One Week

Tomorrow, my little sister and her lovely husband will have been married for one whole week! The wedding was simply amazing; the weather held, and the Bride looked absolutely stunning in her very posh frock (complete with full veil even!) - the gorgeous couple looked adorably happy and "oh-so-in-love" all day long! The cupcake wedding cake was a favourite - inspired! And those cupcakes were as delicious as they look! My reading - a simple but beautiful piece about true love being "more than verses on valentines" - went off pretty much without a hitch, as long as I didn't look at the Bride!

CeeJae made an adorable ringbearer, especially dressed in the same outfit as the groomsmen complete with buttonhole, although to be fair his behaviour was NOT as angelic as he looks! We may have inadvertently built the ringbearer position into something a little too overwhelming, and we neglected to mention/rehearse with 60+ guests, who would be staring at him for a full 30 seconds. Still, my lovely husband kindly offered to take the little guy home early in the afternoon (the joy of an 11am wedding) so I could relax and enjoy the party. Yay for me!

A Space To Sew

This weekend I FINALLY finished a project that I have been wanting to finish for the longest time...my sewing table! I purchased a crappy little white table from TradeMe too long ago to remember when! Inspired by my new ironing board cover (a thank you from my little sister for the kitchen tea) and her beautiful and neat little cottage, I finally removed the clutter (aka junk) from the tabletop and took action. I painted the legs and underside in Hippie Green (a Resense colour) and then covered the badly damaged formica top in the cheeries print oilcloth purchased from Kate Fitzpatrick shortly after I got the table. You could safely guess that I am not one to rush into ANYTHING. (Except marriage? Engaged 4 months after we met and married in 14 months! I knew he was the one!)

Lessons learnt (but not about marriage!)?

1. A 3-year-old is not a suitable painting apprentice. Three is a time of independence and boundless creativity - not following specific and stupid instructions about how much paint should go on a brush, or where to place said paint, or how much of oneself should be painted. In hindsight, I should have given CeeJae his own painting project. But we got there.
2. Oilcloth is ostensibly just shiny fabric - and as such it stretches.
3. Ostensibly is a fantastic word.
4. Anything with rounded corners will be a complete bastard to cover.
   
5. Using upholstery tacks to afix the aforementioned oilcloth will render the drawer utterly useless. Jamming the drawer forcibly into the drawer space will also render the drawer utterly useless. Still, pretty drawer.

And Mel's nappy bag has finally made it to Mel, thanks to the long-awaited return of my fortnightly quilting class. Mel is really pleased with the fabric and colour choices (pretty green wool felt for the exterior, and a Debbie Mumm Noah's ark print for the interior, alongside a few native NZ prints for the pocket). Love the "Baby" too - very cute, and in polka dots of course!!

WIP's this week include two new bags, a bag for Marsy, a quilt top (maybe? I think I'm ready to make a quilt!), and my baby sister's wedding on Friday...too exciting!

Congratulations Marsy!

Ok, so my bribe for comments didn't really pay off but thank you to the lovely people who left comments anyway...very much appreciated.

A cute little bag will be winging it's way to you, Marsy sometime in the next few weeks!

Hen's High Tea

I have been busy this week having a ton of fun preparing for my little sister's hen's party - a gorgeous kitchen tea, complete with cupcakes and heart-shaped strawberry sandwiches, vintage cups and saucers, and 12 lovely ladies! The Bride gets married on the 20th of this month, and as many of her friends are pregnant or have little ones, we decided on a sophisticated afternoon tea to celebrate rather than the "more typical" hen's night (I didn't say "traditional" as the kitchen tea is actually the traditional celebration for a bride-to-be - Wedding Trivia Fact #27). And as the Bride's Maid (Ha! That's funny!) is still in Australia, I decided to coordinate the event for her, from invites to dishes, and including sending the Bride off to Sugar Plum for her very first facial (she hasn't lived!), while I busied myself in her beautiful little cottage making sandwiches and tarts, and icing the single most adorable cupcakes on the planet [Sorry, photos to follow - can you believe I forgot to take my camera??!!].

To keep the afternoon humming along, I decided to put together a few games and little gifts for the ladies and when I couldn't find a suitable way to contain said items, I went right ahead and made these:

Super quick to make, but exactly the right size and perfectly pretty stacked together on a vintage tray. I printed each of the guests name's onto my new fabric paper (which is my new favourite toy - I even made my own labels on my printer!) and attached to the front - a cute way to acknowledge each guest, but also perfect "nametags". Needless to say, we now have one very happy Bride (remember, children, facial + cupcakes = happy), who thanked your's truly with the prettiest mint green ironing board cover from here . Not that I needed to be thanked...this little event was so much fun to plan!

Next stop - my little sister's wedding! Can't wait - she will be the most beautiful bride EVER. One small hitch? I have started crying at any mention of her wedding. Already. And I have to do a reading. BUT I'm wearing Trelise Cooper - TRELISE COOPER!!! - so all is well.

And in the spirit of "what goes around, comes around" (and the pathetic number of comments on my blog which are more important to me than I care to admit), I am giving away a cute bag (similar to the one pictured below) to someone who leaves a comment on this post. I don't mind if you already have one of my bags - after all, you can never have too many bags - and I will post international. The prize will be randomly drawn on Friday the 13th of October (perfect!) and cannot be exchanged for cash (because I have none). The judges decision is final and blah, blah, blah.


Go on, comment - I dare you.

Like Raindrops on Roses...

A few of my favourite things this week:

1. SPRING! This cherry blossom in our garden is simply gorgeous!
   
2. Freshcut by Heather Bailey. This is one amazingly talented woman, who's new fabric line, Freshcut, will be available from FreeSpirit early next year. Too cute, gorgeous vintage inspired fabrics...can't wait! Hopefully Kimberley will have them! Read more about Heather's fabrics here.
3. The Crafters Companian - Not that I officially NEED it, but I will be buying/pre-ordering a copy of this! Looks like lots of great projects inside!
   
4. Push Play Nation - I have joined Maggies Walking Group and am walking my way to better health and fitness. I would have joined Robbie's Running Routine (that boy is HOT, HOT, HOT!) but he won't actually be leading the group, so therefore I have no incentive to run.
5. Donna Hay - It is so refreshing to use recipes that actually work! I love her cupcakes recipe which we used for CeeJae's birthday, and the Kids Issues are full of great party ideas and recipes that kids really do love.
6. Puddle & Co in the 'Bridge, who are quilting Baby Gee's quilt. Yay!
7. Trelise Cooper. I have bought the most beautiful skirt ever for my sister's wedding next month...'Nuff said.
8. Sewing!Details from Mel's nappy bag, which is very nearly done:

Oh and this cute little guy too - of course!