All Things Lovely

How To Make An Australian Quilt

I've finally made my first quilt! To the joy of my mum who is a quilting queen. I just went with something very simple for the first go, but I'm so happy with it. A simple brick pattern, each square made up of six rectangles.

I agonised for months over my fabric choice, and eventually settled on pretty much the entire range of Dolce, by Tanya Whelan. It's so beautiful isn't it? I know this will probably offend real quilters who delight in picking out their fabrics, but because beautiful fabric is so expensive in Australia, I prefer to buy online and it's just easier to know everything matches!

As a little nod to my mum and her style of quilting, I included a little pink 'peeper' between the main quilt and the border. I really like how it breaks the colour up without standing out too much.

The wonderful lady who did the quilting used an aqua cotton so it can just be seen, with a lovely squiggly pattern for the edge, and a flower pattern for the main body of the quilt.

Uh oh....I think I've now got the quilting bug!

Picture Gallery Wall

I have so many things to share with you all that I did to my home on my little blogging hiatus. One of my most favourite is this picture wall I put up in my lounge room.

This was about 12 months worth of hunting down and collecting exactly the right pictures. Without even noticing, I really stayed with the pastel pinks and aquas, and somehow it came together.

Normally I like things very symmetrical (it's the accountant in me) but for this I wanted it to kind of just get slapped up on the wall in a random display so I could keep adding to it, which I have. It also makes it easier to not be too precious that everything is lined up!

I love every single one of these pictures all for different reasons. I think this is one of my favourite places in the house.

Photos are, from left to right:

One :: Irene Suchocki 

Two :: The Black Apple 

Three :: Lola's Room

Four :: Lovely Sweet William

Five :: Alice B. Gardens

Six :: Skippy Designs 

Seven :: My Monography

Eight :: The Poppy Tree

Nine :: Susannah Tucker

Ten :: Marmee Craft

Eleven :: Alice B. Gardens 

Twelve :: Heather Future 

Thirteen :: Vol. 25

Fourteen :: Eva Juliet 

Fifteen :: Irene Suchocki

On Your 'Vintage' Bike!

Happy Friday! I'm so glad the weekend is nearly here. What have you got on? Tomorrow my friend and I are are hosting a 'Walk for Hope' to raise some money for breast cancer. I'm hoping the weather clears up a bit! I'd also like to get down to the park and do some biking. You see, I went to Bicentennial Park here in Sydney a few weeks ago where you can hire bikes. I don't think I've ridden since I was about 16 which is a fair while! I had the BEST time and felt like I was 10 again. It's got me thinking how nice it would be to have a bike of my own. There's some great areas to bike near me, I'm a bit uncertain of the road, but there's heaps of bike paths. Anyway, if I'm going to do it, my bike will be very cute. Here's a few I've seen and like, some are just a dream!

This is I think my favourite bike, the Sommer from Pappilionaire. And they're Australian which is even better.

The Dannebrog from Velorbis. Loving the red!

And the Craighton OMA from Achielle

The Royal 5 Star from The Classic Bicycle Shop

So, which one is your favourite? Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Christmas Cards

Oh yes....I know it's only October!! But for some reason I'm very excited about Christmas this year. And, I'll be away for a fair bit of November, so I'm trying to be Little Miss Organised this year.

I love to put lots of thought into my theme, and wrapping for Christmas, and of course the gifts. There's something so special about the planning, isn't there? So, I went for a homemade, doiley and brown paper kind of theme for this year and I really love what's come so far.

These are my cards. Very simple, far from perfect but pretty. Usually I'm quite a perfectionist, but I think the imperfections are what makes them charming.

Brown card, a cute doiley, some alphabet stamps and thread. I'm so happy with them. The stamping took me forever though, and unfortunately the white ink just didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. Oh well.

I decided to use some lines from Christmas carols as well, rather than the plan 'Merry Christmas'. I think it's fun. Now just to count down to the 1st of December to post them out!

Have you started any Christmas crafts yet?

Monday Pinterest Loveliness

Happy Monday!! How was your weekend? Hope it was filled with rest and lovely things. Unfortunately the weather in Sydney was dreadful....I really thought it was meant to be Spring! The rain and cold and thunderstorms was perfect though to do some craftiness, and watch plenty of rugby. I am such a sports fan, so when it's quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup it's my perfect excuse to spend a weekend on the couch.

My Pinterest addiction is no secret to those who know me, and I figure Monday is definitely the day we need to see some Pinterest loveliness, so here's a few images I've been really loving lately from my Lovely Lovely board.

I desperately wish I could live in this home, from Tiny White Daisies

Bicycle + flowers = perfection on Flickr

Adore magazine 1st birthday party by Life In Bloom Photography

What are you loving on Pinterest at the moment?

 

Cross Stitch iPhone Case

Today the world has lost an amazing man. Steve Jobs, you definitely changed the world and inspired many.

The iPhone is definitely one of my favourite Apple inventions, and I love these new cross stitch iPhone 4 cases! Possibilities are endless and I can't wait until they're available to grab one for my phone. Now, just to think of the exact right design to stitch.