shirt for cedar

A shirt for a friends new baby girl, Cedar. I love how this one turned out. The not so traditional baby colours look surprisingly calm and I guess in a way babyish (not that either of my babies really came under the 'calm' category...perhaps when sleeping). I am finally getting the hang of the whole stretch, binding, applique thing and my persistence to get it right is starting to pay off.

nana & humpty

Got to love some of Grace's drawings.
No, Nana looks nothing like that. She most certainly will not be seen in short skirts with her belly button hanging out. She is much more classy in real life!
And Humpty, well he actually looks the way Humpty should.
Hope these bring a smile to your day.

stretch for summer #2

There's a lot of practical sewing going on in this house as of late.
Plenty more stretch for summer. Nothing very exciting, more every day kind of clothes.

A pineapple shirt for Grace

Grace has been begging me to make her a shirt with a kangaroo on the front, so here's what we came up with. She wrote 'kangaroo' for me on a piece of paper, and I stenciled it on with fabric paint. Love this shirt! Came in very handy for Australia Day.

Some simple legging for Maeve.
Fabric is really floppy, so they may end up as PJ pants.

Comfy long shorts for Grace. I am loving the honeycomb stitch on my machine at the moment.
It's great for detail and hems on stretch. My tip would be to use the 'walking foot' on your machine. Best machine accessory ever!

And a cool little dress for Maeve. I have so much of that pineapple fabric to get through. These dresses are great for summer, she loves wearing them.
All these patterns are sewn from Ottobre. Let me know if you want specific pattern numbers.

oh how they grow

This big girl of ours has had her own adventures this week- starting Preschool. Its only 2 days a week, but we do miss her terribly and its rather odd not knowing who she is with or how she is feeling.
Thankfully, it seems to be going very smoothly for someone who has never been in childcare, no tears or dramas…and for that I am very relieved!
When we arrived this morning she unpacked her bag, put all her belongings on the shelf and ran off to play. Maeve and I had to hunt her down for our goodbye hugs!
Maeve is going to miss her special companion. They have formed such a beautiful bond over the last 2 years.


The girls seem to be changing in leaps and bounds at the moment. Maeve has surprised us all by almost instantly toilet training, and giving up her dummy for sleeps. I must say I don’t miss that extra load of nappies to wash each day! I am enjoying the Maeve and Mummy time too, something we never really had much of.

christmas photos

We had such a top Christmas this year. Every year we alternate between Luke's family and mine, and this year it was my family's turn. After seeing my brothers photos, I wont embarrass myself by posting any of mine, but you can go have a peek on his blog if you like.

Go here if you want part of the Christmas day action.

And here if you want to check out our awesome table tennis tournament, which unfortunately I didn't make past first round! The Grand final was so close and highly entertaining, Tim only just came in ahead of Amanda.

one each

Here's what I have been working on the last few night- skirts. One for each girl. I made Maeve's first with the floral fabric and lace. Grace thought it was just beautiful, and had a bit of a panic when I showed her the fabric I had cut her skirt out of. I had it finished last night and thankfully when she saw it this morning, she loved it and begged to wear it straight away. I think it really suits her. 

Stripy skirt is from Ottobre 4/07, I made a couple of changes and added some buttons and tabs. Floral skirt is also from Ottobre 5/06.

home

Sorry for the big break in blogging, but we are home now and all rested up. Such a great holiday! Even the girls didn't want to come home and when we pulled in the driveway, Maeve got rather distressed and said 'no, no, no...holiday!'. She didn't want to get out of her seat.

The only bit of crafting I did all holidays was to sew these monkeys for the girls. Thanks to my friend Ansia for the link and inspiration!

The only thing I changed was to shrink the pattern to 75%. It made a very nice sized monkey.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and new year.

busy and tired, and not quite ready for Christmas

We have been so busy around here, but I guess who isn't at this time of year. Luke and I were up extra late last night packaging what seemed like hundreds of these biscuits for friends. We also had to put together a wooden kitchen for the girls that came in kit form. It proved to be rather frustrating with limited instructions...luckily, it came together fine in the end.

The girls (with much mummy supervision) have been doing artworks to give out to special people. Oil pastel with watercolour. They look so pretty drying in the sun.

I also finished this shirt for Luke's Mum, the same pattern as one I made earlier in the year but shorter sleeves. There is so much sewing I had wanted to do for the girls for presents, but I can see that its not going to happen, so I will deal with the disappointment and hopefully catch up on sewing in the new year. It's always special to be able to give handmade.

And here are some of Grace's card she made for Luke to give to friends at work. A Christmas tree, Jesus in the manger with animals and the star, Santa (we don't give out presents from Santa at Christmas, but its funny that she still knows who he is and thinks he has something to do with Christmas), and another Christmas tree with presents under it.

We are off for a much needed 2 week break tomorrow, so I wont be around for a while. Actually really looking forward to not sitting in front of the screen daily! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus with family and friends! 

Naomi xo

mini mitt's

I recently stumbled upon this very clever little pattern on this lovely blog.

I must say, my girls thought these were wonderful. 

They were a present for their special friend who shares my name- Naomi.

I am thinking I will have to make a couple of extra pairs for Christmas.

Outer fabric is from one very cute op shop pillowcase. 

Linen on the bottom half.

So if you are looking for a last minute, easy sewing idea for Christmas...these are perfect.

 The only thing I would change is quilting a big rectangle of fabric first, 

and then cutting your glove shapes out of this. 

Much less fiddly. Make sense? 

little bear

Back in my infant and primary school years I use to be mad about hand sewing. For some reason I thought 'hand made' items were literally something sewn or made entirely by hand- no sewing machines please! I wanted to make and sell my hand made things even back then, but started out by making them for friends. 

I remember finding a book in the school library that was full of patterns for miniature bears. One look at that book and I was completely hooked! This little bear was one I pieced together from fake fur that I clipped right back. Even his tiny arms and legs move. I am pretty sure I made him for mum.

I wish I had photos of all the other ones I made. Some I even sewed tiny outfits for and made them beaded necklaces. In the bottom photo he is sitting on Grace's tiny hand, so you can picture his size. I would guess I made him in about yr4-5. I do have a small selection of other soft toys I made as a child, so hopefully I can get some more photos up soon.