And in news just to hand...

I've just received my Uptown Girl Pattern from Kelani. How quick was that!!!! I also got the Oliver + S Sunday Brunch pattern.

Still blown away by how quickly they got here... left me quite speechless I tell you.

Someone must have heard my despair

OK so after complaining about the lack of lovely fleece in Spotlight yesterday, I can only assume that someone at Mill Direct Textiles (the home of Malden Mills) heard my sulking and came to the rescue, for what should I find this morning other than an email in my inbox from MDT saying they had 35% off their recycled fleece. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!! And I refuse to think for a second that this sale had been planned from quite sometime, it suits my egocentricity much better to believe that they are doing this just for me LOL.

Anyway, as I was saying they have 35% off recycled fleece. What is recycled fleece I hear you say. Well no its fleece that they have sourced from the local op shop (or worse still the local tip) but according to MDT:

Recycled fleece is brand new fleece, made in the United States, straight from Polartec® LLC. The difference is that its content includes items from recycle bins, such as your discarded milk jugs and manufacturing by-products of the required content. The resulting molten polyester is purified, and spun into yarn.

Polartec® LLC is the world leader in eco-friendly recycled content synthetic fabric and has been developing recycled fleece since 1993.

In 2007 advances in recycled fiber options and quality allowed Polartec® LLC to release a new greatly expanded line of recycled fabrics. With recent yarn technologies the possibilities to expand and improve are endless.

Isnt that cool, empty milk bottles to fluffy, snuggly fleece, what will they think of next? And recycled fleece appeals greatly to my greener side. Off to place an order...

PS if you've never handled MDT fleece you seriously dont know what you are missing. When I say snuggly, I mean its super snuggly. And the feel of it is indescribable, its like silk in fleece clothing or is that fleece in silk clothing, get some and decide for yourself.

Spotlight was disappointing... (but check out the cute tute)

but its all we have to work with so we soldier on regardless.

Now of my four items I got a grand total of none. Yep, huge effort on my part. But that does not mean we left empty handed because I'm pretty sure that there is some sort of sewing law which states "thou shalt walk through the valley of pretty fabrics and thou shalt beholden fabrics. And she that beholden fabrics shall never be left wanting but for gold and will never leave the valley with empty hands"... or something to that effect anyway.

So yellow fleece, the only yellow fleece they had was baby poo colour, so not what I was wanting. I need bright yellow. The bright yellow they had was in polar fleece but I dont want polar fleece. To be honest I would love to get my hands on some bright yellow Malden Mills. Shall have to scout around some nappy stores.

Curtain stuff, well I'm decided to recycle the curtain bits and pieces already there. As Bob would say, reduce, reuse, recycle. Go Bob!!!!

Girly stuff for new found patterns. Once again, specifics already in mind. Hat, dress, jacket and I've got a fabric already here which I love and want to use for this but it needs a co-ordinating fabric and I was thinking a burgandy velvet or velour or something and guess who didnt take a swatch of the fabric I already have.

Lastly buckles, well I didnt expect to get anything even remotely resembling what I want so not in the least bit disappointed about this one.

I did get some blue mottled cord (I have this thing about cord, love the stuff!!!) and some bracelets for this extremely cute (and easy!!!) little purse/bag (Zofia of Crafty Mamas found this one so I'm passing it on too). Chloe loves putting things in bags so we got 6 bracelets for 3 bags which she can fill up to her hearts content.

Out and about

Anyone with a few little ones running around the place will well know just how difficult it can be getting out and about. Even though I try about go out while Samuel is at school, Alex and Chloe seem to have the innate ability to tag team - you go that way and I'll head this way. Add to that Chloe is rapidly approaching 2 and she's getting a head start on the terrible twos. It seems like she has gone from divine, angelic blonde angel to hellish, demonic blonde devil in just a matter of weeks. What happened to my sweet little petal *cry*

Anyway, I never seem to get a chance to head to Spotlight. Way too tempting for little fingers and trying to supervise two sets of little fingers leaves no time to actually look at anything. So from now on I've made a date with myself. Every Wednesday morning is going to be Spotlight morning. Samuel will obviously be at school, Alex will be at Kindy and Chloe can tag along with me. I've even got my shopping list ready in anticipation:

1. yellow fleece. Samuel wants some AIO pyjamas (the kind with feet). Actually if you ask him he'll tell you that he neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeds pyjamas with feet. And they have to be yellow. At least we have specifics to work with. Which is good because I can see them already completed in my mind. I know exactly what I want them to look like.

2. curtain materials for Pimp my Windows, pretty self explanatory really.

3. girly stuff. Last night I was going through a box of patterns and found some gorgeous girly winter patterns which I had totally forgotten about *kick in the bum*. So I'm really looking forward to having a look for a few girly bits and pieces so I can use a few of these patterns. Fortunately most of them are size 1-4 so still have a fair bit of use out of them for little miss.

4. overalls. Last visit I found some sensational striped cord and I've decided that its going to make so seriously funky overalls for Alex. Firstly I need to find the right patterns and I want some nice buckles. Not holding my breath that I'll find anything tomorrow, I think this is going to be something I'll have to look online for but you never know. If you dont look, you'll never find.

And on that rather philosophical note... it'll be happy shopping for me tomorrow.

Competition time!!!!

Have you seen "Make it Perfect"? If not, here's your chance to A. check out some fabulous patterns and B. possibly win one of those fabulous patterns.

I like them because they are fresh and funky without being fiddly. I find some pattern seem to be a bit over done. "Make it Perfect" aren't like that. Sensible, dependable with an added dash of funk. I like it!!!!

Now you can win the Uptown Girl Pattern as part of a giveaway.

Now if only it came in Mummy size... speaking of which, I'm getting a Summer Fling.

Good luck, have fun and dont blame me for credit card abuse LOL.

Oops... have ended up buying Uptown Girl anyway LOL so I now know for sure I have one on the way. Knowing my luck I'll end up winning this one too. Wouldnt that just be typical.

OPERATION: Pimp my Windows - Intro

I love my house. I love everything about my house except one or two minor elements which I'm slowly correcting. One such element is the curtains in our bedroom.

Now when I think master bedroom I think elegance, sophistication, decadence. But in keeping with the style of the house (which is a federation style) I've opted to go for a slightly medieval style. But at the moment the curtains are letting down the whole effect. Thus begins Pimp my Windows.

The bed linen is Dorchester from Australian Heritage Linen. As soon as I saw it, I knew that was what I was looking for. It reminded me of the bedroom we stayed in at Clearwell Castle where my SIL was married in 2006.

So stunning bed linen - check, obviously the curtains are the next thing to tackle. Only problem is trying to get material to match. At first I was thinking of getting another sheet set and using the material but given that they are a little on the pricey side I left it for a while.

Then in December 2007 (well I did say it was a project with a long history) Spotlight were doing there regular Xmas markdowns. I had the most incredible luck getting a curtain set in a very, very similar navy jacquard. I was stoked!!!! However, there was only one set and they were for very narrow windows. In order to make these fit the windows, the one set of curtains would have to be sewn together which of course means I only had enough for one window. DAMN (but oh so typical)!!!!! I bought the curtains anyway, just in case.

Next I turn to my good pal Ebay and I wasnt disappointed but once again it was simply a matter of patience. Around December 2008 another set of these exact same curtains went up for auction. So it took another 12 months, but finally I had two pair of matching curtains.

What with one thing or another its now May 2009 and I still dont have the curtains up hence I've decided to make Pimp my Windows my main project for this month.

You name it, April's got it...

... birthdays, school holidays, public holidays, lurgies and all the rest. And as April draws to a close we begin to farewell those balmy autumn days (at least we should be) and so outdoor activities which need to be completed take precedence. Thus Operation Shed Move has taken over much of this month. April it seems is the month where routine is sent to live out in the chook pen for a month and chaos reigns supreme.

However all good (???) things must come to an end and routine is once again invited, nay begged to return. May is going to see the commencement of "Pimp my Windows" a little project with a long history. I cant wait to get started, I've been looking forward to this for a couple of years now!!!!