Food for thought

This week I had the amazing pleasure of getting involved with Bellyful once again. This amazing organization run by volunteers, make & freeze homemade meals for families with new children or those in crisis situations.



The wonderful ladies down in Temuka, had 70 meals that they kindly decided to donate to Christchurch! (Read their story here)

And they decided to ask me to help them distribute the meals in Christchurch. After many phone calls, I finally came across an organisation called Ranui House

Ranui provides families with a home away from home while a loved one is in care at the Christchurch hospital. It is owned and managed by the bone marrow cancer trust. When I called them up they just sounded relieved and overwhelmed at the thoughtfulness of the kind people of Temuka.
Allison (the C.E.O) said that they get families often coming in late at night that have not eaten a good meal and this would be an amazing gift for them.

So Thursday night saw Kim packaging up the meals in Temuka and loading them onto the free freezer truck that was provided by McKenzie Supply Services. However as things go as a mumtreprenuer the following morning did not run as smoothly as I had planned! (Broken laptop, overslept, flat battery & ill child all on the most important day of my week!) Anyhow managed to keep my head above the water and all systems go to the supply yard!

Mmm wish that was all Mallowpuffs!

From the depot to the City! I had not been so close into the city since February and it is a bit of a shocker, a ghost town. I got slightly lost so I got right up to the cordons. However everywhere around the most inner center was buzzing with activity which is really good to see.

These are the lovely ladies from Ranui house, they were overjoyed to see such bounty!    I was parked underground (which is a pretty scary experience in earthquake city especially leaving the boys in the car while we took the meals inside)

A reflective moment:

While we were unpacking the meals, I was wondering on my decision to give these meals to Ranui house just processing through that this was the right organisation. On my way back to the car park, I could hear the kids making a noise, I was mid sentence saying "I'm coming I'm coming" when I realised that the childs voice was not my own. What I saw next made my heart sore and brought tears to my eyes. A little girl, no older than my youngest (2yrs) with no hair getting ready in the car with mum and dad most likely off for treatment. I knew then this was the right decision. I cannot imagine going through something like that and having to deal with aftershocks at the same time.

So thank you once again to Bellyful for their amazing provision. If this is something you would like to get involved in, or if you know of a family in need, conact them here

Alphabet Soup

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to be getting this fabric in! I ordered it at the beginning of the year already and it has been very very hard to keep it under wraps until today! The lovely Zoe Pearn has designed this for Riley Blake and you can never go wrong with such an amazing Australian designer!

       

These are the two main prints, I ♥ the idea of one for boys and one for girls! The arrows & stars and "Roars" just depict my boys all over! And as for the girls I love the swirls, ladybugs & "Meaow"!

But that is not the best part, there is a ever so cute block style print just full full full of your favourite cute animals! Take a look at these!

      

Then the best part is all the other prints that go with these. They are bright and fun and I can just imagine a gazillion project for them including a cute little clutch! There are lots more fabrics online to choose from too! 

      

       

Oooh my Ooshka!

They are here and I am in ♥!

It did not take me long to decide to get these gorgeous doll patterns in! If you are not a Russian doll fan already then just a quick glance at these lovelies will have you hooked!

The appeal of little stackable Matryoshka dolls easily meets it's match with a perfect assignment for those itty bitty scraps you have been saving for a "special" project! Although they could easily deserve their own fabric! Now the hardest choice will be choosing which doll you would like!

There are 4 face options, Dark hair with blue eyes (a stunning contrast)! Dark hair with brown eyes and wee freckles, the ever so sweet blondie and then the stunning ginger with a headband of sweet daisies.

   

The kit comes with easy to follow instructions and pattern pieces and the face panel. Additional face panels (if you cannot make up your mind like me!) are available to purchase.

The dolls measure 41cm high when complete. For those of you with girls well birthday presents, Christmas or just because is the perfect excuse! For those of you without (moi!) I fancy stuffing a few peas inside and using one as my "Sew Pretty Room" door stopper! 

And we are not forgetting the boys! Place your pre order for the Ooshka Boy now! (just click on the picture!)

Happy Sewing everyone! P.S. Thank you for all the well wishes for the latest shakes! Life is always exciting down here in CHCH! I do appreciate your thoughts and I also appreciate your support of me as a mumtrepeneur 

Late night scrap heap challenge

Ok so father's day is looming in the rest of the world and with my parents living in South Africa, it means anything posted needs to be light, but an even greater challenge is finding a present for a guy let alone sewing one!

Here is my solution, I was limited with my fabric choice, (which sounds strange, but I was using "my" scraps!) And this was a late night challenge, so if the pic's look a bit dark you know why!

This is a glasses/sunglasses case:

These are super quick to make and you only need 2 small squares of fabric & some ribbon to make them!

♥ Cut out 2 squares 23cm x23cm (9"x9") of co-ordinating fabric, or if you are going to use the same fabric    inside & out (as I did with the blue stripes) cut out a 23cm x 46cm rectangle and fold in half to get your square. (Just a note, I preferred the overall finish of the 2 squares as the holes for the drawstring are sealed off better)

♥Also cut out a 23x23cm sqaure of interfacing. Which is now in stock at Sew Pretty! Place inside your rectangle or on top of your 2 squares (which should be facing each other with right sides in)

♥Iron baby iron! I am starting to miss having the ironing board in my sewing room!

♥ [For 2 squares only] Pin & stitch around your square leaving a small gap. Turn it the right way out.(always always pin! it makes for a much better finished product!)

♥Now fold over a small piece (about 1.5cm) from the front to the back. (This is going to make the pouch for the drawstring. (I used the end with the open edge from turning as my top)

♥Pin and stitch as close the bottom/edge, the closer you can go the more comfy your pouch will be to get your drawstring through. Make sure you use a co-ordinating thread as it will show on the outside of your wallet.

♥Once that is done, fold your square in half ( by halving the drawstring pouch you just made) and with right sides together (outside pieces). Pin and sew down the sides and just over the start of the drawstring pouch

♥ Fold the right way out, you can see how nice and sturdy these are which is great to keep those sunglasses a bit safer! 

♥ Finally using a safety pin attached to your ribbon/string thread it through the holes in the top of the wallet, tie  knots in the ends and you are done! Presto! Present sorted! 

Happy Fathers day Dad! (And mom you can see there is one made up for you twhoo!) 

Hoo's in the forest?

Riley Blake Designs just seem to understand the joy of childhood! The new Hoo's in the forest fabric collection by Doohikey Designs is no exception!

If owls are your thing, then this is for you! Filled with lucious pinks, reds & browns, I could only begin to imagine a quilt for a special little girl! Not to mention all the other yummy crafy you could get up to with these!

Before I show you the fabric, I have to let you know that the cost of this fabric has gone up by $1.15 per meter 30 cents per FQ, however I have decided to keep the price at $5 per Fat Quarter for now because we all deserve to enjoy this fabric!

Also this is availabe in METRIC! Yipee! So now you get an extra 4cm per FQ all the better to craft with!
When purchasing fabric from the site, always check the details underneath to see if it is in imperial or metric. As we slowly move over more and more will be in metric, however some collections such as Amy Butler will remain in imperial as the cost of metric far outways the benefit!

Here you go, enjoy oohing and aahing! And check out the fabulicious quilt that was on display at the quilt market & the funky tree! I want one of those!

Thank you all also for bearing with me through the up's & downs of a mumtrepaneur!

Chchch changes!

Sew Pretty has been running for almost 9 months now and I just ♥♥♥ all of it! I ♥ the fabric (obviously) I ♥  helping & finding out more about you! All my amazing customers! I ♥ the new skills I am learning through business - accounting for me can now be referred to as the "A" word especially if it is mentioned in the same sentence as fabric! 

So it is with great excitement that I am announcing our move to metric and many more exciting things! The move over to metric will take place slowly, as our new stock comes in it will be available in meters instead of yards so you will receive an extra 4cm of delicious fabric per fat quarter! ......but more on this later. 

Our website is under going changes too, we are working hard  (even until 1am in the morning!) to make it look prettier & a better shopping experience for you. So please understand if things don't look 100% all the time, but be assured that this is just a face-lift change and your shopping experience should not be interrupted in any way!

So looking forward, I just have to share with you some of the new Michael Miller prints that we cannot wait to get into stock! 

If you are like me with boys you are always on the lookout for something different and ultra funky for boys! So when I saw just exactly what Kathy & Michael were showing off at the quilt show, there was a huge "squeel". 

Have a look at their blog to see some awesome videos of the show, it really makes me want to be a part of all that fun! There are also some awesome free tutorials on there esp this one (and one for kids) for bean bags:

So watch this space! There are a lot more exciting things to come!