Quick Christmas present

It really is a good thing that these were quick to do - I haven't been this stressed in a long time.


I am just having constant headaches and can't concentrate on anything, and have a million things to do.

A star is born

Okay, so it probably isn't a big for anyone outside of the family, but to me it is super exciting. Scott played Jesus in our church's annual Christmas concert. Here he is:
He was a professional and was settled for all appearances (twice on stage over two nights) and there were a lot of people who thought he must have been a doll! Big thanks to Katie and Ryan (I think) who looked after him well.

And here is Scott relaxing at home. He likes to have his arms out now, but still swaddled. Can't believe he is 3 months next week. Time is going much too fast.

Just some pondering

Over a couple of days, between feeds, nappy changes and the general motherhood-things that we do each day, I was thinking about my fabric stash and how it wasn't really meeting my needs.

My stash is mostly built on fabrics that I liked; were (mostly) on sale; and I had a plan for - mainly clothes for me and the kids. But with more and more invites to birthday parties and the like I am beginning to think that my stash needs a little more substance suitable for gifting.

Shopping is one activity that I don't really enjoy and I would much rather whip up a little handmade creation then spend the same amount of time and energy going to the shops and choosing a present.

So I need to remember to stock up on canvas for aprons (placemats, tea towels, bags), muslin and flannelette (wraps, jammie pants), cute prints (everything from hats, baby overalls, shirred tops and knitting needle/crochet hook/pencil rolls) plus everything else that I forgot and can't think of at the moment.

Candy cane stripes with a touch of reindeer...

I swear that I don't normally dress my children in ridiculous outfits just to take a photo but this hat was too cute and I wanted to get one with the other part of his Christmas outfit.

Isn't he a doll?

Stash

Now, I have been sewing for some time and I make 95% of my clothes and Jalisa's...


This shelf is children's woven fabric
This is some leftover polar fleece and other smaller knit - only good for baby clothes or something. In the background is a bag full of knits for me that I forgot to get a picture of.

Hmm, just a couple of pieces of knit - plus my sewing magazine collection.

This shows a bag of terry knit, a box of slinky knit and a pile of smaller cuts suitable for clothes for Scott - some of it was gifted to me.

Two shelves of fabric for me. Top is woven, bottom is knits (there are also a few gifted ribbing pieces shoved in there - oops)

The two nappy boxes are full of knits (like french terry etc) for tracksuits. Plus this is where all my newer boy fabric has been shoved.

Bottom drawer is full of various knits. Top draw is for patterns.

Bag of fat quarters and half yard cuts of "cool" fabric. Have also bought a few tees to applique - (need to cut down on some of my sewing somehow).

I also have just washed a small pile. Now that I think about it, the fabrics for me would last longer than the kids stuff because I am only adding to my wardrobe rather than needing new things constantly. Plus adult fabric cuts take up more room.

Do you put your hat on your elbow, on your elbow?

Your hat on your elbow? Uh-uh, uh-uh!

This hat is from Ottobre 2/2003 (#13). Very fast to make, as it is the only one pattern piece for the whole hat. This will be just a spare for around the house - I just felt like doing some fast sewing and wanted to test out this pattern.
This is the other hat I made. I actually fished it out of the bin, as I had thrown it away the other night (I sewed the panels up the wrong way - there is a particular way so not to get a huge lump in the middle). I made these flower pins yesterday - the bigger one is for the matching dress. This set will be given to Jalisa for Christmas - she actually (accidently) saw the dress yesterday and asked if she could have it. I had to distract her and quickly put it away. I think she may have forgotten about it for now. Hopefully.

Sorry for the long self-indulgent post

There are not many things in life that I have failed at. Many times I feel like I have failed but haven’t really. And there are a lot of things I won’t attempt because I am pretty certain I may fail them.

I am a bit sad to say that I am no longer in business. I wasn’t going to make a big announcement because to be frank it is very hard to say that my business failed.

For some time now, I was feeling a little rejected because it felt personal - I had put so much care into sewing the garments that I felt very attached to them. But yesterday as I was looking at them, trying to figure out which ones I could use for my own children, I realised how proud I was that I had had a go. How proud I was of my sewing too (I did good work!)

And I realised that I wasn’t being rejected. My heart is with sewing and not with business. My priorities were for myself, my growing bubba and my family and friends and somehow my business was not near the top of that list. Plus I am not good at promoting myself - I find it a bit embarrassing. I am just not a business person.

Aquaberry may come back at some stage, but for now I am just sewing for me and my family.

Splash of purple

Dyeing is all about experimentation I have found. Oh, and learning that I need to use my brain!

Last time I found that I could have added a lot more water.Two things I learnt this time around: 1. When dyeing large amounts of fabric, you will need to add more dye powder. Logical (but then again, I never did that well at maths plus I was thinking of my previous experience of being able to add a little more water than I did). 2. When dyeing using secondary or teritiary colours, the other colours will come out if you don't use enough dye powder.

I actually used a ultra violet coloured dye. I thought I might get shades of mauve through to the deep purple. I wasn't expecting blue to come out too (though that is once again logical since violet is made by adding red and blue together).

So here is my outfit. Fabric is dyed cotton lycra knit. Pattern is an old Kwik Sew favourite. Jalisa requested a tee and shorts for her too, but I will wait until she actually needs some new clothes. she is just swimming in outfits.

Worth dyeing for?

These were the result of my first experiment with using procion dyes. I had added more water to one to make it pastel, but I learnt that you have to add a lot of water to make a difference! I love the mottled look too. I will probably make the rompers into tees though, since I could never get this style to fasten over cloth nappies.

Here is a close up look at the mottled (well, closer)...

Shopping totes

After quite a bit of umming and ahhing over what to make as gifts for two little girls, I decided on making them these little tote bags and purses.
The purses are filled with play money - if the girls are anything like Jalisa, they will love playing with the set (I am already making another bag and purse for Jalisa, with fabrics that she selected).

I felt free and reckless while making these. See, I am one to work out the dimensions, add allowances and have it all square and right. With these, I did not care whether the dimensions ended up being an odd number, and I did not even measure for the pocket placement.

In a way it made me feel good to not worry but at the same time it kind of rubbed me up the wrong way so I know I won't do that too much in the future - it just doesn't suit me.