I'm Back!

From nowhere in particular...just having an impromptu blogging break, but now I've got a bit more time because Ella (my youngest) started school last week so I should be a bit more organised. That's the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Hope you are all well and had a lovely Christmas and New Years. Thanks to those who sent me messages wondering if I was OK.

We had a lovely break and really enjoyed not having to do the morning 'get ready for school' routine.

I did get some sewing done. A top for me which is a first...well the first one I've actually worn! It's a really light cotton voile fabric and I used Simplicity pattern 4177 that I bought for $1 a while ago.

It's so comfy and cool on these hot summer days. I think I'll be making another one soon.

Well, that's all for now. I'm looking forward to sitting down and catching up on all your blogs.

Cheers, Hannah
xx

Christmas Stockings...finally

I've finally got round to making the kids some Christmas stockings. We've been using skiing socks for the past few years which works OK, although it was a bit hard to squeeze the presents in.

I used this pattern (very easy) and just used old fabric I had around the house.

I thought Joe wouldn't like a ruffle so just did a plain cuff.

Please excuse the dodgy photos! I just didn't have time to muck around this morning.

My Creative Space...

How slack am I?? No blog posts for over a week!

Oh well. I have a bit of an excuse, a new toy, my very first iphone...yay. I love it, so today I'm going to make it a case. Just one for when it's floating around in my bag.

What iphone app can't you live without? or which one do you just really love?

Check out more creativeness at Kootoyoo

Ella's first disco

Last night Ella went to her very first disco. Her cousin, Freya, gave her a very sparkly dress last week which was way too big so I took it in a bit and made it shorter and she had the perfect disco dress.

She was dressed at lunch time and practiced her moves all afternoon.

She had a ball, the DJ was awesome (some kudos coming his way) and the lolly shop got a lot of business! Joe danced all night as well, so cute.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.
xx

My Creative Space...

...involves sewing some new curtains for the cupboards in the Kindy and Year One wet area at Joe's school out of this cute, and very bright, fabric.

They are to replace these old ones.

Also, I went up to Spotlight yesterday (I got a free $10 voucher in the mail) and found these bits of fabric in the remnants bin. I might make a Christmas dress for Ella. They are so soft.

Check out more creativeness over at Kootoyoo. xx

A skirt, some shorts and some decorations

We've been making things round here. First of all, a skirt (Insa from this book). What a lovely pattern. I'll be making more of these. This one went to a gorgeous girl who turns 1 this week. The lace on the bottom is left over from my sisters wedding dress and the fabrics are all from the op shop.

Next up are some shorts I made for Ella. I've just got to do the hem and probably add a frill of some sort. The fabric is a sheet from the op shop. I love the large print. This is the Dortje Trousers pattern from the same book as I mentioned above but I just made it shorter (obviously).

I try to get the kids to make some Christmas decorations each year, this year we've gone for air dry clay shapes to hang on the tree. We cut them out with cookie cutters (mostly) and have painted one side which I just sprayed with a sealer so we can do the other side tomorrow.

And this is what I don't want to be doing today, but it's going to be hard to avoid because there's no space to cook dinner. It was clear the other day. I'm still amazed at how quickly it gets like this.

Hope you're all having a nice Monday. xx

Manhattan Dress

Well, I jumped in the deep end and sewed the hardest item in the book. My sister wanted to make one for her daughter so I thought I would as well, the Manhattan Special Occasion Dress.

It was a bit tricky, lots of curved seams which I'm not all that good at, but I learn't a lot. I did the 3-4 size.

It definitely passes the twirl test.

I got the fabric at an op-shop and I think the lining is from an old white sheet I had in the scraps container. The only thing I need to buy is some purple ribbon, the pink is just in there because that's all I had.

I love how the hemline is longer at the back and the little cap sleeves are so cute. You can't really see it in these photo's (due to some wild hair) but it also has a little collar which Ella has named the Snow White collar.

I'm just hoping she wears this one....the last dress I made she doesn't like! I know, it's taken me a while to accept as well, but there you go. She say's it's because it's got green on it. Well this one has green on it as well but she chose the fabric from the stash this time so I'm crossing my fingers.

If anyone has any idea's what to do with the Feliz (above) I'm open to suggestions...a nice charity or if you want to do a dress swap that would be good too. I can't stand to see it just dumped on the floor of the bedroom any more!

Hope you're all well. xx

Feliz Dress

I'm a bit addicted to sewing clothes from my new book. This is my latest effort, the Feliz Party Dress.

I just did it out of a couple of old sheets.

It'll be a nice summer dress, it's very light and soft. I did the 3-4 size and the fit is really good.

Hope you're all having a nice Tuesday. xx

Dortje Trousers

I know I said I was going to make the Riviera Leggings next, but I was desperate to try these, they look so gorgeous in the book.

They're a bit big. ..I did the size 5-6 for Ella who's 4.

I just used fabric I had on hand and used up some scraps. Kate (Dash Robin), do you recognise the green crochet flower?

They were so fun to make...I covered up a couple of mistakes with trim.

I might try a size smaller soon maybe with some old denim.

I want a pair for myself now.

My Creative Space...

You know the other day I was asking for book recommendations...well I decided on one and got it a couple of days ago.

I decided on this one in the end and I'm glad cause I love it!

Yesterday I made this for Joe. I haven't made all that many clothes so thought I'd better start with something simple and then move onto the harder stuff.

I made it with polar fleece because I had some and it's stretchy. It turned out ok.

Joe likes it because when he wear's it he has flames on his bottom. He asked for the pointy hood.

It's the first time I've done reverse applique which I've discovered is really fun.

My next project will be the Riviera Leggings out of one of these (or both). Wish me luck.

Check out lots of other creativeness at Kootoyoo.

Off the topic of being creative....I just got a phone call from one of my neighbours and got told off for there being a ball in her backyard! Apparently she want's us to go and collect them straight away if one goes over OR to ban ball games in our backyard! The cheek! It's not my fault that she's going to get a hip replacement replaced today...she doesn't have to take all her nerves out on me!

Oh for a rural block with loads of space.
xx

My Creative Space...

The time has come to get rid of the kid's night nappies in our house so I was looking around for mattress protecters during the week, you know the ones you can just put on top of the sheets and if they have an accident just take them off and the kids can get straight back into bed. Gosh they're expensive! They cost around $40 each, so that wasn't going to work. Anyway I looked around some more on the internet and found this tutorial to make your own...I just needed to get some PUL fabric which I found at a bargain price of $19.80 for 2 meters from here (it's on special at the moment which was good timing).

So my mission today is to make some of these and start using them tonight. I'm using some old cotton sheets for the top layer and an old cotton blanket for the absorbent layer in the middle.

I even did a test run and I'm impressed, it worked really well. Wish me luck.

Check out all the other creativeness over at Kootoyoo.

Fabric storage basket

It was my lovely sister's birthday on the weekend so I made her a storage basket from this tutorial.

It kind of goes with her living room colour scheme.

You've probably seen me use that embroidered fabric before (this was the last of it), it was a skirt I picked up at an op shop. The paisley was also from an op shop, there was a few meters of it so I'll make an iPad sleeve or two from the rest of it.

The pink on the bottom is an Ikea fabric.

Hope you all had a great weekend. xx

My Creative Space...

I'm dropping in my sewing machine today for a service because it's been playing up a bit over the last few days so I won't be doing any machine sewing till I get it back next week. So instead of using my machine I've been hand stitching this.

My MIL asked me to make a cover for a book that she uses every day.

I just sandwiched a stiff interfacing between two op-shoped fabrics and blanket stitched round the edges. I did iron that pink gingham, not sure what happened there. I'll need to give it another iron I think.

Anyway, hopefully now it will last her a few more years to come.

For other creativeness go to Kootoyoo (thanks Kirsty).

Elsie's finished coat

I might have got a bit carried away on the trim.

I did a sort of blanket stitch round the bottom edge and crocheted a simple lacy bit for around the neck.

I think my dog, Wicket was about to sneeze in this photo...