Gifts for small people

2 small friends.
Both turning 5.
Both about to start school.
Both with names starting with 'A'.

Happy birthday you guys!

Andi xx

The Beehive is back!!

Round 2 of the Beehive has kicked off with a bang.

Meg (a mad quilting librarian) has requested book shelf blocks using our own scraps. You should have a look at some of the amazing blocks offered by our other Beehivers.
Here are my offerings:

An homage to books arranged by spine colour.

and ...

I've added bookends to this one but I left one of the bookends unattached so Meg can place it where she likes on the 'shelf'.

I've posted them off today Meg. I hope you like them.
Can't wait to see how this quilt comes together.
It's going to be a ripper!!!

Andi x

A place of her own (and some Patch Andi news)

I've always loved the feeling of snuggling up in a confined comfy space. A cubby house full of cushions or a tent filled with mattresses and bean bags.

My kids seem to like that same comfy 'womb-like' feeling. So this summer, my crafty goals have been to create a fun and snuggly place for each of them in their bedrooms.

For Ella, I designed a "bed tent" that gives her that snuggly feeling but doesn't diminish the sense of light and space in her rather small room.

So I used some pretty fabrics from the Dream On range, recycled the bunting from her room and added some sheer netting to create the tent surrounds.

So far, she loves it so much, it has already fallen down and I need to come up with a better way of securing it to the ceiling. I have a plan but just need to get to the hardware store to buy supplies.

Jake's space is still a WIP so I'll show you that when it's finished.

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And now for that Patch Andi news:

My husband (together with me) has made some decisions about his working life this year that mean I will have to ramp up my own earning somewhat. This probably means reducing my crafting and going back to my other career which pays better and still offers significant flexibility.

Nothing to worry about. We're OK. Just changing things up a bit this year which is good.

So, I'm still happy to accept quilt commissions but won't be actively seeking them out. I'll still be blogging and crafting, but perhaps a little less regularly.

I am hoping to do some crafty teaching this year to keep my creating mojo humming along. Stay tuned for more details.

Andi xx

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

(Apologies to Mr Dickens)

The last week has held some real highlights and some major lowlights.

With a family trip planned to Ballarat to visit some lovely stitchy friends for a picnic, and then some good old family fun at historic Sovereign Hill ... what could possibly go wrong?

Well to start with, Mr Patch Andi came down with tonsillitis and couldn't come along.
But we pushed ahead with our adventure, leaving the Mr to get a couple of days of much needed rest.

We (my kids, my parents and I) arrived in Ballarat at chez Ric Rac late on Tuesday morning where Jodie and her son Connor were the hosts with the most.

Jodie had even 'made' bikkies for the kids.

We were soon joined by Kate and her girls, Rachel and her Maya and Lizzie. We all wondered off to the local park for a picnic.

Here are a few more shots. (Check out all the quilts we bought to use as picnic rugs)

Annie joined us a bit late as she was rather busy finishing her latest creation!!!

There was even some impromptu creating going on ...

After the delightful picnic, I sent my parents and kids off to check in to our accommodation while the girls took me to visit a local icon.

Oh the pretty fabric ....

I was seeing spots!

(These pretties came home with me along with a few other delicious selections!!)

Thanks Emma for being so very hospitable.

SUCH a very lovely afternoon! Thank you to everyone for coming along and playing with us city folk!!

Soon after leaving Ballarat Patchwork, I got a grumpy call from my dad wondering when I would be resuming my parenting responsibilities. Oops!!

A happy family dinner followed, then back to the hotel to rest up for a fun day of gold panning and ye-olden-days-lolly-eating the next day.

Unfortunately, my Ella woke up with a tummy bug so she and I went straight home, leaving my parents to take Jake around Sovereign Hill. They had a lovely day.

We'll get back there one day .... all of us!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Andi xx

A 2010 crafternoon

I have been remiss in not posting about a lovely (cr)afternoon spent with Bec and her daughter Sibby last week.

Bec and I shared in a super cheap fabric deal and we took the opportunity for a fabric hand-over and had a bit of a catch up!

I didn't manage to get any shots of the kids but here's a bit of what we got up to:

Bec gave me Ella a divine vintage book with the most awesome illustrations.

And she also gave me a vintage pillow case with the sweetest print on it.

We played with lots of Hama Beads

Ella did a bit of this:

while the bigger kids did a bit of this

and just as Bec and Sib were leaving (and having a nibble on some walnuts), Bec mentioned making walnut shell boats ... so Ella and I did that too

A lovely time had by all.
You can read about it at Bec's blog too!

Happy new year to all.

I hope you had a sparkly one!

Andi xx