Happy Holidays

I always love it when the school holidays come around. So many of my dear friends are teachers and have happened to settle into their married lives all up the east coast of Queensland. I miss them all so much! Many of them make the trip to Brisbane for some part of the holidays and I love being able to catch up with them and their little ones.

This morning my friend S and her daughter C came over for a play. C is about 3 months younger than Ellyse and it is so lovely to see them play together. S has had a rough time over the last 3 months, she had an ectopic pregnancy and lost an ovary. She amazed me with her optimism and contentment with C.

When they left I got into my sewing, it had been a week and I was ready to get back into it. By nature I am a generous person and love to spoil people with gifts of love. I just adore the moment when the gift changes hands. The look on the face of the person and their joy at being made feel so special. Today I made a skirt for my absolutley adorable neice M. We have always had a special bond and I love doing special things for and with her. Sewing for someone else is an amazing feeling. I kept thinking of M the entire time I was sewing, thinking of how she would like the skirt, what she would wear with it and the joy of her telling her friends that her Aunty Andie made her that skirt! This is another reason I love school holidays. My neice M and her brother C come to stay every school holiday, they always have. Now that Ellyse is growing up it is even more special. We have a little tradition of making pizzas and going on a special outing. They are such amazing kids that they are just so appreciative of whatever it is I have planned, even if it is just a trip to the park!

When Ellyse woke from her sleep I visited another friend who was here from Mackay. We worked together at a little country school up there. She had her third daughter 3 months ago. She was such an important part of my life when I was posted to Mackay. I didn't know anyone and she was one of my rocks while I was there. I treasure her friendship and love catching up with her when I am in Mackay, or when she is here. Her newest addition A is just gorgeous.

Next week I am seeing another friend who will be in town. We are meeting at a park. She has a little boy who is so different to Ellyse. I just can't wait to see them play together again! She is another dear friend who I am so pleased I take the time to stay in touch with.

Sometimes it can be hard work to maintain these relationships, especially as we are all mums. I value all of my friendships as they all offer me something different. I love knowing I have a place in these people's lives and that they love to catch up with me too.

It is very unlike me to pour my heart out like that, I am not sure why I felt the need to do that. It feels good though and has made me think that I need to let these people know that I appreciate them and the time they give to me. Anyway this is meant to be a sewing blog......

A skirt for my neice

I used to sew for my beautiful necie all the time when she was a lot younger. Now she is 9 I thought she would love a teired skirt. I got this fabric at Spotlight and it is exactly the same as a skirt I bought Ellyse from Big W.

I spent a lot of time working out the measurements, all in proportion to Ellyse's skirt, I wanted to get it just right. I am so very happy with it. It is the most professional job I have done so far. I really took the time to sit and think about the order I wanted to do it in and it worked out perfectly.

Eventhough I wasn't going for the twirly skirt look, I would still would have liked there to be a little more flare to the skirt. I am thinking that instead of cutting rectangles I should make the top part a little narrower. I will play around with it.

I have already given the skirt to M, I just couldn't wait. I am looking forward to seenig her and Ellyse wearing their skirts together!

My next sewing job is to finish the softie for my swap with girls from EB, and then I have drafted a pattern to copy a PP shirred top. I can't wait to try that, I think Ellyse definitely has enough bottoms!

The skirt that WAS going so well!

Well I was doing so well with this skirt. I was zooming along, doing a very neat job when I sewed layers of fabric together that weren't meant to go together :(
Anyway there was a lot of unpicking and restitching, then the bobbin ran out, so more unpicking and more stitching. I finally got finished and realised I had cut the fabric the wrong way as it is quite strethy and the stretch in going vertically, not horizontally. It just doesn't sit right.

I still can't get the measurements right for Ellyse, this is too big, I think each teir is a little wide also. Maybe I should stick to sewing form a pattern???






Sorry for the bad photos , she just wouldn't stay still, and for her messy blanket shelf!

I've been tagged

These are the rules of the tag are: List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Dont forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

1. I am left handed but in a strange kind of way. I butter bread left handed, but cut things up right handed. I brush my teeth left handed, but brush my hair right handed, and in tennis, I don't hit a backhand........I just swap hands!

2. I have been known to be a little of a control freak/obsessive about certain things. I cannot stand sitting next to someone at the computer, they can't do it fast enough for me, I just want to be incontrol. There are other things also.

3. I listen to talkback radio! I actually find it interesting to hear different views on things and different people's stories. If I don't like what they are talking about I listen to FM, where Ellyse asks for more, more and starts singing along. Then I feel guilty for listening to talk back :(

4. I am a very determined and independant woman.....however sometimes I find it hard to stick up for what I believe in. I have been working on this since Ellyse has been born as I am quite sure on how I want to parent her and am not afraid to justify it (most of the time to most people).

5. I enjoyed labour, and no I didn't have a nice easy quick labour. It was long, Ellyse was posterior and 4.2 kg! But I did enjoy and I can't wait to do it again!

6. I like to talk A LOT, this may already be obvious with the length and frequency of some of my posts!(sorry really wanted to add this one)

WOW I thoughtI would struggle with that but I think I could add a few more!

Sorry I have no one to tag as the only people I know with blogs are in my EB sewing group!

FINALLY FINISHED

Well this dress took me a lot longer than I anticipated! I wish I had thought of doing the ruffle before it was all sewen together!
It is very cute and Ellyse loved wearing it, but wasn't very co=operative in the photo department, hence the photo of the hanger!

Now to thinking about the next project! I only have one piece of material left, and that is earmarked as a skirt for Ellyse - a real twirly skirt!

More sewing for Ellyse

Well honestly I just cannot stop sewing for little Ellyse. I am just loving it! I made her a dress on Saturday, it still needs buttons and the ruffle completed. Oh and I cut the dress with the overlocker so that needs mending too.
I made her these pants yesterday. I was planning on making them 3/4 length but that didn't kind of work out!
I did some applique but the stitching is very dodgy so will probably unpick that at some stage and restitch.
She wore them out today and looked very cute.

I went to two fabric shops today and didn't buy anything!!! Not that I didn't want to. I just thought I should get through the fabric I have here first. Apart from the fact that the SL I went to is a disaster area and it made me mad just to try to get through there. SOOOOO different to my little local fabric store.

What a frustrating sewing day!

These straps took me so long to complete today. I am not sure how many times I had to unpick the rolled hem as it just wouldn't work. Anyway finally got them completed and now I think they look too wide for the top, not really in proportion???
They are not sewn in yet as Ellyse is in FDC so I can't measure them.

To make it even less professional looking, the cotton I bought this morning was just a little too light for the fabric and you can see my very uneven sewing for the elastic.

Oh well, I am sure people won't look too closely! As I said yesterday, I am loving the ric rac. I actually got this for the skirt, but couldn't resist using it!

Anyway after a frustrating day I am happy with the outcome and can't wait to try it on Ellyse.

SOMEBODY STOP ME!

Well I WAS going to have a lay down, but this fabric caught my eye on my way and I just couldn't resist trying a shirred top with the straps like I saw in K-Mart today.
Only problem is I have run out of time...and I have no hot pink thread to stitch the straps. Anyway they are all cut out and ready to go. I am thinking of having a good Aussie sick day tomorrow and still sending Ellyse to FDC. Pretty bad when you only work one day a week!!
Anyway check out the work in progress.

Ingrid's Easy Pants

Thank you again to Ingrid for the patter for these truely easy pants. I had t omake them a bit more tricky by adding the ric rac, not that that is tricky!
They look great and can't wait to take a photo of Ellyse in them.
Here they are with Ellyse in them, they are actually not as big as I thought!

More Saturday Sewing

Well Saturday seems to be my sewing day. We had a busy morning this morning, we took Ellyse to her first ever swimming lesson, then to the library, followed by a spot of shopping. After lunch I did a quick whizz around the house tidying up a little so I could sew when Ellyse went to sleep.



I attempted one of ANGEL's 'springy dresses'. The shirring was sooooo easy I was surprised. I haven't perfected the straps yet, but it is pretty much complete. Ellyse was very sick of trying it on so I had to stop! It is very light material and hangs a little funny around her middle, not particularly flattering! Very cute though, I am sure she will get lots of wear out of it.

I am not very quick yet, the dress probably took me about 2 hours, maybe a little more. I did waste a lot of time deciding on measurements and marking out for shirring, which I didn't even use. Next time will be much faster!

DVD and munchies on the couch tonight...nice...I would still like to be sewing though but not sure Keiran would like that!

I just thought I would add a picture of last Saturday's sewing all finished. I was going to add some more hot pink around the bottom of the skirt, and I still might, but for now I am happy with the way it is. She wore it to the shops today, I was very proud, although you couldn't really see it as she was sitting in the pram!

My sewing so far

My Aunty's friend won a raffle and got to choose a gift, she chose this Princess' Clock for Ellyse and this is the thankyou card we made her. Apperantly she loved it and was proudly showing it off!













The pants that were meant to fit but are far tooooo big!




This is the first hat I made for Ellyse. The hats for Cate, Ella and Madeline followed.

This skirt I copied form one I bought from Big W. I am not particually happy with the size of it, but it is very cute.

I have done it!

Well I have finally done it and joined the trend and got myself a blog! It is mainly for the benefit of my online sewing group as it seems easiest to view our latest buys and creations this way. It will also be great for my two sisters who are living overseas.

Yesterday I visited Spotlight and bought this little pile of fabric. It is all to make items for Ellyse, soon she will have enough clothes for summer and I can start on some for myself!

I made this skirt for Ellyse today in record time, but when I tried it on her the pink part was too long and puckered up under her big belly. I have just unstitched the seam and will redo it tonight.

Ok, not sure why my pics are not showing where I wnat them to, will have to have a play another time.

Off now to redo the skirt.