around my house & the 10 IKEA lifestyle book giveaway winners

Greetings all.
Thanks for the animal stories in the comments from the last post, boy, losing animals & pets can really leave your childhood with some dark memories!! 

I'm on a mission around the house, fixing & doing all those things i've happily put off so far these holidays.  The family car is at the mechanic so it's a home day, i've turned out my wardrobe & chest of drawers, done up bags for charity (shoes, clothes) & washed the dog.  Olive, our new fish is settling in nicely, we had a BBQ lunch & i've started on the Christmas decorations.

Santa brought me a high powered staple gun, much more powerful than my original & easier on the carpal tunnel syndrome too!!  It punched the mexican oil cloth into the table bottom like silk!!  I picked up these chrome legged tables from a local shop which was closing down, got both (coffee & dining table) for $80.  Oil Cloth is from Beach Vintage (thanks Simone!!)

 Pretty happy with the corners too,

 our son's room is emerging with red & white accents.  I've featured his white leather Little Nest e-chair & ottomon before & check it out, still spotless (Wendy)!!  We need more of those super cheap & effective IKEA round rugs too, they hide all mannor of carpet sins.

 Pretty happy with the finish.  His 2003 handmedown Designer's Guild toy box is next for the red & white oil cloth makeover!!  Oh & some art on his walls, they are bare & boring, thus not in view.

 Oh before you freak out that our children have televisions in their bedrooms, they only get limited viewing after homework (they're very studious) & they are the most social & healthy children on earth (state level cross country runners).  They also read before they go to sleep, not watch television.  They tend to congregate in one room & watch something together, it's really sweet.  With one living space in the house (as i grabbed the formal lounge/ dining area for my business studio) in a 4 bedroom house with 6 people, i like to think they each have their own little sanctuary.  They usually watch documentaries, bless their hearts.  We rarely find more than one television on at any time either.  They certainly don't abuse the luxury or electricity use + we spend plenty of quality time with them as a family, like dinner at the dining table every night without a television on & never EVER in the mornings, goodness no.  Ok??   

 Like his red IKEA Lack desk & Little Nest Woody chair for year 2 homework??  If you have children, these IKEA storage tub systems are fantastic!! 

 Next stop - the bedroom of our 9y.o. twin girls.  They share a dining table as their desk & this pink spotty oilcloth has upgraded it to girlie!!  Yes, they really keep it this tidy too.  Love the Kikki-K stationery sets & IKEA lamps, easy splashes of colour.

 For our eldest i hung her Christmas gifts of Ivy Designs scalloped bunting & a Typo Bird canvas - looking like a real highschooler's room now.

 She still loves this Little Nest replica Arne Jacobsen chair designed for children!!

Thanks for hanging in there with a trip around my house, now for the lucky 10 TEN T E N winners of the IKEA Beloved Homes lifestyle book, value $29.95 each . . . 

 congratulations . . . in the random order they were picked by my blind folded children . . .

Deb: Let’s Moerk About
Tina: Rubies Place

Sarah: Molly’s Maison

Chantel: Chantel Vincent Art

Kerry: Tranquil Townhouse

Carmel: Make Mine Mid Century

Catherine: Pencils & Pins

Jacinta: Model Mumma

Jane: Tea with Janey

& lucky last  . . . Brenda: Hoo You Lookin’ At . . . perfect, she's building a house this year!!  Thanks for sponsoring the giveaway IKEA & One Green Bean.

Thanks winners, if you could please email me a.s.a.p. with your full name, postal address, mobile phone number & a pre-release copy of the book will be sent via courier.  Thanks for entering the giveaway, if you missed out, next time you're at IKEA, sign up to the IKEA Family Programme & you can pick up a copy for only $19.95 - due for release late January 2011.  There will be more in the series, stay tuned.  Love Posie
PS love a good giveaway - two family passes for Disney's Tangled movie tickets are up for grabs on this post - drawn on 9th January, with a chance to win $500 over at Nuffnang!!  Good luck!!EDIT: sorry about the updates, trying to get the names to sit nicely one under the other!!  Come on blogger, line they up for me!!

My Creative Space 'tween bedroom makeover'

Greetings all,

As promised . . . the bedroom make over for my eldest daughter while she was away on camp last week. 11 is a hard age to cater for in many aspects of mother-daughter relationships, but seeing she has grown up among fabric, design, colour & nonstop sewing, she loves my work & I know her taste.  I knew she’d love this combination of blues in a patchwork quilt, it's just simple 15cm squares - 10 rows across, 12 rows down. 
Please enjoy some before & after shots of her bed & windows . . .

All i had to add was some wall art stickers from Handmade Market, letters from Typo, blue fabrics from Posie.   

Then to pretty up the window with some Posie bunting, simple flat curtain thumb tacked above the frame made from the excess sheeting from Lincraft which was on the back of the quilt & ribbon from Tres Divin.  The pom pom curtain was from Freedom ages ago.

You might spy many Amy Butler prints, from her original Gypsy Caravan range to the latest Love series.  I've been a huge fan of Amy Butler since the beginning.

This amazing Arne Jacobsen replica chair from Little Nest, i picked it up from the gorgeous Samantha at Magnolia Square in Sydney last year.  The blankets are Ikea & Laura Ashley from 10-15 years ago, they do not die!!

After all that, i think this prawn baguette with shallots, mayo & avocado was the perfect treat for a mother's job well done. 

I do have some sewing confessions. I put up with little hitches when sewing professionally, I don’t mind 'sewing housekeeping' like spooling bobbins, breaking needles, pressing fabric – when I’m being paid. Alas, like mechanics working on their own cars . . . I get huffy when making things for family & audibly moan when my bobbin runs out of thread.  I go through kilometres of thread each week, literally, I sew A LOT & in proportion, many bobbins. So I pre-spool about 10 bobbins for each machine at a time. Only when I finish the 10th bobbin, a little piece of me dies & I surprise myself with how frustrated i get.  I'm the most patient person on earth!!
What has sparked this outcry?? After quilting this large patchwork piece for my daughter, my last bobbin ran out of thread with no more than 10cm of stitching to do. 10cm & i was finished!! I knew it was running low & watched closely through the clear lid, stitch by stitch & convinced myself the bobbin would make it, cheered it on, sigh, no.  So I sat & spooled 10 fresh bobbins in off white (my multipurpose colour of choice) while rolling my eyes. Please, someone out there, design an uber bobbin, forget about tension, size & mechanics, just humour me that it’s possible!!
I’ve tried over filling bobbins – do not try this, it ruins the top stitching & simply does not work.  You'll have to unload it onto another bobbin or two, time wasted & annoyance gained.  On my industrial machine I can spool bobbins while I continue sewing, yes really, they are separate entities. Only I get hypnotised by watching bobbins fill with thread, so my sewing goes haywire.  So good luck if you can do it simultaneously!! I bet you can also pat your head & rub your tummy at the same time?? Happy Creative Spacing this week, check out more at Kootoyoo, thanks Kirsty, a delightful hostess.  Love Posie