Cupcakes anyone?

Crayons ready to go into the oven, a photo by Stupendous Joy on Flickr.

These cupcake crayons were a brilliant rainy day activity on Friday. We managed to use up all of our broken crayons and turn them into incredibly bright and beautiful cupcakes. Cooking is high on our 'pretend' activity list at the moment so these coulourful treats really managed to fit the bill. I found the idea over at Artful Adventures.

Shed a little light

Hello there, It's been a while, I know. For some reason I felt like a change... a fresh start. A new way of looking really. So I've set up camp over at Stupendous Joy ('Stupendous' because it makes me laugh and 'Joy' to remind me to see it... in the everydayness of things). I'm still tinkering away over there getting things right but you're welcome to pop by and say hello.
See you there. xox

Revelling in roadside finds

I picked three of these great orange vinyl chairs up off the side of the road during the week. I was so pleased and young Z was sitting in the back saying 'look mum, we found chairs' while I stacked them into the car around him.
After an impromptu trip to Ikea on Friday I decided to cover them in this Maria Astrom print.
I'm really pleased with the end result. 1 down, 3 to go.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. 66 xx

Started back in 1982

My brother dropped off a box he found when clearing out my parents house recently. I only just sat to rummage through it today and found this cross stitch I started back in Grade 6. It brings back such fond memories..., but I must confess, the back is very untidy and about 1cm think with tangled thread.


Thanks for popping in, 66 xx

Spring on my sill

Hope is eternal. These little flowers restored my faith this morning. Spring is coming.


I came across these words today and they too gave me hope and made me smile.

Young souls learn to accept responsibility for their actions.
Mature souls learn to accept responsibility for their thoughts.
And old souls learn to accept responsibility for their happiness.

66 xx

1950's gem

We recently inherited this fantastic 1950's couch from The LF's step father. He's downsized his Melbourne pad due to spending more time at their beloved Merton country house. The couch is quite seriously sun damaged and in need of some serious TLC but I'm excited about bringing this gem back to life.



Here's a pic of Z, fresh out of bed (note the sleeping suit), helping me polish up the timber with my incredible French polishing recipe. You can almost feel is letting out a sigh of relief as it soaks up the oil. 'ohhh, ahhhh, thank you' it seemed to be saying but maybe that's just because I was delirious with joy!
Cheerio, 66 xx

The Emperor's Red Slippers

These sweet booties are a present for a teeny tiny baby, Miles. Miles is the new brother of one of Z's playgroup buddies, Sonny. I stitched them out of red felt, with blue lining. The buttons are from a stash I keep in my late grandmothers old baking tin.

Wish us luck. We are having dinner tonight with a few of Z's friends (and their parents) at Mr Wolf. It'll be a wild, crazy sort of affair. Deep breathes and a glass of wine will be in order.
Hopefully, you're not on the table next to us!!


Thanks for popping in & enjoy your weekend, 66 xx

Buttermilk scarf

Last week I developed a craving for a yellow scarf. It was one of those cravings I just really couldn't ignore. Then, upon realising we were only half way through winter I decided it was DEFINITELY required to ease the dreariness of what seems to me an endless Melbourne winter. After a quick trip to Spotlight and two skeins of wool later I was on my to producing this scarf. Knitted in my favorite stitch, moss stitch.



Thanks for popping in, 66 xx

Silver linings

This is a little mobile I made, last night, for a friend who is facing a few challenges at the moment.
I'm hoping it helps to bring some strength and encouragement....... every cloud has a silver lining.


Thanks for popping in, 66 xx

Roadside pickup

My latest chair. This one was actually found on the road side. It was spotted by a friend on his way to work. He texted a photo & the location.. So, Z and I hot tailed it down there in the car to pick it up.


The smell, or dare I say stench, was quite something. A drastic dressing down was in order.


After a lot of hard work there's no more awful odour. I've stripped it back and begun anew with fresh webbing.


Stay tuned for further developments.

Have a great weekend and thanks for popping in, 66 xx

Oma's adventure

My good friend, Lisa, recently took her 3 little ones to Holland for her Oma's 100th birthday.


I made them this little passport holder to keep their 4 passports and secret stash of cash safe and sound.

Thanks for popping in, 66 xx

Old Bob

Here's my latest upholstery job. This old rickety chair belonged to my grandfather, Old Bob.



It's been sitting under our house for years. My Dad was about to send it off to the tip but I managed to rescue it and turn it into this....



The upholstered seat is made up of fabric samples (Sanderson http://www.sanderson-uk.com/ again) sewn together with linen.

Thanks for popping in, 66 xx

My new love, upholstery.

I started an upholstery course with my friend, Max, 7 weeks ago and have totally fallen for the whole process. There's something about the combination between the practical hands on and visual aesthetics involved in transforming a chair which really appeals to me.
Sadly, the course has now finished but I'm still hoping to dedicate my Monday afternoons to transforming chairs in our garage.
Here's my first attempt. The original chair was purchased from Wally Johnson's, in Footscray (previously in West Melbourne..now on the continuation of Spencer Street).
The fabric I used was Arthur Sanderson's 'Persian Poppies'. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

A revival......

It's been a long hiatus but instead of hibernating this winter I'm feeling like making a revival. I'm in desperate need of an update and overhaul...so here's hoping Z man sleeps for 2 hour blocks each day so I can manage to get some handy work done. Sleep is gold little man.

Pink to go

A rather shabby shot..but a new quilt top I finished yesterday for Ziya's little pal. I'm not used to seeing so much pink in our house, so it's been really fun making this one up.

Angus' quilt

Finished back in December...some of you may remember i started this project last year. It's a quilt made for my nephew, Angus. Completely hand quilted and quite the labor of love.
It now hangs over the side of his cot, in preparation for his graduation to a big boys bed.
The fabric and pattern are all from Amitte. I especially love the sweet Japanese strips with the country scene....ambling bears and dreamy ducks...
Hopefully he'll treasure it forever (even when he does think it's rather daggy).

Farley proof press

Farley proof press
Originally uploaded by 66 Stitches

This is a Farley proof press I acquired from a friend....a few years back. It's been sitting idle in my garage so last weekend I decided to get it out today and clean it up. Now I need to find supplies and research how to use it. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Activity on the blog front has been rather slow since August of 2009, actually, it's been completely neglected but I have continued to upload my creative endeavours onto Flickr. For a quick refresher please pop over and take a peep.

Here's to a big bright 2010 full of producivity and more 'single pointed focus'...my greatest challenge for the year ahead.

Papercut pick up

Look at this amazing papercut I picked up for $3 from the op shop last week. It's all hand cut and signed by 'E.Nowosielski QLD Austrlia'. It makes me so happy.

If you're loving papercuts as much as me at the moment you may also like to check out Elista Mora's incredible blog; 'The Heart of Papercuts'. You'll be blown away.

St Kilda Mums

There are very few things Ziya receieved as a baby that he still wears/uses to the present day (such as the much loved teddy pictured here) and there are plenty of things that had such a short lifespan (in some cases, sadly...one wear only!)

I still marvel at the amount of clothing a new born baby churns through. I felt like I was sorting out Ziya's clothes draw on a weekly basis the first few months of his life. Now there are the bags of outgrown clothes that seem never ending. While reading through the local Divercity (official Newsletter of Port Phillip) I cam across an article on the 'St Kilda Mums'. They are a network of mother's who work together to collect and sort donations of baby and children's clothing, toys, books and equipment and then redistribute them, via the maternal helth system, to local families in need. I love it! Well done ladies. I have a big bag of goods coming your way.

While on the subject of articles...the lovely Mel, of The Hip Infant, has witten a piece about our trip to the Flinders on her blog. Thanks Mel. Now there's one inspisational woman...4 kids, a thriving business, home renovations, a fitness plan...that she sticks to and endless amounts of energy. Hat's off to you Mel and thank you. x

While you're over at Mel's blog take a look at the entry on Baby Lunchbox. I marveled at this but for completely different reasons. Where do people find the time...?

We've spent the last 3 days in a fitful haze of high temperatures and sleepless nights. Our little man had a bad reaction to the 12 months (yes, we're a little belated) vaccinations. He seems to be on the mend today so I'm keeping everything crossed and praying his temperature stays down and he has a restful midday sleep.

To take the edge off things, we spent the morning flicking through the pages of this gorgeous book, All In A Day, by Cynthia Rylant. The Illustrations are by Nikki McClure, a self taught artist. She has been making paper-cuts since 1996 and each illustration is cut from black paper using an X-Acto knife. She does not erase anything...which means if she makes a mistake, while cutting out the image initailly illustrated, Nikki makes it up as she goes along. If you follow the lines in the illustrations you'll be able to see that each one forms a continuous piece making the paper lace-like as the image appears. Incredible.
It's a simple book with a simple message about living each day and making it count. It's as pleasing for the grown up....(maybe even a little more so)....as it is for the child.