Sunday, August 16, 2009

Melbourne Wedding Weekend

A great friend of mine got married last weekend. I went over to Melbourne for the nuptials and had an absolute ball (albeit a little teary for leaving Ruby and DB in Adelaide).

Inta has been a dear friend, we first met in 1995, during our first year studying Interior Design at Uni SA. Although she's spent a number of years overseas (where she met her lovely husband, Danny), whenever we see each other we are able to take up where we left off. Her sister Daina is a good one like that too. So what a treat, a wonderful weekend with two old favourites, and getting to know Danny, whom I'm sure will fall into that category as well!

I flew out of Adelaide on the Friday afternoon. I went straight to Inta's, Danny's and Daina's from the airport and Daina and I glammed up and went to the Melbourne Supper Club for pre-dinner drinks. Then it was on to Cutler & Co. for a sumptuous dinner. My menu: Artichoke Soup with Scallops, Flathead served with saurkraut, oyster mousse and bacon, followed by an ice cream sandwich. Oh my, how amazing! Everything was delicious and the company was great. The space is fabulous, I particularly liked the bathroom 'pods' at the end of the restaurant. Fabulous!

On Saturday morning there was a wedding breakfast at a Cafe in the Abbotsford Convent, called Handsome Steve's House of Refreshment. The setting was lovely, the weather perfect. Danny and I decorated the balcony a little, whilst Inta bought some food from the Slow Food Farmer's Market, to add to the croissants, coffee and sparkling wine at Handsome Steve's.




Unfortunately Danny's family who live in Brighton, England, were unable to attend the wedding. Danny set up a web cast so that his Mum could be involved which was lovely. After the breakfast I met up with some other fab friends, Sarah and Simon. We wandered around the city checking out Ghostpatrol & Miso's Open Studio, Craft Hatch at the City Library and Hello Sailor at the Carlton Hotel. It was great to spend some time with the two of them and our activities were very inspiring. They were also lovely enough to accomodate me Sat night.

Sunday morning I met up with Daina and Danny and we went down to the Heritage Gardens at the Convent to decorate and set up. We decorated the rotunda and organised the web link up to Danny's family. The ceremony was lovely, followed by drinks and croquembouche. Perfect.



The whole wedding weekend was a perfect reflection of Inta and Danny. Relaxed, intimate, unpretentious, fun and a little quirky.

I finished the weekend with brunch at Birdman Eating with Sarah, Simon, Marg & Jon, a quick walk up Gertrude St, Fitzroy and then on to the airport... where I missed my flight. Arrgh! Fortunately they were able to put me on the next one, so I only had to wait an hour or so before my flight home to my lovelies.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Make-A-Long

I finally bought the Wee Wonderful's patterns for the Olive & Archie Make-a-Long softies. I made two Olive's for my cousin's daughters, Chelsea and Maddalyn. My cousin lent us so many things when Ruby was born, that I wanted to give her girls a gift for being so generous.


They were very easy to make, but I must admit, that the second time around, I modified a couple of ways of doing things that worked better for me. Hillary points out that the sewing up around the bottom with the stuffed legs is a bit tricky, and I did use this method for the first doll, but I didn't quite catch the legs terribly well/neatly. The second doll I didn't stuff the legs, flipped them into the inside and then stuffed them when I'd turned out the body.

# 1 Attempt



# 2 Attempt


The only other alterations I made were adding some more embroidery to the eyes, leaving off the eyebrows and making the bow a little smaller.

I think they are just darling. Next up with this pattern is both an Olive and an Archie for Ruby, I'm hoping to get the whole kit and kaboodle made for her 1st birthday.

Amelia

Yesterday, Ruby and I visited a friend with a new baby called Amelia. She is the little sister of Lily, and was really very adorable. We had a lovely cuddle, cup of tea, afternoon bun and were able to give little Amelia a C cushion. This was the first patchwork one I've made, again using freezer paper for her name.


I've made the top side of a C cushion for Ruby now, just need to back and stuff it. If anyone is interested in the pattern, please let me know.

Name Pillows

I've made a few of these name pillows over the last few years. They've been perfect as gifts for new babies, toddlers and older children. A colleague of mine has bought four or five for various family and friends, including this new one for baby Tom:



I really like backing them with denim and loved using the frayed edge on this one with a new label. These labels I've made just using inkjet iron on paper, I need to come up with something else, gocco labels is what I'm thinking.