This past week.

I have been so busy this past week. Mostly I have been busy procrastinating! (As I do!) My daughter's sister-in-law was married last weekend and one of my granddaughters was a flower girl. She had her two eldest of her four nieces be flower girls which left two little girls without a fancy dress so my daughter offered to make dresses for all four girls. Four dresses is quite a lot and I offered to help. Jess did all the cutting out and the basic sewing and I did the finishing. This is my granddaughters at their fitting.

My daughter and her three lovelies

She loooooves this dress!

And we had two birthdays. Well, four if you count extended family, so there were lots of birthday dinners to cook and go out for. This is my baby who turned 15. Fifteen!!! So strange to have no little kids at my house. We had little kids for so long. 

Lighting the sparkler on his cake

 Oh. And at one of those birthday dinners we ate some of the broccoli I grew in our backyard. It was delicious! 

I'm hoping to get more sewing done this week. I have been English paper piecing ever since I last blogged, but it doesn't look that different! Perhaps I will do some quilting!

I made a dress, something interesting, and it's July.

 Way back in June sometime I posted that I had a formal dress to make for my year 12 Lily. This is her last year of school and the formal has become somewhat of a tradition in Australia. This is the pattern she chose. I think one of her sisters chose the pattern originally, but we have never sewn it up before. It was in my pattern collection which we routinely browse before hitting the shops.

And this is how it translated once Lily had chosen her fabric. It's fairly simple in front with ruffle sleeves and glorious ruffles in the back. The original dress had a low back,  but we're not into that so I had to make a pattern modification before I even began to fit it. Lily is not very tall and is quite shortwaisted. (Short from her shoulder through to her waist) It makes buying ready made dresses really hard. The waist and bustline are always in the wrong place for her. That's why sewing clothes for her is essential! So, three calico bodices later I finally had the Lily fit and could cut out her red fabric. Once that was done it was plain sailing.

Lily16 dressed for her formal

Even though I allowed myself plenty of time to fit, cut out and sew this dress I allowed procrastination to take over and I was sewing it right up until half an hour before Lily left. I'm not sure why that is always my modus operandi, but it always is. (This is obviously a character flaw of mine. Going to have to sort it out one day!) Lily was not bothered at all and she is really an anxious person generally. Her friends at school were anxious for her though. On Friday morning (the day of the formal) they rushed to greet her and asked the question, "Has your Mum finished your dress yet?" She assured them (and me) that she wasn't worried because although I do everything at the last minute I had never failed to deliver for one of my kids. Sophie27 took pity on me on Friday afternoon and offered to make the cummerbund for the dress. (I had spent two hours convincing myself that the dress would look awesome without it, but even I wasn't believing it.) She did an amazing job with it and I loved the fact that my Lily had a collaborative "homemade" formal. Whilst I was finishing up her dress Lily made the earrings she wore. (We had bought the beads when we bought the fabric.)

She made the earrings

And here she is with some of her friends, those her Dad was chauffeur for. The girls all got ready at our place so the fun began even before the formal began.

The gang right before walking out the door

Oh. And did you know it's July? This year really is rushing away from me. At the moment we have our daughter Jess visiting us with her three kids. It's such fun having grandchildren to wake up to in the morning! Jess also has a blog (picklesticks) and we have hatched a plan this trip. I have been wanting to do something different with my blog and she wants to do something different with hers, so we have decided to join forces and start a new blog. It will have tutorials, free patterns and printables, product reviews, recipes, give aways and lots of making and creating. We will still have our own blogs, because we love our blogs! We will be adding posts and content to the new blog during July ready for a give away at the beginning of August. You can pop over there to have a look if you like. If you want to keep up with what we do make sure to "follow" the blog. See you over at A Making Life.

Frothy...

I thought I was making a petti-skirt, but it's definitely a tu-tu I think.

It's very frothy. And very orange. And very spotty. And frothy. Did I mention that it's frothy? And it's made by me, seemingly accidently, because this is not really what I intended at all. I am sure that a very small girl will love it however. Back with more things we made tomorrow.

Hello November, a Public Holiday, and a Transformation.

Today is a public holiday here in Victoria. A public holiday in honour of a horse race. I was happy to have the holiday although I didn't watch the horse race at all. Oh. And it's November. Hard. To. Believe. Christmas is almost here which means that 2012 is just moments away. Oh well, this year has just flown for me. I am going to take a leaf out of the "Blogtober" book and attempt to blog more often so I can remember better all the things that just fly by! Today has been a day of buttonholes for me and hopefully this evening will be an evening of buttons! Mrs 27 has been busy sewing whilst visiting and I am doing the buttons and buttonholes for her. (You can see her sewing here.) Oh. And I did finish the lounge room transformation. Here is the proof!

The new sit and do space.  Mr 11 was building a flat pack for me. I stapled fabric to the inside of the "Billy" doors to hide the stuff. I like the cupboards much better now.

The TV and sitting area (with the superhero, The Blur!)

The TV and sitting area without The Blur. My sewing room is to the right of this picture through a large opening. It's floor space and the sitting room's floor space combine to make it feel like one larger space. It's not for everyone, but having my sewing area in the center of our family living seems to work best for us.

A yellow dress this time - blogtober

It looks a little yellow here, but in real life it is a buttery yellow.

It's hard to believe from this photo that this dress is the same as the one in yesterday's photo, but it is. Here it looks to me like a doll dress and like it wouldn't fit that granddaughter of mine at all, but it does. I haven't done much else today. A couple of school runs. That's about it. My Bradley even had to go off to the fish and chip shop to procure some dinner for us tonight. Chips and dim sims which caused a cry of glee from the very young here. Maybe I'll go look at the gleeful chips and dim sims.

OK. Back in the land of the living - blogtober.

I'm still sick, but have been pottering around at home this week. I felt I really didn't have anything to blog about, but Mrs 27 (picklesticks), who is still visiting with us, figured I should blog this. In fact she even took these photos. (Thanks Jess) This is three month old granddaughter 2 wearing the new dress I managed to finish for her this week. I also managed to finish sorting and tidying the sewing room and the lounge room revamp is just one area away from being finished too. Actually you can get quite a lot done pottering around I think. My Bradley celebrated his birthday this week and I decided to make him a sticky date pudding in lieu of a birthday cake. I had never made one before, but managed to find a most delicious recipe which was also extremely easy to make. It was so easy I made two of them and we have been enjoying the leftovers. Mr 11 has a birthday party with his friends coming up and he has requested the sticky date pudding as his birthday cake for that event. (I know! You know your kids are all grown up when your baby requests a sticky date pudding for his birthday cake!) Anyway, back to the sewing. I have another little dress cut out so will try to finish that tomorrow. Hopefully I will be feeling much better then! (I needed two naps today to get through the day. Bring on tomorrow!)

grandson showing his sister how to smile for the camera

Oh. And notice the Tis the Season quilt. That's what we have been doing with those quilts this week!

A partly finished dress - blogtober

I seem to talk about long term projects here quite a bit. This is one you may not have thought of as a long term project. A tiny dress that I cut out in 2010 for a granddaughter, that I am sewing in 2011 for a different granddaughter. I started sewing it yesterday, and whilst there has been progress today, it's not finished yet. I am using a seersucker fabric. I love seersucker! So soft, so cool in the summer months. Anyway, my fairly ordinary amount of sewing achieved today was because I embarked on a bigger project. I decided to shift my living room around. Something I have been thinking of for a while. Bam! I was hit with inspiration today and decided that THIS was the moment! It's not quite finished yet, but hopefully that will happen tomorrow. The shuffle neccessitated a visit to Ikea (of course) to pick up a now urgently needed item. All I can say is thank goodness Ikea is open until 9pm every week night here in Melbourne! I took "before" photos this morning, so if it turns out beautifully tomorrow I will show you. If I don't post it you can assume another visit to Ikea is in order!

It's the little things in life that make all the difference.

This is the baby's coat I have been working on. It is from one of Simplicity Patterns' vintage range. I love that they have introduced a vintage range. This is from a layette pattern which includes a dress, petticoat, and booties. I am all about dressing babies in a vintage manner. I love that babies all used to wear "nighties" no matter their sex for the first few months. It seems infinitely sensible to me and something I did for babies number 6, 7 and 8. Long live nighties! The coat is a soft green, but not quite as pale as my photo would have you believe.

The coat itself is finished and I am just working on embellishing it with a little embroidery. I was having a chat with Miss 24 the other day and we were discussing how it is the little extras in life that make all the difference. Nice to have a coat, even nicer to have an embellished one. What are the little things that make a difference in your life?

Sewing Result

I did get some sewing done today. This is a nightie for our new granddaughter. I also managed to finish crocheting the cardigan for the old granddaughter, but haven't started to put it together yet. I will have to get busy because Miss 24 is planning a drive to Adelaide soon and she can do a delivery for me!

This jumper is the work of Mrs 26 (picklesticks.) She is a wonderful knitter, but really dislikes sewing up her creations. So, the last time I was in Adelaide I grabbed a bunch to sew up and finish off for her. I'm not much on the knitting, but I quite like sewing knitting up! (Call me weird!) I think tomorrow will be another day of sewing here. I'm looking forward to it!

Happy Easter and the craft-a-thon.

We decided on Wednesday that we quite liked the idea of Easter running into Anzac Day. What's not to love about a five day weekend? Even so, we were a little down because this is the first Easter that we wouldn't get to see all of our kids. (In fact this weekend we are down to three kids because one is visiting in Adelaide.) So, what to do to cheer ourselves up?

A craft-a-thon!

Wednesday Miss 24, Miss 14 and I went to Lincraft and Spotlight to top up our supplies and then we started crafting! Hmm..... considering how much time we have spent crafting there's not a whole lot to show yet. Miss 14 made the Easter basket above. All up she made five of these baskets and has baked some choc chip cookies to go inside of them for her church youth group leaders to say thank you for the camp she attended last week. She has been quite productive!

I finished this crocheted rug, finally! Dawn commented last time I showed it that it looked like a patchwork crocheted rug which thrilled me, because that was exactly what I had in mind as I crocheted it. I crocheted it for our new grandchild who will be arriving in July. I also finished stitching the last of my Tis The Season blocks. I have yet to put borders on all the stitcheries, but plan to do that next week. My crafting efforts this weekend though are concentrating on that new grandchild and I am crocheting a cardigan and sewing some clothes. Miss 24 is busy knitting booties. Anyway, I must get back to it. Hopefully there will be some more finished articles by Tuesday!

Sewing and a headache.

I have had a headache all week. Every day I wake up with it and every day it is a little worse than the previous day. Last night it was impossible to sleep so I did a lot of tossing and turning and wandered around quite a bit. Today I got up and sat in front of the sewing machine for a couple of hours before giving up and going back to bed. Then I slept and slept and now at midnight I am quite awake. My head still hurts, but not like last night so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day! I came out to the sewing machine again at 9pm this evening and had a lovely time playing with theses squares. They are in the improvisational style of Malka Dubrawsky of A stitch in Dye. I love her work! And it was so fun to do. No measuring. Just the fabric, a pair of scissors and a sewing machine! I have something in mind for these, but will keep it to myself until I see if it works.

Yesterday I sewed this glasses case. I have struggled to get anything done during the week of the headache and this just came to my mind as I searched my scrap box for the brights I needed for the improvisational piecing. Using up my scraps has been a lot of fun!

A pair of rompers I managed to finish this week for granddaughter. Rompers must be a terribly old-fashioned item of clothing because none of my kids could make out what I was sewing when I worked on these.

Me: They're rompers.
Them: Right.
Me: For a baby.
Them: Right. (long silence) So who are they for?
Me: Granddaughter.
Them: Right. (long silence) So will they fit her?
Me: Yes, I measured her.
Them: Right. (long silence) So does her Mum want you to make them?

So, here they are finished. And yes they do fit her and will be a great thing to wear on a hot, hot day. Which we have't had many of so far this summer (She said whilst listening to rain on her roof. Most unusual for us. Adelaide doesn't usually do summer rain. One day at the beginning of the month we had our entire month's average in one afternoon!), but I'm sure those hot, hot days will come.

Remember this? I finally worked out a closure for this honeybun bag. The pattern used velcro with a button on the front for decoration. I'm not a huge fan of velcro. I used the snap machine to put a couple of snaps on the front. The idea came to me as I was putting snaps on the rompers. Anyway, I must get some sleep! Don't want to tempt the headache into returning with a vengance!

Sewing with oliver + s

I sewed an oliver + s pattern this week. A blouse for granddaughter. The fabrics I used were from American Jane's Punctuation range. If I made it again I think I would make it be a dress instead of a blouse and I don't think I would put the ties around the neck on it because they serve no useful purpose. You can't even do them up. The pattern was pretty straightforward, but I do have quite a bit of clothes sewing experience. Possibly if I had been a beginner I would have been a bit lost because there were not diagrams of every step. I have yet to see it on my granddaughter but I think it will be pretty cute and I will probably make some more!

More shirts.....

I finished two more shirts for grandson today, and a pair of overalls. I was so anxious to get them to him that I forgot to take a photo of them! I also managed to do another third on the shaggy flannel quilt for Miss 12. It's getting bigger!

Miss 23 got home from a two and a bit week road trip last night. I think she had fun! I also think she missed us. (We are soooo great - and modest!) We sat up late last night and listened to her tell road trip stories. Miss 17 is a Storyteller and one of her favourite ways to get everyone's attention is to say, "Hey! Telling a story here!", with a LOT of attitude. So that phrase was used over and over last night, with an excess amount of attitude, as we listened to Miss 23's stories as well as the stories of everyone who stayed home. Hey! Just because we didn't go anywhere doesn't mean we didn't have lots of exciting things to relate to Miss 23! While she was gone Miss 17 managed to get her driver's license which neccessitated the telling of many stories and that was just one of the many exciting things that happened in the last couple of weeks here at Rosemary Hill. Life is all go here! We seem to have a need to tell a lot of stories and laugh a lot. Perhaps that's why I'm so in love with blogging and reading blogs. It's the stories! Hope your story is a wondeful one today!

Shirts

It was a hot day today (42 degrees) so Mrs 25, her bloke, and grandson came over to keep cool. Mrs 25 is very pregnant with granddaughter (we think!). Miss 17 is in the photo of grandson above. He is busy not smiling at the camera. Eighteen month olds are quite cheeky! Of course we all think he's the bees knees as you can tell from Miss 17's adoring gaze.

Mrs 25 brought some sewing with her. She makes all of grandson's clothes because he is not an average kid. (We contend that he is above average, but we are somewhat biased.) She also designs his clothing because no ordinary patterns fit him. She had been sewing some new shirts for him and had been halted by the latest heatwave, so today I finished off three shirts that she started. I think that grandson certainly was born to the right mother because he would be naked if his Mum was not so talented! It is so much fun to finish things off and small clothes are so much fun to sew too!

After Christmas

I think this may just be a post without a photograph. I am still feeling a little under the weather and have spent all day today sitting or reclining. Yesterday I spent the day sewing a dress for Miss 23. For some reason it didn't occur to me to take a photo of it and now she has taken it with her to the Young Single Adult convention. It was labeled "easy" on the pattern and that was correct! Very simple and very quick to make (although nowhere near the one hour dress my sister made for one of her daughters.) I quite enjoyed sewing the dress and am planning to sew some more clothing this week. Last Wednesday I got some dress patterns for a tiny little girl and would like to make some of them for the new grandchild due in a couple of months time. Lots of plans and ideas. It must be nearly New Year!

The Dress and a Graduation

Left to right, Miss 19, Miss 17, Mr 21 (Yep! He had a birthday this week!). This is Miss 17 in her formal dress. Graduation was immediately before formal so we all got to go to the formal venue to celebrate the end of Miss 17's high school career with her. (This photo is Miss 17 with her two siblings who have moved out this year. The kids still at home miss them so much!)

Left to right, Mr 15, Miss 17, Mr 21. Miss 17 was very nervous about graduation because she had been invited to give the valedictory speech. She did a wonderful job! Of course I would say that because she is my kid, but others said it too last night. She wrote a brilliant speech and presented it beautifully.

The back of the dress. This morning she got up and said, "Well that's it Mum. I now have nothing to live for." said tongue in cheek of course! Then we figured out that her Year 12 results are only 2 or 3 weeks away and (hopefully) University offers are just over a month away. She is all psyched up for uni now - hope she gets into the course of her dreams! Kind of makes me feel old to have child number 5 graduating from high school and being just a few month off of adulthood. Where does the time go? I'm off now to clean up my sewing desk. It looks like a bomb hit it. I am such a messy sewer!

Monday was such a beautiful day.

It was a truly glorious day today. Really lovely spring weather! We haven't had much spring weather so far so today was even more wonderful. (After the last couple of weeks of 40+ temperatures spring weather is most welcome.) I managed to do some stitching and worked on Miss 17's formal dress. She fell madly in love with Jeffery's yellow checked couture dress from Project Runway. She loves the skirt, but not the bodice, so......

we chose the bodice in the photo above. We have several different checked fabrics and whilst none of them are incredibly yellow, they do have some yellow in them. (The original dress had three or four different fabrics in it.) So Miss 17 is pretty happy. I will be spending this week sewing her formal dress. And stitching redwork of course! I've nearly finished my redwork block of the month. Good thing too because I have just received the first of my new block of the month which I will show you later!

What blogs are good for.

I have often pondered why I keep a blog. (Intermittently of late!) In fact non blog keepers often ask me this question. It's a record of my achievements, a way to stay in touch with like minded souls, and hopefully a vehicle to help me remember things. So, the lesson for today is: I don't like sewing for other people. I actually discovered this truth for the first time about 24 years ago, but for some reason I forgot it. Finished this dress for a year 12 formal today - or so I thought. The year 12 concerned wants changes made. Hmm....... I am totally over it! My own year 12 is waiting patiently for me to start her formal dress, so that will be the next sewing project here.

So, if you bump into me anywhere, remind me that I don't like sewing for other people so I don't get into this situation again! I am looking forward to sewing Miss 17's dress. (When I say "other people" I don't mean my family!) I have been over at the Moda Bakeshop looking at their projects. I fell in love with this one. So, so pretty! Makes me want to rush out and buy jelly rolls, and honey buns, and layer cakes, and...... or maybe not. I kind of want to rush out and buy those things even without looking at the cute projects on Moda Bakeshop. We are expecting 43 degrees in Adelaide tomorrow. Too hot! So I will be spending the day sewing in front of the air conditioner!!!

Happy birthday Mr 14 (Or happy "insideout pants day")

Mr 14 is the new Mr 15 today. He is number 6 in my family and one of the nicest teenaged boys on the planet. (Do all parents think their kids are the best? I know it's kind of nausiating, but mine really are!) He is a dedicated grandson lover and spends as much time with him as he can. This has completely paid off because grandson loves him passionately. Grandson is nearly 10 months old and is doing the "mummy, mummy" thing at the moment. Can't bear to be separated from his Mum (exactly what he should be up to of course!) even when he is in the same room as she is! Except for his Dad (of course) and Mr 15.

Here he is with a couple of sisters. (The guy has an excess of sisters. There are five of them!) They all like him and like to hang out with him. (Hey! You gotta be doing something right if your sisters like you!) When he was young he nominated his birthday as "insideout pants day". It has become a tradition at our house that everyone looks forward to. In fact, mostly everyone here has their pants (trousers) on insideout today! He is a gentle giant and has always been. He was a huge 11lbs 13oz when he was born. When I was 37 weeks pregnant he was transverse. (Lying horizontally in the womb rather than vertically) This was quite strange and I could feel his head and his bottom in my sides. He seemed big to me. I thought, if this was a newborn lying on my stomach, he would be long! The 38 week mark was d-day. Transverse babies are at risk of cord prolapse (very bad!) if your waters break or you go into labour so generally they are born early by c-section. My doctor let me go home at 37 weeks if I promised to stay close to home and the hospital incase anything happened, but at 38 weeks I had to be admitted for a c-section. I was very nervous about having an operation and clung to the hope that he might turn around. We prayed that he would turn of his own accord and the night before my checkup I was woken in the middle of the night by incredible pressure in my abdomen. It was seriously strange and I had to get out of bed and squat on the floor to get any kind of relief. Of course, I woke Bradley up. (Afterall, it was his baby too!) and spent half an hour squatting, swaying and crying. Eventually, the pressure disappeared and the baby was moving and hiccupping away happily so I thought it was all good. When I went in to see my doctor he chastised me because I didn't have my overnight bag with me (it was in the car) and explained that I would be admitted that day. I told him that the baby had turned and he didn't believe me. Of course, he had turned (head down) and I was able to go home and wait for the natural delivery in two weeks time. At which time Mr 15 was 5.4kg and 60cm (24") long. I know I was blessed beause he turned around and despite being such a big baby I was able to give birth naturally without any help and without any stitches. Eeewwwwwww! (Sorry, just thought the conversation called for an eeewwwwwww at this point!) So, in a nutshell, he was big (although not chubby!), I had no problems, and he's a great 15 year old now. Phew! Finally!

Oh look, another photo of Mr 15 and grandson together! This little boy is lovely too. Chubby, but lovely. He was an ordinary sized baby when Mrs 24 pushed him out, but once he started breastfeeding he just grew and grew and grew. He has had lots of tests done and the doctors don't know why he is like this. But he is. I think that he is the luckiest little boy in the world because he came to the best Mummy possible for him. He can't wear ordinary clothes, so everything he wears is designed and made by his Mum. (She is awesome! I know I couldn't have designed clothes like she does when I was 24!) She is working on some warmer clothes for him at the moment and doing a great job. Okay, almost finished the nausiating appraisal of my wonderful children! They are great, all of them! And they are always doing amazing things. (Like getting great report cards and winning awards, and being kind to each other and thoughtful to those around them.) I love being their mother!

Sewing finishes!

This is the stitching bag I have made for my angel stitcher swap partner. I hope she likes it. I think she will because I think she wants new stitching bags! This photo is the one most in focus so I put it first so that you will be lulled away into a false sense of security and believe that there will be good things to look at in this post. It's working, right?

This is the front of the bug bag

And the back of the bug bag. I have yet to put the drawstring cord in this bag. Have to go to the shop and buy some cord.
I sewed a green shirt today! This is for my grandson and goes with the overalls I finished some time ago. I have a bunch of similar outfits cut out that need sewing up. I have also been altering navy blue shorts for Miss 16 to wear to school when it is hot. They were just too long for her (she's not very tall) so I took them up 23 cms! School starts again next monday so I need to get her organised.