I decided before I tackle any of my new patterns, I needed to clear a few things I had half finished. This pinafore dress has been cut out for ages, but as the weather has been so warm, didn't seem much point making it. I'm sure winter will be upon us shortly (all 5 minutes of it here in Queensland) so I can see this dress being worn almost everyday for a while, just with a different top underneath!

I'm so pleased with the way this turned out. It was easy to make so I'll probably make a couple more in different fabrics before spring comes around.

Please excuse the model's 'I just got out of bed' hair! And the lack of a top underneath. Still warm up here, even at 7 in the morning.

Shopping!

We braved Spotlight this morning, and picked up quite a bit. Luckily the patterns were half price, and the fabric all reduced, so we did very well. The girls were well behaved and rewarded with morning tea at Starbucks. I'm always willing to put up with their crap coffee because the girls love to play on their grotty couches and munch on toasted ham and cheese panini.

From a shirt to some shorts

I couldn't bear to just throw out this shirt, and we're not keen on sending DH's logo filled shirts to charity shops, so voila (excuse the paint splattered model):

Grandpa Max's pajamas

I finally completed some pajamas for my father for his birthday. I'm very pleased with the way they turned out. I went with short sleeves on top and long on bottom as that's what I prefer.

And here's a couple of pictures of the recipient on a recent trip to visit his granddaughters (and me!) in Queensland:

Latest purchases

Here's my latest purchases. The patterns I got today wandering into the local Red Cross store. I love the Vogue dress at the front, but no real reason to make it yet. Obviously someone was a big fan of knit fabrics. There is a couple of patterns in the book with the girl in the daggy hat, so I might get to use all this jersey I bought.

The green spotted jersey I bought on a stressful shop with Elizabeth. I wanted some jersey with vague notions of making myelf a wrap dress, but was thinking more on the lines of blacks or grey. As I was browsing, Elizabeth decided to climb out of her stroller and run rampant. I couldn't think straight really, and ended up buying 2 and a half metres of this stuff! There are a few ideas I've got, but definitely not a dress in this green - not me at all, but a top is a good idea I think. The green circle satin will make great pajamas.

The flanellettes, grey star drill, and the patchwork was bought on Monday at Lincraft - a much better shopping experience. And the blue I bought from funky fabrix to make a bag for Mothers' Day. Well, that's the plan.

I have so many projects in my head, but have no idea when I'll get to them all!

Decorating on my mind

I will get this quilt finished eventually, but thought I should post to my progress so far. I have stalled a bit after having to unpick a whole row. I didn't realise the blocks were mixed up by a little munchkin (Louisa). The below pic is Louisa's room where the quilt will go. I quite like the room as is. I thought I was very clever leaving the navy feature wall and adding the red but pink is Louisa's 'favourite and my best', so the navy wall will soon be candy pink, I think.

The other room I'm looking at at the moment is Jake's (stepson - just turned 12 - visits in school hols). He's stuck with a purple feature wall at the moment, so I'm keen to redo that. Green has always been his favourite colour, so I'd love to transform this into something more 'Jake-like'. The bed base is actually a futon we had downstairs, but decided to swipe the single bedhead he had to put in Louisa's room for when Lizzie is old enough to share with her (it is the same shape as Louisa's but solid and needs some gloss white paint.

The colour in the photo below is kind of what I'm aiming for with Jake's room and I really like this bed linen:

http://www.boodalee.com/trees.html

Not sure if it's too 'young' for him though.

There are a lot more things I'd like to do around our house, but most of those are more costly and will take more time (redo kitchens, bathrooms, put a deck out the back, etc). These projects should keep me busy.

Swap questions

For the benefit of my EB sewing group 'swappee':
1. What colours are your kitchen? I have a daggy 80s kitchen with bones and browns, but a burgurdy feature wall the last owners did in an attempt to update it. I'd love a new kitchen, and it's on our list but a few other projects to do first.

2. What is your favourite appliance? Definitely my kettle. I'm a huge tea drinker and the kettle is in constant use all day. None of these fancy chai teas of anything, just plain old Dilmah usually.

3. What do you love cooking most? I love to cook sweet treats, but as I have a bit of a health nut for a husband, I don't bother much. Otherwise I'd eat it all myself! Muffins are a big hit with myself and the girls.

4. What item would you love the most from your swap partner?
Not fussy, really. I'll be happy with a nice surprise.

Here's a couple of pictures I have already. We've since bought a new dining setting and the cane table is now my sewing table in another room!