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.