Going dotty

OK - I promise that I won't blog any more of these swing tops, for a while at least!






This is Miss L's top all ready to go.

Unfortunately I didn't get it done in time for the zoo yesterday as the foot pedal on my machine stopped working again , so it's off to the shop again tomorrow. Thankfully I haven't yet sold my old machine so we got it out and fired it up again so I could get this done.

I have to say the zoo wasn't a huge success yesterday, many things are hard to see from a pram and the girls are not yet big enough to walk the whole way around. Also, while it's wonderful the animals are in their natural habitat, it does make it hard sometimes to point out a large black gorilla lounging almost motionless in a big dark cave.

When all else fails though, little girls quite like to pat a wooden carved Orang-utan...

We're off to the miniature trains today. It's been a lovely weekend of sunshine and family outings, and even some time for sewing. My very favourite sort of weekend.
Hope yours has been fun.

An apple a day...

One down, one to go...




I've decided I want the girls to wear these tops to the zoo tomorrow, so I'm going to hold off on the second lot of apple fabric and make another using some lovely bright spots from my stash, the same colour I am using to make some pants for Miss A.

Lolly legs

I'm making inroads (slowly) into the girls' summer/spring clothing and while these pants were cut out a few weeks back I only finished them today.

Dave has christened them the 'musk stick' pants, though he assures me he likes the colour! I might make an appliqued shirt to go with them and of course, every girl's favourite accessory, a yo-yo hairclip.

Despite being a size 2 I think I might make Miss A's pair a little bigger as I'd like them to last for a while, at least until Christmas, so a little more room would be good.

This is something I do to all the pants I make for the girls now, I like to call it 'Daddy proofing'!

With this little snippet of ribbon in the back it's guaranteed that no little girl will walk around with her pants on back-to-front.

And believe me, when you are dressing a squirming 17 month-old it can happen!

Inspiration...

I need some inspiration to get me back on track with the many sewing projects I want to complete for summer. I cleaned up some of my fabric stash last week and made a few finds which will help, but so will blogging what I intend to do, it will keep me honest!

These are two of the fabrics I got from the lovely Corrie at her Retro Mummy shop, check it out for fabulous Japanese fabrics and ribbons as well as vintage patterns.

The gorgeous bright apples are from Corrie - the spots just good old Spotlight. I plan to make two more of those little smock/swing tops for the girls from these, and the wonderful sunshine we are having today makes me think they need to happen sooner rather than later.

So if I don't post the finished projects within two weeks, feel free to badger me about them...

I'm off to finish my chores then hopefully get some cutting done today, or tonight at some stage.

A few of my favourite things...

OK so it's another Sound of Music reference, I can't help it... it's a type of sickness - just ask my husband, he's lived with it for years.

Today I went shopping for my two nephews, both of whom have a birthday tomorrow (happy birthday Oliver, happy birthday Alexander!), and while shopping I found this...

It is of course The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, and is one of my all time favourite kids books. I remember reading it with my eldest niece, Teniah and she used to have this cute toddler way of saying sausage (shaushage) and cherry pie (chey pie) when we got to those items in the story.

We introduced the girls to this story a long time ago and it is fast becoming a favourite for them too, but they are not yet great with paper pages, particularly when wrestling each other for the book, so this was a real find.

It's a gigantic board book - with a soft toy caterpillar that fits through the holes in the pages of the book. To give you perspective on the size, here's a shot with little hands in it...

And another great thing is it was a super special - reduced from $34.95 to $8.75, so really, how could I say no.

Apart from that I finished another of the little Ottobre tops last night - one for Miss L. I'm really happy with this one as I worked out the whole neck band with zipper thing - and it's much neater. Also made it a little longer as I have worked out our girls are quite long in the body so I need to lengthen things to fit them.

Now the sad news - the foot pedal for my sewing machine has had to go in for repair, I will be without it for at least a week. So no sewing for me for a little while, but least it will force me to trace and cut out some more things, two tasks I do only when I have nothing left to sew.

All zipped up

Well after much procrastinating I finally worked up the courage to have a go at a zip - and lo and behold - it worked!!

This little top is from one of my wonderful Ottobre magazines - which til now I have just admired but not actually tried to sew anything from. A lack of clothing that fit comfortably for Miss A, led me to try my hand at this little pink number.


The fabric is probably a little stretchier than this pattern was designed for - but it seemed to work fine anyway. I got it on the bargain table at Spotlight - buy one metre get one free - so the fabric in the top probably cost me all of 50 cents.


It's always worth a look through the bargain table, you never know what you might find - my mum is very jealous that her local Spotlight don't have one.


The actual zip, of which I was so fearful, went in fine but the neck trim near the zip at the back is a little rough and will require some fine tuning for my next attempt at this pattern. Also I should remember to iron the top before she wears it, but generally I'm pretty happy with the result, and Miss A seems to be too.

This pic is not related to anything in particular - just one that I love. It was taken last week on the way to the park.

I like to think of it as "the long and the short of it!!"

Seasonal fruit

I've been wanting for ages to make these little cross-backed tops for the girls for summer and after giving it a go am really happy with how easy they are to do, and plan to make them a staple item for this summer.

This one is too small for my two chicks but I'm going to give it to a friend with a little one a few months younger, and make a couple of adjustments for the next ones. Like move the buttons a little so the ends of the straps don't stick up quite so much, and of course make them a little bigger.

I love this fabric, it's very fresh and summery and I teamed it with spots, which always take my fancy.

I'm planning to make a few more with some of the gorgeous fabric I got from here a while ago.

The orange birds will be the outer for Miss A with the orange dots on the inside, teamed with pants in the blue.

While the girls in the city fabric will be the outer for Miss L, with the pink/red pattern inside and the red dots for pants.

Can't wait to get started....

Going yo-yo

Finally, a sewing post!!

As the girls' hair is getting longer, we're getting into clips but I can never seem to find one that matches what they are wearing, just when I want it. So the solution has been to make a few of these little yo-yo clips.


They literally take 10 minutes from start to finish and can be whipped up from scraps.

I'm planning to make lots for Christmas this year, and they might be nice for in party bags next year when the girls turn two.

Something I made a little while back was some winter pj's. I have been a little disappointed with how the flanelette pants pilled after washing, but as it was thrifted fabric and they cost me less than 50 cents a pair, I guess they're still good value.

The tops are from my husband's work and I just appliqued a teddy onto each tummy, which is an endless source of entertainment for the girls.

I love digging...

Digging to America that is, the latest Anne Tyler novel.

My Anne Tyler addiction began in high school, where for year 12 English we studied Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

This latest book has been an "I think I can squeeze in a few pages as I stir the custard at the stove" or "the girls won't mind if I read a couple of pages while they eat their toast" kind of book. In other words, hard to put down.

She has a way of describing people and their feelings so you feel you know them, and have for a long time. If you live in Baltimore, Maryland in the US and haven't discovered her books it's a tragedy, as this is where they are all set, and so would be even more familiar.

She writes a bit like another of my favourite authors, Tim Winton; who can describe the smells and sounds of an Aussie beach in way that makes you feel like you are there.

Do yourself a favour and check them out.

The sweet smell of success...

It's not my success, no, not at all. There was no help from me at all in fact.

It's the success of my lovely husband, who despite the odds, has moved our huge daphne bush from the backyard to the front garden, without it dying!!

Everyone said it wouldn't work as the bush was about to burst into bloom, and so was the wrong time to move it. He did regardless, and the leaves got yellower and yellower and we all feared the worst. But with some advice and plant food from the lovely folk here it survived.

The flowers are starting to come out, the yellow leaves have gone, and boy does it smell sweet.