Sunday Stash

Here's my red and blue retro stash. I am collecting them to make Baby J a quilt.
Sunday Stash hosted by Tamara at 1/4 of an inch

Another Progress Report

So far, all is going well. The zip is done - I'm not going to win any awards for my craftsmanship - but it's in and it works! Just need to do sleeves, hem and hand sew the detailing on.
Sorry to bore you all with this project, but it really is a biggie for me and it's really lovely to have someone to share it with. My husband is so good though, all last night he got a progress report every step of the way, he was oohing and aahhing, and being so lovely about it - he's a real keeper! We sat at the dining table together, I sewed, he worked, and we chatted the night away - bliss!

Progress Report

So I started the dress! It's not going too bad at all, although figuring out how to mark the darts off the pattern was a challenge - thank goodness for You Tube. I have to say the worst part of it is trying to read the pattern. Am I meant to have some sort of degree or licence to be using one?

WIPs This Week

It's freezing here in NZ! I don't know what happened, but a switch was flicked somewhere to freezing! So off we went to get new hot water bottles for this winter, I usually just wrap them in a pillowcase but would like to make my own covers - of course - with my whole new making stuff obsession. I plan to have three dinosaurs for Master K's one, but the kids found them and lost one - arrrggghh - no time to redo stuff...
So I really can't bring myself to try sewing the princess dress,which seemed like such a fabulous idea at the time... In fact, it's so scary, it helped me get the courage to cut my merino and make these two sets, one for Baby J, and one for a friends daughter. Now just the brown merino left, I need to make a kimono top, pants and hat with that.
And here's the dress - a messy pile - that screams at me - "come on I dare you!"
Oh no - zips and satin - what was I thinking?

She's Wearing Something I Made...

Doesn't she look lovely wearing a clown skirt! It's actually the skirt to go over the top of a clown costume, this is what girl clowns are meant to do, you see! At least she is finally wearing something I made her, she seems to think it's her new dancing skirt - fine!
And no - there is no way that I will ever be able to get her to model it for you all.
I wanted to make the prettiest clown costume ever, except nobody got it! Almost everyone asked if she was a princess! GOOD GRIEF! But I suppose the matching big bows in her hair, strands of beads and cute little shoes, maybe a bit too pretty for a clown.
Can you see that it's a clown costume? I was quite gutted considering it took me and Oma a day to make! To add insult to injury, I made it especially for a circus day at Mainly Music, but she got chicken pox and couldn't go, thank goodness it was Halloween the next Friday, and with a lot of coercing she wore it - briefly!

Anyway, I spent last night cutting out my first ever pattern - OMG - YUCK!
And funnily enough it's a princess costume! My daughter is going to Disney On Ice next weekend with her grandparents, and I thought it was finally the perfect excuse to make her a princess dress. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing. It also requires a zip! The satin has already been a nightmare to cut. So wish me luck...pleeease, and if you don't hear from me in a while you know why.

PS she might not even wear it to the show....oh my...

My First Crochet Project Finished!

So here you go - my first crochet project finished! YAY!
It's a little dolls blanket for my daughter. A big thank you to Lucy at Attic24 who inspired me and taught me how to crochet! Onwards and upwards I say, next on my list is a ripple blanket, but people sized this time, so could take a while...
Once I got over the withdrawal symptoms when I realised Lucy didn't have a tutorial for edging, I managed to muster the courage to dig out a book I borrowed from the library and work from that. I took a punt and did some extra stitches on the corners, which luckily worked, otherwise it was going to be too tight.
Doesn't she look snug? She's the most well kitted out baby doll I know, and the warmest in our house tonight - it's freezing!!!

And now for a bit of a gripe, I have to say I am rather disappointed with the overall texture and finish of my blanket. I hate that it is so stiff and fibrous, Lucy, why do yours always look so snuggly and soft? I am seriously wondering if I need to go merino in future, however, I can generally only find a good selection in 4 ply, not sure if this is a good idea? What do you think?

I'm back...kind of...

Well firstly I want to say a big thank you to all you lovely kind people that left well wishes on my blog! I am new to blogging and sometimes get overwhelmed at how wonderful, inspiring, kind, positive (I could go on here...) everyone is. I love the fact that you can be yourself and your blog just evolves into whatever you want it to be, and people take you or leave you as you are - it's just such a wonderful warm and nurturing place...I am so glad I found you all here in blogland wonderland!

So I am feeling better, but haven't been very productive just yet, apart from a tad of baking, reading and crocheting. Thank you everyone who has suggested fabric shops to me, I have to confess I have spent a lot of my time deciding what fabric to buy for my quilts. It seems I am going to need to buy from a few different shops and it's gonna be $$.

The only thing I have been up to is finishing off my first ever little crochet blanket for my daughters doll. I just need to figure out how to do a border around it. Hopefully tomorrow I can reveal how it went.

Once again thank you all you lovely ladies that come and spend time with me on my blog, it's much appreciated and very inspiring getting to share my daily adventures with you.

And I leave you tonight with a request I had for the Afgans recipe so here you go, it's from the well and truly trusted iconic Kiwi Edmonds Cookery Book

Afgans
200g butter, softened
½ cup caster sugar
1 ¼ cups standard plain flour
¼ cup cocoa
2 cups cornflakes
chocolate icing
walnuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift flour and cocoa. Stir into creamed mixture. Fold in cornflakes. Spoon mounds of mixture onto a greased oven tray, gently pressing together. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes or until set. When cold ice with chocolate icing and decorate with a walnut if wished.

PS These freeze really really well

Calling In Sick...

Sorry, nothing for show and tell over the weekend, I was horribly sick with a bug! My son too, the pair of us had a sofa each and just slept!

Back in action soon I hope...

One Loved Teddy Bear

So here's the surprise I made for my son - Master K! What do you think?
I have to say I wasn't expecting his reaction. He was absolutely beaming! Not what you expect from your nearly seven year old son: jumping around asking "did you make it just for me? You're the best mummy in the whole wide world!" So I might just make things for him now, far more satisfying than for Little Miss you know who!
The pattern was from the book Toys to Sew: Over 25 cuddly projects to love by Claire Garland. I changed the flower to a heart to symbolise "I Love You!"

So have a good weekend everyone, happy crafting, and I look forward to sharing with you what I get up as well as reading all about your adventures too!

PS I really feel a quilt is coming soon...can anyone recommend a good fabric shop that will ship to NZ? That's the only way I am going to get the "to die for" fabric that I see everywhere in blogland.

Fairy Crafty Idea

Yesterday I was feeling a bit guilty about not spending quality time with my nearly three year old daughter. So I decided we should do a craft - and that ended up being a quilt for her fairy.
I let her loose in my stash of fabric that I was given by her great grandmother, and let her choose three fabrics.
Then I couldn't decide how to make this quilt really something she made, so I thought I would get her to move the fabric around while I pushed the footer down - but oh no - really making it yourself means pressing the footer - like a lunatic - flat tack!
It ended up looking pretty cute, and I got to give binding a go, which for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to do those corners. Thank goodness for Crazy Mom Quilts and her tutorial.

And now I have an idea inspired by a Princess and a Pea theme SouleMama did with her daughter. So here's my plan - together we will make more quilts (as many as I can handle). Then for her birthday I will buy her the book Princess and a Pea, as well as secretly make her everything else she needs to role play the story - brilliant! I love it!

Tonight I am working on a surprise for my seven year old son - I'll show you tomorrow!

And...A Kimono Top!

I did it - my pattern worked - I am absolutely stoked! So this is the first top I have ever made, yay! A big thanks to everyone who left comments encouraging me to give it go, you really did give me the push I needed!
I love the fact that it has a double layer over the chest.The only technical hitch I had was that I needed to do the binding in one piece right around the neckline, but sew and learn, I guess.
So now I have navy and brown merino sitting and waiting for me...but I am still too scared to even cut it.
I better go now and tend to my neglected but well clothed children!

A Hat And A Package

So I whipped this hat up last night and I am wrapped with it - it fits Baby J like a glove! I found an old hat that I liked when he was newborn and traced a bigger outline around it. What a fluke, that it worked so well. If anyone is interested I might make a tutorial up for it. They would make lovely gifts in merino. I also made a pattern for a long sleeve kimono top for him, but I didn't have the guts to sew it up to see if it worked. It's going to require me to make some binding out of the fabric, which seems like a bit to much hard work, hopefully tonight I'll get some inspiration to finish it off.
Look what I got in the post this morning! My beautiful prize from the fabulous blog Two Little Banshees. I won the loveliest "In a Spin" quilt pattern and five pieces of fabric, I love it! Thanks so much Kate. And look at that gorgeous note card Kate made. So simple yet so effective! Love it!

Baby Days and Track Pants

My baby days are numbered, with Baby J now nine months old! Oh no! Where has the time gone? I find it all so bitter sweet, you want them to move on out of horrible stages, but you also want to savour those baby days too.
Lately I have been having a play around with sewing track pants for him. What do you think? I have made two pairs now and am feeling fairly confident to progress on to making him a couple of pairs out of merino.I would also like to try making him some long sleeve envelope neckline tops. Can anyone give me some tips on the best way to do this? Like my pants, I will just try to copy a top that he has got that I like. Oh...and a hat, any tips on how to make a hat/beanie greatly appreciated.

Happy Mothers Day

Today is Mothers Day in NZ and Australia and I have had a fantastic day - I hope you have too! It started off with a sleep in, well till 8am - does that count? Pancakes cooked by my husband, which is the only thing he can cook, so always a treat. Then we tidied our house for our open home (that part wasn't so fantastic). I got to pop into Spotlight and buy lots of gorgeous fabric for my daughters fairy party. And then we went to the Glennbrook Vintage Railway's steam train which has become our Mothers Day tradition. As we only ever make it there once a year it makes it all the more special and a real treat for the kids. It was just lovely seeing the two older kids beaming...and I loved getting to sit back and enjoy watching them find wonders in the world...ah...

Zippity Zips

So I tackled my first zip! Which went OK, but I managed to stuff up the beginning and end bit. I got the pattern from Sarah, who assured me it was going to be really easy (which she has now pointed out that I may have forgotten to tell her that it was my first zip - oops!). So I have to ask myself where was my brain? Why, oh why, did I not take into consideration that she is a professional sewer and her idea of easy, and my idea of easy, would be somewhat different? The first clue should have been the angled zip...asking for trouble...
On the bright side, I found someone else in blogland that also tried out zips for the first time - funnily enough we both made a little purse in the same fabric. Check it out at Ellieboo's Blog.

This afternoon I picked up a whole heap of craft books that I requested from the library. So I am about to go and make a cup of tea and have a good flick through them. Titles include: the creative family, softies, toys to sew...I could be a while.

Mandy the Matryoshka

Mandy the Matryoshka has arrived! I was the lucky winner of PaisleyJade's 1 year blogging anniversary giveaway. Thank you Kristy she is just lovely, very pretty indeed.
Her new home is on my daughters dressing table where she is on display and away from sticky fingers. My daughter just loves her! And when I showed her that Mandy had a baby tucked in her little pouch her mouth dropped open with awe. Then she asked "where's her daddy?" How cute! We agreed that rabbit could be daddy.
Oh she really is delightful - thank you so much Kirsty! Be rest assured your hard work and craftsmanship is being treasured.

Bargain Buys

Look at these fabulous fabrics I got today at $2 a metre - bargain! Some of them are not my usual choices, but I figure they are great to have at hand for making gifts for other people who have different taste from me.
I love this! It's a jersery knit (I think that's what it's called), there was only half a metre left, but at 50cents I didn't really care. Any ideas on what I could do with it? But don't forget I'm a beginner OK...
How many layers of clothing can a girl wear? Well, mine can wear three tops, one cardigan, two skirts and a pair of track pants - and yes out and about on the high street of our local village!

Lunch With Friends

We had a picnic outside on the deck for lunch today in the glorious hot autumn sun, it was all rather lovely.
And here is my cop out quilt! It is a picnic blanket for my daughter and was meant to be my first quilt that I have made (excluding the odd pillow). Anyway I totally piked out and only ended up sewing all the squares together, then my grandmother-in-law did the binding, backed it and got it professionally quilted. So it's all rather sad really.
The back has the loveliest ballerina print. I was just a bit guttered the edging was done in different sizes.
We popped down to the beach for an hour this afternoon and a fluffy just got spilt all over it, so we'll see how it's first wash goes. I'm sorry the photos are a bit blurry and wish washy, it was just soo sunny outside when I took them.
And here's my crochet update. All the loose ends tidied up and only three more squares to go until I can start to crochet them all together and learn how to do the edging.