha was making her Bitty Bug.  My son also helped to stuff him.  These are so gorgeous and suit boys of all ages.  My son ended up claiming this one and now takes it to bed with him every night!

I have got a few other things to show you but you'll have to wait until my next post as this one is getting a bit long! 

Until next time, happy sewing everyone!

Jody

Happy Easter Everyone!

Wishing you all a Happy Easter and a safe holiday break.  Hope the easter bunny bring you all lots of yummy easter eggs! 

These cute little easter bunnies I made for the kids last easter (you may have seen them on my blog before).  They are from Homespun magazine (Vol11.3).

Happy sewing and I'll be back after the easter break.

Jody

FNSI - Mother's Day Project

It was the Friday Night Sew In last night that Heidi holds once a month.  This is a great way to get us all together for a 'sew in' and complete some of those unfinished projects.  Pop over and have a look at what everyone else has been doing.  Just click on the link HERE. 
Now I have so many projects on the go at the moment it was hard deciding what to work on!  In the end my Mother's Day Project won. 

This is a sewing project I am putting together for the kindergarten class when they get back from school holidays.  They are going to make little softie hearts to give to their mum for mother's day.  The back of the heart is felt and the front is fabric with heavy iron on interfacing on the back.  I have then attached a small heart with a button and then used a small hole punch to place 'sewing' holes for them all around.  They will then use a plastic wool needle and wool to sew them together and then stuff them with polyester filling.  I managed to prepare 6 last night - plus the sample - so now only 18 more to go!
Happy sewing everyone!
Jody 

Guess who just turned 7?

My daughter turned 7 this week - can you believe it!  Where has the time gone!  Here she is wearing the mermaid top I made for her and jewellery that her friends gave her for her birthday.  Looking very grown up - isn't she! 

And here she is modeling the hat I made for her too.  It's the same pattern I used for my sons hat the 'Lazy day hat' by Make it Perfect.

We had a lovely party for her at the park with all her friends and luckily the weather held out for us.  They had a great time running around playing tiggy, playing on the equipment and blowing bubbles, and of course eating birthday cake!  Here they are at the park just before her friends arrived.

We then had a lovely night out with the family at the local RSL club where they have a great playroom for the kids.  They played in there most of the night with some other kids that they made friends with.  She had such a great day and loved every minute of it, it makes me want to be 7 again too! 

Jody     
 

A couple of small things..

Just a couple of small things I've done this week.  After receiving my book 'In the life of a bag' by Anni Downs, I just had to make something from it.  So I whipped up this lipstick case in no time at all. 

Cute isn't it - and usefull!  Very easy to make and will make a great mother's day present.(hope your not looking mum!)  I'll have to make a few more of those.   I also did this little applique on a top for my daughter - as it's her birthday next week.

The design is by Kellie Wulfsohn from 'Don't look now!' and is done using raw edge applique.  The original design was for a cushion and was in Homespun magazine (Vol 11.12) so I decided to reduce the size and put it on a long sleeve top.

Happy sewing everyone!
Jody  

I'm back!

Sorry - it's been a little while since my last post, but I have been working on a few secret projects.  One of them in a Kitchen Hot Pad Swap which I just finished last night - so it will be in the mail on Monday (sorry I can't show you any photo's yet as it is to be a surprise for my swap partner).  This has been a fun and simple project - but something that I hadn't made before.  Cheryll holds these great swaps on her blog so pop over and join up as she has just started another one for a kitchen hand towel. 
Sandy is also holding a swap for a Zippy Purse so if you want to have a go at that pop over to her blog and join up here.  Also a big THANKYOU to Sandy from Cookies & Cream Craft for my lovely parcel I received in the mail this week.  I was lucky enough to win this beautiful book 'In the Life of a Bag' by Anni Downs from Hatched and Patched in the raffle Sandy was running for the Japan Quake Appeal. 

Here's a little look at some of the projects in the book - I think I'll make the lipstick case first, but maybe the birdcage keyring holder or the small notepads...there are just so many lovely projects. 

Sandy also stocks these in her online store - so if you want to get your hands on one, click here to visit her store. 

Thankyou Sandy!

Until next time, happy sewing everyone!

Jody

FNSI results

My Friday Night Sew In was more of a late afternoon, early evening sew in, as I knew I was coming down with some nasty cold/flu thingy.  But with two kids to look after, dinner to prepare and cook, bath, story and getting them ready for bed, I knew I just had to soldier on.  So in between I jumped on the sewing machine and finished off a hat for my son that I had cut out earlier in the day.  My son & I had picked out the fabric for his 'very cool' hat earlier in the week as it had to be something he really loved (so he would wear it!).  This is the 'lazy day hat' by 'Make it Perfect' and is a great design and I was really happy with the results.  The pattern is from toddlers right through to adult sizes so you can reuse it over and over (which is great for growing children!).  I made the medium size for my son and it is a perfect fit.  He loved it as you can probably tell from the photo!  It is reversable so he can choose to wear it as a blue or an orange hat!

Also Jodie Carleton from Ric Rac is running a raffle to win a custom made softie toy to raise money for the Japan Quake Appeal.  There is also a link there to a master list of auctions and raffles that are raising money for this great cause.  Money from these auctions and raffles goes to the Red Cross and Global Giving Funds.

Happy sewing eveyone,
Jody

Softies for Christchurch & FNSI

You may have noticed a new button on the right hand side bar 'Softies for Christchurch NZ'.  Leonie, from New Zealand, has been organising this softie drive to make softies for the children affected by the recent earthquake in Christchurch.  So I've jumped on board and have made these little guys to send to the kids.

There is still time left if you want to join in and send a softie or two to Christchurch.  Leonie hasn't yet set a close off date for this appeal but is thinking mid April would be a good time to have all the softies together and sent down to the children.  My heart also goes out to all those affected by the latest tragedy in Japan and I find it hard to watch the news and see the extent of the devastation over there. 

On a lighter note, I have been very busy sewing for my kids too.  I haven't sewn clothes for them for ages - so I got out some material I'd had stashed away and made some pajama's, pants and then shortened a few pants into shorts for both of them.  It was fun - and the kids had to wear them straight away - so were very happy with them!

My daughter also attended her friend's birthday on the weekend and asked me to make a doll for her.  So I made 'Mae' by 'Bit of Whimsy Dolls'. for her too.  I do love this pattern as it is such a sweet doll and looks so different in different fabrics and colours.  It's also a really nice, easy pattern to follow.

I've also put my name down for the next Friday Night Sew In which is this Friday the 18th of March.  So sign up and make yourself comfy and join in and get some of those unfinished projects completed.  See you there!

Jody

Tiger the Door Sausage Cat

Well - here it is! My new pattern - 'Tiger' the Door Sausage Cat.  Use Tiger to protect your door from drafts!  He'll keep out those pesky drafts and look good too!  Tiger is my cat version of Drafty the Door Sausage Dog.  You can make him to suit any door size, as the pattern allows you to lengthen or shorten him as you like.   Tiger will be available from Cookies & Cream Craft and Riviera Patchwork next week.  Make sure you pop over to Sandy's blog as there will be a giveaway very soon for this new pattern!

Happy sewing everyone,
Jody