I have been sewing

It seems like ages since I have posted a sewing-related post but I
have actually been sewing. The first picture is a skirt for Charlotte for pre-school photo day. The fabric is a Michael Miller sent to me be the lovely Helen . I am really happy with it, it is really full and twirly and the band at the bottom is a lovely small pink gingham (you can't really see it in the photo). I will get a photo of Charlotte on Tuesday when she wears it.


I have also been working on some things for some markets I am hoping to get to soon. Some little zippered pouches (excuse the creased fabric as I haven't ironed it yet) and some bibs but I am struggling with the snaps I got from SL. I am working on a new bag pattern which I hope I can reveal next week

Flashback Friday

Another Friday has rolled around and this week Flashback Friday is dress-up day. I used my best dress-up two weeks ago but I dug this one out which was from the same Year 12 muck-up day.

All the way from WA

A lovely package arrived today from Helen. She was very naughty and bought these in exchange for some freezer paper I sent her, but they are very welcome. I am pretty sure some will become bags.

Flashback Friday

Well another Friday has rolled around and this week's photo is definitely not as funny as last weeks.

Not the best photo (you know what the old black and white was like) this is my mum and I. I don't even know where we were, must have been on holiday somewhere.

OP Shop Swap

Oh my god! I just received my Op Shop Swap from the lovely Heidi. I think I need to move to the Northern Territory because I got a fantastic package from Heidi.

The first photo is everything bundled up. Heidi grouped everything into books, baking and sewing and tied each bundle up with ribbon.


This was the sewing bundle. A lovely golden hands book of soft toys (I already have my eye on a few things). A lovely paisley flannel, which I think will make some great pants next year and maybe even some cushions. The other fabric also feel a bit flannel-like and it was 2 pieces of pinks and purples with animals on it, I am in love with it!



Next on the list was the baking bundle with contained a lovely apron, a Marie Claire Sweets book, my favourite and a 1966 Recipe Book from the Adelaide Children's Hospital. Heidi very correctly said I would have been Lucy's age when this came out and she was right I was born in 1966.





Lastly was the reading bundle and Heidi scored some great Dr Seuss books which will go straight into my collection and I think Charlotte will love reading the "I'll teach my dog 100 words" tonight.

A Gift for Ashton

Now that Andrea has received the gift I sent for Ashton I can post a pic of it. It is a scalloped edge baby blanket and a bag for Ellyse. Both of these patterns are from Amy Karol's book Bend the Rules Sewing, I am in love with this book. The bag is a Michael Miller fabric with green dotty lining and back. The blanket is a cute flannelette with "I love mummy, I love daddy" written on it and is backed by a mint green chenille. It has warm and natural in the middle. Not the best picture but the only one I took unfortunately.

Flashback Friday

I got this concept from Kylie who got it from Three Buttons. So I decided to participate as my blog has become a bit more than just my sewing exploits.

So here is my flashback.......................... I was a biker chick. Well for a day anyway at our Year 12 High School muck-up day. This was a great tradition which has now died in most schools. The year was 1983 and we had parties all the night before, then our whole form got dressed up as bikers and terrorised all the younger girls at the train station and on the way to school. The teachers copped it at school too. It was a great day and a great way to end our school life.

Custom-made bag featuring YOUR child's artwork

I made this bag featuring a drawing done by Charlotte. These custom-made bags will be available here and here from next week. If you would like more information please email me.

Another non-sewing post, well almost......

Just a quick post to show you what I did today. The hat I am wearing was supposed to be for Lucy but was obviously too big so I whipped her up another one. They are from this book which I am in love with. I also made a bag from here too but I need to iron it before I can post a pic.




This photo is Charlotte in her new shin pads. She was supposed to go to a soccer camp in the holidays but she was sick. She has been itching to wear her shin pads so Jeff took her up to the park today for a kick.

My Little Waterbaby

My little girl is growing up. I can't believe how quikcly the year has gone and that Lucy is 8 months on Monday. So in preparation for summer we started swimming lessons today. Once again I am in the pool but at least it is lovely and warm. She went realy well and there were only tears near the end of the lesson as she was very tired. Here are some pictures taken by our own papparrazi Charlotte.

In The Mail

I purchased this book by Amy Karol last week from Amazon and it just arrived so I am very excited. I haven't had a chance to have good look yet but so far it looks great.

Sew Mama Sew Bag Month

This is my entry for the Sew Mama Sew Bag Competition in the shoulder bag category. I got this Sesame Street fabric from Ebay. It is a vintage sheet and as soon as I received it I loved it. The colours are really vibrant and I immediately thought of using some of it to make a bag. I wasn't sure of the style at the time but I was playing around with an idea for something else and then thought the shape would make a good bag so decided to give it a try. I lined the bag with a bright yellow polka dot fabric and put a pocket and a magnetic clip in it. This bag may find it's way onto my Wahmania store so stay tuned.

And the winner is..................

And the winner is..................

The draw has been done, by Charlotte of course, and the winner is The Humming Cat. A prize will be coming your way very shortly. Email or pm me your address.

An Elephant and A Century

I just finished this elephant for a teacher at Charlotte's pre-school. As she doesn't know what she is having I made one side with green polka dots and the other in a rainbow fabric. I used a ribbon loop as the tail and I finally found a very large bell at Lincraft which I put inside.

I have also just realised that this is my 100th post. Yes I've racked up a century, who would have thought it, certainly not me. So I've decided to run a little competition. Post a comment before Monday morning and everyone will go into the draw for a special package. So all you lurkers out there come in and say hello.

Weekender Bag

I decided to use this bowling bag pattern to make a weekender style bag. It is very rough and I didn't end up lining it at I found the instructions a little confusing for the lining so next time I will just do the lining as I normally line a bag. I used some fabric from Ikea which was only $4/metre, it is interfaced and I used a zipper I got from the op-shop craft sale. There is a small gap at each end of the zip because it wasn't long enough but for my first go I am happy with it and it will do for Lucy or Charlotte's things when we go away for a couple of days in a month's time.

Shopping bag

I whipped this bag up this morning and I am pretty happy with it. Because it was just a trial run I decided not to line it (and depending on the fabric I don't think it really needs it) but then forgot to turn the handles and top in luckily I remembered just in time. Next time the pocket could be a little smaller. I will
definitely be making some more.

A Special Gift

One of Charlotte's friends had a birthday recently and I put together this little package for her. I was really happy with the pencil roll up. I adapted a knitting needle roll up from The Crafter's Companion book and I was really pleased with how it turned out. I also included some hair ties and some vintage note paper as she loves drawing and writing.

A Twirly Skirt

I am so in love with this skirt. I got it cut out and made in about 2 hours. I made it in panels because I didn't have enough fabric but next timeI might just use one fabric. I used 50cm for each panel but you just need to make it as much as you think you need. I did make Charlotte one last week ni a purple dot but didn't use enough fabric os this one is heaps better. I used 2 panels of Michael Miller dot fabric and 2 panels of a fabric I picked up on sale at the Remnany Warehouse. Charlotte was reallu please with it because it twirls heaps and insisted on wearing it today even though it was quite chilly so I had to dig out a pair of tights. You may be able to see peeking through her jacket a t-shirt made by the lovely Belinda. I found it heaps easier to make than the tiered twirly skirts as there was no gathering so it was much less time consuming.


On another note I picked this up from Helen's site so thought I would give it a go:
Instructions: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following…They MUST be real places, names, things…nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Cassandra (Cass)
Famous Artist/Band/Musician: Credence Clearwater
4 letter word: Cope
NameVehicle: Corolla
TV Show:Charlie's Angels
City: Canberra
Boy Name: Charlie
Girl Name: Charlotte
Alcoholic drink:Cocktails (all of them!)
Occupation: Chef
Flower: Carnation
Something you wear: Coat
Celebrity: Chevy Chase
Something found in a kitchen: Cook
Cartoon Character: Casper
Something You Shout: C'mon
A Country: Canada
A Song Title: California Girls
An Artist (painter, photographer, etc): ??
A Reason to stay home from Work or School: Cramps
Something you’d see at a Zoo: Chimp
A Snack: Chiko Roll
A Character in a Book: Charlotte (from Charlotte's Web)
Something Icky: ??
A Six-letter Word: Christ
Something Breakable: Crockery
Non-Alcoholic Drink: Coke
Something you Whisper: ??

OK so I got stuck on 3 of them, help out if you can.

Pants, Bag and a rainy weekend

Well it's been a shocking few days here in Sydney with torrential rain and fierce winds. Luckily we were spared fallen trees and blackouts but it meant we were trapped inside. A few weeks ago I picked up a cardboard castle cubby house that you put together and then colour in so I bought that out yesterday which kept Charlotte occupied while we watched the Swans. I have managed to get a little bit of sewing done making her some pants and a bag. She's not in a trying on mood so I just had to lay them on the bed. Also a family pic (sans me of course) just because!

Finally finished

It seems like I have been making this bag for weeks but it is finally finished. Nestled between sick children, a dreadful ear ache and Jeff being way I made this childs bag(or could be a small bag for an adult). There are a couple of things I woud change next time but overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I will be listing it for sale shortly.

New Bag

I made this bag yesterday and I really love it except I made the handles too short for how I like them so I think I will sell it. The outside is white canvas with green dots and it is lined with chocolate corduroy. This bag is now for sale here

I also recently made Charlotte this skirt.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by a few people so here goes.

And the rules are:
• Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself, that others may not know!
• People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog
• Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names

1. I worked with my partner Jeff for 10 years before we became romantically involved

2. I would love to live in New York

3. I hate driving up steep hills, I am afraid of not making it.

4. I'm not a very good housekeeper.

5. I have become addicted to sewing (but I guess you know that).

6. I fantasise about winning Lotto and have spent the money already.

7. I watch too much tv and I love it!

There's not too many left to tag so sorry if someone else has already gotten to you.
Andrea
Belinda
Brazen
Marie
Liv
Tigerfilly
Angel

Mothers Day Swap Part 2

Just got home from shopping and there was a package waiting for me from Andrea. Inside were 2 beautiful "cupcakes", one for me and one for Charlotte and a lovely taggie for Lucy. We were very spoilt!

Mothers Day Swap

Now Shibley has recieved her EB Mothers Day swap I acn post details. It included a snail pincushion (with magnetic sides), a vintage apron, some fabric, some pins, some vintage magnets (which will soone be available here) all packed in a drawstring bag, which hopefully one of the girls can use.

Baby Blocks

Seems silly but I have been working on these for ages. It seemed to take ages to get the squares cut and then sewn and stuffed but I finally finished it today. It is a simple block for Lucy to play with and with all the tags going around at the moment I added a few but didn't have too much ribbon floating around. These will be available for sale soon in the Snailblazer Shop.

Excuse the photos my camera won't turn on so I have had to use Charlotte's

Lucy's Christening

We had a lovely day today for Lucy's christening. There were 3 children being christening and Lucy started the crying when the water was poured over her head and the others followed suit, but that was it.









Lucy & I in the church Jeff, Lucy, me, Michelle & Phil (the godparents)

The Remnant Warehouse

Finally got to the Remnant Warehouse today and they have heaps more stuff than the last time I went. I got the following fabrics:

Black school days Michael Miller - this was reduced to $8/m and I thought I could use it for a library bag next year when Charlotte starts school

Retro space rascals Michael Miller - 1/2 m of this

The red/grey one with the lady on it is a fat quarter - not sure what I will do with this but Charlotte fell in love with it

The pink and green have groovy figures on them and were both $6/m so I couldn't pass them up.

I could have gone berserk but thought I should refrain myself but I will definitely be going back.