With Halloween just around the corner, I was inspired this week to make some fun little Halloween crafts to share with you!
First are these adorable little bats made using toilet paper rolls.
These little guys are super quick to make and are perfect for little hands to get involved in!
To make you will need…
– Toilet Roll – A4 Black Paper – Craft Glue – Two Google Eyes – Silver Metallic Pen – Lead Pencil – Paper Scissors
Next, is a really simple and very easy paper craft: Paper Pumpkins!
They remind me a lot of those paper lantern decorations you’d make in primary school for Christmas, but this time your using the more traditional colour of Halloween – orange!
To make you will need…
– One Large Sheet of Orange Card – A4 Green Paper – Craft Glue – Two Bulldog Clips – Twine/String – Paper Scissors – Stapler
This next one is my favourite. I think it’s a whole lot of fun and is simplistically effective!
The photo used in this Google Eye Photo Frame is of me as a little girl which I altered using PicMonkey, making me look like a scary Vampire girly thing.
To make you will need…
– Plain Photo Frame – Spooky Photo – Black Paint – Glitter Paint (Optional) – Paint Brush – Assorted Sizes of Google Eyes – Hot Glue Gun & Glue
And lastly, I made a Witch Hat Headband! Using simple materials such as felt, cardboard and a party hat, I’m really happy with how this turned out. The idea was in my head and the result is perfect! (Well, near enough!)
To make you will need…
– Party Hat (minus the elastic) – Two A4 Pieces of Black Felt – Pre-made Headband in Black – Black Cardboard – Ribbon and Decorations – Hot Glue Gun and Glue – Craft Glue – Craft and Fabric Scissors – Lead Pencil – A Plate (18cm or 7″ in circumference)
For instructions on how to make all of these crafts, check out the video at the beginning of this post!
Enjoy making…
&
Happy Halloween Friends!
PS: This is where I found my inspiration for these projects…
Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve made a weekly vlog. The simple reason for this is the shear lack of interesting tales and highlights that happen in my day-to-day life. Shame.
My usual day comprises of the following…
I wake up.
I eat breakfast.
Shower.
Check emails/messages & have some basic Internet time.
Then, I either proceed with uni study or spend time getting my next YouTube video ready for Sunday.
Break for lunch.
Continue on with my pre-lunch activity.
(Or I procrastinate with some sewing! Te-he!)
Cook/eat dinner.
Telly time!
Bed.
So as last week rolled into life, I knew that some exciting times were ahead, threatening to break my daily monotony.
So of course I had to make a weekly vlog about it!
Yes!
The week started with a lovely sewing sesh, where I filmed the making of The Sailboat Block Tutorial. I like showing behind the scenes footage of how I make my YouTube videos as it adds another dimension to how these videos come together and what it takes to edit these content-heavy videos.
Wednesday, my folks and I ventured off into the city to see the The Lion King: The Musical at the Captiol Theatre in Sydney. We jumped on a train, got off at Central Station and had lunch at this little petite French café on Eddy Ave. It’s was a pretty cool little restaurant. The walls adorned famous French artworks (Renoir and Seurat) along with an array of past and present film, screen and music artists like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison etc. The meals were quite basic: burgers, sandwiches and rolls – but still delicious!
We then ventured into the wintery artic winds blowing along the streets in a short walk to the theatre.
The show was brilliant! If you ever get the chance to see this production, DO IT! You won’t be disappointed!
(On a side note: I think this would be the perfect show to introduce the whole ‘musical theatre’ experience to kids. Possibly those aged 5 and up will appreciate and enjoy it!)
This week in particular, it’s hit me just how fast time really does fly! It’s crazy to think that my little newborn nephew I introduced you to here, just turned the big O.N.E! That’s just CRAZY!
This little guy was the highlight for the rest of the week.
Xavier
We saw him on his actual birthday, which was Friday, and then enjoyed a more ‘official’ type of birthday party on Sunday with extended family and friends.
I’m so happy with the footage I was able to get of him at his party – these images will be cherished for a long time come!
For today’s post, I’m harking back to my earlier days of blog writing and am just going to write about everything that’s been happening in my little sewing world!
Sound good?
Excellent!
Right, let’s start with a WIP!
January this year, I uploaded this video. Here I chatted about my intended intentions (say that ten times fast!) of getting all of my WIPs finished this year!
I was keen and ready to jump in!
And seven months later, I’ve finally decided to begin honoring this New Year Resolution! (As you do!)
Monday night I felt restless and itchy to get my mind and hands stuck into some sewing. So instead of starting something new like I always do, I reached out for one of my WIPs.
And it was this one I chose…
Paper Pieced Union Jacks
I only had two more paper-pieced blocks to make until I could begin piecing the quilt top together. So that’s what I set out to do.
At about 9.30pm (which is pretty late for me to be sewing), I dug out a pretty floral and some sweet pastel fabrics from The Stash and begun piecing together.
About an hour later I had made this…
Out of all 11 blocks I’ve made, this is my favourite! Uber chic and girly – LOVE IT!!!
This afternoon/evening, I hope to tackle the last block for this quilt. I’m still umming-and-ahhing over fabric choices but I have a fair idea what I want this block to look like.
Bring on my wild Saturday night! Whoo!!!
Speaking of fabric, I took advantage of a great End of Financial Year Sale at Kelani Fabric Obsession during the week and treated my self to some b-e-a-utiful fabrics!
Here’s a list of the fabrics I bought…
#one
Cherry Dot on Blossom Pink | Oh Deer! By MoMo for Moda Fabrics
#two
Memoir in Zest | Alchemy Quilting Collection by Amy Butler for Rowan
#three
Pineapple Slices | Acacia by Tula Pink for Free Spirit
(My first ever cut of Tula Pink fabric!)
#four
Vivienne Stripe in Blush | By Alexander Henry
#five
Toyland Twinkle in Orange & Blue | By Alexander Henry
I can’t wait to get stuck in and use these little beauties… I don’t know what for yet… But a day will come when I was glad I spent a small fortune on a lovely array of fabric!
And lastly, although it was uploaded this time last week, I wanted to share with you my latest Weekly Vlog.
I didn’t get to film much of the show due to copyright etc but I did manage to capture some awesome footage of the Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and the city!
We also celebrated my Dad’s 68th birthday! It was wonderful!
So I think that’s about it at the moment.
A WIP is on its way to be completed (sorta) and I’ve soothed my fabric lust for just a few days!
Hopefully I’ll act get my act together and show you a finished quilt top in my next post…
Last week was a wonderful one full of happy discoveries, new glasses and a haircut (I haven’t had one of those in ages!!).
There were also moments where I dedicated (hours of) time to my university studies; where I shared fun, adorable moments with my youngest nephew along with a small indulgence in some LEGO construction (if you could really call it that…).
Make sure you stay tuned for next week’s vlog!
I ventured into the city yesterday to visit the Sydney Craft & Quilt Show and I captured some beautiful footage of my beloved city (amongst other things that are happening this week!) which I’m so excited to share with you!
I’m still creating tutorials and the like but I’ve also begun uploading weekly vlogs (and sometimes daily vlogs too!), in an attempt to have you, my viewer and reader, get to know me more.
I want to continue to post and share my Weekly Vlogs with you here on my blog, bravely welcoming you into my life behind my sewing, my writing, my filming – the whole lot!
If you’re not the kind to watch vlogs or are solely uninterested in watching – then that’s cool. I promise I won’t be offended. 🙂
So here is the first of many (I hope!) Weekly Vlogs!
So what made me want to film the things happening in my life and share them all over the internet? Good question! Here are my answers…
1. I love watching daily/weekly vlogs. I think it’s very common to be naturally curious about how other people live their lives, about what happens to them, the experiences they face on a daily basis and the fun that they have with others. Simply, vlogs easily allow me to relate with other people, roughly the same age as me, in what they’re doing. And by that, I feel a little less lost and useless in this crazy world!
2. I like the creativeness of vlogging. Filming and editing footage is a new platform for me and I’m still learning the ins-and-outs of the biz. Vlogging gives me the outlet to experiment and become more relax in front of the camera as well as give me confidence in translating what’s in my brain into a video that’s a few minutes long. Editing footage also gives me the chance to be creative with most of my senses: sight, touch, hearing/listening, emotive, worth etc. and that pleases me.
3. I’ve received some awesome encouragement from friends, readers and viewers to get on the ‘Vlogging Bandwagon’ so to speak and I’ve taken that encouragement to heart! To receive comments from strangers (essentially) who are genuinely interested in my day-to-day life is extraordinary and completely blows my mind! I think it comes back to the whole ‘relating to what other people do’ shiz.
4. In all honesty, I worry that the content I put on my YouTube channel is so far out of the ‘mainstream box’ and isn’t ‘personal’ enough that I need to plump it up a bit with more videos about myself. Perhaps that’s my ego or my endless self-doubt creeping in but that’s just how I feel. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super-proud of the content I have my channel (each video is obsessed over time and time again before it’s uploaded). I wouldn’t change the main goal/idea of what I want the channel to be, but I just want to make it a little bit more relatable to those who aren’t quite into the quilty/crafty/diy scene.
Okay, so I’m a little brave in sharing with you my deep and honest thoughts (my panic & anxiety is through the roof!) and I don’t know why I feel the need to justify the reasons why I’ve started to vlog my life… But it’s happening and I’m super-excited about it!
And…while we’re talking about videos and the like, I’m currently in the middle of editing another Quilt Block Tutorial! Yay! I haven’t filmed/uploaded one for over three weeks!!! (My bad…) Here’s a sneaky!
(PS. You can see the whole block on my instagram!)
Happy Sewing Friends!
xx
One last thing: Here are links to some of my favourite vloggers…
I feel as though I’ve been a little mysterious of late…
Lots of big changes and ideas have been happening on this side of the monitor and I feel as though I need to write them all down, just so I can get my head to process it all!
So, shall we start?
(I have a fresh cup of tea to my right, notes in front of my keyboard and a gentle rain falling outside. I think the timing is perfect!)
First of all, I’m not sure whether you’re aware of the fact that for almost two years I’ve been ‘unemployed’. Although I’ve been studying here, there and everywhere and I’ve been writing my blog, creating quilts and making YouTube videos, I haven’t been in a paying job for almost 24 months. And it hasn’t been for a lack of trying either! For the past year or so, I’ve been actively job searching/applying and being actively passed over, rejected and/or ignored.
So where is this all leading to, you may ask…?
I got a job! I finally, finally, FINALLY bagged myself a job!
Now, it’s nothing fancy, permanent or local (40 minute train trip into the city!)… It’s a simple casual retail job (my only type of work experience) at one of the big department stores we have here in Australia. Although it may seem simple-ish to some, it’s a huge deal for me, especially after searching for any type of employment for more than 12 months!
I start tomorrow (induction and store orientation) and then I start sharing my ‘happy retail face’ to the world again!
There’s something quite nice and strangely normal about finally having a job… It’s a calming peace-of-mind feeling that you’re contributing to society just that tiny bit more again and that you, as a whole, and your skills have some sort of worth.
I now also have peace-of-mind in building up my Savings again! Boy, has that taken a hit over the past few months!
(Luckily I still live with my parents! They truly are the best parents this girly could ever ask for!)
Next, is new University units! This semester, I’ve opted to study online at home so I could have the flexibility to work (see above!) as well as to concentrate on creating better content for my blog and YouTube channel.
I’m still on a Fine Arts Degree kind of track, concentrating more on Art History as well as Theory and Practical Arts along with Web Media and Communication.
I started two units last week, the same week I received my new job invitation, and am loving the flexibility it gives me to work at my own pace and when my mind is up to the task! (Plus it allows me to save money on travel AND I can sleep-in! No early classes for me thank you!)
So moving on from that, I’ve also been brainstorming some new ideas in reference to the content I want to create and share with you here and on YouTube.
I still want to continue with my Quilt Block Tutorial series as they are the most popular and most loved by my viewers. But I’ve also been contemplating on perhaps creating a crafting/DIY-ing type of series where I show you how to make nifty little projects, knick-knacks and thingys.
I would also like to start, maybe, filming/uploading weekly vlogs, but I’m feeling a little shy and self-conscious about that idea at the moment. Naturally, I’m a pretty quite person (introvert alert!) and I lead a pretty boring, non-dramatic and sheltered kind of life, so I can’t really envisage what exactly I would vlog about.
So I think I’m still in the very, very early planning stages on that one, but my little crafting/DIY series has a very promising future to it!
(Side note: Do you have any ideas/contributions of what I could make or would like to see me make? Tell me! Comment below or email me at 3and3quarters@gmail.com)
And lastly, I actually put a little bit of interest in my life last week (I admit, I’m not totally boring and yawn-ish all the time!) and went to see the Vivid Sydney Light Festival!
(Last week was a week of lots of things just happening!)
I made a little vlog of the night in semi-preparation for my maybe/maybe-not weekly vlog idea (which at the moment is border-lining the ‘maybe-not’) and I want to share it with you just in case you’re not really into the ‘YouTube Scene’.
Here’s a little story: The last time I went to this was 2012 and we went on a Saturday night, which was a BIG mistake! The quay-side was absolutely packed, I felt like a human salmon, swimming against the stream! I like to think that I’m a very patient person in all aspects of life BUT, when it comes to being trapped in a crowd of people, my patience deserts me and I get very irate and annoyed very quickly! Then you have to deal with people on the train home…
I have learnt a great, great, GREAT deal from Craftsy: hexies, foundation paper piecing, general block construction, fabric cutting, ironing techniques – you name it, I’ve learnt it from Craftsy!
Another one of my most successful [and favouritist] quilts came from a Craftsy class and that is my ‘Jacob’s Ladder Quilt’.
For ages I was looking for the perfect project to use my beautiful DSQuilts fabrics with and along came the Jacob’s Ladder Block episode in the Magical Jelly Roll Quilts class.
And, whaalaah – what I produced was a beautiful, scrap-happy, two-tonal quilt that everyone seems to have fallen in love with!!
{ #FOUR – INSTAGRAM }
I’ve been on Instagram for a good few years now, but only recently have I used it as a form of inspiration.
Instagram has given me the access to follow the accounts of some of my most favouritist quilters, thus allowing me to see what they’re currently working on, where they’re getting their inspiration from as well as take a glimpse into the glamorous [and sometimes not so glamorous] side of a quilters life.
Just some of the Instagrammers I follow…
It has also given me the chance to network with other quilters and creative minds from all over the world, sharing in each other’s current creative pursuits!
I’ve also found that Instagram, like Pinterest, is a great resource to see what is currently in ‘vogue’ within the quilting world – i.e. what fabric lines, shades, tones and prints are in, what forms of quilting others are using to finish their quilts, what shapes and designs of blocks are being made etc.
Plus, it’s a great little resource that’s nice and handy on my phone! SCORE!!
{ #FIVE – BLOGGERS }
I love reading other quilting blogs – it’s where people can be completely honest about their work.
Blogs give us the opportunity to share passionately about where we find our inspirations, what we hope and dream for in the future and how we somehow manage to find sprinklings of time to indulge in our love for patchwork and quilting. We use this platform to share our life-loves, our families, our struggles, and our successes, our obsessions and adventures!
Apart from my long list of wonderful WordPress blogs that are tiered up in my Reader, here are just a few other creative blogs that I love to ponder…
This seems like a bit of a medieval notion doesn’t it!? Getting inspiration from books when we have a wealth of knowledge at a finger tips on the web!?
You may not know this, but I’m on of those ‘self-taught quilters’ who learnt the fundamental basic of patchwork and quilting from books!
My first ever patchwork/quilting book!My little library!
If I was stuck on a particular element of quilt making, I would search and search for the answer in a book before I would ever think about consulting the Internet.
I’m proud of my little library of patchwork/quilting books. I admit, it is growing ever so slowly…some of those good quality quilting books can be a tad pricey!
Have you got any favourite patchwork/quilting books that you love? Please, do tell!!
So, my encyclopedia of inspiration has come to an end. Although, I will never rule out including more in the future!
Honestly, after all that writing, I simply find inspiration for my work from everything around me – nature, movement, colour, shapes, mood, space, texture, people, experience – the list is endless!
I find that the resources that I’ve listed in this post allow me to harness the ideas that are raging through my head into do-able realistic projects. Otherwise, they’d still be up there, Dub-Stepping and Flash Dancing away in my brain!
Over the weekend, I managed to squeeze in some time to start a new embroidery project.
I can’t remember the last time I had a needlepoint project on the go – I think it may’ve been sometime before Christmas…??
I was inspired to get back to the hoop when I re-watched a video I made last year called Stop-Motion Embroidery, where I took a photo of my work in-progress every two minutes.
It actually turned out to be a pretty rad little film – so now I’m motivated to do the same thing with this project.
This is currently where I’m up to…
I’ve limited the colour palette to just pinks and reds – an unlikely challenge if I may say so myself!
I have no idea how long this little side venture will take me to complete.
But know this: I’ll definitely be posting the final embroidery and video right here once it’s done!
#TWO
{My Easter Show Ribbon}
In Sydney Australia, during two weeks around Easter, there is a huge Agriculture, Food and Crafts show called the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
This is a huge affair in the Sydney (and neighbouring rural districts) social calendar and is a highly prestigious show that spans back over a hundred years or so.
(You may have seen a certain Royal Couple visit this in the last week or so…!)
So to join in on the festivities and atmosphere, I entered in a few of my favourite quilts and one of my embroideries.
To my surprise, one of my quilts received an elusive Easter Show Ribbon!
My darling ‘Happy Quilt’ won me a beautiful Highly Commended ribbon!
I was and still am totally stoked that one of my quilts is of Ribbon Winning quality!
Happy! Happy! Happy!
#THREE
{Nephews}
I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to be able to spend a lot of time with my four nephews each week as they only live (quite literally) down the street.
The oldest is six turning seven in May and the youngest is only a darling eight months old.
Each one of them possesses a one-of-a-kind cheeky and super-cute personality.
They also love being typical boys – playing LEGO and video games, watching Adventure Time (which this Auntie LOVES!!), eating tons of chocolate and generally getting into anything they can get their hands on!
If you’re new to reading my blog you may not know the love I have for all things British!
So when I heard that Riley Blake was bringing out a collection with all things typically Britishy, I flipped my lid!
I literally went into ‘fan-girl’ mode and swooned over all of the prints in the collection!
I’m really hoping I can get my hands on a Fat Quarter stack at the up and coming Sydney Craft and Quilt Show in July!!
I want it so bad!!
#FIVE
{Tea}
Sadly, here in Australia, we’ve waved goodbye to summer and are currently in the thick of a chilly start to autumn.
It seems like the weather has gone from hot to bitterly cold over night!
However, with the colder weather comes an outbreak of tea-sipping fever!
One of the best things I love to do in the whole wide world is to make a cup of tea, snuggle under a quilt, pop on a good DVD and gobble down some good quality chocolate!
Ahh, heaven!
Over the last few weeks I’ve been enjoying a good brew of English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Peppermint and Green (with lemon) teas.
***
And onto other things…
My goal for this week is to finish the quilt top of my Friendship Star Quilt (only four more blocks to go! Whoo!) and maybe even get some quilting done on my New Year Resolutions WIPs…
In an odd kinda way, I feel slightly guilty for not spending time on getting my WIPs done when I was keen-as-mustard to do so at the start of the year.
My time and efforts have been diverged onto other projects and ideas over the last few months that these WIPs are literally (and typically) sitting lonely in one corner of my sewing room.
3and3quarters 