"She might be Ukrainian, she could be Australian"

For Australia Day I made this singlet top drafted from a RTW top that I had that drapes longer at the back. I've had my eye on this amazing Spoonflower fabric for a couple of years but have always gone to order it too late. So this time I ordered it well before Christmas to make sure I'd have time to sew something. Originally I wanted to make a dress but I could only justify purchasing a yard so a top it was. I ordered this fabric in the Performance Pique instead of going for a cotton which is my usual default. And I'm so glad I did! This is a great fabric, no ironing needed, a nice stretch and it hangs beautifully.

I couldn't believe my luck when I happened to scroll across this fantastic fabric, which is a perfect mix of Australian gum leaves and Babushka dolls which to me represents my Ukrainian roots. And all in the awesome green and gold colours!
I bias taped the neck and arm holes and used it also to make the straps. This made it such a nice and easy project to whip up and overall very satisfying!
I now have a breezy summer top that I know I'll wear not just on Australia Day:)

For the Ears!
The Rolling Stones: Send It To Me

"I couldn't believe my luck, you in your new blue dress, taking away my breath"

I found this cute pattern in an op shop the other day and thought I'd test it out for my daughters Christmas dress this year. It's a size 7 & 8 which came already cut out (bonus!). We both found this blue floral gingham fabric at Spotlight at a bargain of $3/metre so decided to use it as the test run. 

I omitted the frilly collar piece and shortened the sleeves but kept the rest the same. It did come out a little big (again) but not too crazy that a belt or ribbon can't cinch in. And the favourite part for my daughter was?......the super spinny skirt and the fact she can sit with the skirt in a complete circle around her;)

For the Ears!

Crowded House: Into Temptation

"ooooohhh............Stop!"

A door stop!
Meet Alt-J. So called after my daughter was disgusted that I called our rock door stop 'Rocky'. Apparently all rocks are called Rocky so she named ours Alt-J. And I guess he does have a triangular shape to him;)

I found this pattern here and immediately fell in love with the cutest door stop I've ever seen.  Instead of felt as used in the original I used grey ribbing as it was what I had around and just drew out my own similar template (no printer....).

Alt-J (the door stop not the band) has greatly improved our lives (although the band too already has!) now that we can have the front door open for the breeze to come in and not slam shut as it use to. Good breezy times all round:)

For the Ears!
Pixies: Where Is My Mind?

"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

"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

"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

"There's a little girl who says bing bing bomb, Hello, oh, oh"

Well my baby turned 1 and to celebrate I thought I'd make her this little romper to romp around in. Little did I know that the day of her party would be freezing and stormy where the days before and immediately after were PERFECT! Anyway, that is why I didn't manage to get a nice photo of her romping around in the sunshine as per my hopes.

I used Simplicity Vintage Baby pattern 1600A and found this adorable quilting cotton at Spotlight. It wasn't until I had nearly finished the romper that I'd realised where I'd seen the illustrations before. As it turns out, my eldest daughter had this very picture of the little boy and girl on a poster in her room when she was a baby! It came out of a Frankie magazine. I'm not sure who the artist is but I think it's pretty cool that it appears for both girls in different ways 7 years apart! 

For the Ears!
The White Stripes: Little People