Colourful evenings

Our little Ravelry group hosted a "New Year's Colour Swap" that arrived just as I posted in here last, but my parcel (which was a little bit late) hadn't yet landed at it's destination. I picked "purple" and was once again spoilt by Celia (who also had me for the 100g challenge swap last year), who sent me some gorgeous Wollmiese sock yarn that she dyed herself, a cute little handknitted pouch containing some tiny gemstone knitting markers (great for sock needles!) and a pait of handknitted mitts. Then in my Ravelry library, I found her sock patterns, one for "Slippy Socks" a simple sock pattern, great for sock beginners like me, that ranges from toddler to adult, and a lpretty "Boiudior Booties" pattern. I have one pair of knitted socks that I made when Austy was about 14m old, and I love to wear them in winter under jeans, or just around the house at night when it's cold. It's amazing how much warmer they are, but that paior has seen better days. I decided I needed to make myself some more so Celia put this package together accordingly. Photos don't do the yarn justice - it is divine in every way, I have it handy and keep picking it up to ogle and touch it. These will be my "happy socks" I think as they will be like a little toe hug from myself.

Here's the parcel I put together, for Claire, who was the one who sent me a parcel in last year's colour swap. Her colour theme was "rainbow", so I made her little 1yr old boy some rainbow socks, dyed some rainbow Woolganics (shown in the blog post below), made some rainbow buttons, collected together a rainbow of Kool Aid I had in my stash for her to use in wool dyeing with the kids (it's much safer than acid dyeing for the little ones as there are no toxic fumes).

I found some fabric with knitting chickens on it, and had to have it to make her a little boxy bag to tuck the wool into. I was going to cover the journal with a Bloom Journal cover using denim and a rainbow strip, but I only got as far as making the strip so that will now become something else. At least the journal had a few colours on it already. I also made some clips for her three girls (yes there are only two sets here, but soon after I took the shot I realised there was another girl to make some for and got cracking!) and packaged them up with some rainbow coloured SPC "Chompioes" lollies, and tucked in a box of gormet, rainbow coloured jelly beans for Claire, along with some chocolate mudcake coffee satchels.

I also managed to FINALLY get around to making Austy's art smock for school to save me scrubbing out the t-shirt stains all night long, although the plastic on the front makes it horrid to photograph (at least it stops the paint seeping through and that tell-tale line across the front of his school tops where he has been leaning over the table).

It was just cheap fabric I had from Spotlight from a couple of years ago, once upon a time destined to be sandpit trousers (no pockets to catch the sand) for kindy/home but never made it to the sewing desk. I found a good use for it now though, and the embroidery machine is fabulous for making sure noone steals his things. I now have his name saved in the memory card in two sizes (large from the art smock and medium from the library bag) so I don't have to input one letter at a time onto the tiny screen again.

And seeing as I am finally getting around to things, I made a new night nappy for Madelyn last night. Her old ones need the elastic replaced, but I am too lazy to repair them and just made a new one instead. I was going to make more, but unfortunately I am out of bamboo and hemp fleece. Now considering whether I should buy more or repair the others. She is still a little way off training for nights so I think I might be safe to grab a couple more metres. I forgot how soft and squishy a new night nappy is...they don't look like this when they've been worn every third or fourth night for a year!

And a knitting WIP for my boy - green socks at his request, made with Celia's "Slippy Socks" pattern which I modified slightly, adding in a cable at either side. I dyed this baby wool I had stashed away from when he was born (it was meant to be a baby cardy for him). It was a very baby blue, so I dyed it to suit his colour request. He was dissapointed at first because he wanted a brighter green (I can't believe a 5yr old has preferences as to which SHADE of their favourite colour they liek best!) but he loves the texture and wouldn't take it off after the try on, wanting to rub the top of it (where the bumpy slipped stitches are) with his other foot until bath time. I don't think he will let this sock succumb to single sock syndrome - he will be on at me every klnight until the second sock magically appears!

Catching up with life

Since school started, my feet have hardly touched the ground. Noone ever tells you how much it takes to get settled into the school routine, and even if they did, I probably wouldn't have taken much notice as being full time at work throws it all out anyway, and I am not doing the normal school runs that most school mums do.

However I am quickly learning that the new routine is going to take some serious getting used to. From experience when I was only a mum to one, I knew that adding just one extra work day to my week was going to be exhausting - especially as that was the last step to full time status, leaving me only the weekends to be with my precious little darlings. But add to that two extra stops on the way home from work (one stop was often needed to get something from the supermarket for dinner), with a childcare pick-up I didn't used to have to do with a nanny waiting at home with them , as well as an OSHC pickup for a totally exhausted boy who is bouncing off the walls and seems to have grown fluff in both his ears by the time I get him, and I just can't seem to be on schedule with the diunner bath, stories and bed routine. I think the earliest I have had them down is 8pm, but it's often extending out toward 8:30, when they are normally more than ready at 7:30, their standard bedtime.

So my challenge is set, and I would love to know any tips from working school mums out there to help me get home, spend a little time with them, get dinner on the table by 6, and them into the bath by 6:45 so that there is still plenty opf time for Austy to do his reader, and me to read them their bedtime story as we snuggle up on Austy's bed, in time for a 7:30 kiss goodnight and CD players switched on to send them on their much needed nightly visit to slumberland.

Of course, by the time I have done all that, I am more than ready to throw myself down for a much needed break, but I know if I stop, that is it for the night. So instead I run around clearing the turmoil that is left from rushing through cooking and from trying to get them off to bed and there's usually a load of washing to hang (I put it on to wash as soon as I walk in the door, when I get Austy changed out of his school uniform and go through his school bag to read notes and get it ready for the next day), dishes to unload from the dishwaher, toys to pack away, another load of washing to fold and put away as I generally hang one out in the morning before work too, as well as any general cleaning. I still have a list as long as my arm for craft projects I want to work on, but by the time all the "must do" stuff is over with, it's getting quite late and I have an alarm set to wake me up at 5:30 to do it all again the next day. If I do make time for what I actually WANT to do, it's at the price of sleeping hours, which I need too, so it's a bit of a balancing act, that's for sure! Then there are the nights where the kids just won't go to sleep as Austy wants Lotta to sleep in his bed, and Maddy, well she's just being Maddy, calling out for an hour or so after I say goodnight and needing me to go in every 5 minutes (I will add she is teething with those dreaded 2yr old molars, and she's not waking us up at night like her big brother did when they cut, so I won't be too harsh about that one!). Welcome to my world!

Austy's school didn't provide me with any kind of guideline about waht he needed this year, as they supply "everything", which is great as it does save me some time as I don't have books to cover and a million labels to apply to belongings, but I was a little embarassed when I mistook Austy's reader bag for a library bag and left it home since they didn't have library day for another week. When the teacher asked me why the reader bag wasn't in his school bag as it must come back every day, I told her that I thought it was his library bag, and she replied "No, you need to get him one of those yourself". So on the weekend between week 1 and 2, while Austy was out for a special night with Dad at the cricket for being such a big brave boy at school (he shed quite a few tears that first week so we had to make a big deal), I was sticthing up a cute library bag that he would recognise easily as his. He loves green and is very much into space and rockets, so I had set out to find green rocket fabric and actually found some without too much struggle. Being bought locally instead of online from the US, the fabric was nearly 3 times the price that I usually pay, so I just bought a little strip and then downloaded an embroidery design pack from bunnycup. Austy chose this rocket, and I picked the colours to match the rocket fabric at the top.

I also have been doing a bit of dyeing in the past couple of weeks that I have been neglecting my blog. First up I did this colourway, which was mean to be nice and bright like the shot below. It is gaywool dyes on a WOLLganics base, and I didn't know that you need vinegar with such soft, unprocessed wool. So half of teh colour washed out and left this suttle blend of colours. I wasn't happy at first, but after seeing a knitted swatch I think it will make a gorgeous unisex newborn project for one of the many babies that keep popping into the lives of those around me.

Then I had another go and got this. Exactly what I planned for the WOOLganics auction set that was won by Susan. Keep your eyes out for the finished set as it will be getting packaged to post in the next week or so.

The photo at the top of this post was also WOOLganics, dyed after learning my vinegar lesson with the "Dinosaurus" colourway for the auction set. THe purpose for that dye up will be revealed soon, as with the reason for this girly 4ply dye up on BWM Luxury.

While Austy was at school that first week I made three pairs of Tinkle Time Trainers for Miss Maddy, who is 2 going on 10, but nowhere near ready to toilet train. Andrew thought that he would like to give it a try while I was at work, since we are having warm weather and Austy was pretty much trained by now (only to regress when I started showing a bit of a baby bump with him at 2.5yrs and wanting to keep being my baby). Maddy's not doing too badly though, and we have found it wonderful to keep the disposables off her at childcare. They won't use cloth nappies there but they will use cloth trainers, and the disposables just don't get changed often enough (she's only there a few hours but she still needs a change!) so she was getting a rash. Now we put her in trainers, if she wets they notice, and put her in a disposable and I get it off the instant we get in the door. She even managed to stay dry the whole afternoon one day this week, and then I told Andrew and he said she had insisted she wear those trainers that morning, so she had actually gone the whole day!

And since I am now really getting along with my embroidery machine, when I had to come up with a baby shower present in a matter of days, I whipped out my embroidery hoop and appliqued this cute little monkey.

I thought it went beautifully with this super cute fabric I HAD to have when we were at Joann's in the US when Maddy was a baby. It wasn't really girly enough for me to use for her, since everyone kept calling my baldy baby a boy, so I held onto it, waiting for just the right project. This is it! Super cute and perfectly practical, the pattern is from Ottobre, and done in size 56cm, it should last the bub for at least 3 months. This little boy is going to be little brother to Madelyn's swimming friend Collin, so I think a little something for Collin with this monkey design is also on the cards.

I haven't forgotten Blockapalooza either - 6 blocks down and a lot more to go. Hopefully I will be back soon to show off my progress with my Central Park fabrics! Ooh, and a wonderful purple package that arrived today as part of a ravelry swap, especially for me. But for now I had better get back to that nagging housework to see if I can fit in some sewing before bed.

It's here!

During that busy first week of school, Madelyn and I were verty excited to open a couple of fabric parcels - the first one, this adorable and impossiblyu pretty dress made by Naomi, for as a part of the Queensland Flood relief auctions. It was going far too cheaply, and I couldn't have that, so despite it only being a size 2 (Maddy normally wears a 3) I decided to chance it and place a bid.

So glad I did, as it's a very generous fit, so pretty and girly for our little princess, and what's more, she loves it to bits! The reason I couldn't capture a nioce modelled shot? She was far too busy twirling and dancing! Naomi has done such a fabulous job with this dress, such wonderful quality and the skirt even has a lining to help boof it out a bit. With an added bit of bling it was bound to be a winner with Madelyn and me!

And of course, I was very much anticipating the arrival of this precious bundle - a fat eights pack of Kate Spain's Central Park range so I could get started on Bloggers' Blocakpalooza quilt along! I cut into it straight away, as I was already two blocks behind. This is going to make a funky quilt for our family room for the winter. You know those chilly nights where you just want to snuggle up in front of the TV? One of my favourite moments in the cooler months, and this should be big enough for snuggling with the kids too.

My favourite prints are diefinitely the little animals, but I am too scraed to cut into those yet. This quilt aloing is turning out to be quite fun and liberating, as I have had to let go a little and ejoy the process since I don't know what is coming next. I normally fuss forever about what blocks to put where but this time I just have to trust the designers and go with the flow a little.

The big day - my baby boy is at SCHOOL!

That's right! This little guy is now officially a school boy. (Excuse the smudge on his top - I hid the school logo for the blog for security reasons). After an early start to the day, we fed him up with as big a breakfast as we could get him to eat, packed his bag and delivered him to school with lots of hugs and kisses, including a special kiss from his baby sister as we left. While a little shy, he was very excited, and got stuck straight into the activity, drawing me a tree and an owl. At home he just draws scribbles so I was thrilled to see some detail in this one, I just love the way he did the leaves.

Of course, Madelyn thought she was a school kid too and had to steal a place at the desks (luckily there was a child absent this morning at Austy's table). I met the new head mistress, who asked me if Madelyn was 3, and as soon as I replied, "No, she's just turned 2", my little toddler tugged at my t-shirt saying "Excuse me Mummy, where is my dwink?" as she wanted to put it in the tub with all of the other school kids' drinks. I think we wiull be hearing that mistake a lot as she certainly talks like a 3 year old. Not long after she was threading tiny beads onto a string with the big kids, so I think she will be growing up fast enough!

In the meantime, I have been plugging away at a few little projects, including 3 pairs of training pants for Madelyn (no pics as they just keep getting snatched to be worn, and then promptly weed in!), my Quilts for Queensland blocks (one for the boys)...

...(and a test run for the Bloggers Blockapalooza)...

...and trying my hand at FMQ as I put together some potholders for the EB potholder sew, show, swap.

Here are my 4 different completed ones, with another one waiting to be quilted (it has cupcakes on it and Madelyn alreeady thinks it's hers, so I may have to do another to keep here!)

I am enjoying some time off from work while we settle our boy into school, so hope to get some quality sewing time in when Madelyn naps. Ah, the joy of being a SAHM (even if it is only for a week!).

He sews too!

It seems this school holidays is the time to teach little boys to sew. I have one bored 5yr old here, who is desperate to learn new things (thank goodness he becomes a SCHOOL kid next week), and who for the last few months of kindy was grizzling "I don't want to go, it's boring, we always do the same stuff and it's too easy!". Keeping him entertained and stimulated has been a bit tricky lately but we know if we don't give him new things to do, his behaviour goes out the window.

He has always taken an interest in sewing (although sewing for him usually consits of sitting on my lap pressing the start/stop button on my "picture machine" (aka embroidery machine) or sitting on my lap pressing the scissors button when I am sewing (when I ask him too of course). He is amazed by how those machines just do their thing and loves to just watch the needle going up and down. When he was littler, I just could not sew when he was awake for fear of him wanting to "help" and making things take 100 times longer. Madelyn on the other hand isn't quite as fussed, and loses interest very quickly when she realises that she is only allowed to touch buttons when I say she can.

So on Sunday, as I finished off Madelyn's liuttle top and skirt set, he asked me to teach him to sew. Not press a couple of buttons, SEW! I had a quick think, and remebered Lotta is always in need of new toys as she is super playful and loses evertything under couches within 5 minutes (yes this new toy is temporarily missing too!) and remembered making one with Nanna when I was about 10 or 12. When Maddy went down for her nap, we set to work. I cut out a little denim scrap (from the skirt) and some polar fleece, layed them on top of each other and helped him sew around the edge. He couldn't quite reach the pedal and see the machine, without hanging on the edge of the desk, so he had a turn at both the feeding and the pedalling. He liked the feeding best, but is a little heavy handed and stopped it moving a few times. Lotta doesn't care and in fact the tiny stitches that resulted just make it stronger.


Knowing Lotta's love for bells and rattles, I took over and made the little elastic strip and hand stitched a bell to it, to stitch into one end, and while we were at it, I let Austy snip off a bit of selvedge from the polar fleece for another "dangly". Austy stuffed it, then I handstitched it close (completely forgetting the satchels of catnip I have in my sewing draw specifically for projects like these- arghhh!). Watching the delight in Austin's face as he handed her the new toy and she started playing straight away was priceless. It is her new favourite toy, which made the project even more thrilling for him. I see more sewing in his future despite the fact that his mean old Dad says sewing is for girls. I mean, seriously, how is it okay for ME to be a mechanical engineer, but not okay for his son to sew? As far as I am concerned, I will teach him, what ever he wants to learn (as long as I have the skills to do so.) Which reminds me, I had best get onto the hunt for a piano teacher, as he can't wait to learn that either and my ability in that area is nowhere near my sewing skills!

Project 52 - A Flutterby Moment

A gentle bushwalk with my best bud, yielded this image as we both played with our new cameras.

ETA: I couldn't choose this week so I threw them both in. Originally I thought the bottom one was better but I like the way I captured the open wings in the top one.

A little bit of country style

I have learned my lesson: Never judge a fabric at first glance! This fabric, which is simply gorgeous on my little girl, was a freebie Liberty Print ("Pepper") that my mother in law gave me when she was cleaning out her fabrics. She hasn't really done a lot of sewing since her children were little and what she had was mostly small cuts, suitable for children only. She handed me this fabric saying "You might be able to use that for your quilting". I took one look and screwed my nose up (she was telling me to be honest as she didn't want to give me fabric I wouldn't use!). I couldn't imagine it as a quilt at all. But as we continued to go through the fabrics, I started thinking that it would make a cute little top for my girl.

It definitely does! A bit Country Road style, I think. This has to be one of my favourite little outfits I have made. It suits her perfectly. It isn't pink (yay!) but she loves it anyway as it still has enough prettiness to it - yes, she is such a little princess and loves lace, ribbon, frills and PINK!

The top is on the front cover of Ottobre 3/2007. I have loved the design ever since I got that issue, but wasn't ready to tackle shirring then, and besides, at that time of my life I was only looking at boy patterns. Good thing I picked it up again as the biggest size for this top is 92cm - which is equivalent to a size 2. She only just fits the pattern now and even then, I did it with the rolled hem as in the pattern to begin with and it was far too short. Not to worry, this lace/broderie englaise combo trim was just perfect to give it 1.5" extra in length and adds to the prettiness. I could easily upsize this pattern now if I needed to but I don't like to muck around too much on my first go.

This wonderful soft denim was also a freebie from my generous mother-in-law. I love soft denim and use it alot, so I grabbed it for my pile the second she showed me. While it was there on the bed with my other "to keep" fabrics, I spotted it next to the Liberty print and then I just had to have the print to go with it, as they team together beautifully. It's amazing how envisioning the right project for a fabric can change your whole wiew of it. As soon as I pictured the top and denim skirt I actually started to love the print I hadn't much liked at first glance.

And, I have also found a use for the gorgeous tapes I won from LillaLotta's blog during Blogtoberfest a couple of years ago. I have been stashing them away for something special, but they really need to be used so people can see them, so I got brave and snipped this label off. The perfect little finishing touch. Why do I make clothes for my darlings? Because I love them.

If you want to make a skirt just like this one, go to From An Igloo, where you will find an excellent free tutorial. The best thing about this pattern - what you can't see in the photos is that under the first ruffle, I have used the Liberty print. So when she dances, twirls or just plays around the garden, you can see a flash of matching fabric, to tie the two items together into a matching set. Love it! What a fabulous idea.

Project 52 - The Natural World

I don't think I have mentioned yet, but in December, this little sweetheart came into our lives. You may recall that we haven't had a good run with our fur-babies lately, with my Siamese cat Gryffin leaving us in 2009 after 11 years of being my living hot water bottle, then a very short run with our adorable little Cornish boy, Milo, who died of Feline Peritonitis at only 8 months old. Milo's breeder promised us a new baby, and so we welcomed Lotta, just before Christmas. She is a black smoke/tortie Cornish Rex, who is a little vocal and stubborn, but loves to play all the same, and we are finding lots of room for her in our hearts. She does love to snuggle, and is very smoochy, but so far it seems I am her favourite cuddle toy!

That brings me to Project 52! Since I now have a DSLR in my hot little hands, I have decided to join in on this, which will see me publish a Project photograph for each week of the year that follows my selected theme "The Natural World". When I selected this theme I was trying not to limit myself too much but also try to challenge myself a little to expand my photography beyond photos of my children. That said, I do love taking photos of their gorgeous chubby, smiley faces, so they will pop up from time to time, but hopefully not every week. Since I am a tad late in starting, I will end up with 50 photos at the end of the year, that while technically may be far from perfect, should show my skills developing and me learning exactly what my camera can do!

I have started the project with this shot: Frolic. Lotta was rolling around enjoying the warmth of the sun (despite the hot summer day!). It was my first photo in manual mode after I worked out how to change the aperture and shutter speed. You can tell from the thin slits in her eyes that the sun was quite harsh, so it was a challenge to get the right exposure.

I have since played a little more, testing out how shallow my depth of field will go with the 50mm lens. That's pretty shallow!

And this one, just because it shows her playful nature. Little Lotta is slowly learning to tolerate the children wanting to pat her and cart her around all the time. I miss the bond that Milo had with Madelyn, but hope that the bond with Lotta and all of us will blossom as the weeks go by. We all hope that Lotta is our family pet for a very long time!

On the home front, now my baby girl has caught the dreaded virus that Austy and I had last week. For her it has been a little worse as the fever is causing her to throw up (hence the singlet and nappy!) Luckily she is a very easy going little girl, and easily distracted with some home-made playdough. Pink, of course!

Craft wise, I will soon have some SHOPPING to show off, as the quilt bug has hit again, and I hope to churn out some beauitiful quilts in 2011 and finally brave free motion quilting. With us being sick the last week or so, I realised that I have nothing to snuggle with on the lounge, and even though we are in the midst of summer here, when you have a fever like that, you still want something to snuggle under. This year there will DEFINITELY be a couch quilt for me!

The Christmas Dress - Full Reveal

As I mentioned in my last post, I have quite a backlog of projects to blog, and this is one of my favourites! When I saw the main fabric for this dress (by Riley Blake - my favourite designer!) I just KNEW it had to become Madelyn's Christmas dress. I had no idea what to team it with but I had the other fabric ( a spotlight cheapie) laid out across the lounge room floor for backing my advent calendar, and thought I could "get away with it". But as soon as I put the two together I knew they were meant to be together!

Project Name: Madelyn's Christmas Dress

Pattern Name: "In the Garden Shirred Twirly dress" FREE Tutorial here

Size: 3yrs (actually, made to measure)

Pro's: Easy! Delightful! Super full! Super Twirly! Big smiles from the little girl!

Con's: None, unless you count the tears when I tell Maddy it's in the wash!

This was my first go at shirring a dress, which lead me to the sundress in my previous post. I... just... love... shirring! Super easy and gives a fantastic fit that will last for ages, and comfy for my little girl to wear.

I also made a ruffled headband to match this dress and together the set looks divine. She was so adorable on Christmas day, but alas I was too busy in the kitchen to get a good shot of her in the whole ensemble, and now the headband has gone astray.

As you can tell, I am already in love with my new camera, even though I have a long way to go ion learning how to use it. If only my precious daughter was more of a model. I mean, of course she is gorgeous enough (those pretty blonde locks and cuddle me eyes!) but she just won't keep STILL! She just wanted to run and hide from me, but I guess I didn't do too badly considering I have been at work all day and she didn't have her nap.

First project for 2011

I have a bit of a project backlog for the blog, as I haven't been keeping up to date. So here is the first one I finished in the first week of January, and has been worn several times since as it's just so easy to throw on.

Project Name: Sunny Days dress

Made For: Madelyn (24m)

Size: 3-4yrs

Pattern Name: Ava Tie Top (Dress version) by Izzy and Ivy

Pro's: No patterns to trace, quick and easy! Great fit.

Cons: Ran out of thread to do the pin ticks with the overlocker as I had used a whole reel of yellow by the time I'd done all the shirring and topstitching. I ended up turning under the rolled edge on the bottom as it wouldn't look right with folded pin tucks, and used a slightly different shade of yellow to do the pin tucks. Yes I could have gone and bought more... if it wasn't a public holiday. I am impatient! This was my pattern tester dress anyway and I have more fabric set aside for another.

And another block whipped up for the Quilts For Queensland project. I did the centre as a paperpieced block to remember how to do it, (yes it has been that long!) and it was meant to be used to make a potholder for the EB Sew-Show-Swap that I am involved in. But it just cried out to become a 12" block for a boy's quilt. And so it became one with the addition of some complimentary borders.

I am almost back to my normal self now, so back to work for me tomorrow (the Dr said I will no longer be contagious after 5 days of the antibiotics so no chance of giving anyone else this horrid respiratory flu and bronchitis and Austy is sounding a lot better now too). Glad to not be coughing so much and to have the energy back to do the things I love.

Quilts for Queensland: Block #1

I am loving how the blogging and crafting world is pulling together for this cause! Corrie from Retromummy has started the Quilts For Queensland project, where we can contribute as little as a single block made up from a few scraps, up to a completed quilt whioch she will organise to have donated to those effected by the floods. Many of these people have lost everything so a comfy handmade quilt to snuggle under would be sure to help bring back a smile or two.

Corrie is after 12" finished blocks (12.5" unfinished) so that she can put together some quilts for boys, girls, mums, dads - anyone! So I decided to make my first block a boy block, as the boys sometimes get forgotten when pretty fabrics are there for the using. (Please excuse the stray bit of cotton that I didn't see until after uploading the photo!)

I plan to make at least a couple more, as they will help make a dent in my scrap pile, get me back into quilt making mode, and also get turned into beautiful quilts. If you can sew a straight line, and have some spare cotton fabric, then why not join in? For more info, click on the button in my sidebar.