Sew I got stuck into my fabric stash, all prepared and ready to sort through and choose what I’ll be taking on ‘the trip’. Not this weekend’s mini break, I’ll only be taking the SHAWL there. Not the early March Noosa-for-a-wedding trip, that’ll be crochet too I imagine, but NOT the shawl, which will be finished by then I promise! No, I mean our super duper nomadic lifestyle around australia in a caravan trip.

 We are SO limited for space its not funny. BUT, my sewing machine IS coming, and with it the cutting mat/ironing surface thing, the ruler & cutter, sewing box, PATTERNS, mags, and um, fabric. The thing is that like most crafters I know, fabric stashes grow very quickly. I love fabric! It has been so hard to reduce and choose. Anyway, the fabric sorting was going well, and then I got distracted and made this.

The easiest dress EVER. It is a pilowcase dress made using regular fabric. For the polkadot strip along the bottom I used the selvege from another fabric = no hem! So fast! I whipped up a teatowel topper while I was at it. For the caravan! Photo to come of that one.  I thought of writing a tutorial for the teatowel topper, but seriously would anyone else want to make one?

More photos of the dress in action. The mean thing about this is that the REAL beach is only 300m down the hill. Yes, mean mummy prefers to buy ice creams than spend a hot  hour or two at the beach.

Oh wow,’boost’ on picnik really makes that red ZING!  Apologies for any damage to your retinas.

Now I have this great idea for ‘fess up Friday’, where I will reveal my deepest darkest… ok maybe not those…. but some stuff I bet you haven’t heard from me yet. Only thing is, tomorrow we are headed off to Daylesford for the weekend. And for the Maker’s Market YIPPEE! I may not be able to sneak in a fess up. Or maybe I’m just making excuses, OK ‘Fess Up Friday’ starts tomorrow. Feel free to join in

1. Sleep in til at least 8am

2. Ask to do crafting (”swafting”) ~Zoe

3. Be happy to eat all your boring pasta lunch

4. Ask to watch 80s Carebears ~Tate

I don’t even mind that Zoe hasn’t tried on her reversible kimono dress yet.

Lovely Selina is running a Vintage Sheet Swap! Go and visit her blog to join in. I have some lovely vintage sheets to cut into fat quarters (eg. 10 fqs). I’ll send them off to Selina and recieve 10 different Fat Quarters back! Fun fun fun, except the cutting part, which I don’t enjoy so much.

Off to enjoy the day… it is a sunshine day, my favourite!

I’m sorry for my prolonged absence.  I have been completely productive in my computer free time. Crochet-ing my little heart out, whipping up scarves, beanies, little girl’s tops in this cool weather.

This top was crocheted using the Roselette pattern on Ravelry. So EASY! I immediately started an itty bitty one for my itty bitty neice. It turned out darn cute too. I hope to get a photo of her wearing it when we visit. Oh, and guess what? You can get the pattern in adult sizes! hmmmm, one might be coming my way.

We returned from holidays to find an awesome parcel awaiting (actually more than one parcel….but that’s another story)

Within my parcel of loveliness from the wonderful snailblazer swap was:~ green patchwork scarf from Cass (I wear this heaps!), crochet beanie from Meika, knitted washcloth from Kylie, Handmade soap from Allison, Hairclip & brooch from Karen, Sweet Loyalty Card Wallet from Ingrid (which suits my handbag beautifully), Handy Denim Wristlet from Cindy, Mushies fabric basket from Adds, drawstring project bag from Caroline!, and last but not least… a super cute sock owl from Clair. He has found a friend in Bob, our big sock monkey from poppy, bean & bloss.

I endeavour to be back and posting regularly very soon. xx claire

Miss Zoe is a fan of Jemima from Playschool. I had visions of making her a yellow pair of overalls and a little blue checked shirt. That hasn’t quite happened yet… but these stripey overalls have! She keeps saying ‘like Jemima’, too sweet.

They’re from a vintage pattern that I’ll also be using to make Zoe and her little friend winter coats. The fabric is from Spotlight, I bought a metre when I was having a ‘mauve’ day.  I’d like to make her a dressing gown next, our house is freezing! Anyone got a size 2 dressing gown pattern?.

Oh, and I sent off my vintage sheet fqs to Sheridan from Chalet Girl. I love that someone named Sheridan is running a sheet swap Here they are. I can’t wait to get my parcel!

From Cathy

I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 interested people who comment on this post. I have 365 days to do it in…What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise!The catch is that you must participate as well: you must have a blog and before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going.(just cut and paste this one if you like!, which I did)

So, who wants me to make em something?

Well it feels that way at the moment. I’ve begun working as a barmaid, at a bowling club which means lots of lovely old folks. It feels good to be out and working again, making new friends and being useful.

 At this stage there is no apron as part of the uniform, but I plan to work on that. A little black apron with pockets is on the cards. My black work pants are sans pockets, and an apron would be lovely.

I was so happy to sell some of my aprons this week! So the packing and sending of those has taken a little while, then there’s the vintage sheet swap I’m participating in. Sorry, I don’t have a link, I have lost it myself! I’ve been finding, washing, ironing, cutting, ironing and folding vintage sheet fat quarters a little laborious I must admit. It will be wonderful to recieve my parcel of different fqs though!

Then there’s the snailblazer swap I mentioned a few posts back. I’m making aprons for that too (no surprises here right?) and bought some fabric today. So I’m going to be busy making 10 ladies aprons in the next month. It will be fun to create the design though, which simply must be super cute. I’m loving Snailblazer’s travellers. They are gorgeous and such a great idea. I’m so tempted to by a couple for the kids to put away. They’re a bit young just yet.

Oh, and this morning I woke up at 6am BY CHOICE, although the kids both slept through(!) to ensure I won this baby on ebay. Cute huh? Oh ebay, I have missed you.

And, the gorgeous thing (well one of) taking up the majority of my time? This little fella. He is a singing and dancing delight. So full of questions and hilarity.

One itty bitty big toe, bitten by the biggest bull ant I have ever seen!  So last night I sent Zoe into the lounge to find her socks (she had been carrying them around), about a minute later I hear blood curdling screams. I run into the lounge to find her lying on the floor, a huge bull ant marching away. This is the first bull ant I’ve ever seen in our house! I try and squash the fellow with my slipper, which proves to be difficult on carpet while holding a screaming child. Thankfully ’he’ comes to the rescue saying “maybe it didn’t bite her, maybe she just got a fright”. We look at the toe…. it is red and swollen with definite pincer marks. It turns out baby Zoe knows about stomping on ants, and wasn’t afraid to have a crack at the big boy. Oh dear.

She woke this morning with no sign of the bite (see above), but plenty of ‘big ant’ stories for all.

Oh, and this delicious wool arrived in my mail box! From the lovely Lisa as part of a Ravelry swap.

It is seriously the softest wool ever and neeeeeeds to be something I can drape around my neck. Which is saying something, because I have a very itch sensitive neck. Lisa dyed and spun the wool just for me!

Lisa’s store is ‘Knot Your Nanna’s Knits’ over at Yarn Collective.  I’m very tempted to buy some of the lovely fleece ready to be spun, Mum has a spinning wheel and I think I need to have a go.

Just signed up for one over at Snailblazer… check it out! Sounds like F.U.N!