A Petal Problem

What to do what to do? I was actually planning on sewing this evening but my poor sewing machine has had a tantrum and seems to want to spend its Friday night locked away. While it gets over its little hissy fit I thought I'd revisit this jacket which I sort-of finished a few weeks back:

I'm just not sure about those petals. Before I put it on her they looked ok, but they're just a bit big. Not to mention perfect for sucking and sopping, soggy wool isn't really a look we're going for in this house. So I think tonight I might cut them off and finish the collar a different way. Pattern is from here.

A finished project!

Remember this?

that the speedy and very talented Ferne embroidered for me?

well it finally turned into this:

I have to say I'm not 100% happy with the result, but after pulling out the topstitching a thousand times (ok, maybe twice) I decided enough was enough and I was actually making things worse rather than better. It's not as neat as I'd like but hopefully my friend will like it. Her little girl is only a couple of months old but she's firmly on the cloth-nappy bandwagon - this is just my way of making sure she stays there. She uses mainly pocket nappies though and this has a snap-in booster - hope she doesn't mind the difference, personally I find snap ins a lot easier :)

It's been wrapped and posted so now just waiting to hear that it arrives safely - and then crossing all my fingers and toes that it doesn't leak everywhere the first time she uses it!

I'm back

Busy, busy and busier - that's me lately. I don't know where the time goes! Having a baby who's decided that she needs to feed every 3 hours around the clock certainly uses up my day (and night), plus hubby has been in hospital (he's ok, just had to sort out his little snoring problem!).

The cleanup never really happend. Actually, I'm embarassed to say that everything is more or less where I left it, apart from the addition of even more stuff. Still, I did manage to turn a bit of it into something useful -

Cupcake minky 'twins'! While they look quite different - one is pink, one is green (duh!), one is side closing and one is front closing they're actually very similar - both are the same print, same size, AI2 with snap-in boosters. And best of all, both work equally well and look equally cute!

  rear view

side view

Next up will be something special with this -

for a friend's baby. The awesomely fast Ferne had it done within 24 hours for me and I haven't had the time to do anything with it! This week, I promise :)

Time to tidy up....

Wow, what a busy couple of weeks! Happy Easter everyone!

Two weddings, a couple of birthdays, Easter... the list goes on, we've hardly been at home and I'm exhausted. One more wedding this weekend then we get a break for a bit so in anticipation of lots of time at home to sew I decided that today was the day to have a bit of a spring clean and work out what I've got / what I need and what I can make...... hmmm.

So this is what the house looked like first thing this morning:

Inside my sewing/craft cupbouard (I need a much, much bigger one)

 Desk in the study (reason I need a much, much bigger cupboard). Recent addition is the huge pile of stunning minky destined to become nappies, and the funky zebra-print tissue paper it came wrapped in.

The kitchen table - we've haven't eaten here in a while:

 

Almost finished nappy on the other end of the table - need to get that done today as well:

The couch - recent fabric order, mainly suedecloth and cotton velour:

The other couch - almost-finished soaker,  just need to get my smaller needles back from niece who nabbed them on the weekend to knit a phone cover (I'm so proud of her!)

Problem is, where to start? I think I'll tackle the nappy and get that done (should only take 15 minutes) and go from there. Taking a deep breath and turning the coffee machine on......

Opening Day!

An exciting day today, it's opening day for the EB colour-themed swap! My parcel only arrived yesterday - lucky because I don't think I could have looked at it without opening for much longer. I asked for anything girly, and WOW, I got so spoilt! I love love love my package! Even the wrapping is just so pretty. We left our camera at a friend's place last night but here are some pics taken on my phone just now:

how pretty is this box? 

and look at the card! The owl is from some of the fabric that was inside, it's just divine :)

 and the contents. You can't get much girlier than this. Inside there is:

- 4 X  1/2 yards of fabric - two lots of flowers, some hearts and the owls

- buttons and containers to keep them in

- thread and ribbon of a couple of different colours

- cord

- a pink tape measure

- some gorgeous other applique bits and pieces

I have the fabulous Emma to thank for it all!

I have to pack to head up to The Sticks today - but now I just want to play with my new bits and pieces and work out what to do with them. So many options!

First post...

Where to start? Since a picture is worth a thousand words surely a video is worth many, many more? Adele is 7 weeks old now, and while really I've created this blog with the purpose to share my crafty creations, this video is to cute not to share - her first smiles last week.



I thought I'd also show off one of my knitting creations from a couple of years ago. I've decided this for a couple of reasons - firstly, because the memory card on the camera is full so I can't take pictures of anything recent or in-progress (if you'd like over 700 photos of a new baby on the other hand...). Secondly, because it relates to some very exciting events of this week!

I adapted these bunnies from a pattern in Family Circle Easy Toys as a gift for a very special friend's wedding. They're a third of the size of the original pattern and the clothing is completly my own creation, designed to replicate as best I could their outifts on the day. (Thank goodness I was maid of honour and had a preview of the dress!) The bunnies also have magnets in their hands, so they sit and hold hands while watching the world go by.

Far from the greatest picture, but I finished them hiding away the night before the wedding and had to take the photos virtually in the dark. Thankfully, my friends looked happier on their wedding day than these little guys!

The newly married bunnies have since been hibernating away in storage because not long after the wedding the newly married human couple decided to up and leave for overseas. First exciting event of the week - they're back! I haven't seen them for nearly two years and of course Adele hadn't met them at all, being brand new to this world. Yesterday was a very exciting day indeed!

The second exciting event is the world's worst-kept secret and is happening right now! On Saturday we're heading to my home town (affectionately known as The Sticks) for my cousin's 'engagement party'. But it's not. They're getting married tonight at a small family gathering and having the post-wedding party on Saturday, which will be Adele's first wedding. Yay! But of course we're not supposed to know any of this, we're just turning up to the engagement party. Shhhhh. No bunnies this time, my cousin is a total farm-boy and wouldn't appreciate them and I'm not sure what outfits I'd knit anyway - not sure I'm capable of replicating a flannelette shirt!