its a play dough kind of day

When I dressed Maeve this morning, Grace said "she can't wear that, they are not sunny morning clothes!". No, your right Grace...navy is no good for a sunny day, but it certainly suits the mood of dark skies and drizzling rain. We spent the morning out, but this afternoon is perfect weather for staying in with a warm, fresh batch of play dough. Do you like Grace's beautiful bride?

summer boys clothes

Here's something you don't see everyday...well especially at our place- boys clothes! I made these a couple of weeks ago to send to a little boy, in exchange for one of his mum's amazing hand dyed creations. Very excited about this swap! It was so nice to sew something simple that didn't involve frills or gathering or lace or ribbon...you get my point. It took me ages to decide what to sew, as I feel a little clueless when it comes to boys. I had summer boys clothes on the brain and even asked Luke one morning if he wanted summer boys clothes for breakfast (meant to say porridge), sad really!



I also had this homeless shirt sitting around the sewing room, so decided to send it as well, and stenciled the plane on the front. I cut the stencil out of contact and then stuck it on the shirt and painted in the gaps. It worked really well. I've never tried that method before...has anyone else?
Good for one off designs.

country break

Since its been so long between posts, I think I have some explaining to do. We have been on a good break visiting both sides of the family, mums, dads, brothers, sisters...in fact we saw them all in the space of a week which is pretty amazing! For some reason I thought we would have internet where we were going, but no. Probably a good thing. I also left the sewing machine at home, so that was nice too. I finally finished off Grace's ugg boots...hmmm...winter is nearly finished too. I ended up hand sewing them which was rough on my hands, but I could not get the machine to co-operate.

Grace and I did some window art together which was so much fun! She drew the pictures and I painted them. They turned out really well. We currently have a few peacocks that need finishing too.

We stayed in a farm house with Luke's family that has a beautiful waterfall and creek. The girls had fun tadpole hunting.

Maeve drank so much creek water...and maybe some taddy's?

We had a bit of a bonfire happening, lots of marshmellows.

And fire writting from my sweet husband!

apples for inda

I just cant get enough of this fabric, the red, the green, the apples! This is just a simple long sleeved T-shirt I finished for a beautiful baby girl- Inda. I couldn't help but add the red snap to the back...oh how I love red.

pin cushion swap

I recently took part in a pin cushion swap over at crafty mamas and here's what I made. This first one I made out a napkin ring from the op shop...I have about 8 of them left so I might do a tutorial on them later, if I get around to it. It's really quite little, but a nice size.



I ended up making a second one for my swap partener Lisa, as I thought the first one wasnt very exciting and wouldnt really hold that many pins. So I found a tutorial off the net and came up with this one. I was lazy however and sewed by machine, not hand. I used some red and navy wool that I recently dyed (some people should never touch fabric dyes, I am one of them...that is another story). I also used some of my favorite vintage floral and polka dot fabric.


And here is what I was sent from Lisa! This super cute little cushion with some felt and ric rac- I love it!


And this colourful one with a beautiful big flower and butterfly on top. Thankyou so much Lisa! I have put them straight to use. One can never have too many good pin cushions.

one from grace

Grace wanted me to show you her artworks she did a little while back, now framed and hung in her room. You have probably seen the outside two here, and the one in the middle was done a few days later. I love the middle one because she had it all finished, then decided that the person in it needed one last finishing touch- lipstick. I was about to shout 'NOoo!!' as she slapped on the red, then realised that her idea of beauty is different to mine. And I love that because instead of just being a painting, to me each one tells a story and shows me more who Grace is.

organising our art

It feels so good to have accomplished something around the house today. I finally put some hooks up in the kitchen to hang all the kiddy art on, thanks to a little inspiration from Soulemama's book and my good friend Lissa. I always hate the thought of putting holes in the walls, since we spent so long painting them...but it did look good once it was all done. I stretched the string from hook to hook, and threaded a whole bunch of mini pegs across. Now we have the perfect spot to display all those colourful creations!



While we were pinning up all the paintings, we came across a bag of gumnuts/pine cones/seed pods. We collected these a while back to make a natural mobile, but somewhere never found the time to make it. So we did that too, and hung it from one of the beams. Its so simple, but the beauty of the natural objects speak for themself and somewhere I find myself endless staring at them.

so you sew

I have an endless list of things to sew at the moment. The problem is it seems to grow at twice the rate in which I can sew...impossible to keep up with! I have patterns I have traced everywhere, that need to be filed away. Patterns of my own that I am busy making, so I can start selling some of my own creations. Another thing I really wanted to do this year is make presents for family and friends, instead of buying. So far, so good...however we barely have any family birthdays in the first half of the year...the real test is yet to come! Luke's mum recently celebrated her birthday, so I made her a tunic top with 3/4 sleeves and a bag. Grace decorated a piece of fabric with fabric crayons, and we stitched it inside the bag as a patch pocket (no photo, sorry).

And my first attempt at a sponge cake, mmmm...it was so tasty!

So, back to that sewing list, today is the perfect day for sewing. Its too wet to go out so I don't feel guilty about staying indoors. Not a minute to lose!

on my needles

So I have decided to knit myself a jumper...and if you know my level of skills in knitting, this is actually quite funny! I probably should have done a scarf or something simple first, but no, I need a jumper so that's what I'm making. It's actually not as slow going as I first thought, and it probably helps that I am knitting in 10ply. Its 100% wool, and the colour is oatmeal. It even smell like oats. If I had my way I would be a skilled knitter and knit like Peta or Kylie...somehow I think I will have to keep dreaming. See the two different kind of stitches on the jumper? That's all the stitches it involves...as well as increasing and decreasing. Very simple. I will keep you updated on it progress. Are yearly updates ok?, this is going to be a long term project!



One other thing, I have realised that I can knit while watching a movie! So we watched Jane Eyre (again) over the weekend. This movie is right up there with the best of the best on my movie list...dare I say better than or equal to Pride and Prejudice. I think I will get in trouble for this one. BBC sure knows how to produce the goods.

mini quilt #2

Here is the other mini quilt I made for Grace's dolls...I think it was for her 3rd birthday. This one I actually hand quilted, which took a lot longer but I was far more satisfied with the end result. All the fabric is from my growing collection of vintage fabrics, sheets and such. I also painted up my old dolls cot to go with the bedding as part of her present. There is also a mattress to match for both the quilt sets that you can't see in the photos.