Sugar and spice and everything nice

Hi all,

These gorgeous cushions can be custom made to suit for any occasion. Birthday, new baby, housewarming gift etc.

All cushion covers are hand made. The applique is secured by either hand blanket stitched or by machine. 

Hope your week is treating you and yours well..

Sof xx

Whats a few months between friends

Hello lovely blogger readers. Yet again months have passed without a blog post. Time just goes by so fast at the moment.

Not alot going on in my part of the world. I had a few weeks of absolutely no creativity whatsoever and then a burst of enthusiasm (and necessity) drove me back to the sewing room to create again.

The kinder kids birthday season has started again and this year I've chosen to make the birthday kids messenger bags. I really enjoy making these and, with all things, the more I make, the better they get. My latest messenger bag was fashioned from an old pair of the birthday boy's own jeans which is mum had given to me to upcycle.

Sorry for the slightly fuzzy picture. The light was fairly poor.

I used the back pockets of the jeans rather than create new pockets and they turned out really well. It did take me a little longer to cut the fabric but it was really satisfying to create something new from something which would have been otherwise thrown away.

I have spent a little time making a jacket for Miss G. I spent a decent amount of time trying to buy a winter coat but could not find a decent one. IAll I could find were flimsy, barely lined numbers which were poorly made and came in the most awful colours or trims.

The exterior fabric used for this jacket was free, picked up from freecyclers and the fabric lining I found at my local op shop, costing me the princely sum of $1 for about 3 metres. The buttons I pinched from my mums button collection. I liked the effect of the 6 different buttons.

I decided to make a size 6 thinking i'd be able to stretch the jacket out for a few winters. However, I found that the sleeves were a little too tight and, unfortunately, Miss G cant wear a jumper underneath it. So its destined to be a dress jacket.

Finally, Ive made a couple of margaret bags for my mum in law and a friend who recently celebrated her birthday.

Michael Miller owl fabric.

Shoulder version made for my mum in law.

Im currently working on an owl softie and some more cute kids clothes. No doubt there will be a few more messenger bags in the works. 

Hope all is well in your part of the world.

Sof xx

Small things

This weeks sewing is full of small things.

Small notebooks for some small people...

with small pencils for small fingers...

and some notebooks for the bigger small children (these hold pens)

and a small library bag for a special small girl.

Hope you're having a wonderfully big weekend.

Another completed project

Hot off the sewing machine.... a new bag. Yes Im very pleased with myself. I managed pleats, box corners, turning and interlining... something i'd never heard of before. The bag is bigger than I though it would be. I was thinking more handbag. This could be a nappy bag considering its size. Im hoping the person I made it for (for a fundraiser) will like it. Im hoping the fabric isnt too old fashioned. I'll have to ask my teenage niece. .

Front of bag with a small tab and button close. Not particularly secure but looks nice and its super easy (and doesn't involve zips which I've yet to master).

Inside complete with two pockets that are way to high (followed the pattern). Should have listened to mum and sewn them on lower. Why do I doubt my mums advise? She is the best seamstress I know..!

The bag pattern can be found here . The pattern instructions were OK. There was one page missing from the pdf pattern download and some of the steps weren't super clear but you had enough to work it out. Just a word of warning. If you haven't done boxed corners, the instructions weren't that clear. If you want to try boxed corners click here for a great tute.

In other news, took the girls to the zoo on the last nice day of autumn last week. Here are some shots Miss G and I took.

Visiting the butterfly house. We've had to by-pass the butterfly house on the last few visits as the line was hideously long due to the baby elephant being on display (the butterfly house is on the elephant trail).

Riding an elephant.

Baby A exclaiming 'Woooowwww!'

Miss G's shot of the giant tortoise. It was the first time we'd seen one move despite ALWAYS visiting the display on our zoo visits (atleast once a month). It was pretty speedy. As you can see, Miss G was hiding behind another kid as the keeper had told the kids to stay behind the barrier because the tortoise liked fingers. Miss G demanded to leave soon after this picture was taken.

Im honoured!

So much has happened in the past few days that I have to sub-categorise this post!

Fantastic news
I got a wonderful call today from a dear friend. Her and her partner of many years have finally decided to set a date and get married (after a 4 year engagement and a gorgeous little boy) and she's asked me to be her witness!! Im really chuffed and excited to have been asked.
She and I met when hubby and I bought our first house. She was our next door neighbour but we didnt meet until we got our dog, LIbby. Libby used to run up and down along the gate when she heard her and neighbouroonie (as we now call each other) took to talking to her. I guess 'roonie made friends with Libby before we did!! I cant remember the first meeting but we became really good friends quickly and when the fence had to be replaced, we decided to put a gate between our properties so we could have the dogs (she had a dog Jack who became our dog too) run between the two backyards and we could visit without having to walk on the street :). Libby and Jack were pretty much inseparable and if they hadn't been fixed, i'm sure there would have been puppies everywhere!

A few years went by and she moved (temporarily) to another state so we looked after the cats and Jack. Then she fell in love.... with a man in the service which meant that she moved away. We were all very sad. Jack stayed with us for a year or so and then 'roonie, having settled into her new home with her new man, came and took Jack.
It wasnt the same without 'roonie next door which is one of the reasons we decided to move. She rented her place to the tenants from hell (one of many) and the house we were in just wasnt big enough for the next step in our lives (kids) so we moved. She is still interstate. Ian, Libby and I miss her terribly. I wish she was back in Melbourne but alas, home is where the heart is and she's now at home.. .and getting married!!

Craftiness

I've started (and hope to finish tomorrow) a present for my second oldest niece. She is the most amazing artist. She sits for hours and draws pictures good enough for the pages of a manga magazine. I'll have to ask her for a picture or two to put up. Shes only 12!! Here are the materials that im using for her present. Ofcourse, as she reads the blog, I wont put any pics up of the finished article till Wedesday (tuesday being her birthday).


Ive also started to do some embroidery again. I used to do alot of cross stitch (another thing roonie and I used to do together) but that has fallen by the wayside as Ive become obsessed with sewing. A few weeks back I was lying in bed and for some reason, the thought of embroidering little red riding hood popped into my head. A few days ago, whilst reading a blog by Chaletgirl, I was once again inspired by her embroidery and I just knew I had to pick up material and embroidery floss once again. Its only half completed but Im really enjoying it. Its not as neat as Chaletgirl's embroidery but I havent done much backstitching so Im pretty happy with it so far. Im not sure what Im going to do with it yet. Maybe a cushion, a library bag or I might just get a smaller embroidery hoop and hang it on the wall in one of the girls rooms.

Weekend
Finally (the post is almost finished I swear! As a family, we did alot this weekend. Im not surprised that the kids went straight to sleep tonight.

Saturday morning we went and saw the The Giglees (put your sunglasses on before you click this link!) then had a wonderful lunch at the Gasworks Cafe with hubby's brother and sis-in-law and 3rd oldest niece M.

Today I dragged hubby and the kids off to the Melbourne Showgrounds Farmers market. There wasnt a huge number of stalls (and a surprising lack of fruit which I was after) but we did find some of the tastiest, crunchiest grapes around. Here is a pic of baby A crunching away...


and offering mum some...


Even Daddy got a treat. He picked up this old Atari and a huge box of games from the naturestrip (one mans trash, another mans treasure) and spent some of the afternoon (while the kids were sleeping) "testing" the games and console.


Then off to visit some of my oldest and dearest friends at their new place (and to check out her sewing machine which Im considering buying). Phew!