How do you bribe 3 kids to go fabric shopping with you?

With a trip to City Park to visit the monkeys of course!!

After a very successful trip to Spotlight (cotton velour for $1mt among other bargains scored!!) with three very well behaved children we headed off to the park for a picnic lunch, a play and a chat with the monkeys. What a wonderful way to enjoy the last of the Aututmn sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Monkey Girl!

Well, our baby is 2 today and really growing up way too fast! I'm not sure she's quite grasped the concept of a birthday but she sure loved us singing Happy Birthday to her a bunch of times today! When we asked her what kind of cake she'd like the answer was always "Eee eee cake" and so here is her very own monkey cake...cake by Daddy, decoration by Mummy.

There's also a pic of her new monkey pants, pattern from Ottobre 1/2006, pattern number 7. I've done them with dark brown cord and the cuff and pockets are from a Japanese line with a fun "Eee eee print". It's a great pattern for straight legged pants and would be perfect in a linen or drill too. The pockets were meant to have a frill on them which I might try next time as it looked really cute in the mag.

This is my smiley face....

...even though I'm feeling rather NOT like smiling. I don't usually do the personal type post but wanted to pop on and show off my lovely "Pay it Forward" gift from my fun friends in the US THANKYOU!
Here's a pic of the gorgeous fluffy scarf to keep me warm this winter....the photo is a shocker as it was taken with a mobile phone. Plus it shows me looking rather seedy after spending a day in hospital. This weekend has been rather icky as I have something called bilary dyskinesia assosiated with post cholectomy syndrome, say that 10 times fast! Basically it's a big pain in the side :P
Anyway, enough of that, I'm back home now and feeling better and ready to get on with things...slowly!
Hope your weekend was a better one!

Inspiration for creation....

I love this!

Hmmm.....frozen veggies anyone?

This is what we woke up to this morning......

Hilda and Susette

Sounds like the title of sappy kids picture book or something but it's the two latest Ottobre creations I've finished sewing. First one was the Hilda hooded top from 6/2007 and was made with mint green french terry. I'd actually finished the top about 2 months ago but it was a little big and I couldn't think of what to do on the front. (I left off the pocket...lazy I know!) A really easy pattern and came together without too much drama.

The pants are the Susette pants from 1/2008 (my favourite issue!). I was originally making them for Mary's birthday which is coming up (my baby will be 2...shock!) and so I cut the next size up to what I usually make for her. While sewing them up I realised that they were HUGE so they've been 'handed up' to her older sisters. It's a very generous sized pattern and I while I like the gathered look on the yoke I think I would try and adjust them to be a bit slimmer. I just made them full length and didn't add the elastic to the bottom cuff....also left off the sash and belt loops, too fiddly!

I sewed them up at our new community sewing group....yipee!! It's great fun and if you happen to be in northern Tassie on a Thursday night drop me a line and I'll let you know the details :)

Outfit is modeled on miss 5 who had spent the best part of the night before being sick so she's doing her best to look chirpy.

 

 

 

 

Yo yo!

How cute are yo-yo's?! I've tried making them before and they've always been wonky but I splashed out on a Clover Yo yo maker on the weekend and ta-da! Much neater and super easy. I've used it to decorate hair clips and last night a skirt I was finishing for my adorable niece who celebrated a 2nd birthday last week....yes, Aunty Suzie is a bit slack :P

The skirt pattern is from Ottobre 4/2007 number #14 and is so simple and super cute. I actually ordered this issue for this pattern as it's almost identical to the girls school skirts. I managed to track down the exact fabric and will be making a few and saving myself a fair bit of money (How expensive are uniforms?! Don't get me started......)

Anyway the pattern is just one piece, same front and back and has two pleats on each panel. It's an elastic waist and takes no time to whip up! Hope she likes it :)

 

 

Some winter sewing

Winter has descended on our corner of the world and boy, it's chilly! My sewing room happens to be the coldest room in the house so I've had to pack up and move my things into a room with a heater...it's hard to work a sewing machine when your fingers are frozen!
I've been busy making odds and ends ready for winter, trackies, hoodies, more flannel PJ pants etc. There was also a big pile of mending that I'm slowly making my way through.

Last night I sat down and finished another pair of the Pulputus pants....slightly modified. I used the shape of the Tarku pants as a guide to bring the width of them in a bit and I omitted the pintucks on the back pockets and added some Fabenmix ribbon instead.

The brown cord is from spotlight and is lovely and soft.....wish I'd gotten enough to make myself a pair!

 

 

I've also been reading the most amazing book that is changing the way I think about what we're eating. It's called "More With Less" Cookbook. It's a collection of 500 recipes from Mennonite kitchens that teaches us how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources. The principles outlined in the book closely follow what our church teaches in regard to physical and spiritual heath and wellbeing.
We've already tried out a few recipies from the book and they were so delicious and so simple too. Our local library didn't have it but I requested it in, it's an oldie but they recently did an updated version. Big thumbs up from here!