November...

I have started my apple dress today. Well...actually its nearly done, Its hanging for 24hours and then I will hem it up....Im not sure about it really, its a 1950's style...I'm just not positive I have chosen the right style...it could be the fabric too...

My secret project is coming along nicely too. Just had a good hour on the sewing machine doing it, my eyes were starting to wobble so have stopped now.

I am home alone (well, Little Who is in his cot) the two older boys are out, one at his nanas the other at a Stag do. I didn't think I would be all that concerned about it...in fact I was looking forward to a night alone to do some me stuff. But I have done that now, and now I am lonely. Sadly, this has highlighted to me how few friends I have in this area...or friends that are not tied down to children themselves and can't just pop over for a wine and a chat. I do miss that from my younger years. I was hardly ever alone (maybe sometimes still lonely...but NEVER alone). I am a bit more alone here in suburbia.
What makes things worse is the radio is playing songs from my younger years, song that those who were stopping me being alone listened to and danced to and drank to. Ahhh. Good times.

Wouldn't change much here really though. Tomorrow night I won't be alone...and next weekend I am off to the Hens night! Whoot!

xx

November 2011

Apologies.

Anyway, I have been such a busy bean lately the old blog has been well neglected! Here is a quick run down of what I have been up to:
*Normal Mummy duties
*Presidenting (yeh thats a word) the breastfeeding support group/chartity that I...umm..President???
*Running a less than successful business...see it here: http://www.facebook.com/StrollSmartNZ things are slowely looking up with it....but some sales would be nice!
*Taking Neo to music and movement...which is now finished and there has been some good progress YAY.
*Gardening....it is spring...My garden looks choice now...all I need is for the cats to bugger off and it will be grand.
*Holidaying in the North.
*Sewing. YES I have actually found a wee bit of time to do some sewing! Who woulda thunk it!!
(a Dress, a Hat (see below), A flower, A fabric dollshouse...in progress AND a wee secret project that I will reveal mabe in December)

The hat on the left (thats probebly quite obvious) is the latest product of sunshine thinking.

I have been thinking to myself as I potter about doing all these amazing things, HOW do people actually find the time to blog??? REALLY? ESPECIALLY mothers! They must like have the computer with them ALL the time! Or a notebook or something!!! I often think of noteworthy things to write in the blog...but..well it just doesnt happen becuase something more important crops up!! Maybe the prolific bloggers out there do frequently what I do on a bad mummy day??? Do they just chuck their kiddos in front of the tv/dvd and write away???? surely not...because there are many prolific motherish bloggers out there whose children seem to be thriving...ahhh doesnt really matter does it!! just something that occurred to me. Blah blah ramble ramble. Goodnight.

Wednesdays in arears

SO SO SORRY. Oh my. Where has the time gone? It seems nearly three weeks....no, wait....YES Three weeks have passed since I wrote. I FEEL like I have been busy...Im not sure if I have...I certainly haven't been busy in the sewing world...

To catch up...Wednesday...there have been three since my last wonder...I can't really remember what we did on each one...but I think there were parks, and face trees, and bush and throwing stones in the river.....But Neo now goes to therapeutic Movement and Music at "The Hostipal" on Wednesday mornings...so things have changed for us on our what to do day....but we still have teh afternoons! sewing....OH I KNOW. I have made two BEAUTIFUL gawdy breastfeeding covers for the Wharekai Pepe Trust fundraiser....more about that here. I am the President of the trust.......and I hope that explains why I have been in absentia lately. Trying to get money from various stones around the country takes time! Anyway, the covers are going in the raffle. I am quite proud of them dispite their brightly vison offensive colours!! I hope the winner gets some good use from them, cause as much as I believe breastfeeding should be a public picnic, for some women its just easier to cover up!

I finished my tester dress...Have I said that before? Also I gave the lovely wee guy his birthday gift on Sunday. I think he loved it!!! I must remember to take some photos of it next time I am at his house to put on here!!!! I think I will make one for Neo and maybe his girly cousin Jet too as it will be her 3rd birthday next year!

I KNOW this had no photos...they will come. I am currently blobbed on the couch and its all to hard to get off my lazy behind to get the stick with the pics on.

Did I mention I have a spewy baby and a spewy husband. JOY.

Hope everyone else is well in craftyblog land

k8.

I haven't disappeared

Promise.
BRB.
K8

Wondering Wednesday

Sadly, Wondering Wednesday...or most days this week have been a bit lame for me and the boys as I have been under the weather! waa waa. However, beinga good mummy (HA!) I managed to draaagg myself out of the house and down to the closest park I could find for a play and a treasure hunt.

Im pleased that we went. It was good to get some sunshine and fresh air, and we all three slept well once we got back! BONUS!

While we were out stumbling walking dawdeling along I was thinking about how we (mothers and fathers) have to just keep going even when we would rather just put a dvd on for the kids and curl up in a ball in the play tent in the corner and snooze. OH YES, I have done this, but I never feel very good about it (guilty mother syndrome). It occured to me, whilst going out was the HARDER option this day, it was the option that made me FEEL better. One on a body/healthy feeling level and two, on a good parental/learning for kids level. And as one of my mottos is, "there is no point doing something unless it makes you feel good..." I am glad I chose this option! Plus Neo gave me a conversational GEM while at the park:
Points to bird poo on the seesaw "Hmm There is BITCH on this one".....me: "Theres what? on that?"..."There is bitch on this, here see.."....me: "Thats bird poo...(hiding a laugh).." and left it at that.

RUGBY RUGBY RUGBY.

HA HA HA.

Im glad you still decided to read this...as it is NOT about the game...

I am just SO glad the rugby world cup is on! It means HEAPS, LOADS, ENORMOUS amounts of time that I can spend sewing in my living room, with the "company" of The Mechanic....sort of company...he watches the rugby. I sew and listen half-heartedly.

I like to have company when I sew. Im not one for being alone really.

If its not The Mechanic and the rugby in the background...its Little Who in his highchair with a biscuit and a cup of water (this cancels out the biscuit..right?) or Neo eating his morning tea/afternoon tea/lunch at the table with me while I sew sew sew. I talk to the boys about what I am doing, and they (well Neo) asks lots of questions and tells me stories. I think it is lovely time together....I am happy sewing and chatting...the boys are happy eating and chatting. Then when I am finished part of a project, we play whatever they want to. I think this is a fair deal!!

Anyway, back to the rugby...NOT. This past week while the beautiful game (oh hmm is that soccer?) has been on the telly, I have managed to start and finish (nearly) a few projects. I am about 3/4 through my "test dress" and have completed a wee project for a certain lovely little boy who turns 3 soon...I can't say much about it incase his mother happens to read this...but lets say...its useful, and colourful and fun...and when I make another one I will do it COMPLETELY differently hahaha.

In other news, a charity that I help run called Wharekai Pēpē Trust has been donated $1000 from LHCC YAY for us! So that means we can continue our work with breastfeeding mothers and their bubbas!! check us out www.facebook.com/Wharekaipepe we will have a website soon too!!
Think lots of money gathering thoughts for us as we wait to see how our other applications for funding go!!

This week my friend and I start our own "boot camp"....we both need to shift a touch of blub (not much...just that extra muffin...) so back to running and zumba and eating less healthy(ish) for me!

Hope all of you in blog land are grand

K8.

Upcycling....

So I gave upcycling a wee go.....I recently sorted through Neo's old clothes (he still had size one clothes in his draws!)....I found two long sleeved shirts that were to small for him...one I liked, the other I didnt... so CHOP CHOP SEW SEW...CUT, UNSTITCH.... now Neo has a "new" old shirt, with sleevies that fit and look funky!

Pics later...maybe even a try-hard tutorial! oooooh....

Wondering Wednesday

Today was a beautiful sunny day in good old Wellington! So the Mechanic prescribed sunshine and picnics in parks for his family before he left for work. Sounded good to me!

Thrilled about shopping!

First stop SUPERMARKET. Remind me not to go to the Supermarket when I have MEGA cravings for chocloate. Whoops. I promise that we did get fruit and veges and other 'healthy' things...but I think a great % of our trolley ended up having chocolatey goodness in it....I found that the local Yellow Supie sells actually VERY good chocolate coissants....mmmm....I think as good as any I had in France!! So there ya go! I planned to share it with the lads..but once I took a bite....well all sharing went out the window with my waist

line! mmmmmmmm

watching and eating.

Neo wanted to go to a park by Fergusson Drive (which is the longest street in our dear little town...one that Neo thinks is pretty cool cause it is soooo looonnggg). I chose TMP. Its a cool park. And what do you know! There was a minature world cup rugby tourny on! Seems I can not escape RWC no matter how hard I try! There were lots of schools all assigned to a country and were having their own cup matches. We sat near S.A and Fiji! Cool!

watching the ruggers

A wee play on playground, then home. A long and tiring morning, full of sunshine, sports, srums and scrummy foods.




What will next Wednesday hold?

Whose dad is a mechanic?

Wondering Wednesday.

I have decided to start a weekly Wondering Wednesday post.

Wednesdays, in our house are generally the day that nothing is planned and we often stay home, or at least close to home. Every morning Neo will say "I wonder what we will do today?!"...so there we have it....

Today looked as though the weather was going to be grand, so I suggested that after Little Who's nap we go for a walk (something that often occurs on Wednesdays...I nearly named it Wandering Wednesday...).

While Little Who napped, Neo and I baked! YUM. I found a very grand lemon muffin recipe indeed. Here it is: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/muffins/lemon-curd-muffins/

We made 9 normal sized muffins. SO YUM!       

He just couldn't wait!!! 

Do you blame him?

 One of my favourite things about this time of the year are the flowers and trees. I LOVE Rhodos. "No Smell" though....

CONCRETE ART! This is an elephant. Neo said so... I can see it..can you? Do I have an abstract arteest on my hands?

                                                                                                                                                                  

Just cause he is cute and today he FINALLY learnt how to clap his hands!!!!

I promise next time there will be more photos. This first attempt was poor as I forgot my camera for our first outing and on the second one I got caught up in the fun of it all.
xxx

Im in LOVE

So, Im not sure if I mentioned how much I hate going to a certain fabric store...*coughs* spotlight Kaiwharawhara. The service is soooo emormously CRAPPY and well...its a 30min drive one way its just not worth the angst and hatred it builds in me...because that is really not conducive to good crafty vibes. ANYWAY I hate it there and I am NEVER going back.

On Friday I decided to venture out to Porirua (which is nearly 40mins away) and inspect the Spotlight out there and also go to the local Emporium...which I have never been to.

If I knew how to add one in I would HEART...I AM SOOO IN LOVE WITH THE EMPORIUM! ohhh sighhhhh. Just thinking about it makes me get all mushy! haha. All the sparkly things, the giant buttons the ribbon, the dress up stuff...even the plastic swords had me going!! The boys really enjoyed it too...except that Little Who kept trying to climb out of the cute mini shopping trolley...hmm next time I will take my backpack to chuck him in!

Unfortunatly they didn't have any knit fabric...well none I wanted for this particular project...but they did have this:

Not really sure what I will do with it...But I HAD to have it!!

After dragging myself out of the Emporium of Awesomeness (and convincing Neo that we would come back and look at the various torches and bouncy balls another day) we ventured (with trepidation) to the other Spotlight store........ duhduhduhduh (Hmm JAWS music)... I was pleasantly surprised! The sales girl greeted me and led me STRAIGHT to gorgeous knit fabric and various other things I needed. The cutting lady was happy to be there, so inturn, so was I! YAY! Thankyou Spotlight Porirua for being a pleasant shopping experience..we will be back!

The creations:

 Good old Neo...modelling "girly" shorts...BOOTIful!

 And yes...Little Who had to model the matching Flower!

 This one is finally done!

Love, Flowers and Hearts to all. xx

creations

 Lunch Bag of fishing goodies...yes! I added some hooks and sinkers....I thought an empty bag was a bit sad.......

 Aeroplane, hand and Little Who's foot. He wouldnt do a hand...kept trying to grap the cnavas!

 Rainbows and mermaids...

LA LA LA LUNCH BAGSSSS

Remember....its The Mechanics birthday this weekend....Oh woe is me...He is SOOO hard to buy for...so LUCKY HIM he gets a home made gift from me!! I have sewn him a lunch bag out of tablecloth....well vinyl table cloth. Was pretty cheap for what I got and I think it has opened up a WHOLE NEW sewing world for me! I have so far make a Lunch bag, a wine bag (which was meant to be the lunch bag but was to tall and slim) and I have made a wallet. I LOVE putting snaps on things! Hammer Hammer Hammer.

I have titles this LA LA LA because my mum told me I was nuts. A bit la la making all these bizzare things. Little does she know, I got it from her haha!

No photos yet as Mr Mechanic is sitting in the lounge with me and will see....tomorrow. I will also put up the paintings that Neo has made for his Dada too. Pretty clever wee guy if you ask me!

Spring has Srung in my house!

The weekend was spent doing lots and lots of fabulous sewing. A friend of mine is moving to Sydney in a couple of days, she needed a laptop tote bag, she thinks her sewing skills leave a little to be desired..I think they are alright, but I offered to whip one up for her anyway!

Here it is (my apologies for the photos...maybe Latte Junkie will take some photos of the bag in use and post some:

Button!!!

internal zipped pocket!!!!

From this project I learnt how to make boxed corners and how to make a internal zipped pocket this tutorial is really easy to follow. I searched through quite a few before I found this one...the other just made my brain hurt!

I am annoyed that I put the straps in the wrong place AND the lining inside seams could be seen.....where did I go wrong here? Can anyone help me?

My second project of the weekend was the dress and head band for my friends darling one year old..Here it is:

It was during this project that spring sprung. I had SO MUCH fun making fabric flowers...I made an entire garden! Lovely Jubbly! I think I am going to embellish ALL my clothes and accessories with flowers, BIG Beautiful Bouquets!

Its my Husbands and Father In Laws birthday this weekend (YES same day). So now I am on the next mission.....watch this space...

SLACK SLACK SLACK!!!

Goodness me! Is that the date? I look away and step back from the sewing machine and two months just wizzes by! I think it must be high time I got back on the machine!

I have actually sewn ONE item in this time. It was a gift for a friends baby, a halfmoon pillow.....I thought it was pretty funky! It had his name and birthday sewn into it too! Sadly, I didnt take any photos...I will have to ask her to flick some to me! Perhaps the quality of the pillow was the greatest....this was when I discovered that wine and sewing machines don't mix...despite what the user thinks!! haha "Oh WOW, I am really good at sewing tonight, I am going really fast and not making any mistakes and it looks GREAT.....the next morning...."Oh...dam...looks like I have some fixing to do" HAHA. It WAS fun though!

I have been very busy setting up TWO businesses. Our main family one, a brake machining business that the Mechanic runs (its mobile) and my own one selling handsfree stroller adaptors...see my facebook page www.facebook.com/StrollSmartNZ I have a couple of expos coming up...so things will remain slow on here for a while, but I AM sewing a wee dress for my friends little girl this weekend. Here it is:free-pattern-baby-dresstunic I am a bit in love with this lady and her gorgeous boy! The things she makes are so cool! And her blog is fun to read! I wish I could zip over to Norway and meet her!! Instead I will just follow her life and sew up some of her groovey ideas!

On the 1984 pattern front...have nothing yet.... :-( Not to worry though...all in good time!

So anywho....This weekend will be dedicated to sewing and hanging with Neo and the Little Who! (whose birthday was last week...so I HAVE been busy! Here is a pic of the epic teddy bear cake!)

 Here are some other cool things we have been up to lately in this crazy New Zealand weather!!!! Aparently its been about 40 years since it snowed like this in our town! It was MAGIC!

 Check out the Paua Shell eyes!!! A little bit of beach in the blizzard!!!!!!!!!

A pattern from my birth year.

I am on the hunt for a pattern to sew from my year of birth. 1984. Gah, I am not a fan of the 80's fashion. It just doesn't do it for me.

 If I EVER see something I like...its usually 80's does 50's or 80's does 40's....really meaning I LOVE 40's and 50's....NOT the 80's......but there are a few gems...Jem in fact ha ha!!! If you know who I am talking about then you probably grew up in the 80's and 90's.

ANYWAY...I digress....I am on the hunt. Watch this space.......

Undressing the bed to dress myself.

Remember how I told you about my pattern for the 1950's dress turned up in the mail? Well I started creating the other day. I feel good about the results so far. I did have to call up my mama to ask about how to make sure the dart pattern stayed on the fabric...she taught me over the phone a fandangled pin arrangement....that actually works! so WHOO I have learnt about darts!!!

The fabric I have chosen from my fabric pile is an old set of bed sheets with pink roses on them. Quite 1950s if I do say so myself!

I am up to the part of sewing where you can tell whether the item 1) Resembles the pattern at all and 2) whether it is actually going to FIT. I fear that I may have made it a tiny bit small...it will fit, but it will be snug. LUCKILY this is really only a test run and I don't think I will wear the bed-sheet dress...as it still looks like a bed sheet......just one that fits a seamstress...not a queen.

When I make this dress again, I will choose thicker fabric that can hold its shape a bit better and is less see-through.

What is it will household item fabrics staying as they are meant to be???? a table cloth that won't change and a bed sheet remains a bed sheet?? I am seeing a trend....

Welcome to the dark side of the moon....

                                                       LOOK AT THIS!!!!!!!!

If by any chance you have read my other blog...then you will know one of my favourite bands is Pink Floyd. Well this is a groovy stretchy knit fabric that was covering my younger brothers ceiling in his flat..So there is a LOT of it!

I can't wait to make something out of it! As I have been wanting to make a zip up sweatshirt..I might use this...and I think it lends itself well to a snug-fitting hooded number. What do you think?

I may have to use a pattern...as I don't want to ruin/waste the fabric.

I'm going on a pattern hunt and I'm not scared.

"All in all your just another, Brick in the wall".

Trials and tribulations

SEWWWWWWW anyway, (ha ha)... I got my pattern for an awesome looking 1950's style dress in the mail today. "All the way from America.." So exciting! My first real proper fancy dancy project! I read it thoroughly and noted down (in my head) the parts I don't completely understand will ask either my Mama or my Mother in Law...both pretty decent seamstresses.

 I started cutting out the pattern on the correct measurement....about a third of the way around I was so sick of my damn scissors...so hard to use!! I hadn't really noticed when just cutting fabric (admittedly it was a tiny bit tricky but I thought nothing of it)....upon inspection and comparison (to some kitchen scissors) it would appear that the fabric store lady sold me LEFT-HANDED SCISSORS. Oh my. Now, you don't know me (or unlikely to) but if you did, you would know that I have NEVER been very good at cutting things with scissors...my straight lines as a child always included snazzy corners, chunks missing and one end of the fabric/paper/card would ALWAYS end up wider than the other.... So why, may I ask did the sewing gods decide to throw me this challenge???? I mean, re-learning everything from pretty much scratch in between nap times and play times is challenge enough...without crooked tools!!! *sigh*. Sadly, I do not have the receipt anymore either....I will just have to keep on trucking and go extra extra carefully...until sewing Karma changes and I am able to afford  inherit find some new flash RIGHT HANDED scissors.

On a brighter cheerier note, my phone is back from hospital and didn't cost me a thing to fix, so I will post some photos as soon as I have time.

For now, I am going to step away from my new project and let it rest...before some other sewing related catastrophe befalls me.

Happy crafting.

Oh Lawdy Gawdy!

Last night I finished off a terribly gawdy pull-over designed for Neo (3years). From this project I learnt how to make a top/sleeveless and long sleeved and how to attach sleeves! Whoot! (btw I am pretty happy with my sleeve application skills!)

 I don't actually intend on making him wear it...It is bright yellow fleece with a bright orange J insignia on the front!! I actually did convince him to try it on for me this morning...while pulling it over his head he announced "Mama, this makes me feel silly"....... Luckily for him I only wanted to see him wear it for the fit. He did romp around in it for about an hour before it was time to dress into something a little more suitable for family photos (store bought sadly...but one day perhaps he will own a homemade wardrobe fit for photos). The Mechanic did share with me his concerns and worries that I might be dressing "his kids in weird clothes"......HA HA...I'll try not to...although I would prefer to call them "unique".

Yesterday was my friends baby's 1st birthday and the pants I made him were a hit, and fitted him well! *JOY*

photos to come...phone/camera still sick.

Sometimes table cloths can be no more than that....

Im not sure if I mentioned that a lot of my fabric has come from second hand stores..and TradeMe. Well the other day I found some pretty funky fabric that I think is was a tablecloth. I thought it would be fantastic for a A-line skirt....Well as it turns out...even though it was cut up and sewn.....it still looks like a table cloth...In fact, it is a FAR better table cloth than skirt....suffice to say I stopped where I was before I spent to many more hours on something that was just never going to become......anything.

Win some lose some! I'm not concerned. From that particular project I reminded myself about how to sew in zips and learnt BRAND NEW TO ME how to make a waistband...historically I have just left plenty of seam to roll down....not now! I know how to make a really lovely waistband.

My parents have been down visiting so I haven't been getting my creative ON lately. Last night though I whipped up some snazzy pants for my friends wee dudes 1st birthday. I decided to use all the cut offs that I had laying around to make the outer and lined them with yellow sweatshirt fleece...whatever its called. I can't stand it..so it is GREAT for lining and making lovely snugly winter pants. I hope he/she likes them!!!

My phone has fallen ill and will be at phone hospital for at least 15 days...so no photos yet...but once I get it back I will post some!

May 2011's creations!!!

By golly, I have been having SUCH a fun time creating things. I have really just been practicing and refreshing my mind on things such as HOW to use the sewing machines settings, cutting, measuring, pattern arrangement etc etc. I have already made a few items...and considering it has been so many years since I last did any of this...I am quite pleased with the results...mostly.

First thing I made was a pair of quirky trousers for Neo (3 years). This is him wearing them...He wouldn't stand up to show them off..the only way I could get him to keep still was to POSE reading from a packet of sewing pins. AH WELL...you get the idea. The fabric is actually left over from a child's chair I re-upholstered a while back. I have loads of this neat fabric...expect for colourful treasures!!!!

To make these I just used an old pair of Neo's pants as a pattern...but to get a good starting point I visited this blog:

http://handyprojects.blogspot.com/2005/04/how-to-make-easy-kids-pants.html

Which also led me to finding this: http://www.rookiemoms.com/make-some-easy-kids-pants/ Which I will do one day too!!!

I then got a bit more creative and decided to make some fleece lined pants...which turned into Pirate PJs... Have a lack of actual fleece..I chopped up an old baby blanket that was kind of cotton fleecy goodness. These pants are SOO snugly and not to badly made if I do say so myself! The Pirate Fabric was purchased during the Nesting stage of my pregnancy with Little....to make a bedspread...this didn't happen...But these PANTS DID!! Whoot!!

I have heaps left too!!! YUSSS!!!

Next came the apron. I have been meaning to make an apron for Neo...for about 2 years...Ever since he starting "helping" in the kitchen. I recall wanting to make it out of an old (or new) tea-towel...but I got fancy ha ha: I re-learnt from this "experiment" about seam allowance and how to make a pocket.. I knew all this...but the past few years of travel, work and breeding had erased it from my memory..but its back now!! Luckily for me the mistakes (ahem...LEARNINGS) are hard to see in the photos!. I got the original pattern from:  sewliberated and sort of mixed it with Kathy Miller's apron from Makingitfun (I will one day attempt the fabulous chefs hat too!) and added my own twist...and voila!! Now to do some baking!!!

                                                       

From the beginning...

As my blog title suggests, I am in no means a sewing guru. I have coined the name of my FAVOURITE and second most utilised tool (after my scissors) the quick-unpick....or seam ripper.

My experience on sewing started at a young age, watching my mum sew various clothing items for me, my brother and herself (I'm not sure she made anything for dad). When my mum was a SAHM when I was a baby, her and her best friend went into business together making baby/child leotards (this was the 80s! enough said). The business was not that successful, but through hearing the stories (and seeing myself and my best friend as the wee 2 year old models) I have gained a love for sewing, crafting and creating. I learnt a little bit from schooling, but mostly from my mum. When I left home I often made my own (wacky) clothes and re-arranged new items.

There has been approximately a 7 year gap between the last (big) item I have sewn to today. But two weeks ago was my 27th birthday and The Mechanic bought me a lovely jubbly PINK Brother Sewing Machine. I love it. LOVE IT! I call him my "brother from another mother"!


So here I am today, starting this blog (for me..and maybe you) to follow my journey (of success's and most probably failures) from sewing novice to (hopefully) sewing extraordinaire (well..sort of ha ha).