Sidetracked in a sea of pink

Lucy Top

I am in school holiday mode, the washing machine is not getting a break, the ironing basket seems to refill itself daily and the food is dissapearing too!!

Time out for me!! - I decided it was high time to sort through the stash and trim some bits for a very special project... While sorting and snipping I found some long forgotten bits and pieces You know when you see it on the roll at the store and think of all these great ideas and just HAVE TO HAVE IT>>>> But I was inspired to make the girls some buntings for their bedroom walls.

I had clipped this pic out of a magazine some years back and thought it would also make a great gift for some little girls who were soon to have birthdays.. So with my little ironing lass, we cut and made triangles all afternoon..

We traced the letters, she ironed them on and along we went in a sea of pink...

I have stopped momentarily to refill the biscuit barrell..

Meanwhile here is a sneak peek at the nearly finished Audrey top..

These two tops are only my test sew items, I hope to make them in a linen blend in several colours.. though it probably wont happen in the holidays I am guessing.. Then I hope someone wants to buy them!

It is very difficult to sew whilst counting for the skipping rope or resolve arguments over who had which texta first!!

The Audrey Top

And this little parcel will be on its way today, fully stacked with goodness and a few hand sketched pictures by the girls...possibly even some bikky crumbs by now!!

Design, create & enjoy...

My tags have arrived hooray!!!!!!! now I bet get that Janome cruising...

I have finished my very first fully designed item and my 2nd is only needing a hem and some buttons. I tried my hand at making a pattern form a block. I drafted the basic block in a size 6 and then got creative. I had a pile of sketches and decided to give it a go.

My sheets of sketches..

After watching Project Runway Australia, I came to the conclusion that I was making it out to be far more technical than it would be. I was right. I loved the whole experience. I forgot to take any photos of the during process *(I was obviously far too enthralled) but shall post some soon of the products.

I have had my labels delivered and now need to get my designer brain around some serious sewing...I am excited and anxious at the same time. Hey its a hobby at this point, although after reading Craft Inc. this week I think someone wrote that book just for me.

Also I found this totally awesome website, check it out....I had never heard of digital scrapbooking till today!

A few things I have made recently.

Pardon the toes, these are a few things I have finished but hadn't taken shots of. Every time I try to catch a model in something new, I am usually confronted with a dirty scruffy hairdo that just cannot be touched or a grumpy poky out tongue face that does not want to stand still let alone smile.. i refuse to bribe at this point, the reward is for good behaviour not the opposite.
Oh and I had a girls day activity on a day of no school the other day, what fun (and mess) a little fiddly but good fun and some very pleased little girls...

Happy sewing, crafting and remember that super glue is not good for skin!

Vera Jean here I come

I have finally done it, I have chosen a name for my wares.
After having lists of names hanging around for months now.
I have tried to combine, search for opposites, synonyms, foreign languages,You name it.
I have gone completely left of field and chosen something completely unlikely and have decided to register the name "Vera Jean". Plus it wasn't taken like many others I liked...

It is a combination of my two grandmothers. They are/were both extremely talented crafters. I still have my Nanna Jean. She still sews today in her late 80's. My Nanna Vera passed away a week before my wedding, (10 years ago). She and my Pop lived straight over the back fence of our first home (yeah we lived in sin for a while)... Vera was an obsessed historian and had books on everything. I can clearly remember playing scrabble at the card table in front of the heater if we were fortunate enough to stay for a visit. She always kept an enormous dictionary beside her recliner to settle any arguments. She was a very clever lady, somehow she had trained my Poppy and he did all the washing ironing and even dishes and vacuuming.. Way to go lady.
I had sewing group last night and took along a stack of items that just needed buttonholes and buttons. I hate buttonholes...and sewing on buttons.
I have been very absent over the past months , and for very good reason. I am the fundraising coordinator at my daughters kinder and have spent the last many months organising a fundraising dinner auction. It has been a lot of hard and thankless work but it has all paid off. The auction was a huge success and we raised over $9,000.00 . So now I have trodden that path I am more than pleased to have my spare time and life back. SO here I come. watch out,....

The Watson Dress

I have finally finished the Chocolate Linen Dress which I have labelled the Watson Dress on the pattern pieces.. Partly because if I wrote Brown dress, I would not know which one.... Watson was my grandmother's maiden name...

It was hard to photograph and It looks a completely different colour in each photo, I will need to get my little model in a good mood so that we can have a smiley face with the dress..But I am happy with the way it turned out, I wonder wether it would be something I could perhaps make to order???Would it look any good in Pale Pink?? or does it not work with the organic look..

Mothers day morning, the sweet little girls both presented me with their special gifts from Kinder and school and they were very cute...After that it went rather downhill. No special breakfast and certainly no fairies appeared to do the ironing..Maybe I will practise teaching them "Mummy loves Cool Water " or perhaps "Mummy really needs a special treat from Ella Bache!" I might practise that for Christmas even, couldnt hurt surely... Best move on to the next project and aim at getting my creative bum into gear, thanks for the words of wisdom EmmaRose, I think I will use that theory when my MIL calls in....