5 Years Old

My little girl is now 5 years old! We've had a party, in fact we've had 3! We like to party and she has got lots of friends (Mothers Group, kinder, family)! Here is a pic of her 'castle cake'!

Courthouse Steps

Emma has advised me that the quilting is a variation of log cabin called Court house Steps. All the fabric strips were 1 1/2 inch width and I would sew them either side of the block and cut their length as I went along. 1/4 inch seams.

I am actually a little stuck as to how to convert this to a cushion without losing my width on the very outer border. I have a feeling I should have cut 2 inch (or more) strips for that final border.

As promised, I am including a picture of the pendant I am making while following the annekata tutorial:

Log Cabin cushion

I choose the following fabrics..


And starting making a cushion top for a cushion for my daughter (or me if she doesn't want it!!). This is only half way through.. I've done even more strips!


Apologies to my quilter friends - I don't think this is a log cabin design but I do not know what else to call it..

Inspiration and sewing

My inspiration of late has included this piccie:


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I am seriously thinking about those gorgeous little rainbow cupcakes for DD's 5th birthday which is coming up very, very fast! Jesyka also has a fantastic idea for making the party bags which I'd love to try as well.

I have started to put together a cushion for DD. Its not log cabin but very similar.. the name eludes me right now. It was lots of fun to throw all the colours together and although it was slow going, I really enjoyed it. I will rummage for a photo..

I absolutely love this pendant that vlijtig has made and have followed annekata's tutorial to make one of my own.

Carry All Bag

I love this style of bag - I just throw in my magazines, my Sudoku puzzle, snacks, a drink bottle and maybe some sticker books for the kids and I'm ready to take off and amuse myself (not often in mummy-land). I've just made one of these bags to give to a friend as she's going to have a lot of appointments to go to and hopefully this bag is as handy for her as its been for me. I made a special trip to the fabric shop to find some coordinating fabrics to make this bag. I wound up getting the Amy Butler Lotus fabric for the main panel and a spotty fabric for the inside lining. I would have gotten coordinating AB fabrics but the shop only seemed to have the one fabric in this range - boohoo.

One grey elephant balancing..

"One grey elephant balancing, step by step on a piece of string.."

Following the SewHip elephant tutorial, I made 5 of the little brooches and got to try out a few different accent fabrics!






The following one is the one that went to my friend.

Something is happening here!

I am trying to source my sewing mojo and get back into the sewing world. I'm planning a small felt brooch project to start with. Here is piccie of my work in progress - yes, something is happening here!!



I'm following instructions from the June 2011 issue of Sew Hip magazine.. so if you've got a copy of this mag you might be able to work out which project I'm doing. Otherwise I cannot say anymore as it is a present for a friend so you will have to wait until after they receive it!

Pretty dresses

I joined a sewing class last term and had lots of laughs with a lovely bunch of ladies. There's nothing better then spending time with a group of like minded people. This is the dress that I made for Sarah. Its got pleating in the front and ric rac accents on the sleeves and across the dress.

Spotty Dreaming

Its amazing how a very cute spotty cup can help lift your mood!

Mini Nappy Bag

I wanted to get some doll accessories for my daughter but when I saw the little nappy bags in the shop, I knew I could do something just as good myself. So I sat down last night and cut out fabric and then put it all together tonight. I pinned the main fabric and lining together, inserted the arm straps and said to my husband - "I'm either finished this in 5 mins time or I've really stuffed it up" and TA DA - I pinned it right!!!



The defining moment - before the final sewing:

Christmas Pins

I have had a lovely time putting these Christmas pins/brooches together. We are giving them to kinder teachers and child carers.


The finished product included attaching them to some cardstock to give them a little more form.

Fairy Garden Party

We had a Fairy Garden Party theme for my daughter's 4th birthday. I made felt mushroom decorations to put in the garden but as it turned into a very rainy day, they wound up as table decorations instead. There was a rainbow colour theme, chocolate ladybugs scattered about and many paper butterflies in different colours and sizes. The cake was 2 fairies walking along a path and I coloured and created the chocolate dots for the path (easier then I thought!). I got a lot of inspiration from the Hostess with the Mostess blog and Bella Grace Party Designs - both fabulous blogs full to the brim with party theme ideas.

Decorations:




Table:


Birthday Cake:


Birthday Girl:


Pixie:


There must be lollies:

Any fairies need a new home?

My Creative Space

This little beauty is on my agenda at the moment. I had a failed attempt a while ago where the toadstool pattern just didn't work but Karen has passed on a much better tutorial which is working out really well. Too cute!

Making superheros

There probably comes a time in every mothers life where they have to come up with a superhero costume. It wasn't my daughter but my nieces who asked for them - one wanted Wonder Woman and the other wanted to be Bat Girl. We found some foam bat masks in the shops so I just needed to make a cape for Bat Girl. For the wonder woman outfit I made a cape, 2 arm bands, a crown and a blue sparkly mini skirt. My daughter is modelling the WW outfit in the next picture and is a bit short for it all. I used the Curly Pops tutorial for the crown shape (Karen - thanks for heading me that way!) I got a lot of inspiration from the crafster website which provided an array of different WW costumes that people had made and I could pick and choose ideas from that. I fashioned the cape myself - I cut one large piece of fabric to use for the cape then cut a narrow strip (at least 4 inches wide) to make the collar and tie (its basically a thick piece of home made binding). I then inserted the gathered material into part of the collar and stitched the collar and ties in one go.

Check out the finished costumes below!




Massive thanks to a very wonderful lady at the fabric shop who gave us the end of the bolt for no extra charge which meant I had enough fabric to make an extra black cape for Boo! After all the excitement with the other girls, she wouldn't have wanted to miss out and I'm sure we can think of MANY different uses for a black cape!

A-line skirt set

An A-line skirt:


I've actually had some fun with the tracing paper (AKA baking paper roll) and drafted this skirt based on skirts DD already has. I've made some amendments to my pattern and should be able to make another one much better next time. I'm surprised at how easy it was to work it out.

The skirt completes a set with the matching appliqued tee:

My new bag

I put together this bag last night. I was finished by 9.45pm which was very exciting! Its a simple box shape on the bottom with a sash and handles. I was worried about doing the top stitching but my new sewing machine worked perfectly going through all the many layers of this bag without a hitch.

Progress shot of new bag

The fabric has been chosen and cut out - denim and Wildwood and Michael Miller Dazzle Daisy as the lining (the greens/lime match perfectly).

It begins

Last night I helped my Mum out with some quilting squares. It was one of those moments where she bought her project around with the hope of using my sewing machine and then said she was too tired and we wouldn't have time. I ignored this (teehee) and set up the sewing machine for her and put out the cutting mat.. and soon enough it was 10pm and she was completing the final square. Whoopie! I must say that it is *wonderful* to sit around with someone else while you're sewing or doing some other craft. I egged Mum on, helping with her cutting, ironed her fabrics for her, helped her make decisions like what width seams to use etc.

I felt sooooo motivated afterwards and set about doing some sewing today and I made some appliqued tees for DD. I had an old tshirt which was too stained to wear so I cut out the unmarked designs and attached them onto a new tshirt. The tshirt comes from a matching tee and skirt set, so now we still have a matching tee for the skirt! The second tee is a simple square of fabric and I have used blanket stitch as the border. I have used double sided interfacing for both tees.


I'm keen to make some dolls clothes for DD and to give as presents to friends with young kids. So I have started with this little nappy. I've used an offcut of fabric from the remnants bin at the fabric shop - probably sheeting fabric.

Task completed

I signed up for a Pay It Forward a long time ago and finally got it together just before heading off on holidays. Parcels went out to Emma and Car and have been received.