Tuesday's Progress

Hello hello!
another Tuesday, more random projects in the works, I'm making my one day mother in law a present for her birthday in May, now she makes my little ones some amazing clothes, and sews so much for the other grandkids aswell, I thought it was time she got sewn for..so I'm making her a quilt. Its nothing fancy, but its bright and cheerful, just like she likes and will be turned into a lovely big lap quilt for her during winter for her couch knitting. She feels the cold heaps, so I'll use wool batting for it aswell...here is my progress so far, these elements will be sewn into a big pannel, then ill cut them down into squares, boardering the squares in white with a bright binding to make it all pop.


a little desk organization is in order me thinks...
while sewing, and no kids...I bopped along to some Lisa Hannigan.

and last but not least, my little purchases from the craft and sewing fair. Can you spot the Jane davenport stamp! I ADORE her!
thats all from me today!
I'll try and do some art tonight on the couch to update you guys with...but at the moment, I'm all about getting this quilt top done so my darling girls can help me with the rest in april when I visit them.

xx Courtney

Five Year Old Friday

Evening my dears, it is indeed Friday here in the nook and as promised, I have Five Year Old Friday, the world through my little mans eyes. He has snapped over 300 shots, but I had the task of choosing only a few, here are some of my faves for...

today's shots were from our walk, a trip to spotlight and a trip to a garden center. Waiting at the traffic lights before we could cross.

this is one of my favourites he took, and I'm not even sure I know why but I saw it and it made me smile.

he went off into his own little world while I looked at fabrics, and captured things that I wasn't even sure of what they were...a bright glittery trim of some sort.

the last of their Christmas stock, bright tinsel.

after the craft store, we went to look at plants for our little garden we are thinking of having, he captured the sunflowers beautifully.

and these little deep pink flowers aswell, he didn't want to leave the plant place, as he wanted to keep taking pictures of the flowers. He really is adorable with his little camera held tightly in his hands.

my only image from the entire day was snapped while we were out on the ipad. Bolts of fabric I'd chosen to make my man's mum a quilt for her birthday. She makes so many beautiful things for my little ones, dresses and shirts, shorts and adorable skirts, I thought it was time someone made her something, so I chose some lovely Denise Schmit prints for the quilt.

so that is our day, from Elijah's perspective and a single shot from mine.
I hope you enjoyed 5yo Friday, it will be back next Friday, I wonder what photographic treasures eli will come up with next week.
xx Courtney

pop into my home for a cup of tea and some sewing.

Another hot summer day here in the nook, with the kids slumping from the heat, watching carebears and playing inside games in front of the fan. While they sat silent for a while, I got the boy to snap a selfie for me since its rather hard to shoot at that angle.

yesterday I mentioned we bought a simple little desk for my sewing table, and today I got a chance to put it together ready for the days when the little ones are at school and daycare, where I can concentrate on the little work in progress basket and to start some new projects, a few quilts need to be constructed this year, and with the purchase of a walking foot, I think I'm ready to go!

one of my fave things...my handmade cushion by the darling quilt goddess Ellie.

I thought I would show you lovelies a few sections of my house as the year progresses. Here is my favourite teapot in the kitchen.

and a sneak peek at the little lily's room. I secretly adore her room, I'm a young girl at heart and all that pink and white just makes me gush!

and on the arty front, using some of my blog photos in my art journal to create little photo journal pages so that I can see my year in pictures within my journals.

playing with my watercolour crayons since it's been too long since I got them out, on Sundays I'll be doing a Sunday Supply post, where I feature my favourite supply for the week, and show how I used that supply within my art work, and also links where to purchase them for the best price.

that's all from me today, it's too hot, I'm going to grab my book (Flowers in the Attic) and read in front of the cool fan.
xx Courtney

a little girl..and her blanket.

after camp Courtney wound up sunday afternoon the house felt empty, but the days the girls were here, were filled with laughter sewing, and creating. I could do camp every single day....the highlight was the coming together of something very close to my heart.

my very first quilt...for my little quirky daughter. Al ot of mistakes, a lot of wonky lines, but a hell of a lot of love...and the pink cloud if girly is finished.


dots and spots..butterflies and cupcakes, flowers and paisley are just some of the prints featured in this quilt. I learnt so much making this quilt, what not to do, what to do and what was just right.


wonky sashing, due to my dodgy basting, straight line quilting that felt like it went on and on and on! but all of it doesnt matter....because my lily...adores it.

all women in some way did their bit to make this quilt special for lily, right down to the hand embroidered patch on the back saying made with love. Im proud to have been able to give my little girl something truly unique...
and now its time I start collecting boy fabrics, so master elijah can have his own...
enjoy your monday afternoon in the soft sunlight
thankyou once again to the wonderful ladies who made my weekend truly amazing.

quilting progress

As I've mentioned before, I started a quilt for my daughter Lily, who kinda drew the short straw being the second kid, she doesn't get alot of new things since I had alot of things from when Eli was born, so I thought it was time she got something special from her mummy.

I started cutting the squares with my mumma last week, and the ironing and the sewing began! 5 blocks across 7 rows down. with a bright pink polkadot sashed boarder, the backing is a smaller dot in pink, and the binding is a baby pink with white dots...can you tell I like dots lol.

the sewing of the blocks took me maybe 3 hours from start to finish. Then it was a trip to the fabric store in town for some batting and backing. I then started the AWFUL task of basting, which I must say I suck royally at! Next time I will wait for help lol, all this has been a learning curve but one must start somewhere.

I have started straight line quilting this little gem and its a slow slow task but I know it will be worth it in the end. It has shifted a little so some of the sashing will be trimmed to even it back up, I shall make up for this by making a decently think binding.

my sweet flower at the park a few weekends ago with my man and eli. She was so serious on the swing till I pushed her a little higher then the smiles came out to play hehe.

so thats where I am up to! I'll keep straight lining all the way down as straight as I can (which isnt that straight lol) then hopefully it will be ready to bind at 'Camp Courtney' a little craft camp at my place with the women I adore spending time with! hopefully the goddess Ellie will share her binding wisdom and it can be finished!

two blogs in one day! can you feel the love?

enjoy your afternoon, I shall enjoy mine with tea and cake with the lovely Emily.

xox Courtney

a quilt in the making, and emerald alice.

I haven't done my collage for today yet, but I thought it was time to show off another side of me, I am still very very beginner but slowly Im getting better at quilting! My darling grp of girlfriends and I decided to embark on a quilt round robin, where we each got a partner for the month and we would get their base fabric and sew them a block for their quilt using a matching fabric we ourselves bought for them. Its been such an amazing experience, getting their fabric cutting and sewing, a bit of swearing here and there, laughing at stupid mistakes.

I decided in my moment of madness as the crazy art student of the grp, to have every triangle a different fabric, meaning each block would stand as a colourful work of art. Easy way to stash bust and a way to go a little wild with fabric matching. I have however stated that the same print cant be used in other squares just no two same print on one block, just to make it a little easier!
so far the girls and I have made 12 blocks for my quilt, with some women sewing me more than the allotted two, as I declared that I wanted to make mine a king size quilt to begin the idea of an heirloom in my little family. These woman are helping me create that heirloom, and their names will be embroidered on the backing of the quilt as my homage to them.
They are my world, as if they were family. - Souls sisters if you will.
So below feast your eyes on the manic beautiful rainbow that are my progress shots, atm its a decent lap blanket size.

on the topic of quilts, my dear dear girlfriend Ellie knows my obsession with Alice in wonderland, that I have all vintage copies of the books, that I have rubber stamps in all the characters and that last years birthday invites were for a mad-hatters tea party with Alice invites and all!
This lovely lady for my birthday, which isn't til next month started sewing me something that I know Im going to cherish for the rest of my life. With my favourite colour and my favourite book character, I present you Emerald Alice, a lap quilt that will be used every moment I can think of! It makes me smile just looking at her.

many people want the quilt and many have been told no, Ellie has been asked if they can buy her, I've said no amount of money can make me give that quilt away. So suck on that she's mine.
I love it to bits, as much as I love the woman who made her for me.
have a great friday!!
oxo Courtney