a little house-keeping

Well, we're back from a fabulous week up north at the bach. It is always so nice to spend a bit of time away from the hustle and bustle that is Auckland. The girls and I enjoyed lots of swimming, walking along the surf beach, and of course the divine chocolate and coffee at Bennetts!!

School starts back next Tuesday (how did those summer holidays disappear so quickly?!)... so, all going to plan I'll be back up to speed next week. I have a huge 'to do' list, lots of new product ideas whirling around in my head... all I need now is some time do put it all together.

*****

In the mean time, I have listed a few little limited edition Valentines goodies in my felt shop. These are strictly limited to what is in stock, so get in quick.

*****

Also, just a little reminder about my Valentines giveaway which closes tomorrow, Sunday 29th January 2012.

All you have to do is like my facebook page (if you don't already) and tell me your favourite colour (and why, if you like!). You can comment here, or on my fb page.

Giveaway includes: 
5m of the most divine Italian, thick 100% cotton twine (red & white)
8 love letter seals
2 spools of Japanese washi tape (love hearts in red and white)
8 buff luggage tags
1 wee heart gift card

See you next week.
C x

Single Duvet Tutorial

My little one. Oh, sorry, my BIG 4 year old (as she is now known) was in desperate need of a new duvet cover. She 'accidentally' left a marker pen on her bed with no lid... all day... so you can imagine how the cover looked by bedtime!

She loved the balloon fabric (from Children at Play by Sarah Jane) that was lurking in my stash, so I finally sewed it up for her this morning.

If you are looking for a quick, and relatively cheap way to change your kids bedrooms up, then sewing a new duvet cover is a good solution. I always buy packs of sheets, but only ever use the fitted sheets. Which means I end up with quite a few crisp clean flat sheets hanging around looking for a purpose!

This is a very simple tutorial. Don't be put off by sewing large amounts of material, it really is just a matter of sewing a couple of straight lines (and your seams are mostly finished for you with the sheets and selvedge edges!).

Simple Single Duvet 'Tutorial'

what you will need:

1x single flat sheet (standard size 180cm x 265cm)
215cm of your little persons favourite fabric (112cm wide)
Pins
Thread
Sewing machine
Iron
Something for poking out corners (chopstick or similar) 

* Duvet cover finished size approx. 140 x 210cm

how to do it:
1. Firstly, take your piece of 'duvet' fabric, fold the bottom edge over 1/4" pressing as you go, then over again 1/4" pressing as you go, and stitch along the length.
2. Lay your sheet out flat (smoothing it out completely), right side UP.
3. Lay your measured duvet fabric on top, right side DOWN, with the side edge seams meeting on one side. And the bottom edge (that you just stitched) meeting the bottom edge of the sheet. It will look a little strange, as though your fabric is not wide or long enough for the sheet, but this is correct.

4. Using a 1/4” seam allowance, stitch the two pieces of fabric together down the long seam.

5. Now repeat for the other side, so you will end up with a large 'tube'.
6. Again, lay your fabric out flat on the ground. Using your 'eye' flatten the tube out so there is an equal amount of sheet fabric on either side of the duvet fabric.

7. Now, cut the excess sheet fabric off the bottom, across in line with the fabric. Pin across this top  raw seam. Using a 1/4” seam allowance. Stitch all the way across the top. Finish with a serger, or zig zag stitch to prevent fraying.

8. Pin along the bottom edge about 35cm, leave a gap, then from the other side, pin along about 35cm. This leaves you a good gap for turning and stuffing.

9. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, stitch across the bottom to the 35cm mark. Starting at the other side, stitch along the bottom to the 35cm mark.

10. Trim off any lose threads, turn your duvet cover right side out, iron flat and admire your gorgeous handy work!
11. You can add buttons or clasps to the bottom edge, but I just leave mine as it is (I am lazy and love quick projects, and changing bed linen easily!)

** You can also use the 'scraps' from your sheet as the backing for some little cushions, or even to make a pillow case to go with your duvet.

a little giveaway

Who fancies a little giveaway?

I have been having a bit of a 'New Year' clean up in my studio, and found some lovely wee stationery items, so thought, why not do a stationery giveaway in time for Valentines Day!

Let's keep it simple. All you have to do is like my facebook page (if you don't already) and tell me your favourite colour (and why, if you like!). You can comment here, or on my fb page.

Giveaway includes: 
5m of the most divine Italian, thick 100% cotton twine (red & white)
8 love letter seals
2 spools of Japanese washi tape (love hearts in red and white)
8 buff luggage tags
1 wee heart gift card

I will draw the winner on Sunday 29th January.

Good luck!
Cx

toblerone cookies

My sister (who is completely tinny when it comes to winning things!) won the BIGGEST Toblerone bar (4.5kg!!) the week before Christmas. In an effort to clear her house of chocolate, she has gifted 'chunks' of it here, there and everywhere.

So, in order to clear our house of chocolate, we decided to make some biscuits with it. 

TOBLERONE Cookies (slightly modified from this recipe) 

 

Ingredients

75g butter, softened
75g sugar
75g soft brown sugar
1 egg
175g flour
1tsp baking powder
100g Toblerone, roughly chopped


Method

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Heat oven to 180ºC.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Fold in the flour and Toblerone pieces. Place large teaspoons of the mixture on the baking sheets, allowing room for them to spread. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Cool on the baking sheets for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wirerack to finish cooling. The cookies can be eaten warm or cold.

Enjoy!

ottoman

I had a day with no 'little people' in the house, so I decided to tackle recovering an old ottoman.

We acquired this ratty old ottoman when we moved in (almost a year ago) and I have been meaning to recover it since then, so it was lovely to finally cross it off my never ending 'to do' list.

I had a few meters of bright, tropical, cotton upholstery weight fabric in my stash, so decided it may be safer to use that for my first attempt!

Thankfully the staples came out without too much trouble, and recovering the base was quite straight forward. When it came to sewing the cover for the box cushion, I loosely followed this post. I found it totally straight forward and simple to follow, and easily adaptable for what I wanted to achieve.

It has certainly brightened up a dull corner of my bedroom, and the girls have decided that it is a pretty cool spot to sit and read stories. The best bit is that I now know what to do, so when I am sick of the bright cover I can just recover it with something new!