Ice Cream Social in action

I think Eva is at her happiest when she is in a swing! That's when I see her biggest, cheesiest smiles.



She had such a ball at the park today and I must say her little tunic top looks so cute!! I bragged to Cass that I was going to do all my kids measurements before I sewed another thing for them but of course I didn't, ended up making the size 2 dress which was too small and then decided to make it a tunic top instead...I am in total agreement with Cindy, that you have to inject a little bit of yourself into your sewing.



I am relieved that I didn't use my 'good' fabric for this, although this fabric is pretty lovely. I do want to make a dress next time and I feel pretty proud of Eva that she fits a size 3!



I am coming up to my 400th post! I want to do a give away but can't think what to give. Any ideas??

finished (the quilt)

I sewed on half the binding last night watching True Blood (Andrew and I are ADDICTED not sure why since it is a such BAD, BAD b grade production but we just love it) and the other half this morning whist the kids were watching some crap on TV so leaving me alone.



The fabric is Lila Tueller's Eden. My sister in law loves a pink and green colour combination and I also remember her saying something about not going too over board with girliness this time around so I hope this makes her happy!



I actually love how simple and clean the back looks with just a smidge of colour, I would be tempted to use that side as well.



I wanted to show you the ice cream social dress I have been working on but after letting Eva try it on for size she must have taken it off somewhere and hidden it because I can't find it anywhere...

So far

So sorry for the uninspired picture - this was taken about 7:30 am, during the craziness of morning rush hour. We have had an almighty busy week here. I have begun a course (another one - yes I do get a little bored and antsy at home...) and my poor Lucia has been home all week with a high fever.

My sewing has been at night when I have had a moment and obviously my pictures are just as rushed!!



I have used a cotton batiste for the yoke and a check linen for the skirt. I opted to not have pockets as I felt the dress needed to be simple, however I do want to add a white band at the bottom. I hope to finish this by the weekend.

I am sorry that I haven't "visited" anyone for a while. I am so looking forward to spending a lazy few hours in front of the computer tomorrow and catch up on what everyone is up to - I miss you!!

I've started!!

a new quilt

For my niece Phoebe, only about 10 weeks late! I actually had the top sewn together way before she was born and then apparently life just got in the way because I am only just finishing the quilting now! I have hand quilted every night since Friday night and I am just enjoying it so much. I have been really conscientious about pinning every 2" to limit the bubbling effect that happens and I must say I am so happy with how it looks!



The back is a sweet pin dot from Spotlight. I had ordered some beautiful green online but when it arrived it was the wrong colour - I am actually happier with the dot anyway being a gorgeous contrast from the front.



Like Jesse's quilt I used fleece for the inner (batting?) which I really like because it's kind of heavy and more floppy. I like the way it feels and hangs. It's also really super warm. I just need to finish off the quilting bind it, and then hand it over!

As you can see from my sidebar I have signed up to the Ice Cream Social but frustratingly my pattern hasn't arrived yet!! So cranky! Hopefully I will be able to catch up though when it does finally get here!!

wordless weekend

school holiday idea

No, it's not original, but it's fun and tasty and we only ever seem to do it in school holidays!! My cooking is purely for sustenance, because we need to eat. I don't often cook superfluous things like cakes and cookies but I need to change that, like, now!!



We used this recipe which worked a treat. We baked for 10 minutes which in our dodgy old oven was perfect.



The cookie cutters are from Ikea, so crazy cute - the girls (Siena and Lucia) had loads of fun until Siena put Lucia's cutter in the flour for her and then Lucia had a major meltdown (very common) and then refused to participate in baking or eating the cookies.



That's cool though, I was enjoying the almost "Brady Bunch" feeling of the whole experience; baking with my kids, laughing and enjoying the clean up, it had to end at some point didn't it!



YUM!

This ones for you PMM - not really but read on...

We have a 2nd birthday party to attend today. Of course I had grand plans of an embroidered, appliquéd patchwork drawstring bag containing goodies, but that did not happen, instead this simple lined bag was made to hold a SUPER cute book I found at our local book store.



See that high five - SO PMM! Half her blog posts are filled with happy high fives, she has the best blog, I just adore it!



So while this book is going to a sweet little 2 year old it was bought with the spirit of PMM in mind!!

color and creating and stuff!

My new yellow box! I was looking at it with my scrap bucket on it this morning eating my breakfast (vegemite toast like I eat every single morning) musing over how cool all the colors were together! I have ordered some of this to go on my table. I am planning on transforming our bleak, white RENTED space to something that we all love and feel is OURS!




Look at Lucia's ridiculous face! What the! Anyway this is our new improved bean bag! Remember the enormous Jabba the Hut bean bag (oh my goodness Eva still has her tube in that photo!!) Well that bean bag just died. Wrong fabric, very little in the way of seam support and it just kept ripping open and you can imagine the consequences of that! This is one home dec fabric and all the seams are sewn then overlocked! It's the smaller size too so it fits in our lounge room much more comfortably too.



Lastly I covered the kids gross old and most probably diseased Ikea table. That table has been through hell with my kids so I finally (cleverly) decided to cover it with plastic so it can be wiped off (how come it took me years to figure that out!!).
The paper is beautiful wrapping paper I bought for Siena's birthday present but at the last minute I couldn't part with it. It works so well on the table and then covered with some plastic I bought at Bunnings. I love it!

wordless weekend