Christmas Blogger Swap

Earlier this year I took part in a blogger swap which was run by Char over at t*rexes and tiaras, when I  e-mailed Char I said it would be nice to have a partner in New Zealand or Australia to keep down the postage costs.

I got lucky this time around as I had a fellow Kiwi as my partner who is also into sewing! Kirsty from Tea and Rainbows.

Kirsty and I also follow each other on instagram so she totally had my likes down (and hopefully I had hers as well). I didn't take pictures of the things I sent to her because I'm hopeless, but here's all the goodies I recieved.

That big blue package? It's a couple of metres of this cute crocodile fabric complete with matching thread. The fabric reminds me of these lollies. I'm not totally sure what I will do with it yet - I'm thinking maybe a dirndl skirt? Any ideas?

 Next up is this toki doki unicorn blind box! The unicorn inside is just so damn cool - its kind of a unicorn tiger hybrid. It's now in our kitchen next to doughnut cat, a little bunny I bought in Japan town in San Fransisco and some kinder surprise toys because we are adults.

Next up is this package wrapped in Hello Kitty paper - its a Hello Kitty measuring tape! Two of my favorite things in one package!

Finally the kinder surprise egg - it came with something for kids, this bracelet which is too small for me (I mean really stuff only for kids what were they thinking). I might give the bracelet to Sophiia next time I see the family.

Little zig zag dress

A few weekends ago, my lovely friend Joy was kind enough to feed my obsession with knit fabric and take me out to Te Rauparaha Area in Porirua to feed my stretch fabric addiction.

Levana was having a fabric sale and I wanted to get my hands on some pretties.

I usually leave these kinds of things with a rainbow of colours - but this time it was mostly black, grey and green. I do often think "I need more plain stuff to balance out the crazy" but I hardly ever actually BUY the plain stuff to balance out the crazy.

I did buy a lot of stretch fabric and the good folks at Levana were very generous with the length of fabric they were cutting! I'm sure you guys will see loads of stuff from the fabric I bought on this wee morning out.

Let's start with my first outfit - a zig zag Moneta dress. I know - ANOTHER Moneta dress, but when you find something that works for you I think you should just run with it!

I remember fabric like this being really popular in the ninties - but I never had any of it! Now I can make my dreams come true. Here's a close up of the fabric - just ignore the tights, they picked up all kinds of fluff from sitting on the floor.

The nice thing about a grey dress is that I finally have something to wear this little green cardigan with - its pretty cute.

Especially the applique on the back - who doesn't love foxes!

I wore this outfit to the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Christmas get together which included a Christmas decoration swap!

My partner was Zara - I was kind of having a mental block as to what I should make her, then inspiration struck on the day before the swap! A sewing themed Christmas wreath.

She looked so happy when she opened it - Laura looks pretty impressed in this photo too!

My secret santa was Allison - I have only met Allison a couple of times, but she already knows me pretty well! This is what she made me - super adorable.

I was pretty excited to get a perfect Hello Kitty from my secret santa! That's Nicola wearing a perfect handmade Christmas dress in the background.

We don't have a "real" tree in our apartment - but I put Hello Kitty next to our "mini" tree.

Hope you guys have all had a good start to your Christmas week! Also thanks to Sandra for the photos from the WSBN Christmas party.

Swap Failure - GIVEAWAY!

Happy Saturday guys - so I have some bad news for me and some good news for you guys! I recently signed up to a complete a "Box of colour" swap on Craftster.

However, my partner seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth and as such the organiser of the swap has advised me not to send the package of stuff I made, as I'm unlikely to receive anything back. I've done a lot of swaps and this is the first time this has happened, and it kind of sucks.

Luckily, I can use some of the package for another swap I'm currently taking part in, but it does leave me with a few handmade items with no home to go to - so I figured why not have a giveaway. 

My partners colour choice for the box of colour swap was black - so here's a few of the things I made which are now being given away right here on the blog.

First up is this apron - its the same pattern I used to make Jess' apron, the main fabric I received in a swap and the check fabric I picked up in the Arthur Toye closing down sale. It DOES need an iron, I had it all folded up for sending and it got a bit crinkled.

Here's a close up of the wee pocket - I'm getting pretty good at pockets!

I'm also going to include a whole bunch of buttons I made from fabric scraps I have - I bought a button making kit when I was in the USA last year. These are really fun to make. 

So if you want to win these things, all you have to do is leave a comment below and tell me about your worst baking/cooking related disaster! The giveaway will be open for two weeks, I will announce the winner on Sunday 23 May and I'm happy to send anywhere in the world. Good luck guys!

Jubilee Swap!!

Like many others out there in the blog-o-sphere this year I decided to take part in the Jubilee Swap organised by Lakota over at Faith, Hope and Charity Shopping.

My partner was Max over at Blackbird has Spoken and she spoiled me with a super cute package full of all the things I like - a bunny, Hello Kitty, skulls, accessories and craft supplies.

First up is this cute and quirky bunny - we really need more cushions too!

Here he is hanging out with my DIY domo pillow - I realised when I downloaded this photo it looks a little bit like domo is eating the bunny!

My other goodies were packed into this cute little cardboard box which I really loved - its just adorable.

I'm now using it to store some of my beads - its just the perfect size!

She also sent me this amazing trim - I've wanted some of this for AGES but Wellington op shops are so well picked over you never find anything as fabulous as this. The only question is what to do with such fabulous trim?

Here's the rest of my goodies - so many awesome bits and pieces -Magnet Hello Kitty bookmarks, lips brooch, bracelet, skull patch, button (it has an anchor on it) and hair clips with a British Stamp which are pretty fabulous!

Finally, the cute handmade card that was included in the package. Thanks so much Max and yes, everything is to my taste!

Let's bring back the dolie!

Last night I had a craft swap with my craft group the Crafty Foxes. The theme was "housewife" which was a little bit of a struggle for me.

After working though a few different ideas I finally decided to make some dolies and here they are. I actually bought the dolies from my local craft store Goldings and I embriodered them with Subline Stitching designs.

I was really happy with the way they came out - I think it's the best embriodery I have ever done.