It's my birthday and I'll cough if I want to

The upside to bronchitis.. lots of time spent cuddling the kids and finishing off projects, like

... finishing the binding on a simple baby quilt of Michael Miller dots on one side and white quilters muslin on the back quilted in simple diagonal stripes running between every second row of dots

... a knitted Floral Cloche for Bella in Bendigo Mill's Luxury 8ply in Stone with a flower in Bendigo's Melody in Crimson

... and a Chunky Monkey Vest (Ravelry link) for Bella which used a whole single ball of Bendigo's Classic 12ply in Almond

On the weekend we caught up with some friends and my parents for my birthday. Lucky me got a trip to Melbourne from Mum & Dad to see Mary Poppins with extra tickets for Bella & Mum to come too... Bella LOVES airplanes and hotels (hmm wonder where she got that from) so she is so excited about our girls weekend away. Some spending money from Dean & the kids and I'm looking forward to my trip away again in a few weeks! Spoilt, right?

Mum & Dad also gave me this picture they took recently of the kids at their house when they setup my old tent for them to have a play in

how sweet...

Topped off with a Roast Lamb made by Dean and a chocolate cake (made by me, but thats ok, I make nice cakes :-) ) and a family outing for the first time to the movies (Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express) it's been a pretty good birthday...

And the winner is....

Congratulations Zofia!

I've sent you an email and your new clutch will be on it's way soon.

Thank you to all 381 (YIKES) people who commented. Such lovely comments from everyone and looks like little Heather Ross Hexagons are a big hit. All your lovely comments certainly made me feel better after spending all week with bronchitis and asthma.

Sew It Together : Saturday & Sunday

Saturday at Sew It Together was craft day... up early to get some breakfast then into the boardroom at the hotel with 60 crafters...

I'm not sure how much crafting actually got done with all the lovely conversations, catch ups, meeting new people that was going on, but for what its worth I did make some progress on a knitted baby blanket and finished a hexagon kit provided by Corrie.

Everyone was lucky to get a goodie bag bursting with things...

And I also managed to score a couple of lovely gifts from Toni

and Liesl. The bag was claimed by small children before it was even out of my suitcase, but it WILL be mine.

I also got to meet and pickup my new book I bought from Tinniegirl too.. love it

Saturday night was dinner at an Italian in Lygon Street... very nice

On Sunday before my flight back I caught up with Toni and her gorgeous little girl Maddie. We visited the markets at the Melbourne Arts Centre then lunch at the Chocolate Buddha in Federation Square.

(Pieced name badge thanks to Bianca)

Sew it Together was fantastic, and if only I hadn't bought bronchitis back with me from Melbourne that I'm still not recovered from, I would have much more exciting posts about it, and more than just a copy and paste of images from my phone.

Sew It Together : Thursday & Friday

I know I haven't blogged about Sew It Together in Melbourne yet, well I haven't really blogged about anything in a few weeks... bronchitis, birthdays, kids activities... you know the drill. Days quickly fly by.

Sew it Together was fantastic! Sheridan did a fabulous job putting it all together and I can't wait for 2011 in Sydney.

(Ink & Spindle teasing us with printing a batch of Birch in Chocolate that is not available anymore.)

Friday we spent being chauffered around in a mini bus to visit Amitie, Patchwork on Central, Ink & Spindle and finally a soiree at Nikki's. I managed to get an invite to dinner with blog celebrity Fi, knitter-extrodinare Sooz, Bianca, the world's funniest cop Abbe AND Lara and Tegan from Ink & Spindle. Great fun.

For Hubby

Next up I'll post about the Craft Day on Saturday and some MORE goodies...

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway

Update: Thanks everyone for joining it! Giveaway is now closed

It's that time again, Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! Hello and welcome to the new visitors to my blog. Thanks for popping by.

So since you've found your way here, you probably want to know what's on offer, right? Last week I made up this clutch to take to Sew It Together, but then made another that I took instead in black linen (photos coming soon), so my original linen clutch with Heather Ross hexagon's is up for grabs.

I'm happy to ship internationally. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post before midnight on May 20. Make sure you leave me a link to your blog or email address so I can track you down if you win.

Baby Gift Basket

One of our neighbours had a little boy on Thursday. We are lucky to have fantastic neighbours around us including a bunch of great ladies who all get on really well. We decided to put together a little "Welcome to the World" basket for the little baby Vincent and his parents.

My contribution was a personalised print, a card, appliquéd bodysuit and paper-pieced ball ...

Now all the gifts and a big box of nappies are just waiting for the new family to come home. I plan on attacking them not long after for a big dose of newborn baby cuddles.

Paris Necklace

A few weeks back, spending time browsing on etsy (a vortex of time and money), I came across a little charm of the Eiffel Tower. I knew exactly who needed it. Next thing I knew it I had all sorts of chains and notions in my shopping cart and on their way to my house with the mad idea of making a necklace for her birthday.

I was really happy with the end result...

And now somehow I have a drawer full of chains, charms, jump rings, flowers etc. etc. Guess what everyone I know having a birthday soon will be receiving.

And the winner of my 500 post giveaway according to the Random Number Generator site is the super-lovely Ellyn. It seems fitting that the winner is Ellyn, she is one of the lovely friendships I have made thanks to blogging that I mentioned in my post. Thank you to everyone who commented, I wish I had time to make you all something.

Hexagon Clutch

A new clutch for me with 7 Heather Ross fabric hexagon's.

I got my 200mm chunky purse kit from Nikki and just ordered another clasp to make one in a black linen for night time. I can't wait to visit her shop in person at Sew it Together NEXT week.

To do list... be gone...

To do list... be gone... it's been a busy week for my sewing machine!

A cover for my new notebook, accessorised with the button brooch I made at Dear Fii'sworkshop at last years Stitches & Craft.

Something for Mother's Day for my Mum from the QFD Creative website tutorial (thanks to Melissa for the link!) ...

Teapot cozy & set of matching napkins

And a new toiletry bag for me after a little splurge on Mac cosmetics this week. Fabric is from cloth with a couple of free-sewing circles I added.

On Thursday I received an early birthday present from the super-lovely Ellyn.. the latest copy of Stitches. (Fantastic magazine full of patterns by the way.)

Thursday night, using the measurements and instructions from the magazine but using a panel from The Red Thread with a couple of added embroidered details, I put together a lingerie laundry bag. One side for clean, the other for dirty. Perfect for my little Melbourne trip.

Now to get back to the last half of the quilting for a baby blanket.