a collection of good things made

I've been busy lately, end of year approaching, working lots but fitting in time to make stuff!

I made this colourful button necklace for myself and I just love it.

this purply pink one was a gift

and this purply blue one was for my Mum.

new cupcake wrappers, really like these, these cupcakes went to kindy

decorating the dinner table with old china and doilies for fun

last week we made pikelets with melted choc and 100's & 1000's for afternoon tea-that's a treat

Fathers Day pavlova

made lots of beach towel shorts for fun

possibly the most awesome useful beach bag in the whole world with unreal Ikea stripes.  This thing is lined with the same stripes, has a pocket, a key loop and extra reinforced straps.  Fits everything we could possibly need at the beach and is easy to wash.  Very happy with this bag, have needed one like this for ages.

a couple of cute appliqued suits for a little baby born recently

my favourite little bird.

Flowers, Tea towels and Cookies

Flowers by Lilly, thanks little you are so sweet!

Tea towel by Mum.  For my birthday a  bit back.

Choc chip cookies by me.  With a added 1/2 cup coconut for a different twist!

Singlets

Lilly is not too keen on this yellow number, it doesn't look so good Mum!  Yellow is her favourite colour and I love this fabric, never mind.  It can go to another home somewhere! It's a Bonds size 10 just for my record.

 I found this pink embroidered flower motif amongst Mum's lace stash when Lilly and I were rumaging together.  I sewed on some pretty white lace around the neckline and added the flowers, she looooves this one thanks very much.  This is a size 10-12 cotton Target singlet.

And this amazing work is todays crafty efforts by my 6 and 4  year olds! Lilly did the tortoise, not quite finished and the abstract number is Joe's colourful creation- a lamb and a caterpillar- use  your imgination!!!

First Project of 2010

My little girl wanted to sew something, she dove in straight for the felt and the machine.  She drew a butterfly and together I showed her how to trace the design in pieces onto the double sided interfacing or whatever you call it and cut it all out.  She placed it all on the singlet and we ironed it on then I stitched it on and I could be as wonky as I wanted which was good because the machine is still playing up and hated going through the felt and was skipping stitches.  I got really mad at it and had to walk away once!  I love how it looks exactly like her drawing since I cut the shapes exactly as she drew them, no neatening. 

Don't you think she has done a good job, all her design and colours.

This is a really good way of using your child's artwork, my little girl does some really good drawings.

giveaway prize!

This is the singlet I made for my first giveaway!

Aimee from @T was the winning commenter and she finally received her prize, yay!

and this view is not some weird artistic angle...if you look closely you can see a male King Parrot in the Jacaranda tree behind the clothesline! This makes me sooo happy, they come fairly regularly, always in pairs and eat the sunflower seed bells we put out for them. We watch them from the verandah, they are so beautiful and wild and flying around where they should be, I love them, said that!

Soon I will show you the baby quilt I made, quickly made, for my new cousin Violet, 2nd cousin, something like that, a daughter of my beautiful cousin Bek.

giveaway winner

Thanks so much everyone for entering, and for all the nice things you all said!

This week I have been busy with work but have managed to squeeze in a couple of gifts for little friends birthdays.

This 'm' singlet was for a little girl at kindy, dodgy photo of the back view sorry. I used some of the Sesame Street vintage sheet I've got left, I love this fabric so much.

Here is a 'b' singlet for another little friend using some Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market, a big fav of mine! That's the great thing about these projects, you can use your treasured fabric and still have heaps left!

So the winner is, with a very official draw from a container, since I had 18 entries I could afford the time to do this and I reckon its more fun that way:

@T, also known as Aimee I believe!

I've emailed you already and asked for details of what you would like!

I'll do another giveaway soon, I loved reading all the comments!

singlet love

love love love this singlet...

and I believe it is very very very loved...by another Lily!

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.

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!)

Unity and Peace

Here are the first Christmas singlets for this year, actually second, Joe boy's was first! I love doing these, each year, Kimmy and I make them for our kids, this year we decided to branch out! We are having trouble getting enough red singlets so we've done a few white ones which look great luckily, so watch this space for more creations!

These are for my lovely cousin's boys, she asked for the meanings of her boy's names on their singlets. So Unity and Peace are just perfect!

On the back is a tiny present.

give...LOVE

Singlets ready for Christmas!

This one says " give (heart) " which is supposed to mean: give love!!!

I hope everyone gets it. I used a gold thread which was tricky and probably won't use it again. This one is a size 6 and is for Joe Boy.

...and here is my little bloke wearing it at Lill's Prep Christmas Concert, which was soooooo cute. They did a fantastic job, the kids were so good and the teachers amaze me every single time with the effort and time they put into things.

And while I'm on the topic of singlets, here are a couple more we've (-Kimmy, my second best friend you've heard all about before) done. On the back on one of the corners they have a little applique square and heart.

L O V E purple

I am not sure that many people are going to like this outfit (no particular reason, just not everyone's cup of tea)...but that's ok, cause I DO!!! And so does Kimmy (my second best friend, that is a joke by the way!) who hung out with me while I made it. We had heaps of fun and I made plenty of mistakes due to laughing so hard at Tonia Todman jokes and remembering our old days of making hairclips using hot glue guns to stick massive flowers to stuff. We are sure the glue fumes made us go troppo.

So this is a vintage tablecloth turned into a twirly size 5 Simplicity skirt like this one and a matching chesty bonds singlet in size 8 with LOVE appliqued on.

Luckily I decided to make a few things that are not in Lilly's size otherwise this one would definitely be going in her wardrobe. And during the fun of making this outfit, we came up with heaps of other ideas for cute singlets using simple words. So watch this space cause there are a heap more coming...

Cord Train Pants

Finally, I have figured out a great pattern for pants for Joe boy!

This is a combination of a 70's vintage Size 1 Simplicity 5103 PJ pants pattern together with my skills as a novice pattern drafter! I made 2 try out pairs out of old flannelette cot sheets before I was happy with this shape.

I used this tutorial...here...for the idea of keeping pants simple by essentially having only 2 pattern pieces. My pants would be a size 2 to 3 I'd say and I finally had a real proper go at applique! I did a train of course and the lesson learnt is 'applique before you sew up the seams'. You may think you can manipulate the machine inside that small leg hole, but NO it's very very tricky. I need a one on one with Mum to get tight circles happening, check wheels and you'll see what I mean.

Previously, I have made Lilly pants with pockets that turned out ok and Joey some cargo style pants that were absolutely horrendous, but because they were and still are Thomas blue in colour he just loves them.

These navy ones on the other hand are just right. The waist hem was a cinch given I allowed for 2 big turn overs, much simpler than small amounts to turn over and fiddle with. Next time I will add an inch to the hem to allow for a larger turn over. I have the master pattern in my drawer so I better get moving and make some more.

This is a very long description considering it is about one very ordinary pair of pants, but its the simple things that are often the best...oh you have to excuse the poor pic's and fact that these are dirty from wear today, but I just had to show you all.