It was Oscar’s last day of school today. I can’t believe his first year is already over!! This means “big boy school” next year – he is in a straight Prep class and goes full time, 5 days a week. He has had the most amazing teacher this year, she is well-known as being the BEST kinder teacher around and loved by everyone. Such a great start to his schooling life. I wanted to give her and the two aides in his classroom (who were both brilliant also) something special to say thankyou. I was inspired by Karen’s blog post and settled upon custom zippered pouches (see my tutorial here) for each of them.
Instead of me writing a word in the white space, I got Oscar to write his teachers names on a piece of paper and then traced his handwriting onto the pouches. I had to do a bit of squishing up and rearranging so that they fit, but tried to keep it as true to his handwriting as possible.
His teachers were so happy, I love how they turned out and think this may be a teacher present tradition for years to come. (Plus I got to dive into my out-of-control scrap box, which always makes me feel good!)
It’s official – we have a new Versatile Wrap cover photo! The lovely Miss Fiona and I set out on Saturday morning to take some photos. As always, she did an amazing job and I found it almost impossible to choose the ONE for the cover, but I am super happy with the photo I have decided to go with.
You can never go wrong with green (that’s my theory anyway) so I decided to go with some of Amy Butler’s new Soul Blossom’s range from Kelani Fabric. This range is delicious, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a bit more of it for the “stash.”
I love how fresh and summery the skirt looks now – even though the water temperature at the beach was FREEZING cold and I was doing my best to look like I was enjoying it!
I’ll share some more photos from the shoot in the coming weeks. And I think I’m in the mood to sew up a few more Wraps for myself. Nothing like a favourite skirt in fresh fabric combos 🙂
I still haven’t checked the initial Revamping the Wrap fabric suggestions to see if anyone choose these fabrics, will go and have a read sometime soon – we’re busy cooking gingerbread men today 🙂
Here is Lil in the first Afterglow I sewed…it worked out perfectly too – love it when that happens!! She is one happy little girl wearing a “down” (long) dress to bed every night!
When I’m designing a new pattern and not sure that I am on the right track, I usually begin with some dodgy fabric in case it doesn’t work out. I wasn’t sure how Coastal Breeze would turn out at the beginning so did my trial run using some stretch fabric I’ve had in the cupboard for about 6 months that I got on clearance for $2 per metre!
Once again, I was on a winning streak and this pattern was pretty much spot on first go aswell. I’m kicking myself now because I LOVE how it turned out, and after wearing it a couple of times, threw it in the wash and the red band bled into the white fabric around it! I had pre-washed the fabric and it still bled. So annoyed. It doesn’t look terrible, but still noticeable.
Lesson learned…don’t use cheapo reds (or browns for that matter.)
I’m hoping to do some more Coastal Breeze sewing in the next few weeks to get the most out of our short Summer!
Well, all of that wreath eye-candy paid off because look what I finished making this week…
I didn’t think I would be so into using wool to make a wreath from, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out! I followed these instructions to cover the wreath and make the flowers, then hunted around online…Etsy, Flickr, etc to get a bit of inspiration for the rest of the decorations.
I wanted the wreath to look Christmasy so stole a few baubles from the tree to string across the middle.
I couldn’t resist adding my signature and popping a few doilies on one side, balanced out by some crocheted lace on the opposite edge. All of the flowers and leaves were made using felt and I used my trusty hot glue gun to stick everything into place. It really was a very simple process. Wrapping the wool around the wreath was quite time consuming, but once that was done it was loads of fun coming up with different ways to decorate it.
I am almost tempted to go out and buy a few more wreaths (I used a foam wreath as my base) to hold onto for other holiday decorations. We live on a main street and I think it would be cool to be known as the house with a different wreath up for each holiday! I’m not sure how I feel about having a wreath on my door for day to day decoration though. But who said a wreath has to go on the door anyway, I think it would look kind of cool hanging in a small wall space or maybe even in my studio…these wreaths are super cute…1, 2, 3 and 4.
Once I had finished making the wreath I realised that I hadn’t given how it was going to hang to the door a thought! Nails and holes were out of the question, so I took a length of organza ribbon and looped it through the wreath then stuck it to the top of the door with masking tape…so far, so good! Hopefully it will last until the end of the year.
It was quite refreshing to do some non-sewing craft. Now I’m ready to get back into things though. I’ve just finished sewing something for my brother in Japan but don’t think I’ll share until after Christmas because it turned out so well that the rest of the boys in my family might be receiving the same! Next project will be the new Versatile Wrap skirt ready for the photo shoot on Saturday and new cushion covers for the couch cushions…then onto more Christmas presents and hopefully I’ll sneak in preparations for a new pattern or two somewhere in there aswell!
