t'was the night before christmas

Whilst blog surfing tonight i came apon this blog and this poem.
i thought it was great and wanted to share

Abyquilt: "Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be fat quarters or a pattern or lace?
Or a quilt kit, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him,
'Hi Santa,' I said
'You know....good little girls should be in their beds '.
'I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought
'Well, let's take a look in this room where you work.'
He shook his head quickly, And left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
'You've got enough stuff, I'll see you next year!'

author unknown
(does that mean I have to clean up in my sewingroom)"

I think this is called Cheating

We have our play group christmas party on tuesday and we wanted a Santa who our kids wouldnt recognise.

That was easier said than done.

so we decided that we could get one of the Nanna's to help and tell them that Santa had asked her to help out.

Well we got lucky and Nanny Chrissie has a friend on holidays from America so now we have a Santa and a Santa's helper.

For Nanny Chrissie i got a panel from spotlight that has a ready to cut and sew apron on it.

No fuss just cut and sew.

there is STILL a few things i would have done different, like not trust my overlocker and used pinking shears but here it is.

sleep overs

Byron has a sleep over tonight and has to take a sleeping bag.
he has a couple including a fairly new croc hunter one that i was all set to make a bag for (i bought it on sale as it was missing it's bag)

So in my mind i was making a camo cover this was until he decided he wanted to take the old sleeping bag, this i am sure has a bag but as i was prepared to sew i didnt argue that he had LOOKED properly hehe.

so we now have a tartan sleeping bag cover with a few spots you shouldnt look at due to the math needed to get measurements correct haha

where oh where is 2009.

it seemed to rush past me in about june and i can't catch up.well obviously it has been a while and i wont bore yuo with those mundane day to day details.

i will however share some sewing i have recently done.

i have been sewing but not blogging.

skirts are currently the flavour as the weather warms up.

Ainsley will never run out of skirts or dresses i can assure you of that but as they are fun to make i will continue to make them lol.

My princess will only wear skirts that twirl so the latest addition is the circular skirt---fantastic twirl ability.
Ainsley has decided to share the twirling "need" with her twin friends so i made them a skirt each and had a request for another one.

here are some pics.

Ainsley's christmas skirt for her daycare party tomorrow is also there, i had a t shirt from last year that will still fit so i just added a little bling to make it go with the skirt a bit better.

so you think they will be ok?

sorry byron

after my wordless weekend post yesterday i got in trouble from byron as i didnt put a photo of him with the snake.

so here it is.

wordless weekend

birthdays,birthdays and more birthdays.

August is a full on month for birthdays around here we have 5 from the family and about the same with friends.

so today i went out to lunch with a few friends for 3 of the girls birthdays.

and may i add had a great time.

i figured this morning i couldnt go empty handed so i quickly whipped up these.

handy little zippered purses, they were so easy i am planning a few more.

i love the fact that they are versatile and practical but simple.

cookies and giggles

Yesterday afternoon the boys went to the footy with friends and the friends daughter stayed with Ainsley and I.

it was so nice to have an older girl for Ainsley to play with with no boys to interupt the girly giggles, and to be a girl that ainsley knows well but doesnt get one on one time with.

They had so much fun.

we baked some cookies, played with dolls made a slide with a blow up materess and my fabric stash lol

Milly got me a cookie and this is the one i got.

Just to put it in comparrison to what the girls got to eat.

wordless weekend

from http://www.louiseelliottdesign.net/Home.html

Mr Tooheys Tortoise

Byron's teacher this year is great and this week we have parents night so i wanted to give him a appreciation gift.
I had no idea at 1st and the Eb ladies gave me some great idea but it came to me yesterday that he needs a door stop as the door is currently being held open by a brick.
I then found out today that his favourite animal is the tortoise.

this is what i came up with.

he has a face and i will take a daylight pic tomorrow so you can see it cause he is cute hehe.
Byron is working on a card and inside it will say.

"A special teacher opens the door to life long learning and possibilities thank you for inspiring those doors to open.
Please accept this gift so doors can continue to open for you.
you are a terrific teacher and your efforts are appreciated."
or something along those lines.

thank you 'Carebear83' for your words they have helped.

summer outfits

I bought this pattern last year but didnt get to making it up. (McCalls M5615)
It is a friends 5th birthday party this week end and she has asked for ballet slippers, so of course she is getting jiffies from us but i couldnt just wrap a pair of boring looking shoes.

so i got the pattern out and now she is getting whole outfit hehe

i am almost finished one for Ainlsey just needs to be hemmedwell this blue top turned out a tad short
so i added 2 more tiers and turned it into a dress
had this been the plan from the beginning i would have made the gathering under the bust cream but hey it twirls and thats all that counts hehe

Opening Day.

Well my parcel arrived just in time.

8am this morning.

it was made from Gaby at http://amummy.myhabari.net/

i got spoilt, spoilt, spoilt.

Gaby made me a coated tote style bag with extras inside .

there is 2 stitches magazines and buttons buttons buttons, which is great because i have just fallen in love with buttons, collecting not sewing them haha.

anyway here are the photos.

The bag i made has been received and blogged so i can say i made for Jen at http://paris-stella.blogspot.com/

i didnt use a pattern and as you can see it doesnt look terribly like my practise bag. i kind of went with what the fabric told me hehe.

it was my 1st attempt at a zippered pocket and i am really pleased how it turned out.

the fabric was from the upholstery section at spotlight and wasnt what i went into the store to buy but obviously what i came out with hehe

sneak peak at my first swap

I have joined the EB girls in a bag swap and it will be my 1st.
I wasnt sure what pattern i wanted to use so after much surfing and awwing and gahhing over all the amazing bags out there i decided on a style but not an actual pattern.
With no pattren fabric and scissors i was off on a trial run,
this is what i have come up with.
It is far from perfect but i know what to fix and what to change so it has done it's job.
I also havent added a closure yet as the ones i have are useless(could be me).

bags bags bags

A friend at work wanted a new bag, messenger style and big.
After asking what colours she liked she said
reds, blues, greens,pink,purples.
yay can't go wrong hehe
this was the 1st time i used stabilizer for a bag and i am really pleased with the out come.
there is a litle patch of concern as only one of the fabrics i used had a slight stretch but all is fine.
before i started on this bag i thought i better have a test run with working out a pattern so i made byron one 1st but it didnt have stablizer--regret that but he thinks it looks great anyway so here are the bags i came up with.



i am sure you can work it out but byrons is the skulls hehe.
and foe some reason it keeps turning that photo around grrr

on another note i would like to wish my sister Naomi luck with the baby expo in sydney this week end.
She is taking her product the "bubby cubby"

Apron strings

Ainsley needed a new apron so i thought my girly who wont wear anything that doesnt twirl needs a frilly twirly cup cake apron.

So this is what i made for her.

I am thinking mummy needs a frilly twirly apron too hehe.

excuse the chocolate face.

I Also decided yesterday to unpick the ruffle skirt and make the pink layer smaller--oh the joy that was i should have left well alone.

i also made her a long sleeve t shirt to match.

i think it will be worn every day this week hehe.

Ainsley gets a new skirt and Tyke gets a jacket

I decided that Ainsley needed a long skirt for winter so last night we got onto the net and found a tutorial http://home.earthlink.net/~cornpatchcreations/twirlyskirt.htm

Then into the fabric box to choose the fabric.

I really liked burgandy for the middle layer but of course Ainsley was choosing and she had to have pink.

I liked this tute it was easy to follow but i think the middle layer needs to be a bit thinner so oh my i think i will need to make another one oops hehe.

I will hopefully get some action shots today.

Byron asked the other day if tyke can have a jacket and if he could help sew it.

The answer was yes on both counts.

So he helped me choose the fabric and i got a pattern from here http://sewing.circleofcrafters.com/freepetvestpattern.html

Ainsley has seen the dress and thinks Tyke needs one of those now haha, She wants it to match her new skirt wont that look nice on walks?

I am not sure i can do it.

So i got ready to sew and Byron ditched me to play with the boy across the road.

Tyke wasnt feeling very photogenic

Another skirt.

i fell in love with these butterflies so had to make a askirt the same day.

Happy Easter

For Easter i made the kids a couple of baskets, of course i decided to this late saturday afternoon as all good projects are last minute great ideas hehe.

I am really pleased with the way they turned out.

It was my 1st time at using the stabilizer and all went well.

i think next time i will get the 'stiffer' one but for their purpose these are fine.

The kids loved them which of course is all that counts.

I am really in love with Tutu's at the moment So when my mil gave me some tulle i of course googled and then spent the next few hours perusing every tutu site and photo i could to find a good tute but of course i spent so long looking didnt actually get to the sewing haha

There is some absolutely stunning tutu's out there.

But this is the one i made Ainsley this morning

Warmth for Miss Milly

A friend of ours just celebrated her birthday and 3 days before hand had a 2 mtre fall through a laser light roof.

so as a happy birthday get well gift i made her a very fluffy warm doona cover.

The top side is cotton and the underside is fleece

Milly chose her colour fleece(bright green) the pillow case is made of the same and loves animals so the tigers and zebra's and giraffes where very apt while trying to make it girly colours hehe

It is very bright but i got a smile of happiness from a girl of very few words so i think she was pretty happy with it.

wow it has been a while.

Icannot believe how long it has been since i blogged.

very bad.

Ihave done a bit of sewing and will put pics up soon.

This is something i sewed a while ago for ainsley when she was smaller and having swimming lessons.

She also uses it occasionally when she gets out of the shower.

but i am blogging it to share with a fellow eb'er, i hope it helps

You may be able to see that this has a really big hem as i wanted to be able to let it down to get the wear out of it.

Also a great idea that my grand mother in law shared with me was to sew the belt to the gown that way it doesnt get lost

Wanting to help the bush fire victims

I have found this store who has come up with a great idea and i wanted to share it with as many people as i can.
I think this is a great way of getting kids involved
http://beyondpinkandblue.blogspot.com/2009/02/rainbow-comfort-packs-for-little-ones.html

i had to come back and edit this post as i have found another blog who has some great ways of helping out .
from auctions to donations
http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/
but don't forget that money Donations will be the best thing as it will get what is really needed , Also It is sometimes more time and money to get the items to the victims when they are sent, which also means that the local businesses can start to be regenerated sooner if money is being spent locally where possible.

So Buy something, make something donate something, it doesnt matter what you do but please
DO Something.

1st day in the 2nd grade

It was byrons 1st day back to school today.

He was a little bit nervous as he has had the same teacher for the last 2 years and he is again in a split class, split grades 3/2.

A few shots

I took a couple of photo's of the kids playing today.

I cannot believe how old ainsley looks in her wedding dress , my goodness it will be a real wedding dress before i know it.

and of course one of the 'joker'

Sun + Friends + Bubbles = FUN

Today we had some friends over for a play .
The kids had fun playing in the little poool with the bubble machine.

I am really pleased with these photo's i love how good the bubbles look, make them a bit magical

Happy 7th birthday Byron

Well byrons birthday was today and we went to Hungry Jacks for brekky, did some shopping then hung out at home till mum needed a bigger fridge/ freezer to store the cake so down the road to a friends to borrow the freezer to put the cake in while i finished icing it.

We had the party at the park for dinner

nice and easy lollies, chips, sausages on the bbq kids playing at the park or with the cricket set.
followed by the aircraft carrier cake.

byron got a nice array of gifts from his friends.

from us hismajor gift is yet to arrive in the post.

So hopefully tomorrow it will arrive.

A Big thanks to all who came to the party or wished him well he had a great day.