Christmas has Come

Only have a few mins. It's the end of the day, I'm exhausted, and have a stack of things to do tonight as we are off to more celebrations with family tomorrow and then away for a couple of days. The girls looked gorgeous in their little dresses today. I took a bunch of photos. Will clear off the camera and share some snaps upon my return.

Merry Christmas!

A New Bag, Perhaps?

My very most favourite handbag was pinched when we were broken into. It was also my only casual-ish handbag. Actually, no, I have one other but it's really tiny so not an option when you need to carry a few more things or are doing a spot of shoping and know you'll want to stow items in your bag. I am REALLY missing my bag for its prettiness and I am REALLY missing my bag for its functionality. I had found my bag on a trip to NZ a few years ago. I was walking down the street when I spied it in a shop window. It literally stopped me dead in my tracks. I've seen a whole lot of nice bags in my time but none have elicited that response from me. I decided not to go out try to replace this bag on purpose but would just wait until I found another bag that shouted "Pick me! Pick me!".

Then yesterday I was reading the Hawthorn Threads blog and found on there a link to this bag from The DIY Dish website. It looks super easy and super lovely. It's done with just plain cotton but I'm sure you could add some light iron on interfacing if you wanted to make it slightly more hardy. Think I'll make one for myself. Now I just need to choose some fabric.

Perhaps something from the Antiquity collection by Michael Miller (the Delilah in purple is one of my missing fabrics from Two Little Fairies - did I mention how sad I am that it has never shown up?). Or maybe a lovely Echino fabric. These Lecien fabrics are also very nice. Ooooh, I like these and these and these and these and these and these and these and that's just looking through the "Coming Soon" section of the Hawthorn Threads website and only halfway through the "New Arrivals" section. And H awthorn Threads don't necessarily even stock these full collections so there's more to be seen/acquired even. Oh dear, how am I ever to choose?

Oh, and can I just add, I am musing over the new Melly & Me Little Menagerie fabric from Windham fabrics. It's really sweet. I'm throwing around some project ideas in my head for something I can do with it for the girls.

Hats Hats Hats

With the Christmas dresses out of the way, it was time to move onto sun hats. So this weekend was sun hat weekend. I am making the girls 2 each and as they are reversible I get to use 8 fabrics for that. Yay for getting to play with some more of my stash of pretty fabrics.
I decided to do it semi-production line so first thing was to cut out the fabric and the interfacing for the hats. Here it is. I've laid the fabrics out with their buddies so you can see what each hat will be made up of.



I then decide to scale back the production line a little and just work on 2 hats at a time, so here they are with interfacings attached.

Next step was sewing crowns and bands together.

Then it was onto the brims. Once done I had a pile of crowns and brims ready for assemblage.

Here they are fully pined and ready for the last couple of steps.

I attempted to have the girls model them once they were done but they were just too busy trashing my house like 2 little whirlwinds and the hats were quickly discarded on the floor in amongst the rest of their trail of destruction before I even had a chance to get the camera out.

Finally I distracted them with some food and both a) kept their hats on long enough and b) stood still long enough for me to get a picture.

And just in case you are wondering, here's side A and the flipside of my hat all finished and on my head.

I still have another 2 hats to complete but I think that's gonna have to wait until after Christmas. Oh, and I finished the other pillowcase dress. It just needs it's ribbon threaded. I'll have to do that and get some photos up.

On a completely different note, my fabric from Two Little Fairies never arrived. It was posted 2nd Dec and only had to get from Melbourne to Sydney then onto my place. Usually that takes 1-2 business days. Somtimes my mail goes a little crazy and gets sent to somewhere in Western Australia that has the same suburb name as me (yes, the postal workers, I assume, cross out my state and postcode and write in the WA one over the top then when it gets there and my street name doesn't exist in that suburb someone writes back in the correct details again and it eventually gets to me. I don't know how long this generally takes as the first I know if it is when I pick up a letter from the letterbox with all this stuff scrawled across it. Perhaps this has happened to my package and it will eventually find me. I hope so but for each day that goes by I am losing hope. I am very sad.

Ready and Waiting

The dresses are done. Now we just need Christmas Day. Here they are looking all pretty on their hangers. The front of the orange dress and the back of the white one. I'm quite pleased with how they have turned out. The ribbon is sitting a bit funny at the front on the white dress but I tried it on D and it sits fine when it's on and done up so all good. I think it's just all the gathers that pulls it in a funny direction when it's on the hanger. Yay!



I tried to get some photos of it on D but she wouldn't co-operate. She had been turning around in circles showing me how pretty she was but when I said I want to take a picture she threw herself on the ground and started crying. Then she decided to wipe her now snotty face on her pretty new dress so I distracted her with the flowers on it. That did the trick to get her to sit still long enough for me to snap something.

Immediately following this she up and ran away. So, that will have to suffice until Christmas Day.

I must say, with no zippers or buttons or anything, it's a slightly tricky dress to get back off. More tears from D, who was (as I had discovered earlier with the photo taking caper) a little on the grumpy side, but I worked it out eventually.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the fabric for both dresses is Moda fabric by Me and My Sister Designs. The orange one is Overly Orange Uppsy Daisy from their Spring Fever range and the white one is Bright Black from their Happy range. I LOVE the fabrics these ladies do. I want to buy some of all of it!

Two Pillowcase Dresses and Half a Hat

Ooops, I started this post almost a week ago but never got it completed. I had spent the weekend before last plodding away at some pillowcase dresses. Initially I made this first one from an online tutorial I found. It's cute but wasn't what I was looking for so I wrapped it up with a box of crayons and stuck it under the Christmas tree at the girls' daycare. Pressies were being donated to the local woman's refuge. Hopefully whoever receives it likes it and hopefully it fits. The "categories" they had given for pressies was for little girls 0-3, which is rather a large bracket so I wrote 18mths-2yrs on the label in the hopes that it makes it's way to someone that is not already too large for it. That being said, it did fit my girls (tried it quickly) and even though they are 19mths they are almost the size of your average 3 year old so maybe it'll be okay. And if it goes to a younger child, well, next year.



Then I looked at pics of finished ones I liked on the net and watched some youtube tutorials and then I came up with this. It still needs it's ribbon so kinda just looks like a square with it's corners cut off at the moment. I think I'd like a nice lime green. A trip to Spotlight is in order. Just not sure when I'll get there. Maybe not til Friday. I'll get some nice ribbon for the blue one I want to make as well. Hope it looks nice when it is actually all finished. And on one of the girls.

I did it with French seams and everything. Oh, how I love youtube tutorials.

It was the 2nd last lesson of my sewing course last Monday. I started working on a hat. A Lazy Day sunhat. It has sizes for kids and for adults. YAY! I want to make a couple of hats for the girls and one for me. I'd forgotten to measure their heads before I left home and seeing as I had mine own head with me to measure whenever I wanted, I started firstly on mine. Here it is half finished.

It's a reversible hat and this fabric will be the other side. I need to start keeping an eye out for some more grown up looking fabrics as I have stuff that's more little girly. It was a bit tricky picking out 2 that were suitable to be stuck on top of my head. Hopefully these will work okay.

Chistmas is in the House!

I recieved my table runner from the EB Christmas swap on Friday. Had been out and about for the day and arrived home to a card from the post office. Without even taking the girls out of the car (much to their chagrin) I was off to the post office. Had it unwrapped pretty much immediately and well before I'd made it home again. What better to do at traffic lights than explore a pretty new present like this?

It's REALLY lovely. A beautiful mix of red, gold, cream, and navy. I absolutely love the gold thread through the red fabric and the quality of the sewing is great. Much better than what I sent on so I feel a bit bad for the person that received mine. Although if she stands back and kinda squints she could pretend that the one I made has corners as neatly finished as the one I received.

Well done, Ruth, and thank you! I fell very lucky to own something that has so much care and thoughtfulness infused into it.

I'm nearly done with the decorating around this lovely piece too. Shall throw up some piccies once finished. Just one last finishing touch required. Will hopefully get out to the shops for it tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and I changed the name of my blog. Because, well, because it's my blog and I can!

Posting Day

So, here's my Christmas table runner from the EB swap sitting wrapped and ready to post. I am just awaiting a quick visit from my sister who has something to drop over to me and then I'm off to the post office. Can't wait to receive mine. If I'm really lucky it will be tomorrow but as I don't know where it's coming from I'd best prepare myself for it being Friday. Or even Monday. The decorating of my house this year is awaiting its arrival as I want to match in the colours. So as you can imagine, I'm feeling a little impatient, it being 1 Dec and all - the day I would normally be hooking into getting the decorations up (and the accompanying bottle of bubbles).

And then there were two

I did manage to finish the elastic on my first Christmas dress on Sunday. I photographed it for you. I wasn't happy with it, however, as (what you can't see in the photo but I wish now I'd snapped) where the top of the neckline folds over and is sewed down to the dress, it was coming away. The method advised in the pattern instructions for if you are sewing without an overlocker/serger is to just fold it down, press it, and zigzag stitch all the way around, leaving the obligatory inch at the back to thread the elastic. So, this is what I did. But I musn't have done a wide enough zigzag as it really only caught the very edge of the fabric and once the elastic was in and pulling the fabric, it didn't old. Decided to unpick it all, zigzag the edge and then just sew it down using a normal straight top stitch. Only issue was I'd run out of thread. D'oh! So, yesterday saw me back at Spotlight purchasing some new thread (among other things) and last night at my sewing class I re-finished the neckline.




I had also started working on the second Christmas dress on the weekend. I managed to get it all cut out and the bodice sewn up. Then last night I pretty much completed the rest. Just left with the elastic to put into the neckline. Only a few mins worth of work and it nearly killed me to not finish it but when the class is scheduled to finish at 9pm and everyone is packed up and waiting to leave, "just another 5 mins" doesn't really go down well. I'm hoping to find a few spare mins later this afternoon to do it. Gotta get some work finished first, though. Then it's just a matter of attaching some sashes and they're done. Nice.

Had hoped to pick up some shirred fabric from spotlight for those overalls I want to try but they only had some boring plain colours and it was $20 per m. They had heaps of lovely options last year that were way cheaper. I know because I made us all some dresses. Maybe I can sacrifice my dresses to overalls. I'm not overly attached to them. Just liked the fabric.

Oh, and done of these days I'll get back to my cushion cover tutorial. I haven't forgotten.

Progress

A sewing blog without progress photos is really rather boring. So, thougth I'd share a snapshot of where I am up to with the first Christmas dress. I haven't done any more since my class on monday night so this is it with the skirt and lining gathered and joined and then all of that attached to the bodice.
Elastic around sleeves and neckline and sash around waist to come. Need to purchase a new bit of ribbon for the sash around the waist. The colour I got is, I think, perfect (a lovely light purple), but I've decided that I'd like it a bit thicker. I think. At least I'll go and see if there is a thicker version of the colour I want. Hopefully I'll get to finish it off on the weekend sometime. Mostly likely Sunday.

I want to do Santa photos with the girls tomorrow. I have the below batik fabric that I was thinking would make some cute pillowcase dresses. Wonder if I'd have any chance whatsoever of getting some knocked up tonight. They look pretty easy so you wouldn't think they'd take a massive amount of time to sew.

Hmm, but then again I was considering a spot of late night shopping tonight with my sister and I do have these gorgeous skirts my mum bought the girls last year (sorry 'bout the sideways photo. I have rotated it and deleted and re-uploaded a few times but it's just not happening) that they've been waiting to grow into. Mum is coming with us to get the Santa photos so it'd be nice if the girls were wearing her skirts. I'm not a fan of dressing them exactly the same but I can go with tops and shoes in different colours. Yeah, I think I'll do that. The pillowcase dresses can bide (might add that I've been searching for a tutorial that I like the look of and have found this one so when I do get there, I'll follow this).

Oh, and um, Two Little Fairies Fabric may have had a sale on her facebook page on Wednesday night and I may have purchased yet more fabric. But how I could I not? It was sale!

Cuteness All Round

I finished the second pair of PJs on the weekend and last night the girls wore them to bed for the first time. They were very excited, which was nice for mummy after all her hard work to produce them (those collars are quite fiddly - made me feel like I had very fat fingers!). Even this morning when I took her sleeping bag off and re-exposed her new PJs, D was exclaiming in admiration. Here's a pic of them this morning in their new PJs whilst enjoying their "mook".



Nearly finished one of the Christmas dresses at my course last night. Skirt is all gathered and attached to the bodice (pleats weren't that bad actually and everyone seems to think they look fine - yay!). Just needs elastic around the neckline and sleeves and a ribbon around the waist. I had purchased some ribbon already but have decided that I think I would like it to be wider so it'll be back to the shops for some more, which is fine because I need some other supplies as well. My next project, I think, will be some sun hats for all 3 of us so I'll need to get some nice stiff interfacing. I've been looking at patterns on line and found one that is a) nice and b) seems to have sizing for adults as well as kids. Also, at the local Farmer's Markets on the weekend I saw these lovely little overall thingys made from shirred fabric. They were really sweet and I think they'd be quite easy to sew so I want to pick myself up some shirred fabric and give them a go. My stepmother was with me and is very good at sewing so she'll help me sort the pattern out. Oh, and I think I'd like to sew some cute ruffled nappy covers for them because their little nappies poke out the bottom of some of their summer dresses. Okay when they are wearing pretty cloth nappies but when we're out and about with sposies on, it'll look nicer. Have started hunting for patterns for those too. I think I just need to find a pattern for the actual pants and then lookl up some youtube tutorials re making ruffles. Anyway, those ponderings are for when I get that far through my to do list.

Boy oh boy, this sewing thing was like opening a Pandora's Box. Projects are lining themselves up at a rate of knots!

Tadaaaaaaa...

Christmas Table Runner for the Eb swap is finished. I think I am happy with it. Well, it looks alright from afar anyway. I don't like the fabric as much in real life as I did in the pic on the internet but all bound and finished it looks quite nice. I quilted it on the machine doing a diamond kind of pattern. Didn't always sew as straight as I may have liked. Binding is a tad scary in places. I've never worked with bias binding before. In theory (and in my mind) it would be easy peasy but again, didn't always sew as straight as I would've liked and that affected it. I unpicked parts of it a few times to redo it but have decided to call it a day. It's the back side of it anyway. Again, just don't look too closely and it's fine. Hope my swapee likes it. Posting it 1 Dec. Here is a sneak peak. I'll add some clearer photos later after my swapee has received it. Don't want to completely ruin the surprise.



Finished the first set of PJs on Monday night at my course. The best part is, they fit. YAY! I have never done button holes before. Discovered it's REALLY easy. You do have to be careful to be precise but that's as hard as it gets. Have cut out and started to sew the second pair because we are getting really close to needing them. I have 1 other set of summer PJs but definitely need at least 2. It was roasting last weekend so the other set came out. It's cooled off again now but still, I need to hurry. Will try to get them finished across the weekend and then next week at my course I can go back to working on the Christmas dresses for the girls.

YAY for deliveries!

I have recieved some very exciting things in the post over the last 24 hours.

1. my third package from FQS - 4 weeks after the first 2 arrived and nearly 6 weeks after I ordered it.
2. some new shoes for the girls that I had ordered from Preschoolians. There'd been a bit of a drama with my order (without boring you with the details I just want to make it clear that Preschoolians have been FANTASTIC the whole way - love 'em!) so it'd been a bit of a wait. I was very excited to receive them.
3. My new camera. Happy dance!!!!! (that arrived at 8:30am this morning - when I commented on how early he was the poor delivery guy told me someone shut his hand in their front door yesterday and broke his finger. It was all bandaged up but I could see the dried blood leaking from under the bandage and his finger was heading off in an odd direction from about 1/3 of the way up. He said he's off to the hospital this afternoon to have it set. Can't believe he was still working. OUCH!)

Also, according to the tracking website for UPS my pram should be here today. Oh my, I will be beside myself if it really does turn up. Scared it won't as I have to go out tomorrow and Monday so chances are I will miss it and I don't think I can bare waiting until Tuesday knowing it's in the country. The first one of these prams I ordered (the one that got pinched) they initially tried to deliver on a Friday, 5 mins before I arrived home and so I had to live the weekend through waiting for it. Please can I not have to endure such an horrendous experience the second time around?!!!!! (especially given this time I have no pram at all whereas last time I still had my side by side run-of-the-mill twin pram). - ***UPDATE*** Oh crap, the tracking website is now telling me it's due for delivery on Monday (and given I'll be out means Tuesday - don't even know who the local carrier is so can't call them to tell them). Why, oh why could they not have updated with that when they updated with the "in transit - on time for delivery" (which I had been advised previously was estimated for today)? My expectations were all built up and now they've been just been shot down. I realise this is nothing to do with sewing. Just venting. Between that and finding out that something I have spent hours and hours and freakin' hours on at work is a pile of poo because I was given incorrect data from my team mates and I'm feeling all lousy and dejected. Bring on wine o'clock, I say!

So, with camera in hand, it's time for some photos.

This is what arrived in my belated and final FQS delivery yesterday. The left hand 2 are flannel so will likely become PJs next winter (or PJ tops at least because I think there may not be enough for a full set but I'll get some plain flannel for the pants or something). The right 2 items are the ones I have been waiting on so impatiently. The top right is the backing fabric for my table runner (with which I now have a date this weekend) and the bottom right is for the second dress I want to make at my sewing course. Of course I ordered another 1.5 yards of the backing fabric so that is now on it's way from Fabric Shack. It can bide for another project. It's got a Christmas vibe but is not necessarily limited to just Christmas so it can be used for something else or maybe I just hang onto it and use it for little outfits for the girls next year. I had also ordered more of a different fabric from Fabric Shack for the second dress at the sewing course. So, once that arrives I will have 2 fabrics to choose from. Interestingly they were the first 2 I wanted but there wasn't enough of of one of them at FQS so I ordered and received the other one and started making the dress. So, now I have to choose the second dress from both of my first preferences. Oh the challenges life brings!


Here is what I picked up on sale from Hanc**k's when they had their free shipping offer. This is the stuff that arrived last week. This pic is the yardage. I got 1 yard of each.

And this pic is a fat quarter bundle of batiks that I picked up because they were pretty and cheap.


And now onto the update from my sewing course. This is what I have made so far. Looking at it like this it doesn't look much for 3 weeks of 2hr sessions. Bottom left is the top of one of the girls' Christmas dresses. Middle is the almost completed PJ top and top right is the fabric for the second set of PJs. Once I've finished my TR I might start doing some of this stuff at home. If I can find time, of course, between babies and housework and working etc.

Think I'll leave it there for now.

Bye!

Coming soon...

Seems I should have a camera again soon. Maybe even by the end of the week. Oh please? Please? Please? I have found it really hard with no camera. I have 2 such beautiful girls doing so many cute things and no way of taking pics of it. They played with their daddy out the back with a hose for the first time the other day. No photos. We went out for a family breakfast on Sunday (rare treat to have their dad home from work) and they sat at big chairs (2 stacked on top of each other) for the first time. No photos. Delilah is counting and Sophie says "mango" in the cutest way possible and I am dying to get it on video. I know, I know, I can take others and they'll say those things again. But I can't take these ones again. They only do their first things once. Anyway, the DSLR is being shipped today (I had to follow up with the insurance company - the girl I am dealing with there had authorised the quote they'd received for it about 10 days ago but I'd heard nothing from the supplier - wish I'd followed up sooner!). The iPhone has been ordered but Apple has a 2 week delay in shipping because they are so popular. I'm a week into that wait so hopefully early next week.

Then, of course, I'd love to share some photos with you of the new fabric I received last week and the progress on the PJs I'm making. Also bought some other fabric from Spotlight for the second pair of PJs. This too has owls on it. Really pretty. Different to the other stuff but continues the theme.

And, still stalking my front door for fabric deliveries. Sigh.

So, stay tuned, I guess...

Yipeeeeeee!

My order from Hanc**k's just arrived (insert happy dance). That took 2 weeks. If my FS order only takes 2 weeks then I'll actually get my Christmas TR done on time (gotta be posted 1 Dec). I'd love to take a photo of it for you. But, alas...

Oh, and can I just say, the delivery man really does need to think about investing in some deoderant. Even after he left and I bought the packages upstairs to open them (also recieved a dress I had ordered online yonks ago and a new toll pass for my car as I had to cancel the other one when the car got pinched) the smell was lingering. Ewwwwwwwww! All packaging has been speedily removed and turfed in the rubbish bin (outside - don't want to retain that in the house!).

Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwls!

Mum used to do this thing with us when we were kids that her mum used to do with her when she was little. You sit opposite each other with the very top of your foreheads touching. Then she'd roll her forehead down so the bottom of your faces come together and say, "owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwls" as she was doing it. Because of course your eyes look all big and close together and funny at such close quarters.

Anyway, I wasn't able to continue the dress I started last week at this week's sewing course lesson. I found the pattern a little unclear as to what exactly you need to cut out. The teacher at the course, my mum, and my stepmother (both of whom sew) also found it a little confusing. So, I cut out what I thought was right only to have a later epiphany and realise what it was the pattern was trying to tell us. At this point I also realised that whilst I still had plenty of fabric left, due to the way I'd cut out the other pieces I could not get the remaining peices from my fabric in the dimensions in which it's needed. So, I've ordered another 1/2 yard with my FS order and will put it aside for now.

Means I needed a new project. I purchased this cute owl fabric in my original FQS order. It was end of roll for them so I could ony get 1/2 yard. When I originally ordered they also had a white version but that was all gone by the time my order was cut. I've decided to make some PJs from this and then I'll find some kind of more plain fabric in a coordinating colour (probably just at spotlight) and make the second pair from that. I'll give it a little mix-n-match by doing the pocket on the owl pair from the other fabric and vice versa. The pattern I purchased is long sleeves and pants but I'm doing these for summer so have cut down to short sleeves and shorts. I quite literally had just enough in 1 yard - 1 meter would have been a more comfortable amount. I had to pin and cut one piece, then butt the next piece up exactly to the edge I'd just cut. Not a mm to spare. Will be slightly less finnicky with the second pair as purchasing in Aus, I'll get it in metres. That extra 9cm will make all the difference. Got it all cut out this week. Next week I'll start sewing. This is my chance to learn how to do button holes. In the meantime, need to go buy myself some buttons. Here's a little piccie of the fabric.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Still no third package from the Fat Quarter Shop (henceforth known as FQS because I'm sick of typing it in full). Nor have I seen the stuff from Hanc**k's AND now I have a new fabric order to add to the list of things I am waiting for. I re-ordered the backing fabric for my Christmas Table Runner (TR) swap since it's in the missing package from FQS. I ordered it from the Fabric Shack (FS) as they had a half price delivery deal (cost me all of $2.50) and it was cheaper there. I have heard from a few others on the EB web forums that they've ordered fabric from the US that has taken a month or more to arrive. We are jointly concluding that Aus customs may have had a minor meltdown with everyone taking advantage of the current state of the AUD and doing so much shopping online from the US. It has instilled in me a little hope that maybe, just maybe that third FQS package will arrive and in so doing made me feel impatiently cranky every day that it doesn't. Boo to that!

I'm also still waiting on my new camera and iPhone from my insurance claim along with a new pram (that was in the back of the car). Oh, and some new sandels for the girls. They found our car, by the way. The rotters (for want of a better word) who stole it took it for a joy ride through the bush (it's a 4WD). It was found dumped in the rather up-a-beaten-track carpark of a hardware store that sells to tradies. It was covered in mud and scratched down the entire length of each side from trees they didn't bother steering clear of, has a few dings in it, stinks of cigarette smoke (they kindly ashed all over the drivers door), has been so thoroughly cleaned of all it's contents I am surprised they didn't vacuum it for me, and is devoid of number plates. Currently with the insurance mob getting all fixed up.

Hopefully I will take delivery of the camera and/or iPhone this week (when I spoke to the case manager chick on Friday she'd received quotes for them and was going to authorise them so I can get my stuff) and then I can share some picks of where I am up to with my current creations including what I'm doing at my sewing course, the TR swap, and a few other bits and bobs. Might even have some fabric arrivals to share with you too by then.

But for now, off to internet research/shop for some new car seats for the girls for when we get the car back.

Beginning... well, sort of!

So, sewing class started Monday night. Only it didn't. Rocked up to find everyone standing outside the classroom, which was full of tressle tables, drop sheets, paint tins, rollers, brushes, etc. Seems someone decided to organise to have the room re-painted and didn't stop to think that meant we couldn't use it. So, instead we had a quick chat outside the room. Introduced ourselves, showed each other the patterns we'd chosen, asked the teacher a few questions to make sure we were all ready for next week, and left.

My final cushion cover and tutorial is going to have to wait a bit. Got broken into in the early hours of Sun morning and the lovely people who so nicely welcomed themselves into my home decided to generously help themselves to both my iPhone and my DSLR (among other things - including my car!) so I can't take the accompanying photographs. Sorting the insurance stuff out and will do it when I've got replacements. In the meantime my girls keep doing cute things I'd so LOVE to get on camera but can't. Trying not to get all bitter and twisted about the whole thing.

My third package of fabric never did arrive. The tracking information I have (which is only while the packages were in the US) shows that it was scanned through US customs to leave there a couple of hours after the 2 packages that I already received. Didn't think it would get to me over a week later. Think I'd better email the Fat Quarter Shop and let them know. Maybe they can track it down somehow.

And lastly, I am now waiting on some more packages of fabric. I took advantage of the Hanc**k's free shipping promotion. I could get quite addicted to filling my house with pretty fabric.

Another Day, Another Package

Don't you just hate it when you're stark naked in your bedroom deciding what to wear for the day and a delivery man knocks on your front door? Yikes! Threw the PJs back on (which isn't how I usually like to answer my front door but hey, better than naked) and ran to collect my next bundle of fabrics from him. Seems they've decided to drip feed them to me as only the second package arrived today. Another one tomorrow I guess. Lovely, aren't they?!



Oh, and here's a shot of my new cushions for the lounge. I have just one green one left to make. I have decided I'm gonna do it as a tutorial. Feel like a bit of a fraud given I'm not really a master sempstress or anything and it's probably not done correctly from a technical perspective but I did make the pattern up myself just by looking at some other cushions we had and it is REALLY easy so can't hurt to share. Maybe someone else can make use of it. Anyway, I'll sew the last one when I've time to also sit and photograph and take notes along the way.

And last but not least, Hanc**k's of Paducah are running a free shipping promotion. Just posting that in case anyone does stumble upon my blog and would like to take advantage of it.

Ooh Ooh Ooh - A Delivery

YAAAAAAY! Instalment 1 of my fabrics has just arrived. According to the Fat Quarter Shop's shipping notification there was 3 packages sent and I have just received 1. It contains my fat quarter bundle for the EB Christmas Table Runner Swap, fabric for one of the dresses I plan to make at the sewing course, and 1/2 yard of the other fabric I had wanted to use for the other dress but they only had 1/2 yard left so I picked something else but got that 1/2 yard anyway because it's pretty. You can never have too much 'pretty'.

Loose Ends

I got the sewing machine out last week. It's been a while. I had a few little unfinished projects hanging around that I wanted to get sorted.

Firstly, some Modern Cloth Nappies (MCNs). I sewed these for my girls nearly a year ago when they needed a bigger size (my mum and stepmother sewed the first batch when the girls were tiny) but I'd run out of thread to finish the casings on the elastic for the last 4 of them. I had enough to get by and just never quite got back to it. So, finally I got some new thread (except that when I got home I found out I already had some more and it'd been sitting there the whole time - ooops) and finished those casings. Tada...

(I've fabric for another 4, 2 of which are promised to my lovely, lovely friend, so I'll get moving on those soon too.)

These nappies are pocket nappies (in that they have a outer waterproof layer, an inner water resistant/stay dry layer and and opening between these at the back so you can stuff some absorbant fabric in there). Some of my inserts are a getting a little threadbare so I picked up some cheap offcuts of bamboo fleece from Green Beans Australia (http://www.gbau.com.au/ - if you buy the offcuts by the kg rather than by the metre you save around 70-80%) and have so far sewed about 8 new ones. I've enough fabric for another 4 or 5. They are pretty crude, just 2 rectangles zigzaged together around the edge because I don't have an overlocker. These are then folded in thirds and into the nappies they go. Their role in life is to collect wee and poo-juice so I figure "pretty" is not something that they need to be.

I had reupholstered our dining chairs a few weeks back as the final touch on a project to overhaul our dining setting and sideboard (my brother in law took care of the timber work for me and what a fantastic job he did). The furniture is about 70 years old and belonged to my grandparents who bought it second hand along with their first house (where they then lived for the next 50+ years). We were given it when they relocated to be closer (next door) to my dad as they got older and needed the day to day assistance. It was still in it's original state (although not original condition) and sorely in need of a facelift. I had some of the frabric I used for the chairs left over and my husband asked me to make a throw type thing for the back of the lounge and I wanted to do some more cushion covers. So I made the thing for the back of the lounge + 3 cushion covers. I also went to Spotlight and purchased some other fabric for a few more cushions in different colours to inject a bit of "happy" to the colour scheme. I'm not quite finished those cushions yet so will share a photo of them once done. But for now I will leave you with a pic of the chairs.

Sewing/Dressmaking Course

So, I've enrolled myself in a dressmaking/basic sewing course at the local community college. It starts Monday 18th Oct and runs for 8x Monday nights.

I need to front up with my sewing machine, basic supplies, and a pattern + fabric for what I want to sew. Have decided I'll make some dresses for my girls for Christmas Day. I considered using Christmas fabric but don't want to make something they'll only wear for 1 day, then I thought maybe Christmas "inspired" fabric, but finally just settled on something that I liked the look of. It's currently winging its way from the US so I'll post a sneak peak when it arrives.

The pattern I selected is from The Handmade Dress and is called Miss Lily. Very sweet. Someone told me the pleats on it are a tad tricky so maybe not try it without some practice at pleats but I figured that a sewing course is probably the best time to try to learn something new - I mean, there'll be someone there to help me, right? Hopefully.

I think we've created a monster

I am finding myself constantly thinking about fabrics, thinking about things I can sew with fabrics, surfing the net looking at fabrics, and exploring sewing blogs all over the place. I even dreamt about surfing the net looking at fabrics last night.

Oh dear. (or as my 16 mth olds say, "oh de")

EB Christmas Table Runner Swap

This is the culprit. The culprit for my sewing course and for this blog (well, one of the chicks I encountered there is the culprit for the blog - yep, I'm looking at you LilFrankie). I've never done any quilting before and never really been interested but it caught my eye in the recent posts section and I thought, "why the hell not?". So I started surfing the net for pics of Christmas Table runners, which revived the idea of doing a sewing course. A lovely, lovely friend with whom I used to work and I had looked into it once before. We were hoping to find one close to our work place and do it together. She is fantastic at sewing and incredibly creative. She has encouraged and inspired me to have a go (indeed, I should name her as a co-culprit). She feeds me patterns from Russian pattern mags that she buys and translates the instructions for me. The dress that I have mostly finished is one of those patterns and the maternity outfits I made are from another (same pattern just made one as a top and one as a dress), and I have a number of patterns for kids stuff that she's given me. Oh, and then there is the whole box of fabric that she picked up at the markets when I was pregnant. It's all sitting there waiting for me to morph it into something else.


But I digress, what I wanted to write about was the fabric and the basic pattern I have chosen for my table runner. The fabric I have ordered today from The Fat Quarter Shop

The fabric is going to be Toasty Glitzmas by Robert Kaufman


And the inspiration for the design of my table runner is coming from here: http://www.pleasant-home.com/2010/07/another-table-runner.html

I hope I can do this.

Breaking the seal

I am about to embark on a basic dressmaking course at a local community to college to sharpen up my sewing skills. So far I'm pretty much fully self taught (read - make it up as I go), which kinda limits me to straight or zigzag stitch. I have 2 very beautiful 16 (well, almost 17) mth old twin girls and I have discovered that the world of fabrics availabe online is immense and beautiful. I want to dive in headlong and fill their wardrobes with such delights. But, if I want to be able to produce for them items that I'd be proud for them to actually wear out in public then I need to do some learning.

I have been encouraged to start a blog about my adventures. So, here it is. Let me start by giving you a full list of everything I have sewed in my life to date (which, I might add, I think is non too shabby given I have no freakin' idea what I'm doing with a sewing machine - okay, maybe not quite no idea but definitely very little).

1. a tissue box cover (the obligatory first year high school item)
2. my finger (whilst attempting to produce above obligatory item)
3. a dress (in my final year of high school - nice dress, nice fabric, not so great a job, wrong style for me to wear but I wore it, once)
4. recovered some dining chairs (very easy, cut out squares of fabric, put over the seat, stable underneath)
5. covered a really ugly lounge in a semi-furnished apartment I rented (also really easy, kind just hemed a large piece of fabric and tucked it all around)
6. another dress (well, I've never actually finished it but it's really just a tie on the back that it needs; I'll get there. Really I will)
7. some cushion covers (was quite proud of myself - worked out the pattern on my own and even included a hidden zipper)
8. a bunch of peanut shaped little pillows (this is my grandmother's design. She used to make them for us as kids - great for sticking behind your head when watching tellie or for cuddling in bed at night when you are too old for a teddybear to be socially acceptable. Oh, and they squish down really well into your backpack if you are travelling over seas. Great for sleeping on planes and other forms of public transport - I've made them for me and other people who have seen mine and wanted one/some).
9. a couple of maternity wear items (a dress and a top)
10. some curtains for my babies' room - twice (we moved when they were 5 mths old and I had to sew some more)
11. some more cushion overs (a bunch of them in varying shapes and sizes)
12. some cloth nappies (REALLY proud of this effort and oh the $$$$ savings not buying disposables for twins)

Umm, well, I think that's everything.

Updated to add - no, it's not all. 13. I also sewed my mum, my sister, myself, a friends new born, and my girls a dress each last year from some shirred fabric I bought at spotlight (the newborn got some little bloomers too - damn they were cute and even better, they fit!).