12 Naked Teddies

Well at last I have finished cutting out all these teddy bits and bobs and ironed them into position. Now all I have to do is blanket stitch them! Wonder how long that will take......

This one is interesting as I am actually following the pattern! These rectangles are 6.5 x 8.5 inches, quite big really.

Anyway, a blanket stitching, here I come!

My 50th post about 49 squares!

Wow, this is my 50th post! And to celebrate, here is a picture of 49 squares! LOL Have finally started on one of my quilting projects listed earlier. This one is for Michelle's baby, she is 23 weeks now. Michelle is the girls FDC carer, Grace has been going to her since October 2004 and Milly started in December 2005, every Friday they go to her place and have a ball.

This is the centre, it will have teddy bears and more squares around the outside. She is a pastel kind of lady and this is as pastel as my work gets, bright pastels, such a thing? Happy with it fo far except for the 3 blues in a diagonal row in the middle.

My husband Daz is a big spunk and I love him very much! He wanted a mention, so there you go Daz!

Secret Santa questions & answers

1. What's your favorite colour?
Pink and purple for the girls. Personally in my quilting I love the citrus tones, lime green and orange and yellow.

2. What's your favorite item to sew?
Shirring is fun. Like making cushions too.

3. What items other people have made would you have loved to have done yourself?
Hats and bags. Haven't yet either. Looks too hard?

4. What takes your fancy in the notions world? Rik Rack? Ribbons?
Both!

5. What is your fabric weakness?
Material that matches. The same print but in different colourways.

6. What's one thing you haven't tried but would like to?
Same answer as #3, bags and hats!

7. Are there any patterns that you like in particular?
Easy ones! LOL

8. For how long have you been sewing?
For about 3 years.

9. What size are your kids?
Milly is a size 2. Grace a size 4 top and 3 bottom.

10. Do you like quick projects or projects that take a little longer to finish?
Both. Love sewing stuff for the girls to wear as thats quick. On the other hand a baby quilt can take a few months, but nothing beats the feeling of sewing on that final few cms of binding!

11. What do you hope to do with your sewing in the future?Selling/Sell more/keep as hobby etc/Design....?
Just keep it as a hobby for the moment. I don't mind selling the wet bags on ebay for some extra $$, but I enjoy it just as a hobby.

12. What is your favourite time of year?
Summer. Love those warm twilight nights.

13. What is your favorite type of fabric?
Cotton.

14. What is you least favourite fabric to sew with?
PUL's bit of a PITA to sew with.

15. Do you have any christmas traditions?
Started a new one this year. Took the girls to Myers and they got to pick out one special decoration for the tree. They have a stocking at the end of their bed on Christmas Eve and open the presents in there in the morning on our bed.

16. What frustrates you about sewing?
Trying the outfit on Grace to see if it fits! And not having enough time in the day to actually sew.

17. What 'style' do you dress your children in/ which shop clothes do you try to imitate?
No style as such. I like the Fred Bare prints but the only FB we own is hand me downs from my sisters 4 year old! I do like some of Pumpkin Patches skirts though. But nothing wrong with clothes from Target, Kmart and Big W either!

Millys Party Frock!

Well I finally finished Millys birthday party frock! I know I said a new posts back I was going to use that lovely Alexander Henry fabric but I had a change of heart. Thought I'd do a trial one before using the "good" fabric but I think this one came out quite nicely and she'll be wearing this on the big day next week!

I altered the pattern with the tier width, took 2 inches off the top and bottom tier. And for the back of the halter neck bodice, it said to insert two lengths of elastic but I decided to do 6 rows of shirring instead. The ribbon could have been tied tighter around her neck for these shots but her curls got in the way, I didn't want to put her off wearing it! She loves it though, twirls around and keeps patting it. Look at that expression on her face below, "As if your going to get this dress off me Mum!" Can't believe she's 2 next week.......

Fustrated!

Argggghhhhhhh!!!!

All is not well in the sewing land of Helen! Going through a really fustrated and why the heck am I doing this phase. My sewing time has been so disjointed lately, 20 minutes snatched here and there, maybe an hour if I'm lucky when the girls are asleep at night but then I find I am too tired myself and so just keep making mistakes and unpicking everything I sew. I've lost my sewing groove.

I am working on two dresses for Milly at the moment for her party in two weeks time. One looks way to big, even though its a size 2 and I have followed the measurements and the seam allowances religiously. Have to try it on her yet, but it just looks huge, like it would fit Grace better. And the other one is just a shirring number but the hassle I am having with the straps and top hem! Pulling my hair out!

So was thinking last night as I was unpicking, will solider on and finish these two dresses and then put all my clothes patterns away and turn my attention back to patchwork. I have the following I would like to make:

1. Bolster for Cate's birthday. Strawberry Shortcake flannel?
Birthday 4th November.
2. Chicken cushions for Stu and Ollie for Christmas?
3. Little bags for Cate and Ruby's Christmas pressies.
4. Michelle's baby quilt. Due February?
5. Sue's baby quilt.
6. Meredith's 40th quilt. Birthday mid January.
7. Kelly's baby quilt. Due May?
8. Nic's baby quilt. C date 5th May
9. Jo's baby quilt. Due June.

So I think its time to start on that list. And hopefully I'll have some sewing success......

My Softie Attempt!

Well now that Dani has recieved the softie I made for her and she has gone to a loving home, I can post the picts I took along the way as I made it.

I agreed to take part in this swap as I always enjoy sewing things outside my comfort zone every now and again. This one stretched my little sewing brain as I had a pattern but thought there must be a better way!

So here she is all naked. I made her out of calico and tea dyed the body to give the skin more of a rustic look? The shoes I sewed to the calico then I cut the leg pattern from that.


Next I did the dress. Must admit the arm holes weren't as neat as I hoped, haven't yet mastered doing small hems! And had to make the neck hole a bit wider to squeeze her fat head over it! Then the hair! The pattern said use wool, but all the wool I saw in SL didn't really suit, so I made my own out of strips of fabric with a decorative stitch to hold it together, then hand sewn onto her head. Should have taken a close up but didn't think of it. By this stage I just wanted to post it!

Softies from Ingrid!

Recieved softie mail! Came home from a long day at work to find a parcel from the lovely Ingrid. Two of her beautiful birdie cushions. Grace was so excitited, immediately grabbed the larger one and said "Its just like a chicken!" And called it her chicken cushion.

They are so cute, almost too cute to let the girls drag them around the house. Might find a corner of my sewing area where I can perch them too admire all the time.

Thanks again Ingrid, the are lovely! Looking foward to the next swap!

Not enough fabric.

I have been on a self imposed fabric buying ban since visiting SL on the 16th of September. Told myself I can't buy any more fabric till the 20th which is this upcoming Friday. I have been successfull in my challenge except for buying this beautiful Alexander Henry print. Although I can't find the print I have anywhere in this site, brought my fabric from good old ebay.



Anyway, I spent last night tracing out this pattern as its Milly's 2nd birthday soon and I want to make her a special dress for her party. I was thinking this fabric for the bodice and middle tier then a contrast for the top and bottom tier. And I discover I do not have enough fabric!!! ERGGGGG!!! DH could not believe that I didn't have enough fabric!

So I'm stuck. I could either buy more of this fabric as I love it so much, use a totally different fabric or maybe, just maybe fudge the tier's to make them a bit smaller? As I am only just short.

Its just annoying. Thanks for reading through all my waffle if you have made it this far!

Strawberry Shortcake "Comfy Pants"

Well after such a busy weekend (work on Saturday) and a day in the garden yesterday with tea at the IL's, they were home from Rotto for the weekend, I got absolutely NO sewing done. But today has been better and finally got to finish these "comfy pants" as she calls them.

I'm really pleased with them. All the seams are neatly overlocked, both the casing and leg hems are neatly turned under. And what I am really chuffed about, I came up with the idea of tucking a little peice of ribbon into the casing when closing it up, to show that its the back on the pants!!

Now, the challenge of getting Grace to actually wear them!

Small and useless bags!

I have been sewing, nothing terribly exciting, just these wet bags to sell on ebay. I was selling on Buyena, but has become a bit quiet the last few months, smaller market? These are fun to sew, really easy to whip up. DH calls them "small and usless" bags as one of the very first ones I sold last year recieved a negative in my feedback, she thought it was small and usless! The name has stuck and has become a joke between DH and I now, even though the bags are big and very handy out there when you have a wet cloth nappy!

Today is bit of a big day for me, I start work this afternoon. Just a small shift of 2 - 5. Then tomorrow 9 - 5. Myers, Christamas causal, thats me! Quietly nervous but hopefully this time next week I'll be fine. Hope its all worth it, the girls seems to be getting pushed around between me, one day in FDC and with Mum. Bugger the IL's getting that job at Rotto! There goes another babysitter. Oh well.......

Sneak Peak of Softie

Here is a sneak peak of my softie!

Finally finished it today! Its all bundled up ready to be posted. Just waiting for Miss Milly to wake from her nap.

I enjoyed sewing it, made me step outside my comfort zone of sewing. I have always wanted to make one of these but never had the time.

And it only has 2 legs, not the 18 that I stated on EB! Sorry girls, just teasing!! :)

More Co Op Fabric Arrived!

Arrived back from visiting Mum with the girls this morning to find a parcel on my doorstep. Got all excitied as I thought it was my softie swap from my EB Sewing Buddies. But no, something just as good! My latest fabric from the US co op I'm in! It was a pot luck bundle package, you didn't know what you were getting till it arrived. Wow, the lady that runs it fitted all this into a $9.50 envelope! All KP Kids fabric which I love, bright colourfuls and cute designs. Think I'll make a shirring dress out of the purple fabric for Milly, should be enough if I cut it in half and do a front and back panal, there's only a yard of each.

Our trip to Rottnest

Well we have just come back from a lovely week in Rottnest. The IL's have a just started a job over there and they live on the island, so free accommodation! Its so beautiful there, no privately owned cars, so you have to walk places or ride your bike. There's only relaxing things to do, hang at the beach, drink coffee and go to the local yummy bakery, best vanilla slices I have ever tasted! Would have loved to go to the pub more but with the girls in tow, not a good look. Here are some snaps from our break. Totally OT from sewing....

DH and the girls at the Basin beach. I know they are small and you can't see them, just wanted to capture the blue of the sky and how clear the water is. Beautiful.

Grace and Milly picking out shells for one of many sand castles made.

Then they found a crab on the beach. Had to explain not to pick it up!

Just Grace at the beach!

Milly kicking back from sand castle making!

Feeding a quokka while having our lunch! Recognize the dress???!

Just a nice shot of the girls walking down to one of the beaches. This one wasn't far from where we were staying, would walk this way every time we went into "town", a mere 10 minute walk away.

This one I have included for my EB sewing buddies!

My Pincushion.

Well I am in sewing limbo land at the moment. Working on my softie, shhhhh, top secret though! I’m up to the hair, that’s all I am saying.

Thought I’d post a picture of my pincushion though. Humble little chook it is. Mum actually gave it to me a few years ago, a friend made it for her, and she had 5 pincushions in her sewing room while I was starting out sewing and had none. "Oh, you have to have a pincushion!" and handed me the chook. Now Milly is older I have to remember to place it up higher as a few times over the last week I have walked into the sewing room to find every single pin pulled out and scattered over the floor and a cheeky smile from Miss I'm Nearly 2 and Shouldn't Be Doing This!

Here are some interesting pincushion links I'll save for future reference.
Pincushion challenge.
Pincushion gallery.

Not loving this top!

I hate this top!

There I have said it! Started off loving it, loved the fabric, “borrowed” from Mum’s fabric stash actually, but now its finished I'm thinking erk! It has just been a nightmare from the start, front and back panals weren't the same when I had sewed the shoulder seams, so I cut an inch off the side of each of the front panal. Totally puckered up the arm hole hems, first experience with biased binding for a long time and such a tiny difficult circle to sew! Then using my rolled hem foot with overlocked seams??! How does that work?!! Shall I go on? Haven't even mentioned the back doing up with a button hole and fudging the overlap!

But I continued to the end. Now its all done though, don't think I really want Milly to wear it! And I was thinking of doing a matching twirly skirt... The pict of her wearing it below was taken before I did the hem. Look how much I cut off! She's asleep now so I'll try and get a finished shot later on and add it. At least this daughter willing models her clothes without issues!

Latest Baby Quilt.

Well I have been waiting to load picts of the latest baby quilt I have made, waiting till I knew it arrived safely at its new home, didn't want to the suprise to be spoilt! I'm not sure if the baby's mum checks my blog or not, just didn't want to risk it. I'm sure you fellow EB sewing buddy's know what I mean! :) Anyway, it arrived and they love it which is always nice to hear. Wonder what would happen if someone said, nope, hate it! What do you do then?!


I started blanket stitching these flowers back when I was in hospital the week before Milly was born. She was an elective C and due to her lying transverse the doctors wanted me in a week before the C date in case she came early. She didn't though, knew she wouldn't, but I had a week of sitting in my hospital room doing lots of hand sewing. These were intended for a cushion but I had sewn so many we already had 3 flower cushions, so they have sat in my UFO box since then and Milly is nearly 2! Anyway, really pleased with the end result, nice and bright. A simple design but effective. Can't really see it in the above photo, but in the inside boarder was a decorative fancy wandering flower and leaf stitch. Hope baby Z gets to poo and spew on it often! Here's what it looked like on the 17th last month.

Recieved news today that I have a part time job! Well casual, part time, just a few days a week to start with then as Christmas gets closer more hours. Lets just say it is with an Australian wide department store and fingers crossed I'll get to work in the children's clothing department! On the down time, less sewing time. On the plus, more money to buy sewing stuff!

Grace's new Pants!

Well I finished some new pants for Grace yesterday and suprise suprise, she will wear them! So I'm really happy with that which is great as I'm also really happy with these pants! From the Simplicity pattern I got the other week, just cut a few inches off the length and did the ruffle just made up. So chuffed as I actually did the ruffle the "proper way" with two seam, loose tension, pull to ruffle. Bit of decorative rick rack from Spotlight.

I've been tagged again!

The lovely Brazen has tagged me. And in return I'll tag Ingrid and Cass. Got you girls!

1. What is your current pet peeve? The girls getting colds again! Its spring! Why are we still sniffling and coughing?

2. Would you rather be annoyed or bored? Neither! But between the two I'd go for bored. Being annoyed just eats at you and makes you grumpy.

3. When did you last drink champagne? Too long ago! New Years Eve I think.

4. Who sleeps in your bed? Me and DH! Grace comes in when she wakes at 6.30am ish and Milly comes in when we get her out of her cot!

5. What TV hunk can come knock at your door? Ben the Wiggley dancer! LOL

6. Do you wear perfume? Yes, Dior something at the moment. Got a little mini gift box of Dior perfume last Christmas and am working my way through the bottles. Dune?

7.If you wrote a book what type would it be? A best seller! Who knows? Most likely a gracie Lou story book. And that may be a reality sooner than we think! :)

8. When did you last go to the dentist? About two years ago. I took a chip out of my front tooth when I was taking a tag off a shirt for Grace, right before we were to go to a Hooley Dooleys gig. I looked like a freak! Went to the dentist to have it refilled and the edges of my teeth filed down. Hate the dentist.

9.Ooops, you've just had boy/girl twins- what are they called? I have to think up a third girls name? I've already used up all the names I like! Boys names, well we're lucky we had girls cause that one is just too hard.

10.How do you get your news- TV/Internet/paper? Through EB or my sister calling me saying "Did you hear the news about...."

11.Do you believe the story that Naomi Robson was going to save a boy from cannibals? I had no idea about this until watching Media Watch the other night on the ABC! Who knows? I'd say most likely not....

12. If you could go back in history where do you want to visit? Either England during Pride and Prejudice times or the South of the US to be Scarlett O'Hara.

13.I am having a fancy dress party. What are you dressed as? Might just continue that answer from the above, I'll come as Scarlett O'Hara!

Okay, enough about me. Back to the sewing!

My first attempt at pants!

Well one of the patterns I got last Friday included pants and so thought I'd try making some. Never made pants before. Grace is a size 2 waist but a size 3 length. And Milly is a size 3 waist with her cloth nappy bum and size 1 - 2 in length, little petitie munchkin she is. I have yet to get the hang of adding in a seam allowance as you go, thats why I ended up making two pairs, the first pair looked massive, so I took an inch of each side and whoops! They were then too small for Grace so adjusted the length for Milly. Even then still a bit too tight on her bum but should be okay for the summer.

Grace flat out refuses to try her's on for a snap. The joys of being 3 and a half....... I have already cut out another pair for her, working on mastering the seam allowance. Thinking a ruffle at the hem and maybe some more fancy ribbon detail?

My sister rung this morning. We both have our kids in day care (well school for her oldest 2) so I'm packing up my machine and heading over for a day of sewing! Looking foward to it and its only Tuesday!

Co Op Fabric Arrived!

Excitment in my driveway this morning when we arrived home from Mothers Group to find a big white garbage bag sitting on the doorstep! It was fabric I had ordered back in April and May through a US Fabric Co Op I belong too!

4 yards of PUL for my cloth nappy wet bags.
5 yards of KP Kids Prints.
5 yards of Strawberry Shortcake flannel.
4 yards of Sesame Street flannel!

So paid at the end of June, arrived today by surface, 2 and a half months to get here. Not that bad, was expecting longer. Had to go surface mail as it was $$$$ to go air with so much!

And when I was going back through the database, realized I have paid for another KP Kids bundle in July which is also ready to be shipped. So should have that soon too.

Now, what to sew with it all?