Thursday 23 October 2014

"All yours, Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya"


Today is my Babooshka's birthday and the first one without her here on this Earth with us. She was such a special part of our lives and I have so many amazing memories of her that it's rare that a day goes by that I'm not reminded of her. She was from the Ukraine and so we were lucky to grow up eating what I consider the most delicious food of all time - Veraniki. So of course I had to make it for dinner in honour of her and all the fun times.


I also thought it would be the perfect time to finally get to altering one of her dresses so it would be something I could wear. Firstly I cut the skirt from the top, then removed the white front triangle piece. I then made the top into a crossover across the bust and toyed around with the idea of a two piece;) see dodgy pic above! I then decided I'm definitely not brave enough to pull that off, as much as two pieces are all the rage!

                      

I eventually settled on a form fitted skirt piece as I don't really have many dresses like that, and attached the top to the bottom and viola! A special dress in a new format that I know I will love to wear. And even better is that due to the stretch in the fabric I didn't need to put in any fastenings, so it's a nice and simple pull on:)


Here's a rare picture of me actually caught cooking! Veraniki is one of the only things I cook;)
The dinner was lovely and it was nice thinking of all the fun memories. But my daughter then read out her birthday card she wrote to Nanna and let's just say I don't think we've ever cried while eating veraniki before!


For the Ears!
Kate Bush: Babooshka

Saturday 18 October 2014

"triangles are my favourite shape, three points where two lines meet"


I made this baby blanket for my brother and sister-in-law who are expecting their first little human next month! The Arctic Monkeys are loved by us all so I thought I'd go for the AM album feel, whether or not that came across I don't know!
I also used a triangle template (my third now) for this one but went for the right-angled style as opposed to the isosceles trianges used in my previous two. This blanket is a bit smaller too which I think is good to use in a pram or a quick pull out to lie bub on.


I found this super gorgeous thin fleece at Spotlight and thought it would be perfect for a little dreaming baby to snuggle up on:). I especially love the little rockets!
And though I love how the triangles worked out in a diamond/zigzag pattern, sewing right-angled triangles was very trying! I don't think I've ever pressed anything so hard to get smooth in all my sewing life!!


For the Ears!
Alt-j: Tesselate

Thursday 16 October 2014

"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me."


It's been a busy couple of weeks for us with both my daughters birthdays within a fortnight of each other! My eldest turned 8 and I still find that hard to digest! This year she was allowed to have a big party as last year I had a 2 week old (and I'm definitely no way close to being that organised!). The theme was Rainbow and the weather was nice to us, allowing fun times of rainbow mummy wrapping, croquet and tye dying. 


For the dress I used this pattern by Ellie Mae Designs and found the rainbow teardrop fabric from Spotlight. It was a great pattern to use but it did end up quite large, but that's solely due to me thinking that (for once) I would trust my sizing instincts and not make the size 4 for my 8 year old (surely!) and only go one size down with the 6. Well yep, I should have listened to the pattern and made that size 4! But hey, she's only got to grow! 


For the Ears!
Kermit: The Rainbow Connection