Lemon and Lime Pillowcase Dress

First up check out the cute little boy, with a fresh haircut! Bouncing!

This is a version of the Strappy Sundress. The pattern only goes to a size 6, a very small size 6 so I tried to make it bigger, mainly the bodice, I'd say this is now a size 10 as that's the size my cute almost 6 year old now wears!

I challenged myself to use only a pillowcase, a vintage pillowcase at that! But I had to call on the trusty spots pile of fabric for the green as there wasn't quite enough. So I used the green on the back casing and bodice lining otherwise the rest of the dress is made from one pillowcase. Bougainvillea's don't smell Lill! But seconds later we spotted a tiny blue butterfly nearby to this which we need to identify. Stayed tuned for our caterpillar-butterfly news we've got going on here, got stacks of photos of the whole process, more to come on that...

Here is a pic of the dress I made prior to the yellow one.

I used 2 vintage pillowcases for it and nothing else, except the new elastic but that's it, so this dress cost $1. And unfortunately didn't get a good pic of it while it was being worn roller skating the other day! The front of the skirt part of the dress has a white pillowcase with embroidery on it sewn into the blue floral main part. I used part of the white case to make the straps and line the bodice.

Part 2 Mon Repos

Remember this post...

Well we made our return visit (back at the end of Feb, slack blogger). It was fantastic.

We saw hatchlings, got to very gently touch one and say a quick goodluck little loggerhead turtle, be safe on your journey!

Unfortunately for us the nest we saw hatch was a 'priority' nest so that meant all the hatchlings were being taken back to the research centre to be photographed, measured and weighed and then released later on. I desperately needed my kids to see these little miracles enter the ocean, so they knew what really happened. So we asked if we could wait till all the groups had been down on the beach and then go again. Lucky for us, 3 hours or so later at about 10.45pm, our family- the only standing children around were taken back to the beach and we saw hatchlings enter the water!

They ran through the kids feet, we met Ranger John (in picture above) and we learnt heaps!


Since we have been home, we have learnt alot more about the sea turtles that nest on our very own beaches here and the programs in place to help protect them. I have registered with this group to be a volunteer next breeding season!

Easter Bunny

We won first prize in our Easter Kindy Raffle! and amongst the goodies was the cutest bunny softie made by hand by a very talented Kindy Mum who I would love to meet some day (she's in the other group!) using vintage fabrics, he is blue and we named him Peter! No picture of him sorry.

Lilly thought it was gorgeous and wanted one for herself since Joe boy is the big kindy kid and the ticket was in his name! So there was only one choice after this win, make a pink one, somebody had to. We used the special blue rabbit as inspiration for this pink bunny.

Miss Lilly picked out the fabrics, some old, some new, the decorations and special touches.

This one is called Flopsy! I made another as a gift after Flopsy, she was pink as well and had a few other details. I've bought some more corduroy and bits and pieces to make some more!

The Easter Bunny didn't leave alot of chocolate in our nests but he did leave a note! We had an Easter hunt after breakfast with 14 tricky clues, so much fun! And we used team work, patience and most importantly generosity and GIVING! Later that day, I overheard Joey (nearly 4) tell his sister "teamwork Lill, that's what we need like that bunny game this morning".

After hearing that it was all so worth it!

Tree Climbing

Having trouble uploading pictures and the order they are appearing, since blogger won't let me rearrange them on the page anymore, grrrr.

So the above collection is of my gorgeous mosaic butterfly Mum made me that hangs at the front door. A snippet of our new front fence made from recycled materials, cept the small dog wire to keep The Fox in and some pictures of what goes on here every afternoon after school: tree climbing and tyre swinging. We don't have DS's or whatever they are called!

My Favourite Skirt and a Bag

With school back and my little boy starting kindy this year, its time I got back into what's important. Sewing of course! But this year, now in fact, I need to do some serious organising in this here house. And I am going to get going in the garden too, just waiting on my Dad to construct the vegie patch, come on Dad!!! Anyway, above is my favourite skirt, I made it last year around Christmas time. It is a Make It Perfect versatile wrap skirt in Anna Maria's Garden Party. I have grand plans for gorgeous cushions and quilts using this range. Check this out, I stumbled across recently and have become a regular follower! Absolutely gorgeous and so happy to read each day.
This is a gift for a friend at school who had a big birthday the other day! So I made her a bag since she has admired them a couple of times. I had such a hard time picking the fabric to use, I hope she likes it!

I need to blog a bag I made recently thanks to inspiration from Lisa. It's a very cute bag with bamboo handles using Anna Maria's fabric yet again. Will get to that...

Hydrangeas

This one is on its way to England!

More Wildlife Warriors

Here is a full view of Lill's new outfit! Details below.
The back of the singlet and yes, the square and heart is supposed to be wonky!

Cute little Croc girl!

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These are...wait for it... Burda 9793 shorts in a size 6 that I've made a million times already this year! I think I could make them with my eyes closed now! Lilly picked out this fabric when she helped me choose the fabric for Joe boy's shorts so I've finally made them for her.

Of course I didn't buy enough for her size so I had to use pink spot for the pockets and a camo print for the waistband, which as it turns out looks great. Half a metre only does the front and back on these shorts for a size 6, must remember that!

I had this Australia Zoo badge in my stash which is perfect for these shorts. Now to make a matching singlet.


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This is an appliqued singlet with ROAR in jungle animal print and leopard/camo prints for a little 4 year old boy's birthday!

I am hoping to make mostly handmade gifts this year for my friends kids birthday's...trouble is they are all mostly in April!

I'll give it my best anyhow.

Wildlife Warriors

Here are my little Wildlife Warriors wearing their new Jungle Party Animal print matching shorts, well kind of 3/4 length shorts. I love love love these shorts. They are trusty Burda 9793 just lengthened a little.

I did leopard print pockets. We had a great day at Australia Zoo on Australia Day! We saw Bindi and Robert and watched John Williamson sing!

My Mum's Garden

A bit back I mentioned that my Mum was very clever at sewing but doesn't have much time for it anymore because she is very clever at something else as well...

So she has the most amazing garden ever and just loves it! Actually Mum and Geoff, my step Dad have the most amazing garden ever. I took these pics the other day when we spent the day swimming in the pool and checking out all the tracks and hidey places. This place was once an overgrown 3 acre horse paddock with a dam in the corner. And now about 11 years later it looks like this!!

She has always been good at gardening even when I was little and we lived at 'Inverness' in the cottage, there was always a garden with flowers everywhere in beds surrounded by rocks, so neat. With stuff that grew in that area. She is good at that. Drive around your area and see what's growing is what she says and then buy that. She turned up at our place yesterday morning with a load of flowering trees for us and today we walked around our yard and figured out where they will all go.

There are ducks on the dam, pet ones, that get fed bread, and wild ones that join in too. This is the one and only duckling that managed to hatch and survive from 9 eggs in the nest on the bank of the dam hidden in a nest amongst the Bromeliades. We are hoping it survives, there are eels in the dam, so far it has escaped them and also bad dogs or foxes we think that usually get the ducklings or eggs before they hatch.

There are ducks, chooks, dogs, a cat, lorikeets and possums to feed, and... the birds...so I won't remember all of them but roughly: 4 eclectus parrots with babies Jim and Bob, Sun Conures, Finches, Red Rumps, Cockatiels, Burkes Parrots, Splendid Parrots, I forget the rest, they deserve a post of their own! But there is a whole lot more than what you see in these couple of pics, stay tuned...

Kindy Shorts

I have been on a shorts making frenzy these last few days! I just couldn't stop...and you know I could probably do more.

Actually I have to do more, since Lilly picked all this fabric with me last week for Joe boy's kindy shorts, she managed to throw in a couple of rolls for herself as well! The best fabric she picked is an all over jungle animal print which I have made into 2 pairs for each of them. Will blog that later when they are wearing them.

But there is also a pink version of a camo print she had to have which I have to make up.

Then I'll tackle the kindy sheets, matching bag and pillow.

So this pattern is the famous Burda shorts pattern that I love so much in a size 2, a generous cut and scant seam though. I did varying lengths just for variety. I love these cause they are so easy to pull on and off and using cotton makes them super comfy for lots of play at Kindy. Joey loves the pockets and with the contrasting pocket yoke they look a little less like PJ pants!

And here is my other trusty sewing companion, my kitty cat, Miss Pinkee. Her favourite place is the ironing board. She's a nice cat, doesn't cause any problems, puts up with the Fox and keeps me company at night. She's turning 9 years old very soon.

Sunflower

Not so long ago we planted some sunflower seeds. And now look at what we've got!

This is the first flower of probably another 20, which are too close together, so next time we'll grow them in a line and make a sunflower fence.

This is a bag I've had in the UFO section since before Christmas, its a gift for my friend Sue. If she reads my blog before I give it to her tomorrow...SURPRISE!!! It's a bright yellow with colourful butterflies and an orange spot lining, making it very bright and happy.

Singlets

These are for a friend's little girl who just turned 1.

I drew this little bird and used the font Cheri for the girl singlet. She is going to look very cute in these.

And this is my faithful ever present sewing companion. You can guarantee if I am sewing, then this little dog...Flossy...is by my side, actually behind me, squeezed between me and the backrest of the chair, always, always! Actually she is always, always by my side. She was supposed to be for the kids, to follow them around the yard etc, but she stays with me! You cute little puppy dog Miss Floss (aka The Fox!)

Christmas Time 2008 Overview - this is long!

Me and my kids at Carols by Candlelight wearing our homemade goodness.
Lilly's singlet said 'nice' and Joe boy's said 'merry'.

My excited little kids on Christmas morning.

Santa had brought them exactly what they asked for- real baby chickens hatched by Mrs Claus in the North Pole for Lilly and a 'water feature' for Joe boy! Both items chirping and spurting water in the bedrooms when they woke, don't ask!!!!!!

Been a bit slack with blogging lately! Well, I've been busy. We had a great christmas followed by a little holiday to Bargara where we saw the most amazing spectacle of nature that has been occuring since the Dinosaurs. Of course I am talking about the nesting and hatching Sea Turtles that come back to their birthplace at Mon Repos to lay their eggs but not before they reach breeding age of about 30 years of age, so for every 1000 hatchlings only ONE makes it to breeding age. Loggerheads and Leatherbacks (I think) are critically endangered but thanks to the work and research that started over 30 years ago, hopefully the future will improve and we are doing our part by making a resolution for no more plastic! I was thinking, when I get some spare time, to make some more of these (I've done one), or at least form a group to make alot and do my part for our world. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

The amazing Loggerhead we saw laying her eggs, what a priviledge to witness this!
In front of the stats for the night so far with their turtle shirts I made them.
Mon Repos beach in the morning, we could see the tracks from about 5 turtles from the night before, but there was many more.
I'll have more on the turtles in another post as we are going back to see some hatchlings in a few weeks.

...Back to Christmas!
This year I made something I have been thinking about for a few Christmases but have never gotten around to doing---a Rocky Road Christmas Tree. It was delicious and so easy, yet looked a million bucks!
I also made a baked ham using a treasured secret recipe from my old friend Renee's Dad. It was delicious as well.

And when I returned from our holiday I had some very lovely mail! Elissa from Kelani had sent me some Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market Apple Dot in Spring, which she completely didn't have to and I am so touched at her generosity. So there are no pics of that, but when I make it into something or other I will blog it and send it into her inspiration gallery for all to see. If you haven't checked out Kelani Fabric Obsession for the best range of designer fabrics around with free postage then you just must! Thankyou so much Elissa, I am yet to spend my latest gift voucher from you, but I am feeling some of this is in order!

So for this year, I am hoping to continue sewing, helping in some way continue renovating our house, send Joe boy off to Kindy, start Miss Lilly in Grade 1 and keep enjoying life and my family.

The next sewing projects are a couple of UFO's, including appliqued singlets to go with some sets and them get them on Etsy or MadeIt, a glam green bag for a gift (1/2 done) and a whole lot of those fantastic Burda shorts for Joe boy for kindy and of course kindy sheet sets.