living on the crafty side of life

ribbons galore news...

There are so many new ribbons now available at Ribbons Galore.

Above is the retro owls on brown ribbon (15mm wide). Also available with a red, turquoise and lilac background.

The little hedgehog family ribbon is available in three colour ways.

And the deer love ribbon is available in four colourways.

Another fun ribbon is the flying chickens ribbon:

There is a new range of German double sided flower ribbons:

One of our popular ribbons, Little Red Riding Hood, is now available with a pink background:

Other ribbon collections with new ribbons and re-stocks are:

• Fancy stitched grosgrain (new ribbons)

• Tiny cakes jacquards (re-stock)

• Funky jacquards (re-stock)

• Oh Christmas (re-stock of designer jacquards)

Ribbons Galore has also made an appearance in the latest Australian Homespun (Vol 10.9). The little birdies on yellow ribbon is pictured on page 12 in the pretty Window Shopping feature on Cherries.

Sarah Fielke also featured Ribbons Galore in her "Favourite Things" section of her new website, SEWN. Thanks Sarah.

Thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona x

a phoebe for my phoebe

 

During one of my recent visits to the Central Coast (Phoebe's sports have been taking us far and wide of late) I managed to sneak away for a short time to visit Blueberries. [Yes, any opportunity to surround myself in crafty stuff when I should be watching sport I will take.] My goodness, Blueberries is such a beautiful store. I wish it was located closer to me with it's gorgeous selection of fabrics, although that could be very dangerous to my budgeting. I did buy a couple of Melly & Me softy patterns which I'd been wanting for a while now.

One pattern I bought is Phoebe the Elephant. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have this patten. It's very, very cute. I showed it to my Phoebe. I told her I'd make one for her birthday. I let her loose on my fabric stash. She picked out some blue fabric and I started making and stitching.

 

I quilted the little blanket and edged it with rick rack.

 

I usually hand sew little details, but I wanted to try using the blanket stitch on my sewing machine. I need to practice a bit more, but liked the machine stitched look.

 

Phoebe is a very cute elephant. And my Phoebe loves her.

 

Fabrics used (all from Hello Betty by Chloe's Closet for Moda Fabrics):

• Berry Blossom Blue

• Order Up Blue

• Order Up Yellow

Thanks for vising my blog.

Still no news on the release of Australian Homesewn magazine, will keep stalking the stores.

Cheers

Fiona x

new ribbon pouches

New ribbons pouches/pencil cases/make up bags are now available at the Handmade store at Ribbons Galore.

Some pouches feature new German ribbons. This Babushka Dolls ribbon is just beautiful. 

 

Some pouches are decorated with some of my favourite Portuguese ribbons...

 Little Red Riding Hood ribbon.

 

 

And Flying Dolls ribbon.

 

 

There have also been some changes over at Ribbons Galore.

• I have replaced the Ribbons Galore blog with a WHAT'S NEW page, where I'll be adding news as it happens.

• The IDEAS GALLERY has been replaced with a new look gallery.

• I have also added a TESTIMONIALS page. I receive lovely feedback about the Ribbons Galore website and the ribbons, so I thought it time to give these a home.

While I'm giving a Ribbons Galore update, I have also created a Ribbons Galore group on Flickr. If you have a creation using ribbon from Ribbons Galore, please feel free to add it to the group. I'd love to see how you use Ribbons Galore's ribbon.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great weekend.

Cheers

Fiona x

Productivity update

School holidays are over, time for a crafty catch up.

Firstly I'm going back to before Easter. I did finish my other Easter basket for Emily in time for the Easter bunny. This was our last project from the Easter Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. Here's the finished product.

 

The cute birdie fabric used on the outside of the basket is manufactured by Timeless Treasures Fabrics. The only details I can find about this one is its code name on their website, it's mod-c4867-sorbet. The lining is another fabric from the same collection, but I can't find any details of it at the moment. That fabric has small hearts printed in matching colours.

And here are the baskets together on Easter morning.

 

I have been quite productive over the holiday break. We went up to Hawks Nest for a few days and seeing the weather forcast I didn't think we'd be spending much time outdoors, so I packed my sewing machine, fabrics and ribbons and settled in for a few days of sewing.

I have made a few changes to the Ribbons Galore site. One being a dedicated section for my new Handmade at Ribbons Galore goodies. And here is a batch of new pouches/pencil cases in the making, the result of my holiday sewing.

 

A few favourite designs are coming back.

Little Red ribbon pouch:

 

Snow White ribbon pouches:

And a few new designs...

The Snow White ribbon is now available in pink at Ribbons Galore. Here's the pouches in the making:

 

Tea Time ribbon pouches are coming soon too:

 

Golilocks ribbon pouch:

 

I have several new favourite ribbons which can all be found in the Fairly Tales and Fables collection at Ribbons Galore. One ribbon which I've loved using is the Babushka Dolls ribbon:

 

If you would like to pre-order any pouches before they are available at Handmade @ Ribbons Galore, please send me an email, info@ribbonsgalore.com.au and I can send some more details about the designs.

That's about all for now. Have a great week and thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona x

 

Day 3 of the Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza

Welcome to day 3 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. Mel and I are sharing some Easter bags and pouches ideas today. Our little bags and pouches are perfect for filling with Easter goodness and sharing with friends.

Mel has made some very cute little bags, you can find her post HERE.

I have made some Easter pouches. Last year I made little felt Easter egg bags which were super easy. This year I've changed these a little to make pouches from bubble corduroy and ribbons. These require a little more sewing than the felt bags, but they are still very quick and easy to make.

Easter project: Bubble corduroy Easter egg pouches.

Here's some step by steps to making my Easter pouches.

Step one: Cut fabric pieces 12cm x 28cm. Turn top and bottom hem over and sew.

 

Step 2:Create little ribbon tabs for threading ribbon in a later step. I cut grosgrain ribbon approximate 5cm long and sewed them onto the fabric approximately 2-3cm from the hemmed edges.

 

Here's a close up of the ribbon tabs:

 

Step 3:  Sew a piece of ribbon across the fabric. I've used some cute bunny ribbon from Ribbons Galore.

 

Below is a photo of what the pieces of fabric will look like at this stage:

 

Step 4: Fold fabric right sides together and sew side seams.

 

Step 5: Turn the little pouches right side out. I often talk before about production line crafting when making several pieces of the same project. This certainly can be applied to this project. Take one step at a time, cut all your fabric and pieces of ribbon. Then have your little pile of fabric at the sewing machine and stitch each step at a time. You'll soon have a little stack of bags.

 

Step 6: Thread ribbon through the tabs. Fill you little Easter pouches with goodies and you're ready for giving.

 

 

Thanks for joining Mel and I again today. We hope you'll visit us again on Friday for our next egg-ceptional egg-xtravaganza posts.

Have a great day.

Cheers

Fiona x

mid march catch up

We've been busy here since my last post. I've actually been on a road trip and driven to Lismore and Ballina since my last post. Paul and I drove Phoebe to Lismore to compete in the Little Athletics State Multi event. We had a lot of fun, even though it was very tiring driving such a long way in such a short time. Emily didn't come with us, she had a long weekend with her nana and poppa here in Sydney which everyone enjoyed (including Hugo the dog).

Last week Phoebe coloured her hair for the World's Greatest Shave. She went with blue hair and a purple fringe.

She had a few friends around to celebrate the event and help colour the hair.

We made colour co-ordinated cupcakes for afternoon tea ...

 

Phoebe has raised over $200.00 through online and cash donations. I know a few blog readers kindly sponsored her, thank you very much.

 

She has now washed her hair, and quite a bit of the blue remains, and possibly will for some time, I think.

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Emily recently worked on a project for school. Her task was to make a photographic essay for her Connected Curriculum subject. She has been out and about on excursions taking photos of her local environment. This project was pulling all her information together. She used a Maya Road sheer tab binder album, and made this book while we wereaway in Lismore. Here's a few photos of her book.

 

 

 

 

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A quick Ribbons Galore update. I have added a few very cute bunny ribbons which are perfect for Easter projects.

   

Speaking of Easter... I have some exciting things lined up. But you'll have to check back in a few days to find out more.

That's about all. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Cheers

Fiona x

we have a winner...

...of the Maya Road cupcakes stamp set...

<insert drum roll please>

And the winner is...

JODY

Congratulations Jody, I'll be in touch by email to arrange delivery of your newest baking delights!

Thank you to everyone who left me lovely comments. I wish I had enough cupcakes stamps to send to everyone.

Not much to report on creatively-wise. I have a quilt half cut which I'll be making for Emily (currently taking up most of the surface of the kitchen table).

Ribbons Galore has some ribbons perfect for Valentine's Day projects...

 

   

   

Just thought a share a few photos from last weekend.

Phoebe decided to add to her repertoire of sporting activities recently. So along with the athletics, soccer and basketball which currently consume a lot of her spare time, she decided she'd like to compete in a triathlon. We found the Weet-Bix kids TRY-athlon for her to enter which was last weekend out at Homebush. It was such a fantastically organised event with over 2500 kids entered in the Sydney event alone. There were no winners, the kids weren't timed, they were just given the opportunity to try a triathlon.

 

 

 

Has she caught the triathlon bug? Apparently....yes. I'm just applying to have that eighth day added to the week so we can fit it in.

I should also mention that these are not my own photos, they were taken by professionals, Super Sports Images, at the event and we were able to purchase these.

Well that's about all for this week. Happy Friday and I hope you have a great weekend.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Cheers

Fiona x

Christmas sewing

December has just flown by... and I couldn't let it pass without sharing some Christmas crafty-ness we've been working on in our house.

I mentioned in my last post about a project Phoebe and I were working on. We made an Advent calendar together, sewing 24 little quilted, fully lined stockings. Phoebe did a much of the quilting.

 

 

The little stockings ready to be sewed.

 

These little stockings are quite tricky to photograph. We pegged them onto string across the wall. Each day has it's own little stocking for a surprise.

 

 

Some close ups of the little stockings, trimmed with ribbon and rick rack.

 

 

And a happy Phoebe!

 

The fabrics I purchased last June from the Sydney craft show. The fabrics are:

• Fabrics from the Secret Santa collection by Lori Siebert for Benartex fabrics.

• Fabrics from the Spring Carnival collection by Max New fabrics. Click on Cotton Candy and Sherbet to see the green/red colourway.

And of course I couldn't let Emily go without an Advent calendar. So once the 24 stockings were made, I started on a project for Emily. Here is my gorgeous Emily with her Advent calendar.

 

This project was made up as I went along. I had an idea of what I wanted to make, but after that it was created as I sewed.

 

 

 

I made these little crotched felted flowers a while back, and was thrilled to see the colours of the flowers matched the advent calender. Little fabric covered buttons finished it off.

 

 

The fabrics used for this Advent calendar were from the Spring Carnival collection by Max New, this time in the red/pink colourway.

I have also made some market bags from Park Slope fabrics. These are for sale in the Handmade store at Ribbons Galore. They are quilted on the outside, fully lined and reversible.

  

  

And a couple of things made from Maya Road...

This little tag was a design team challenge for the Maya Road newsletter. We had to create a tag using four MR products.

   

 

And my little reindeer ornaments which I created last year, were published in a Paper Crafts Christmas special magazine, Holiday Cards and More Vol 3, along with two other of my projects.

 

Well that's about all for now. I've been busy painting a room in our house this weekend which will become my crafty room very soon.

Hope you have a good few days leading up to Christmas.

Thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona x

view from my sewing table

During the last school holidays the girls and I did lots of sewing while we were away up the coast. I thought it time to take some photos of our work. Below are some of the pencil cases we made. These started out just for the girls themselves. I also wanted to make some using some Ribbons Galore ribbons as well. I made the pouch "pattern" myself and have refined it slightly since the holidays, so now we are in full production mode - LOL.

At the moment there seems to be a flurry of birthday parties, so I've been busy making some pencil cases for presents. I love the idea of making gifts, but time is not always on our side. Special requests can be accommodated, provided the right fabric can be found in the fabric box!

These are a couple of designs I have for sale over at Ribbons Galore. I've loved the Fairy Tale ribbons from the moment they arrived, and have been wanting to make some things with them. They are fully lined and padded pencil cases or pouches. I've had so much fun combining the fabrics and making them up. I've only made a limited number of each design.

Coming soon will be some pouches with the Goldilocks ribbon...

And another work in progress, my Clover felting needle tool has been having a workout (see previous post for a link to Clover). These will be available very soon.

A couple of other sweet things that have caught my eye recently:

Kylie's felt cupcake. I'm so in love with this, it is so pretty and yummy looking.

Holly's very, very cute fabric flowers. They are the feature of her Tutorial Tuesday post a couple of weeks back.

That's about all. Thank you for visiting again.

Have a good week.

Cheers

Fiona x

Ribbons Galore update: new fairy tale ribbon, Christmas ribbons and ribbon handbags

This is a Ribbons Galore update.

There's a new fairy tale ribbon available at Ribbons Galore. "Goldilocks" is gorgeous with Goldilocks eating the porridge in the woods, with the bears' cottage and three chairs nearby.

There are some new Ribbon Bundles, Pink Grosgrain and Blue Grosgrain, which are available in limited quantities.

 

New ribbon handbags are now in store.

We are starting to stock up for Christmas. Our Christmas Trees and Christmas Cakes ribbons are in store again. These are beautiful quality jacquard ribbons. Perfect to start your Christmas projects early.

Also, the Tiny Cakes ribbons in blue, taupe and blush are back in stock.

Thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Fiona