Wordless Weekend

11 weeks 3 days

Oliver + S Sunday Brunch Jacket

I have been looking for a jacket to buy Ellyse for this winter but just could not find the perfect one. I was browsing a sewing forum when I saw this gorgeous Sunday Brunch Jacket. I just knew it was going to be THE jacket for winter.

I tried Spotlight for fabric, that was a joke. I ended up at our local Bargain Box and their range of cord wasn't the best either. I settled on some ghastly pink that really only a little girl could wear.

I am in love with the jacket. The pattern was so easy to follow and the jacket came together in a matter of hours. I am not happy with my button choice at all, I am after something a bit more classy so will go on a search in the coming days. This jacket cost $15 to make including thread and buttons (as bad as they are) so I think I will be making a few more.

Here it is with my reluctant model.

Here she is all dressed for kindy wearing her Flipsy skirt - this is my wrong side and her right side of the skirt. I will have to get another shot of the good side!

Don't you just love the 'ballet tights' under the skirt! It is her favourite look.

Turning 4

..really is very exciting when you are Ellyse. I think she has told everyone we have met since her birthday that she is four now. That fact certainly outweighed any gifts she got, or things we did...the most exciting thing is that she is four!

All of a sudden she feels four to me, she can do all of these amazing tricks on the rings of her swing set that she couldn't do last week, she is working out the difference between the th and f sounds, she has finally mastered the k sound (she was using t) and we had this conversation tonight at bedtime.

E 'Mummy can you put my blanket there just next to me?"

M 'I can put it on you if you like.'

E 'No it's ok, Daddy will put it on me in the middle of the night when he goes to bed. You and Daddy can have a race and if daddy runs and you walk then he will be the first one here and he will beat you.'

M 'That is good thinking Ellyse, he will beat me, he will be moving faster than I am so he will get to you first.'

E 'I am clever Mummy, because I am four!'

So being four is pretty cool, especially when you get to celebrate it at least four times!

Celebration One - Wednesday 1st of April (actual birthday)

Daddy stayed home in the morning to see the present opening. Ellyse recieved a CD player, snakes and ladders game, some socks and glitter pens from us.

Ellyse and Ashton enjoying the sounds of Hi 5 on the new CD player

Ellyse went to Kindy as usual and took cupcakes to share. She was so very excited. I don't have a pic as my scanner isn't working but Miss Deb sen home two adorable pictures of her with her cupcakes.

That evening my mum, dad and sister came over for roast pork. Ellyse recieved a new bike helmet and some great hi 5 Cds that come with activity books from mum and dad. My sister bought her a party dress from Espirit (this has become a tradition, although the dresses are usually sent form London), and will be taking her to Seaworld.

Celebration Two - Friday 3rd April

The plan was to host mothers' group at our house and begin our pink celebrations, but the weather in Brisbane was terrible, we had recieved so much rain the day and night before there is no way I could host. So we all met at a play center and had a cake there.

Celebration Three - Saturday 4th April THE Pink Party

We had planned to have about 35 people here, but again because of the rain it had to be scaled back. I was so disappointed and was cranky all day. It rained all night Friday night, but cleared after early showers and was fine all day. We weren't to know this though and cancelled earlier this morning. We ended up with just K's family which was nice, but not the same as having lots of crazy four year olds playing games, decorating goody bags and runny around high on pink sugar!

Hence the need for at least one more celebration.

We celebrated the pink party with pink meringues, strawberries dipped in pink chocolate, pink rocky road, pink punch, musk sticks, strawberries and cream, pink licorice, pink and white love heart mashmallows, baked ham, and a lovely white chocolate mud cake.

It was good fun. I think my pom poms looked fantastic! I wish I had made more!

Well that is one enormous post and I can't believe I have the energy to write it after our day. Enjoy the pics and I will be back at the machine tomorrow to finish a birthday gift for a friend.

Three girls and now.....a baby boy!

A good friend of mine has three delightful daughters and about 3 weeks ago they all welcomed little Will into their family. Actually he wasn't so little weighing in at over 10 pound.

I put together this little gift pack for them, I know Mel will love it all. They live on a farm south west of Mackay so the cowboy applique is perfect.

The fabric from the hat comes from a great pile of fabrics my sister sent over from Japan. I haven't really had the chance to use them until now and I think the frogs make a perfect hat.

More swap photos

I thought I would post some pics of Ashton wearing the lovelies made by Lisa. I also forgot to mention in my previous post that they were all wrapped in a lovely, colourful piecce of fabric perfect for something for Ashton.

I apologise for the terrible photos, I had mini mum telling Ashton "Come on darl smile for your sister (I am the sister and she is the mum apparentely!)

EB Kid's Clothing Swap

I can't believe the time has come to open these parcels. It seems like yesterday that I was thinking that I had all the time in the world to complete them. Well the time has come, that 2 months certainly did fly! I opened my ...well Ashton's parcel from Lisa this morning in a mad rush to get ready and out the door. All I can say is WOW and thankyou to Lisa. I just love handmade items and we were lucky enough to recieve 4 pieces! Thanks so much to Ingrid for organising the swap, it was great fun and a great way to get some sewjo back!

You will have to check out Xena's blog to see full pics of what I sent her, I completely forgot to take full pics, I just took the sneak peeks.

Sneak Peak

Just a little sneak peak of my clothing swap items. My items are packaged up and ready to be sent tomorrow. Here is a sneak peak until Friday when all will be revealed.

Blogger has made my robot go sideways - this is not an artistic expression (I suck at those!)

I've been a bad blogger...

....so I thought I had better do a post of some kind.





It is Ellyse's 4th birthday in a few weeks and preparations are underway. Ellyse has three great loves (apart fomr K, Ash and I ), they are babies, Hi 5 and pink. I wasn't going to do a baby themed party, and Hi 5 party is just not my style, so it was left to be a pink party. She loved the idea and we have had many gorgeous discussions since. I remembered that Ingrid had done a pink party for Lottie and I had thought what a great idea it was at the time.




We have a list of pink foods and pink things to do, and last night I designed the invitations. I am no designer and probably have things very wrong in the design world, but I think it looks pretty. Ellyse had a good giggle at the goggle photo.

If anyone is still reading I promise there will be some sewing news soon!

EB Haby Swap

A huge thank you to Cecily for the lovely package I recieved.

I am looking forward to sewing something for Ashton with that fabric, it looks lovely.

Thanks for choosing such lovely things for me Cecily, I appreciate it.

Sew generous (I know so corney, I just had to do it once!)

What I love about the blogging/crafting world is the pure generousity that comes from so many people.

I reacently signed up for a swap with Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey and whilst giving her some information I mentioned that I would like to use some rocket fabric from Prints Charming's Two Young Street. Katy told me she had just bought 6 yards of the rocket fabric and that it was really hard to find. She so kindly offered to send me a snippet of fabric to get me on my way!

So two days ago (just when I was needing a lift), this beautiful fabric arrived in the letterbox.

The craft blogging community is full of generous people who give, I was so glad to read that about a week ago Katy had also mentioned to another blogger her plans for a quilt and they sent her their leftovers.

It warms my heart to help others also with a recent give away, some pattern trcing for a sewing friend and sending a pattern to another on line friend I know I am sharing the love in the crafting world.

Thanks so much Katy, I really appreciate the fabric.

Thelma Clarice Ross

To my darling Grandma,

May you fly free now from all of the pain and suffering you have endured throughout your life. You are special in so many ways and I am so thankful that my children got to know you and make you so happy.

You and Grandad both form so many memories of my childhood, the incinerator in the backyard, the go cart down the hill, the trips to McDonalds, the bingo days, the endless sleepovers that involved playing hairdressers, playing cards, watching the Wheel of Fortune, summer Cricket and listening to the wireless. I think the thing that will remain the strongest is the smell of Oil of Olay(I think it was called something else back then though).

Grandma you have been the strongest woman I have known. Your strength and bravery are just amazing. You showed us this in life and in death.

I am so pleased that after 23 years you and Grandad can be together again. Rest in peace Granny, you will be missed.

Love Andrea

First day of Kindy/Pre prep what ever you call it

Ellyse had her first morning at Kindy (in Queensland this used to be called Kindergarter, but since the introduction of a full time Prep program they are now calling it pre prep, I can't quite get my head around it so I will probably change between the two terms which mean the same thing....to me anyway!), she had a fantastic time and has been looking forward to going back.

Tomorrow and Wednesday she will attend from 9-1:30 and then from next Monday it is Monday-Wednesday 9-2:30. I am as excited as I am saddened that my baby, my little girl, my very first born will be heading off to begin her formal learning. I am excited that she will be challenged, that she will make new friends, that she will thrive in a formal learning environment, but I am sad that we will miss out on doing so many things together, it really is the end of an era. )oh dear I am getting teary). I worry if I have done enough to prepare her, if she will be ok without me all day (am I crazy, of course she will!)... guess I am more worried for me and my feelings as I know how excited she is.

Then there is Ashton to think about. How lovely for us to finally share some one on one time together, to get to play together, learn together and know eachother. Oh how he will miss his little mate though, I have a feeling he will want my undivided attention for a while.

Anyway enough of that emotional stuff. I know she is ready to boss those teachers around, and that she is so looking forward to making some new friends. Here she is on our front stairs on her first day.

And the sheet bag I made for her tonight. I wanted to applique her name on it but ran out of time, will have to add it later on.

Here is some fabric I picked up at Spotlight today. I just love the camo one, if you can't tell it has frogs in various shapes and sizes on it and little orange fish. This will become some shorts for Ashton and for a friend's little boy who turns one in 2 weeks.

This other fabric is called boardshort fabric, I hadn't ever noticed it before but it is lovel and soft and will make some great shorts for Ellyse for next summer.

Oh and I almost forgot these three beauties. I was at a gorgeous quilting shop last week and pickup these three fat quarters for $9. Not sure what I am going to do with them but I think they are lovely.

Pre prep clothes for my big girl!

I thought I would make Ellyse some clothes for the start of the pre prep year. I didn't want shorts, and I didn't want a tappered kind of knicker bocker so I added four inches to the shorts in this pattern and have ended up with this. I absolutely love them I think they look great, I am just a bit worried they are a bit pjish, what do you think?

I actually did a practice pair with the fabric from my previous post, they were a little shorter than what I was after but Ellyse assures me she loves those too.

Ellyse was so excited to choose some fabric, the next pair are made of purple cupcake fabric with glitter. When I put her to bed today she asked if I was going to make her other shorts, how can I refuse? So eventhough the heat is stiffling I must fulfill her wishes and sew.

And just for a laugh, I thought Ash was a bit quiet out in the yard yesterday afternoon, after investigating this is what I found. A little boy being so helpful picking up our doggy do do. Oh I had to laugh, there is no way Ellyse would ever go near that and if I asked her where the shovel was that we used to pick up the poo I doubt she could tell me. Funny thing about the second born child.....or is it just a boy thing?

A Miss Madeline for Miss Mardi

A friend's daughter turns 2 in a few weeks, I am feeling quite organised having made her present already. Her mum is not really into pink so I chose this cotton from Spotlight, I think it works well with the spots.

I had a play around with my blog last week, but I am thinking that it might be a bit too pink. Might have to fix that.

Ok now I really need the motivation to go and cut out a Margaret bag for my sister, not so organised with that gift, it is her birthday next Sunday and the bag needs to get to Japan!

And the winner is....

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:6
Timestamp: 2009-01-04 03:37:49 UTC

Congrats to Car and her little girl. Can you send me an email with your name and address and I will get the dress sent to you the next time I am at the post office.

Thanks to everyone that entered, it was great to see some new faces and please if you regularly check my blog I would love to get comments from you.

Andrea

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are hoping for a wonderful year this year with many things happening in our family.

* we are hoping to begin and finish an extension of our home and renovation of the bathrooms and kitchen areas. We have been talking about this for at least two years now and it is both exciting and scary at the same time.

* Ellyse begins her formal education this year. She will be attending a C and K center , I am so excited for her and am so looking forward to watching her grow and thrive in a learning environment. Having studied for a Bachelor of Education majoring in Early Childhood I just love the philosophy of C and K and I know how much they will love and burture my gorgeous girl.

* Keiran will continue to work hard in his job - I was going to say new job but he has been there 18 months now. Although it is long hours he loves it a lot and gets so much job satisfaction it truely is worth it.

* I will not return to work this year, for the first time without having a newborn in my arms I will not be teaching in some capacity. It does feel strange but with Ellyse being at pre prep for 3 days from 9-2:30 it really makes it impossible to work - such a shame! I am really looking forwrad to some one on one time with Ashton.

* I hope to challenge myself in new things. Read more, learn more, sew more, maybe quilt more, spend less, think more before buying, use my fabric stash! Give more of myself to my family and friends and those in need.

Keiran has started the year with extreme motivation in his garden. It is at this time of the year that he is the most motivated (despite the heat). His plants are flowering and the garden is full of beautiful colour. Our friends love it when we visit as they know we will come with a gorgeous array of flowers and colourful leaves that make a great centerpiece and last for weeks.

We are so lucky that we have good soil here and that K spent the money preparing our soil well when we first started the garden, since the drought and the introduction on water restrictions we have not watered our garden at all and yet it continues to thrive. K asked me to take some photos of the garden earlier, I thought I would share some with you.

Giveaway

Ok, I am really nervous about doing this as I am not sure that there are too many readers of my blog, and also because I am not sure that my sewing is good enough to give away....anyway those fears aside I am going to give it a go.

Blogger won't let me post photos so do you remember this dress? Ever since I made it getting Ellyse to wear it has been a struggle. At first it was not pink enough, but now she complains of the shirring being too tight on her chest.

I can't possibly keep making her wear a dress that is uncomfortable so I thought I would offer it as a giveaway as I just hate seeing it hang in the cupboard unloved.

So if you have a darling little girl in your life that you think would fit this dress (I would guess the shirring would be about a size 2 if Ellyse is finding it uncomfortable) then please leave a comment by Friday and I will do the random number thing to pick a winner.

Come on lurkers out you come (I hope there are some!).

Good luck to everyone.

What a wonderful, wonderful Christmas

What a joy it is to feel and see te joy of Christmas through our children's eyes. This is the first year that Ellyse has had a little understanding of Christmas, but I still don't think she entirely 'got it'. But she definitely got it enough to be excited and overjoyed with her gifts.

She did totally forget it was Christmas though, she walked staright past her presents under the tree into our room, after about 25 minutes the following conversation occurred -

E - "Mummy is it Christmas today?"

A - "Yes darling it is."

E - "Oh ok then."

A - relieved to get anouther 5 minutes lay in bed until Ash woke and we decided we should get up. Even when we got up she was more interested in having breakfast thanseeing the presents, and that Santa had eaten the biscuits. So innocent and so cute.

Santa bought Ellyse a new (big girl) bike, we cannot believe how good she is on it. She also got a scooter from mum, I am sure Ashton thinks they are for him too. It is too cute watching him trying to climb up onto the bike. An accident waiting to happen for sure.

Here she is riding her bike -

My darling husband surprised me with a new sewing machine. I was complaining about my walking foot last week and told him taht would be a great gift - turns out the machine he bought me came with a free walking foot, he told me he bought me a walking foot that came with a free machine!

It is a Janome Quilters Companion and I am not really sure what it can do yet. I know it has 60 stitches (including a blanket stitch hich will save me so much time!) and that it has electronic functions.

I have started sewing on my new machine, I have made two little skirts for some gorgeous twin girls who we will visit tonight. They are friends of friends and when our friends are in town we often meet up at their house. Megan has commented on sewing I have done for my friend's little girl so I thought it was a good excuse to use my new machine.

I saw this tutorial last week and liked the little ruffle so I used that idea with a normal elastic casing waist - nothing fancy but I think they look quite sweet. I know Megan will love them. Ashton is the same age as the twins so I used him as a model and for sizing - he is loving Ellyse's sunnies at the moment which also adds to the look.

I am looking forward to quilting the little dolls quilt I made earlier in the week on my new machine.

I just had to add pics of these gorgeous handmade gifts my friend sent for Ellyse and Ash, they are just adorable and I can't wait to take them off the tree and hang them in their rooms.

Merry Christmas

Wishing your family a wonderful Christmas.

Thank yo uso much for taking the time to read my blog and make comments to keep me motivated this year. I just looked through each month and I definitely had a slow start to the year in terms of sewing, but the sewjo came back at the end of the year. I hope to try many new things next year with Ellyse going off to pre prep 3 days a week, so just Ash and I at home.

Enjoy your time with your families tomorrow and see you soon.

Andrea

Nothing like sewing at the last minute....

Well last night I got a bad case of the guilts. Why you ask? I have done a lot of hand made items as Christmas gifts this year and I am extremely proud of that, but none for either of my kids. So today with left over fabric from this project I got set to work.

Ellyse recieved a Little Mermaid Doll for Christmas from her Aunty and Uncle so I thought a doll's quilt for her would be perfect given the fabric. I quickly drew up a design and changed it about 3 times, then I started cutting, changed my mind again, then started sewing. It took me just over 2 hours from start to finish (just the top, not wading, quilting, binding), and I am excited. I think it looks just wonderful. The design is by no means original I am sure but it is a first for me. I don't think I can see it being wrapped around dolls and dragged around by Ashton so I think I might hang it in either the play area or Ellyse's room.

I am not sure how I am going to quilt it yet, not sure if I will get to do it before Christmas or not, I am hoping to.

I have also made a Margaret Bag for my closest friend for Christmas, I am giving it to her tongiht, I am really excited as I know she will just love it. I am looking forward to making some more of these. The pattern was fantastic, so easy to follow and the bag is a great size.

The sewing girls over at Essential Baby participated in a Secret Santa recently. I was sewing for Susan. After cheekily finding out her favourite colour and what she would like I made her an apron, a Tin Whistle bag and some coasters. I also made her son a drawing case. I didn't take the best pictures of what I made, but here they are anyway.

I would like to say that is all of my sewing finished, but I still have a drawing case to make and some beach balls. Best get to it.