flashback friday

 The lovely Abby of Sew Much Ado was very kind to feature me this week on Flashback Friday. 

Head over here to read more. Thankyou Abby!

quilt love

I feel a quilt (or two) coming on. Every time I pick up this book, I have the urge to sew quilts just like this for my girls. The colours, the triangles and size are just perfect and grab me every time. Hmm, I have piles of vintage sheets which would be ideal for this project. And how cute is Jenny in her green velour romper! I might need to make some of those too. Feeling so inspired!

wordless weekend

red

anyone else partial to a bit of red?

I finally got around to covering the piano stool with a gorgeous piece of vintage red, given to me by the very creative Claire. And yes, it does entice me to sit down and play more often. Much more inviting than the grotty piece of fabric that was on there previously.
Staple guns are so much fun!

And some stunning vintage fabrics sent to me by my sister in law Amanda.
I cant wait to get-a-sewing with these!

christmas 09

Sorry again for the huge blogging pause, things around here have been so hectic!
I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday, celebrating the birth of Jesus with family and friends. We certainly did, despite both the girls being unwell. Poor Grace was running a fever all day. She spent most the time lying on the couch, but still managed to enjoy the day.
Hasn't my baby boy grown! He is such a sweet little man.

I had wanted to sew the kids an outfit each for Christmas, but didn't quiet get there.
Here's the skirt I made for Grace, I ended up buying a top to go with it. Pattern is from Ottobre 1/09 with a few changes. Fabric is by Kaffe Fassett. I am so in love with his fabrics right now! Fresh, summery and gorgeous.

Here is the skirt for Maeve. Fabric is also Kaffe Fasset. The lace was some I found at the Op shop, and was a perfect match.

I also made her a top to go with it on Christmas eve (not really something to write home about, but she loved it all the same). There is a giraffe appliqued on the front.

And some new gear for Jude.
The baby essentials, plenty of cute bibs and a sleeveless bodysuit. These ones were so fun to make!

I stenciled the designs on using freezer paper. The wolf and crocodile were from this book, and the fish were my idea.

The clouds on the bodysuit were also from the same book.
This was also my first attempt at fold over elastic on a garment. It was quiet easy to do, and turned out fairly neat.

Another suit the same I made a few weeks ago and he has lived in.

envelope necks are great!


And this is a little pen and notebook wrap I made for my sister in law Kate.
I made up my own pattern for this one, to suit the notebook and pens I had.
Fabric is a beautiful natural linen, with a small piece of vintage floral fabric.

Phew! I really should update my blog more...sorry for the long post.
I have lots more to show you, but we are heading off for holidays in the morning (yay!!).
Then we will be home and getting things ready for Grace's first year at school. Lots of changes coming up.

Happy holidays and New Year to all of you!
xx

bow

Another new shirt for Maeve to add to her growing summer collection.
I purchased a plain white tee then made a bow from some fabric that use to belong to my Grandma. Stitched the bow on by hand, and voila!
Fresh, funky and ready to go.

dye experiment

A few weeks ago I had had a go at dyeing some wool, something I haven't tried before.

I found some lemon coloured baby wool going cheap at $1 ball. Didn't really like the colour, so thought I would see how it turned out dyed.

I wrapped it around a big baking pan, put an elastic band in the middle to hold it all together, then dipped one end in some yellow dye and the other end in some red. I also did a couple of plain red balls for contrast.

Popped it out in the sun to dry.

Got out the trusty wool winder and turned it into balls.

Then knitted it into another Vintage pixie cap and a pair of pants.
Pants are from a Patons baby knit book. They are the newborn size, but turned out completely massive. My tension seemed fine, so the pattern must just run big. By the time my baby fits these, it will probably be too hot to wear them. I was hoping they would suit either a girl or boy, but the more I look at them I think they are definitely on the feminine side.

I changed the pattern slightly for the pixie cap and did rib around the face instead of garter stitch. It seemed to pull it all in a bit better.
It was interesting to see how the wool knitted up. It looks like tiger stripes, not at all how I imagined. I think for baby knitting it would be better to dye the wool in smaller sections rather than two big chunks like I did. Still happy with the results though. If I end up with a big chunky girl, we may get some use out of this outfit!

wooly jacket

Sorry for the big blogging pause. I have finally uploaded the last months photos on the computer and have something to write about. I have just recovered from a nasty bout of the flu, but seemed to have caught another bug...one that is much harder to get rid of- the knitting bug! Yes, this little jacket was one I knitted for Maeve while I was sitting around in bed, or on the couch trying to recover from the flu. I was surprised how quickly it knitted up. Hooray for chunky wool.

The pattern is the one above, from 'Quick, thick knits for toddlers in Jet, Skol & Totem'- Patons book 901. I have no idea as to the date published, but it looks pretty vintage. I am trying to pick really simple patterns while I am learning (stocking and garter stitch), but I did manage to figure out the button hole...not quiet the rocket science I thought it would be!

She looks so sweet in it.

The wool (or should I say yarn) was some I have had in my stash for at least 6 years. It was a garage sale find, with no labels on it, so I have no idea about the fibre content. Obviously not 100% wool though.

More knitting to come!

this and that

Imagine my delight when I discovered this morning that I was the lucky winner of this special little baby over on Jenny's blog! I am just so excited that we will have one of her beautiful creations in our house to admire daily! You really must take the time to admire all her beautiful dolls, each one is such a treasure. Thankyou Jenny for such a great giveaway. The girls are going to be thrilled with this one...would have been nice to keep it for myself or the baby, but I don't think that will happen!

I know I am so behind the times with my blogging, sorry for my slackness. We had a wonderful Easter away staying with my parents. We just love going there- beautiful scenery, fresh country air, pretty gardens, beautiful home baked goodies and not to forget the fine company! My dad has been busy making another canoe, and the girls were keen to help him. Grace cant wait till they get it finished, and she can have a paddle!

And how do you like this sweet little vintage dress? This was one I use to wear back in the early 80's. It's getting a bit short for Maeve now, but still looks fantastic with red leggings underneath.

She has just wandered out from her nap and exclaimed: 'Thats me! thats me with my tok-et mummy!' Forget the dress...its the chocolate that matters!

gathered market bag

I made this bag last week for my sister in law's birthday. It was my first attempt at making the Gathered Market Bag pattern by Sandi Henderson. I love how the bag turned out! Hopefully if I get the time I might even make one of these for myself. Floral outside and inside fabric is from vintage pillowcases...thanks Claire! I was even brave enough to attempt the optional piping on the outside, and was so glad I bothered to do so. Next time I would make it slightly thicker though.

something for the dolls

We had another party on the weekend, this time I decided to make the birthday girl some dolls clothes. The pattern was another one of Mum's (thanks Mum!). I was dying to use some of my vintage fabric stash to make these, but knew that the little girl would probably rather something more modern. I will save the vintage prints for our dolls! And if you want a little vintage doll clothing inspiration, check out Jenny's photos.

vintage duck dress

Here's a little dress I made a few years back for Grace, which now fits Maeve. Made from a vintage cot sheet I picked up in one of my op shop travels. Maeve is quite the duck lover, so this dress is very her...apart from the fact its white.

recycled vintage dress

My sewing machine has been very busy of late, believe it or not. Unfortunately, my blogging is falling behind, due to computer troubles (like having our 3rd new Mac in a month...who does this happen to??). So I have been working on this old hack computer which has a mind of its own, and randomly shuts down when the going gets tough. Things are looking good though, and the newest computer is behaving, so when we set it up properly hopefully I can blog away.

Anyway, about the dress...I found this pattern at the op shop a couple of years back, and finally decided to sew it up. Cute hey! I made mine slightly longer than the original.

The dress is made out of recycled fabric's, also found at various op shops. The main fabric was a table cloth, and the trims were a place mat that someone had lovingly cross stitched. So essentially you could eat off this dress...almost like this one!

The white ric rac was also off the place mats, and even the yellow buttons came from my Grandma's sewing supplies. So the dress is made from 100% used materials, re-fashioned and given a new life! Does anyone else find this satisfying?