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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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!!