Day to Day

My creative space.

My creative space today.  I'm working in a little corner of the lounge room doing some handstitching with some more doilies from Sweet Vintage.  I love that aspect of hand stitching, that you can set up an area anywhere and just stitch away.

In-between stitching I'm sipping tea and eating coffee cake jam packed with walnuts on top - so good! 

Tomorrow I'll share the finished the project :)

Tuesday - around our home.

More twirling + knitting.

Bella's finished twirly skirt from the make-a-long yesterday.  Hooray!  I'm going to move along to a different pattern for the next couple of skirts, but first I need to acquire some new fabric in larger lengths, as I realised my teeny fabric stash is now only full of fat quarters, which doesn't stretch quite far enough to fit an 8 year old.

The Dick and Jane fabric is by Michael Miller. I used 6 panels of fabric for the twirly skirt (repeating each of the three prints twice) and then added a spotty print (from the same line) for the waistband, ties and hem trim.  At some stage I'd like to make another one like this, only with girly pink prints.

I've also been promising to share photos of my Mum's knitted blanket on here for a while now!  Mum has knitted two of these (both pretty much the same colours), both for her caravan.  The yarn is from Bendigo Woollen Mills (8 ply) and they've all been knitted with moss stitch and then crocheted together.  They look so pretty sitting in the van, one on each bed (the pics here have been taken in Bella's room).

That's all from me today, have a lovely week! xoxoxo

The second halter top.

I finished a second tunic top using Amy Butler's sun surf halter pattern.  I still want to make more too!!  This one was using my left over fabric from the twirly skirt. 

Thanks so much for all the sweet twirly skirt and tunic top comments yesterday too!!

Today the lovely Bianca and I are having an online *make-a-long* for the twirly skirt, (pattern HERE) which was Bianca's idea after we were having a twitter conversation this morning. 

If you'd like to join us then please do! As I type this post, I still haven't cut mine out yet and I think Bianca has only just started too....so there's still time to join in! I think Chasity is joining in too :)

Enjoy your Sunday! It's pouring here and quite windy, so it's a lovely day to stay indoors.

Twirly skirts and halter tops.

If you've been following me on Twitter over the last few days, then you would have already seen these photos and heard my excitement over finishing two projects for Bella.  The twirly skirt (created with Patty Young fabrics that I bought from HERE) was so easy to make that I already have plans for half a dozen more to fill up Bella's summer wardrobe.  Bella is totally thrilled and yes, there has been plenty of twirling going on!

The hot pink top we bought last night (just $7-50) and I prettied it up with one of Jodie's beautiful doilies.  I also made another top the same (with a turquoise flower) for Bella's little friend, but after seeing Tamar's divine tops on her blog this morning, I'm kicking myself for not embellishing it like THIS.  The twirly skirt is a free tutorial/pattern by Erin from 'house on hill road' and the link is HERE if you'd like to make your own.

With summer approaching (summer if you're listening, please come soon!) I was also keen to try out my Amy Butler sun surf halter pattern for Bella.  The pattern goes right down to a size 7 (child), so that's the size we went with (Bella is only tiny for her age).  I had a little bit of twitter cursing half way through because I was stuck on a step...but after a hot cup of tea I realised that I'd completely read the step around the wrong way, doh...so I was soon sewing again and happy.

I used some of my old fabric stash for the tunic, a strawberry print from Spotlight.  It turned out so well and fits perfectly.  This is a pattern I'd really recommend!  I love it so much that as I type there is another one half sewn up on my table.  

So, there you go....my summer wardrobe sewing for Bella so far.  Sewing clothes for your children gives you such a warm + fuzzy feeling  - I just wish I had of started years ago!

Mama sewn handmade clothes + cute fabric = a very happy and excited 8 year old girl!!

Sponsor giveaway - sweet vintage

Would you like to win all of these yummy embellishments above?  Then go HERE and leave a comment!!!

Jodie (from Sweet Vintage) is including everything in the above photo in the giveaway.  There are a couple of packs of the sweetly dyed doiles (that I can't stop obsessing over), some tissue paper flowers, patchwork flowers, vintage lace flowers, chipboard buttons and some other little extras thrown in as well.

Don't forget to visit the Sweet Vintage shop too - the link is HERE.

Today I'm going to share a couple of simple projects I created using some doilies from the turquoise and pink pack.  The first one is a needle/pin holder:

I used a felted jumper for the background (two rectangular pieces) and hand stitched the doily onto the front.  The ribbon is by Strano.

The second project was a new t-shirt for Bella.  Actually it was an old white t-shirt that I prettied up with the turquoise doily (handstitching it into place).  I had planned on taking another photo of Bella wearing her new tee (without the stripy top underneath), but I ran out of time.  The t-shirt has been through the wash twice and I can say confidentally that none of the dye ran from the doily onto the white background (yay!).

We (myself and Bella) were so wrapped with the top that I'm going to go to Big W this afternoon to buy a couple more white t-shirts so we can add more doilies in different colours.  My little niece Bonnie has requested one too!

I have more doily projects too, but I'll share some more of them in a couple more days.  Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to enter the giveaway HERE.

Crocheted bag.

Remember my clever friend Helen from THIS post?  I thought I'd share her most recent crochet project with you all.  Oh my goodness, it was so incredibly hard to give this bag back to Helen after I photographed it!!!

It reminds me of a big sherbet lollipop!  The free tutorial to create the bag was from HERE over at Lucy's blog (Attic 24).  Isn't it beautiful? 

September Sponsor - Sweet Vintage

I'd like to introduce you to today's sponsor - Sweet Vintage!  You're going to fall in love with everything in the Sweet Vintage Etsy store. Here's just a snippet of what you'll find:

Hand dyed fabric doilies (to die for!!)

Beautiful fabric flowers created from repurposed fabric.

The most divine embellished headbands for little ones.  There are more gorgeous products too that I haven't shared, all suitable for card making, scrapbooking, sewing and other crafting projects.  Go HERE to start shopping.

I've also been busy playing with a lovely pile of hand dyed doilies from Sweet Vintage over the last week or so.  I'll be sharing my projects here over the next few days.

And a little background information:

Jodie is the very lovely face behind Sweet Vintage, a stay home Mum of six beautiful children, who enjoys scrapbooking, crafting and op-shopping (thrifting).  You can read Jodie's blog HERE - and you really must, it's filled with the most pretty things - crafting, gorgeous photos, snippets of Sweet Vintage products and if you scroll down a little bit there's a sneak of the most divine rag rug that Jodie is working on (that I haven't stopped obsessing over since I saw it).

September Sponsors - special codes.

Don't forget there are two sponsor special codes for September:

Little Snoring store: 

For the month of September (available until September 30th) Edwina is offering readers a 10% discount off all purchases.  All you need to do is enter the code 'Melspeeps' at check out.  Go HERE to start shopping.

Pixiepetals store:

AesaLina is offering readers a special offer.  If you purchase TWO or more pixiepetal sets you will receive a free two-tier pixiepetal with your order (which is the larger sized petal).  To receive the free petal, type the code "chocolate cake is awesome" during checkout and also tell AesaLina which coloured petal you would like for free.  Go HERE to start shopping. 

Bella's letter satchel.

My new Handmade Home book has really been calling me over the last few days.  I've been going backwards and forwards trying to work out which project to start first, but last night decided to actually *sew something* rather than just stare at the book pages!

The letter satchel project really took my eye and now I've sewn it, I'm super impressed.  The size is so lovely for little ones - it's quite huge!  I altered a few things - replacing the velcro and button with ribbon, stamping the title and using a straight stitch instead of zig-zag.  I also used felt between the fabric layers instead of interfacing, which gave it quite a nice padded feel - but oh my goodness, was so thick and painful to top stitch!

The Japanese fabric was a gift from a very lovely lady by the name of Rowena (hi Rowena if you happen to be reading this).  I'd been saving it for something special and thought the satchel might be just right for it.  Bella is so wrapped - she loves the teeny musical playing doggies on the print.

The satchel itself is for Bella use as storage for her penpal letters.  I think these would also make lovely gifts for children's birthdays and I hope to make some soon - Bella has an upcoming party this weekend for a friend, so I'd better get sewing.

Thanks for stopping by :)

xoxoxox

P.S.  Alphabet stamps are by Hero Arts - classic caps and classic lowercase