There Is Now An 8 Year Old Living In My House

And he still loves his Mummy made presents best of all :)

Sewing clothes for him this year was a little more challenging, as he is tall and skinny, so I need to make sure that pants will fit. So once I had got to the waistband part of his pants I blindfolded him (he was very excited to do this lol) tried his pants on him, marked where to hem them and roughly how much I needed to gather the back of the pants with elastic. Which was a fair bit. He managed to get in and out with the blindfold on and not pin himself once. Then he went on his way without peeking.

A top and pants, both from Ottobre. The top is a size 140, and this should give him enough room for growth and to get him through to the start of the cooler weather next year as well. It is #37 from 4/2010 made in stella from Crafty Mamas.

Pants are #39 from 4/2009 in a size 134. I love the details on the pants - pin tucks in the back yoke, shaped back pocket flaps, and that fantastic shaped front of the pants. Love it! There is nothing boring about this boy sewing.

The other challenge was that this year our Easter holidays were quite late, and I misjudged how much time I would have to sew while the kids were at school. This meant I had to sew when they were at home, but without them seeing (night time is no good as I make too many mistakes). So when it was rest time, I shut the passage door and gave them strict instructions to knock before coming out. It worked wonders and I got everything finished in time.

 Melly & Me - I Come In Peace alien - he is the favourite present and totally loved.

A new camera case to go with his new camera - I used the Keyka Lou pattern again, but changed the straps to make it more boyish, and added velcro to the back pocket to prevent the spare batteries falling out.

And we can't forget the cake - he picked out an octopus as a number 8, from one of the Women's Weekly cake books - they are just wonderful for kids cakes.

Cheers!

Somebody Turned 6!

So that meant there was to be lots of presents and cake (2 cakes to be exact).

In what seems to be becoming a tradition, many of DD's presents were handmade. A dress, Farbenmix Roxy, the pink was some old fabric (it was from my grandma's stash - feels like cotton and seems quite cool to wear).

A soft toy - one that I have had traced for nearly 18months and that she had asked for about that long ago (it was meant to be a Christmas present back in 2010 - but I ran out of time). It is Bubbles the Unicorn, from Melly & Me - in her book Kaleidescope.

And lastly a camera bag, pattern by Keyka Lou, from some fabric leftover from a pillow case that our neighbour made her for Christmas. I had promised to make it into a bag - and this was it. She also got a brand new camera to go in it (our kids love to take photos!)

Cake number 1 was had on her actual birthday - a chocolate sponge with a (kind of) smartie rainbow lol

Cake number 2 was for her party with her friends, and was a doll in a cake.

Cheers!

Blossom Number 2

Title says it all really - I made another Blossom, from Melly & Me. The original can be seen here.

Why 2? Well, Blossom 1 had a day trip to school when DD got to take her favourite soft toy in. The teacher took quite a liking to Blossom, especially because her wings were removable, therefore she would be quite handy to demonstrate the life-cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly (The Very Hungry Caterpillar was being read often at this time).

So here we have Blossom 2, and she even got her very own cocoon this time - hopefully it will help keep her safe in a classroom full of little hands :)

 

Cheers!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Melly & Me Sweetness in my House :)

Well, they are sort of in my house. They are hidden away in a cupboard away from sticky little fingers and peeping eyes until Christmas morning. I wanted to make on each for my kids. They sort of picked out the patterns, when asked which ones they liked, DS said Dilbert (luckily, as I had already bought the pattern lol) and DD picked Blossom. They don’t know they are getting them and I am just busting to see their little faces light up when they unwrap them.
I am really happy with both of them, though a few changes were made (when don’t I lol). Blossoms wings are attached with velcro so they can be removed if necessary for cuddling in bed, and they don’t have fusible fleece in them, sadly I didn’t have any, so I just used medium weight interfacing. Dilbert has no sewn on spots as he came pre-spotted (well the fabric did). It is leftover from the cubby house curtains I made.
Please welcome Dilbert:

Please welcome Blossom:

Other Christmas project progress has been happening. I finished off two pot mitts for my Grandma, to match her apron. Pictures later. DS’s shorts are about 1/3 done, need more kid asleep time, me thinks! Changed the pattern I was going to make DD’s top from too lol. It was going to be the “Hugs” top from Otto 1/2008, but I don’t have any bias binding to match the fabric, so I traced off the “Puffi” t-shirt from the Otto 3/2008 issue instead. It is all cut out, ready to sew now.
So other than that, I have a little more Christmas shopping to be done, just little things, and some Coffee Kitchen Hand Scrub to make up in the next week. Then I suppose I should look at making my shortbread mince pies for Christmas eating………..I have some fruit mince left from last year, so that should be well and truly delicious this year (it was last year too, but a year spent doing whatever the alcohol does can only improve it).
Cheers!