The 'go-to' dress

I came across this tutorial over at The Train To Crazy. the other night and after seeing some of the different creations people had made using the pattern over at Crafty Mummas I had to give it a try. I was a bit stuck though because wear I live there isnt alot of access to different material, particularly knit and I had to do it right away I was so excited. So I did a stash search and came up with enough fabric to put a top together for Elyssa. I just shortened the pattern a bit. It has actually worked out to be better this way because it doesn''t get in the way when she is crawling around. This was a very easy dress to make and a fantastic tutorial. Im going to make Chloe a strippy one next!

A Day in the Life of....

I was thinking the other day how much my girls are growing and how easy it is to forget what life was like at different stages of their development so I have decided to start doing a blog entry every so often to describe what a day in our life looks like.

Today is a Wednesday so I am looking after Elyssa (11 months) Chloe (almost 4) and two daycare boys (brothers) who are 4 and 5.

The day began at 5am!!! because Chloe decided to get up and turn on the light in her room. This then woke up Elyssa. As annoying as it is it is cute listening to them play together over the monitor.

Bens alarm went at 6.30am so he got up, showered, went downstairs, got Chloe her milk and weetbix and Elyssa her morning bottle, unstacked the dishwasher then made me a cup of tea :) I then stumbled out of bed, get dressed and do my hair so I can get the cup of tea which he conveniently leaves on the bench for me so I have to get up to get it! As I wonder into the kitchen calling out good morning to the girls, Ben and I kiss and he is off to work.

I then put Elyssa in the playpen and put on the Today Show while I had my cuppa and checked my email and facebook etc. After 20 minutes I got up and gave Elyssa her corn puffs for breakfast. While she was eating I made and ate my weetbix, got our lunch out the freezer (pre made sandwiches) and put on a load of washing. I cleaned the kitchen from breakfast and loaded the dishwasher. Exciting stuff isnt it!

After the above I dressed the girls (Chloe does most of it herself) and put Elyssa down for a sleep (8am) I then turned off the TV, put on a nursery Ryhme CD and then waited for the boys to arrive! I always think there would be something comforting for kids in care coming into an environment with nice, predictable music playing!

When the boys arrived I put the washing in the dryer and ome on the clothes airer because it is really foggy and cold today. The kids played for an hour and then it was time for playgroup. I woke Elyssa up, dressed all the kids in there gorgeous winter gear and off we walked to playgroup.

After playgroup we had lunch (12pm) and Elyssa went down for another sleep and the kids watched the Little Mermaid on the couch while I sat with them on my computer, answering any of there questions about the movie. After the movie (2pm) I got out the puzzles and games box which entertained the kids for 30 minutes while I made Cauliflower soup with vegies we had picked the day before from our plot. Chloe washed up the veg for me. She loves that job.

I am now sitting at the computer typing this entry while th baby is playing with her toys, the boys are playing with the trainset while Chloe is playing with the Little People Dolls House. In a little while we will have afternoon tea then Chloe will get dressed for dancing. We will all go across to watch her dance class, then Elyssa will probably have another sleep (just a short one) the boys will get picked up, Ill go upstairs child free and run on the treadmill and Ben will play with Chloe. At 5pm Ben will get the rest of dinner ready, ill give the girls a bath and then we will convince Chloe to tidy up the toys, eat dinner, clean up after dinner,then stories milk and bed at 7pm. Ill then go and have a shower since Ill be all sweaty from my run and collapse on the couch and watch some TV or maybe sew if I have any energy.

So thats it! A day in the Life of us!

Sucky Thumb Baby Mitts

I bought Chloe a really cute pair of fingerless gloves at the Port Fairy craft market. She is getting quite a bit of use out of them because it is FREEZING at the moment! This is one cold wintery town! I bought a pair for myself at the local chemist that were on sale as well. We were out walking the other day, Chloe, Elyssa and myself all rugged up and Chloe and I with our gloves on. I was so greatful for my warm hands when I looked down at poor little Elyssa in the pram and saw her little purple fingers. I went searching for a fingerless glove pattern for babies. I needed to make her a pair that at least had a spot for her thumb to stick out so that she could suck it when she want to sleep in the pram. I found this free pattern for Sucky Thumb Mitts. I had some wool in the stash so got to work. I had heaps of trouble getting started as I usually do when it comes to knitting. I couldnt quite get the knit one, purl one system going. In the end I settled for Moss stitch in place of the ribbed stitch and overall I am pretty happy with them. I spent about three hours on the first glove lol and only an hour on the second one! The gloves are a good fit and I think they might even last through next winter as well. They also match her hat. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon as both the girls are sick and looking for constant cuddles so they could lie around me whenever they wanted and I just sat on the couch knitting! Im thinking of knitting her some leg warmers next so that if she has tights on I can pull them out of my bag and put them over the top.

Beala!

I have had alot of fun this weekend with the Fabenmix Beala pattern I bought over at Crafty Mamas. This was my first Euro pattern and I love it. Its a bit different because the instructions aren't in English so you follow along as best you can ( with the help of google translater!) and by looking at the pictures. You also trace the pattern off the master rather than cut the pattern up because the pieces overlap each other.

I was so excited to give it a go that I tried to get by using the red fleece I had in my stash that I bought a while ago at the op shop. I realised after cutting some of the pieces out that I wasn't going to have enough to make the entire thing so I decided to get a bit creative. A while ago I was window shopping and I saw what I thought was a red fleece tunic/sweatshirt top that was like a vest with a hood that went to the knees. I went inside for a closer look and realised it was nothing like what I thought it was. It was a thin material, not fleece and it sat differently. It got me thinking though that I would love a red tunic top that was casual and warm. I decided to go ahead and sew the Beala but without the sleeves. I used red stretch material to finish off the arm holes neatly and I lined the hood with the same material. I made the rounded hood version, not the one with the tail. I am pleased with the end result but it i way too big. I have taken it in a bit and I will take it in more after I wash it in case it shrinks. As usual the pic doesnt do it justice. For some reason the colour red never photographs well at my house. The top is not quite as red as in the picture. Oh...and excuse my background mess (kids playroom eek!!!!) and my posing. I was getting lessons from Chloe. She is so cute!

So after this creation I decided to give it another go with some grey fleece I got from the op shop too. This time I traced out a smaller size and again made a vest/tunic style. I didn't have any matching stretch material so I didnt bother lining the hood and this time I just folded in the arm holes and straight stitched around. I LOVE the fit of this one, I think it will get lots of wear. I had alot of trouble sewing the hem and the arm holes though and my stitching isnt very straight.

After the success of the grey tunic I was curious about what the top would look like if I made it as it is meant to be made. I used yep, you guessed it, material from my op shop trip. More fleece! This time I had enough to do sleeves as well but Im not as keen on the colour. I used the smaller size that I had traced which turned out to be a problem because the sleeves ended up being too tight. I ended up having to unpick the underneath of each arm and add a strip of matching material. Im actually quite impressed with myself because when I have the top on you can't even tell! This time I zig zagged the hems and they are much better. I love this jumper but not the colour as much. I think Ill have to go to spotlight or pop back over to crafty mamas and see if they have something a bit special I could make it out of. I have certainly had alot of practice with it now!

reversible Pop over pinafore - Again!

I have a little girl I look after while her mum works called Ava. She had her first birthday a little while ago and I wanted to make her something special. Like me, her mum Ann really appreciates home made things and she also likes alot of the same types of kids clothing as I do. I made her a reversible pop over pinafore in a size 1 although it is slightly smaller than a size 1 because I didnt have enough of my fav material to make it that bit bigger. Luckily she is a slight little thing and it fitted her well (which is funny because it was too small for Elyssa when I tried it on her!) I love this top and I loved seeing her in it. Now I will have to make one for Elyssa as well.

Knitting Booties!

I have been a bit obsessed by Elyssas footwear lately. I went to a craft market in Port Fairy and fell in love with a pair of Mary Jane Booties. They were $12 a pair and I didnt have the cash to spend so I decided to give making a pair a go. I decided to try knitting. I have tried knitting many times and I hate it! I find it frusterating and slow but for some reason I keep coming back to it, year after year. I found a pattern in a book I had lying around that showed you how to make a pair of T-bar booties. I had some pink/red wool so I gave it a go. I was very impressed with the first one I made, it was the best knitting I had  ever done. Then I realised I still needed to make another one! I have no idea why but for some reason the other one came out double the size! When I sewed them up I tried to make them as close to the same size as I could. Excuse the quality of my photos. My iphone didnt do a very good job, particularly of the colour.

So after having some success (although not alot!) with my first attempt I decided to give these ones a go and I love them! I still have to get buttons for them but this has inspired me to keep knitting

Crocheting!

Well it has been a while since I did a post but I have lots to write about. As Winter hit I decided to give crocheting a go. I used to do it when I was younger and I made Chloe a winter hat last year which we are still using this year and I decided Elyssa could use one as well. After a couple of  practice goes I came up with this...

Chloes hat

Elyssas hat

Elyssa