Long sleeve dress

Here is the long sleeve version of my simple, stretchy dress.

This one is made with jersey fabric which is easy to sew with no need to overlock seems. However, I find it is a lot less flattering to wear than the cotton sateen fabric. Darn those chocolate Easter eggs!! Time to get back into the running I think.

As my holidays come to an end all too quickly and I sink back into the business of early mornings, school lunches, uniforms and meetings, I am feeling so, so grateful for the time I have spent with these 3 kiddos. How lucky am I that I get to continue being in the same place as my kids even when I go to work? Pretty special I reckon.

We have had fun bushwalking, gardening (future post on this one!), going to the movies, visiting parks, having friends over and generally enjoying the beautiful weather. Plenty of memories to get us through to the next lot of holidays. 9 weeks and counting!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cat cake

Way back in February, my girl turned 5. She has always loved animals, particularly cats so she asked if I could make a cat cake. We searched the internet together for some inspiration, but whenever I found one that looked half decent and I thought I could pull off, Gabby exclaimed, "NO!" It amazes me how well she knows exactly what she does and doesn't like- no indecision, just "NO!" OK then! I wonder who she gets that from?! Then, when I was putting her to bed one night, she decided she wanted a cat cake that looked just like the one on her nightie. Here it is:

Rightio then. We finally had something to work with.

I had so much fun making this cake. Little girl was at school while I was making it and she was super happy when she arrived home.

Here is how it ended up:

Here's how it looked pre icing:

And here's my girl celebrating with her beautiful big brothers. Little does she know how lucky she is!

I love making cakes for my kids. Next one is a pinata cake (not actually a cake at all) made for my Luke. Stay tuned- I'm slowly catching up!

Thanks for stopping by.

Some dresses for work

It's holiday time again which means I finally have some breathing space for blogging! We have had such a huge term with my youngest starting Kindy, as well as one in Year 2 and one in Year 4. Basketball season has finished up and a new soccer season has begun. Swimming lessons continue and my little girl will start dancing lessons soon- unchartered territory for me! Family life is always busy!

My job has been crazy busy- I am a teacher whose job is to care for kids with special needs- learning difficulties and other disabilities. This last term has seen me way out of my depth in dealing with the issues that some of these kids face and with their parents. Such an incredible, horrible, wonderful, difficult job and I'm wrecked! 

With all three kids at school, I have been navigating a new season of life where I have 2 days each week at home ALONE. This has been such a strange feeling and I must admit, it took me quite a while to adjust. When I wasn't busy, loneliness kicked in along with feelings of guilt if I did anything just for me. Well, I'm nearly over that now! 

A few weeks a go, I came across some new fabric in Spotlight that I hadn't seen before. It is called Cotton Sateen and it has a really nice weight and stretch- perfect for little dresses like these- no zipper required. I used the back of a pattern I already had and used it for the back and the front, cutting a lower neckline at the front. I had a little cap sleeve pattern which worked perfectly as well. To add a bit of shape, I added 2 darts in the back to bring the dress in at my waistline, otherwise it looked a bit sack-like. My overlocker worked overtime- unlike the jersey fabric I have used before, this stuff frays like crazy.

I am looking forward to making one of these with long sleeves for Autumn/ Winter. I'll let you know how I go.