Hunt for the button

I have been tearing my hair out for the last two weeks trying to source bulk amounts of self cover buttons. By bulk, I mean 100+. I just can't find them anywhere and Birch are out of stock of them at the moment.

A desperate crafty girl here is asking.... do you know where I can source these scarce little gems? Surely some craft or sewing shop has a bag of these lying around....

I'm after any self cover buttons sized 18mm or larger. Sob.... a girl can't have a new addiction and not be able to feed it!

Thanks to all you very resourceful crafty gals. I have found a very economical source of self cover buttons and I truly appreciate your help with this. My addiction has been fed.

Thankyou.

Adelaide Blogmeet with Kellie of Don't look now!

The super talented Kellie of Don't Look Now! fame is coming to Adelaide on the 17th and 18th of October to teach a class on her amazing raw edge applique technique.

I thought a nice Adelaidean welcome in the style of Ric-Rac might be in order. So I am in the process of organising a blogmeet for either the night of Friday 16th or the night of Saturday 17th of October.

Would you be interested in coming along, having a laugh, sharing some food, meeting other bloggy pals with similar interests? Perhaps you've read another person's blog and you'd love to meet them in person. I'm thinking somewhere casual for a dinner, perhaps a pub or cafe. If you have a great suggestion for a venue, I'd love to hear it!

If you are keen to catch up, please leave a comment below with your preference for either Friday or Saturday night. I'm waiting for Kellie to get back from her Sydney jaunt to find out her preference too!

photo courtesy of Don't Look Now!

No, I haven't been to visit the queen...

Where have I been?

Being a busy housewife, dealing with biting children, losing my favourite glasses (having them stolen whilst in an op-shop but that's another story), being crafty, enjoying the sunshine.

Things that fill my every day with busy-ness and happiness. Photos of some of my busy-ness follow including a knitting needle roll that now houses my rarely used needles...

The other thing that has been keeping my brain busy and up at 3am of late has been the brain poppingly exciting decision to find someone to share my eggs with. What's that you say? My chooks are too prolific and I have had it up to the eyeballs with omelettes?

No, I've decided that now that my husband and I have completed our family (at the grand total of one child) that I would love to help another woman who is yet to be enveloped in the bliss that is motherhood share in the experience. I'm donating my eggs to a woman who needs them to become pregnant and birth her own child. Why, you ask? That's really hard to put into words but the easiest way to describe it is that it makes me all warm and fuzzy. And it's ace fun.
And no, you don't get paid here in Australia to donate eggs... so I'm not selling my body parts to fund my fabric addiction!

So now that I've clicked with my intended parents, the 'oh my gosh is it really going to happen?' stage is over and hopefully it all goes ahead swimmingly... pardon the pun.

Back to sensible crafty topics now that I have some spare room amongst the neurons.... I've been expanding my newly acquired love of covering buttons through to girly hair clippies. Boyo, boy, are these addictive too!!?? Soon to be (hopefully tonight) loaded up to the Silly Gilly shop.

Sunny Saturday

How about this for a spring fancy kind of skirt? Made with inspiration from Lara and a tutorial by Moda Bake Shop, this skirt has been one of the most quick, easy and satisfying projects I've done in a while. I've used a pack of charm squares called Snippets by American Jane for Moda and teamed it with a lovely clear blue polka dot from Spotlight. Like Lara, I'm so happy there's very little pink in this skirt. I love pink myself but my poppet looks so lovely in blues and yellows, it's a challenge to get her to wear more of it.

And if you had a smell-o-rama computer screen, you would be able to smell the divine wafts of garlic, rosemary and lamb roast that is slow cooking right now in the oven. I'm following a Jamie Oliver recipe for Incredible Roasted Shoulder of Lamb. To accompany it, some roast veggies and for afters.... banana caramel pie. I thought it looked so good, cooling on the bench in the afternoon light, that I had to share. It will be slathered with cream later... yum.

Baking of all sorts

I'm a self confessed bake-a-holic. I love baking. I also love eating the baked goods a little too much but that's another blog post.

Here's a few cakes I've done recently, both for my husband's work colleagues and for a neighbour's 8 year old son. The snake cake was a joint collaboration with my crafty friend Kate.

Vanilla triple layer cake with strawberry cake middle layer. Layered inside with cream cheese icing and strawberry jam. Covered with cream cheese icing and strawberries.

Chocolate cake with chocolate marbled icing, covered with chocolate ganache and toasted slivered almonds.

I've also been delving into the Moda Bake Shop, thanks to a link by Thornberry. Lara made her daughter the most gorgeous skirt which I promptly decided that I would make a very similar copy for my daughter. It's all but finished, just waiting for the little poppet to wake up so I can measure the elastic for the waist. Here's a sneak peek, from late last night.

Buttons and Beads

A new addiction... covering my own buttons with fabric scraps, both new and vintage...

A selection of buttons from the massive bag of vintage and new buttons I scored for the princely sum of $1... (check out the biggest button at the top there - it scores the 'Ugliest Button of the Year' Award) ...

Felted beads I'm making with the aim of creating a rainbow felted bead necklace for myself...