Getting there

The big second birthday is looming, super fast! Today I finished the top, I should get it done in time, feeling positive. 

I used Posey as the stripes and a lovely fabric from Free Spirit. 

The grey is Robert Kaufman. It is huge, nearly 2m squared! It's going to keep Greta super cosy.

I can't believe she is almost two. It's crazy, I feel like she is my baby. I feel a little sad. 

Tx

Flying high Ryan

My big boy is about to turn eight...8!!!!!!! My baby is almost two and Adele is totally rocking school. This week, more so than normal, it is really hitting home that they are growing up and it is that old saying, it is happening so fast. FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!

So today when Ryan asked me to make a photo of him flying in his balloon, I knew I had to say yes, these requests over time will be come fewer and fewer. He does art classes and a while back the made hot air balloons.

 
And at the moment doing these things make me happy. Especially to day, it has been nice to take a minute or two (ok an hour or two) and do something for them. With doing my course, working, school, three kids and then my other course, some days I feel so spread thin. A lot of it is my own fault and I love every single aspect of it all, but you know, life is crazy!!!!! Friday night was a great recharging night, Blair and I usually get home from work and taking the kids to their swimming lessons, set on the couch and then go to bed. But this Friday he came home with some wine and we relaxed and chatted and just had a nice time. It has meant the weekend has been some what more fun as it felt like we had a bit of a break. Even if we were at home.

Anyway... I am making progress on Gretas quilt, I have one more week before my photography course starts up again so I want to have it all done by then. I am feeling confident that it will be pretty much done. She is obsessed with bags so I want to make her a messenger type bag too. See, I do it to myself ;)

Just a couple more I have done, I just love making photos of the kids, certainly helps they are so adorable

Tx

Super heroes Quilt

I made the top for this a while back, now that I have a new baby nephew it was time to finish it off. They are coming down this weekend so that was perfect motivation to get it done. 

Thankfully I did as the backing I wanted was almost all gone. 

So just a bit of scrappy binding

And blue chevron flannel. It's going to be so cuddly. 

It really is the best feeling finishing off a WIP. I also brought backing for Adele's new (old) quilt so I can finish that off soon. Just Greta's to do first and then Adele's. Who needs sleep! 

Tx

Birthday planning

It's not long now till my baby is no longer a baby and a big two year old. I am very very sad about this. I love babies.

Any ways, because it's not long to go I thought I better make a start on birthday presents. Today, less the buttons, I finished off Greta's dress and hence the colour of her party.

I made an Addison, a super girlie dress. I made one for Adele's fourth birthday, well I think it was for that. So this time it came together very quickly, took two days to make, with sewing mostly in the morning only.

Originally I was going to do it round the other way but last minute changed my mind, so glad I did. It's going to be terrible to keep clean but she will look beautiful for her birthday.

So now just a quilt to make. Thankfully it is a break between semesters so hopefully will get the quilt done in the next two weeks. Then it is back to crazy busy. Makes life exciting I guess

Tx

Pasta

We have a pasta maker, had it for maybe 5 years. Still in its box. For some unknown reason Blair decided to make pasta today. Because, you know, we only have a million other things to do... It was actually fun and very interesting giving it a  go. Easy but hard, recipe only two ingredients, 500 grams of flour and 4 eggs, the mixing and kneading very hard. 

So we wanted to try a little bit, with a lot of nerves we started feeing it through the maker and after a few feeds through we made angel hair pasta!!!

I cooked it up and it tastes like brought stuff, but better because we made it! Very very cool!! 

Tx

A pretty pink skirt

Today I managed to whip up a skirt for Adele whilst Greta was asleep. She has seen one I made for Greta and said she liked the design. Being a sucker for compliments I obliged and made her one. I saw some many lovely fabrics but I know she loves pink and I really wanted her to wear it. 

I made a contrasting under skirt from grey and white. 

 

And a pocket for treasures, must remember to check before washing it! 

The fabric is Little Azalea and the grey Robert Kaufman. The pattern is  Anna-Maria's All Set.

And then Greta started posing, she was in her pants from the other day...

Cheeky!!

Tx

Another pair of the old faithful

Having finally used most of my bigger pieces of fabric I went about brought a few more pieces. Enough for these pants for Greta, a birthday dress for her and a skirt for Adele. Today I whipped up the pants. Greta actually squealed with delight when she saw them. Oh how I love her!! And she picked the pink, I kept pointing to a wonderful purple, but no, she wanted the pink. 

They are quite bright and that's perfect for these deary winters days. 

Tomorrow I am going to hopefully make Adele's skirt, well that's the plan anyway. 

Tx

Off to a baby shower

My baby brother and his fiancé are about to have their first baby, hard to believe, not the baby part but MY baby brother is having a baby. Absolutely means we are getting old. 

At the moment life is a bit reactory. What ever is happening next gets the attention, very little forward planning. Not exactly how I like to live but just how it is at the moment. Term break in 6 week for me and as much as I love my course, a break will be welcomed for sure!! 

Anyway so Saturday morning, literally the morning of the shower, I started making the gift. I knew what I was making and had the fabric sorted, I had manged a shop for zip so was ready to go. A few hours later, between breakfast and showers and the craziness of our house it was done. Perfectly I had a random green button too. 

Not for them to go now, five weeks. It will fly past.

Tx

Another little boy quilt

We have three babies to make gifts for and three unknown sexes as of yet. Recently we had an unknown, which was a little boy, so they got the robot quilt. I have ready to go one little girl and now one little boy quilt ready and waiting (well still need the quilting and binding). I figure if I have one of each ready at any time then I will always be prepared ;)

So the cute quilt was made from the Robert Kaufman range called "super dogs". Well I think that's its name, it doesn't sound quite right. 

I just cut it all into 5 inch squares and went from there. I saw this lay out on Pintesr and copied. 

I love the bright bold colours

And I love the chevrons, and I just love the characters, what is there not to like about it!! 

Two of the pending babies will have their sex found at their next scan, one baby is due in 6 weeks, and that one will be my niece or nephew, so pretty excited!!!!!!! I can't wait to meet him or her.

Tx

A wee skirt

Poor Greta, being the third baby in a family of busy people she misses out on the same level of handmade stuff. 

I had been in her wardrobe and she hardly has any clothes compared to the others. But to be fair she probably has way too many. So since I was on top of my school work and Ryan is home sick meaning we can't go to our normal activities I jumped at the chance to do some sewing for her.

I rummaged through my left overs bins (yes bins) and found the perfect combination to make this skirt.

I just love Anna Maria!!!!

Still need elastic :( The pattern had the skirt lined and the two layers sewn together, I changed it and made the top layer a bit shorted and the bottom a bit longer so sort of have it peeking out from under the denim. 

Ryan loves Greta has a matching outfit to him, the Hulk fabric is left over from some pants I made him. And the denim is from an Adele project. The front is a large pocket, I am sure my washing machine will become introduced to treasure Greta stores in there ;) 

Tx

Crazy!!!!!

I am rather short of hours, each day finishes well before I get through my to do list. Under taking part time study has been a much bigger project than I thought it would be, but I am loving it course so it hardly feels like a hassle. Plus I agreed to continue with my PlayCentre study, working on my Course Four. So another big project. 

Wednesday is my good day. I don't have to head out, Blair picks up the kids from school, Greta and I just hang. Today all I wanted to do was clean the house and hang out. 

Once I got a good chunk of the work done I felt the pull of the sewing room. It's been a long time since I made any thing. So I wanted an achievable project, and if I had elastic these pants won't be all done. 

I used my trusty Anna Maria pattern and made some quick change pants. Seriously 30 mins including cutting! 

I used Amy Butler Lark I think it's called and left overs from Adele's birthday dress

Yeah they are pretty bright :) Perfect for these dreary days. 

Tx

Book Review For Kiwi Mummy Blogs

This week we were lucky enough to receive copies of Stories for 6 Year Olds and Stories for 7 Year olds to review as part of the Kiwi Mummy Blog Review.  Perfect for my 7 year old son, he has just started reading chapter books by himself, we have done some as a family, but it has been nice seeing him reading by choice. Sometimes I find with a full novel he doesn't quite get to the end, but a collection of short stories had me wondering and hoping that this might engage him to finish.

These books were a collection of short stories, short enough to ready one as a bed time story but still catching enough for the whole family, including Blair and I  to enjoy. Even Adele would listen intently to each story. But the best part was as the stories were catchy and exciting Ryan would read one at night by himself and not only would he read them, he wanted to read them! They got carried over to the beach, to Nana and Poppas and in the car. They are well loved and have the dog ear look of love. I don't think I have seen him ready so much, It certainly was a shame when they came to an end.

Adele is chopping at the bit to get to the point in her reading so she can read them by herself. Her being a little bit more determined, it shouldn't be far away.


If you want to have a read you can buy them from here

http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/books/various/stories-for-7-year-olds-9781775536147.aspx
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Stories-6-Year-Olds-Nicola-Baxter/10314038426/bd

The best thing about the Stories For 7 Year Olds is it is written by some well known New Zealand authors and some wonderful up and coming authors. Its just a little something I quite like.

Leggings

We are still waking up early, a pretty consistent 6am. Now we are into the school holidays I am hoping a couple of later nights might move them to a little bit later wake up time. 

So today, making the most of the time, I made Greta a couple of pairs of legging and tried out a new recipe.

Some pink, left overs from a dress I made Adele years ago. 

And blue, was meant to make Ryan a tee shirt, there is still probably enough but likely won't. Maybe some leggings for Adele.

And a batch of ANZAC biscuits. 

And it's only 1035 am. 

Tx

Way too early

Daylight saving has just ended so that compounded with Greta waking ridiculously early we have been up since 440. It's going to be a long long day. 

The upside is it's 645 am and I have made two skirts already. Adele has a class morning tea this morning, perfect excuse to make a new matching outfit. 

I had this fabric left over from Adele's Christmas dress, she still wears the dress but hey, at this early in the morning you have to go with what you have.

Greta's I found some yellow ric rac. I think how it makes it a little bit more baby girl like.

It's just a basic elasticised waist skirt. Nothing too flash, certainly wasn't digging out patterns this morning. 

Only three more hours till morning tea. Time for another coffee me thinks. 

Tx

Mini Poppy

The kids have a mufti day on Friday so that has been my motivation to finish Adele's mini poppy being the little fashionista she already has her boot and stockings by the door, all sorted and ready to go. It's her first muftie day so she is very excited. 

I used a very light weight denim with this fabric. I love the two together, it is just how I planned it before I had even found the fabric. 

With her growing up I can't use over the top cute fabrics anymore, I have to find subtle cuteness. I love how the blue of the fabric matches the denim but still has flowers and a bit of pink. 

I don't know what the fabric is called but I really like it and wish I had some more.

Tx

A baby boy quilt

We have three babies, all sex unknown and due soon-ish. I figured that mean there is a good chance one of them will be a boy and it is as good a time as any to make a boy quilt. Even if all three are girls at some point there has to be a baby boy born. Either way it is a little forward planning. 

I used pretty much all of the Atomic Bots I had left. I think I have 5 or 6 squares left. Such a shame because I really love this fabric, it's a really lovely green and blue. It's a good size too, about 45 inches squared

It's pretty basic but at the moment I am really into sewing 5 inch squares. 

I am going to bind it in the same green/blue that boarders the blocks. 

And then hopefully off to a new home soon. 

I am trying really hard to use up all my fabrics I have squirrelled away. I figure it is sort of saving money as I would be making projects for these babies anyway and the fabrics are lovely and well it makes logic to me . 

Tx

Make It Perfect Shorts

It's getting harder and harder to find things to make for Ryan. So when I saw this shorts pattern  I had to get it. I used the Big Lon Shorts by Make it Perfect. As I was making the shorts I was worries they would be too short, but they are, well, perfect! 

I love the knee patches. I turned the fabric so it was in a different direction than the main body of the shorts.

And with the knit band a little bit more grown up than an elastic waist.

The fabric is Parson Gray by Vagabond. It's so lovely. Perfect for my boy turning into a teenager. 

Tx

On a quiet weekend....

I thought i would make another quilt. Of course, why not it seemed a good thing to do. Saturday night was spent ironing and cutting 5 inch squares. Sunday night was spent sewing pairs and rows and just now I have finished the top. I don't really have any backing at the minute and since these quilts are meant to be using scraps I have put it aside until I have some flannel left over from another project. 

This one has a lot of my favourite fabrics, fabrics I had folded away and kept for best but really when is best going to come. I has made the planned item so I unfolded them and most of them I realised were small irregular shapes anyway 

Tx

Finished

Just a few photos to show the Playcentre quilt all done.

Some nice flannel for the back, Red Ridinghood and shoes

And bright green binding 

Tx