Lazy Day

Today I have lots of things I should be doing but I can't be bothered. I would much prefer to laze around watching tv, surf the net, cuddle my kids and drink hot drinks...




Miss 6yo is proactive enough to be doing her homework. I've done 2 loads of washing and I am sitting looking at fabric from across the room.










I'm also starting to read Martha Stewart's book called "The Martha Rules" I figure I can learn a lot from her!

So maybe I'm not so lazy for not sewing or doing my book work!

posted from Bloggeroid

Mothers Day

Today, as I mentioned yesterday, I am being lazy and enjoying my beautiful kids.

I got to sleep in until midday!! 

I never sleep in, and when I do I am usually up by 9, but I am so refreshed and grateful that I got a lovely rest. In fact I am still in my pyjamas.

I got presents as well which was nice.

So when I rose from my beauty sleep, I received 2 beautiful cards made by the kids while I was sleeping and a few little things that Miss 6yo got me from the mothers day stall at school.

I have also made muffins.

I was sitting on twitter earlier and there was the mention of baking and I thought... mmm cold, rainy, horrible day. I can either sit here underneath the heater vent or make muffins and stand next to the oven for a bit, making muffins with the kids won. They are a bit extra brown as mummy was distracted. They have just gotten out of the oven now and I am currently deciding whether I will eat one as I have been on a diet since November. Surely Mothers Day is a day to eat a muffin right??

Now I am just sitting down to eat my muffin, watch Harry Potter movies with the kids, and attempt to stay in my PJs for the rest of the day. Hope your Mothers Day is wonderful.

Amy xo

This Weekend...

This weekend is going to be a lazy one with Mothers Day being tomorrow, I intend to spend the day playing silly games with my babies and relaxing with them. This is if they play along, I did mention to Miss 6yo that I wanted breakfast in bed, and she promptly looked at me with a screwed up face and said; 

"Mummy... why would you want to eat breakfast in your bed??!!??!!"...

My answer...

"I'm not sure sweetheart, but make sure you talk to daddy about it, make sure theres pancakes"

Not sure if that conversation has taken place yet, but she is very excited by Mothers Day this year, she has been to the mothers day stall at school and has come home with something that has been hiding underneath her pillow since Wednesday. I'm sure that whatever it is, it is squished... but apparently this is the only place in the house that I don't look.

Anyway, so today I am spending my time sorting through instructions for Calisthenics costumes for the little miss and also for one of the other girls who I am sewing for this year. I have no markets this month, so I am spending my spare time this weekend and maybe some time during the week making costumes.

The first that I have almost completed is a chicken. It is going to be absolutely gorgeous when it is finished, and I cannot wait to see the stage full of cute fluffy chickens doing their item.

I wont show the whole costume until later in the year when the girls have been to a competition as I don't like to reveal before then. It's not completed yet though as I have run out of those lovely feathers and there are more parts to the costume that I haven't even pulled out to attempt to assemble yet.

When I read the instructions for this outfit I was excited about making it, when I saw the photos of a completed outfit I was excited about contributing and then I sat down to make it and thought... 

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?!?!"

I will say that once I sat down to just do it, I've actually really enjoyed making it. It is very basic stitching of gathered tiers and best of all there is no lycra involved AT ALL. 

I will mention that I have enjoyed the gathering stitch on my overlocker for this costume, as there is a lot of ruffles to make those feathers all fluffy! I will possibly have to go through and cut off all of the overlocker threads yet, I'm unsure as to whether you can see them when the outfit is completed, on the child and you are standing a fair way away. 

I must remember to use my gathering stitch more often now that I have figured out how it works because I am dreaming of lots of gorgeous fluffy things.

I am also spending some time making a Hippo costume for Miss 6yo to wear for one of the other items they do. I have a pattern this year, which is a step up from that alien I had to make last year which really did make me cry numerous times.

I am a big fan of being organised, so I am sitting with my sewing journal, the pattern instructions and the picture I am working from, and writing myself a good, comprehensive set of instructions from start to finish. 

I have written the jumpsuit instructions so far and will get onto the hood instructions soon. once I have a good look at the hood I have to copy from another hippo outfit that belongs to a girl from a different class that she used years ago. Then it will be on to the tracing and adjusting of patterns and the fun part... sewing!!

What are you up to this weekend? I hope that whatever it is, it is putting a smile on your face.

It's Been a While...

Since I last posted that is... I have, since going back to work, been very slack with my online commitments.

I haven't stopped though. Not that I think anything ever could, and I've been doing life of sewing, a few markets and also rearranged my work room the other week in attempt to contain all of that stuff I've got laying around for weepantz.

I've been very busy mothering my 2 beautiful kids, and I have been cherishing the moments we have when I'm not working to spend time cuddling, tickling and getting kisses from them.

And now I'm going to go back to relaxing on the couch, and I hope to get back to more frequent blogging now that I'm semi-coping with being so busy!

Baking...

Since having my new oven installed earlier this week, I have spent some time rekindling my love of baking as well as getting to know my new oven!

I made raspberry and white chocolate muffins on Tuesday as well as roasted some chicken pieces that night.

I made a quiche for the kids' lunch on Wednesday, which served as a hot lunch for Mick yesterday at work.

Yesterday I made some muesli bars from this recipe...

I followed the recipe this time, but next time I will make it with nut free peanut butter and sesame seeds so its school friendly.

Today's plan is to make cookies...

I've bought the cookie cutters, some squeezy bottles for the kids to use for the icing and am borrowing a recipe from here.

Sounds like an afternoon to keep the kids busy! They will be decorating cookies while I finish off another wholesale order :)

LOTS of fun!!!

I'm also going to roast butterflied veal for dinner. Oh how I love my new oven!!

My Creative Space

I've been spending a lot of time sitting at my kitchen table the last few days with this view...

I've been sitting and watching the kids play while I sew, like I said last week, and it is really proving to be quite productive. 

I've had a few orders, and with my first market for 2011 being next week I'm fairly busy.

So the kids have a movie or some music on, get to play with their toys and mummy can supervise as well as work :) Yesterday we did finger painting... more on that another day...

Now that the post is back up and running in QLD I also have to post this today, so I had better get moving!!

For more creativeness head over to Kirsty's.

Dont forget the auctions either.... Right hand side bar... I found out yesterday that so far we have collectively raised $45,000!! I feel so privileged to have the opportunity and ability to be involved in this :) Bidding is still open for a few days, so if you have been outbid its not too late :)

Tuesday...

So today is Tuesday... or if you ask the wiggles, it is Taco Day (yes, I watch far too much wiggles with my son). I have been working on orders and also getting ready for the market all whilst looking after my beautiful kids who seem to know when I get up super early to be without them and sew in peace and get up at the same time to bug me!!

I've been playing with some of this beautiful red minky, it is so so soft and delicious!! I want to play with it all the time!!

On the weekend, I also took the kids in to the shops to visit the man himself... SANTA!!

At this point, he was receiving strict instructions to bring trucks and a DS for Christmas. Very important stuff here. 

And then after the formalities were over, the kids both gave him a cuddle. This is the first time Oliver has actually met Santa without screaming his head off so I was pretty proud. He might actually enjoy all those presents this year, although wrapping paper is such a fantastic toy!!

I have almost finished Ruthie's Christmas dress too! very excited about this as it is just gorgeous, I will hopefully finish it off tomorrow as we have school christmas carols tomorrow night!! So I will post pics then!

Until next time...

Another Day at my place...

Today I'm off to get some xrays done on an old knee injury and also get a checkup of my spinal fusion.

Most of you who read my blog aren't aware that when I was 11 I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and around 11mths after diagnosis I had a spinal fusion with poles inserted so that I would be able to live a normal life. 

This morning I was gathering together all of my old xrays (there is a massive pile as I had to get xrays done every 3mths) to take with me for the xray people to compare today's xrays with and I had a little look through them to make sure they were all in the right envelopes and came across my MRI images from just before my operation.

At the age that I was, I don't remember much about the severity of my condition, I remember being told that it was very bad and not having surgery wasn't really an option. I remember the pain, it was pretty painful as the curve in my spine would get worse all the time. But it just happened, I have never really seen it as a massive big deal. People go through worse right!

So tomorrow I will find out if everything is still as it is meant to be. Sort of something like this....

I have poles inserted from T1-T12 and the front of my spine has been fused also, this was done in 2 seperate operations 1 week apart. I am of course super proud that I was the very first person to have this operation who walked after 10 days (it was only like 50m, but I walked!) I was also the first person not to need a wheelchair for a short period of time after going home (I remember them telling me this and saying it was amazing, I didnt think it was so amazing, I just did it!)

It's pretty scary to go get a checkup done as I am unsure of what to expect, the positive part of me is telling me not to stress out about it! Hopefully tomorrow I will hold in my hands very positive results from that!

Anyway, that is completely not sewing related, but I thought it might be something interesting to read for all of my regular readers, rather than hey look at my new fabric!! Perhaps I am grasping at straws to make sure I have content for Blogtoberfest!

So other than having photos taken of my insides today, I am working on nappies for the Casey Cloth Nappy Expo on Saturday. Some gorgeous little boy nappies with some of the fabric from here. 

I am also looking after a sick little miss, although I think she may be faking it, I let her stay home because last time I thought she was faking she had a really bad ear infection!

Until tomorrow...

Wordless Weekend

The Start of the Season.... enter the competition mama!

Today was miss Ruthie's first ever calisthenics competition. She did VERY well and was so so very excited about the entire day. She has just told me she wants to go do some more calisthenics now, but I think she is completely exhausted!!!

Some photos as promised from the day. I wasnt on the roster for dressing today so I didnt get many, and was banished from the room as every time she saw me, Ruth would cry from all the built up emotion and excitement. But she had a fantastic time in the end and her team got an honourable mention in one item which was great :)

The whole team, that's Ruth over on the far left trying to cover her streaked makeup from crying. 

Ruth in her alien suit. The hands are no longer being used (yes they were very frustrating to make too!) but because she couldn't do the correct actions in them I'm glad that she didn't wear them in the end.

All Ready for her free exercises. (Free Arm). Loves the camera now hey??? I may have shed a tear or two when she got on stage for this, her first, number. It was great to see her on stage and loving it!

Well that's it for this week. I am about to go make dinner and then collapse with a beer or 7..... Back to what I get paid for tomorrow. Nappy sewing!! I have selected some great new fabric combos and cannot wait to make them up :)

What did you get up to this weekend?

A Pretty Little Pouch

I have been dying to make up a pouch with Toni's Zippered Pouch Tutorial. One of my daughter's friends turned 6 this week and she will be having her party tomorrow afternoon and Ruth wanted to give her a little pouch for her little things she has. (okay so I may have swayed her slightly :p ).

Anyway... so I did it! I made not only the zippered pouch, but I also did my first ever piece of patchworking on the front panel. Im very impressed and the hand embroidery was really like a breath of fresh air after all the sequining I have been doing for Ruth's Calisthenics costumes.

The front of the pouch, the back is a panel of the bird fabric you see on the right hand side here.

Close up of my embroidery. :) I really am a fan of stem stitch, ever since I learned to do it I always use it for lettering, I like how it hugs the curves.

The inside fabric is some floral print that I had laying around, I used it at Christmas time for some market dresses.

Anyway... So I was really impressed with the tutorial, it was very well explained and pictured :) and its such a fantastic little project to use up some of my scraps! Look out for more of these in the future!

School Holidays Day #1

I struggle to keep my children occupied. They both love creating as I do, so when I'm busy sewing, cutting, designing, blogging etc. They get quite bored. I have been really blessed since Ruthie started school, as I have been able to use Olly's nap time for my blogging, sewing, cutting and designing time, it has been working out well :-) Then... along comes school holidays. I swear it snuck up on me and that she surely has only been going to school for like 6 weeks... Turns out its only been 8 so I wasn't far off!

So in order to keep miss Ruth entertained I have decided to do something fun with her every day that Olly can join in on, so that she can have quiet time when he is sleeping and I don't miss out on my sewing cutting and designing time!

Yesterday we made Mini Hot Cross Buns from a fairy tale cook book that "Santa" brought her for Christmas last year. Baking might just be my daughter's favourite thing ever, but then I introduced her to kneading, she might be now addicted and will be begging me to make bread, which I don't mind as I love making bread myself.

The recipe was pretty basic, and didn't really taste that good, so I will be searching for a new recipe for This Friday as we will have to have hot cross buns for Good Friday.

kneading and rolling the individual balls of dough into the pan.

we were singing a roll the dough song and he was rolling his hands like we were, it was very cute, but do you think he would do it for the camera?? don't be silly... Olly was having a great time watching though :-)

Piping on the crosses. This mixture was very thick and quite difficult to pipe, and I've piped some difficult stuff in my time as a bakery lady when I was pregnant. Next time calls for more water in the mix, even though you aren't meant to!

the finished MINI hot cross bun. It is very tiny. 

The buns might not taste very nice, but Ruthie loved baking for the day. Now to top that today!!

Amy 

Finally!!!

Something Non-Nappy Related! Nappies (cute little balls of fluff that they are) have taken over my sewing room lately. There are random bits of nappy everywhere, I really need more storage so it doesn't look like a bomb has hit that room!!

Anyway, I have been this week doing some other sewing. Having a week off from WeePantz so that I can get some other sewing done. I have half finished a pair of jeans, well its more like 2/3 finished but yes im angry at them. And have been invited to a few parties (well DD has been invited,, im just her hanger on). I thought (as every sew-a-holic does) that I would make the presents.

My friend's little girl is turning 4 and she is apparently cooking mad. So I made her this apron.

front

back

I used See & Sew Pattern #4585 for the basic shape but didn't really follow the instructions as I (as usual) had an image in my head of what I wanted to make and the pattern was just giving me a leg up so I didn't have to draft. Yep! Completely LAZY!!

So I used the basic shape from the pattern left the front pocket off (little kids don't need a pocket on their apron, it gets filled with so many useless bits of crap, oh hang on that happens to grown up aprons too :-p) I used some very thin batting in the middle and then backed it with the sage cotton lawn. 

Also, instead of using D rings for the neck strap I used velcro. I was tempted to use snaps, but the snap press was packed away at the time, so I reached for the closest possible fastening equipment that wasn't a zip.

And then for the final touch...

...I embroidered her name.

For the embroidery stitching I used Kirsty's version of stem stitch which I DID find so easy to do thanks Kirsty!! 

I am really pleased with how this turned out. I have no "oh dear that didn't work out the way I imagined it" moments and it came together really easily. I really hope she (and her mummy) likes it!

Now off to make a batman/generic super hero costume! I have made the black cape and had one go at making a batman mask (complete disaster!). This is for a little boy that DD goes to school with. Who is having a party on the same day. AHH to be 4 and the most popular girl in prep... 

In a few weeks we are attending a dress up party so that will be fun for mummy, might have to start that costume now!! haha!!  Also got to start to make things for DD's 5th birthday party in a few weeks... so much fun... so much work and most of all... SO MUCH SEWING!! good thing Id rather be doing nothing else... :-)

Until next time readers... might be sooner than we think, perhaps I will successfully make a beautiful batman mask and want to show it off, or my jeans will start behaving themselves!!

Amy :-)

My Creative Space

Wow this week has gone super fast! I feel like the gap between Thursdays is slowly becoming shorter. Which apparently is true now by a slight shift in day length due to the recent Chilean earthquake according to NASA. But is that really the reason for my lack of ability to keep up? Probably not! Most likely, the cause of my surprise at weekly intervals is due to being pretty darn busy!

Anyway, that was completely irrelevant... haha! I have this week been making nappies and other general wares for my market this weekend in Williamstown. (details over to the side of the posting area)

Whilst awaiting an order of about 600 snaps I thought Id get stuck into my other wares, which has become quite small of late due to summer ending and me packing away all of those lovely dresses that I was selling over the warmer months. I gave a small preview of some of these pants last week, made in denim. This week I cut into the cordorouy, mmm I love cord, it is a wonderful winteriffic fabric. 

They aren't complete yet, so this batch is still a work in progress, not ready for sale. I have to stitch on the faux fly and possible (not sure yet) appliqué on. Oh and my weepantz labels. But I am, I must admit, falling in love with these pants...

These, however, are my favourite, they are beautifully vintagey retroish. (Yes, Part of my creative space this week is making up verbs :-p) Anyway, they are my favourite, and if I was allowed, I possibly would wear these myself, but ahh alas, I am not a children's size 2...

In other news, the girl has started school full time this week, so that's 5 full days. Its a little sad for her mummy as I miss her a lot. I also miss our creative moments which I have been known to include in this Thursday digest. So it's just me and the boy now. I attempt to make him do creative stuff like drawing with me, but he's much more interested in rummaging through my scraps bucket and wearing the long thin pieces as scarves, hats or belts. Otherwise, all he wants to do is this...

EAT!

Yes, my son, old hollow legs here, I will say he's being creative because the Vegemite is so lovingly smeared all over his face... And just before he was painting himself with Yoghurt. Perhaps my son is creative after all, he just requires a bit of inspiration (yes, the inspiration is food....)

Okay, well I've gone off on a motherly bragging tangent and I must go attend to this boy as he is wandering around with a bottle bag as a handbag with a hackey sack inside and cant get it out...

For more creative spaces head over here

A Very Special Day

Today was a certain little princess' first day at school. We awoke at 6am, yes very very early and then started the day. Got ready for school and off we went along with the other hundreds of preppies for their first day at school.

Ruth ready to go to school, complete with hat that is the size of a flying saucer and backpack she could fold in half and fit inside...

getting out of the car ready to walk around the block to school. I think the question she asked me was "muuum, why do you have to take so many photos of me??!!??"

doing puzzles with some of her kinder friends from last year (who have been cropped out for privacy purposes)

It was a very exciting morning for my little princess and a very emotional one for her mother. I was a complete cot case, but thats okay, I think all the mums were slightly emotional about their babies growing up. They did, however, all look incredibly cute in their school uniforms!!

So its reduced hours for the first week and no wednesdays for a month, but I am already planning my school hours as being major sewing project hours!! (yes thats right, the emotional Amy didnt really last very long, I immediately started thinking of craft in true sew-a-holic style...)

 I am super excited about not having to get snacks for a 4 year old who has hollow legs every 5 minutes. I'll just have to deal with my other little charge who loves sitting on top of the fabric and patterns as I am cutting or tracing...

Until next time...

Amy xo

Some new photos

I took these photos of Olly the other day at the park to use as product photos for weepantz. I just love them, so I thought Id share :-)

a couple of the new weepantz photos.

ruth on the swing...

me :-)

giving mummy kisses through the bars on the fort :-) Mummy felt very very special :-D

 okay so it ended up with me showcasing my beautiful kiddies. But who would blame me? they are of course absolutely gorgeous!!!