When the weather was hot, it seemed I couldn't drink enough of these...

I've always loved the shape of these bottles and I seem to have accumulated quite a stash. 

I made a quick trip to the hardware store this morning  to buy some paint and mini funnels and the result?  Some gorgeous, simple vases.

This would have to be the cleanest painting project I have ever done.  Why?  You paint the inside of the bottle, not the outside!

Using a small funnel, tip some paint into the bottom of the bottle.  Swish it around a bit and ...voila! Sweet and simple Sunday vases!

It's been a chaotic few weeks for our family. We  decided to move homes, found a great place to move to and moved, all in the last 2 weeks. Rob went away for work for 5 days on the afternoon we moved. In the middle of it all we celebrated Madeleine's birthday. Phew!!

As we  slowly surface from the huge mountain of boxes, what am I thinking about? I am thinking of calmer and more peaceful times. So, as I look back fondly on our beautiful Easter break at the beach, I thought I would share my holiday sewing.

This is the view Caroline and I had in the little room we set up for sewing:

Who couldn't be inspired by that?

When I go on holidays, I always manage to squeeze the sewing machine in, no matter how tightly we have packed the car. However, I always struggle to be organised when it comes to the projects I take. Inevitably I pack the fabric but not the coordinating thread, the pattern but not the zipper and buttons.

This holiday I found the perfect solution!

This is one of the projects I made:

It's  from Clothkits. Readers from the UK probably already know about Clothkits, but I was lucky enough to stumble on their website late one night. They have a great range of kits to make children's clothes, women's clothes, soft toys and rag dolls. The kit included everything I needed - fabric, lining, buttons, thread and instructions. The cutting lines were printed directly on to the fabric so there was no need to fuss with a pattern. You can see why it made the perfect holiday sewing project - the kit contained everything I needed, it was a simple project, with a lovely end result and Pippa loves wearing it.

I also ordered the Pewter Rob Ryan Hold Me Skirt for me and  the VW Traffic Dungarees for Will:

Unfortunately these will be made in my very disorganised, chaotic new sewing room, rather than while listening to the waves rolling into the beach!

I'm dreaming of holidays...........

I love buying fabric.   I do tend to buy with my heart rather than my head though.  In my head, I know that I need basics - lots of corduroy and denim for little winter wardrobes. Despite this, my heart constantly draws me to beautiful coordinating prints in bright clear colours.  I guess that's why I bought a 16 piece fat quarter pack in Tania Whelan's Delilah range.  Now, I'm not a quilter, and though my children are still pretty small, they're not small enough to fit into anything that's made out of a fifty centimetre square! What to do with it?

Last night, I decided that I'd make them up into some double sided serviettes.  I've been making a lot of these lately as gifts.  There's something very lovely about the weight of  double sided serviettes and the best bit?  You don't have to miter any corners when you're making them!

It's certainly not rocket science - trim your fat quarters to fit each other, sew them right sides together, pull them though, iron and top stitch.  Phew! The only tricky bit is the ironing - you need to make sure that the seams line up nicely, other wise they don't sit flat.  I actually got callouses ironing them last night! (and no, that doesn't mean I need to do more ironing, but thanks for suggesting it, Bill!)

It's nice to have a bit of glamour to mop up from those inevitable meal time messes!

The generosity of people in the blogosphere constantly amazes me.  Want  a pattern to make a skirt or a top or want to know how to sew oilcloth?  Simply Google it and nine times out of ten someone will want to share their ideas with you. 

I don't know Jess from Craftiness is not Optional and she certainly doesn't know me.   Every month she does a sew-a -long where she shares her knowledge and experience and takes her readers step by step through constructing one of her beautiful pieces.  This month, it was the gorgeous Anna dress - a little bit retro and a whole lot comfortable.

I love the idea of sewing along with people around the world (hey, we're called Sew Together for a reason!) so I decided to participate.  The result?  A polka-dot Anna dress...

It makes me smile when I think about  lots of little girls around the world running around in their custom-made Anna dresses!
Thanks Jess - I really enjoyed completing this project and I can't wait for your next sew-a-long.

PS  - our Girly giveaway finished last night.  Congratulations to our winner.... Peta N

Let us know where we can send your prize!
 

When it comes down to it, sewing  is all about  aesthetics.  Sure, you want your creations to be functional but really you want them to be beautiful, too.  There is a smorgasbord of food for the sewing soul out there in blog land (and real life, too) - beautiful books and patterns, lovely fabrics , ribbons and braids that elevate my heartbeat just a little. 

In a world of Japanese pattern books, Oliver and S patterns, beautiful books by Amy Butler and Jennifer Paganelli it's sometimes easy to overlook the ugly duckling in the pattern book. 

It's starting to get a little chilly around here and I searched everywhere for a pattern for a simple hooded jacket for Mart.  Now there's a lot of gorgeous patterns out there, but all I wanted was a buttoned, lined jacket for a little boy who is just learning to dress himself. I have to admit that I did overlook Kwik Sew 2994 a number of times.  But then, I stopped and looked and I looked again.  Take away the ugly drawings and applique and it was exactly what I wanted...

Made up in a pinwale  navy cord with a gorgeous Parisian print lining, the end result was one I was pretty pleased with.

I can't speak highly enough of this pattern.  It sewed up like a dream - perfect sizing and  clear instructions made it a quick and easy project - it's definitely going to become a staple in my sewing repertoire.  And to think ... I nearly missed it!

How about you - do you have  any ugly duckling patterns you've discovered and would like to share?

PS - if you would like to be the owner of the beautiful Girls' World by Jennifer Paganelli, don't forget to enter our giveaway here.

Isn't bakers twine sweet? I can really understand why it is so popular right now. It can make a simple gift tag look really special. I recently saw a great tutorial on making your own, using crochet cotton and permanent markers. It inspired me and got me thinking - wouldn't it be great if you could make something that looked like bakers twine that you could sew with?
You can!
I used stranded embroidery thread. It's cheap and comes in a rainbow of colours.

Madeleine needed a new snack bag for school so using my flat bottomed purse pattern, I made her this:

Hey, I know the "love" is a little cheesey, but I also know there is only a very short time that she will be happy to take a snack in  a bag that shows how much her Mum loves her. I thought I should take the opportunity while I can!

If you would like to make some bakers twine for yourself, click on Read More

Before you go though - if you haven't entered our Girly Giveaway yet, I think you should! At the time of writing this you have a one in seven chance of winning a pretty fantastic book and some great fabric! Entries close Midnight on Sunday May 15th (Sydney time).