A Madita and More Lazy Day Hats

I've been busy sewing for Christmas. I finally completed a Madita for my niece Alice using some fabric that I picked up from spotlight. The colour is much prettier than the pictures show, I took them at night so they look a little washed out due to the flash. I also made a little reversible head-band to match...will try to get some modelled shots later.

These hats are great for summer. The girly one on the left is for Gracie and the one on the right is for my nephew Christopher. I love them when they are finished but I have to say they are not my favourite thing to make, although I really enjoy top-stitching so love that part of them! Also love how they are reversible, works for my messy kids ;)

Lazy Satdee arvo sewing!

Absolutely love this pattern, it was so quick and easy and I adore the fabric too. The pattern is from Ulla from Mamu Design. I made a 40/42 or a medium and it is very generous, I probably could have gone down a size but it'll be good for hiding Christmas cheer ;)

I'm totally in love with the fabric which I bought from the Crafty Mamas shop.....where I buy lots of fabric!!!

Sew Liberated Schoolhouse Tunic

I'm not sure about this pattern. I ended up having to take it in so much even though I made according to my measurements, to make it a little more streamed lined I ended up sewing down the pleats also. Without that I felt like a ship in full sail!!

All in all it was an easy pattern to sew up and the instructions were really straight forward, just not totally convinced that it works on me. Maybe a softer fabric might be better, something like a light weight linen. I do love the fabric, it is from Patty Young's Andalucia range, the Birdie Damask. I still think I look like a ship in full sail...hence my nerdy "model" pose - hahaha

The garden in full bloom.

As the weather has finally warmed up the garden has started to bloom. Here's my beautiful roses and iris. I love the warmer weather but I think that it might mean a very short rose season this year.

New Hat

I finally finished Edward's hat that I started on the weekend. It's not perfect but he's happy with it, so that's the main thing ;) He picked that fabric himself from my stash, he loves the fishies and I love how it's completely reversible.

I used a "Make it Perfect" pattern, the Lazy Day Hat. I have another one cut out for Gracie and will try and make that soon. It's a little bit big for Edward but it will keep the sun off his face which is the main issue.

It's very sunny here today...hence the squint.

Yummy comfort food

My friend Tas made the yummiest Apple Cake when we were all at her place for our crafty day. I loved it so much that she posted the recipe on her blog...well today I decided to do some baking with the children, Gracie loves to bake :)






Anyway typical of me....no apples in the house, so I found a tin of stewed apricots and improvised. Currently it's cooling in the kitchen, we'll tuck into it in a little while. It looks and smells delish!!







Thanks Tassy :)

Baby Lulu

At my Crafty Mamas catch up last weekend I just loved Helen's top and thought that it looked familiar....anyway here's the reason why.

Just love Baby Lulu.....the fabric is just beautiful. And I love Helen's top too!

Fun crafty day with some of the Crafty Mama gang.

Had a really fantastic day with some of my Crafty Mama friends. We started the day at 10ish (which meant 10.30 ;) ). I was a little ambitious in the amount of sewing I anticipated completing as the picture indicates - haha. Although I don't think I won the prize for the biggest crafting haul of the day....just ask Helen (stitcharooney)!






Everyone contributed bits and pieces towards lunch but a huge thank you must go to Tas (Little Boozle) for her wonderful hospitality and her husband for letting us use his house all day. Here's some of the yummies that we had, in the top left hand corner is the yummiest apple cake/slice that I've eaten. Loved it! I should have swiped the recipe!!



Here's Tas and Helen crafting up a storm.






Just after lunch Becci arrived and more chatting continued. Still wondering if it was a chatfest or a craftfest - haha. So I've decided to call it a funfest :)













Although there is a glass of bubbles in front of me, it certainly wasn't a boozefest....despite what Tas' hubby though!

What a great day, wish we could get together more often, fun, fun, fun!

Finally some sewing and a sore head

Well after more than a month of non-sewing I finally pulled the machines out yesterday to make Edward some clothes. Poor little man really has no pants that fit him anymore, they are all ankle-freezers! So I pulled out some Ottos and decided on the "Taku" linen pants from 1/2009 and the "Reko" raglan-sleeve t-shirt from 4/2008.

I used fabric already in my stash, which is fabulous because I have this fabric addiction thing going on that I have to curb ;) The pants are made from a denim look linen blend from Lindcraft and the t-shirt from stella knit in my stash. I bought the froggy ribbon that I used as trim from the Crafty Mamas store. Anyway Edward loves his new threads :)

Edward wanted me to take a photo of the back pockets...he loves pockets...good thing because these pants have 7!!!

However, last night Edward took a leap off Harry's bed and ended up hitting his head on Harry's desk. Originally I though he was fine as it stopped bleeding really quickly...however when Marty gave him a shower the cut was really deep, all the way to his skull!!!!!! He ended up in hospital and is now that proud owner of two staples. He seems fine and is happy enough but oh what a scare!! And finally a shot of the staples!

Hip Hooray, it's my birthday.

I've had a wonderful day with my family today...yep I'm terribly old but still young at heart ;) Here's the five of us together, not the best pic but hey at least we are all in it!

Woke up to pancakes cooked by my sweet Harrison, then we all went out to lunch which was really lovely. Here we are together in a rare photo...always hard to get him to pose!!

Me with my three gorgeous babies.

With my beautiful sister Nicole at lunch.

Harry with his girlfriend Emilie....he still looks like he has eyeliner on from his stage performance last night.....too funny!

After lunch I decided to do some sewing for me!!! Cut out a child's pattern from Ottobre 6/2008, no 37 - Nana knit dress....off course I made a few adjustments...eg a 'bit' extra in the hip/chest areas ;) Hopefully will get a chance to actually sew it up this week.

I also managed to get to Office Works to buy some magazine holders for all my sewing magazines using the money my mother and father in-law sent to me for my birthday, really happy with the display now. So easy to find the magazine and pattern I need.

So all in all a lovely day, family, food, wine, shopping and sewing...what else is there!!

New-born outfit from Ottobre 6/2008

Now I have to apologise for the pictures, I took them after 10pm so they are not great. My photography needs help...especially late at night!! These pictures don't do the fabric any justice, it's so pretty in real life.

So anyway I wanted to make an outfit for a new little baby girl and was looking through all my back issues of Otto. I already had the fabric picked out, just needed something soft and easy to put on and off to make with it.

I decided to make no 2 - "Lelle" leggings and no 3 - "Elly" raglan-sleeve blouse. I had never made a top with neck-binding or with shirring. The shirring ended up being super super easy and I'm kicking myself that I haven't tried it before. I really love how it turned out. The neck-binding was OK too...still need to perfect it a little more but I was reasonably happy for a first try. On the little leggings I decided to add a frill....I wish I'd gathered a little more than I did and next time I will.

What I'm really happy with is the top stitching, I really love this and I love how it worked on the hems of the top. This this stitch is going to become a bit of a fave.

Anyway the outfit was received very well and everyone at the party couldn't believe I'd made it...people who don't sew think that sewers are amazingly clever....if only they knew!! And it still wasn't perfect. I need to make another outfit for another new born baby girl, so I think I'll duplicate and hopefully it works out even better.

Barcelona skirt and matching bag.

Well after a week of celebrating Harrison's 16th birthday I finally had time to finish off a couple of projects that have been hanging around for a while. An A-line skirt from The Amy Butler Barcelona skirt pattern and a matching hand-bag that my friend Levineke helped me make. I've never made a bag before and I loved doing it, thanks so much Levin for the help....I'd still be trying to work out how to sew the lining to the outside if you hadn't of helped!!!

The fabric is quilting fabric from Spotlight, I really like the quality, nice and thick and irons well.

I think next time I'll try and do a zip compartment in my bag too, I'm happy that I have a custom size mobile phone pocket though :)

Now I have the apron over-lay cut out to match and hopefully will get that done in the next few days. Also I have some fabric to make an Ottobre women's top to match...just have to find the time!

Of course after I got all dressed up in my new outfit...where did I go??? Spotlight of course, where else ;)

The picture quality isn't fabo, I really need to learn to take pictures!

My Princess in her new Jule top.

I have to admit I wasn't 100% sure about the fabrics after I had made the Jule but once I put it on Gracie this morning, I am LOVING it! It really needs to be worn with jeans, anything else would be too busy I think. Anyway here's my doll-baby this morning in her new top, she loves it, especially the pocket! And don't you just love her "model" faces - no idea where she got those expressions from!

My Jule is finally finished!!

After a full-on weekend with lots of parties, visitors etc etc I didn't get much chance to finish it off. So this morning I had a bit of spare time before work and finally finished it.

I used some Spotlight fabric from my stash because I wasn't sure how hard/easy it would be and I didn't want to waste my "good" fabrics. I have to say that the hood and the pocket, the two parts I was worried about were actually really easy and I enjoyed sewing them. The hood is lined because I'm sick of seeing stitching lines in my children's hood, so I lined it in the opposite fabric...looks much better that way I think. I love love love the pocket and went to town with top-stitching around it...love top-stitching, my fave part of sewing.

The frills are what annoyed me the most. I decided against the lettuce edge and went with a folded edge where the material is doubled over...no need for a hem that way. I do like the results but geez I hate doing frills...yucko. The double stitch, all the thread that needs to be pulled at the end...does my head in ;)

I have no idea why this pic is sideways as it isn't on my camera or computer...you'll just have to turn your screens to see my awesome top-stitching - hahah

Will get a picture with the model at a later time as she's not here at the moment, off enjoying a day with her Grandy and Grandpa.

Start of the Jule

Lettuce edges.

Outing in some of the new creations.

Just wanted to add a couple of pics of my babies in some of the new clothes that I made this week.

My little hoodie addict!

It's very hard to say no to these big brown eyes!!!

Little Miss Licorice Legs...she loves these and they really look so cute on, I'm definitely going to be making these in some more colours!

The "pot-plants" where things hide!