I see leopards....

There's a bit of sewing and non-sewing going on over here. I want to try and participate in 'Me Made May' this year, where I can wear 'handmade by me' for the month of May, so I'm trying at fill the gaps in my wardrobe! More on that later though, I'll show you what I've been doing for everyone else...

I gave the girl free choice of fabrics at Spotlight to make an outfit for her bestie's birthday party. (We'd actually bought a long sleeve denim dress from Target she'd had her eye on, but was too hot and uncomfortable!) This light top (not sure the fabric, but a pain to sew and heaps of thread pulls, grrrr!) suited the day much better! I used a pattern, but ended up taking it in and adjusting so much, I may as well have cut a rectangle with a whole for the head!

I made the leggings too, from a tried and true pattern. It's a ponte stretch (from Spotlight as well) and she adores them! They have the gathered elastic bit on the outer leg, gives em an extra bit of cute. Hmmm, something about this outfit makes me think in about 20yrs I'll hear 'How could you let me go out in THAT?? It's pretty out there!

We ended up buying a denim jacket, as the fussiness and umming and ahhing over styles, fabrics etc was doing my head in! Gone are the days when I can whip something up and she wears it regardless- I have a pile on non-worn handmade stuff to prove it! I made the leggings again, though, she's pretty mad on leopard print at the moment.

I also made some bags for a happy customer, she chose some great fabrics, definitely not my colour schemes, but a real pleasure to sew with. Another fave pattern by You Sew Girl (but unfortunately discontinued)

 A little extra pillow for her son...is that the cutest pillowcase you've seen? I joked that they would all have names within a day!

We had a lazy long weekend a few weeks ago, and we joined Cam for another basketball game- and another Tigers win! We're officially fans!

  

We had a great long day out, with dinner and a play at the park on the way home. The perfect weather made it easy to chill out!

I finally dug into my wee Liberty stash and ran up this pattern, which I'd printed forever ago and hadn't made up! I'd also been after a cute pincushion, similar to these.

 

I also cut up some scraps and made a bigger one, gosh, it is sooo cute! 

I've been carrying the bigger one around all week, despite not having a minute in the workday to do any knitting at the moment. It makes me smile!

Hope your last few weeks have been stitchy and smiley too!

Back soon to show you some clothes.

I'm getting there!

I've been trying for ages to get this one posted, and tonights the night!

Just a little reflect on the last month, and the holidays. Little Miss was at vacation care program 3 days a week while I worked, so we had 4 days a week together. 

New Years Day started it off with fabric sorting and dvds;

whilst the girl was at the beach with her bestie.

We had a night at the Moonlight Cinema at the Botanic Gardens;

and watched Grease: Sing a Long while the bats flew overhead.

We backed that up the next night with out first Melbourne Tigers basketball game! With one of their huge fans, introducing us the the game fun.

We were even 'found' on the televised version and Instagrammed! Jacqueline did her version of 'celebrity spotting' haha

There was much catching up with this little man, here on his new wheels.

 and of course, many selfies!

This is Henry's selfie face- saying 'Blue Steel selfie' gets this face every time! Hilarious!

Now to get the sewing projects in some semblance of order and show them!

Birthday Quilt

So my Little Miss is 10! I cant believe it, which I'm sure every parent says! I was particularly touched that she asked me to make her a quilt for her birthday; I had recieved some vintage fat quarters along with my Snap Press, and also went into a swap, so was arranging them (in colours, of course) and testing out this pattern for myself when her request was simple- "One of those in purple please"!

 

  I enlisted the help on Instagram to pick the pattern (the left one); 

 and got to work! I managed it in about 4-5 days; Using the time she was at camp for layout and basting, and after she was asleep for the quilting.

I accidentally (no, really, it was)  used the same pattern binding that I used for this quitl; I love the coincidence, as does she!

And the full thing

and backing. My girl and I love fake moustaches, and  this print was perfect for the back. Some different quilting patterns gave it a lot of interest.

 A perfect fit! (Teddy approves).

a biiiiiig catch up!

 Gosh, there's too much here for one post, so thought I'd do a quick summary, and then some scheduled posts to give more detail on a few things I'd like to share.

November and December are THE busiest months for us! 4 birthdays now, Xmas doesn't even get a look in until there'll all done. Someone PLEASE remind me to start preparing in June? (and then tell me to listen and follow through hehe)

So there was my birthday;

The girl went to camp! 2 nights at Phillip Island, and she adored it! It was very touch and go whether she would go, as some anxiety has crept in and sleepovers and sleeping through the night were all affected (not going into much detail, it's not my issues to tell). But she made it, and I'm so proud of her!

 

We had a wee bingle and needed a new car :( Luckily the new one has working air conditioning, so now we have survived all the drama, we're enjoying that!

 

And a few catch ups and meeting new friends. 

Throw into that mix the decision to do a market stall! A good decision I might add, it helped my hoarding habit by forcing me to go through a lot of older stuff I've made, and give people a few bargains. And it was a lovely crowd and atmosphere, a great day out really.

  I even opened an Etsy shop :)

I purchased a snap press, as a friend was getting rid of hers, so  I went hard with some bibs. Some for a friend, some for the shop/stall.

Very addictive!

Simplicity 2380

So keeping up with the summer sewing theme (and still on the clothes) the girl and I were window shopping last week when we went into Bardot Junior. I was asked to take her out of there (by her) as she wanted everything in the shop! This jumpsuit caught her eye, anmd I quietly freaked out over the price! So I reminded her of this pattern, which I made her twice 2yrs ago, in dress and short style.

So here are the 2 pairs....and the challenge for me was to whip them up in a weekend!

and she picked this off the clearance table at Spotlight, bless her, trying to save me more money. $15 for the fabric. NOT my pick at all, I thought a plain purple, or an animal print but we couldnt find it.

I didnt want to do a casing and elastic, I deviated from the pattern (a big "shock, horror" for me) and tried some shirring elastic. Too easy!

  

It was a border print, and I'm sure it's sideways, but I (and her) aren't too fussed.

A try on at a few stages...

  and the shirring around the waist. A bit gentler on the 'food baby' than a casing and elastic!

I finished it last night after bedtime, so she was desperate to try it on after school- stinky socks and all (freezing in Melbourne today!)

 I need my sunglasses! So cool though, and there were grumbles when I asked her (4 times) to take it off and go for her shower!

  'Jumping' in her jumpsuit!

Lucky this pattern goes up to a 16, so a few more versions I hope. 

Especially if I find that animal print rayon!

and, gratuitous baby shot. We took him to the park! Love the boy so much!

What i've been up too....

There's been a bit of quilting stuff happening, and other sewing of course.

I'm a bit of a fan of this girl, and her beautiful work. I spied this quilt in Feb and think I pulled all the scraps out for it straight away! It took till now with all the other projects that came up to get it started- and it only took me a week! I used a pink homespun with it, as I use so much white in quilts I wanted something different.

I haven't decided on the layout yet, there are a few versions in the original post that inspired Nova (who has now inspired me hehe) so I might put the design wall up tonight and get laying!

I also saw this on Nova's blog (OK, now I sound all stalkerish, but I saw it over here too, it was a coincidence, I swear!) Anyway, it was good timing, as I have been pretty slack for the nephew...I mean, only 1 quilt in 8mths....sheesh!)

I got out the blue cotton stuff I scored a while ago when the school was throwing it out;

and a plan formulated when I spotted this thread at Spotlight. I'm going a bit neon mad at the moment, I like 'pops' of it in things at the moment.

So I joined The QAL and got started....might be getting ahead of myself though, better slow down!

  Couldn't resist a mirror ball dot in there hehe

The girl decided she needed to make some new lavender sachets today for her drawer....and lucky Henry got one for his sock drawer too!

 I had the Maze and Vale prints already pieced for a cushion, and this scrap was in the scrap bin just waiting...

Oh, and I finally got a snap of the girl and her braces...only took 3 weeks, and I think she forgot about them for a sec! I really thought it would be a year before she let me take a pic of her again!

Speaking of cute (weren't we?) here's the little man himself- 8mths old and standing/cruising and has started those slobbery baby kisses. In. Love!