Christmas is coming!

Presents for teachers have been wrapped and given out...

The girls have written out cards for their friends...

And Lizzie has said goodbye to her kindy/creche, as she prepares to move on to a new c & k kindy next year - the same one Louisa attended...

And of course the tree is up!

Also the girls' new rooms are almost organised. They both chose their own new bedlinen, and I think they did a pretty good job. Louisa's is the top one and is very grown up, I think. Lizzie, no surprise, chose pink with fairies!

The walls are a bit bare, which I don't mind, but I'm planning to get some special prints framed (these ones are 38 years old - pics to come). Lizzie scored a new bed too, and Louisa gained a 'kind of' new bookcase. One that was my parents, which I painted hot pink!

Before:



After:

We've been busy.

Moving house for a start, which is always an epic. But add to that, the chaos of having flooring and painting done as we're moving in. So we've not really been able to unpack properly or organise the house. So still quite crazy at the moment and I haven't been able to have that lovely 'Ooh, ahh, I love my new house moment' yet. But I'm expecting it shortly follwing a massive garage sale to declutter the junk we've accumulated - and the possiblity of buying new furniture (yah!)and refreshing some old stuff.

I'm so happy with the colours we've picked. For anyone who's looking for a lovely fresh white for walls, that's Fair Bianca (1/2 strength) and Hogs Bristle (1/2 strength) for the trim, a bit topsy turvy to the way most people do it, but I really wanted a fresh white for the walls, but didn't want it to look too 'refridgerator-like' so broke it up with darker trim and Bluster Blue for the features. All Dulux. Boy, did those decision take some thinking through!

I'll add more photos once it's a bit better 'styled'!

Some pretty mail and some stripes.

With the Aussie dollar so strong, I couldn't resist some fabric from Heather Bailey's online store. 20% of Freshcut fabric and Trash Ties added to the appeal. Having quite long hair, I've always thought about ordering some TrashTies. But I also had to order some Pop Garden beauties as well. I'm planning some Christmas gifts with these. I also made myself a simple tiered skirt, using knit fabric so no need to finish the seams. The gathering was a bit fiddly, but I'm happy with the result. My husband couldn't help comparing the skirt though to some 'pirate cushions' I'd made recently for my stepson's room, using a new tea towel and backed with one of Peter's old grey marle top.

We've had our house on the market, so there were lots of those little projects to make things look a little more pulled together. Also, some stool covers to make some bar stools form Peter's work a little more tasteful.


It looks like we have (finally!) sold, so I'm looking forward to moving and no doubt there'll be more sewing projects for the new house this time.

Another ruffly tiered skirt

One of the issues with having two daughters is that if you make a pretty skirt for one, you have to make it for the other! So I did. This time I used contrasting fabrics, and I didn't use my buttonhole stitch for the top of the tiers, just a simple hem. It worked just as well. I realise now that this photo only really shows the bottom two tiers, the third is the same fabric as the bottom tier. Oh, and the photo also shows a Milo face! Oops.

Wordless weekend

A ruffly tiered skirt

We own quite a few skirts in this house, even excluding the handmade ones, and my favourite of the store bought ones are those with an exposed seam. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but the ones that are gathered with the top of the bottom tier sitting on the outside.

So I thought I'd have a go at that, and I'm really impressed with the results. The top of the tier acts as a little ruffle and looks so frilly and girly. I love it. Lizzie does too, despite her reluctance to be photographed!

The fabric is from Spotlight, and I love the mix of colours - it will pretty much go with most of Lizzie's Tshirts.

A bit more info. I hemmed the top of the tier using my buttonhole stitch, and hemmed the bottom just with a straight stitch. I guess it takes a bit of time, but is very simple. One of Louisa's store bought skirts uses a bias binding in a contrasting fabric for the top of the tier. I'd like to try that soon too. Just to add to the girls' skirt collection!!

Wordless weekend