He rocks in the treetops...

Here's a tshirt I appliqued for a little friend's 6th birthday. It took me a long time to settle on an image for an applique. 6 seems a bit grown up for a lot of the applique ideas I have for my girls. Then I ran out of time to do the text in freezer paper stencils as I'd planned, so I resorted to hand embroidery. I don't think I've done much of that since I was in Brownies! Quite relaxing actually and nice and portable. Maybe I'll do a bit more. Hopefully I'll get better at it.

I hope the recipient likes it. If not we did include a Polly pocket present and a lovely book.

A present for a little friend

A little friend of ours turned three, so I made these to go with the two Kelly dolls Lizzie chose for her buddy.

A pretty present

Another little friend's birthday party - and this time I actually sewed something! Well, sort of.

It's kind of cheating, isn't it, to use such a cute fairy image from some pretty fabric and just applique it to a bought Tshirt. I don't think the recipient minded my laziness. A matching headband and an activity book featuring very similar looking fairies and we had a great gift.

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.

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!

Lots to do and a little done.

It's not often that I get to shop on my own. When the girls are with me, visits to Spotlight and Lincraft are 'dash in, get what we need and leave' before they dismantle the button displays or wander off lured by some sparkly ribbon. So last weekend, I left them home with Dad and managed to buy up big. Most of the fabrics were on clearance so not as big a dent in the bank balance as it appears.

I'll need to make the pretty butterfly cord into some dresses pretty quickly before the weather starts to heat up too much. The pink flower and ladybird fabric is destined to become a very simple quilt for Lizzie's doll cradle she's getting for her birthday next week. The spotty fabric is to finish off the top below. The red circle fabric I think will be a twirly skirt for Louisa for summer, with maybe a skirt for Lizzie too if there's enough left over. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the strawberrries and the colourful butterflies, but they were on clearance and I was therefore compelled to buy them. The black paisley will be another attempt at the tunic top - in the right size this time!
I have thankfully finished one present - this bunting will go to a little mums' group friend who just turned one. Only another 5 presents to make before the end of August!

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:

Pink, pink and more pink...oh and some red too!

The youngest of the first crop of mums' group kids is having her 3rd birthday soon, and I decided to make something for her. She's completely obsessed with ponies, specifically My Little Ponies. I couldn't find any licensed material (didn't look too hard to be honest), but I thought this unicorn fabric would fit the bill. Even if it is very, um... pink! I can see that it wouldn't be to everyone's taste but I think Charlee will love it! I hadn't sewn the straps in when I took the photo, and I've actually decided to use some ribbon ties instead. It will be easier to fit, given that I won't have a chance to try it on her. I just hope I can find some ribbon in that right shade of pink.
I'd already made Louisa's kindy sheets just after Christmas, but needed to make her a bag for them. I was going to get all creative with using the butterflies for applique onto plain fabric.( this was actually part of the reason I chose the fabric), but ran out of time really. So a plain bag, but it'll certainly do the job.
And finally, my fabric arrived from reprodepot - my first ever online fabric purchase. My aim is to make a quilt for Louisa featuring both pink and red. Her room is currently decorated with a red theme, but unfortunately she's decided that pink is her favourite colour. (I think she's not alone there.) I've never made a quilt before, so I have a bit of thinking to do about the size, a design, whether I'll actually cheat and get it professionally machine quilted, etc. So don't expect to see a quilt anytime soon!