Mandy in Oz

Sounds very cryptic, doesn't it? Perhaps because there is no relationship whatsoever between the bathroom renovation and my special mystery project, aka 'The Twins' In bathroom reno news - we're almost done! woohoo! Here are some pics of the marathon effort by J, and our dear friend M, that is the new bathroom. I love it, of course- just a few bits and pieces to do, and it's complete :) And The Twins. I first had the idea for this one some months ago - the picture for the centre panel of this quilt popped into my head and refused to leave. Hence, I had to put it down on paper, then proceed to make it. While in the process of making the centre panel, I realised that what it really wanted to be was a quilt. I then set about designing said quilt and making it. Needless to say, what initally was a 'relatively' simple project, became quite a bit bigger than I'd planned. Most of it is fabric that I hand dyed specifically for the project, there is fai

I haven't been around all that much online, or here on my blog - huge chunks of my time and creative energy have been consumed by a large and somewhat ambitious project I've been working on. Having a deadline for this one, meant that I really had to put my nose to the grindstone, so to speak - but it has all paid off. I'm ever so close to finishing........just a little detail work left to do, and finito! I have another project with a deadline now too, though I haven't worked out quite what I'm going to do for that one yet :S Better get decisive!

And wow, does she know how to do a giveaway, or what? :P Here it is!

Yep, there's a few ...well, maybe more than a few :P Brianna's quilt is nearly completed - just the binding to do on this one. Then there's my SSP, and I'm rapidly running out of time to finish it.....eep! a couple of nappies to applique, spinning to be done, fleece to process, knitting waiting in the wings......if only there were more hours in the day! I've also begun harvesting sweet pea and hippeastrum seeds from the garden ....there's heaps - plenty to keep and give to friends :P The little man is now 4 months old....a lovely, chubby fellow he is too! And then.... there's the bathroom renovation in progress. Oh yes - we're doing the bathroom. It's a very big job, I can tell you ;) Here's some work in progress pics. And that's it, for now. More later. You can go now. No, really. :P

She's a Sony alpha DSLR with twin lens kit......I love her :) A very early, couldn't wait to give it to you birthday present from my fabulous husband :P And to celebrate, here's some of the pictures I've been taking with her :) Here's a November Lily from my garden... Brianna being her usual quirky self :P......... Peekaboo baby....... The lovely Nadine.... .......who is impossibly photogenic *giggle* Jackson and Johnny .....Lily playing football.....

here it is :) This bag was pulled straight from childhood memories of living in the country, where we had what seemed like the longest driveway in the world. I have vivid recollections of making my way up that impossibly long driveway at dusk, after a full afternoon of playing, the sound of crickets and birdsong in the air. This one is a project bag, lined in cotton duck, with a couple of internal pockets and two different shoulder straps - one knitted in organic cotton, the other matching the cotton inner and fastened with snaps. The outer is hand dyed cotton/linen blend, embellished with a combination of cotton and wool material. I was sorely tempted to keep this one for myself, but alas! I used wool, so The Long Road Home will have to find a loving owner. And some more pics of my squishy little Jackson (who is now 3 months old OMG!) and the fabulously cute Lily.

Super awesome surprise giveaway over at the Handmade Heaven blog :) I was thrilled to discover recently, that this store is *very* local for me :P I've been quite productive lately, but will have to blog it later.....mundane chores are calling me *groan*

The lovely Corrie has a great giveaway up on her blog at the moment - check it out!

'The Child Within' is up now on Gossamer Dreams! I've had an incredibly vibrant cut of hand dyed cotton/linen sitting in my fabric pile for a while, just waiting for the right project. When I heard that this months GD theme was 'Spring Hippy', I knew that the right project had just arrived :P And wow! I'm in some seriously good company - there is some gorgeous stuff up previewing at the moment :)

I'm actually updating my blog more, now that I have a newborn in the house.....go figure :P I wonder how long I can refer to my little guy as a newborn for *giggle* As long as I want to, I think ;) Here's my big guy and my little guy. Things have been quite busy around here of late - we went out all weekend, which was quite tiring, but there were some great photo opportunities, hence I have some pics to show :) We went to Manly on Saturday to support a lovely lady who shaved her head to fundraise for cancer research, it was blowing a gale, which was actually quite a pleasant change from the 35 degree days at home. Then we toddled off to Bri's school fete on the Sunday, where Lily had her first face painting experience (a Fairy Princess, of course!). I've been working on some crafty endeavours also - Bri's quilt top is all cut out and ready to sew, and my secret squirrel project is just waiting on some snaps for closure. (Excuse the pun). I may even post some picture

Well, he's actually 6.5 weeks, but who's counting? lol. I think it must be some kind of cosmic joke, that the times in life that we want to really savour, go by at warp speed. I cannot believe just how quickly the last 6 odd weeks have flown by. Little Jackson has grown out of his really teeny newborn clothes and nappies already :S Gosh, he's growing fast! I believe Donna may recognise this shirt ;) In other news, I've been gathering some fabrics, to get cracking on Brianna's quilt. I hope to have it done by Christmas (lol!). I also have one in the works for Jackson, but I think I'd like to get Brianna's done first. My first attempt was a flannelette scrappy quilt for Lily - it actually came out quite well. I used all of my flannelette leftovers, plus a vintage sheet I already had and one I scrounged from my friend Bek, of The Cloth Nappy Shop ;) And finally, I've been working on bags again! I'm finding working with procion on cellulose fib

Since our gorgeous little man arrived :O I can't believe how quickly that has gone....waahhhhh! Unsurprisingly, there hasn't been a great deal of crafty goodness happening here - things are a little hectic. I have, however, been trying to make sure I capture plenty of the little guy on camera - you can't get that time back, after all ;) He's a super calm little guy still - makes me think of the sea turtle in Finding Nemo *giggle* Here's a couple of recent pics. The other thing that has been consuming my attention for the last week or so, is the Twilight books. They really are quite.....captivating. I must say, a very pleasant surprise for me - I almost didn't pick up that first book to read it, because of all the hype. Very glad that I changed my mind now :P And I've got this great idea for a bag....... And finally, a picture of the lovely Lily - isn't she a doll!

Our little guy is here! It turns out that I was in early labour on arrival at the hospital on Monday and little Jackson was born into water in the RBH birth centre on Monday afternoon, just like his big sister Lily :) He weighed 7lb 10oz (3.45kg), 52cm long with a 37cm head circumference (ouch!). A very tough labour, but well worth it in the end!

It's time for me to grab J and head to the hospy - eviction time for the little guy ;) I had really hoped that he might decide to come before now, but it seems I'm super comfy to live in *giggle*. Hopefully, my next post will have some squishy newborn pics :) See you on the other side of the birth :)

Yep - it's that time :P My magical 'due date' - I love the sound of those things, as they go whooshing by *giggle* So, in honour of this momentous occasion, I thought I'd do a blog post, maybe pop a couple of pics up. Here's my very first quilting project - A teeny bassinette quilt for the little one. I did a fair bit of free motion quilting on this - boy, is that trickier than it looks. I used organic cotton wadding and a natural colour organic cotton heavyweight flannel for the backing and binding. The front is assorted quilters cottons, with a cute little bunny appliqued on by hand. And here is my new nappy bag! I made it from the Amy Butler nappy bag pattern, with the Amy Butler Nigella twill fabric. It's lovely and big - I pack a lot of stuff when I leave the house, so perfect for me! And finally, a pic of Lily the baby girl (as she calls herself lol). Just because she's super cute!

Happy birthday gorgeous girl! Three today - wow, hasn't that gone quickly! We had a little celebration at home today - off to the island on the weekend, for celebrations with J's family. Here's the birthday girl about to attack her candles, assisted by dad ;) And in unborn one news - it would appear that I've reached the 'even my maternity shirts aren't cutting it' stage. A bit of baby belly showing there, huh? :P Only weeks to go now - must finish off some of my projects, must rest.....hmmm, wonder which will win out *giggle*

on Tanias blog at the moment! Got to love a good pattern and book giveaway ;)

are fun! Here are a couple of items that I've been meaning to make for ages, but just never found the time. Crafting along with a bunch of others just gives that little extra push to actually do it! So, thanks to the Nappycino knitalong and sewalong, I can now present.... My first knitting project created from raw fleece to final product - a calorimetry, knitted from my handspun alpaca fleece. I had originally been going to dip dye this once knitted, but I'm quite taken with the subtle colour variations in the natural yarn. So, natural it stays ;) Not sure if I'll keep this one or gift it yet.....I'll have to think on it. A group...ah bunch....hmmm what would be the correct term here for more than one pincushion? :P I made the flower one first - incredibly fiddly, but I quite like it...it's definitely staying with me ;) It's made from Amy Butler Nigella fabric for the base, with fuschia linen for the centre of the flower. The petals are a quilters cotton print,

Well, even though I feel as though I'm getting absolutely nothing done, I've had a look at my recently finished projects and wips and I've actually been quite productive, in between helping J with our ongoing renovations :) I've finally got the camera out and have taken some snaps, so prepare to be assaulted with images :P Here we have some recent spinning ... Some nappy making..... And some experimental dyeing on cotton yarn...... A teeny weeny spare ribs shoaker (love this pattern!) in acrylic of course....... Some bell bottom longies...... And a sneaky peek at a special bag for a Ravelry swap :) Be k and I had a big dyeing day yesterday, but I haven't got photos of the results just yet.....will update on that one later!