While at Sew It Together a few weeks ago I had the lovely experience of meeting delightful Wendy. She is the co-ordinator of a fantastic community project called Full Circle. Her Church, Ashburton Baptist Church in Melbourne runs a market twice a year called The Playful Market to raise funds for important charities. The next market is on July 28th and 29th and this time there is also going to be an accompanying exhibition. Everyone can participate! Wendy is hoping to get entries from all over Australia and all of the world.

The brief is a simple one: take an embroidery hoop and using any medium you like create something wonderful interpreting the theme Full Circle. The entry fee is a tiny $5 and will be used to support Lawamena Inc - an Indonesian Schools project supporting individual students and supporting education.

As it is school holidays, Pippa, Madeleine and I have all decided to submit a piece. And quite by coincidence, we will be in Melbourne for the weekend of the Exhibition!! The girls are highly inspired (and motivated) by the thought of their work being in a "real, proper" exhibition!!

So holidays are looking like this:

Sitting in a deck chair stitching on the verandah at Mackerel Beach - you can't get much better than that!!

I am a literal sort of person, so when I heard "Full" Circle I decided I must stitch all the space in my hoop. I may live to regret this interpretation! The design is inspired by  my mother's collection of beautiful glass paperweights.

The beginning:

If your or your children would like to participate in Full Circle you can get an Entry Form and all the information you need here. Wendy needs your project in Melbourne by Thursday 19th July, so start soon and share some stitching with your children these holidays!!

Do you have a coin purse?

I have been without one for quite a while and usually throw all my loose change into my bag. Several times I have dug around the bottom of my work bag and found at least $30 in change. I am sure I have lost hundreds of dollars to the bottom of hand bags and children's pockets over the years!

So my theory is, put my change somewhere safe and then I'll have some extra cash to spend on important things - like Liberty fabric!!! So with the beautiful scrap's Nova sent me as part of her Liberty Scrap Challenge I have made some coin purses. I am going to be keeping all my precious coins in these from now on!

For this tutorial, I am going to show you how to embellish your purse with some beautiful Liberty Scraps. For all the information on how to draft up your pattern and assemble the purse please check out this fantastic tutorial by Lisa at U-handbag

If you would like to find out how to make your own coin purse click "Read More"

Do you know Nova from A Cuppa and a Catch Up? She has a really lovely blog. If you are like me, you read many good blogs, but there are a few special ones - the ones that make you feel excited and happy when a new post pops up in your reader. A Cuppa and a Catch up is one of those blogs for me. I used her great quillow tutorial to make Tim and Holly's quillow, her Nesting Fabric Bowls pattern has become my "go to gift" and this year Nova's Liberty Scrap Challenge is helping me to learn to sew with Liberty rather than just pat it!

So, I was so excited when I was drawn out of the hat to be the June Giveaway Guest Challenger. And when the package of scraps arrived in the mail I squealed with delight! (Think about it... you go to the letter box knowing that the most likely thing to spring from it is your latest credit card bill and instead you find Liberty Fabric. That is definitely squeal worthy)

I've come up with two ideas.

Today, I will show you a little Liberty head band - more of an idea than a tutorial. I made two last night (in a rush as usual) for Pippa to give as gifts at a birthday party she went to today. They were very quick to make and I'm pleased with how they turned out.

Have you ever made a Suffolk puff?

They're funny little things. I think they are also called yo-yos. I have to admit - I think they are quite old fashioned, but I have been playing with them a bit lately. I have seen some very sweet necklaces and some great embellished t shirts that use Suffolk puffs. And one day... if Caroline and I can ever get the motivation we will finish our Project Run and Play Signature Look which uses... you guessed it... Suffolk puffs.

Suffolk puffs are very simple to make.

You can cut yourself out a circle of fabric and turn a small edge under. Do a running stitch right around the edge and pull it up tight. That's it - your done

Even easier - you can buy yourself a Yo Yo maker. I used a Clover one. You only need a scrap of fabric about 7cm in diameter to make a puff that is 3 cm wide. If you are desperate and working with really small scraps you can actually piece scraps together to make the 7 cm circle. I did it a couple of times and the puffs worked out just fine.
I won't give you detailed instructions on how to use it, because the yo yo maker comes with those. But this will give you an idea:

When I was making these, I got to the stage where you start to draw up the gathers and decided this must be how fairies make shower caps!! I can't imagine any thing more perfect than fairies wearing Liberty shower caps.

I had bought the head bands for another project that was not successful(!) involving hot glue. The satin ribbon that originally covered the band ended up ruined by the glue so I ripped that off and was left with a thin black plastic headband. I found some gros grain ribbon in my stash that was a little wider than the band and stitched a channel in the ribbon so the band fitted in snuggly. If you are going to cover your own head band don't forget to turn the raw edges of the ribbon in before you sew it on both ends. Once you have put the band in your ribbon cover, you can hand stitch the ends closed to create a nice neat finish.

I hand stitched the puffs onto some felt leaves and then stitched them onto the ribbon band. I am now scared of the hot glue gun!!

Here is Pippa modelling a band for us:

Let me interpret this look for you:
"Mum, why are we on the front foot path taking photos? Can't we just wrap this head band up and go to the birthday party? I'm late!!!!"

I'll be back soon with Liberty Scrap Challenge 2.

When we first started blogging, I wrote this post about my fantasy sewing space. I've also dabbled in a few organisational posts like this one about embroidery threads and this one about storing the little bitty - bits that are associated with sewing and craft.

Ok... true confession time.  I now have my own purpose built sewing room but my potentially beautiful sewing space is a disaster!

Want to see the evidence? Here are a few snapshots from my sewing room today...

and they're just the beginning. Check out my shelves!

I want an organised space, but I really, really need your help!  Please hit me with your hints for sewing room organisation.  I really want to reclaim my space!

How do you store your

• Big pieces of fabric?
• Little scrappy pieces?
• Thread and bobbins?
• Patterns, books and magazines?
• Bits and pieces?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you - bring on the organisation tips!

No, we haven't disappeared...
I promise we are still here!!!

We are pondering and making plans. We are busy but when those quiet times do appear we are enjoying doing not very much at all!

Thanks for all your comments on our last post. It has given us lots to think about. We love your input and are so happy when a dialogue can be achieved in this space. So any ideas or suggestions,  criticisms or comments are always greatly appreciated.

Just wanted to let you know, I haven't forgotten the tutorial I promised for Madeleine's art folio. Interestingly after all my pondering, it is her most used gift. It certainly didn't have the instant wow factor, but she has diligently (and without prompting) added a drawing to her water colour journal almost every day since she received it. I think it helped when Mum told her that her cousin Nick (who she hero worships!)  likes to draw every day.
I have all the photos ready for the tutorial, I just need to make myself sit down and write it!! Stay tuned...

A few other bits and pieces:

Some of you may be aware of my slightly unusual relationship with Liberty Fabric. In a nut shell, I buy it, but would never actually cut into it - it's just too beautiful. Well, I have found some therapy for this problem!!Nova from A Cuppa and a Catch Up has organised a Liberty Scrap Challenge.

I was so thrilled when Nova mailed me some Liberty scraps to play with. I am planning a little project and tutorial very soon. My theory is: scraps today and then maybe, just maybe, one day I'll be brave enough to make myself a shirt!!!


And..
Caroline and I just had a fantastic weekend in Canberra. We went to Sew it Together!!!

There were badge swaps and sample swaps, shopping trips and workshops. But most importantly, we met so many lovely crafty bloggers. I think I must be an old fashion girl. I know that lots of amazing friendships are made online but I feel most comfortable meeting people in the real world (particularly if it involves buying a whole lot of fabric together, sewing, dinner and a bottle of wine or two!!) I have added a whole list of new blogs to my reader and can't wait to stay in touch with new friends.