My little arty kid

Miss M started school mid last year, and although I promised her a handmade art smock with her name on it in her second week of school, she was forced to wear Master A's blue one... with cars on it... And his name on it too!

At least I managed to fulfil half of my promise, as she did get her library bag straight away, with her name embroidered on it and an owl appliqué I bought specially for her, letting her choose whatever design she wanted from an etsy store.

So when the note came home about art smocks last week, I made sure I had one for her to take to school on Monday. I didn't want her to be without one so sent it along without having taken photos (just as her library bag went last year). But when I found it still in her bag tonight, and the power off since 5:30 this morning, I thought I could spare some time for a little photo shoot (no power makes it difficult to do much housework, other than a quick uniform hand wash before the light disappeared). One big problem I hadn't factored in was all the crazy wind we are having (the cause of many trees on roads and many houses without power for over 24hrs). So please excuse the blurry photos, and creases from being in her bag and no way to iron them out - not exactly what I had in mind!

I took a peasant dress pattern I had, made the neckline a bit higher on both front and back (to avoid paint on her collars), and snipped the back piece down the middle, which makes it easier to get on over clothes. I added a radius (using a small saucepan lid) to the centre back corners, and lengthened the cap sleeves to a 3/4 length to protect her sleeves without having them get in the way. I sewed the sleeves to the front and backs, then grabbed some bias binding I had, and bound the back opening and hem all in one before doing the elastic casing at the neckline. Unfortunately I didn't have enough red or white bias binding so used some navy I had, and hid it under the hem rather than encasing as planned. Lastly I pushed the elastic join into the neckline and secured the back pieces to the elastic at the back opening to stop the backs shifting. I'm very pleased with the fit, not so pleased that I forgot to centre her name in the grid when I did the embroidery and had to add her surname initial to balance it out. At least everyone will know it's definitely hers!

School holidays, and we've been busy!

I don't often get the holidays off with the kids, but this school holidays, our company had a scheduled closedown for the second week.  I took the opportunity to spend some time with the kids.

A trip to Madelyn's mum and baby group after not seeing many of them for at least a year, found a new home for a baby knit, as one of the mum's has recently delivered a beautiful little girl into the world.

Kelly Brooker's "March Sisters"  Beth pinnafore pattern and Rosa Leaf Booties by Julia Noskova 

(Modelled on a reborn doll)

We dyed some wool for me to turn into monsters - Austy wanted grey, green,yellow and blue but the blue kind of moulded into more green.  His favourite colour though, so he is happy.

 Maddy couldn't make up her mind and kept adding colours but wanted lots of pink and purple.

We had a marathon craft session from an idea I found on Pinterest:

(Maddy's)

(Austy's)

I love the texture..

.. and Austy's signature (yes the two's are still reversed but he is definitely improving).

I even managed to dust off the sewing machine and sew this little playsuit for Maddy.  So cute!  Can't wait to see it on. 

Pattern from Petite Kids: Johanna Romper. Next time I would definitely make the tie longer, this is a size 5-6 and the images in the pattern look like a smaller size. I like the way the pattern has the tie ends hanging lower.    Fun fabric is a Riley Blake design,with sweet little birdies singing in the flowers.  Perfect for Spring!

The challenge is on

Today, the Essential Quilters group are participating in a 24h quilt challenge for ANZAC day. Seeing as it has been over a year since I have made anything bigger than a doll quilt, a whole quilt is a bit ambitious for me. So my challenge is a quilt top.

I am doing a Moda Bake Shop recipe, using stash only (excluding the backing and white background fabric that I bought specifically for the project). I started sewing at 6:30pm last night, and fitting in kids bedtime, some washing and an hour walking Lewis, this is where I am up to.





And here is Madelyn's scrappy collage.



Off to get back to the machine!