Lovely fabrics and swap stuff!

These fabrics were purchased at Spotlight yesterday. A nice little collection, although I'm not sure what I'll be doing with them. Obviously the Christmas fabric will be used for something Christmassy, but whether a gift or something for our table on Christmas Day, I'm not sure. The transport fabric I have no idea, but I loved it so much I couldn't not buy it! And the spots will be something for Lizzie for summer.
I was also lucky enough to score some great goodies from IngridK in our EB thrift shop swap. Loads of patterns, especially useful will be the rash vest pattern with long sleeves! My little Queensland water babies need lots of sun protection.
This fabric she sent is just beautiful. Lizzie in particular loves it being such a little bird watcher and has taken to stroking it and saying 'pretty birdies'. She's a big cutie, that one.

So a big thankyou to Ingrid for all my goodies.

The last twirly skirt

I promise I won't bore you with many more of these, but I do love them. I especially love the potential for mixing fabrics. This one was made using that fabric: also used here, here and here.
And here's Louisa modelling it's 'twirling' properties:

A cherry on top! (Well actually it's on the bottom)

Another twirly skirt, made for a mums group friend who likes to twirl! I'm loving these skirts.

(Not loving my photography at the moment. Not great at the best of times but we're having dull grey weather and my husband has taken the better camera on a motocross adventure!)

This skirt has a bit of a thirties feel to me, or is it just that it's something my late Grandma would have liked? Sad to part with it, but happy that the party girl will enjoy it.

A twirly skirt

I made this beautiful skirt for Louisa. The photos simply do not do it justice.

I knew as soon as I found this fabric that I wanted to make a twirly skirt, but where to find a pattern? Andrea from our EB sewing thread gave us this link. Suddenly twirly skirts were everywhere: here, here , here, here and here- and I'm sure I've seen other great examples. It did take me awhile to finally finish it, but now I have and realise how quick they are, I'm determined to make two more before the weekend's round of birthday parties!

My little ragamuffins!

Here are my girls - complete with breakfast still on their faces, unbrushed hair and ill-fitting dress-ups! Aren't they cute? And here's a visitor to our backyard!

Senna's Summer Set

Here's a set I made for a little friend who turned 1. Although Lizzie's much older at 2, they're quite similar in size, so I tried to get Lizzie to model it for me, but she was a bit reluctant: I used a Cotton On singlet top and added a birdie applique, the design of which I must credit to Lauren Child, as I copied it from a Charlie and Lola online activity.
The skirt from Burda 3/07 has pants underneath, so is great for playing around in but looking pretty at the same time!

Oliver's Whale Hoodie

Here's a present I made for a little friend of ours. What to make a 4 year old boy who lives by the sea? A whale design from Free Applique seemed perfect!

The hoodie was so easy to make. No ribbing or zips or buttons or snaps to worry about. I wish I'd known that before winter! I would have made them for the girls. I still might make some light ones, with the 3/4 rolled up sleeves I used here.

Excuse the dark photo but I had a young girl insisting on helping me wrap it before she went to bed last night. She thinks Oliver will love it, so that's a good endorsement!

Butterfly Pinafore Dress

You've got to love the pinafore dress. Such a simple construction but with a lot of impact. All you need is lovely fabric such as this one. I have a theory about good children's clothes - they need to appeal to the adult in a child's life, but the kids have to love them too. So an easily identifiable image, such as a star, flower, heart, or in this case butterfly makes the world of difference to how much a child connects with a piece of clothing. Add to this the universally loved pink, which is Louisa's FAVOURITE COLOUR IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!! And you're on a winner.

Here's Louisa modelling it. It's a little big, and I'd probably place the trim a little higher next time, but I still really like it. She'll probably still get some wear out of it next winter.

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Here's the lovely birthday girl, quite impressed that her bikkie is now a 'moon'. She's quite taken with the moon and the stars that she looks at most nights after dinner with Dad. So much so that when her 2nd birthday was approaching and I saw this moon shaped cake, I knew it would be perfect.
To counter her very plastic, commercialised Fisher Price Little People parking garage, we also gave her this (photographed here before the second coat of white gloss). I found this at St Vinnies, looking tired and unloved in cacky pink and blue paint. I also made I think what's called a cheater's quilt? Well, all I did was sew the fabric together with some pink gingham for the back, and the wadding, turned it the right way around and voila! It's hard to see in this picture but I then just sewed along the lines in the pattern. Too easy!
And just so it's not all about the birthday girl, here's her very lovely older sister.