A Recycled Onion Bag

The other day I was showing a friend my treasure bag (from Homemade Home) and she said, oh what's wrong with an onion bag. Well it's not so pretty! but apart from that they don't have very good handles. So I cut out the black handle and threaded through some cord and tied the ends, and behold two new treasure bags....

Perfect for beach foraging! and a no-sew project that a kid could easily do. I must keep looking out for these onion bags. (Note for NZ readers... these are the ones from Pak'N Save!!)

Hexagons oh how I love thee...

Last night I finally sat down with my basket and started making these for I think Haines for the Bee Inspired quilting bee I'm part of. (Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, it's quite hard to work out which blog goes with which Flickr persona, or maybe I'm just being dense!) And it was lovely. I don't know why I put it off so long. Luckily for Natasha the next block is simply terrifying and so of course hers suddenly became do-able. I found myself dreaming of more hexagons, quietly coming together. Yes I must go and dig out my template!

Another couple of evenings and it will be done!

Day 8: Saying thank you!

Our advent calendar is working well, there are not activities every day, but on the days there are we try and get them done. It's a great way of getting all those little christmas jobs spread throughout December. Yesterday was make sweets for the teachers day. Last night the kids made Coconut Ice all by themselves (it's easy no cooking involved!) and this morning we put it into pretty tins and they wrote cards. I think it's nice for the kids to acknowledge the hard work their teachers do all school year... and homemade goodies are always good.

Our recipe is:
1 tin condensed milk
4 cups coconut
4 cups icing sugar

Mix all together and colour half pink. Press into a greased tin and put into the fridge till set.
Warning: It's addictive!

And the winner is...

Paula L who said....
What a wonderful giveaway! For Christmas I would love to get one of Tone Finnegen's books; love her work! Thanks for the chance to win.

I just want to say a big thank you to all who visited and promised to come back again (became followers), I do hope you all stick around and hang out with me sometimes!

And just for some eye candy, here is the quilt top I sewed together on the weekend, a block here, a strip there, till my house was tidy, the washing was done and also, almost by magic, a quilt top.

 I just love squares!

Sunday Stash...

For Sunday Stash this week, on the left my 'Fall' fabrics and on the right my Christmas fabrics for this swap. I checked at Spotlight before I signed up for these, but when I went back I couldn't find any fall fabrics. So I thought the fruits and the red and orange would be ok. I hope my swap partners like them!

This was a real score from the Salvation Army Shop this week. It is a size 28 skirt and massive matching top in a linen blend - so much fabric. It's a lovely feel, I want to use it for some sashing on a quilt.

I'm going to draw the winner for the giveaway tonight... last chance to enter today.

This weekend there has been a lot of this...

I tried out a sling from Homemade Home by Amanda Soule. I didn't take into account the fact that, um I'm a largish person and take up room in the sling! Anyway the kids can use the prototype. It's so so easy to make and the instructions are great.

I just couldn't resist putting together this pile of loveliness. I've been rewarding myself this weekend by sewing bits of these together.

You know... put away all the clean clothes.... sew a strip. Sort all the washing and put in the machine.... sew a strip. Tidy the kitchen and do the dishes.... sew a strip. And bit by bit all the nasty boring jobs get done and the piles of strips grow!!

Love this shot of the these three darlings looking up at me. The quilts in our home get a lot of use. I'm not precious with them. They are constantly in use as huts, as floor mats and as cuddly rugs.

Annie-Rose is sick with a cold
so we've been snuggled on the sofa all day.

She just fell asleep so I could pop in here quickly,

but I'm off to get a cup of tea while I can.

Hope you all have a good Sunday with your families.

Hope Valley

Thanks to Jenny from Cut.Sew.Iron.Repeat told me about Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley fabric (image from Trueup) Denyse really is a genius isn't she... there is something about her fabrics that really are appealing. I don't know if this is out yet, but I can't wait to get my hands on some.
[Edit - found some here]

For the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, click here!