iCandi

No...

2006-10-08T16:00:00.000+09:30

Willow's latest trick is the word "No". She says it very delieberately and slowly, as if she has given your request careful consideration but will have to deny it at this stage.

She is testing the effect of the word - at the playgroud I asked her if she wanted to go down the big slippery dip. "No," she said as she walked towards it. She then turned around and climbed down the ladder she had just climbed up. All that effort, just to make a point!

Berlingots

2006-10-08T00:11:00.000+09:30

This is the post from one hour craft I was talking about with the Berlingots
:

I still haven't made one yet, I have been busy finishing up my softies and making a cut pair of overalls as a first birthday present for a friend's son.

It is the madness of the moment!

2006-10-04T22:18:00.000+09:30

Following a link from Nat, I found this cool website, one hour craft. Following a link from there, I found this tutorial on making Berlingots.

Since I'm trying to be a more careful, less gungho sewer, I thought I'd translate it into English, thus.

Very cute! I want to make one!

I too, will launch out in the seam!

Two surprises!

2006-09-26T19:01:00.000+09:30

I think it is our maternal duty to believe that our children are the smartest, brightest, most beautiful. Having said that, Willow did two things recently which surprised even me.

First one – we had been for a walk and I was wearing a puma t-shirt which has a puma on it (obviously). She pointed to it and said ‘cat!’. Now, I wouldn’t think that the puma logo is really that recognisable, but I asked her later what it was and she said ‘cat!’ again.

Second one – Yesterday morning she woke me up by pinching my upper arm and saying ‘baby bitey mummy’. I’ve been teaching her that pins, needles, seam rippers, scissors are all bitey. I do this by stabbing myself and going ‘Ow!’ I don’t think it is terribly successful since she still likes playing with them when she can get her hands on them…

Daddy

2006-09-25T13:06:00.000+09:30

A is such a wonderful father, I mean, we all have our bad days, but for the most part he is really patient and loving with Willow. We have formed a parenting philosophy together that leans towards attachment parenting and I'm glad that there has been little to no conflict about things like breastfeeding, co-sleeping and gentle parenting in general.

He does complain about getting pushed out of bed though! But he is the first one to respond when W cries, happy to spend time with her, put her to bed, clean her up after meals, change her nappies, etc.

Last night he went down to the bedroom and W had stirred a bit so he was lying there patting her, in the soft light it was a beautiful scene.

Paula's questions

2006-09-25T12:20:00.000+09:30

Paula asked me a couple of questions, so I thought I'd do a special post for her, lol!

The lettuce leaf hem was kind of an experiment. I think the trick is the kind of fabric you are using. I made the tshirt from quite stretchy interlock so all I had to do was set a zigzag stitch to 2, I think, then stitched the egde, letting the stich fall over. I stretched the material just a bit, I imagine that if the material was stretched more then the leaf would be curlier.

Paula and Andrea both asked how I did the bit behind the button on the punk pants. I think it is called a yo-yo. I saw some instructions for it somewhere... Found them! Here. Heather Bailey is an inspiration to me.

sooore...

2006-09-24T22:45:00.000+09:30

With the sewing I was doing last week, I didn't end up going to the gym. Now I am regretting it, my back is so sore. I just did some Pilates stretches on the floor but I think I'll need more than that!

This coming week, Willow will be in FDC and CC, so I will be doing more sewing, but I will go to the gym! The week after that, I will be back at work, so I will have to make an effort to go to the gym. Not sure when... Weekends, Thursday morning (I don't work Thursdays), nights?

Fruits of my labour

2006-09-24T21:10:00.000+09:30

I didn't get quite as much done today as I thought I would have, but I'm still pretty happy with what the results:

I asked on the sewing group about organising my patterns awhile ago and eventually came up with this solution. The boxes can hold the Ottobre magazine, pattern sheets and traced patterns.

This is a quick t-shirt I made from the 2/2005 Ottobre magazine. I didn't use ribbing, but I went for a lettuce leaf hem on the neck, sleeves and waist. Love the combination of pale khaki and pink.

I got this material from Lincraft the other day. I call them her plaid punk pants! I think the ribbon detail and button flower might be a bit delicate for toddler pants, but we'll see how they go.

I also made some newborn pants for the shop from the same material but didn't put any decorations on them. Bit too fussy for a newborn, I reckon.

This is one of the covered buttons I made the other day. The hat they are to go on has been cut out, but that's as far as I have got with it!

I saw this idea for a ribbon belt in a book I saw in Borders the other day. It called for wide grosgrain ribbon, but I found this pink and green ribbon in Spotlight which was much cuter.

This is what I'm really proud of - the three pants I made out of the pillow cases. I made them to custom order so I REALLY hope they fit!

From this:

To this:

tagged!

2006-09-23T12:52:00.000+09:30

I've been tagged by Leah!

1. What is your current pet peeve?
Never having enough time to sew! (Same as Leah)

2. Would you rather be annoyed or bored?
I'd rather be bored, I can do something about that. It's a bit harder to do something about being annoyed.

3. When did you last drink champagne?
Struggling to remember... I had a nice sparkling wine when we went out to celebrate my new job...

4. Who sleeps in your bed?
A and I. Willow usually creeps in from her cot, which is set up sidecar to our bed.

5. What TV hunk can come knock at your door?
Jason Lee. I love him

6. Do you wear perfume?
Sometimes, it is not good for my asthma! A bought me Lovely by SJP for my birthday.

7.If you wrote a book what type would it be?
A practical but encouragin book about sewing for beginners.

8. When did you last go to the dentist?
Too long ago...

9.Ooops, you've just had boy/girl twins- what are they called?
I dunno... Would have to be something that goes with Willow. Sequoia and Cedar, lol!

10.How do you get your news- TV/Internet/paper?
TV and internet, we don't get the paper.

11.Do you believe the story that Naomi Robson was going to save a boy from cannibals?
Nope... Do I believe that it is all about ratings? Yup!

12. If you could go back in history where do you want to visit?
The Renaissance.

13.I am having a fancy dress party. What are you dressed as?
CatWoman

working 9 to 5!

2006-09-23T11:26:00.000+09:30

I'm so glad that you guys took the post the way it was intended. I have nothing against SAHMs, but the ones who think EVERY mother should stay at home irritate me. Shows a very narrow minded point of view.

Helen and Karen, what kind of work do you do?

W has developed the habit of taking her socks, off her feet, out of her drawer, off the clothes horse and leaving them all over the house. Yesterday morning I think I found at least one in every room except the toilet which is always shut off anyway.

Just before she picked up one of her books about dogs, sat down next to Harley the cat and started saying "doggie" to her, as if she was reading her the book. Too cute.

I have a lot of sewing to do this weekend, so I'd better get stuck into it!

Hopefully I'll be back later to show the fruits of my labour!

child care bag

2006-09-22T15:16:00.000+09:30

This is a little drawsting backpack that I made for Willow for ChildCare. We have a big nappy bag, but it is a bit too big. It was incredibly fiddly as I had neither a pattern nor enough material. I used a dark denim for the outer, plain pink for the lid, little strawberry material for the inside and bit strawberry material for the base.

It has a little zippered pouch inside to hold bits and pieces, it can be press studded into place.

I will be going back to work 4 days a week from the 3rd of October. On the paperwork I got sent, it said I was at a much lower level than I'd previously been employed! Today I finally got a call back to say that it was a mistake and I would actually be employed at the next step up the payscale (from when I was last employed by them in November 2005) to reflect my experience. Very happy about that!

I can't describe how stressful it has been without my wage. The effect that it has had on my health, my relationship with A and Willow is not something I want to go into here.

Pious SAHMs who don't understand what it is like to go out to work, and denigrate mothers (never the father of course, they are meant to be out there, slogging their guts out with no reprieve) who do, really frustrate me. They have no idea about people's individual situations and the conflicting demands on a WOHM's time.

Willow is already in childcare, even though I'm not working. It is hearbreaking to leave her, but it has to be done. On the bright side, I'm getting quite a bit of sewing done at home without her under my feet. Technically, I'm being a WAHM there, lol!

op-shop finds!

2006-09-20T21:19:00.000+09:30

I hadn't been to the big Salvo's near us for awhile, so I popped in after I dropped Willow off at child care this morning.

This is what I got:

Top Row: Purple panne velvet, no idea what to do with it, some pants perhaps? Purple organza, a scarf. 3 vintage pillow cases, pants.
Middle Row: A Skipping Girl Beanie, I was going to put it on eBay, but since it is coming up to winter, I'm not sure how well it would go. An almost full pad of watercolour paper, good for printing business cards. Three paper patterns, two to keep and one to send to a friend.
Bottom Row: The contents of their button basket, I joked that I wanted to make an offer on it and the lady behind the counter took me seriously. There are some gorgeous bits and pieces in there. Four Get Creative Magazines and one Top Kids magazine, it is a bit early 90's but it has some great basic patterns.

Tagged!

2006-09-18T10:56:00.000+09:30

I have been tagged by the lovely Ingrid.

The rules of the tag are: List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Dont forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

I'm having trouble here... Oh good, we can use our pets!

1) Our British Blue, Harley likes to give our JR Kelpie cross a bath. She sits there and licks him. Can't imagine that he tastes any good! He quite likes it and sits there lapping up the attention -he sometimes gets a bit annoyed with her and starts a playfight.

2) I am a bit OCD in some respects, not so much that it affects my life. Just having to do certain things a certain number of times, using certain colours.

3) I used to be really, really shy. I have had to make a conscious effort to learn how to interact with people. For example, I learnt that if I said 'X' to people, they didn't like it, so I didn't say 'X' again.

4) I am always interested in learning more, particularly about human behaviour. Why do people do and say what they do? I think this is why I love forums such as EB - there are so many interesting people out there. I love the internet because if I want to know something, I can just look it up.

5) When the season changes, it takes me a little while to adjust to wearing more or less clothes, kind of a tactile issue. This one, plus number 2, 3 and 4 make me think I am further down one end of the autism spectrum than most people.

I think everyone I know has already been tagged! If you would like me to tag you, let me know!

I am going to come back later and update my blog with what I've been doing.

new sewing

2006-09-08T16:22:00.000+09:30

More sewing stuff:

This is the wrap around pad I made the other day. I wasn't sure about the design, I thought it would be a bit bulky, but it is slimmer than some of my wingless pads.

Another pair of Ingrid's easy pants. I used the same material to make my friend a pair of pants for her three year old son.

I have scrapbooking tonight, so I want to do some sewing on paper for that...

nappy time!

2006-09-02T23:10:00.000+09:30

This was my first attempt at sewing a cloth nappy. I made a few mistakes, but they are ones that I will certainly be able to sort out next time.

playing ball

2006-09-02T11:21:00.000+09:30

Willow loves throwing balls to the cats and dogs. In particular, she likes throwing a jingle ball to Harley. They both have so much fun doing this and it is hilarious to watch. This morning, Harley picked up the jingle ball in her mouth and dropped it at Willow's feet when she was playing with something else. A commented that it looks like the cat is playing with Willow, not the other way around!

another brown dress

2006-08-31T22:57:00.000+09:30

I made this one from fabric sent to me by Clair and a pattern that Ingrid sent me.

She wore it today and got a couple of compliments on it. You can see the loose threads but they have since been trimmed. The pattern called for a zip, but I just used two buttons and loops of embroidery thread to close them.

tantrums

2006-08-31T22:30:00.000+09:30

I always thought that Willow started throwing tantrums at about 11 months. That was when she really started to know what she wanted and how to get it.

Today was a different matter though - we went to story time at the library where she got up and wandered off as she always does. I brought her back each time, then we did the colouring in which she paid a bit more attention to. When we went to leave though, she did the full on, dropping to the floor kind of tantrum. If I was the type of person who cared what other people though, I'd have been embarassed.

We had to stop at the shops for food for the park so that was more tantrums and total defiance. Nearly ran out into traffic. Argh.

She wasn't too bad at the park, her friends distracted her, but it is a bit hard to have a chat with my friends when one or the other of us are running after our daughters.

So today is that start of proper tantrums - ones that can't be blamed on tiredness, hunger or a dirty nappy. *sigh*

I will finish on a postive note though and write about Willow and the word HOT. Everything that she shouldn't touch is HOT. The laptop, sewing machine and over locker are HOT. If something has steam coming off it, it is HOT. Anything coming out of the microwave or oven is HOT. Sometimes food is HOT, but if we blow on it, it cools down.

So, by her toddler logic, if she blows on the laptop, sewing machine and overlocker, then she can touch them!

As much as she frustrates me sometimes, I am sometimes surprised by the ferocity of my love for her.

my skinny minnie

2006-08-31T16:53:00.000+09:30

This is Willow at 8 weeks.

perceptions

2006-08-26T21:21:00.000+09:30

Funny how our experiences mould our expectations.

Willow was 6pd3oz born, so she was certainly not a chubby baby by any stretch of the imagination. I've never been one to stress over percentile charts, but she's usually been on the 50th%ile for weight and 90th%ile for height.

So we bought her this baby doll which she will carry around by it's ankle, throw in it's pram, stand on to get things she shouldn't, all fun stuff. A was looking at it and observed that it really was a chubby representation of a baby. Now, I think I can safely say that I've seen more babies than him, so I said "no, it's actually a normal looking baby, we just had a skinny minny!"

Ingrid's easy pants

2006-08-24T20:38:00.000+09:30

I got a lovely package in the mail today from Ingrid. It contained two gorgeous vintage patterns for dresses and her famous easy pants pattern! I already have a very simple pattern for pants, so didn't want to bother her for it, but this pattern is even easier. It literally took me an hour to make them.

I used a lovely soft green floral pillow case for the fabric and shimmery metallic fabric to do the waistband and hems. They are a tiny bit long for her, but I don't think that will be an issue when she has shoes on.

brown dress

2006-08-24T14:36:00.000+09:30

Isn't it funny how your memory can be so unreliable.

I made this brown dress for Willow because the material reminded me of a dress I had when I was a child.

I remember the photo of me sitting on a car bonnet. Well, after looking at the photo, I realised that was a black floral dress. So much for that idea!

I found this photo instead, of me at about 4 years old. I am wearing a brown floral dress here, so perhaps that is where I got mixed up.

Note the brown cardigan my mother is wearing. I still have it now, it is a great cardi!

A close up:

Tiered skirt

2006-08-24T00:31:00.000+09:30

This is a photo of the very simple tiered skirt that I made for Willow today. Very easy with the overlocker.

That materials that I used were a pink and green floral for the waistband, a green gingham and a pink toile.

Edited to add: I tried it on her this morning and it is far too big for her length ways. I think i'll keep it for when she is about 3?

This is a photo of her with it on - pulled up to her armpits! She is also wearing the lovely jumper that Brazen made.

Ssat?

2006-08-23T15:49:00.000+09:30

W-"Sssat? Sssat?" Sssat? Translation-What is that?
C-"Goat. It's a goat! Can you say goat?"
W-"Dog!"

This was the exchange that took place at our house today when they had goats on Playschool today. Too funny!

a bit of fluff

2006-08-22T23:01:00.000+09:30

I couldn't work out why my sewing machine was making such a terrible clunking noise. I'd fiddled around with the bobbin, but it wasn't until I took the whole plate off that I found this:

It was actually quite a solid piece of fluff, it had obviously been compacted by the action of the bobbin casing.

I'm a little tea pot!

2006-08-21T12:02:00.000+09:30

I saw this on a forum I've been lurking on. A cute way to reuse a little teapot my grandma gave to me. I simply wrapped a bit of stuffing in some fabric and firmly stuffed it in the teapot.

If you wanted to make it a bit more tailored, you could use foam balls, but you'd have to find the right size for the receptacle you are using. Antique teacups would be great to use for this.

This is the brown dress that I've been working on for W. I still need to work out how to do it up on the inside, whether to use ribbon or press studs.

It is basically a longer version of the pink top below.

This is a present for a friend of mine - her daughter is a bit older than W, so I hope it fits her!

Brown pants for W - the fabric has sequins sewn on the centres of some of the flowers, very cute, but a bit awkward when you are carrying her and the sequins are pressing on your skin. She wore it to FDC today, so that will be a test of the durability of them!

more photos

2006-08-20T18:17:00.000+09:30

Today was a pretty decent Sunday, I got a sleep-in, then woken up by giggles from Willow. Lunch at one of our favourite cafes, gelati, playground then Bunnings.

Before we left to go out, I started on a dress for Willow, it is made out of fabric similar to a dress I'm wearing as a baby. My plan is to make the dress, take photos and do a layout with her photos and my photos side by side.

Anyway, on with the photos:

One of my cats, she was part of my swap.

It is hard taking photos of a hyped up little girl! These are photos of the overalls that the lovely Brazen made as part of the swap. A calls them the Partridge Family overalls! I was going to take a photo of the jumper that Brazen made, but A put it in the wash. It fits her perfectly!

Some photos of the pillow case dress on Willow. I looked into making these but for the sake of two seams, they seem a bit pointless. I'd rather take the time and make a proper dress that is more tailored. Of course, if someone requested, I'd be more than happy to make one for them!

news

2006-08-18T23:50:00.000+09:30

Well, I have been buying lots of fabric and patterns lately - now I need to slow down and make some things!

I have subscribed to Ottobre magazine so I should not need to buy any more patterns for quite some time. At least that's what I told A!

Also bought some PUL and bamboo to do some experimentation with - am thinking cloth pads and nappies.

I have been making a few things for a friend as a surprise, I'd love to show them off here but I don't want to ruin the surprise!

I'll have to update with more photos of what I've made tomorrow!

Way too late here, bedtime for me!

new stuff!

2006-07-29T19:05:00.000+09:30

I have been busy making new stuff, swap stuff and researching an idea that I have had in my head for a little while now...

Anyway, photos:

I'm currently using this as my hand bag - it's nice and roomy, an essential characteristic of handbags for me!

Another bag I made, using a totally different pattern. I'm not 100 percent happy with the dimensions, but I'll know for next time.

This is a shirt I made from the same material as the bag above. I put snaps on it as I still can't work out the button function on my sewing machine! It is a small size 3, so it looks huge on Willow!

cream floral cords

2006-07-11T02:29:00.000+09:30

This morning I made these pants for Willow from the cream floral corduroy. I also tried to make a skirt by eye, but stuffed up and made it too small. I sent an email to my friend whose daughter got the brown pants, to see if she wants it.

I'm pretty happy with them, it is the third time I've made pants from that pattern, so I have it down pat. The previous two times I tried a fancy method for the waist band, but I couldn't get it, so with this one, I just did a casing waist band and it worked!

I have been looking on the internet for patterns for various things, I found a good one for a little baby's hat, so I'll make that out of the stripy and green material in my last post, so that it can be reversible. Who is it for? Shhh!

A and I have been watching an odd movie called Mumford, it has Jason Lee in it! I have a long list of things to do tomorrow. Best get to bed then!

brown pants and pink pointy kitty

2006-07-09T23:52:00.000+09:30

Today I finished of a pair of brown polar fleece pants for my friend's daughter. She is about a size one, so I just drafted a smaller pattern than the size 2 pattern I've been using for Willow.

Polar fleece is a beast to work with if you are making a more tailored garment. I've been working with cotton fabrics quite a bit and if you want to do a hem, you can just press it over and it stays. Not possible with polar fleece! It also has a bit of give in it which means you have to be careful when you are sewing it, that your seams stay the same.

This is the finished product:

I also finished my velvet pointy kitty.

Velvet is one of my favourite materials, but it is not easy to work with. First off, there are the bits of velvet fluff all over the house from cutting it. Then it tends to slip a bit when you are sewing it, though this velvet didn't do that too much. Embroidering on it was not as effective as I'd hoped, the silk threads seemed to slip under the nap and hide.

Here she is:

I dropped them off at my friend's house on the way home from an afternoon out and they were well received. Apparently pointy kitty's tail is good to chew on!

Willow and I had a nice afternoon out. We met an EB member who has just moved to Adelaide, and her daughter, who is 5 months older than Willow. It was a cold afternoon, but a good coffee from CIBO fixed that!

meta-discussion

2006-07-08T22:18:00.000+09:30

I've blogged on and off for the 10 years that I've been on-line. My last blog, I stopped posting in because I had boundary issues. A lot of different people read it and it was hard to know what to write about.

So, I'm going to try to stick to craft related things in this blog, although I will probably write about how Willow is, and life in general.

things I've made

2006-07-08T21:29:00.000+09:30

The dress made from greeen chambray from IKEA.

It was a learning process, that's for sure. I made a few silly mistakes that I won't make next time. Probably a good thing as I'm about to start making clothes for other people's children and I'd rather get all of my stuff-ups out of the way!

Mum and I made these curtains and the tiebacks together, I covered the mirror frame awhile after that.

Record clocks are so easy to make! The record is the greatest hits of 1981, but I'd like to get the equivalent from 1977, for obvious reasons!

I started this scarf ages ago, but only finished it a week ago!

A ribbon board showing off some of my Frank Lloyd Wright postcards, it needs more ribbons though.

I made these curtains a couple of weeks ago, sort of shabby chic meets big 80s bows!

things to make and do

2006-07-06T15:24:00.000+09:30

I thought I'd start this blog off by writing a list of the things I want to make.

More softies. Willow doesn't really like soft toys, but I'm sure I know enough people with children to make them for.
A dress for Willow from the green chambray I bought at IKEA
A pair of brown polar fleece pants for a friend's daughter who is not quite a size one.
A pair of brown polar fleece pants for Willow
A pair of pants from pale yellow with pink flowers cotton for my friend in Darwin.
Mystery items for my sewing swap partner!

The material is washed, dried and ironed, so I just need to draft the patterns and I'm ready to go!

This is a photo of it out in the front yard. By the time I'd finished ironing the grey chambray the light inside was not good enough, so I took them outside. The light wasn't great there, but you get the idea!

From the top, the pale yellow cotton, the green chambray, some pale blue ribbing, grey chambray and the brown polar fleece.

I also have some white polar fleece, but white and toddlers don't really go too well!

These are some photos of the pants I have made over the past week.