Not your every day heat pack

Here is another cute project made from polar fleece. It's a funky gecko shaped heat pack made especially for my wonderful dad whose birthday is tomorrow. He has a bad back so I thought this would come in handy. The pattern is from this really cool site called Funky Friends Factory. They have lots of lovely downloadable soft toy patterns mainly made from polar fleece.

He is filled with wheat and cinnamon

So lovely and warm. Gabby was a bit shy when she first met him. Funny girl!

Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you have a great day tomorrow! xxx

A warm winter vest

It has been so cold here this week and I never seem to have enough warm, comfortable, casual, play clothes for Gabby. I recently discovered polar fleece which I had never sewed with before. It is fantastic! So cheap ($6/m), so easy to work with (no need to hem anything as it doesn't fray), so soft and soooo warm! I didn't use a pattern for this one- just drew my idea onto paper and cut it out of the fleece.  The bottom sections are just rectangles gathered to fit the top half pieces. You could leave the raw edges as is, but I chose to line them with bias binding for a bit of contrast.

All ready for a play at the park 

I'd like to make a red one and maybe a funky yellow one with orange binding,
but pink is practical as it goes with the most things in her wardrobe.

So cuddly!

Stay tuned for another polar fleece project coming up soon- It's a cracker! I just can't post it until after I give it to someone special for their birthday. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!

More reversible dresses

I'm looking forward to the day when I see a little girl walking down the street wearing one of my dresses. How cool would that be? These little reversible numbers have sold really well at Sew Beautiful so I have been busy making more this week. I love these bright colours. Who says Winter has to be dull and boring?

Fabric is Cool Cords Cherry on white by Robert Kaufman

Fabric is Birds of Norway by Michael Miller

Cool Cords Blue Dot by Robert Kaufman

Cool cords Cherry on lime by Robert Kaufman

And matching reversible headbands

A buttercup bag for Tracey

Just a quick one today. A couple of months ago, I wrote about a bag I made for my cousin Libby's birthday. Well the free pattern that I downloaded from here was begging to be made again. So I made this one for my sister-in-law's birthday. This time I enlarged the pattern by 130%. I love making this bag. Everyone could give this a go.... really... it's so easy!

How cute is this fabric?

My sister-in-law, Tracey, is a VERY talented quilter and crafter and she taught me to sew about 5 years ago and I haven't been able to stop since! She has given my family and me lots of beautiful handmade gifts over the years so it's nice to be able to give just a little one to her.

Happy Birthday, Tracey!!

A hat for Hannah

June is another busy month of celebrations in the Harris household. We have birthdays for 2 nieces, one sister-in-law, one dad and one Grandma, as well as our wedding anniversary.

Our niece Hannah is up first- she is turning 8. I found this pattern by Butterfly Tree here on etsy. It was another downloadable one which makes it just so convenient. This one comes in adult sizes too and I would love to try one for myself. The flower is stuck to a pin so it can removed easily.

And it's reversible!

It's hard to get a decent photo without a head in the hat! Here it is on me- it's a bit small but I'm sure you get the idea (Please excuse the no make-up, hair not done, looking into the sun self-portrait)

I'm sure you get the idea.

I really hope she likes it! Happy Birthday Hannah!

Costume ideas

Well the sewing has been put on hold for a little while- it's report writing time and I must focus!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share some costume ideas for those dress-up days that school springs on us from time to time. I quite enjoy the creating of costumes at the moment but ask me again in another couple of years when I have kids at school and I may not feel the same way. Ha!

Maybe you could use one of these ideas?

Jonah dresses as Mr Strong for a book character parade. We just got a big cardboard box from the local supermarket, cut out holes for head and arms, spray-painted it red and drew the face on with texta. The hat was from Big W and the leg-warmers from a little sock and hat shop in Penrith. Jonah can be a bit shy and sensitive and can get overwhelmed in dress-up situations so I drew Mr Strong's face onto the T-shirt he was wearing underneath the box. Good thing I did because he refused to wear the box in the parade! We have since made a Mr Skinny costume with a long, skinny box painted yellow with red hat.

This costume was for a day at school where all the kids had to dress as something beginning with 'f'. Jonah insisted on being a fly- ewww! I cut a foam ball in half, covered both halves in glue and rolled it in really fine red glitter. I then glued these onto a black beanie and added a headband with pipe cleaners for the antennae. The wings were made out of wire coathangers and sheer black stockings attached to some elastic so he could strap them over his shoulders. I used silver glitter glue to add the pattern onto the wings. Jonah LOVED this costume!

Jonah has been doing a unit at school called, 'The way we were'. He has really enjoyed all his teacher's stories about when she was a little girl. He can't believe it when I tell him I didn't have a computer when I was his age. Today, they had to dress up as a kid in the olden days. He wore his school shorts and a shirt we already owned. I searched the local op-shops and found some cute ones. The hat and socks were from little shop in Penrith Westfields- the best place to find socks and hats of all varieties. Jonah had a fabulous day playing 'olden day games' like marbles, jacks and pick-up sticks. What fun!

Anyway, I'm sure there will be plenty more dress-up opportunities in the near future. I'd love to see other people's costume ideas!

Handmade gift for Mothers Day

Do you need a quick, easy and funky idea for a handmade mothers day gift? How about these fun fabric covered necklaces?

I bought the twine necklaces from Spotlight (pack of 3 for $3). Thread wooden beads onto the twine necklace. Make a tube of fabric to fit your beads snugly. You do this by folding your strip of fabric (about 3.5'' wide) lengthwise and sewing along the raw edge before turning right side out. Slip the beads and necklace into fabric tube. Tie embroidery floss tightly in between each bead. Cut each end of the fabric so there is just enough to stuff into the hole of the beads on the end. Secure with a bit of hot glue. And there you have it!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL THE MUMS! (especially mine!!)

My mum with 5/6 grandchildren