Win It Wednesday!

 

  You'll have to be quick to enter this fantastically adorable giveaway by Chibi Run, it ends tonight at 10 pm AEST (25/4/12)

 

  Clare's Craftroom is giving everyone around the globe the chance to win her recently released Zoom pattern but again be quick this giveaway ends tomorrow (26/4/12)

 

 Who doesn't love Typo? For your chance to win this uber retro Typo clock head over to Mumchic before 29th April

Keep little hands busy with this adorable Artist Series Activity Pack by Stuck On You. Head on over to Mumma's Mini Mes in a flash as this giveaway ends tomorrow 11.59 pm AEST (26/4/12)

Ittybitty Actions are giving away one of my current crush items... a beautiful stunning Heirloom bag by Shutter Bag. Hurry entries close 27th April 12.

I know Lil Miss would love for mummy to win her these great tickets to Disney On Ice Let's Celebrate. Pop over to Samelia's Mum to find out how you could be in the running too. Ends 7th May

*Entries on this blog are not valid. Win It Wednesday is simply a feature of giveaways I have found around the net to share with you. 

Win It Wednesday

So I thought I would try a new type of weekly post "Win It Wednesday" where I will feature six giveaways.

If you have a giveaway or competition happening on your blog or Facebook page and would like me to feature it in one of my weekly segment please email me at info@thesewinglibrary.com.au

Patterns Only is giving away 5 PDF Patterns and you can enter via there blog: here (closes April 23rd @ 8.30 pm AEST)

BlueBerry Ash Textiles are trying to reach 250 likers on their Facebook page so pop on over show them some love and you could score 1 of 3 fantastic prizes:
1. KNOCK KNOCK cushion cover
2. APPLES fabric bundle of 3
3. STRAWBERRY FIELD tea towel
In colour of your choice!

Chicoco and Tout Mon Amour are at it again and this time they have banded together with many businesses to giveaway a Delonghi Prima Donna coffee maker worth $3,000 WOW!!!! Enter here; giveaway ends May 5th @ 12.01 am US EST

Seven Cherubs are giving away a Girls Talk stationery gift pack on the blog; here giveaway ends in 11 days

Meet the Dubiens have a Bento Box set to giveaway on their blog here giveaway ends 24th April and is open worldwide.

Mojito Mother is giving away a Norton 360 protection software for your computer. Enter here giveaway ends April 20th @ 6 pm AEST

Good luck and be sure to let me know if you win!

Italian Sausage and Mushroom Risotto

This is my signature recipe, one that I make perfect everytime without fail.
To be honest I find I much prefer to eat my own risotto at home then have any I have tasted in restaurants *inserts a smirky grin here*.
Even with inferior saucepans to work with I managed to turn out probably one of my best risottos ever.

You will find the recipe below.

Ingredients

4 Italian Sausages*

1 cup Mushrooms, chopped*

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

1 litre vegetable Stock

1 large onion, diced

2 gloves garlic, crushed

1 cup dry white wine*

1/4 cup grated packaged parmesan

2 tablespoons butter

fresh parmesan
salt and pepper

1. Bring the vegetable stock to boil.

2. Cook sausages fully then slice thinnly, set aside until Step 6.

3. Saute onions and garlic in 1 tbsp of butter in a deep saucepan.

4. Add rice and cook for 2 minutes than add wine to rice mixture until it is absorbed.

5. Begin to add small amounts of the boiling vegetable stock to the rice, stirring constantly and allowing the liquid to be absorbed, fully, before adding more. 

6. When adding the last remaining bit of stock also add the sliced sausage and chopped mushrooms.

7. Once all stock has been reduced and absorbed add parmesan, remaining butter and season to taste. You may wish to had additional parmesan at this stage, just go off your own preferred taste.

9.  Garnish with parsley and grate fresh parmesan on top. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy!

* Italian sausages can be found in the deli section of your supermarket

* Swiss mushrooms are nicest in this dish however if unavailable button mushrooms are fine (we often don't get Swiss here so make do with button)

* Feel free to drink any leftover wine!

Lil Guy seems to love mummy's risotto!

 

After the Hunt!

Home from camping , Easter over for another year and here I am packing away our Easter tub only to realise we have dozens of plastic colourful eggs in a multitude of different sizes.

What should I do with them?

Surely I can use them throughout the year somehow?

So the Pinterest search was on:

1. Eggy Critters 2. Fireflies 3. Egg Painting 4. Glow In The Dark Eggs

Top: Egg Teacups Bottom: Egg Snake

1. Number Match 2. Egg Memory 3. Musical Shakers 4. Letter Match

Egg Lunch

Now the above links are just some of the many many ideas that come up on Pinterest. For more ideas see here.

My Fabulous Friend & A Very Worthy Cause

A couple of months ago my good friend, Meg, told me that she was planning on taking part in this year's World's Greatest Shave & I was blown away at her generosity. To lose your locks in support of all those who don't have the choice is an awe inspiring thing & I'm so glad I was along for the ride.

 

Knowing I couldn't support Meg in any huge financial way I did the only thing I could think to do, I put the call out on TSL asking if anyone would be kind enough to donate items to be auctioned off. The response was overwhelming & I set about organising the first TSL Charity Auction. 

The auction ran on our Facebook Fan Page, The Sewing Library Noticeboard beginning March 15th with a total of 139 donations in total WOW!!!!!! When bidding came to a close 48 hours later we had raised a total of $3,700 including some additional financal donations by some very generous TSL members. To see the donating businesses please see the photo album here.
I'd also love to take this opportunity to thank Jo & Shelley for their help during the auction, if it wasn't for my Admin Girls helping out, the auction wouldn't have been as successful as it was I'm sure of that.

Going, going, gone!

On April 1st I was proud to attend Meg's Shave Day here in Rockhampton & present her with a cheesy giant novelty check on behalf of all the TSL members. I was so very proud of my not so little group right in that moment & I think the smile in these photos says it all.

In total Meg & her team, Goldilocks & The Papa Bears, will come close to reaching over $9,000, which is a big cry from their original goal of $5,000! I would like to congratulate Meg & her team on such a fantastic effort, they have helped raise funds for vital blood cancer research with all their hard & brave work!

If you would like to sponsor Meg & her team you can until April 14th, please head to her sponsorship page & make your donation here

A Crafty Kind of Easter Part 2

Who doesn't love printables?

I know I am addicted to them & at holiday times I just can't get enough of them. 

I spend endless evenings trawling the web to pin free printables on my Pinterest boards. 

Today I wanted to share some of my favourite Easter printables.

For Around The Home

Left: Easter Subway Art by Printabelle

Right Top: Bunny Burlap Print by Craftily Ever After

Right Bottom:  Easter Print by Fresh Foto & Design

Top Left - Fun Easter Pots by Pink Polka Dot Creations

Top Right - Bunny Centrepiece by Party Planning Centre

Bottom Left - Hoppy Day Easter Print by Sweet Rose Studio

Bottom Right - Spring/Easter Banner by Itsy Belle

Easter Hunt & Brunch

Left - Baby Chick Easter Party on Catch My Party

Top Middle - Darling Vintage Easter Brunch on HWTM

Bottom Middle - Hop With Me Easter Hunt by Design Editor

Right - Easter Egg Hunt Kit by Julia Kuku Parties

For The Kids 

Left - Colouring Pages on Squidoo

Middle - Easter Egg Animals on Kaboose

Right - "Peep"er Dolls by Sandy Toes & Popsicles

A Crafty Kind of Easter Part 1

With Easter only a week away I thought I'd share with you some of my all time favourite Easter tutorials.

I just love Easter, well I love any reason to celebrate be it Christmas, Easter, or birthdays.

With my daughter, Miss S, getting to that age now where she understands what holidays are, I am really loving my craftiness so here are some tutorials I've made in the past or plan to tackle this Easter:

Finished bunnies made by me, template by Twig & Thistle

First up these lovely little critters were constructed on the Twig & Thistle DIY Stuffed Easter Bunny Template, found here. This template has been a huge hit with TSL members & I'm loving seeing all the various bunnies multiplying on our group wall. I did enlarge the template to 150% which ended with the bunny being approximately 20cm tall. I also embellished with a cute ribbon & bell for Miss Bunny & a felt hand stitched heart for Mr Bunny. 

Cass Can Sew

 Wouldn't this cute little guy be the perfect softie partner for Mr & Miss Bunny? TSL member, Cass from Cass Can Sew has shared this great tutorial, with template, on her fabulous blog. I hope to whip up The Dilly Daddle Duckling for my niece & nephew.

Sew-Mad

I have admired this little Easter basket for a year or so now & this year I'm finally going to make it for Miss S! The tutorial is in German but don't fear at the end of the blog post you'll find a link for an English version, including pattern pieces. Look out later in the week for my pictorial review of this tutorial.

Retro Mama

I love these fabric eggs!

I made a few of these last year for our Easter Egg Hunt as an alternative to just hiding chocolate eggs. They bought endless fun to Miss S on Easter Sunday as we threw them to each other & counted them.  The tutorial is excellent & comes with a template to use.