Blog

Don’t Look Now Workshop – Part 1

August 2, 2010 By corrie 20 Comments

Wow, wow and more wows! What a fabulous weekend I have just had. All of the hours of preparation were soon forgotten once we were all set up and things were underway. Of course I had fifty million worries about things that could go wrong and really the worst thing to happen all weekend were the tears from my 3 little ones when I got out of the car each morning…..I think we have a teensy bit of separation anxiety going on. So our weekend started at 9am on Saturday morning and we got to know everyone and a bit more about Kellie and her gorgeous quilts.

We had ladies come from all over Sydney, Wollongong, country NSW and one lovely lady came all the way from NZ to do the weekend with her very special mum, Janet of Quiltsalott. It was also lovely to have Catherine Sanchez, the editor of Homespun, join us too.

After the introductions it was straight down to selecting our fabrics and preparing our applique. I love kellie’s method of appliquing through your quilt sandwich. It gives your work such a nice look and feel, but oh man does she ever make it look easy. You actually do the applique with your feed dogs down so it definitely takes some practice and concentration and will take me more practice but it’s worth it.

I was so proud of everyone…they were so quiet and studious all weekend. You could tell we were there to do some serious quilting and learning and I’m sure Kellie thinks we’re one of her best groups….hehe….Ok well I do!

The day flew by….we took quick breaks for coffee, sweets and sandwiches and it was back to work again and before we knew it the day was over. Half of us stayed back for a drink and some dinner which was a nice way to end the day. We went to papaya thai in cammeray and what a gorgeous place! The food was just beautiful as was the company.

I did get teased by retro daddy when he said ‘ oh look here come the party girls rolling in the door……at………’ and he checks his watch ‘ 8.30!!!!!’ In our defence we’d had a long day and I was ready for bed.

Sunday really flew by. We learnt kellie’s method of free motion quilting, something that took me the day to get used to because I’ve never been taught a design before so I had to correct myself from going the wrong way with my spirals.

Kellie sure makes it look like a piece of cake and everyone was doubting their own work but as I went around the room I was so impressed by every single person’s work. It was just gorgeous….more of those pictures coming soon but here is Kellie’s sample quilt sandwich.

I then made the very difficult decision of allowing kellie to quilt my cushion for me – oh it was such a hard decision to make! No, not really but she’s taken it home with her to finish and I”m feeling very special but also very motivated to do my own version so each of my girls can have one for their bed. Here is Kellie’s beautiful quilting on my cushion. Ok, well she did my tree and two of the leaves – no prizes for guessing that!

Before we knew it the day was over. 4pm had arrived and we took lots of photos of all of us and our work and then it was time to say our goodbyes, pack up, load up the car and take kellie back to the airport.

I can’t thank Kellie enough for coming up to do the workshop for me. I don’t own a bricks and mortar store and have never organised a whole weekend workshop and I was so glad she put her faith in me and it was such a success. She is a natural teacher who had us laughing all day and was so patient and lovely with everyone. I also have to thank each and every one of the 19 ladies who came along and attended the workshop because no students would have meant no workshop. Everyone was so happy, cheerful and hard working all weekend and made it so much more worthwhile. Thank you too for helping me get all set up and just making it all run smoothly!

Of course I also have to thank the lovely retro daddy who took care of the little people and got me there and home each day with a smile on his face. Will I do it again? You bet! Next year, watch this space…. In another post I’ll share pictures of Kellie’s quilts and everyone’s work! Until then I have umpteen loads of washing, lots of healthy food to cook for my children who keep calling out for chippies and lots of work to catch up on!

Filed Under: don't look now, kellie wulfhson, quilting, store

sneak peek of don’t look now

July 31, 2010 By corrie 7 Comments

Well we’re half way through the Don’t Look Now quilting workshop and having oh so much fun. And I thought you might like a sneak peek of what we’ve been up to……………….

I just love this picture because it shows how hard at work we’ve been all weekend. Come back later tonight for a full wrap up……

Filed Under: don't look now, quilting

almost there

July 29, 2010 By corrie 13 Comments

Firstly, wow and thank you for your sweet words. It’s reassuring to know that strangers stop to tell you their thoughts whether you have zero, one or more children. Feeling much more normal now. Plus I have bigger things to worry about like my 2 hour glucose test tomorrow (because I had high blood sugars on the regular test) and the Don’t Look Now quilting workshop I’ve organised for this weekend.

So I’ve been carbo loading before the glucose test and making up 19 goody bags for the weekend. But my biggest job is still to be finished – basting 40 quilt sandwiches. Thankfully they are cushion size but still a huge job. Kellie arrives friday night (yikes, that would be tomorrow!) to stay at our house and there are still all those jobs to do before you have a house guest. Thank goodness Kellie’s a mum of 4 including twins so I won’t need to apologise for anything like the noise level or little children running around at home.

Picture from here

Our project for the weekend is Kellie’s gorgeous ‘Wish you were here’ cushion and I’m really excited. I love my free motion quilting and to learn from such a beautiful quilter like Kellie is going to be a fabulous experience. I’m doing it all over again next year and will definitely have learnt a lot from this weekend. So, I’ll be back on Sunday to give you the full debrief………….see you then.

Filed Under: don't look now, pregnancy, quilting

are they all yours?

July 28, 2010 By corrie 63 Comments

Yes, people, they are all my children. And yes I am pregnant with number 4. And no I’m not brave or crazy, I’m actually very lucky. Do you want to listen to my whole infertility story and know that this baby is a little miracle that required no drugs or doctors visits to get inside my tummy. Or that I feel so blessed to have such beautiful, happy and healthy children who are the love of my life.

I am only saying this because today I went to Spotlight for a quick trip. Not 1, not 2 but yes, 3 different people stopped me to ask exactly the same question ‘are they all yours?’ Oh no, I just love walking around shopping malls with other people’s children. It’s such a pleasant experience to have 3 small children on the loose at the shops. I’m not sure what is wrong with people but obviously they are my children.

‘we’ve just been playing at the park’ hair!

Thankfully, I just smile sweetly but deep down I’m thinking derrrr why of course they are my own children and couldn’t you think of something nicer to say. And let me tell you people’s faces and voices aren’t always super sweet and friendly when they ask this question. Maybe I wouldn’t mind if they were like some nice people who just say ‘gosh you have beautiful children’. We like those people, they are usually the people at our church who love to tell us that. Anything you need to get off your chest today??? I sure needed to get that one off my chest!

Filed Under: twins

escaping to Country Living

July 27, 2010 By corrie 17 Comments

In the last week or so, this pregnancy has really been catching up on me. At home we are calling it the fastest pregnancy on record as it is flying by. But now the 14kgs I have gained (did I just say that!) is slowing me down. I pretty much count down the hours till it is acceptable to put on my jammies and dressing gown and plonk myself down somewhere and not move again. And one of my favourite things to do is to grab a big pile of magazines and a cup of peppermint tea. Pretty magazines are my weakness (one of my weaknesses).

At the moment I am loving the August issue of Notebook (ha ha, of course I am) and the British Edition of Country Living. My newsagent sells the magazine the month after it is released in the UK for $8.95 which is so reasonable for an overseas mag and I just love it. I love the interiors, homewares and pretty china….

the beautiful english country gardens and the pretty pictures of roses (shame I’ve had no luck growing them in my garden)…

and of course I love the recipes. You can find the recipe for these very sweet fondant fancies here……

So what is your favourite magazine??????

Filed Under: country living, magazines, notebook magazine

simple perfect enchiladas

July 25, 2010 By corrie 4 Comments

Well after chicken pie took half the day to prepare last week, I am going back to making new recipes on weekends. And in keeping with this strategy, last night I made pioneer woman’s simple perfect enchiladas. Honestly, it’s like she has written her cookbook for retro daddy. Anything I make from her book, retro daddy devours and I won’t tell you how many enchiladas he ate last night.

Here they are before they went into the oven. Don’t they look fresh with the red sauce, spring onions, coriander and cheese. Delicious and the kids enjoyed it too. We ended up with 2 baking dishes full of enchiladas but I had some issues with frying my tortillas so had to ditch that stage (probably better for our health). I also must have missed the tip about the sour cream but will definitely remember for next time. And there will be a next time.

Filed Under: cooking, dinners

sunday

July 25, 2010 By corrie 10 Comments

Taking my three to a park on my own is stressful as the twins go one way, keira goes another and no one ever wants to get back in the car (think big tantrums and throwing themselves on the ground). So I save the park for weekends…………………when retro daddy is on hand.

I get to sit down on a bench and relax. We’ve had such a great sunday together starting with hosting morning tea at church, playing at the park, trying out a new sushi train restaurant and picking up the latest edition of Country Living (ok well that one was for mummy).

And now I’m off to sew…….perfect!

Filed Under: everything else

first rolled hem

July 22, 2010 By corrie 10 Comments

Well, this is a little embarrassing since I’ve been using overlockers for a few years now – but here is my first ever rolled hem. It was so easy! Why I haven’t done one before I’ll never know, but there is no stopping me now. I did have to pull out the manual and fiddle around but once your overlocker is set up for it you’re on fire. I’m thinking quick tablecloths, placemats and napkins……….so look out fabric, here I come!!

And with Mathildas Market less than 3 weeks away, I think the old sewing machine will be coming into the dining room at night time so I can keep warm and sew up some more stock. I’m currently set up in the back room which would have to be the coldest part of the house but enough is enough I need to get cracking on my sewing list!

Filed Under: brother, overlocker, sewing

a crafty retreat giveaway

July 20, 2010 By corrie 10 Comments

Sonia is a sweet lady who lives down the road from me! I first met her way back when I was pregnant with Keira and needed a new craft – haha no I’ve never needed a new craft but she ran a beautiful scrapbooking store and I did a day long class and had a ball. Now I’m no scrapbooker but you don’t need to be either ….check out this amazing giveaway that Sonia is running.

———————————————————————————————————
Forever Always ULTIMATE Retreat Weekend Giveaway!!!

Forever Always is excited to invite YOU to their 14th Annual Retreat Scheduled for August 5-8th in North Turramurra NSW! Forever Always has held amazing scrapbooking and papercraft retreats for the past 6 years and is excited to offer their first ultimate weekend Giveaway! This 14th Annual retreat marks the begining of more crafts being offered, in the past we have included Scrapbooking, Cardmaking and Photography – this retreat we are also offering Stitching and Quilting Classes.

This event will be held at Glengarry House, situated on the edge of Ku-ring-gai National park in Sydney’s leafy suburb of North Turramurra and features 70 hours of non-stop crafting time, with fully equipped Forever Always Online Store, Mini Retro Mummy Table and hopefully a Mini Nutrimetics Table for all your shopping needs, dining with friends on the best homecooked meals, generous well lit crafting space, comfy beds, a Forever Always signature handmade with love goodie bag, lucky door prizes, mini free hand massages and much, much, more.

A range of packages are available for Dormitory or Private Rooms and also a single Day pass. To register and checkout packages click here. Forever Always workshops/classes are taught by our talented design team members PAULA PERRY, MICHELLE WINSTON AND SONIA BOWERS, who are published and recognised in their fields. In addition, CORRIE from Retro Mummy (that’s me!) , will also be attending to stitch and chat amongst us and man her little stand on Saturday afternoon.We are also hoping to have Tammy from Nutrimetics come and do mini hand massages but this is still yet to be confirmed.

Wouldn’t YOU love to attend this retreat with some of your best crafty girlfriends? I know I sure would!
Well guess what? Forever Always and Just Calls and Crops have generously offered ONE lucky Crafter free attendance to this event. Can you believe it?!? Yes, you read it right … FREE!!!

To enter to win, simply comment over at Sonia’s blog here telling her why you want to attend and what you would love to learn whilst attending 🙂 and the Name/s of the friend/s you would bring along. For bonus entries, you can also comment in the relevant FA ULTIMATE RETREAT WEEKEND GIVEAWAY POST on the JUST CALLS AND CROPS BLOG, and RETROMUMMY’S BLOG, also become a Facebook fan of Forever Always and Facebook fan of Just calls and Crops – be sure to let us know that you have done these in seperate comments – so that you go in the draw.

———————————————————————————————————–
So there you have it………………..go and enter at Sonia’s blog and for a bonus entry you can comment here too and I’ll see the winner there on Saturday 7th August! You need to pay your own travel costs to get to Sydney/the venue but what a great giveaway………..

Filed Under: giveaway

baby and toddler crochet hat patterns

July 19, 2010 By corrie 14 Comments

Or I could have called this post ‘What to do when your gorgeous model is at preschool?’. Thanks to George for stepping in today, he was very co-operative and stood still for me. So at last, here are more of my crocheted hat patterns for you. These will actually be named Operation Christmas Child hats so that people can make up the hats and pop them in boxes as part of Operation Christmas Child. I’ll share the link to my hats once its up there!

Sizes : baby (toddler, preschooler)

what you’ll need :

2x50g balls 8 ply wool ( I used Lincraft’s ‘cosy’ wool for this project)

6.5mm hook for hat

scraps of wool for your flower

4mm hook for flower

Ok, let’s get stuck into it. Again I’m not going to use abbreviations to make it easier for all of you and please note that I use American terminology so when I say double crochet if you’re using Australian/UK crochet terminology then you call that a treble!!!!

Using 2 strands of wool (one from each ball), chain 5 (6,6) and with a slip stitch form a ring.

Round 1: Chain 3 and then make 15 ( 17, 19 ) double crochet into your ring. Join with a slip stitch to the top of your first chain 3 (so basically your 3rd chain).

Round 2: Chain 3 (this gives you the height of the round) then starting with your next stitch do 2 double crochet (if you’re using aussie/UK terminology you call these trebles) into every stitch the whole way around. Join with a slip stitch to the top of your first chain 3.

Rounds 3-6 : Chain 3 and do 1 double crochet in each stitch the whole way around. Join with slip stitch to the top of your first chain 3. For the preschooler hat or if its looking too short on your model/recipient/nearest child in sight then add another round or two of exactly the same so you end up with 7 or 8 rounds. Cut wool and weave in ends.

Flower
Using the 4mm hook and one strand of wool, chain 5 and with a slip stitch form a ring.

Round 1 : chain 3 and then do 20 double crochet (you might call these a treble) into the ring. Slip stitch to join to the top of the first chain 3.

Round 2: chain 1 then single crochet in each double crochet of the previous round.

Round 3: single crochet, *skip one stitch of previous round then 7 double crochet in the next stitch, skip one stitch then do a single crochet. Repeat from * until you reach your first single crochet and slip stitch to finish. Leave 50cm of wool, cut and pull through the loop on your hook. Attach your flower using a darning needle and the wool strand you left on the flower.

Now remember this is for you to make for your family, friends, charity and not for resale! Please be nice and respect that so I can keep sharing patterns with you, for FREE! Next up I’ll have newborn and adult sizes.

Filed Under: crochet, patterns

Boys love quilting too……..

July 17, 2010 By corrie 7 Comments

Well in this case my boy loves quilting when 50 metres of batting arrives on your doorstep wrapped in plastic.

It was obviously just calling out to be played on, rolled around on

fall off

He sure loved that batting! The reason I have so much batting is that it’s only 2 weeks till the very lovely Kellie of Don’t Look Now arrives in Sydney for my first ever quilting weekend. I’m very excited and I know all 18 ladies coming are excited too. It’s been a learning curve to organise this weekend, manage the cancellations, remember to collect money, buy the supplies……. Let’s remember I studied accounting and not events management but it’s all coming together nicely and I’m so crazy that I’m going to do it all again with Kellie next year.

Filed Under: don't look now, quilting

bear with me

July 17, 2010 By corrie 10 Comments

Well I’m changing around the look of my blog so bear with me as I DIY it! I’ve been wanting bigger pictures and more white so hang in there. I also found this great tutorial here on how to make your own blog header….genius! Who knew I could make my own header……..

Filed Under: blogs

plum + berry crumble

July 16, 2010 By corrie 4 Comments

Don’t come to my house on a friday night expecting anything fancy for dinner! I do my shopping on a saturday so it’s use what you have in the fridge/freezer/cupboard when it comes to dinner time. But last night I had a real craving for some fruit crumble and ice-cream. So using what I had in the pantry, I’ve adapted the crumble recipe from One Pot Cooking by Super Food Ideas…………enjoy!

1 can plums, drained and stones removed (825g can- the only canned fruit I could find in the house)
1/2 cup frozen berries (all I had left in the freezer)
1/2 cup caster sugar

and for the topping:
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 self raising flour
2 big Tbsp butter/margerine

place plums, berry and sugar in a greased souffle/oven proof dish. In a separate bowl combine all of the dry ingredients and rub in butter/marg. I wasn’t in the mood for rubbing butter into the dry ingredients so I partly melted my margerine and added it in, still tasted fabulous. Now tip out your crumble mixture on top of the fruit mixture.

Bake for about 45 minutes in 180 degree oven until top is golden and fruit is bubbling underneath.

And enjoy…………this was so delicious and I’m so glad to use up that can of plums that had been sitting there doing nothing and some leftover berries!!!!!!

Filed Under: baking, recipe

my crochet hat for big girls

July 15, 2010 By corrie 20 Comments

Well I’m finally getting around to writing up my hat patterns and I’m starting with the big girls first. Now this hat will fit age 5/6 upwards – I’ll just put it out there that we have big heads in this family so Keira probably wears a size 6 on her head. This will fit up to a teenager as the hat is really stretchy. I’ve designed the pattern using 2 strands of wool making it a super fast crochet and you’ll have wool left over! I’ve also tried to avoid abbreviations to help my beginners out there……….and yes this pattern is suitable for beginners!

What you’ll need
2 x 100g balls of 8 ply wool (or 1 x 200g ball of bendigo wool)
6.5mm crochet hook
scraps for flower
4mm hook for flower

OK lets begin! Using 2 strands of wool (if you’re using a bendigo 200g ball then pull out the end of the wool from the centre of the ball and you’ll be using both ends of the ball).

We’re going to chain 7 and join with a slip stitch to form a ring

Round 1 : chain 3 and then do 21 double crochet into the ring (now I’m using US terminology so if you’re an aussie/UK crocheter you call my double a treble). Join with slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3.

Round 2: chain 3 (this gives you the height of the round) then into your next stitch you are going to do 2 double crochet in the top of the double crochet of the previous round. Repeat 2 double crochet the whole way around and join with slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3.

Round 3 to 8: chain 3 and then double crochet in the top of each double crochet of the previous round. Join with slip stitch to top of the first chain 3. Cut wool and pull through loop on your hook, then weave in with a wool/darning needle. If you need a longer hat (say for teenagers, then just add another round so you have a total of 9 rounds in your hat).

To make the flower:
Chain 5 and with a slip stitch form a ring.

Round 1 : chain 3 and then do 20 double crochet (you might call these a treble) into the ring. Slip stitch to join to the top of the first chain 3.

Round 2: chain 1 then single crochet in each double crochet of the previous round.

Now this pattern is for you to make for your family and friends and not for resale! Please be nice and respect that so I can keep sharing patterns with you, for FREE! Coming up over the weekend will be baby and toddler patterns as well as an adult size! Watch this space…………..

Filed Under: crochet, patterns

a little baby knitting book

July 15, 2010 By corrie 7 Comments

I love this little book which arrived in the post today. Baby Knits 50 Beautiful Patterns has just been released here in australia and caught my eye on fishpond last week. It is actually a Marie Claire book originally printed in france that has now been published here in Australia. That means classic french designs with a modern touch….we like that.

My most favourite pattern is definitely this little sleep sack…how adorable

and I love the summary of the sweet sweaters and slippers

Its a lovely book and its also so well priced at $19.95…we really like that! I actually picked mine up on fishpond for less……

I’ve assured retro daddy I will be giving myself a self imposed ‘maternity leave’ where I will do no work and just craft, relax and keep a low profile before the baby is born. This book will definitely keep me sticking to my promise…..

Filed Under: baby, books, knitting