.Countdown to Christmas.

For the last few years I have been wanting to make a cool advent calendar with fun activities or events for us to do every day leading up to Christmas. I just haven't got it together in time though. The 1st December rolls around and I curse myself for leaving it too late and promise that I will have one made by the next Christmas. Still didn't happen this year.

At 9:30pm on Friday night I was thinking again about how I really wanted to have an advent calendar and decided that I would make one THAT night! It had to be finished before I went to bed so that I could work out the activities over the weekend and be ready to start on Monday morning.

So, I am a week late, but we still have three fun weeks to take part in the family Christmas Countdown!!

It was actually good that I challenged myself to get it finished in the evening because it meant that I didn't spend any money on extra supplies and had to use what I had on hand already around the house. The scrapbook paper box was dusted off and I found quick and easy instructions online to make little envelopes out of a square of paper and used bits and pieces from my scrapbooking stash to number each envelope. I really, really like the look of this advent calendar, but didn't have the time to go to that much effort or detail. I LOVE the wooden frame and all of the funky bits and pieces (how cool is the crocheted number 3?) - maybe next year ;) Then I had to decide how to hang it all together...I thought about attaching some string to the walls with blutac but had visions of the kids pulling it down, or it falling down all the time. Then Mum suggested attaching them to a canvas - cool! Instead of buying a new canvas I grabbed a painting from the garage and covered it in fabric. (Nothing permanent, just used sticky tape on the back!) Some wool strung across the canvas and attached to the sides with drawing pins and then I used paper clips to hang the envelopes off the wool! DONE!!!
Today I took a look at my diary and worked out what activities we are going to do each day, wrote them down on slips of paper and stuck on in each envelope. The good thing about this is that I wanted to do a lot of the activities already but now I am sharing them with the kids and helping them to feel the Christmas spirit and hype! I'll try and blog about some of the activities as we go along...for now, this is the list (the other good thing is that the kids don't know what is coming up next so I can change it the night before if I need to!)

Day 7: Tree up and decorated
Day 8: Make and post Christmas cards to friends
Day 9: Make snickers rocky road
Day 10: Make paper chain decorations
Day 11: Hang candy canes on tree
Day 12: Go to the Cherry Shed for a milkshake
Day 13: Go for a walk along the beach
Day 14: Dance to Christmas songs and read Christmas stories under the tree before bed
Day 15: Family games night
Day 16: Bake Christmas treats
Day 17: Wrap and deliver Christmas treats to teachers
Day 18: Have breakfast for dinner (pancakes) and make Reindeer food
Day 19: Go to church Christmas party
Day 20: Make gingerbread houses
Day 21: Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn
Day 22: Make mini lolly wreaths
Day 23: Go to the Hawley Beach Shop after dinner for an icecream
Day 24: Open one present each early (Mum and Dad choose which one)
Day 25: Christmas!!! Have a FUN day!

SUPPLIES:
Envelope instructions from here
Envelopes made from various scrapbook papers (mostly Basic Grey) cut into 6" squares
Envelopes decorated with various scrapbook supplies from "the stash"
Canvas covered with Prints Charming fabric - Starburst in Charatruese
Scrap wool, draw pins and paperclips

.Fabric Scrap Card TUTORIAL.

My scrap box is getting WAY too big. Trouble is, I have a really hard time throwing scraps away...but I need to start doing something with them!

Fabric Scrap Cards! They are all over the internet, but I haven't been able to find instructions or a tutorial that is really quick and simple (i.e. NOT using fusible webbing, that's a bit too much fuss for a card!) - so, I had a play around and this is how I do it...would be fun to make Christmas cards or gift tags to go on your presents this time of the year!

.SWEEEET.

A selection of Sandi Henderson's new range "Meadow Sweet" arrived on my doorstep this morning (actually it was shoved in my meter box as we weren't home...the posty and I have an arrangement...) It is DIVINE! A bit of a retro/vintage feel mixed up with happy prints and rich colours. What to sew...

.Lego World.

He is getting too big.
Not so long ago it was all trains and train tracks. Now we are building, building, building.
It is mostly just him, but sometimes I get conned into studying the thick instruction booklets and hundreds of little blocks to make cars and trucks for him. It is HARD and frustrating, but once I start I have to admit I get a little bit hooked! Today I spent 1 1/2 hours making a cool red racing car and launcher (from Lego Tecnhic - that is tricky stuff...used to belong to my brothers). After about half an hour of playing with it, Oscar decided to make some modifications - everything "transforms" at the moment. I was horrified! After all that hard work!!! I keep reminding myself that he is learning and being creative and all of that other important stuff!

.Recipe Monday.

Have you been to Bakerella? Go there...you will drool. I've been making these truffles lately and they are G-O-O-D!!! Super easy and would make a great Christmas treat.

Oreo Truffles
2 x 150g packets Oreos
250g cream cheese
1 x 395g Nestle milk chocolate melts
100g Cadbury dairy milk chocolate

Blend or process the Oreos until they resemble fine crumbs.
Mix softened cream cheese into the ground Oreos.
Place mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes to harden.
Shape 2tsp mixture into small balls. Return to the fridge to harden.
Melt chocolate together.
Using two forks, dip truffles into melted chocolate and place on baking paper lined tray to set.
Decorate if desired by drizzling melted white chocolate or topping with sprinkles, lollies, etc.
P.S. Thanks for taking the pic Lisa!

.baby girl.

There have been a lot of baby girls born amongst my close friends lately...resulting in some baby present sewing!

This time, for some friends from playgroup. They have a five-year old boy and have wanted more children ever since. They had given up trying and then miraculously fell pregnant earlier this year so this little girl is EXTRA special!

I made her a minkee-backed baby blanket like the ones I made for Tommy here, here and here - they are my favourite! And a Lazy Day Hat to grow into for next summer.
SUPPLIES:
Blanket Fabric - Dena Fishbein, Diamond Sun Drop in Pink Rose
Blanket Binding - Erin McMorris, Park Slope, Floral Swirl in Pink
Hat Exterior - Erin McMorris, Wildwood, Flower Shower in Fuchsia
Hat Interior - Pink and White Spot, Unknown

.Refresh.

I was sick of my hair. Too thick, too dark, too kinky, too heavy.
So yesterday I paid a visit to the hairdresser. She was really good but S-L-O-W...3 1/2 hours later I looked like this:

Short, light, fresh.
I like it but the real test comes when I have to style it myself. I suck at hair.

(and see that little ratbag in the background? She was breaking stuff...shredding scented flowers that sit on the bookshelf. Then she went to time out.)

.Family of Four.

Inspired by Carli and Chelsea using scrapbooking rub-ons to decorate their wooden dolls, I made a family set for Aimee's birthday last week...
I love how they turned out - were SO quick and easy to make and look really cute. I think I will have to make myself a family set now!
SUPPLIES:
Wooden dolls came from here.
I used rub-ons from my scrabooking stash...lots of different brands.
Mod Podge over the top to seal and give them a bit of shine.

.Recipe Monday.

Aunty Margaret emailed me this recipe a while ago and we made it last week. It is super moist and tasty!

Apple Spice Cake

2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
125g butter
2 eggs
4 cups peeled, chopped apple
Brown sugar

Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon.
In another bowl, cream butter and sugar, then add eggs. Add to dry mixture.
Add apples and stir to combine.
Place mixture into a greased square cake tin. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven.

.For little girl #3.

When my friend Linda had her third baby girl in 4 years I knew that she would have enough clothes, toys, supplies and this little girl needed something unique...just for her...
Inspired by these cute little suits and with the help of some fabric paint and freezer paper (and this tutorial) I made her some t-shirts to wear when she gets a bit bigger...freezer paper stenciling is fun...Edit...a few people have been asking about the supplies I used for this project.
I bought the fabric paint from www.jovian.com.au - Pebeo Setacolor Opaque.
Since then I have discovered you can buy an additive that you mix with regular paint to turn it into fabric paint from Spotlight...this would be better as you can have ANY colour.
The freezer paper was from my local patchwork store. You actually can't buy this kind of freezer paper a regular supermarket in Australia (that I am aware of anyway). It is great stuff, shiny on one side and adheres to your fabric when you iron it on. Then easily peels away when you are finished with it without affecting the fabric. It can be re-used too.

.Mega-Giveaway Winners!.

Its been a whirlwind week...our car has been in getting fixed after the wombat incident so we have been housebound for 4 days. I thought it was going to be boring week and had a long list of things to do during our "quiet time" but for some reason I seem to have been going around in circles and not really accomplishing much.

I meant to sort out the giveaway winners earlier today but it didn't happen so tonight I took my list of entrant names in the car while I traveled to a church meeting with Ty and Mandi. Rather than using the computer generated random number picker, I got the Ty and Mandi to call out three numbers between 1 and 155 and the winners are...

FIRST PRIZE - The Kings

SECOND PRIZE - Beccasaurus

THIRD PRIZE - Lulu

Congratulations girls! If you can send me an email with your postal address then I'll get your prizes in the mail asap!

(And for those of you who know that Lisa is my cousin...I PROMISE you this wasn't rigged!! Her number was called out fair and square! And if you are a sewing friend or relative of Lisa's, look out...you might be getting a Make It Perfect pattern for Christmas this year!!)

.the loo.

Look who has decided she is interested in going to the toilet?

Problem is...she thinks that girls do it the same as boys!

It took ages to talk her into sitting on the seat and she was devestated that she couldn't stand up like Oscar!! Since then she has proudly done two wees though...fingers crossed this is the start of a quick and easy toilet training period!

.MEGA-GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

This weekend is Australian Quilt Market (AQM) in Melbourne. I went last year and had an awesome time. I REALLY REALLY wanted to go this year again, but we had to be practical and with Tommy, building the house and other factors we decided that I would sit it out this year. :(

The good thing is that Make It Perfect WILL be at AQM, thanks to my fantastic distributors, Creative Abundance (THANKYOU Nel, Jacques and co!!) but I won't be. I'm sad that I don't get to go and hang out with the other designers and chat with some of my wonderful customers, but will be there for sure next year!

SO...to celebrate AQM and thank you all for your support and encouragement over the last 18 months, I am going to have a MEGA-GIVEAWAY on the blog! There will be THREE prizes and lots of different ways to enter and get extra entries, make sure you read the "fine print" at the end of the post to make sure you have the best chance of winning.

FIRST PRIZE

1. You choose....between this ladies Versatile Wrap Skirt made from Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric (one size fits all)OR
2. This Bloom set made from Sandi Henderson Ginger Blossom fabric (size 3)

AND

3. A set of FOUR Make It Perfect patterns: Uptown Girl, Pinny #2, Pinny and Dinohunt Quilt.

SECOND PRIZE

1. A set of THREE Make It Perfect patterns: Pinny #2, Pinny and Dinohunt Quilt.
2. The current edition of Homespun magazine (I have a pattern featured in this edition...more about that later)
3. 5 "scraps" of fabric from my stash - these are decent sized scraps, fat quarter size and bigger.

THIRD PRIZE

1. A Make It Perfect Dinohunt Quilt pattern.
2. The current edition of Homespun magazine.

Okay, so now you know the THREE great prizes you might be winning...this is how you enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post = 1 entry
2. Email me a photo of your Make It Perfect creations = 1 entry for each creation
3. Leave a comment or email me a link to your Make It Perfect creations online (e.g. on your blog, Flickr, etc) = 1 entry for each creation
4. Blog about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment to tell me you have done it = 1 entry

So, there you have it...FOUR easy ways to enter the Mega-Giveaway. The winners will be drawn on Thursday 19th November, so you have heaps of time to take photos of your Make It Perfect creations and send them to me!!

.Recipe Monday - Guest Blogger.

Recipe Monday today comes from Nettie...she did an awesome post last week about these Chicken Puff Parcels she makes. My mouth was watering when I saw them and so I had to make them the next night for dinner! They were so good we had them 2 nights in a row!

Nettie has already done such a great job blogging her recipe so I'll just leave you with a link to her post instead of rewriting it all. Thanks Nettie!

Click here to go to Nettie's Chicken Puff Parcels recipe. You won't regret it!

.Slumber Party Jammies winner...

Congratulations to

TAM

You've won yourself a free copy of Slumber Party Jammies!

Send me an email with your contact details Tam and I'll post the pattern to you.

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments!

If you didn't win this giveaway...stay tuned...I've got a MEGA-GIVEAWAY coming up later this week!

.Pop's River.

On Saturday we attended the annual Billy Cart Challenge that is put on by leaders in our Church. This event has been going for quite a few years now and seems to get crazier every year! It is always heaps of fun and seems to draw a decent crowd! If you want to read more about it, head over to my cousin Lisa's blog. I took my camera but was tied up nursing Tommy and watching the other two so didn't get many good snaps.
This year the challenge had a new location...at Pop's river. It isn't Pop's river anymore, but was for many years (I'm guessing over 30?) and I think I was more excited to spend the day there than I was to watch the racing! It was a HOT day too, we kept the sunscreen up and managed to avoid getting burned, but by the end of the activity we were all so hot that a group of us decided to head to the old swimming hole and test the water. The water was cold, but very refreshing and so nice to reminisce and spend some time with family and friends down there again.
Triffitt Grandchildren...do you remember this:

On hot days Nan and Pop would drive the ute to Uncle Nick's house and pick up his kids and then stop at Uncle Kim's house and pick up his kids and then at our house and we would all jump on.

We would be in our bathers, with a towels draped over our shoulder. We took our positions on the back of the ute and they would drive us all (at least 10 kids and 1 dog) down to the river. This is about a 10 minute drive and not at all uncommon...if we tried to do it today I'm sure there would be more than one complaint that it is totally irresponsible and dangerous! Back then it was pure love and fun.

Nan and Pop would ride in the front of the ute, singing out every now and then:
"You kids alright back there?"
"Sit down Sandy!" (dog)
"Hold on tight, its going to get bumpy!"
"Is somebody holding onto Ty?"

The drive down to the river was just as fun as the time we spent swimming and playing. The gravel road is bumpy and windy and steep! We had names for different parts of the road:
"The Tunnel of Love"
"The Never Ending Hill"
"The Sacred Grove"

When we arrived at the river, sweaty and hot, we would jump from the back of the ute and run as fast as we could to the swimming hole. The bigger kids would jump right into the rapids and the smaller ones would play in the shallow water over the rocks. Nan and Pop would swim along side us. It was carefree and fun.

Nan would usually have a few snacks to share with us - fresh tomatoes from the garden sprinkled with a bit of salt, sultanas, nuts and if we were really lucky her famous little meringues.

We would arrive home feeling refreshed and tired from swimming and all that fresh air, I can still hear Nan and Pop call their goodbyes as we jumped off the ute and headed inside:
"See ya Midget"
"Bye Toni-Dear"

Pop's river has been a huge part of my life and I think I can say the same for every Triffitt grandchild. I was really sad when it was sold a few years ago but knew that it had to be. Spending some time there on the weekend was good for the soul.

Do you have any memories of Pop's river? Feel free to leave a comment and share...I would love to read them!!

.Feeling like this.

Yes...already!

The tree isn't up, I haven't even thought about gifts but I believe that the it is officially OK to start listening to Christmas carols on the 1st November!

Christmas carols make you feel good. I like to make sure I get 2 whole months of festive listening in for the year! Start listening today!!! 1. The Tree's Up, 2. Christmas Baubles Stored in Vintage Hat Box, 3. christmas hats, 4. My first Gingerbread House, 5. don't open 'til..., 6. Merry Christmas!!! ~ Take one each Please~~~, 7. Target Tuesday: Tree Tea Towel, 8. snow globe christmas cookies, 9. Vintage Christmas 3 0f 3, 10. Day 41/365: Merry Christmas, Flickrites!, 11. Christmas 2007 (our apt.), 12. Fabbbbulous vintage ornament wreath, 13. holiday rag wreath (1), 14. melting snowman, 15. OchristmasTree new (13), 16. holiday rag wreath (19)

.New Pattern Release!! SLUMBER PARTY JAMMIES.

New pattern release time...(and giveaway at the end of this post!)

Send the kids to bed in style with a pair of funky, cool, Slumber Party Jammies!
With a comfy elastic waistband and fun drawstring tie, they will be guaranteed a good nights sleep.When sewing Slumber Party Jammies as a gift, the matching drawstring bag makes a great gift bag which can later be used to hang on the end of the bed as a neat place to keep their jammies when they aren't being worn!

Head over to the Make It Perfect website to see more photos and check out the fabric requirements for Slumber Party Jammies.

If you have a store and want to stock this or any other Make It Perfect patterns, contact Creative Abundance to place an order.

If you would like to purchase a copy of Slumber Party Jammies for yourself, they should be popping up in retail stores very soon. Ask your favourite store to get one in for you!

Thankyou once again to Eden Lane Photography for a great job on the photography!

Would you like to win a copy of Slumber Party Jammies? Well, we better have a giveaway!
To be in the draw, leave a comment on this post. For a bonus entry, post about this giveaway on your blog, then come back and leave another comment letting me know that you have blogged about it!

(Giveaway will close Monday 9th November and winner will be drawn via a random number generator.)

.yummy scrummy double gauze.

Image Source

I know some of you are probably thinking...this used to be a sewing blog, what happened?

Rest assured, I am still sewing. Alot actually! The problem is that most of the sewing I have been doing is for the big project I have coming up. Fun for me and my pattern testers (well, I hope it is fun for my pattern testers!) but not so much fun for you if you are here looking for sewing stories!!

I have been having a play around with some double gauze fabric though. Have you sewn with this before? I've got a bit in my stash (which is getting a bit out of control actually, stash doesn't seem like an appropriate word for it anymore!) but have just been looking at it! I actually cut into a piece recently though and sewed up a new pattern for my secret project and I am hooked! It is so soft, drapes beautifully and has such a lovely texture.

Image Source

Read this great explanation about double gauze for more information.

And here is a sneak peek at my sewing using some gorgeous blue Heather Ross unicorns.

.House Update #1.

The house is moving along...here it is from the road. Frame is all up! It was so cool when we could actually go and walk through the rooms in the house. Finally it feel real. I can see the spaces and how everything is going to work out rather than try and visualise what it is going to be like from looking at the plans. Here are the kids hanging out...Oscar is sitting in a window and Lil is cruising around in the studio! I love that word..."studio"...really the room is a toy room/sewing room but studio sounds much more sophisticated!! It is going to be really good actually, it will have double french doors that open from the dining area so that I can be sewing and still be a part of everything that is going on in the rest of the house (although sometimes I would rather shut myself away!!) See how low the fence is to the neighbours house? Why do people build such low fences?! We are going to clad over the top of the fence using some of the materials we are putting on the outside of the house so that we have a bit more privacy!
This week will be fun as we see the roof taking shape.

So...moving onto colours...

I really like neutral houses. They always look clean, fresh and orderly. I admire people who can stick to a neutral colour scheme when decorating.

But I can't do it! It is a bit of a problem really, because I fall in love with EVERYTHING!!! I like too many colour schemes and want to use all of my favourite fabrics when decorating which usually equals an overload of colour. Oh, what to do?! I really thought I would be good at choosing house stuff - colours, tiles, carpet, etc. but I actually suck at it!

I have always loved green and knew that I wanted to incorporate it into the house somehow. You might remember this print I ordered awhile back? Jaron and I both really like the colours and I am going to try (really hard) to decorate using the lime green with a splash of rosy red.

This is what we have decided for the outside of the house...predominantly Colorbond Surfmist and Colorbond Woodland Grey. Then we are going to have a few accents of Nikau Palm and top it all of with the front door in Scarlet Ribbons. I am really excited about having a red door (it is not really red, more rosy red...scarlet sums it up nicely!). Jaron was at the paint shop this week and was asking a lady working there some questions. When she looked at our colours she goes, "um...are you sure?" Haha! She got me worried for a minute, but I don't care anymore! I have said before that we are on a tight budget and we are trying to create a home that doesn't look like every other new house in the neighbourhood (and there are a lot of new homes around here!). We really want to take a few risks and make sure the house portrays us and what we like. And its just paint...if we end up hating it we will just paint over! Inside wall and floor colours are going to be fairly neutral - that way we can do anything with the decorating. The walls will be Grand Piano (half strength) with Antique White U.S.A skirting and trims. Then we will throw in a bit of Baton for a few feature walls. Our carpet is a dark (but not chocolate) brown and we are still trying to decide on tiles.
Tada! That's it unless we change our minds in the meantime!! Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions for us (especially you Nettie!!)