spots, clips and birthday cake

We had a party for a little friend on the weekend. I recently brought this spotted voile to make a dress for Grace (photos to come) and had a quite a lot left over. I ended up making two little shirts out of it, one for Maeve and one for her friend Scout.

I also had a go at decorating some little hair clips for her. They turned out cute, but I dont know how well they will hold together! The tutorial for the covered button ones is here if you are interested.

And here is the birthday girl with her beautiful felt party hat on...she has a very creative Mama! Maeve was loving that cake.

cute skirt

This little skirt arrived in a bag of hand-me-downs, looking rather boring (big Disney embroidery along the bottom). To freshen it up we added a wide strip of fabric and gave it a new life. I am so glad she likes this one, because it's one of my favorites!

the sweetest thing

Maeve in her new outfit- how sweet she is! Being the second child, I don't sew for her as much. She lives in all Grace's pre-loved clothes, and I figure if I sew for Grace then I am also making it for Maeve because she will eventually wear it somewhere down the line. Anyway, such a sweet girl was in need of her own sweet outfit- made with love from Mama just for her. The dress and the blouse are both from Ottobre 1/2008...such a good issue this one! And the little rabbit on the front was embroidered from an iron on transfer from my Grandma's sewing things.

this & that

One very nice bag I found at the markets, for a special friends birthday.

Fresh macadamias from another market. Why is it that the shell looks like chocolate, and therefore you want to eat it more than the nut? After eating these nuts, I don't think I will be buying the packet ones in a hurry. These were so moist and buttery.

This is Charlie the Galah I found out the front in the bushes. He was looking rather friendly, and lost at the same time. Lucky for him his owner came looking, and he found his way home. They had been out looking for him all day, so he was showered with kisses. I think the girls would have liked to keep him.

And a sure sign that the seasons are changing...our lizard is back. We spotted him on the roof this morning sunning himself, and madly dashing around. This guy can run really fast and is actually a pretty big size. I really should find out what he is.

maple butter

Warm, homemade Banana Bread with Maple butter anyone? This was so so good. And if you have never made your own Maple butter- watch out...it is seriously addictive.

* recipe added for Ansia!
- 300ml Maple syrup
- 200g unsalted butter
Bring maple syrup to boil in saucepan. Boil until it reaches 120'c, on a sugar thermometer. Cool slightly then whisk in butter with an electric mixer for 5-8mins until thick and creamy. Store in refrigerator. Makes 400g.

fathers day

Happy Fathers Day to one very 'awesome' Daddy...you make our world spin round!
And in the words of Grace:
Thanks for giving us good big kisses and cuddles.
And thanks for getting Maeve when she cries because it hurts my ears a lot.
Thanks for getting the flies too, because we don't want them on us. Thanks for smacking them off the window.
Thanks for taking us for a drive in your car if Mummy smashes hers up some times.
Thanks for all your good prayers,
Love Grace

*photo thanks to my little bro

tag it

A very easy way to label your handmade clothes. Using a plastic letter/number stencil paint the size you want onto some white fabric, iron it to set, cut them out and sew them on. I used Permaset fabric paint and it works great. Mine are rather rough and splotchy, but I like them like that.

dye play

At 11pm a few weeks back (for some unknown reason) I decided to have a play around with the fabric dyes. This might have been ok for someone who actually knew what they were doing, but for me it was only my second attempt at dying...and not a good idea. I wanted to dye a few pieces of wool flannel and while I was at it threw in some white stretch knit, that I had cut into pieces months ago to make Grace a shirt. Here it is all sewn up and she kind of looks like spider woman. Its the same pattern as this white shirt.



Then I thought it would be fun to dye a white floor length dress (from a bag of hand-me-downs) for Grace as a princess/dress up outfit. This was a big hit and she has been wearing it everywhere...much to my embarrassment (its the kind of thing you hope no one asks if you made it yourself). I hung the dress over the laundry sink to drip dry for the night, which was fine apart from the fact that half my cloth nappies were sitting in the sink. I now how a crazy collection of pink speckled nappies.



Then I received this amazing hand dyed shirt in the mail from the very talented Sara! It totally put my efforts to shame and made me appreciate the amount of skill that goes into a good dye job. A true artwork- thankyou Sara!

felting

When we had our holiday recently, we went to some very fun country markets where I was able to pick up some hand dyed wool and wool roving. I am desperate to learn how to felt properly, but for now I am just happy to make these little balls. Grace and I had a go at it last week and I really enjoyed it. Grace found it a bit to hard to get the wool to felt, so she mostly played with the water and made one big mess. We are hoping to make a few more of these to thread on string for jewelery.
Here's how we did it:

You will need
- wool roving
- big bowl or sink full of warm/hot soapy water
- lots of patience if your kids are joining in

Tear off a small amount of the wool (a few colours together is nice) and put it in the water. You need to use lots of friction, so rub the wool together in your hands, and keep rubbing and rolling it until it forms a ball. Keep your water hot and add more soap to the ball as you are rolling it in your hands if it is slow to felt. The finished ball should be fairly hard.

$3 dress

I finally got around to sewing this dress for Grace on the weekend. I think the warmer weather sent me into a bit of a panic, as she has no summer clothes and I have so many I am wanting to make. I am rather tight when it comes to spending money on kids clothes as I look at them in the shop and think...'I could make that for a 1/4 of the price blah blah blah', you know how it goes. So I pretty much never buy them clothes and when the need arises I get sewing like mad. So this was some sale fabric I got a couple of months back for $2/meter. My kind of bargain. I am not the biggest pink fan, but I do love cotton voile, so I was sold. I really like the pattern too from Ottobre summer08. Pintucks at the front, sweet frilled sleeves, ties at the back, twirly skirt and one very happy little girl!