New size sleeved bib / "apron"

I'm still enthusiastically sewing sleeved bibs. Last week I graded the pattern to fit a ages 2.5 to 4 years (the original being size 6 months to 2.5 years). Over Christmas we'll be catching up with friends and meeting all their new babies, so it'll be nice to gift some bibs.
Below are photos of the latest fabrics. I'm yet to convince Roo to model one for me!

My Sleeved Bibs

Last week I made a selection of sleeved bibs for a friend which has motivated me to get into production again! I designed the pattern earlier in the year and have made a few here-and-there but think they're worthy of a bit more of my time. I really love selecting the fabrics, and it's fun matching bibs to babies personalities, (don't mock it until you've tried it!).Roo was reluctant to model any for me today, but I will post photos if she ever obliges.

I have been making sleeved bibs for my own kids and friends' newborns for the last few years as they are so handy and a gift that no-one else would have given them already. I used make them in a raglan style with binding around the edges, but find my new design is unique and a lot neater.

Trick or Treat

I'm not a huge fan of the Trick or Treat process, but the younger generation seem to be taking it on. We let Mr J & Roo dress-up in their scary dinosaur costumes and knock on Grandma's door. We even dug out the prototype costume for Ed to wear! Luckily G'ma had some treats in stock...

Little Chickens

Over the holidays we made our own little colourful chicks with pom poms, eyes and scraps of polar fleece.

We whipped these ones up at the last minute for a couple of young friends we were about to visit.

We had to resort to PVA glue as I'd run out of sticks for the glue gun, but I'd strongly recommend stocking up on the glue sticks! The yellow chick was dismembered within a couple of hours but, as far as I know, the pink chick survived. Our chicks have been nesting in cotton wool in yoghurt containers

Dino Fun!

It was a bit of a mission to get the kids to stand still long enough to get some photos of them in their new dinosaur costumes, but I managed to get a few!

Bring on the Sun!

What a great weekend! Collingwood wins the AFL Premiership; cooked breakfast at Mud Bay Cafe with friends; and the sun is FINALLY shining for the first time in four weeks (I'm being generous - think it was really more like six weeks...)!

I also got a chance to finish off more dinosaur tails, so it felt like a productive day. Mr J & Roo have been putting up with the prototypes for too long, so I've made them both a dino tail & hood set each, in their fav colours. They're currently sitting on the couch in costume, watching the Playschool Dinosaurs DVD, but I hope to get some great photos of them running around dressed-up outside in this BEAUTIFUL weather.
The photos are of two others I finished for an order....

Heads or Tails

It's been a busy term, but I finally got around to making some more dinosaur tails and have just listed some on my Felt shop.

I designed a hood about a month ago and made a head and tail set for MrJ's friend's birthday. The b'day boy looked so cute in the costume. MrJ & Roo are stuck with the prototype so I wil have to make them a new set each so I can get some cute photos of them chasing each other in the hoods and tails, so everyone can see what they look like on.

More dino colours to follow very soon including blue and green, hot pink and royal blue, and pink camo with grey.

The Acid Test

I finally got around to making a new nappy cover for Roo, yesterday. Some that I made for her a year ago should still fit, but don't as they need more shaping around the thigh to allow for little growing bodies getting longer. The shape needs to be narrower around the leg instead of cutting across it, otherwise it drags the waist down and you need the next size up- one with more length through the crotch. I have found this problem with some commercial nappy covers. Maybe they are trying to accomadate the different ways people fold their inserts. I just fold my inserts into long rectangle layers, but I have also made shaped snap-in inserts which are handy.

Anyway, I made this one from navy sandwich PUL, white FOE and white snaps. It's a quick and easy way to make a cover, although I have noticed that white FOE tends to stain. I chased Roo around the house to get these photos. I think it fitted quite trim, considering it had 4 layers of hemp fleece and 6 layers of microfibre.

As for the Acid Test (pardon the pun)- it lasted the night with soaking inserts and no leaks. I think that's a great test for any nappy. Happy with the results.

Fathers Day

Mr J and Roo got crafty yesterday and whipped up some cards for Dad and the grandfathers. Mr J is getting pretty good at wrapping now, too!

Mere Male

It's amazing what you find in the fridge. I opened it yesterday morning to find Ed had put his freshly made grapefriut juice (highly acidic!) in the coffee plunger. Apparently it strains perfectly and the "the pulp should wash out." Kinda worried about the corrosion....

Jammin' Mr J

Last week at Playcentre I set up a little music session for the kids, supplying recorders, a guitar, keyboard, and a few percussion instruments. We also brought along Mr J's microphone stand which he instructed Ed to help him make a few days earlier. The set-up was complete with a couple of plastic microphones, and the boys, especially, really got into it.

Mr J has always rocked out on his little blue guitar but we think it was American Idol that inspired him to whip-up the mic stand. We let him watch an episode the week prior and he tipped Lee to win. Good prediction!

Just wanted to share this classic photo....

Been a while...

I just realised that it's been a month since I last left a post- where does time go?!!! Been pretty busy sorting out accounts and tax, doing Playcentre stuff, school visits and the rest- even squeezed in a First Aid course today!
Just managed to get away for a couple of days to Palmerston North to do some visiting. Great weather- cool windmills.
A few weeks ago I made some dolls clothes for Roo's little friends 2nd birthday which turned out pretty cute. I have also designed a great sleeved bib pattern and managed to get eight cut out and half sewn. I found some gorgeous fabrics so can't wait to see them finished!

Snap press arrives!!

My new beautiful snap press arrived last weekend and I thought it was worthy of a photo!

Ed made (welded) one for me nearly a year ago but it never quite snapped right- was a hinged version, where it really needs to squash the snaps vertically.

So I've re-snapped some nappies that I had made over the year and there all work like they should now! I'm on a quest to invent the best cloth nappy ever and have been trialling patterns I've downloaded and patterns I've started from scratch with adjustments here and there. I've also bought a few different brands to try out, and borrowed others from friends.

I've only use covers and pockets and experimented with different inserts- not into all-in-ones.

Betsy Homemaker - preserving the last tomatoes

I'm boiling up the last of the tomatoes into pasta sauce. It's been a bad year for tomatoes- very slow to ripen and attacked by late blight. Ed's harvested most of the tomatoes green before they were completely spoiled. A month ago we had ample zucchini so I sauced those then, and today's brew contains purple beans. Has turned out well.

I hear they don't recommend bottling anything without a high vinegar or sugar content, but we really don't have the freezer space. Half the idea of growing our own food is to save money so buying a bigger freezer and running it kind of defeats the purpose, if there's other options for storage.

We're leaving the rest of the purple beans to dry out on the vine. We've done this already this season with black beans which dried well and are sitting in the pantry in glass jars. All set for hearty winter soups. Minestrone - yummo!

Mr J and I are about to make banana muffins and, he insists, chocolate muffins. Feeling quite domesticated.

Cute Summer Dresses

I'm glad to be getting some extra mileage from Roo's Summer dresses on the recent not-so-hot days we've been having. Both dresses were based on New Look pattern 6692.

For the denim dress I added pink bias binding, a gathered pocket and large applique flower with large button trims.

I altered the pattern to allow for gathering around the neck and armholes for the second dress and this eliminated the need for a zip in the back. I love the material -a vibrant quilting fabric.

Easter Bunnies

Last week I was inspired to make some bunnies for Easter. After finding some scraps of demin and a pretty floral fabric, I started with Roo's. Mr J was happy with the finished product and put his order in for a fire fighting bunny.

My first thoughts were "groan...now I have to make little clothes for the bunny..." then soon realised that I could modify the pattern to make his body out of the yellow fabric. Mr J also insisted that Fire Fighting Bunny have braces and the ribbon trim met his approval.

I was realy struggling with what materials to use for the face and experimented with felt, beads and buttons. In the end Mr J asked to "have a go" and pinned the beads on. I so wouldn't have pinned them on the way he did (I'm more of the symetrical, retentive type) but I'm really impressed with his work. I'm glad he had such an interest and influence in the way it turned out.

Dinosaur Tails

My four year old son and nephew are crazy about dinosaurs and were the inspiration behind designing and making them. My daughter is equally keen- the kids are always dressing up and role-playing so it's likely action photos are to follow!

As I'm originally from Melbourne, the kangaroo tail was a natural progression....

Getting Started!

Hello and welcome to my blog!

Please bare with me as I find my way around- full of good intentions of sharing ideas and handmade offerings, so I hope progress won't be too slow.

I recently started making dinosaur tails. I'm always inventing and making things for the kids (a four-year-old boy and a just-turned-two-year-old girl) so have plenty of items up my sleeve.

Stay tuned....!