I came across these great bookmarks when I was looking to make a little extra something for the Book Exchange organised by Carmen. I made a couple at the time and am busy making a few more. I have a couple of books on the go (never having the time to actually finish reading one), and pages in quilt books and design books that I want to mark for quick reference.

And yes I know, if I had spent the time taken to make a bookmark actually reading the book I would probably have finished the book anyway. But that's just no fun.


What you need:

Card
Scraps of fabric
Exacto knife
glue stick
sewing machine and thread

Cut 2 pieces of card the same size. On one piece of card cut out your design.



Glue scrap pieces of fabric on the uncut piece of card.



Put the cards together wrong sides facing.



Sew together.

Easy peasy!

These are some other bookmarks I came across here, here

should this not take your fancy.

Today Amelie is celebrating Fasching at her Kita. All the kids get to go in costume. So I have been asking Amelie for weeks what she would like to go as. "Noffin" was her response. And I believed her. Last year she refused point blank to wear either the bee or princess outfits that I rustled together for her at the last minute (as I had no idea what Fasching entailed!)

Then on Sunday night my "helpful" husband suggested she goes as a giraffe. A giraffe. I ask you. Of all the animals that are easy to whip up in a few minutes a giraffe does not spring to mind. But little Amelie agreed enthusiastically and went to bed.

Nevermind I thought. She will have forgotten by the morning and I can still just put her in a dress and call her a princess on Tuesday. I asked her again on Monday morning what she wanted to be and she just shrugged me off with that selective deafness that kids can get.

Yay I thought. That was a close one. Until I got to Kita and she excitedly began telling all her friends that she was going to dress up as a giraffe at Fasching.

Gulp!

This is what I came up with. Shockingly badly put together so don't look closely. In fact it is better if you squint your eyes when you look at it. But you know what, I don't care. It came together in 1 hour while making tea and Amelie was ecstatic. So now fingers crossed it lasts the day!



Should you want to make a mask too, I used this here. Made it a bit larger and cut it out adding seam allowance. Sewed brown patches on. Sandwiched a bit of interfacing in the middle to make the mask a bit stiffer. Knocked a couple of eyelets in the sides. Cut the eyes out and tied some elastic through the eyelets.

This week I have been having a taster of what it is like to have 3 little girls under 3! Phew! By the end of the week I needed to lie in a dark quiet corner for a few minutes! I don't know how people do it with 3 kids so close together. It has certainly made me think if (and I mean IF) we try for a third child it has to be when Hanna is much older!



Anyway by the end of the week all I was fit for was sewing along the dotted line. The Block of the Month (BOM) from Twiddletails was a perfect fit. This months block is called Goose Bumps and is straightforward.

I have been wanting to do something for the poor people who have lost everything in the fires in Victoria. The Bushfire Quilt Project run by Tia was the perfect opportunity. If you haven't already heard about it, Tia is asking people to make Maverick or Wonky star blocks and send them to her by the end of March. She will then make them into quilts to be distributed to familes who have nothing. Maybe give them a little comfort. In any case it is good to feel that I am doing something as I can't go and volunteer there.

I always wanted to sound like one of those people who rattles off acronyms and confuses everybody else! Unfortunately I never remember what they stand for!

Thank you very much Shel for all the PIF (Pay in forward) goodies that you sent me. Check these out:



Not 1 but 3 delicious felt donuts with pretty sprinkles. They look good enough to eat! Amelie has been busy playing at baking cakes ever since she set eyes on them. Check out Shel's great tutorial if you want to make your own.

Some lovely bath salts - also home made! Wow! I am definitely looking forward to using these.



A beautiful pin cushion which I desperately needed. A felt heart pin and to top it all off this great felt bag to store it all in.

Thank you so much Shel. A lot of work went into this PIF and I am very lucky to have received it.

Now for the WIP (Work in progress). I am busy working on this chappy.



He is going to be a cute little rabbit bag for Easter and I am hoping to have the pattern written up by the end of the week. Which leads me to this - would anyone like to test the pattern for me?

This is a lot of fun! I saw this on a blog (Sorry can't remember where now - bad blogger) Please play along too!


Your Real Name: Natasha

Witness Protection Name:(mother and fathers middle names) Anne Paul.

Secret Spy Name: (your first name spelled backwards) ahsatan. (ah Satan! Not so good!!!)

Nascar Name: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) Robert Bernard

Detective Name:(favorite color, favorite animal) Red Cat.

Soap Opera Name:(middle name, county where you were born) Louise Surrey.

Super Hero Name: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Green Mojito.

Fly Name:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Naer (er, what is a fly name?)

Street Name:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Mint Chocolate Oatmeal.

Rock Star: (current pet, current street) Noodles Jostweg

Porn Name: (1st pet, street you grew up on) Snoopy Danses

Your Gansta Name:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle) Natizzle

Your Goth Name:(black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Splish

Stripper Name: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav. candy) J'Adore Minstrels

Look what Lesley aka Moogsmum sent me for the Fat Quarter Swap.



It was all beautifully packaged - which you don't see because Hanna thought it was wonderful too and started unpacking furiously before I could get the camera. Also what you don't see are the pack of Minstrels and the Curlywurly. I LOVE Minstrels. I miss them dreadfully here in Berlin. When I was pregnant I craved them big time. Those and mini eggs! Anyway I immediately tucked into them. (Diet be damned) and I bribed the girls to leave me alone with the Curlywurly. The caramel glued their chops together nicely so I could really enjoy the minstrels in peace!

Back to the fabric. Ooooh lovely Anna Marie Horner fabric which immediately sent me into a tizzy! I have such plans for it. Some lovely ribbon and some buttons in a cute little bag.

And see that envelope. I think the envelopes are a great idea. So effective.

Thank you so much Lesley. This swap has been so much fun and it is great to have "met" such a wonderful blogger. Thank you Katy for pairing me with Lesley.

Edited to add:
I have just used some of those teeny weeny buttons on a project. Thank you so much they were exactly what I needed!

I bought this book a long time ago and flicked through it and thought "like it but nothing earth shattering", stuck it on a shelf and forgot all about it.

I came across it again last week while having a sort out. You know the kind of sort out. The one that is totally necessary if you don't want to be buried alive with all the stuff amassing in the corner. So anyway I came across this book again and thought hmm, perhaps I should sell this on ebay and flicked through it once again. This time I LOVE it! How could I have dismissed it before? Have my tastes changed? I just want to have a go at all the designs. The photos are clear too for tricky piecing on a curve.

To make a long story short. I stuffed everything back in the corner again (sort out will have to wait for another day) and immediately started piecing together this flower.



I have no idea what to do with it - perhaps a coaster?

Go and check out the other WIP players here.

The bushfires in Australia are just horrific. So many people and animals have lost their lives. So much land has been devastated. So many have lost everything they have. And what I can't get my head around is that some of these fires were started deliberately.

If you would like to help there are a number of bloggers who have information on how.

• Holly from Two Cheese Please has links so that even us lot overseas can donate.
• Curlypops has lots of links to auctions going on to raise money.
• QuiltDad has information about a Bushfire Quilt Project you might want to get involved in.

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On another note. Fancy another Fat Quarter Swap anyone? Darci from Stitches and Scissors is hosting one. So pop on over and sign up.

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Fancy having a go at some freezer paper piecing? Twiddletails is doing a Flying Geese Block of the Month. I particularly like this scrappy one.

I had a lot of fun making Darci's block. I decided to make a wonky log cabin and just go with the flow.




I added some white, pink and green gingham to the fabrics Darci sent and a little bit of ric rac.
Hmmm. One minute I love it the next I think it is too much.


I had some problems with the turquoise in the flower fabric as it was quite overpowering in a block. So I didn't use it in this block. Sorry Darci. It just wasn't quite gelling with the other fabrics.


So I decided to make a more simpler block using the turquoise flower fabric.





This time I added the green stripe, pink stripe, pink and little pink leaves from my stash. I think it worked well to tone the turquoise down and keep the pink and green theme.


I hope you like the blocks Darci. They will be winging their way to Tina on Monday.

Yesterday I had a wonderful surprise when I went to collect our post. Not 1 but 3 packages for me.



First off this great book from my secret Book Exchange Partner. I have actually read this book already but in Spanish and when my Spanish was a bit rusty so I am looking forward to re-reading the book in English! I am certain there will be lots of bits that I missed! And it will be fun to compare the two. Thank you Secret Pal and thank you Carmen for organising this exchange.



Then I found this lovely little pouch from The Princess and The Monkey. It is very cute and I just love the linen and fabric accent. Amelie immediately tried to claim it as hers, but I hid it away! I am going to use this one! Thank you very much Lisa. Check out her shop here.



Finally there was Darci's fabric for the Cottage Quilting Bee. A lovely selection of pinks and greens with a little turquiose thrown in for good measure. The focus colours of the quilt are pink and green so I will have to be careful not to let the turquoise dominate the block.

I have to admit that I am a little daunted by my first quilting bee! All of our group are very creative. Check out some of the already finished blocks here, here, here, here and here.

Right best get cracking!

OK so I thought I would do some cool photos of my stash to entice you but then I got struck down by the girls' flu and I reckoned that you probably didn't need too much enticing to want more fabric.

So I have a couple of options for you.

Number 1

A couple of Kaffe Fasset fat quarters.

Some vintage pink fabric. Fake patchwork and pink and brown flowers.



A bit more vintage.





Number 2

3 Dutch Fabric Fat Quarters (a weeny bit of each missing!)



Pink and green vintage.



Some pieces of fabric.

So all you have to do is leave me a comment saying which you are interested in and I will draw a winner for each package on Friday.

Make sure you go here and visit all the other bloggers giving away their stash! I am off there now.