Happy Christmas, a little late

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas break. We had a lovely quiet family Christmas this year without any interstate relatives. We had a lovely time and are still enjoy the lovely weather and relaxed atmophere in our part of the world.

Catching up a bit, I had a nice meetup with two of my sewing friends from EB recently. While it was a shame that Marie couldn't make it this time, it was lovely to meet Sue for the first time, and so nice to catch up with Andrea again, who very generously made us each a gift. Here's my beautiful bag: I'm looking forward to more catch ups, and also meeting more of our Brisbane based sewists.

Due to our Christmas being a more casual one, I decided not to make a special dress, which was probably just as well as the girls very quickly changed into the dressups Santa gave them on Christmas day! To wear to a couple of catch ups before the big day, I decided to have a go at stencilling. I'm loving this process. I made Lizzie a simple 'Joy' stencilled on a bought Tshirt, but she argued it 'didn't have enough pretty things on it'! So I added some ricrac and yoyos and made a matching skirt.

I don't have a finished photo of Louisa's, but hers is much simpler. Here's the initial stencil and then I've since added a gold dove onto it. I'll get a pic later.

I hope you enjoy any extended family time you might get. My husband is home for a couple more weeks, and we'll soon be joined by his son J. I'll have to ask him very nicely for a photo of the 'You Rock You Rule' Tshirt I stencilled for him as part of his Christmas gift while he's here.

My favourite Christmas book

I'm so lucky to have this beautiful book in my possession. It brings back such beautiful memories of my own childhood Christmases.

Our Grandma would come over to our home every Christmas Eve after my Pa had passed away and stay the night. Her piano was at our house (no room where she lived) and she would play Christmas tunes from this book. Later Dad would read Twas the night before Christmas from its pages.

Having Grandma stay over meant my older sister would sleep in my younger sister and I's room on the floor. It was very exciting, and we would be determined we would not be going to sleep, but instead we would play games to keep us awake until we heard Santa.

Here's a few select pages. I have scanned the entire book, as its getting a little the worse for wear, which to me adds to its special magic charm.

The Kimono

Here's Louisa's kimono dress up for a Multicultural celebration at her school.

I did use a pattern as a base: McCalls M4953 but made loads of changes, reducing the material significantly by making the sleeves and the body shorter, and doing away with the lining. I felt that in the Queensland heat, extra fabric is not a good thing.

Of course I got a little carried away and cut it too short, so added a contrast band around the bottom rather than the neckline, and I really like the effect. By the time I got to the sash/obi part, I winged it with a rectangle of fabric and some velcro. I have no idea what the pattern required as I'd tossed it aside by that stage. That's one of the things I enjoy about kids' dress ups. There's no real rules and you can experiment without feeling too bad if it doesn't work out! But in this case I really like it and it's a great addition to the girls' dress up box.
The fan was a gift from some friends who went to Japan recently, and the drinking straws in the hair were Louisa's idea, which I think look very cute.

Some online games to play over Christmas

I'm not much of a gamer, so I prefer my games to be a bit chilled and relaxing. If you need a break from sewing or online blog trawling, here's a couple of Christmas themed games that you (or the kids) might like:

The Crossing

The Winterbells

Plenty of other, non-Christmassy games too at http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/ Lizzie's favourite for us to play together is A Daily Cup of Tea

Enjoy!

More sewing!

Quite a bit of sewing to report. Maybe its a warmer weather thing. Here's a couple of things I've done lately.
Firstly, a twirly skirt, which will be part of a present for Louisa's friend, Ava. The fabric was from a local discount fabric store, where I've often uncovered some gems. Their quilting fabrics are only $6, so perfect if you don't mind that the fabrics aren't the latest current favourites. This is apparently is an old Michael Miller. It's very pink, but I think the recipient will like it very much.Secondly, Lizzie was after a nightie. Louisa has a satin cheapy from Coles of all places. She adores it (it's pink with fairies - what's not to love?) as does Lizzie. I raided my stash one night to make her one and discovered this lovely thin knit fabric I'd squirreled away, with plans for a light hoodie which never eventuated. I vaguely traced the pattern from Louisa's, so consequently it's a little big, but Lizzie doesn't mind and at least it will last her a while!

Finally, non-sewing related, but Louisa completed her very first Highland Dancing exam on Saturday. She did very well and was very impressed with her medal - and with this mock magazine cover we put together:

Lizzie's peasant dress

Here's Lizzie's new peasant dress. I've loved seeing peasant dresses on loads of blogs lately, so thought I'd do my own simple version with an old pattern I already had. It really shows what great value home sewing is. I used some lovely Cherry Tree fabric I got in my local Spotlight's recent move for a bargain $5 a metre!I'm very happy with it, and so is Lizzie. I intially thought this particular fabric was a bit too sickly pink, but Lizzie insisted and I love it made up. She's happy to wear it all day, without the need for costume changes 5 times a day which we've been having lately. It's so comfortable you can even bungy trampoline in it!That photo was taken at Kings Beach Caloundra, a fantastic family holiday spot. In addition to the bungy trampoling, there's an ocean water bathing pool, lovely patrolled beaches, some nice eateries and cool water features to play in. This time it had the added attraction of Victorian based Grandma and Grandpa Max, and Aunty Helen, staying there.
Here are the girls dressed and ready to go on the way up.

The trip back was quite eventful, driving into the severe storm South East Queesnlad endured on Sunday afternoon/evening. Our usual 45 min trip became 2 and a half hours of very slow driving, and Louisa and I were exhausted after it (Peter was working). Lizzie slept the whole way, and then transferred to bed and slept through until morning with no dinner. Thank goodness I'd allowed them both to have an icecream before we left.

A new skort and a big bump!

Look at poor Lizzie's head! One minute she was sitting outside on a chair next to me, playing a game with Louisa and the next minute there was a bump on the concrete - and copious amounts of tears. Poor little thing.

She still managed to model her new skort for me. I made this for all those park visits we seem to be having lately. It's beautiful outdoor weather here at the moment, and while Lizzie owns loads of nice dresses and skirts, I prefer her to climb trees and rope ladders and slide down slippery dips in shorts - or skorts (love that word!).

I had intended for this material to be used for a twirly skirt or dress, but when I was just about to cut out some sensible plain drill, Lizzie insisted she wanted this fabric for her new skort. So who am I to argue with a very insistent 3 year old?

And finally here's Lizzie's lovely painting she did today. Beautiful!