Swap goodies!

I did a swap with Cass and she sent me the most gorgeous package of goodies!

I had seen the travellers on her blog and immediately wanted one of my own -
I used it for shopping today, it was fantastic - I crossed off all my items as I went and didn't forget a thing, yay!

She spoiled me though by adding in all the beautiful fabric, srabble tile pendant and adorable key ring.

Thank you so much Cass!

While I was taking the photos, miss Cheriese grabbed the key ring and started dancing with it.
The tutu she is wearing used to be mine, it was the first tutu my mum sewed for me for my ballet concert when I was 3 years old. I'm sure I've seen a photo of me wearing it, I will have to look for it when I'm at my Dad's house next time.

Natalie
xx

Kids Clothing Swap - My Items

After a(nother) very hectic week, I'm finally getting the chance to post some photos of the outfits I made for the EB Kids clothing swap. I will warn you though that this post is going to be very image heavy, I made three outfits and am so proud of each of them, this is my best sewing to date and I really want to show it off!

First I started on an outfit for Esther's daughter Bethan. She is similar age to Cheriese, so I was able to pick one of the patterns that I've had my eye on for ages. I used Ottobre 1/2008 design #2 "Susette" Sash pants and #4 "Maya" blouse. I fell in love with the fabric for the top first, I loved all the nice bright colours and thought that finding a nice small print to use for the pants would be easy... but I was so wrong - I tried so many different shades of green, but none were right, then tried pinks, still no. Finally with the help of a lovely Spotlight staff member, we scoured the quilting section and found a lovely peach coloured fabric with the tiniest little spots. It is totally different to the colours I would normally choose, but I really love the end result and think I should branch out of my usual colour palette more often!

Some hair clips to go with it too:
Seeing as Cheriese is almost the same size as Bethan, I cut out an extra set for her as well ;)

Next I made an outfit for Marie's daughter Jalissa. Again I chose an outfit that caught my eye awhile ago and one that is on my to-do list for Cheriese. The skirt is from Ottobre 4/2007, design #14 Pleated Skirt and the top is from Ottobre 6/2008, design #13 Raglan Sleeve Blouse.
I found the pretty floral drill first, and then the nice pink jersey for the top. The top has shirring on the sleeves with little taffeta ribbon bows and I added the floral applique with ribbon trim as well.

With some hair clips as well:

Lastly I made an outfit for Milly's son George. I took so long deciding what pattern to use, I've been eyeing off so many for Jai, I really was spoilt for choice. In the end I settled on Ottobre 1/2008 design #25 "Frog" pants and Ottobre 4/2008 design #25 "Pekka" t-shirt. I chose a chocolate brown wide wale cord for the pants and then decided they needed some contrast for a bit more pop, and found the lovely dot quilter's cotton for the pockets, waistband and also line the bottom of the pants in case they were too long and needed to be cuffed up. This was my first time making a proper zip front and I'm so glad that I took the plunge as although my attempt isn't perfect, it wasn't too bad either - so now I can't wait to make some more for both my boys! I love the car knit I used for the top, and then couldn't decide between the two stripe knits I had bought, so asked Jordan which one he thought looked better and he picked it for me!
A huge THANK YOU to Ingrid for organising this fantastic swap! I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and now have so much more confidence to tackle all the patterns that I've been wanting to do for so long now.

Natalie
xx

Kids Clothing Swap - Opening Day YAY!!!!

Whoo hoo after countless hours of pattern selecing, fabric hunting, tracing, cutting, pining, sewing, unpicking, re-pinning, re-sewing, pressing, wrapping, sending and then waiting........ it's finally opening day of the Essential Baby Sewing Group Kida Clothing Swap .

I has been a hectic afternoon here, we had to duck out to do some shopping after the school pick up and were late getting home. I was barely even through the door when the boys had grabbed their parcels and began trying to rip them open. "Wait for me to get the camera!" I yelled as I dashed off to get it. It was like Christmas, 3 excited little children desperately trying to rip into their presents.
Look at all the wonderful items that were inside our 3 parcels today:

First up is Jordan, modelling a funky set with caramel colour cord pants, with lovely button up back patch pockets and groovy matching embellished tee - all fantastically made by Amy.


Next is Jai, sporting a very cool hoodie jumper, in his favourite colour embellished with his favourite cars, along with lovely pale brown cord pants with cheeky sock monkey pockets and even wearing cute little boy boxer shorts made from the same adorable knit the hoodie is lined with - all fantastically made by Marie. She even thoughtfully included some extra sock money fabric pieces allready interfaced, ready for me to use to emellish a tee to match!
Finally Miss Cheriese is gorgeous in so-pretty pink twirly skirt (with some extra fabric thoughtfully included for me to emellish a tee to match!) and again in an adorable ruffled capris and cross backed pini set in beautiful Heather Bailey fabric - all fantastically made by Carolyn.

Phew, three outfits amongst three cheeky excited little models makes for a lot of photos to edit lol! It is getting late here now, so I will update my blog with the items I made tomorrow.

Thank you so much to my swappees for being part of this swap! We all adore everything, the patterns chosen, fabrics, workmanship and attention to detail is all so perfect- this has been my favourite of all the EB swaps and can't wait to do this one again! Special huge THANK YOU to Ingrid for organising this fantastic swap xxxx

Natalie xx

Kids Clothing Swap - sneak peak #2

Well the time has passed quickly, almost too quickly for me as I only just managed to get all 3 outfits completed and posted in time. I know that one has reached it's destination, so praying that the other two get to their new homes tomorrow, in time for the big opening day!

Here's a sneak peak of each of the 3 outfits I made:


Hope I'm not giving too much away!

I both love and hate this part of the swap.... the waiting until opening day, the stressing about whether my items will be liked/good enough/fit, and then the sheer excitement in seeing what everyone gets, the joy of watching my children opening their parcels and all the lovely posts getting updated on everyone's blogs!

Natalie
xx

Kids Clothing Swap - sneak peak #1

I'm taking part in the EB Kids Clothing Swap, which in a nutshell means I'm making and sending an outfit to 3 children and my 3 children will get a handmade item sent to them! I love these swaps, nothing like a deadline, lots of chat, new ideas and sneak peaks on blogs to get you motivated.

I'm a little behind some as I have yet to start some real sewing, but here some photos of some of my fabric choices. So far I have decided that 4 of them are definite, the others I'm not sure if they will get used or not ;)



and one pinned and ready to go!
Natalie
xx

EB Secret Santa

I was totally spoilt by my secret santa, Ali! Look at all the gorgeous goodies I got:

Pretty covered notebook set (which will be perfect for handling my sewing 'to do' lists!)


Complete with pens, notebook and very cute small notepad (it's hiding in it's pouch!)
Funky covered large notebook
With handy side pockets both front and back

Cute initial ornaments for our tree. I LOVE this idea and Ali has matched up Jordan and Jai's favourite colour perfectly! I've hung the children's initials next to each of their special first christmas ornaments.Pretty fabric, butterfly embellishments and ribbon for things for Cheriese:
Plane model for Jai to paint and play with:

The discovery tube was immediately snapped up and put together by Jordan:Thank you so much Ali, we love everything, all your special thought and effort is truly appreciated. Thanks to Andrea too for organising this years EB secret Santa!

Natalie
xx

Christmas Things

I was doing a spot of blog surfing last night and found Tanya's blog, and while drooling over all her beautiful creations I noticed her gorgeous Christmas background and thought that I'd give my blog a holiday makeover as well. "The Cutest Blog" has so many adorable things that you can add to your blog to pretty it up (beware, I got addicted scrolling though all the options!)

Now onto some sewing updates! I'm finally getting around to blogging the advent calender I made. I ended up finding the perfect place, hanging from one of Steve's guitars on our lounge room wall!
The all important "goodies" shot, a mix of Freddo frogs, peppermint creams, sherbets, chocolate money, chocolate Santas and starburst fruit chews! (yes, we went a bit overboard, Steve picked most of them out!)
close up of the quilting, finally got there in the end, but I found the silver metallic thread very difficult to sew with. Luckily you don't get to see the back lol ;)

More things Christmasy - it was opening day for the EB Secret Santa on Monday and my postie has yet to bless me with my parcel, but I can show off what I made for Andrea... well actually I can show you most of it as I realised when editing my photos that I forgot to take a photo of everything all together. So in addition to the photos below, I also made some hairclips for Ellyse and two fabric Christmas trees, a short one and a tall one in the same fabric as the apron. I'm hoping to get some time to whip up some more of these trees and scatter around the house, you can find the pattern here.

Here's my package all wrapped up in pretty cotton fabric (I bought extra to make a dress for Cheriese too, I think it is so pretty!)

Christmas ruffle apron for Andrea, modified a pattern I picked up from Spotlight. Think I'll have to make one for myself.

Embellished tee for Ellyse, I used my new heart shaped yo yo makers and played around with some buttons and ribbons (they are supposed to be butterflies!) Not quite as good as I had pictured, but close to what I was trying to achieve!
An appliqued tee for Ashton. I found the cute puppy picture while googling for applique templates. Jai saw it and immeaditately asked if the 'blues clues top was for him' so looks like I'll be making another one very soon.
I HAD to do the cute paw prints on the back too.
I love swaps, they are so much fun. I always try to do something new that I've been meaning to try for awhile. I love seeing what eveyrone else has made, gives me lots of ideas and adds to my ever growing 'to-do' list!

Thank you so much for organising this swap Andrea, hope you like your gifts!
Natalie
xx