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.