Saturday, July 31, 2010

Look At Where I Live Now

Well after a full on first 6 months of 2010, it is amazing to sit back and contemplate where what has happened and we are now. If you had of told this time last year we would now be living at the Sunshine Coast I wouldn't have believed you.

I was planning on going to Uni in Caboolture and Joshua was in his last year at Primary school where had been from Preschool. We had tried to change schools when he was in year 2 but had a pretty traumatic time in getting him to go. In the end we had to change back to Minimbah which he had been going to in the previous years. It then took a lot of work to actually get him to settle back in. But in the past few years he hadn't been getting into much trouble and was looking at going to High School with all his friends at Morayfield High.

We have talked lots about moving back to the Coast, as we had lived at Maroochydore and had moved to Morayfield when I was pregnant with Nicola, 10 years ago. We thought we would have to wait till Joshua had finished High School to be able to move back to the Coast. But God had other plans for us. I feel like he had closed all the doors for us down there. Whether you beleive in God or not it is really hard to dispute that something had a hand in us moving to the Coast. We had applied for over 15 different places to live. Had tried other types of accomodation to live in and nothing was available. In the time whilst we were applieing for these places, I feel Joshua was slowly coming to terms with the fact that we would be moving away from the area. I had also been heavly involved in helping run a Breastfeeding Support Group. I didn't think I could leave Morayfield whilst I was involved in doing this. But this year I have slowly had to step away due to family committments.

So its funny how it has all worked out. We were really blessed to actually get this place. When the real estate checked out references when we were applying for this they said that they couldn't understand why we were having such a hard time getting a place. Once again all the doors were closing in Morayfield. I believe we are meant to be here to help James's parents, who live about a 1km away from us. I am so happy that the kids will get to spend more time with their Grandparents. I think it is such an important thing for a child to have in their lives.
It is great to have a choice of beaches to choose from. I use to say to the kids which park do you want to go to. Now I can say which beach shall we choose to go to and it doesn't cost anything other then the petrol. I think they will actually start to calm down with the sea air.

These are all the beaches we can choose from to go to. Only takes a few minutes to get to any one of them.
Bulcock Beach, Caloundra
Currimundi Beach, Caloundra
Dicky Beach, Caloundra
Kings Beach, Caloundra
Golden Beach, Caloundra
Kawana Beach, Kawana
Moffat Beach, Caloundra
Shelly Beach, Caloundra
Wurtulla Beach, Caloundra
How lucky are we!!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Get Inspired To Sew

After having a break from blogging due to moving, I am slowly feeling like getting back into it. It is very hard to feel motivated when you have all these boxes that need to be unpacked and having to clean a house. Still have to set up my sewing room so can't start yet which is frustrating.

Check out these great patterns from e-PatternsCentral. I have signed up for their newsletter which allows me to see what the lastest patterns are. It helps to keep you up to date with what is out there. I can't wait to try some of these, if not all of these. This is really a great site. Not only can you get sewing patterns but they also have patterns for:
Beading 
Crochet 
Cross-Stitch 
Knitting 
Paper Crafting 
Plastic Canvas 
Quilting 

1 Shoulder Bag
2 Scrappy Rag Quilt
3 A Stitch in Time Tote
4 Pleated Bag
5 Ready-to-Go Diaper-Changing Pad
6 Crossover Bib
7 Splish Splash Cover Up
8 Beetle, Ladybug & Bee Bibs
9 Toile Terrific
10 Little Ballerina
Hope you feel inspired too.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Cute Owls Out Of Socks


fabric | indie art and design - directory + blog for australian independent artists, designers + craftspeople
It think these are so cute. I love the fact that they are made by Australian designers. Who would have thought that they are made out of a pair of socks. You can even get the kit to DIY. What a fun project that would be. You could actually make a few of them and make up mobile for your baby.
Blogged with the Flock Browser

A Thing for Sewing

A Thing for Sewing
I think the bag made out of a pair of jeans is really clever. What a great way to use a pair of jeans that don't fit any more.
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Quilt Fabric Delights Creative - Tutorials - So Fresh Peg Bucket by Lisa Cox of a Spoonful of Sugar

Quilt Fabric Delights Creative - Tutorials - So Fresh Peg Bucket by Lisa Cox of a Spoonful of Sugar

I love this peg bucket. This will definitely be one of those projects I would love to attempt as soon as I can. Great Tutorial.
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Organising My Sewing Tools

This is the exact sewing box my mother-in-law has. I have always admired it and have said to my hubby that I want first dibs when she passes on. But after googling sewing boxes and images I found this. I was amazed that there where others out there. It is such a wonderful way to organise your sewing bits and pieces. A lot better then those plastic ones they have these days. I also found some other wonderful sewing boxes and cotton reel storage that I wouldn't mind owning as well.
When we move and James sets up his shed, my first order will be one of these.

Fashion Worlds Next Big Thing

 I think it is great that people are going back to the way our grandparents lived where everything was reused and precious. I had a great Aunt that use to make hats out of bread bags. She use to save the old envelopes to write recipies or just any notes she wanted to keep. Her and her sister (who was about 3 years younger) were amazing. They had come through the war years and things were scarce. They really appreicated everything they had. They would be disgusted at how much we waste these days. So it is very exciting to see a fashion designer who is changing the way people view fashion. I have been so inspired by all these blogs about reusing things that we already have in our cupboards that we may not be using and re fashioning them into something that we can wear. I now have a new found love of op shopping. I always did but it is even more so now. Even finding all those vintage patterns. Looking at the styles at the moment, it is very late 60's early 70's. Very classic. I love this style. It has such an elgance about it. Something that you can look back on in years to come and think how wonderful it still looks. Little can be said about the fashion from the 80's when I grew up.

Fabric Funky Fabrix Retro Fabric Online Childrens Fabric

Love these dresses. This will be something I will sew when I get settled in.

Fabric Funky Fabrix Retro Fabric Online Childrens Fabric
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Facebook | Funky Fabrix's Photos - newpatternsonline

Check out Funky Fabrix's new patterns on line. Would love to attempt these.

Facebook | Funky Fabrix's Photos - newpatternsonline
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Friday, July 16, 2010

My New Machine




NEW Janome 19110 Sewing Machine Quilting Patchwork BNIB
This my brand new Janome machine. Can't wait to get her home and make her feel welcome. Hope fully she is ready to do some hard work. I shall call her Betsy. Now I just have work out what I want to do first.

The fabric clearance continues....

The fabric clearance continues.... Check out these wonderful fabrics.Great Fabrics
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Next Giveaway-Organised or Messy ?

Next Giveaway-Organised or Messy ? Check out this great give away.
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Organising My Sewing Room

I am inspired to have mine looking like this.

Well next week we will be moving into our new house. It is going to be huge and I will finally get to have my own room dedicated my sewing. A place I can lock up so the kids can't get into all the stuff which is what has happened in the past. It is very exciting. So I have been searching for ideas on how I should organise it.
I found the following sites that were really great to help me:
which gives you lots of different ideas on how to organise your home. They had even done an article "Sew Organized: Books to organize sewing and crafts."
Susan Wright, Extension Clothing and Textiles Specialist has written  a great article about what you need to consider when you are setting up or just re organising  your sewing room.

Lots of great tips and a list of things that you will need when you are planning what you are going to do.

Great blog which has some photos that give you an idea of what you can achieve and is inspiring to see what she has done.

Another great blog and post about how to get organised with photos and some free labels you can print out to name all the your containers.

This is a great way to help get you motivated to get Organised and get your sewing room cleaned up. Lots of great ideas and motivation.

Here some great Flickr groups about sewing organistaion with great photos:
Craft Rooms

Great info about how to organise your patterns.

Well now that I have found all this info I just need to put it into place. Will post pictures as I do it.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Buying A New Digital Camera

We really need to get a new digital camera because the only thing we have to take photos at the moment is our phone. It does an ok job but after looking at all the different blogs I really want something that takes a quality photo. Usually when we have gone out and bought a camera we go to Good Guys. We then have to take advice from the Sale person who maybe or maynot be being honest with us. So knowing that we are about to get some tax money back I have decided to do some research as to what to buy.

The first thing I did, as I always do, I Googled it. The first site I came across was from the Digtial Photography School. It gives you a variety of information with tips about how to take a great photo; post production and of course what I was looking, info about digital cameras. I found really good series of articles written by Darren Rowse - Tutorials on Buying Digital Cameras where he covers the following topics:
He also wrote another article Best Digital Camera's which gives a review about what the top selling camera's on Amazon. 

The next site I came across was Basic-Digital-Photography.com. There was was a really good guide How To Buy A Digital Camera.  They also covered:
Another question I wanted answered was "What makes a good quality Photo?". This is the question I want answered about the Digital Camera and the different brands that are on the market. The next site I found that was excellant and really gave me a good background information about how photos actually work was Digital Cameras - A beginner's guide by Bob Atkins. 
So after all this I still hadn't felt like I had answered what I really wanted to know, which is sometimes hard to put into words or in a question for google. Eventually I came up with the question I really wanted to see was the pictures actually look like taken from the various camera's meantioned in articles. In other word I want to see a test shot is from a whatever camera. So then what I did was go to Lasoo.com.au which is a great site for comparing different items which are on sale in Australia from the leading Department Stores. So I looked up Digital Camera's. Then I was able to see the different prices and brands of Cameras. We were looking at spending around $200 to $300. 
So I Googled the following Camera brands and models test shots and was shown what the actually picturers looked like taken by these camera's. So this gives me a better idea as to what I want to buy. 



   

Panasonic DMC-FH1 Digital Camera $229.00 Betta Electrical







And there are plenty more. I don't have time now to continue to go through them as I want to publish this before I go to bed. But you get the picture (lol). I will share what I buy  and let you know what it is like and the picture quality. Good luck if you are about to buy one.