Ella's blanket

I have finally finished another crochet blanket. This one is for my eldest niece, Ella. She is 10 and she asked for a pink and purple one.

I'm happy with the way this one turned out. It's huge and super warm.

Here is beautiful Ella all snuggled up ready for a sleep over at Nanny and Pa's.

I think I'm ready to try something a little more challenging now. Keep an eye out for my next blanket which will be for Miss Olivia in blues and greens.

Thanks for stopping by.

Faux wrap jersey dress

I got the inspiration for my next dress from this photo.

This is from a facebook page called Fashion UK. I love looking at all their styled outfits for inspiration. Here's the LINK if you want to take a scroll through their photos.

So maybe mine isn't as classy, but here's what I came up with. I like it with this scarf:

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If you have read my blog before, you would know that I don't work with patterns very often. I like just making it up as I go along or using online tutorials. But I thought I'd give a real paper pattern a go. I bought this one from STYLE ARC an online pattern shop. They have heaps of patterns for both woven and knit fabric based on current fashion trends. This pattern is called, 'Slip-on Suzie.' Ha! Cute!

This is the first time I have made a dress with long sleeves. It was easier than I thought it would be and I'm happy with the way they turned out. I added a gathered waistband as it needed 'something' there.

Next time, I think I will make a plain long sleeve dress without the faux wrap, but I'm desperate to find some decent jersey fabric in funky patterns here in Australia. The price of international shipping has gone through the roof so I really need something here. Can anybody help me out?

Hopefully, I will be back soon with another crochet blanket. It's taking me ages to sew in all those pesky ends!

Thanks for stopping by.

Daphne's crochet rainbow rug- my new craft

I'm back at last! My goodness that was a busy term! But we got through it and we're on beautiful, wonderful, relaxing holidays again.

Last holidays, I decided to learn a new craft after seeing lots of beautiful crochet rugs on Pinterest. So I jumped onto Youtube and started to learn the basics. With some help from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law who can both crochet beautifully, I was on my way and I don't think I'll ever give it up! It's addictive.

I made this rainbow rug for my gorgeous niece Daphne.

Here's the gorgeous Daphne when I gave the rug to her:

And here she is snuggling on the lounge with her dad (my brother).

Here are my top 5 reasons why I love to crochet and think you should give it a go too:

1. It's easy and quick! No counting stitches unless you do a fancy pattern and if you make a mistake it's so easy to see and fix because you usually only have one or two stitches on the hook at once.

2. It's relaxing. When you get into a rhythm with your stitches, you don't need to think about it at all- perfect for watching tele.

3. It keeps you warm in Winter. My sewing room is freezing in Winter so it's nice to have a craft to snuggle up with on the lounge. 

4. You can do it anywhere and all you need is a little plastic hook and some yarn. It's amazing what you can create using such basic and cheap materials.

5. It's timeless. These days we have such a vast choice in colours for yarn, the possibilities are endless. I remember a crochet rug that my mum had when I was little. I  didn't like it at all because of the dark, dull, boring colours. Clearly, we don't have that problem anymore!

Now my aim is to make a rug each for two of my nieces and my nephew. I might even get a little bit fancy with the patterns. I hope my nieces and nephew love them and they might even treasure them forever! So stay tuned for some more crochet creations- hopefully it won't be too long.

In the meantime, here's one more pic to enjoy:

'Til next time. xxx

Fleecy scarves for Easter

At Easter, I like to give all my nieces and nephews something other than chocolate as a gift. Don't get me wrong, I looooooove chocolate a whole lot, I just can't cope with the overload that the kids seem to end up with. So here we have this year's Easter gifts.

Scarves for the girls:

Scarves for the boys:

And a cute fleecy hat for Daphne June 'cause 1 year olds don't really do scarves:

This was a super easy project. I bought 25cm of each fabric, folded it in half length ways (right sides together), sewed the long side, turned in the right way, top stitched around the entire thing leaving a couple of inches at each end to cut tassels, and that was it. 10 minutes and $2.50 for each scarf. Perfect!

A Furby Cake...Yes, a Furby Cake!

My lovely Luke asked for a furby cake for his 7th birthday on the weekend! Yep, I had to Google it! What on earth is a furby?! So apparently these little toy pets are all the rage at the moment. I thought it was kind of cute so we bought him a mini one (which has barely left his side since Sunday) and this is the cake I came up with.

This cake was made using 2 tins- a small round one and a pudding steamer. He was then smothered in butter cream for the fur. I made the eyes, beak and feet from fondant and put them in the fridge to harden up a bit before attaching them to the body.  For the ears, I cut the shape out of cardboard and covered them in fondant. The cardboard ensured they stayed nice and stiff.

This was a fun cake to make and Luke loved it.

Happy 7th Birthday Gorgeous Boy! xxx

Stripes!

I think I have a serious addiction to Pinterest! It is a never-ending source of ideas and inspiration for me. I see an item of clothing and think, 'Ooh I like that, I wonder if I could make it?' And then I give it a go.  That's what happened with this dress. I have had the fabric for a long time and stumbled across this pic on Pinterest, originally from HERE

And this is what I came up with. The little black bodice part is lined using the method I described HERE. It works every time! Then I added the stripey part and kept adjusting it until I was happy with the fit.

I have also been loving playing around with PicMonkey to edit my photos. It's a great online photo editing/ collage creating program and it's free! I would highly recommend giving this a go.

Hours of fun to be had with PicMonkey!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Look what we made!

We had a great day on Friday. Three lovely friends were keen to come along, set up their machines and have a crack at making a piece of clothing. They did so well!

Karen cutting in the kitchen

Look at that concentration!

Da-naaaaaaa! Great job girls!

It was lovely to get together and catch up, chat, eat and create! It was fun! Let's do it again sometime, girls!