My Creative Space

Lots of sewing happening in my creative space today.

A top for a five-year-old's birthday party on the weekend.

A hat for her brother for Christmas, cut but unlikely to be sewed for at least a few weeks.

Another hat, for the above mentioned birthday girl, almost complete.

The days and weeks are creeping by but 'The List' seems to be growing rather than shrinking...

See who else is getting creative over at Kirsty's.

Roses for Violet

We've got a few parties coming up, one of them for little Violet who is turning one.

Her mum (who is a florist) loves all things girly and pink and also loves flowers (well obviously!), so I thought there was nothing better in the stash than this cream and pink rose print for her present.

The top was super-easy - Ottobre 1/2008 - design 1, the Nirunaru top.
I did an 86cm one so it will be like a tunic in summer and can then be worn with a T-shirt as the weather cools.

The hat is another Make It Perfect Lazy Day reversible which I think will get lots of wear in this early summery blast of weather we have been having.

The flower is not actually attached to the shirt -it has both a hair clip and a brooch fastening on the back so it can be worn in her hair, on her hat or on the shirt, with her mum just removing the fastening that is not being used.

Another hat is cut and ready to go and I feel a retro dress/top coming on for the next birthday girl.
Off to trawl the fabric stash again...

Cool customer

How to get the most out of homemade ice creams.
(A tutorial brought to you by the smallest member of the household.)

Take the bowl in which the mango-passionfruit icy-poles were mixed and discard the provided spoon immediately.
Use your hands instead, you will find them much more effective.

When you can't get enough of the remaining contents out using your hands, lift the bowl to your face.

Twist yourself slightly so you can get more of your head inside the bowl to best lick out the contents.

Oops - try to do it without your mum catching you!

If she does, assume a stunned-mullet look and try to ignore the mixture that is in your hair and around your mouth.

Hope you are enjoying some summer fun at your place too.

Thanks to Buttons by Lou Lou for the homemade ice-cream inspiration.

My Creative Space...

Is lying idle today.

Instead I'm taking some time for a trip down memory lane as we celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

Excuse the dodgy scanned pics - yep I was married in the pre-digital era, that ages me doesn't it!

Looking back at the photos I remember how happy and calm we both were that day.
How it really was a fun celebration and we had a great time.

I remember how cold all the girls were getting the photos done.

How tall you looked next to both our little old grandmothers!

I remember the out of tune trumpet player and the squeaky note he hit as we walked out of the church.

How you kept standing on my dress, and apologising.

I remember how happy my Grandmother looked when she saw the lace from my mum's dress had been used on mine.

And I will never forget how very happy I was to be marrying my best friend and the absolute love of my life.

And that's still how I feel today.
Happy anniversary honey, you are a fabulous, husband, friend and also father and my life is so much better because you are in it.

Check out Kirsty's space for people who are actually making stuff!

Adventuring in the city.

Sometimes, it's easy to forget that for small children, even the 'everyday' is exciting.

Ever since we saw The Wind in the Willows last year, the girls like to say whe are going on an adventure, like Mr Toad, when we go out for the day.

For our adventure yesterday we drove to East Melbourne and caught a tram into the city (the trip would probably take about an hour from home, which is a little too long for the very busy smallest person to sit still).

We visited the Myer windows which this year feature the very non-traditional Christmas story 'Olivia Helps with Christmas'.

It's been noted before that we are Olivia fans in this house so we knew the small folk would delight in this.


and they did...

At the end of the windows it was asked where the next story was...

From there we went to visit the man in the red suit.

One of the girls asked him for a fluffy toy for our cat Molly.

It seems not to matter to her that Molly died in March, apparently we can send her the toy.

She also asked for a scooter for her little sister because she doesn't have one.

Nothing for herself.

The other wants a big basketball "like mummy's".

It seems she's ready to move on from the small one we bought her.

We then each chose one special decoration to put on the tree when we set it up next month.

A small child confronted with choice can take a while to make a decision...

To finish the morning off we shared a couple of milkshakes, had a walk through the gardens, then caught the tram again.

Cheap and easy entertainment.

They couldn't decide what they enjoyed the most.

PS - oh yeah - and the hats were as easy as everyone said - great pattern Toni!

The drawing board

Next on the drawing board for Christmas are the roll-up chalkboards I've been wating to do for some time.

I got the chalk cloth from here the other day when I was picking up a few other bits and pieces.

This is a 50 cm x 60 cm piece and I think with pockets for chalk and a cloth and also binding that this piece should be about right for making four roll-ups.

In the information about the cloth it states that it should be sewn with monofilament thread so I grabbed some of that too.

I also read here about the difference between nylon and polyester monofilament thread and as I want these to last a decent amount of time I thought it was worth getting the new thread so it wouldn't go brittle or discolour.

You can see the plans for these are super-high-tech!

My creative space

Hats!!

The sun is out and with predictions for 30+ for the weekend and early next week it's time I got to making hats for the small folk of the house.

This one is for the oldest apple loving girl.

Some of my favourite fabric and a hat pattern that everyone says is quick and easy.

We'll see about that...

Head on over to Kirsty's place to see who else is feeling creative this week.