Sewing with Lucia!

Wednesdays has to be my most favourite day. It is my day to be in the studio and be creative! It is also the day i have a one on one lesson with Lucia in the afternoon. Lucia first attended a Learn to Sew workshop at the studio during the school holidays. She now comes every Wednesday for an hour of FUN and INTENSIVE sewing. I have been blown away by her enthusiam to sew...and her amazing talent.

Every week there is something new to learn and make. Today she learnt about seam allowances, pinning, selvedge edges, freyed edges and the importance of overlocking (or in her case zig -zag).

Today our project was a 6 panel skirt - so lots of practice doing a 1cm seam allowance and lots of zig zag.

Pinning the seams together with lots of concentration and care.

Of course Jessica sneaks in every now and then. She is sewing up felt puppets for her school class. My how time flies when you are having fun..it can't be 5.30pm. This is definately a two week project so be sure to follow on next Wednesday and we will hopefully have the skirt ready to wear home! Job well done Lucia.
Elizabeth x

My first classes!

The school holidays here in Coffs Harbour were so wet and rainy that of course what could be better then running a few sewing classes. All the girls had fun learning more about how to use a sewing machine, making bags, headbands and patchwork pillowcases!! It was also lovely to have the studio filled with happy chatter, whirring sewing machines, busy fingers stitching and the joy of going home with something handmade.....

I am sure we did not even think about the rain once!

Elizabeth x

Vintage Nest Delivery!

Just in time for the holidays i delivered another order to the Vintage Nest in Bellingen. My order this time was made mostly from gorgeous old teatowels and tableclothes.


This is one of my favourites. I just adore pastels and flowers.
I have decided though that when stretching fabric over a canvas it is better to use a canvas frame with thick sides (about 4cm). It is also worth buying a quality frame when using large pieces of fabric as they will keep their tension better.

These two cushions are made from a gorgeous Japanese print fabric.

Well i had better go and savour my last 10 minutes of normality before i pick up the kids for the next two weeks of holidays. Lots of fun things planned...and no lunches to pack..yippee.

Elizabeth X

Frolic in Fabric at the Fair

It was a most wonderful day at the Village Fair today! After so much rain this week it sure was great to wake up to a gorgeous sunny day and to be apart of a very successful Fair at Bishop Druitt College. My stall was one of the 70 stalls assembled, not to mention amusement rides, pony rides, the wetpac helicopter, woodchopping and much more.

These are my very colourful peg boards, for pegging all those miscellaneous notes and pictures. Most handy indeed.

Lovely linen table runners all rolled up!

Cute as a Doll!

At the end of the day one of these gorgeous bags was raffled and the winner was "Brodi" of Brayside Preschool. Big Congratulations to you Brodi.
Also a big welcome to anyone who dropped by my stall today and is reading my blog for the first time.. Please take the time to make a comment as i would love to hear from you. Well it certainly is time for SLEEP..it has been a big day.

Elizabeth x

Foxy Baby Bag

Good friends of ours are expecting baby number 4 any day now and I was asked to make BIG bag to fit in ALL the baby gear (and soccer gear and.....). So here it is!

I ended up changing the button for a toggle as it worked much better and i think it looks better too.

And of course I had to include a little rattle for bub, which just fitted snug in the inside pocket.

OH! and i still love to bake!!

Mmm.. Must be time for a cuppa and a cupcake or two.....

Elizabeth X

The Royal Party!

After hours of sewing, days of preparing a pinjata and pass the parcel, cakes, lolly bags.... and so on, the day of my littlest's 5th birthday had finally arrived. It was to be a royal party with all the princes and princess of the town invited.

Here come two of the galant princes arriving on horseback of course with gifts of precious jewels and diamonds!

And what little princess does not enjoy to burst as many bubbles as she can get her hands on?

Something funny was being said between these two cousins..but just what i am not sure? Perhaps it was just the simple joy of having a bag full of lollies.....

Well it certainly was a great celebration.

Elizabeth X

Labour of Love and Love it i DO!

What is the large table for you may be wondering? Well, it is the handy work of my amazing husband who without a shed, and even in the rain he has laboured over this 3 metre long 45cm wide table top. It is made from left over floor boards from the studio.

Fortunately for Ty the sun was shining today as he was adding the finishing touches!

And there you have it......the most amazing table for my sewing machines ever. The legs are from an old Singer sewing machine base that was actually left at our house when we bought it.

I just love the rusty old look - the poor thing has been left outside in the weather for years so it is really great to have it in pride of place in the studio. I thought i had better take a photo of it now as I am sure the next photo you see of the table it will be covered in so many fabrics and goodies that you probably won't even recognise it!!

Till next time

Elizabeth X