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!

keeping warm

Hello! Just popping in to say hi.
Is it true that Winter is almost over? I can hardly believe how quickly the days are racing by.
Sewing has been sadly absent around these parts, but the good news is I have relocated the sewing machine to a new area of the house. I don't have as much room as before, but I am now right near the living and office area which is perfect!
I do feel like I am cheating a bit on this post as the knit above is one I actually completed last Winter. Those of you who have been reading along for a while may remember when I started. My knitting has progressed a lot since then which is encouraging to see! There are now a few different projects in the knitting bag that I am working on...really must make the effort to finish them off.
This jumper (or 'pull-over' for you Northern Hemisphere folks) was super easy to knit, and came from a free pattern online which I can no longer find. Its basically knitted in four big 'L' shapes that you piece together with a seam running down the top of each sleeve, one down the front of the jumper and one down the back.
I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it outside the house as its pretty frumpy, but it has been the perfect jumper for around the house: so floppy, toasty warm and comfy. I do tend to put comfort ahead of style these days, and this jumper is a winner!

wordless weekend

wordless weekend

update

Life has just been flying by, so sorry once again for the long absence between posts. At the moment we are rather caught up in the every day busyness that comes with having a family, which at times can be very difficult and tiring. How can parenting be so frustrating, delightful, tiring, rewarding, emotionally draining, incredibly fun, demanding, hilarious, heart breaking and heart bursting all at the same time? I don't do the roller coaster very well. However, I do feel like one of the richest people on earth having been blessed with these three little people. I wouldn't choose to do life any other way. A little more sleep would be nice though.
Needless to say, I didn't get very far with the Kids clothes week challenge. 2 out of 7 days...hmmm will have to try a little harder next time.

We are in the middle of trying to de-clutter the house and clear a bed room for Jude. He still sleeps in with us, but I think its time he had a space of his own. We were going to put him in with the girls in their poky little room, but after trialling that for a few nights we realised that 2 poor sleepers in one room was probably not a good thing. The only room left for him is my sewing room, so I am going to have to say goodbye to that space for a while. I will still be sewing, just not as regularly. We will hopefully find a space for my machine in the office...the relocation of fabrics could prove to be a challenge!

The rain has just been bucketing down here the past few week. We have spent a ton of time indoors enjoying and enduring each others company. I have pulled all the winter woollies out of the cupboard and put them to use. Maeve and I have been baking and crafting while Grace is at school. My Maeve loves to bake and loves her aprons! The morning school run has proved to be a bit of a mission amidst the torrential  downpour. The girls see it as a bit of an adventure though. I am so grateful for good friends and car pooling, so I don't have to repeat the 'adventure' in the afternoons!

Hopefully I will be back soon with photos of room changes, or maybe even a little knitting. Hope you day is a great one!

kids clothes :: day 3

Well, yesterday wasn't quite as productive as I would have liked. Nothing got sewn, or even cut out for that matter. I traded in my sewing hour for a nice dinner out with my man, which was totally worth it! I will probably have to put the next few days on hold as well, as we are off the the Blue Mountains for a weekend away with only one child!
Anyway, here are some fabrics and pattern I have out to get creative with. Its easy to see what season we are coming into just by looking at the fabrics and colours I have chosen. Only 18 days till Winter!
I am thinking of Sewing the Oliver + S Sunday Brunch Jacket for Grace. I would also like to sew her a floral gathered top of some sort to go with the Jacket. Maeve seems pretty well off for clothes at the moment as I just unpacked all Graces old size 3 winter clothes. I might make Jude some pants similar to the ones I just made for Maeve, and he needs some fleecy sleep suits to wear over his pj's with the cooler weather coming. Hopefully I will report back Sunday!

sunday best

Grace has been eating so much lately and growing like a weed. Needless to say, nothing from last Winter fits and she has been in desperate need of new clothes. This dress is one she picked out from Ottobre 4/07 a year ago, which I kept putting off making it as it wasn't really my style and looked rather fiddly to sew.
A couple of months back I finally found the perfect corduroy to sew it with, bit the bullet and pieced it together. For some reason it just looked really blah, so it was left hanging unworn until last week. I decided it needed a little red velvet ribbon, some cream lace and a brooch to bring it to life...much happier this time round, and she thinks it is beautiful. Now she actually has something decent to wear come Sunday, and the morning rush for church is on.
Happy mother, happy daughter, expanded wardrobe.

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!

baby knits

So my new found love with knitting continues. These ones I finished a month or so ago, a newborn size cross over cardigan and a pixie bonnet.
Knitted with beautifully soft Shepherd baby wool.

Jacket pattern is from Cleckheaton.
This book has the most beautiful knits for little ones.

The Vintage Pixie Cap pattern came from here ('free patterns' menu on right).
I do apologise for the freaky looking doll model, but I have no baby to model it on yet!
We are slowly getting ready for this baby, still a lot to be done. All I feel like doing is sitting around knitting, but that is going to have to stop soon, there is so much to be sorted around the house, baby clothes to be washed and birth preparations to be made.
Only one month to go now!

yellow ones

And here is more of the same. So nice to finally have these finished!
This yellow strawberry fabric is some I have had in the stash for a while, saving it up for something special.
And you have to have nice jammies...right? Because you spend half the day in them.
I think you call the fabric french terry (is that correct?). 100% cotton and oh so soft and lovely.
These ones should be really warm and toasty.

And Grace's parting comment as I finished taking their photo..."please don't make me wear my hair like this to preschool Mum, it looks all buffy"...maybe she meant boofy, puffy or fluffy or a combination of the three!

new jammies

With the weather getting cooler and all, I have finally made the time to get back into my sewing.
The girls (especially the biggest), were in desperate need of new winter jammies.
I have so much cotton stretch fabric in my stash at the moment, so I decided to use that up first before even looking at what the shops had to offer.
Maybe a little old-school in style (Luke just laughed when he saw them!), but feminine, and they can't wait to wear them to bed tonight.

I made them both a size bigger, and added ribbing so we can fold it back for this Winter and let it down for next. Really hoping I get 2 years out of these! I have more that are almost finished, so hopefully I can check back with photos soon.

Top pattern is a bit of a mix and match, but the bottoms are from Ottobre 1/2009.

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!

one for the baby

After much crocheting, laying out squares, then sewing them together, the mohair rug for our winter baby is now finished!

I am so happy with how this turned out, considering it was the first bit of crocheting I have done in years...and actually completed. Now I just need the baby to wrap it in.

I have decided that I rather like crocheting, and knitting (that is another subject that you will no doubt here more on soon!) because they are so portable and make the perfect holiday craft. These granny squares are the perfect thing for using up wool scraps and in this case, beautiful unused wool found at the op shop.
Very affordable, completely satisfying.

two of a kind

Yep, I have totally overstepped my boundaries on this one, and given in to the real nerd inside. The girls have mama made matching outfits (oh, how painful!). The thing is, they like dressing the same, and to be honest it is so much more time efficient sewing two of the same outfit...I didn't have to change the thread on my machine once!
The pants are 'Kim' pants from Farbenmix, and the tops are from Ottobre 6/2008...slightly different designs. One has shirring on the sleeves, and the other across the chest. Maeve's top is actually the same pattern as the apple shirt in the post below.

mohair granny squares

It's always so much fun creating for a new baby, especially when the baby is mine! These granny squares are some I have had on the go for the past month or so. I am dying to piece them all together. The green yarn is a mohair/wool blend that I picked up from the op shop. 5 balls for 50c each...my kind of bargain! I brought a ball of white and blue mohair to blend in for a little colour variation.
The thing I love about mohair is how warm and toasty it is. A mohair rug on the bed beats an electric blanket any day! I am hoping that my little Winter baby will sleep like a dream with this cushy blanket on.