Some sewing, knitting and cooking

SECRET SANTA SWAP AT CRAFTY
MAMAS!

This is the adorable quilted purse I received from the lovely Justinamaria. She is so incredibly talented. Thankyou!! Check out her Blog and Etsy Shop.



Justinamaria's quilted purse










UNCERTAIN GIFTS
I made two Japanese style handbags for two little friends for Christmas, I also made them matching headbands. I was a trifle nervous of whether or not they would like them...but yesterday I spotted them out shopping sporting their new bags! Whew! They obviously did like them! It can be hard to judge how people will receive homemade gifts, sometimes. Most people adore them ( like me!) but some are still in the "store bought is better"school of thought. We need to convert them quick smart!!

Here's my bags and headbands. The headband pattern is from Heather Bailey's Blog. I will try to remember to post a link.












Cotton Time Bunny

I made this Japanese Bunny from Cotton Time 09. It looked very easy in the mag ~although I have no knowledge of Japanese~but I had trouble putting the head on! I did get it done, in a rough house manner,and whipped up a few changes of clothes and even crocheted a shopping basket for him! DD loves the bunny! As I was making the little clothes, I remembered the way Ottobre give their sewing instructions, kind of industrial, and followed suite. Made heming little pants and tops much easier!












GINGERBREAD HOUSE
And here's our family gingerbread house...with a gingerbread man to represent each of us. The kids loved doing this. Whilst I doubt we will not win any architectual awards for it, it was a much loved part of our Christmas this year.












A BIG GIRL KNITTING

And my knitting has been slowly chugging along. I think I prefer to knit little things ~much quicker! This is my new project~Cherry Bomb from Big Girls Knits. It's in a cotton/lycra mix yarn from the Bendigo Wool Mill. The colour is ocean. This book is so lovely, I hope to knit a lot from it. In time.

Christmas Dresses!

I made two more dresses from Ottobre Summer 2005 Pattern 11/12. In a lovely cherry red fabric with gold stars. I LOVE this pattern. I have made it so many times now. I followed Jaysmum's advice about using shirring elastic when I gather the waist ~works a charm!

I think I have figured how to add links to the Blog of my friends here now...I am hoping to get that done soon!! We are still under the threat of bushfire, the smoke is very bad out today. Looks like we will be indoors a fair bit...sewing and cooking!

Living with bushfire this week...

Very scary stuff. Still a waiting game here to see which way the bushfires go. The air is thick with smoke, we are staying inside!! Here's some pics taken last night at 7pm.











So, with all this spare time I have on my hands, I've been crafting and cooking.
I found the best Madiera cake recipe, from Nigella Lawons "How to be a Domestic Goddess" book. I iced it and decorated it.


Also been baking rustic bread loaves. Yum.








We also made 25 felt Christmas decorations for Bon's classmates. And finally got my hands on a Cotton Time magazine..ohhh..how fabulous are they?!!

An errie sky, indeed...

We have bush fires not far from us, quite a lot of them. Yesterday, you could hardly see for the smoke that had blown over the town. It literally stunk of smoke. It played havoc with us asthma sufferers. The sun was an orange colour all day, and very dull. Here's a few pics we took last night. I hope they get them under control soon, they are very scary. I am so glad I am not married to a firefighter. Selfish, I know..but way too scary. Those blokes work so hard in the bush fires, and in stinking hot weather. One change in the wind direction and they are all in strife.




On a more positive note, our Christmas tree is now up!! And our mini Christmas village set up.

Ottobre 2/2005 Pattern 12

Another attempt at this dress! I am bound to crack it eventually! The bodice is always lovely, I just keep mucking up the gathering in the skirt. I have a few more dresses to make yet. I need to slow down and concentrate more on my gathering.

It is a lovely patten, though, super easy. I love the way Ottobre Designs make every thing so easy and industrial like. They go together very well.

A quiet weekend here..not much on. I hope to get some sewing done and start the Christmas decorations.

Jeans to Skirt fun, Fabric STASH!

I have been dying to try the jeans to skirt thing...there are several good links with instructions posted on Crafty Mamas. I thought I would start out small first. DD had a pair of much loved but too short floral jeans. I turned them into a long skirt, adding some pink Fairy fabric panels. DD was not impressed, however, as she wanted a SHORT skirt. So, after top stitching it all, I had to cut it down to make a SHORT skirt. Here's the end result, andthe extra bit I now have left over! It was a fun project, I am all set to do one for me now ~mine will be long, however.

My fabric stash. Whoever dies with the most fabic wins? I was inspired ( well guilted, really) by Justinamarias neat piles of fabric. Here are mine...I have put all the winter fabrics away, but left all my lighter weight ones out on the window seat. This is great, as I get inspired whenever I walk past. Dh, is not so inspired...I may have to find them another home shortly. The box is full of smallish bits of fabric, possibly good for patchwork.

Fruit trees and sewing...

We are all pretty darn excited to finally have some other fruit in the back yard apart from lemons!! We did have passionftuit, but it met with an untimely death thanks to dh and the whipper snipper.
Some baby gala apples and baby oranges!! I hope these trees will be loaded with fruit next year!


On the topic of the back yard...the beast of a dog ate the new bed I lovingly made her. Not surprising, as she eats everything. This one was pretty sturdy, though, so I'm surprised she chewed it up too. A trip to the Op Shop has ended with her having a very nice purple wool blanket.
How long this will last is anyones guess. Ahh..Lab pups are SUCH pains!

This is a shirred top/skirt I made last night, it was from an old tank top of mine that had stretched out too wide. I still have a fair bit of fabric left, too. I love the tie dye.























And, the cotton/lycra top I knitted for Lil. It had
quite a few mistakes that I needed to hide...but for a first effort, I reckon it's ok!!










I have SO much sewing and crafting I want to get done, I think I need to start listing it all down. I also have the Secret Santa SWAP at Crafty Mamas to get to work on, that will be a fun project.

More cooking and Sewing

A top from Ottobre Design Summer issue 2/2005. Pattern 11/12
I made this top up for Lil. The front is meant to have two rows of shirring, but I did not do that, Lil has a tummy ( like her mum!) and tight things annoy her. It's a quick easy pattern, that can also be made into a dress. I am wondering if it would be too much made from batik into a dress? I'll have to think on it.
Now, Bon wan't a dress and top too. So much sewing to do around here!





Still battling the egg supply here! Here's my 4 egg sponge with strawberries and cream...

I have also been trying some old fashioned cooked fudge recipes ( under the pretence of gifting people fudge for Christmas). I think my candy thermometre may be out ~ I can't get it to set and then have to boil it up again . So, back to the drawing board on that one.

Last night, I made sushi for the kids and we had Lamb Madras and Mango Kulfi. I love that we are so multi cultural!

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I wonder if Leave Comments is now enabled??

4 Day Weekend! KNITTING!!

Ahh..yes , Australia truly is the Land of the Long weekend. We have a 4 day weekend!! Which is beaut. It's nice not rushing anywhere. I've done a spot of knitting...
A couple of iPod cozie's. My son found them on a Blog somewhere...but the pattern used a wool unavailable here in Australia. I had to improvise. They came up ok. I am still working on the Splice Tank out of YARN magazine. It is very fine cotton/lycra yarn, and taking a while. I have my copy of Big Girls Knits. I can't wait to try a pattern from it.

We are painting the outside of our house!! Very exciting!! Then, we get a new garden to match it!! It's being transformed into a lovely stone colour, with deep henna trim. Which means I will be able to have some lovely red roses in the garden. I think roses are pretty much dog proof, too.

Sewing and Mud pies

Last night I whipped up a tee from the Ottobre Creative Workshop pattern in a mad rush, as Bon needed one for school the next day. This is a 20 minutes job! Fantastic! I love this pattern!
I have some Ottobre tracing planned for the weekend.



Lots of sewing going on here!! Strip skirts and aprons.

OUR POOR DOGS
Lil had a fun morning making mud pies with one of our other "kids", our chocolate lab. I have a feeling the poor dog may have been to eat one of the pies...labs are so patient with kids!

SWAPs, Frida , Fabric and Other mutterings!

CD SWAP


We are having a CD SWAP over at Crafty Mamas. This the holder Justinamaria sent her CD to me in, and included a cute Charlie and Lola card! I can't wait to play the CD.







I also received a hand made birthday card from inkinwithjoylcynn..she makes THE best cards!







Card from inkinwithjoyclynn



I found some groovy almost Frida type coffee mugs on the weekend, and the best bit? They came with a fabbo matching round box!! ( Is that correct? Is it still a box if it's round??) I will use the box for my hand sewing.





Frida (kinda) mugs





I bought some lovely batik fabric the other day...I think I'll make some strip skirts and a dress for the girls from it. I have been sewing hankies from some hanky linen a friend gave me., they will be stocking stuffers.

Homemade Hankies



Batiks









Finally, dd got four tubs of bought Playdo for her birthday last week ( she has only ever had homemade ) and this is what's left of it ...she has been mixing it in her wooden mix master, then making cookies with it.


Playdo cookie mix


Thanks goodness our Challenge for November at Crafty Mamas is to get as many Christmas items crafted as possible~I really need some pushing to get going!!

I LOVE strip skirts!

Skirts galore!!! I have been making strip skirts for my girls, and now feel brave enough to make one for me! If I keep the waist fairly narrow on mine, it may be quite flattering.

These are done without a pattern, and super easy. They also look great in different fabric strips ( very Bohoemian) , so are great for using up left overs. I have been doing a simple rolled hem on the overlocker, which works well.

I am now officially out of elastic, which shows how much I have been sewing lately. AND, the new OTTOBRE is due out any day!! Woo hoo!

I am trying to learn how to knit...I am having problems increasing. I'll keep practising! Here's a Steiner/Waldorf donkey I made. He's a big wonky, but dd loves him. Next I'll try the pig and the chooks.















Frilly pants from Ottobre 3/2006

The girls want more of these, in lime green. I will make two more of the tees and an apron each two in coordinating fabric. I think I will like these in the brighter colours heaps more: I'm not a mauve person.

I have so much sewing to do!!! And the new issue of Ottobre Design will be out soon!!

Pattern 17. Tee. I made two of these yesterday, in sizes 104 and 116 . A very cute basic tee. Reminds me why I love OTTOBRE patterns so much!!

Lots of tracing going on today...from Ottbobre. Issue 3/2006 . My eyes are starting to go blurry, so I thought I should take a break!!

I am enjoying this wardrobe revamp for my girls ( 2 and 6).

It's going to be heaps of fun!

Now, to figure how to add some friends BLOGS here...

Wow, that was easy!! My first offical BLOG (apart from my Crafty Mamas one!)

I'll use this BLOG to keep track of all my crafty pursuits!

www.craftymamas.net