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Thursday 28 August 2014

33/52 and 34/52 and T.G.I.F.F!

I'm determined to get up to date with my sewing and blogging (oh and unpacking our new house, and my uni work, and market preparations - never a dull moment!). So, here is hopefully my last catch up on the 52 project and a few photos of my latest, finished, project.

The 52 Project: A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2014.
Linking up with Practicing Simplicity.

33/52
 Two peas in a pod, Little Man hanging out with his Grandad.

Miss Mims, Queen of the Castle.

34/52
 Such a handsome boy, he doesn't always smile with his mouth, but he does often smile with his eyes.

We seem to have hit the stage of needing to constantly dress up in costumes. Here: two bows from my lovely friend at Ana Ma Petit Tresor, and a ballerina dress. This outfit was tame - usually we have gumboots, a scarf, some necklaces and a beanie added into the mix. Yep, I am turning into that mum that allows their child to dress up with every dress up they can find, just to be able to leave the house.

Please tell me I'm not alone!?

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday
Linking up with Ms Midge

This one has been a little while coming. 

As part of one of my collections for Collaborate For A Cause (you can read about it here), my team offered a dolly blanket if the bidding reached a certain amount.

Unfortunately we did not initially reach the required bid to include a blanket, however, our lovely very generous winner asked us if she could increase her bid and include the blanket.

Our winner requested one with a ruffle around three edges.
As with the rest of the collaboration, the blanket is made using Tilda fabrics, including two of the fabrics featured in the collection.

 I made the ruffle with the help of this tutorial by Violet Craft on the Sew, Mama Sew blog. I used the Quick Turn Ruffle Edge technique, but extended the ruffle all the way around three sides (as opposed to two side on the blog).

While the front of the blanket was pieced using charm squares, the back is a solid piece of coordinating Tilda fabric.

This blanket has now been packaged up and posted, thus closing out Collaborate for a Cause for 2014. I'm so pleased to have been a part of raising $350 between my two collaborations, and $50,000 for the auction overall.

And hooray, completing this blanket, and this blog post, means ticking off two things from my list of things I'm working on!



Around the World Blog Hop

A couple of weeks ago Amy from Ladybugs and Daisy Chains asked me to join in the Around the World Blog Hop. I said yes of course, and then promptly became more sick with this horrible cold that seems to also be travelling around the world and completely forgot.

So, in my very first attempt, and also very first fail at a blog hop, here are my answers!

What am I working on?
A whole heap of things!
  • I'm still working on my hexies made from the Kate Spain Aussie Charm Swap hosted by Ms Midge - I suspect this will continue to take me forever!


  • I'm finishing off a bonus dolly quilt that became part of my submission to our Collaborate for a Cause collection after the winning bidder bumped up her bid. The lovely winner has been ever so patient while I have been recovering.
  • I'm very exciting to be pattern testing for not just one person but two! Very exciting, more on that to come!
  • Market preparation for the Maribrynong Makers Market coming up on September 13th
  • A quilt for my son
  • And a number of blog posts that I have fallen behind on!
How does my work differ from others?
Like most other responses I have read to this question, I'm not too sure. But, I try to stay true to using bright happy colours, bold prints and where possible I try to use patterns by fellow Australian designers.

Why do I write/create what I do?
Mainly because I enjoy it. It's a bit of me time, it's a create outlet and I get a lot of satisfaction out of completing a project.
I also have three fabulous people in my life who encourage me in all that I do. 

How does my creating process work?
If I'm completely honest, I usually have an idea with very little time to actually achieve it. I usually store it away in my mind until I am able to get some clear time and then I have a huge burst of creativity and make a whole lot in one go.

I'm meant to be passing this along to someone else to complete, but like I said, this is my first attempt and first fail. I'm well over a week late in completing my answers and along with forgetting to post this, I also forgot to invite others to answer the questions. So, if you are reading this, and feel like playing along, please consider this your invitation!


Tuesday 19 August 2014

Book Week - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I have to admit, I was a little excited about our very first book week parade this year!

I asked Mimsy what her favourite book was. It was a toss up between 'that giant book' (The BFG, which for the record she has a love/hate relationship with!) and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

 I knew I had some Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric in my stash, so I suggested dressing up as the Caterpillar.

 I was promptly told 'no, I have a good idea, I'll be a beautiful butterfly.'

 'And the wings must have sparkles'.
 So with the help my my three year old creative director, we tie dyed some fabric for the wings, made a pretty dress, and added some sparkles.

 I'm pretty impressed with our efforts! I'm happy that Mimsy will be able to wear the dress again not as a costume, and making the wings gave her some creative input and made for a fun morning.

The dress is made using a gorgeous pattern from The Pattern Studio by 1 Puddle Lane. I can't wait to make some more of them, Mimsy has already asked for a spotty one and one with flowers please!

The wings were made free hand and very roughly! This is what I did:
1. Cut a wing shape from the folded over tie dyed fabric
2. Overlocked the outside
3. My sparkly fabric was smaller and a long shape, so I gathered it up, matched the centre of the sparkly fabric to the wings and zig zagged it on
4. Zig zagged the top corners of the sparkly fabric to the top corners of the wings (I didn't sew it all down, so it gives a bit of a floaty layered feel)
5. Added a figure of eight of elastic to the inside middle part of the wings so that Mimsy could loop it over each arm
6. Added two loops on the top corners of the wings to go around Mimsy's wrists.

I could have spent much more time on the wings, making perfect ones that matched. But, I have a three year old who wanted to be involved in making them, so I went with simple. The sewing took me 10 minutes, and Mimsy loves them.

What did you child dress up as for Book Week?




Friday 15 August 2014

31/52 and 32/52

The 52 Project: A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2014

Linking up with Practising Simplicity

Hooray, we have the internet reconnected, so I can do yet another catch up on the 52 project.

31/52


 Mimsy and I did some tie dyeing this week, it was a morning full of laughs!

 JuJu and I went a bit vintage this week. This is a pair of handmade overalls that I wore as a baby. I think it suits him.

32/52
We've moved to our new house, not far from the beautiful surf coast. I foresee many more photos taken against this beautiful backdrop.
 Mimsy loves to find treasure on the beach. "X marks the spot! Look Mum, another X!"

JuJu just loves being outside. He started saying Mum this week, mind you, not before he said Dad, hi, Avva (the name my children call their Grandmother) and dog! But I'll take it, there's something so special about those moments.


Wednesday 6 August 2014

Kate Spain Charm Along

This year I decided I wanted to try some new crafty things, learn some new skills and connect with some new crafty people. Ms Midge's Kate Spain Charm Swap was the perfect activity to join in!


The charm swap meant buying two yards of Kate Spain fabric, cutting it into charm squares, posting to Ms Midge and then receiving one of each fabric back from all of the participants.

 Considering I've only made 2 quilts prior to this, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with my charms.

 I decided on hexies. Last year my friend Leigh taught me how to make these hexies and although I was a little bit in love with them, I never got around to making any.

 That's where this charm swap comes in. I divided all of my charms into colour groups and cut each charm into 4. To be honest, I'm winging it at the moment, making colour blocks that I will sash and join together.
 I was meant to have my charm along finished by tonight, and was meant to link it to Ms Midge's link party, but between kinder pick up, a hungry baby and slow uncharacteristically slow internet I completely missed the deadline!

 Never mind! I will continue on with this work in progress, and perhaps choose something a little less ambitious for next time!
Charm along hosted by Ms Midge
 Thanks for having me in your charm swap and charm along Ms Midge, so much fun, and I'm well on my way to learning this new skill and have met some fabulous people in the meantime!



Friday 1 August 2014

29/52 and 30/52

The 52 Project: A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2014

Linking up with Practicing Simplicity

I can't believe how quickly this year is going. I am loving going back through my blog to look at how my beautiful children have grown.

29/52

We've had such a busy couple of weeks that I hadn't had a chance to upload our photos for the week.

Mimsy took a little bit of time to warm up at her friend's birthday party. Waiting in line for the miniature train was very serious business!

 JuJu Man on the other hand entertained himself with his current favourite thing to do - clapping his hands!

Just quietly, I'm not sure who out of my children or husband enjoyed the miniature trains the most! What a great place for a birthday party!

30/52

 Mimsy loves creating, and I love that loves it.

JuJu Man is right in the midst of cutting teeth, recovering from a cold and working out a bit of separation anxiety, so I'm choosing to focus on his beautiful smile in this photo rather than the avocado stains all over his beautiful white suit! Rookie error feeding the baby sushi when he was wearing white.