NEW PATTERNS + A GIVEAWAY

I will keep it short and sweet......Cupcake Cutie has FIVE new cross stitch/needlepoint patterns.....


'A Couple of Gnomes'

'Miss Riding Hood'

'Girl Paper Doll'



'Boy Paper Doll'

'Woodland Matryoshka'

...and I want to give them away.

Just leave a comment telling me which one you would like to win and you will go in the draw to win your favourite!

I am also working on Hama bead versions of these patterns too. So far I have completed the Woodland Matryoshka pattern...

...so you can win this one if you prefer.

Look forward to your comments...you have to be in to win!

MEET PETE THE PIRATE SOFTIE

It has been so long since I have had the sewing machine out and when I finally located it high on a shelf in a cupboard I could easily write my name in the dust.

I was quite excited to have the 'old girl' out again. She is sturdy and vaguely reliable...no fancy embroidery stitches or instant button holes on my machine!

After a few tension issues with the straight stitch we managed to whip up Pete the Pirate....

 ...here is is posing in front of the tool box and making friends with the lego dolls.

He came about because I wanted to keep some of the kiddies baby clothes but not just in a box so I thought I could incorporate the clothes into a softie.

I spent a 'long time' on Pinterest and Etsy trying to find a softie pattern and gave up and designed my own.

The main fabric of the softie is one of my son's baby blankets and the pirate on the front from a t-shirt he wore when he was 2 and he just loved it so that is why I chose it. I have even cut the tag from the t-shirt and sewed it into the side of the softie which I thought was very cute but my son keeps asking me to cut it off!

Here he is meeting Pete the Pirate for the first time.........

....and giving him a cuddle. The only problem with Pete is that he is not machine washable and I can see that he is going to get pretty dirty, pretty fast!

Now I will think about one for my daughter but she has sooooooooooooo many cute baby clothes I am not quite sure where to start!

ANOTHER TAPESTRY FOR THE KID'S WALL

Just quickly I had to share my latest find from the op shop today....



....isn't she gorgeous! What a character, I had to have her and she was only $4.

 

The stitching is so incredibly neat and I think it must have been stitched by a left hander as all the stitches run diagonally to the left. I even took a photo of the back just to show how neat it is...

 

....the backs of mine never look like this!

I will have to try and find a frame for her now.

But in the meantime hubby is hiring a wall steamer on his way home tonight and I will be spending tomorrow stripping wallpaper in the kid's room....

Let the makeover begin!

STITCHING RIGHT NOW

I always have some kind of stitching on the go, usually at least 3 if not about 5 projects!

At the moment I am on the lookout for vintage/retro printed canvases that I can stitch up for the kid's room when it gets a makeover. I am kind of putting the cart before the horse as I haven't even stripped the wallpaper off the walls yet....oh well!

This is what I have so far.....

......a Monkey kit I got for a couple of dollars at the local Op Shop. Haven't done a stitch yet.

Then we have a Mickey Mouse kit......

I picked him up on Trade Me for a dollar. I have just started outlining him and stitched his foot.


Then there is Mr Raccoon embroidery kit......

....he has been partially stitched by someone else......

 

.........but i don't mind because the stitching is quite good and I bought him for a dollar plus postage and I just couldn't resist that cute little face!

 

There is this wee tugboat.....

 

.....which I have actually finished!

 

And then there is my most recent purchase from Etsy....

 

 

 ...this fabulous retro deer. I had to have him and he travelled all the way from the Netherlands to make NZ home!

 

I will be searching op shops and garage sales to find some frames for them and then I want to create a collage on one wall of the kid's bedroom. I had thought about doing A-Z in tapestry pictures but that might be slightly ambitious and I already have two 'M's.

 

There is a very long list of other things I should be stitching instead but that is a whole other blog post!

 



Garage Sale Glee!

I love good garage sale but often I am not quite organised enough to get to them on a Saturday morning. But yesterday there was one just 10 doors down so my son (who is nearly 3) and I wandered down to take a look.

As soon as I got there I knew there was good stuff at silly prices so I had to act fast. I scooped up my son (all 20kg of him) and dashed back up the street, handed him to his father and jumped in the car to get back there.

This is what I got........

........for $17 dollars!!!! The guy actually only wanted $12 but I gave him another $5.
I love old suitcases and these will be great for the kid's room to store puzzles and lego etc.
I have definite plans for a few table makeovers - very exciting!

I picked up these cute retro spice jars, measuring cupcs and tin plate for the kid's playhouse which is currently undergoing a makeover (more about that soon).

 



Quite thrilled with my finds we decided to go out for coffee and the playground. On the way back I spotted a Car Boot sale which was about to pack up so we had a dash around to see what left.

I got an old glass milk bottle for $2. Hubby got two mats for his ute for $2. Then at the last stall I spotted this......

....an unassuming plastic container, but the lid was partially off and there was something poking out that caught my eye. I carefully unwrapped all the tissue inside and found this...

...the most gorgeous wee Japanese tea set. I quietly got very excited and casually asked how much it was. The lady said "Oh you can have that for a dollar". I swiftly handed my coin over and dashed out of there before she changed her mind!

So all in all a fabulous day for bargain hunting.

Now all I have to do is work out where to put it all, it is currently jammed into the corner of our bedroom!

What treasures have you found lately?