Probably The Only Time I Will Ever Own

A Rolls! No not a Rolls Royce - a Rolls Sewing Machine :) A Zig-Zag De Luxe. And it is lovely.


We stopped at a shed sale (read - nice big garage sale) on the Sunday after Christmas, just for a look. After hunting around, I thought there wasn't much there, nothing that caught my eye anyways. Until I went back along a row of shelves, and saw a bit of a beat up case sitting there.


Well I dragged it out - heavy as anything! And looked inside. Oh my, it was an older style sewing machine, in really good condition. And it was only $15.


So it came home with me :) It had the manual, and a few feet and bobbins included.


My lovely DH rewired the foot pedal and power connector, as it was rather worn, and not the safest it could possibly be. And she runs sooo smooth, and surprisingly, quiet. It is really, really clean, but it needs a lot of oiling, as I think it is a little bit too clean. So I need to drag out the oil and give it a good going over and then sew! Oh, and I need a new belt for it, as the old one is just not looking the best, but I am sure we will find something :)



The only downfall is that I can't find any information on it at all. Nothing. If anyone can help at all, it would be appreciated.


While we were visiting family over Christmas, I asked my dear Nan-in-law, if I may have a look at her old Singer sewing machine (thinking that the Rolls was possibly a re-badged Singer). Well, Nan showed me her machine, and asked if I wanted it. Ummm - do I need to think about it? Yes please! (Just had to use my eyelashes to convince DH that in less that 2 days I had gained 2 new machines lol). Oh boy, I was in heaven.




It came with a collection of feet and the manual.


It is a Singer 401G - and I love this page in the instruction manual. "Singer 401 - the greatest sewing machine ever built!"


DH also re-wired the foot and connector on this one too, as it didn't even have an earth, so now it does and is nice and safe to use :)
It needs a little bit of cleaning up, as it was well used, and hence there is a good quantity of oil around the place. She also sews quietly like a dream! My MIL remembers learning to sew on it when she was 8. So I feel extremely lucky to be given such a wonderful machine. Thank you Nan!

Cheers!

Christmas Has Been and Gone

And left a mountain of photos for you to view :)

Now that the day of giving has passed, and I have had a chance to catch my breath and pause in the indulgence of wonderful food and sit quietly, I thought I should share my Christmas sewing with you all.
I am very pleased, as I managed to give a lot of handmade gifts this year. So in no particular order.......

Teachers presents - a boxy pencil case and a bar of handmade vanilla delight soap.

All of the pencil cases.

One of the individual presents.


3 aprons, for my cousins, I also did a jar of cookie mix for each of them to go with the aprons, and a little triangle headscarf instead of a chef's hat. The aprons are from Cindy Taylor Oates - More Retro Aprons pattern.



A bag for my mum, from a pattern by NapKitten. Lots of turning to make the handles, but it worked out wonderfully.



A bag for my SIL - Lots Of Pockets Tote by KeykaLou. I love this pattern - it was so fun to make, and very easy to do.



A crochet project bag for my Aunty - I made up my own pattern for this, to a size I was happy with.


Some vanilla soap, made especially for my Aunty, but given away to many, so much so that I only ended up with one bar for myself. But never mind, it means I can make more.


Pencil cases for the kids, as they both asked for one :)


An outfit for my DS. It looks so big, as he is only 6, but it fits him perfectly and looks gorgeous on. Both the tee and shorts are from Ottobre, the tee - #20 from 2/2005 and the shorts #23 from 3/2009.





An outfit for my DD, Modkids Emma top and skirt, and a pretty little tee from Ottobre, #29 from 3/2009. She looks so gorgeous in this outfit, and the mish mash of fabrics suits her perfectly! lol





And on a very exciting note, a few days before I finished my Christmas sewing, my labels arrived! So I popped them on the kids clothes. And a good thing too - as the first thing my DS said when he opened his up on Christmas morning was, "Where is the label?!" He wants my label on all the stuff I make him.


I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Cheers!

Ouch!

I was on the lawn today, hanging out the washing... I know, boring stuff, but I was enjoying the cool grass and I had pulled out a heap of the prickles a few weeks ago so it would be nice to walk on, and WHAM!! I stepped on a bee! Blimey! I now understand why my kids get so upset and wound up when stung. I haven't had a bee sting in years, but shikes, those little suckers hurt like heck! And right in the nice little soft part of my foot.
So, I am sorry little bee - I didn't mean to step on you - but it wasn't like there was any flowers on the grass where I stepped. How about from now on, you just keep to your flowers and I will try very hard not to step on any more of your friends.

I will leave you with a photo of a gorgeous rose from my garden.



Cheers!

Redondo Cuteness

I know I said I wasn't going to blog my Christmas creations, but this is just soooo cute! Plus I already showed my sister coz I was too excited not to lol

This is for my niece for Christmas. The pattern is the Studio Tantrum - Redondo. She tried DD's on ages ago and never wanted to take it off (even though the waist was huge on her and wouldn't stay up lol) It is the smallest size 86/92 I think? She is nearly 2 but very petite, so it may be a little long. It also has 6 parts, as I wanted to use two fabrics evenly. Putting the fabrics side by side, I wasn't sure they would go so well, but in the skirt they are perfect!



DH saw me cutting it, and he was like "Oh no, not another one of those!" I have only made two, but apparently I left an impression that it was difficult lol I do have a little trouble trying to fit each twirl to the next one, but even with that, this only took me about 3-4 hours including cutting and top-stitching. It should twirl beautifully with the extra gore and the fact that the waist is so tiny!


Cheers!

Have You Met My Pet Elephant?

Well here he is!


My DD was being creative this morning, and was running around the house looking for bits and pieces to create this darling elephant. I only had to cut the ear shape, she did all the rest. He trunk is up in the air (the straws) as he is trumpeting.
I think he is pretty cute, and he has some very good features - he doesn't make a mess and is fully recyclable! :)

I would love to show you some of my crafty happenings, but alas, they are all for Christmas presents, and as many of my family members do stop by for a browse, I won't be able to show until after Christmas *sigh* which is so much closer than I wish it was. Though I might take some sneak peeks and pop them up instead :)

Cheers!

The Handmade Dress Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Handmade Dress Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I just had to link to this - what a great giveaway :)

Cheers!

Bias Binding is Fun!

Well making it is :) Now that someone shared a wonderful tutorial on how to make it quickly and simply, but to also use a whole fat quarter and not waste any.
The tutorial I am talking about can be found here: http://jonag.typepad.com/stop_staring_and_start_se/2009/10/turn-one-fat-quarter-into-5-yards.html

I needed some binding today from a piece of fabric that was longer and skinnier than a fat quarter, and I wasn't sure if it was going to work. But I squared it up and followed the instructions, and perfect binding. The more you make, the quicker it gets too. At first I was a little unsure about all the joins because you are using even the smallest cuts of fabric, but they look fine once they are in a garment or on a project.

I love learning how to do things better, and if I can do it quicker, bonus!

Cheers!

Up-to-date...........

On my current projects. The ones that have been cut out so far. Hang-on, I might of been forgetting some Christmas outfits that I have cut out...... Ok, I am up-to-date with the projects I have been working on. Hmm, still doesn't sound very convincing, so I will just show off what I have been doing.

My mum gave me a shirt she no longer wanted. I new exactly what pattern I wanted to use it for - the 3 way dress in Otto 3/2009. So I did. But of course I modified it a little....... I did the full sleeve version, and attached them completely to the body, but I didn't use a different fabric for the bottom panel, as I wanted to use the existing hem on the shirt. That didn't work out quite as I planned it, so I ended up doing a rolled hem at the bottom, and also on the sleeves. The ruffles and button placket were existing on the shirt, so I left them for detail. I did add a gorgeous little turtle embroidery though - just at the hem.




I think it looks more like a nightie than a dress, and it is a whisker too short, so it will be great as a nightie for summer.


Working on some Christmas presents reminded me that I needed to make some soap - for Christmas presents. So last weekend I whipped up a batch of Very Vanilla soap. This smells absolutely scrumptious! And because the soap dryer is under the BBQ, when the house is open, the scent wafts all the way through. I can't wait until it is ready to try, though I may have trouble trying not to eat it :)



Friends of ours just recently had a baby girl and I wanted to send them a gift. I already had burp cloths made up (I need to, just to keep up with my sister buying them from me!), but I wanted a little more to go with them. So I dug out this baby pattern from Farbenmix for ideas. I used the dress/tunic top and combined it with some baby leggings from Otto 4/2004. Both of the items were rather simple and quick to do. I made the bias binding myself so it matched, and even that didn't take very long. Sadly though, I only have scraps of the butterfly fabric left. It was the most gorgeous fabric, and I wish I had bought more.






With the burp cloths. Makes for a lovely present I think.


So that is what I have been doing. I still have many more projects to do, especially was Christmas is fast approaching. Though I may not be able to share all of them until Christmas has been and gone :)

Cheers!

Bubble Bath Monster

It emerged rather quietly from our bathroom last night. It crept up the passaged, and snuck around the corner into the kitchen where I was writing my shopping list. Then it said...."Look mum". lol He then decided to pose for photos.





Luckily it is a very cute monster, so I have decided to keep it and give it lots of kisses and cuddles.

Cheers!

A New Look For Me

Since I hadn't visited my hairdresser for 12 months, I decided I really should go a visit. So an hour later, after a great chat with a friend and some hairdressing (as in, I go there with my hair, and ask for it short enough not to tie back, but not too short - very descriptive lol) I go from this:



to this:




I love it. The colour is pretty bright, but it should settle after a few washes. Thanks again Ang - you are the bestest!

Cheers!

A New Bag Set

After seeing this bag of mine here, my aunty asked for one like it. As she was visiting from America, she really didn't have time to look for fabric over here, so she found some when she got home and sent it over. It was a lovely fabric to sew with, and I am happy with the results.



I tried a new way of putting a zippered pocket (an inset zipper apparently) - while it isn't 100% perfect, it is pretty good for a first go :)




As there was some fabric leftover, I made a wallet and a tissue holder to go with it. The wallet was a bit of a challenge to sew - many layers and I had a little trouble - but it is nice. The pattern comes from here - it is a well written and easy tutorial to follow (thank you to elily00 for sharing her tutorial).






I really hope my aunty likes it - I will be posting it this week, so it should be about 10-12 days until it arrives.



Cheers!

Well The Holidays Are Over

Where did they go? The kids have been back at school for a week. A whole week. Which means there is only 9 weeks left of term. And that means Christmas is way too close for me!

So we will just pop the thought of Christmas to the backs of our minds and share what we did on the school holidays instead.
We spent some time at the farm. My parents farm. They have cows, sheep and crops. And many, many acres for the kids to run about. So that is exactly what they did. From about 5am every morning (my poor mum, she was the one who got up to them, as we were at the other end of the house and didn't hear them). Thanks mum!

Here is just one of the many gorgeous views from around the farm.



We also found a lovely burbling creek to play at. I would love to have this in the back yard - it sounded delightful.





And a bit of nature slowly waking up from winter - this one nearly got stepped on - very glad it didn't!



So that was what we did. Hope yours was just as fun.

Cheers!