EB swap

I've been participating in the EB swap and we opened our packages from Faye and Susan today. Wow, have we been lucky in our household! I'm so impressed with the items we received from both swap partners, and the way they both were able to figure out the right items for each girl.

Lizzie was spoilt by Faye with a pink cord outfit (jacket and skirt and hairband) complete with embroidered butterflies and flowers - perfect for her! Also, much to her delight she also got a monogrammed apron which she adores and sent her immediately to the kitchen to 'cook'!

Louisa's outfit from Susan is perfect for her also. She love love loves the dress with the stripes and spots and leggings that match. So versatile and perfect for our climate. The package included an embroidered cord skirt as well. Louisa loves the colours in that so much. Not to mention the horsie themed fabric which it was all wrapped in.

Thanks so much to both very talented ladies. There's only a couple of quick pics, but I promise more to come when the weather clears, also pics of Lizzie's apron and Louisa's skirt to come.

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.

Holiday fun

We've just returned from a lovely time in Victoria, catching up with the girls' both sets of grandparents and extended family. We also had time for some sightseeing too.


We loved dipping our toes in the icy cold Tarago River at Noojee, a great antidote to the unexpectedly warm days.

Meeting some new friends at Gumbuya Park -that placed has certainly changed since I attended the opening at age 7 . There's a lot more emphasis on rides for the older kids, and less animals than I remember. Here's the girls meeting the sole emu.
Here we are on the City Circle Tram, which Lizzie enjoyed a lot. Louisa was less impressed, after being bonked on the head by a man's bag as he disembarked. I loved seeing how the city has evolved over the last decade since Peter and I moved to Brisbane.

We also managed a visit to the Melbourne zoo, which we all enjoyed. Here's Lizzie bug exploring, and making the acquaintance of a butterfly friend.

Sorry this post is not very sewing related, although Lizzie is wearing some upcycled pants in the pics. I added a toadstool patch and elastic waist on the morning we left, after I realised her wardrobe mainly consists of skirts and dresses!

Louisa's new skort

During the year I've done very little sewing for Louisa, as she's been in school uniform most of the time. Over the holidays, though, I've seen the need for a few more play around clothes. So here's a skort suitable for climbing trees and jumping around while still looking pretty: I did use a pattern but basically it's shorts with a flap of material sewn into the right seam and waistband.

Apparently it's (they're?) very comfy and has been worn non stop for the past day and half since I finished it!

Fun in the sun

We're enjoying our holidays, spending time boating and swimming and generally having fun.

Not much time for sewing, so nothing to report, although I do have a couple of dresses for the girls in the planning stages.

Here's the Tshirt I stencilled for Louisa for Christmas. I think it's groovy enough to wear all year round actually.

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.