Travel Wallet

As the countdown to our holiday continues, I've been busy sewing and trying to finish off projects before we leave.

This week, I made us a personalised travel wallet which I drew up a design for. I was going to buy one - there's so many cute ones on Etsy - but, as a result of having dual citizenship, I have two passports, so I wanted to have space to store all three (Ash's as well) and have them easily accessible.

As well as the passport pockets, I included a side pocket for tickets/e-tickets etc, a couple of velcro fastening pockets (yes, I went with the easier - and cheaper - velcro option as opposed to my original zip plan) for foreign currency. We're visiting 4 seperate countries so I'm expecting we'll accumulate some leftover change along the way. And, two pen slots - the most annoying thing I find on a plane is filling out the customs form, only to realise you don't have a pen in your backpack and trying to borrow one off someone else on the plane.

So here it is:

By the way, the fabric I used was "All Star" by Riley Blake. I got 6 half-yard lots of the different styles in this collection, and they are all super cute. Made it hard picking which ones to use!

Travel Accessories

My husband and I are going overseas in 5 weeks and 6 days (not that I'm counting!), so I thought some personalised travel accessories might be in order.

I made a laundry bag for us each. As always, Ash requested camo material (our local Spotlight now stocks the proper stuff, so he's pretty excited about that).

And toothpaste and toothbrush holders as well. Check out the cool fabric I got from Spotlight. Very fitting for travelling huh!

Lots more projects on the way, stay posted :)

Little Girl Dress

A little while ago, I had a good friend visit and I showed off some of my sewing projects that I was in the middle of to her. One of my projects is to make some of these gorgeous dresses, among other things, to sell on Etsy in a few months' time. Well, I hadn't even starting sewing yet - I'd cut out the fabric only - and I'd made my first sale. Hooray! It was a great boost to my confidence, because I wasn't sure if I was being too optimistic.

Here it is.

It's made of corduroy, and the facings and pocket of cotton (Riley Blake's Rainy Days and Mondays line). Perfect for winter!

Finders Keepers Market

So, who else went to Finders Keepers on the weekend?!

I did and, wow, it was amazing! It was so, so exciting. So many stalls with gorgeous, arty, super cute things to buy. I just soaked it all in and immensely enjoyed myself, and then kicked back with some lunch while listening to the Bon Scotts perform live. Ash - ever supportive of my addiction to markets and handmade things - came with me too, and really enjoyed it too. And was pleased when I pointed out that there were actually a fair amount of other guys with their girls too.

To top it off, my sister gave birth to a baby boy just the previous night! Wooo! So, what better place to look for the cutest baby outfit ever. And, yep, I sure found it. About 6 months ago we were at the Magnolia Square market and came across Oishi-M who make baby/children's clothes, but different to anything else I'd seen. I loved them, and so was delighted when I saw they had a stall at Finders Keepers on Saturday.

This is what we bought for Master LJ:

I looove hoodies!

Front of the Jeans. They have a stretchy and expanding waistband, modelled on the maternity band concept, and the cuffs roll down. So it means that these will last for ages.

Back. Some extra nappy room.

And they come in this! (I'm sure my brother in law thought he was getting pizza .. he he)

Obey your parents

This post isn't really related to sewing, but it is craft based so I thought I'd share it with you all.

I've been teaching Sunday School to 3-5 year olds for the last couple of months and last week we all learnt what the word "Obey" meant. So, seeing as this week is my last one, I wanted to do something a little special for them to take home so I had this idea ...

Cool right? I got the idea from the gift that Ash gave me (see here), so I explained to Ash how I'd like it to look and this is what he created! The idea is, that the kids are going to colour in the letters of "Obey" and then I will laminate it and they can take it home.

I think this is one thing that their parents may take pleasure in displaying at home ... !

(Anyone is welcome to use this, just leave me a comment and let me know how it was enjoyed)

One Year

Ash and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary on the weekend (6th March)!

We'd decided earlier on that we'd keep our Anniversary simple, yet special, and make each other a gift each year. So this is what we both received:

I made this for Ash, it's a toothbrush and toothpaste holder. Remember the Camo Backpack Cover post from last year? Well, I used some of the material from the Camo Poncho to line the inside so that it's water resistant. The idea came from when we went away a few months ago and were complaining that we could never find a holder to fit both our toothbrush and toothpaste in, so I thought I'd try making one.

This is what Ash made me! Isn't it great? I'd saved a poster similar to this to our computer a few weeks ago to show him, and I was going to order one for myself. But, stupidly, I couldn't find where I'd spotted it. Ash didn't know any of this, so I was completely excited when he gave it to me.

I'm so glad we decided on handmade gifts, they just add something extra personal. I love it.

Owl Purse

Do you like my cute little owl purse? I do.

I've been meaning to make this for a little while now, as my wallet has been literally bulging and I decided I would store all of my "Shop Cards" (you know, the ones that offer you discounts or just a sense of belonging) in a little purse. Of course, in true Librarian style, they are in alphabetical order so I can locate the one I want quickly!

I made this purse last night during my sewing lesson - it took an hour and a half from start to finish, which I was fairly impressed at seeing as this is only my second attempt at sewing with a zip! And the best thing is, it hardly used any fabric at all and could easily be a project to use up some scrap material (because I can never bring myself to throw any of it away ... )