Oops sorry!

Okay you two. Who did it? Marley was it you?

Jasper! Did you do it?

Nope not me. Look nothing on here.....Aaaaaahhhh!

...and nothing.... under here.....

Marley..... you're looking guilty... who did it? Come on own up.

Hmmmm....  well.....   it wasn't me.... but......

Look again.... see N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!!

No remorse!

"Sorry Teacher but....

........the dogs ate my homework."

Marley, Paris and Sewing

Milly from Milly's Stitches kindly shared the link to this lovely design she just completed the other day on her blog. Thanks Milly! I've ordered it for myself.

You can read Milly's post on this little fellow over here:

http://thegentlestitcher.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/sam-is-finished.html

It's from a cross stitch range called

"Sam and Peeps"

Here is the link if any of my Cavalier friends would like to give it a try.

http://www.goldleafneedlework.co.uk/

It reminded me so much of Marley when he first came to live with us at 8 weeks old.

He was soooo cute!

See - he even sits like Sam from "Sam and Peeps".

As I have one little person here who is mad on mice I just had to order this design too.

Jasper caught in the act!

I've been wondering why the back of our lounge was always looking squished down when we got home from going out. I often leave the dogs in the outdoor room now if it looks like it's going to rain. Yesterday we caught Jasper sitting up here sunning himself.

Looking very comfy there Jasper.

Before I got the link for 'Sam' from Milly, I scoured Ebay looking for a Cavalier design cross-stitch and found this one over at Fido Stitch Studio from the UK on Ebay. It was very reasonably priced and it just arrived today. This one will be for me. More of a grown up Marley. Only a small design it might look nice above my desk.

I've been busy setting up my sewing corner lately too and finding new places to store my stitching stash. It used to be in odd bod boxes and folders all over the house. Now that I set up a sewing corner I decided to bring it all together in one place.

These are the little drawer openings under the desk. I found these gorgeous little white boxes at Officeworks. Unfortunately the lids won't fit on them in here, but I found a use for the lids inside the sewing table drawers for loose little items like pins, needles etc...

A box for Ric Rac....

One for zippers.......

....and one for miscellaneous bits and pieces.

I also used the bookshelf in the office to collect together all my cross stitch magazines, books....

patterns......

....scrapbooking items for the kids, fabric for sewing, and a lovely big box for the cross-stitch kits and hoops I scored just last week on Ebay

I saw this bulk lot of cross-stitch items being sold by a lovely New Zealand lady named Judith who has just moved out here. She said she used to own a craft shop in NZ but has now retired and got rid of ALL of her cross-stitch stash and won't be doing cross stitch anymore. I can't imagine ever giving up cross-stitch. She said she had nobody to pass it on to over here and sold it to me for next to nothing. I couldn't believe all the items she gave me in this huge big bag for such a minimal cost. I am so grateful. I also couldn't believe I was the only one bidding on this bulk lot of stuff. She wasn't asking that much and once I had it all sorted out there were over 12 cross-stitch kits, around 20 or so frames and hoops of all different sizes, and over 200 pattern leaflets and magazines as well as the first 8 issues of Sampler and Antique Needlework printed in the early 1990s. They have the most lovely sampler designs in them.

  It's really too much for me to use so I will be listing some of them on Ebay or sending some on to other cross-stitching friends. There are only so many designs one person can do in a lifetime. I think I have more than enough.

I got these boxes at 10 for $20 from Officeworks. They are really strong and sturdy cardboard with reinforced metal edges. They keep my sewing things like velcro and bias binding, my crochet handkerchiefs which I will share with you another time. It's a craft I learnt to do in Austria when I was only 12. the bottom box is for spare odd bits of floss. There are still a few more bigger boxes of kits, fabrics, linens and floss I need to organize.

Here is my current WIP

Weekend A Paris

I'm really enjoying this one.

It's stitched on cream 14ct Aida with 2 threads.

I will share the final result with you when it's done. I'm not as fast as some of you, having two small children I don't get as much time to stitch as I would like.

Swap Cards in the 1970s

Back in the 1970s when I was a little girl just starting school collecting swap cards was "the craze" in Melbourne where I grew up. It was one among other crazes like playing jacks or jumping elastics for girls or playing marbles or Matchbox cars for boys.

 

Once a week my sister and I would get 20cents to go down to the local Newsagents where we could buy 5 swap cards for our 20c.

Collecting sets or pairs was the aim.

Most of the Swap Cards were blank backs, but some were actually proper playing cards.

Being the collecting little hoarder I was growing up I very neatly kept all my swap cards in 3 card boxes.

...and after 40 years later they are still like brand new

I recently found a swap card album on Ebay and transferred all my swap cards into it so that my daughter can now enjoy them the way I did.

Whilst looking for the album I discovered that swap cards are still out there. Not so much a childrens hobby anymore but being collected by others like myself who have hung on to them over the years.

I was also surprised to discover that some of these 5 for 20c cards are now worth $7 - $10 each. Though I don't know who would pay that much for them I was still pleasantly surprised to think that my childhood collection has grown in value.

Collecting dogs, especially puppies was my main passion and these are just a few of the different ones I still have.

When I was five we had a Border Collie just like the black and white one above. His name was Troy. So this card was one of my very very favourites.

These little kitten one were the very first cards I got when I was just 5 years old.

As well as dogs and cats and other animals (I have a substantial horse range too, too many to show on here) I also loved collecting the little girl range.

Don't you just love the girl in the pink dress on the swing. I used to imagine that was me in that lovely flowing skirt and the big hat.

This was another very popular range. I remember some of the girls at school having so many of these but I only got these five.

The Japanese Manga girls. Loved their sparkly eyes.

Cute little Teddy Bears

...and I still just ADORE these two little elephants

Pandas

...and ofcourse what would the 70s have been without the Holly Hobby range.

Well! We think Marley and Jasper would make a cute Swap Card for the 2000s.

What do you think?

Did you collect anything when you were a child? I'd love to know.

A Little Bit of Eeeeee!

Have you ever had one of those moments on your blog when you are totally somewhere else on the web and you see one of your photos tagged linking back to your blog?

 After two years of blogging I had my first accidental discovery of that today. I was reading "World of Cross Stitching" and discovered they'd featured one of my cross-stitch smalls on their Pinterest Board under "Amazing non WOXS stitchings". It was very exciting to think someone liked my work, as small as it is. As insignificant as it may seem to others our own work has so much meaning to us and there is love in every stitch that we cross-stitchers make and a story behind the reasons we choose to stitch what we do. This pincushion (from my post on Little Finishes) has been in our family for many years now. It belonged to my father who was a tailor in his younger years back in Austria. Even though he didn't continue in this trade once he came to Australia he has been sewing all his life until recently. All my life I grew up wearing clothes he made. He made suits for himself and my brothers and even made my sons first suit when he was only 6 months old.

Until just six months ago Dad refitted all my skirts because I lost so much weight on my quest to become fit and healthier. So this little pincushion as small as it is, has played a big part in my life and that of my family and so.....

....it was important for me to preserve it from it's deteriorating state of this....

Design: Assisi Pincushion

Family Circle Cross Stitch Magazine

...to this! So that now my children can pass it on and the story that goes with it.

What's In Mum's Cupboard

My beautiful friend Anita who I've known forever has a craft business in Brisbane. She makes up these gorgeous bead bracelets and sells them at all the local Brisbane markets.

This is the one I'm getting. I'm so excited Anita. Thankyou. It's just gorgeous.

Her blog is called

What's In Mums Cupboard

You just have to check out all her wonderful creations and her Superhero range of beads are so cool!

Mums Cupboard Etsy Shop

Cushion Mania...

So I'm a bit hooked on sewing cushions lately since buying our new sewing machine.

I made those few smaller ones I showed you and now that I've got the hang of it I want to start remaking all our bigger cushions around the house.

I found this lovely cream embossed off cut piece at Spotlight for 99c. I wanted to make two cushions but it was only enough for one so this is my first attempt at a full sized cushion cover. I had just enough material left over to make a memory board for the office/sewing room and so this cushion is now for my sewing chair.

Then I used this cross stitch piece which I've shown you before. It used to be sewed loosely onto an existing cushion cover years ago before our children were born but I took it off to avoid damaging the stitching while they were babies....

.... and so now I've resewed it making it up into a cushion from scratch.

I used some ric rac on the sides.

... and some lovely old buttons from Oma's button collection and sewed it onto a taupe coloured off cut piece of corduroy fabric I also bought from Spotlight for $1.99. Love those off cuts for cushions. Guess who's going back to Spotlight ASAP to find some more!

This is my computer desk chair.

Someone just had to stick his little nose into this photo!!!