LOVE this dress!

Ok, so the colour is not emelia. but i love the style and even though it was fiddlier than i'm used to i enjoyed making it. i had great fun doing the decorative stitching and think it looks fabulous! i'm just really pleased with it :o)

oh i meant to say!

(apart from the fact that dh hasn't said a word about the stash in the WIR...)

when i was tidyign my stash i found the missing pants pattern!!! it was pinned to a piece of fabric and partly cut out *insert rolling eye smiley*

thank goodness!

latest project

I'm hoping to swap this one as it just doesn't suit emelia colour-wise. i have to finish it yet though! (could be another week, it's taken me forever to get this far LOL)

Am I crazy???

i got sick of having fabric everywhere so in an attempt to clean up i cleared space in our walk in robe and put my fabric in there (somewhat in order). now i'm terrified about what dh is going to say when he sees it all! lol

i think perhaps my fabric buying ban should continue til after christmas? (i have only been buying fabric for about 10 months *blush*)

missing links & crochet flowers

i've just noticed that i am missing a whole heap of links off my blog, very weird. i need to add back in - rebecca, alice, and all the new eb sewing girls. not sure if i've lost anyone else

and just to save some links for making little crochet flowers to go on the girls' clothes
http://sammimagfiberstar.blogspot.com/2006/03/basic-star-flower.html
http://myoriginalpatterns.blogspot.com/2005/12/appliques-for-baby-items.html

nearly september measurements

geoff
waist - 98cm
length of pants - 101 cm

emelia
waist - 49cm
height - 91cm

ryan
waist - 51cm
height - 99cm

rory
waist - 47cm
length - 65cm

cord skirt for emelia

i had bought al ittle second hand summer skirt which looked really simple so decided to make it for emelia in a winter fabric. i drafted my own pattern and went to it with a piece of op shop cord (1m for $2!). overall i'm happy with it but i'm useless at using the right amount of elastic so i took the skirt in down the sides and now it looks a bit tight and grown up. emelia loves it anyway! it's also a bit longer than it was supposed to be as i did the waist a bit narrower than the original.

rest of the pics

blogger is just being a pain with the pics so you can see them in my flickr album

op shop finds

i've just returned from 5 days in QEII (for rory's sleep and my PND). while i was there i had the chance to pop into the local vinnies. some stuff was mega cheap (the top kids were 50c each) and other stuff wasn't (the doona cover was $13) but i was happy with my haul (my first since starting the challenge so challenge not broken ;oD)

the scarf is a deeper red than it appears and i'll try making emelia a shirred top out of it. i adore the colours and pattern on the doona and i think i'll make a dress for each of the girls out of it and probably some pants. i think there'll be enough to make myself a shirt too :) i'll probably use the dress pattern i bought to make emelia's dress. it's very sweet.

the knitting books are because dad's cousin peggy has offered to knit for the kids - her own kids don't like handknits! the closerup pics are of a groovy pants suit that has to be seen to be believed (!!) and my faves from my fave book - the mon tricot one. i LOVE most of those designs! oh and check out the text on the top of the pink page heheh

EB sewing swap

the lovely Brenda made two gorgeous dresses, one for each of my girls. she sent a letter of apology for which i saw absolutely no need as i'm totally in love with both dress! (as is emelia judging by the fact she wore it all day after we first put it on her LOL)
rory's won't fit til next year and i can't wait til she can wear it, i think it's goin to suit her so nicely.

thanks again brenda!!!!

Craft Favourites

just posting this link again as i have just (crazily i know LOL) become the moderator of their knitting, crochet and kitchen forums !

Craft Favourites Forum

Pants - nearly done but had to show off LOL

whipped up a couple of pairs for ingrid's easy pants today.

had to downsize for rory and while i thought i'd got the size wrong they are just about perfect :)

with emelia i thought they'd be too big and they're just about perfect which is not good as i want them to fit next year too LOL they're not long enough in the waist for her though, so i will have to add an inch or so on the top.

aren't they just gorgeous though???!

i still have to finish the waistbands and hems but i'm not sure if i'll get time tonight.

my swap items

candi has received them so now i can post pics!

I was disappointed in what i got to make - i had grand plans of making more and more complicated things (not that the romper was simple as such) but i just didn't get time :o(

anyway, here is what i made, plus a pic of rory in the test item i made first.

yet again

i didn't get to do a damn thing :(

aaaghh i hate being messy!

i had arranged to go over to mum's today to cut out a heap of pants for the kids so all i had to do was sew them up at night. i was going to make ryan another 4 or so pairs of pants in the same style as the brown trackpants but i can't find the pattern ANYWHERE! aagh. why oh why can't i tidy things up?

sewing mail - yay

i had a very exciting mail day yesterday with my co-opped robert kaufman fabrics arriving from the US (ala these pics), my bamboo arriving (all paid for about 3-4 months ago so not breaking my challenge!) and the stripes flannelette from belinda on eb to make geoff's pj pants! (i also had about another 5 parcels that weren't sewing related, i love mail!)
what i'm planning to make with rk fabrics

my helper

he was a great deal of help last night when i was cutting my final swap item out (sat on the fabric), and a great deal of help today when i was sewing (sat on the instructions - fortunately i didn't need any to make this one). you can also see my sewing mess *sigh*

today i had an hour child free as rory fell asleep at M&D's! so i raced home and straight to my sewing machine - woohoo!

a bit of action today

did some more work on my swap item, it's not quite finished yet but not much work left on it (side seams and hems i think). i was really happy with the way the zip turned out though i had to shorten it and reinforced the bottom and forgot you'd be able to see all my stitching on teh outside. i had problems with the neck yet again and am not happy with it but am not changing it as i don't know how and am already overdue with it :(

mum came over today and had a look at the jacquard fabric and it's just so crookedly cut (about 12cm difference between left and right sides) that i can't get my jacket out of it :( :( so i'm going to use it to make this skirt which should be easy to take in as i lose weight.



and she helped me cut my fabric to sell on. i'm so happy with the quality of these fabrics, as well as the price, just such good value :)

more sewing tonight maybe (G's aunt and cousin are here) or definitely tomorrow...

my challenge!

i've set myself a challenge ! I've banned myself from buying fabrics and patterns for the months of august and september.
my exceptions to this rule will be:
notions are ok to buy
op shop cheapies are ok occasionally
if needed for gifts ok

*fingers crossed*! i was just buying wayyyy more stuff than i will have timeto sew for the next few years *rolls eyes*

anyway, luckily i'd already been shopping *snigger* bought some stuff in the lincraft sale, including a gorgeous jacquard i've been eyeing off for months, and not only did i get it 30% off but as it was the last piece i got half of it at half the discounted price :D. unforunatley the piece was cut crookedly and as it was already 30cm shorter than i was supposed to buy according to the pattern i'm about TWO CM short of being abel to cut it out (AAAAGH!) anyway mum is going to come over and have a look and see if she can rearrange it to work.

these are the patterns i got:

latest purchases!

some patterns i won off ebay (LOVE the crossover top, cant' wait to make it!), some vintage fabric i bought from the op shop, and the stuffed animal patterns i bought (hands up if you'd like one! i don't think i'll keep them and i'll ebay them if no one here wants them...)








blogger wasn't working last night so just testing for now